Show THE HAPSBDRGS Some Characteristics of Austrias Ruling Family BROTHERS OF THE EMPEROR offlfe of the Seapegraes of the Family How < Archduke Otto Was Publicly Disgraced by His UncleEtc Etc Tho tragic death of tOO crown prince of Austria has naturally attracted tho attention I of tho world to tho imperial family and its history Eenco a few observations on what Is considered one of tho greatest imperial bouses of tho world will bo very seasonable now o nUDOLPH AKD STEPHANIE The cradlo of tho house of Hapsburg that istbo ensUe from which they derive their ndune is situated in tho canton of Aargau SvSpttferincL From its appearance no one would suppose it to bo tho ancestral seat of tho mighty Bapsburgs It is only a heap of ruins with a few doleful looking towers Not long ago tho Austrian government sought to obtain possession of it and made advances to tho Swiss authorities for that purpose The latter however politely but positively declined de-clined to yield to tho request Perhaps they still remembered tho tyranny to which Switzerland in former ages had long been subjected by governors sent from Austria and hence consider it a valuable remembrance re-membrance of the day when they unitedly and successfully resisted tho Austrian suppression sup-pression and threw off tho yoko that had so long galled their necks r Before tho family attained to any promi natco it was not distinguished whatever froJfe those other ancient barons and counts whoso principal mode of obtaining a livelihood liveli-hood was by lying in ambush and robbing merchants who had tho misfortune to pass through the domains subject to their jurisdiction juris-diction Tho life of these nobles was by no means such a one as a reader not acquainted with tho history of those times would bo apt to imagine that noblemen would lead A modest mod-est working man of tho present day lives on tho average far more sumptuously than the nobility could then afford Almost tho only occasions when they could allow themselves a luxury was when they mado a good haul in their occupation of highway robbery Such ancestors have nearly all tho monarchical Lam ies of Europe as well as tho lower class of the nobility J One of tho most distinguished Hapsburgs of olden times was Rudolph emperor of Austria as well as Germany Ho reigned from 1273 to 129L Perhaps his most remarkable remark-able trait was his great devotion to the Cath cfe church It is related that ono time while ou a journey overland ho arrived at a certain brook which recent rains had swelled to an unusual extent As ho was just essaying to cross it on his horse a priest with his attendant attend-ant came along Ho was on a mission to administer ad-minister to a dying man tho sacrament of extreme ex-treme unction His distress when ho saw that it would impossible to cross the stream was great When the emperor perceived it he immediately dismounted and assisted tho priest to mount his own horse remarking remark-ing It is not fit that I should ride when tho servant of the Lord over all is walking and thus ho crossed tho water and led tho horse of the priest by tho bridlo to tho latters destination des-tination This piety and adherence to tho Catholic church has been a family trait of the Haps burgs during their whole history with but very few exceptions The ono emperor who departed most widely from family traditions in this respect was Emperor Joseph II who reigned from 1TC5 to 1790 Ho issued an edict of toleration whereby tho Protestants and tho disunited Greeks obtained permission to practice their religion undisturbedly Ho also abolished many monasteries and curtailed cur-tailed tho power of tho popo in tho Austrian empire Tho attachment of tho imperial house to the Catholic church at tho present time is per 4eps best illustrated by tho fact that tho abbess ab-bess of tho greatest convent in Austria the members of which consist only of ladies belonging be-longing to tho nobility must always bo an archduchess of Austria who cs a perquisite of her dignity possesses the privilege at the crowning of every queen of Bohemia to place tho crown upon tho latters head It was I t 1t 1 t 1I I 4I dy Tf CMPrtlOR FRANCIS JOSEPH only tho Cth of Juno last year when the youthful Archduchess Marguerite Sophia was installed invested and enthroned as abbess Tho present emperor of AustroHungary was born on tho ISth of August 1SSO and E1l cccded on tho 2d of December ISIS his uncle the childless Ferdinand I who had abdicated ab-dicated from the throne Tho formers accession ac-cession to tho throne fell in very troubled times the empire being at that time plunged into fearful confusion by tho outbreak of the revolution Russian assistance enabled the I young emperor to quell