The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-12-16
FRANCIS JOSEPH CAPITALIZED HIS
MISTAKES, AND LEFT BEHIND RECORD
SUCCESS THROUGH EPOCHAL REICh,

creek; to the expansion Of the Amer
lean Union from 80 States to 4S; to
the emergence Of Japan from her
hermit-ike existence into a modern
world power; to the uncovering of the
hidden continent of Africa. While he
watched the world went ahead CEN
turtles.
Chained to the Past.
But this record of advancement is
rather an indictment Of a monarch
who contributed nothing to it. Still
1t would be hard to blame Francis
Joseph. It is more difficult for a
Hapsburg than for any other man
20 go forward. For he drags after
MIN a past 800 years long and natur-
ally he ever is gazing back over his
shoulder as he walks.
When anyone can see greater thines
behind than before him, he is certain
to look backward rather than forward.
For 800 years the Hapsburgs we're the
only Emperors in the world AS
the undisputed heirs of the Caesars,
they presided over the Holy Roman
Empire and ruled all Germany. In
the time of Charles v. when they
boosted a dominion on which the sun
never set. they were lords OF the New
World. and as they unrolled map,
their eyes could rove from the Straits
Of Messina to Puget Sound without
wandering beyond the bounds of the
family estates.
With such q past it is only human
that they should prefer to turn back
rather than to go on. Or, at least,
that they should wish to stand still.
For with every advancing step, they
are only so much farther from their
glory and from that ancient prestige
which is their chief stock in trade.
Proud Of Faults.
The Hapsburgs are proud even of
their faults, because these, too. belong
TO their great past. Until modern
surgery insisted upon coming to the
relief Of their defective breathing an
paratus. they were actually proud Of
their adenoids and their tonsils. be-
cause these had developed that
Hapsburg jaw" which long was
cherished as the trade mark of the
imperial race.
But the iconoc1astic knife Of the
surgeon has been so busy with the ris-
ing generation that all trace of this
feature seems to be lost in the young
er members Of both the Austrian and
spanish branches. Possibly King Al
pnonso of Spain will be the last in
heritor OF this familiar facial charac-
ter1stic of the family. which Napoleon.
the parvenu. priced more than beauty
In his Hapsburg bride.
When a little breed Of men has
been set apart from the rest of man
kind six centuries and permitted
through 20 generations to act unon
the assumption that it can do no |
wrong. why should it be expected to
know how to do anything right? If i
II ever does right it must be only by |
cnance and not by 8 the intelligent |
choice or by the compulsion which |
controls the conduct Of other peo-
pie. =
In nearly all the important dec.s-
ions which he had to take, Francis
Joseph guessed wrong the first time.
That was his legacy from the Haps-
burgs. But fortunately he was not
as obstinate, as headstrong as most
of his race. He was always willing to
guess again. and he was the first clev-
er opportunist in the imperial line (
since Marie Theresa.
As each question came up before
him. he took the side of the past.
But quickly and even, cheerfully |
when he found that the past was
losing. he changed sides and went over
to the future. He was a Hapsburg
with his ear to the ground.
A shifty Skipper.
Il. III At
It this Emperor had written the
history Of his reign he could not
have given It more fitting title than
Mistakes That Have Helped Me. o. |
the Blessings Of Hindsight." Most /
of the successful policies which /
brought him popularity and gave
character to his reign were substituted
for contrary policies that had failed. |
Which means that he lacked vision. |
but not discretion.
Let me specify, briefly: Francis |
Joseph started to make the Austrian I
Emperor again the overload of the
still separate German States. When /
Prussia thwarted him in this am bition |
he turned in and helped her whip |
Denmark and capture Schleswig- OIL
stein. after which the victorious Prus- !
slams whirled upon him, overwhelmed !;
his army and Bismarck compelled him |
to leave the House Of Hohenzollern
the undisputed leader of. Germany.
Finally. he even accepted Prussia as !
his ally, and the alliance became the !,
central point in his policy.
In his relations with Italy he un- |
derwent much the same reversal For
after fighting her In two wars he well !
coined her as an ally.
The whole course of his imperial |
ambition was reversed. At first >he |
faced west in the hope of establish
ing the old German empire of the
Hapsburgs. But when the needle !
gun of Prussia had blown this hope
to pieces, he faced about, took over
Bosnia and for 40 years planned to
expand his empire eastward through |
the Balkans. Instead Of heading
for the Rhine, as at the outset. he
steered for the Bosphorus.
In the beginning he had turned to
Russia as his nearest friend, and he
called 100000 Russian soldiers
through the Carpathian passes to
crush Kossuth's revolution in Hun
gary But in the end. he looked
upon Russia as his most DANGEROUS
foe. and through many wears he prr
pared to meet her in this great wa. |
whose thunder filled his ears as he lay
L