Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-04-03
THE LAST ROYAL HAPsBURG.

Charles. former emperor of Austria-Hungary,
whose death at his place of exile in the Madeira is
lands has just been announced, was the last
crowned member in the direct line of a race whose
men have been kings and mobiles for nearly seven
hundred years. Occupying at one time or another
most Of the thrones of Europe, the royal line became
restricted to that which assembled the imperial
throne of Austria in 1904, and whose most conspic-
uous member was Francis Joseph, who was cmper-
or of Austria Hungary when the world war began,
and into whose long reign there was crowded more
of sorrow and disgrace than. falls to the lot of most
mortals, high or low.
Those who cling to the ancient belief that it is
possible tor human beings to bring upon others the
wrath of powerful beings, good or bad, in another
world, will find their convictions strengthened by
the story Of the curse invoked upon the house Of
Hapsburg by the Countess Karolyi many years ago.
This woman, injured as she believed herself to be,
by Francis Joseph, invoked upon him and his house
a whitening curse. For the emperor himself she
asked long life, in order that he might experience
the full measure of the bitterness that could be
crowded into one life. She asked that he might
know domestic disgrace, that those nearest and
dearest to him might die disho1ored, that strife and
contention should attend him, and that in his old
age he should see his empire disintegrate before his
eyes. If this woman had actually been in direct
communication with the powers of evil, the curse
which she invoked could not have been moro faith
FULLY carried out. Presiding over the most proAig-
ate court in Europe this fated man grew old in a
series of tragedies, domestic and national, such as
few others have known, and he breathed his last
while the national edi6ce which had given him his
power was crumbling to pieces around him.
Francis ~Joseph's granddaughter, Charles, who
succeeded him, had a brief and troubled reign.
Realizing how his country had been tricked into
war for the purpose of enhancing the power of the
Pruss1on Hohenzollern, he was master neither of
himself nor of his environment, and he drifted until
his ship struck the rocks. Fis repeated attempts
to reseat himself on the throne made him %pitifully
ridiculous. Once, at least, he sought that refuge OF
the weak, suicide, bat lacked decision to make his
attempt successful. lie was exiled, not because lie
was torceful enough to be a real menace anywhere,
but because his presence on the continent was likely
to be a source OF constant petty annoyances.
Charles leaves a widow as ambitious as he, and
much more forceful, and several children. The lat
ter arc unfortunate in their inheritance. In proper
environment, thrown upon their own resources,
they might overcome their heriditary handicap anil
develop into real men and women. Situated as they
are, with Observation-Disclosures ariistocracy perlneat-
ing them, trained in the" belief that the world Still
owes them maintenance and honor, they are ,urfor-
tunate, and the chances are against them. How in
tnltely brighter are the prospects of the youth who
knows Of his ancestry only that it was decent, self
reliant and honorable, whose station is merely that
OF millions of other strong and sturdy youths, and
whose wealth lies in the sound body, the alert brain,
and the clear and responsive moral consciousness
which should be, and may be, the product of Ameri-
can institutions.