tho insurection Perhaps Per-haps tho two darkest days in the history of Francis Joseph excepting the tragic death of his son were tho defeat of tho Austrian army at Solf erino in HIP which resulted in tho loss of Lombardy and the abolition of tho abwlutistic system and the battles of Sadowa and Koeniggraetz which lost Austria tho supremacy for a century exercised over Italy uSa Germany Ontho 24th of April 1851 Emperor Francis Fran-cis Joseph was married Elizabeth daughter of Archduke Unymillnn in Bavaria who recently died Three children were born to lhem Gisek born on tho 12th of July 1S50 Bavaria Crown Prince Rudolph born on the 22d of August 1S5S and the Archduchess Marie Valerie born 1SGS Crown Prince Rudolph ham loft no male heir his brother Charles Louis who is but three years younger than Francis Joseph would bo entitled to the throne in case of the latters death But it appears that he has no desires in that direction probably because he is too old for it is quite certain that bo will resign his claim in favor of his son Francis Ferdinand who in order to be eligible for this important position has to transfer his claim to tho millions left him by tho Duke of Modena to his brother Otto And this Otto upon whom the crown might devolve has been tho hero of some scandals Speaking of Archduke Ottos unenviable record it might not be outof place to relate an instance which occurred a few years ago and culminated in bringing the wrath of the emperor upon his head It is raid that one evening whilo in a company of his boon companions com-panions they all being in a very hilarious condition from the effects of the champagne imbibed ho proposed to them to take them in a body to his wifes bedside It need not bo said that tho more than jolly crowd eagerly I accepted the proposal and followed their intoxicated in-toxicated leader to the apartments occupied by his wife But on arriving at tho sleeping room of the archduchess an obstacle pro canted itself to them Her chamberlain withdrawn with-drawn sword in his hand declared that he would kill tho first man who would try to effect an entrance oven if it were the archduke arch-duke himself His attitude somewhat sobered up the party and they retired with a confused idea of having gotten themselves into a very bad scrape and such it proved to be especially for Archduke Otto When the emperor heard of tho matter he called a family council and in tho presence of tho numerous members belonging be-longing to tho imperial family he as tho head of tho house reprehended tho young scapegrace most severely telling him that ho had scandalized the whole family most shamefully shame-fully and that as he had publicly sinned his punishment should also bo public and suiting I Ii j y EilPRESS AND PRINCESS MARIE the action to the words he slapped him in the face and ordered him into the garrison at a little out of tho way place where his opportunities oppor-tunities for carousing were very limited His superiors were instructed to keep him under strict surveillance and his inferior officers offi-cers and privates wero ordered not to salute him This course of treatment lasted several months but whether it effectively cured him is still doubtful Unhappy marital relations seem to be the greatest weakness of the Hapsburgs It has long been a known fact that tho emperor and his empress have not lived on the bcstof terms Reports of such a nature have even obtained credence among tho common people though of course every Austrian subject is very careful to whom ho speaks of such ticklish matters The same unhappy state of things also obtained in tho case of tho dead crown prince and his wife Stephanie Fond of scientific pursuits ho seemed to have been still more enamored of beautiful women not always caring where he found them Yet on the whole it must bo said that aside from such weaknesses to which others than emperors em-perors empresses and crown princes are frequently fre-quently subject there is much to like and admire ad-mire in Emperor Francis Joseph and his empress It is a fact conceded by all who havo coino into contact with them that they have great kindness of heart especially for tho poor and unfortunate This was illustrated very effectively only a short time ago on the occasion of Francis Josephs forty years jubilee jubi-lee as emperor Instead of ordering great pageants and noisy festivities tho emperor declared that his wish was that the jubilee might bo celebrated only by works of benevolence I benevo-lence and public benefit such as tho founding i of hospitals schools endowments public parks etc This suggestion was enthusiastically enthusiastic-ally received and as a result about 20000 000 wero devoted to such purposes |