New-York tribune., 1913-11-30

LONG REIGN
OF EMPEROR
Continued from first page.

nth tbe Hungarian Parliament.
r,nder the constitution he mas the pre-
sratIye of examining every proposed Dill
iV9 ". Il is introduced by minister. This
w., not mean simply that he is to know
wv oone and general purport, but that
% have placed before him its entire
oyerv sentence and word. He re-
-, This not merely as privilege, but
dutv 10 the performance or which
.. dsvotes himself with the utmost cam
.,oss Sometimes an important bill will
- before him, covering scores OF
.,.,ed pages He will study ii diligently,
f-sons for weeks. with frequent refer
&c IN ministers or other authorities.
,,,.o,lv 4 will be returned. with his ini-
,,ols on the first page, indicating that he
sn,roves the introduction of IT in Par
iar,ent But it will not be in its original
go, nv any means. Every page will he
.,,arod thickly with interlineations and
..orginal notes and comments. in his
,na,esty's own handwriting. with here
IA there. perhaps. answers 10 his queries
nv some of his ministers.
These annotations show him to be a
MASTER Of the subject in hand, and are
often of great value in the framing of
,.rislation. on one bill for example, he
,,sde certain criticism, and then re-
f.rrsd il 10 one of his ministers. who
,,rote beneath il this reply: Your majesty
&c right. The measure as proposed would
have clashed wholly against our inten-
,oD. with an act already in force"
The Emperor has more than once ex-
messed the fear that tine future will know
him as Francis Joseph the Unlucky. Per-
hans "the unready" would be more fit
ting title since most OF. his Ill fortune
ssams 10 have come to him through his
own readiness to seize opportunities and
,o deal with emergencies as they arose
There was strange contradictoriness
about him in 1853. when. after his terrible
,sses. Louis Napoleon made him tempt
ing offer at Villafranca. The bribe would
have made him the foe OF Germany. and
he spurned it, saying proudly: Il am a
German prince" Germany trusted him,
and presently all the states, save Prussia.
looked TO him as the "Deutscher Kaiser"
as the sovereign who should restore the
old empire. Bismarck strove 10 check the
movement with his commercial union of
1862. but still the hearts of the German
reople turned toward Francis Joseph.
THE UNREADY RULER.
So at the last he summoned all Ger
many TO meet him at Frankfort. where he
should he crowned Emperor. but II was
too late. He had been unready. The op-
portunity was past. Another chance came
soon after Prussia was suspected OF
false play. and all Austria sprang up with
inexpressible zeal, ready TO the last man
TO rush to the field of battle. Had he
Welded 10 that foodUde Of passion he
would have been the leader Of popular
war that might have overwhelmed the
northern foe but he repressed 1t and
followed the traditions of Austrian red
tape mlitarism, and the result was
Sadowa.
Yet II has always been true that, as
Bismarck once said, whatever dssen
sons there may be among the various
people OF the empire, the moment Fran
els Joseph gets into the saddle they are
all ready to follow him with enthusiastic
loyalty. And neither Solferino nor Sa-
dowa affected that fact in the least degree
And indeed, we shall scan the roll or
soyereigns Of all lands and ages long ere
We md many who have been on the whole
so prudent, so conciliatory. so unaffected
and unpretentious. so earnestly devoted
to the welfare OF his people as he. 1t is
because Of what he is, intrinsically, and
because Of what he has done in the SIM
pie benevolence of his kind heart that no
one needs to cry Hats on to an Aus
trian crowd when he appears. And this
Of a monarch who has been compelled to
shoot down his own subjects, who has lost
rich provinces Of his realm, and who has
won no military glory, but suffered vast
disasters To-day German and CZECH
Magyar and Pole. Rumanian and Sero'
unite in singing from the heart "Gott
erhalte Franz den Kaiser, Unsern guten
Kaiser Franz"