The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-07-09

ting Prussians than he makes about ad- hitting Englishmen or Turks.
 Another point in which Liechtenstein differs from other countries is the ha- bitual absenteeism of her sovereign. The metropolis of Vaduz, where the Landtag, or Parliament, meets, but Prince John II. lives and has his court in Vienna, and, 1t is said, haS not been inside his principality more than once since 1866, though local gossip has It that, in addition he has twice been within sight of its borders while trav- cling on the Swiss railway between Sargans and Feldkirch There is no doubt that for some reason he avoids his country. On the other hand, he cannot be charged with neglecting it. The pretty Gothic church in Vaduz was built by him at a reputed cost of fifteen thousand pounds. He also built the much smaller church at the village of Schaan, founded the excellent girls school at Bakers, and the middle-class school at Vaduz, and for years has con tributed handsomely to the most press ing and expensive of the national public works-the embankment of the Rhine. Upon the whole, he probably spends more in the country than he makes out of 1t.
 Fortunately, he is rich man; and as he Is bachelor, with scientific tastes and hatred for display, he has money to spare. Still, it seems a pity that he does not more often visit Liechtenstein. His portrait is in nearly every Liech- tensteiner's house; no prince Is more popular among his subjects, and Vaduz would go half-mad with delight at sec ing him once more.
 Vaduz is but a village of about 1,150 inhabitants. Its only public buildings possessing any architectural preten- sions are the church aforesaid and the Landesverweserei or administrative of fices At the Verweserei are the bu- reaus of the princely administrator, who looks after the roads, the markets and the general welfare, and who Is, believe, president of the Landtag; and those of the secretary of state, the chief justice q think he Is the only magis- trate in the land), the director of for ests, the government engineer and the director of finance. These men consti- tute the ministry; but Prince John has with him at Vienna a princely chance ry, or privy council, which serves not only as a court of appeal in criminal as we'll as civil cases, but also as kind of 1 upper house.
 The electorate consists, so far as I can ascertain, of the male population of twenty-four years of age and upward, ! and the Landtag is composed of fifteen members, of whom three are nomina- ted by His Transparency. The house meets when the weather is too bad for | the members to prosecute their ordina- " work in the fields and vineyards or on the Rhine embankments; and, as a rule, it experiences much difficulty in | finding business whereupon to employ l itself, for regular parties are unknown, and there is such remarkable unanirni l ty of opinion that the weightiest affairs l demand but little time for settlement. l On those few occasions, however when the members cannot quickly agree, and
 when the administrator cannot recon i cile them, each side sends a deputation 1 to the prince and his council at Vienna, and the princes decision puts an end to the dispute
 l Outside of Vadus, and overlooking it,
 is the partly ruined castle of Hohen-
 Liechtenstein, in the grounds of which l is grown an excellent wine. Some of | the building is exceedingly ancient 1 perhaps even Roman in origin-but
 most of it was entirely rebuilt in the
 sixteenth century. It used to be the
 seat of the prince, but it is now inhabi-
 ted by a farmer. There are elsewhere
 the remains of other castles, notably at
 Guttenberg, near Bakers, for in the old
 days Liechtenstein saw plenty of very hard fighting, and even as late as 199 l the Austrians, under Hotze, fought the l French, under Massena, or the now
 strongly fortified Luzienstieg.-Vad l Letter in the London Daily Mail.