Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1918-11-13

London, Nov. 12.-Emperor Charles
of Austria has abdicated, according to
Copenhagen dispatch to the Ex-
change Telegraph company, quoting
private advices from Vienna.
UnpromisinG Officer.
Emperor Charles | of Austria, king
of Hungary, was an unpromisng mag
jor in an Austrian infantry regiment
when the shot OF the assassin who
killed the Archduke Francis Ferdi-
nand on June 2S. 1914, made him the
heir apparent to the throne in the
Hawks Castle" on the banks of the
River Aar.
Two hundred or more monarchs of
this historic house of Hapsburg ruled
for centuries the land of Magyar
Slav and Teuton-centuries Of blood
shed, tyranny and aggression--an
sleep their last sleep in the wonderful
crypt of the Capauchin Church in
Vienna. Emperor Francis Joseph,
the aged predecessor of the youthful
Charles. seeing the handwriting on
the wall" had hoped to unite the dis
cordant elements among his 50,000,-
600 subjects whose racial antagonisms
were complicated by the absorption
Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908.
II was the Archduke Francis Fer
dinand's determination to bring about
a triune empire made up of Magyar,
Slav and German states, it is generally
believed, that led to his assassination
in Saraievo. Francis Ferdinand
feared the dual monarchy might be
ended upon the death of Francis Jo-
seph by the Intervention Of Russia or
Germany and sought thus to forestall
1t.
Charles | was born August II. 1887,
the son of the late Archduke Otto of
SaXony. He married the Princess Zita
of the Bourbon house OF Parma
(Itallan) In 1911. When the Nunc
Dimittls was sung for his dead grand
uncle, the Emperor Francis Joseph,
the only achievements of Charles
brought to public notice were that he
was keen sportsman, an excellent
shot and motorist. Frequently he was
seen in the parks of Vienna wheeling
one of his young dukes in a baby
perambulator. When he acceded to
the throne on December so, 1916, Aus
tria- Hungary, torn by four years of
war, saw the first faint CLEAN of pos
sible peace.
The course of the new ruler was
regulated largely from Berlin and for
the first six months of his reign Aus
tria- Hungary was regarded as a mere
German state. Hindenburg's success
es in Galicia in 1916 in which Charles
shared as a commander in the field,
gave the young monarch a prestige
which enabled him 10 hold the Aus
TRANS to the Central Powers until the
collapse OF Bulgaria and Turkey and
the final crash.
Numerous peace overtureS and ma
noeuvres characterized the diplomacy
of the dual monarchy after Francis
Joseph's death, precipitated doubtless
by bread riots and other outbreaks
throughout Austria. Unable TO main
tain his pledge to the German emper-
or ito continue the war TO the end
Charles made use of the famous
Dear SiXtus' letter, an autographed
missiye written in April, 1918, TO
Prince Sixtus de Bourbon for trans
mission to the French government in
which tlfe monarch said Frances
claim to Alsace-L Lorraine was "justi-
fled"
Although the letter was denounced
as forgery in Vienna, the foreign
office claiming ii had been written by
a French ecclesastic who had been
acting as confessor to the Empress
2ita. subsequent events proved its au-
thenticity. 1t was the first revelation
of the break between the German
emperor and his vassal king. Prev
iously, Emperor Charles had indicated
bis desire for peace, however, in
speeches before the Reichsrat. In De-
cember, 1917. he declared his willing
ness to conclude peace with the al
lies IL they would guarantee the in
tegrity of Austria Hungary.
Conditions in the dual monarchy
were rapidly growing worse. There
were many cabinet changes and assas-
sinations. The Magyars, Czecho-Slavs
and other nationalities were clamorine
| for constitutional reforms and au-
tonomous government.
Thereafter Charles lot was fai
| from being happy one. He was re-
ported to have refused to send Aus
! trian troops to the western battlefront
despite the German emperors i'm.
portunity, In every way he endeaVoret
! to stem the tide of revolution which
seemed to be rising. He promised al
| kinds of reforms and as sop to his
| discontinued subjects pardoned p
prisoners awaiting trial at sarajert
| for high treason.
On October, 1918, he announced
plans for the liberalization of Austria
Hungary and in an address to thu
| Hungarian diet frankly admitted hi
| throne was in peril" A day or TIVE
later Count Karolyi, leader of tn
Hungarian republicans announces
the success of "a bloodless revolution
in BUDAPEST and declared Hungary ;
free and independent state. Still
later the German and other province
| declared their purposes to becom
autonomous entities and the hous
of the Hapsburgs, once the leader 0
the Holy Roman empire, seemed to b
about to collapse like house o