New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-09-23


cent in the memory of the worlds news
paper readers TO require recapitulation.
To be sure the facts as then set forth
we're more or less successfully censored,
and probably in part suppressed by the
German powers that be. but enough
was given out 10 furnish an under
standable outline Of a scandal that is
not without its precedents In the his
tory Of Europe's royal houses. Gossip
embelished the tale, both before and
after its climax. the gossip Of court cir
cles and clubs. Of the man in the street
and the woman at her ''kaffee HATCH
until the true and the false were mex
trlcably mixed. The morsel Of gossip
did service for q season. then was for
gotten in the shadow Of the far greater
august family scandal at Brussels. 1t
is revived to-day by the simultaneous
publication OF the news Of the ex-
Crown Princess's divorce from her Sec
ond husband. and the appearance Of
this book, which is both a defence OF
her own course and an attack on all
her imperial and royal relatives, by
blood or IN law.
As a defence It is an able piece Of
work, we'll put together and convinc-
ingly written. the weak spots in its ar
gument being cleverly CLOSED over. AS
an attack It is entertaining in the thor
oughness, many sidedness and ingenuity
OF its truly feminine vindictiveness. The
ex-Crown Princess forgets nobody in
shooting her little poisoned darts, aim
ing them at the physical defects OF her
exalted relatives as we'll as at their
mental peculiarities. and including their
ancestors many times removed as we'll
as themselves. Not content with pay
ing her respects 10 the venerable EN-
peror of Austria, the head Of her house.
and TO the heir TO his throne, she enters
with the greatest frankness upon dis
cussion Of the "neurosis' Of the Haps-
bprgs. from the time Of Joan the Mad
onward, the Bourbon side Of her ances-
try being not forgotten. This study IN
psvchopathic heredity, she informs her
readers. was prepared for her by an
English specialist. The princess admits
frankly her share OF this heredlty
which. she adds, took in her case the
form OF temperament"
have always wondered why Ha6s-
burg princess was selected as "lIe IoI
Frederick-August, especially one o. ms
branch. The mixture OF fre ,.siI. sSoiid
have made any stoHd family thlhh pc
riously before they asked the possessoF "
marry one Of its members, tol' as NY
fsTbeT-in-Iaw said, with perfect truth, the
Habsburg- Bourbon temperament is pecu
lar All my ancestors had beQueaJHeu 70
me something Of their various ln1lN w, uS az,
love of the beautiful, my delight IN an lldt
appealed TO the finer senses, ana thelT
supreme disregard for the opinions, OF th tSe
they disliked or desplsed. FROM .Il9
Habsburgs I had as a legacy that apsO-
lutte independence Of thought ana deeu'
which has always been so strange In mem
ters OF an Imperial House hde-bound by
etiquette and tradition. Most or US liaDS-
bilrgs have artistic tastes, most or us qe-
sire to live lives built on large ana h0Dle
lines and most OF us nave thdl cuIIouS
mental 'Ikink" y ich has driven some 10
suicide. Punishment or self-ehacement.
Another Hapsburg trait the Princess
Louise Of Tuscany also possesses in full
measure, and that is family pride. She
employs it 10 ridicule and wound the less
exalted ROYAL house of Saxony, which,
she says. was thrown into a veritable
Rutter over on announced visit Of the
German Emperor. Il thought all this
fuss ridiculous" she says; q did not
feel that vcneration for emperors which
seemed to possess my husbands family
for in mine we had always had an en-
peror as our relation" She got along
swimmingly, she informs us, with Will
lam II, with whom she had tacit
understanding that when the DAY came
she would be his political ally at the Ro-
man Catholic court Of the predominantly
Protestant kingdom OF Saxony.
II may be as well mentioned right here
that the princess lays part Of the blame
for the conspiracy OF which she declares
herself TO have been the victim on the
shoulders Of priestly influences at court.
Her ther-ln-law, she says, was big
oted. intolerant son Of the Church she
offended him with the rather tactless re-
mark that the Protestant Saxonians
should have a reigning family CT their
own faith, and she made no secret Of her
modernist tendencies and sympathies
She was liberal, democratic in her bear
ing toward the common people, who
adored her I'm consequence, and she was
at constant war with a stiff narrow,
bourgeois court and its circle. For her
ex-husband she has only kind words, but
ne lacked will power, and in the end was
caught in the meshes Of the plot. The
pictures she draws Of their happiness in
their common love Of their children are
most pleasing.
The cabal against her, favored by the
king, her father-in-law, was organized
by the comptroller Of the royal house
hold and her lady Of the bedchamber.
She was watched, spied upon, and the
Giron scandal had been spread far and
wide I'm Dresden before she was even
aware Of its existence. The crisis came
when the king told her that she had
done her duty by bearing children and
insuring the succession, and that hence
forth he would no longer put up with /
her eccentrcities. She was 10 be placed |
iu nGisOu dc S0ntG Her flight 70 her |
fathers palace at Salzburs followed, I
but. finding no sympathy there, only a /
determination 10 stiAe a scandal. she /
went TO Switzerland. accompanied by /
her brother, who, too. informed her. |
however. that in the end she would be /.
forced TO return TO Dresden. To make /
this altogether impossible she decided !
10 compromise herself by sending for |
Giron. her childrens tutor This is her I
defence, in its broad outline.
Apart from its purposes of justifca- /
tlon and atiack tho hook cnntains GONE |