Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-02-15

The daughter OF Emperor Charles
was twenty-three years old when thar
monarch. after having survived divers
battlefields and other periis incident to
kingcraft. ate too lavishly of mushrooms
stewed in oil and passed spasmodically
away. leaving to her his throne and the
accumulated troubles that attended it.
The name conferred upon her at baptism
had been Maria Theresa Naiperga Anne
liza Christina II it seems a trifle long il
is at least balanced by the list of titles
she acquired with her fathers death
Queen OF Hungary and Bohemia, Arch
duchess of Austria. Sovereign of the
Netherlands. Duchass of Milan, of Par
ma and Placentia and Grand Duchess oil
Tuscany. The preposterous name she
bore in peace. but for every one OF her
titles she was forced to fight
Her inheritance of fighting force-save
her own indomitabie and militant Will
had been bat slender. Her father shone
rather in the arts Of peace than in the
clash of arms. He drilled a corps de bal
let better than any army corps ana
while he led an orchestra Playing ms
own compositions with skill and vigor. III
was never seen leading a cavalry charge
This was the more unfortunate because
in that warlike age Austria was com
pletely surrounded by powerful state:
all eager for slices of her territory. Rus
STA. Turkey, France, Prussia and Sar'
DINA ,then a power) all looked hunSrily
on the Austrian provinces.
Inherited Bankrupt Treasury.
Charles V thought he had provided fol
his daughter that peace which he him
self loved when he concluded with the
powers Of Europe a treaty, called the
Pragmatic Sanction, by which they al
agreed to support Maria Theresa a:
Empress of Austria. 1t was beyond doub
a noble treaty, which. if respected. would
have averted the war of the succession
But it's weakness was that ii was made
at a period when treaties were made only
to be broken, and one after the other al
the parties to it attacked Maria Theresa
when she succeeded to the throne they
had soiemnly promised to protect.
Besides this precious treaty the en-
peror left to his heiress bankrup
treasury. In 1t was scant SloVJo-no
enough to pay the accrued interest OF
the national debt. The army, widely
scattered. unpaid and almost wholly des
titute OF munitions OF war; numbered
barely 10000 men. The provinces were
undermined with revolt. particularly Bo
hemia and Hungary, the great MOBILES O
the latter being about to cast their 10
Austria's most powerful neighbor, Fred
erick of Prussia. afterward to be known
as 1.-The Great" quietly ignored the trea
ty to which he had been a party, and
marching his troops into Silesia. calm
ly notified Maria Theresa that he hat
picked this special bit of her territory
for his own.
War Lasted Eight Years.
This was the beginning of a war last
ing eight years. the story of which car
by no possibility be told here. In it were
involved at various times Russia, Aus
tria, Bohemia. Prussia. Turkey. France
Holland and England. From time to tim'
two or three of these nations would bs
fighting together as allies, and day Oh
two later against each other as savage
enemies. Treaties and formal alliance:
We're as common as the smoke over tn,
battlef1elds, and evanescent. 1t wa:
the day of savagery in war. The sacl
of cities. the massacre of non-comba
tants. the shreks of violated women ant
Of slaughtered children were all part ol
the military program of the great cap
tains of those days. When our own Gen
Sherman, accused of being harsh i'm &
war prosecuted on both sides with singu
lar restraint from cruelty, said War Is