The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-12-04
IN UNHAPPY SOVEREIGN.
The Misfortunes of the Emperor of Aus
tria.

The Emperor of Austria represents bet
ter than any other European sovereign
the principle of compromise in monarch
zeal government says Youths Conn
panion. If it had not been for his fexi
bility in adapting himself Ito emergencies,
Austria Hungary would not be the united
empire which it has become through a
series of political adjustments based upon
expediency.
He has been on the throne since 1848,
and is now In his 68th year, a well-pre-
seryed, amiable sovereign, with a sad,
wistful face, as though he were disap
pointed with the results of his long
reign. In war he has been unsuccessful,
having lost his Italian provinces and
the leadership in Germany by his disas-
trous campaigns with France and Prus.
STA.
His one great diplomatic stroke, by
which his territories were enlarged in the
South was his secret treaty with Russia
before the last war with Turkey. He
agreed to remain neutral provided he
could have the Turkish provinces of Bos-
MIA and Herzegovina.
Without exposing his country to the
burdens and risks of warfare, he made
up for the territories which he had lost
his empire is larger than it was when
he assembled the throne IN the revolution
airy year of 1913.
He has shown HIMSELF to be 8 good
xrvitl
gary was Z. disaffeoted country because it
as not allowed to govern itself. When
the disastrous campaign ended he realized
that Cancellation was the only practical
method of ruling q confederacy of nations
in which antagonistic races were con-
tinually pulling in opposite directions.
He had the good sense to support the
Hungarian proposals, and to accept the
crown ut Budapest at the hands of the
dominant race. This was the famous
compromise of 1867 by which the Magyars
were allowed to govern one-half of the
empire, while the Germans ordered the
destinies of tho remaining nalf.
He has strongly favored every measure
for comforting the privileges of home rule
upon the various states of the empire.
The Germans, Magyars, Slavs, Czechs
and Poles are jealous and spirited races.
No other sovereign has such a team of
wild horses to drive. The Emperor has q
firm hand and bright, CHEEKY way of
chirruping and whistling to his unruly
steeds.
He succeeded in keeping the horses to-
gether when they were ready to break
away from control at the close of the
Russian war with Turkey. The Magyars
were in sympathy with the Turks and
detested the Russians, who had conquered
them after Kossuth's revolution: the
Slovenian races were on fire with SYM
spathy for the Bulgarians, and the Ger
mans were opposed to the acquisition of
Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Emperor
knew his own mind, and carried out his
bargain with Russia.
The Emperor's reign has been embit-
tered by many misfortunes. The fate of
Macmillan in Mexico was one of the
earliest of his griefs, and the untimely
death of the crown prince was blow
from which he has never recovered.
Amiable in disposition, far-sighted in
policy, and dexterous in his management
of subjects and in his dealings with
statesmen, he has been an unfortunate
sovereign and has had reason to repeat
the old time saying: Call no man happy
who Is born to the purple"
DnD TIT nE THE