CHAPTER XXXII
The summing up—The probable future of Austria—The probable future of the House of Habsburg—Questions both personal and political which will be raised when Francis Joseph dies—The extent to which he has been “in the movement”—The faithful companion of his old age.
Francis Joseph, at the moment of writing, has passed not only his eighty-third birthday, but the sixty-fifth anniversary of his accession. Since the death of the late Regent of Bavaria, he has been the _doyen_ of European rulers; and his reign has been longer than that of any modern monarch except Louis XIV., who came to the throne as a small child. His health is naturally the subject of constant preoccupation and infinite precaution on the part of his _entourage_; and last year he was kept indoors at Schönnbrunn from the middle of October until the middle of April. To what extent he is now able to govern, as well as to reign, only his Ministers know; but it is understood that, while they mobilise the army, he prays that there may be peace in his time.
Most likely he will get his way. There prevails throughout Europe, as well as throughout Austria, a sentimental feeling that he has suffered enough, and that it would be cruel to disturb his last days with war or civil commotion. That sentiment may be expected to count for more than the impatience of those Ruthenian deputies who have taken to silencing their German rivals in the Reichsrath by banging gongs and sounding motor-horns. It might not be so if the problems to the discussion of which the sounding of those motor-horns is an emotional contribution were quite ripe for settlement; but the day of reckoning must still be deferred a little. It is not before the blowing of motor-horns that the walls of Jericho will fall down flat; and it is improbable that Francis Joseph will live to see the solution of the problem which their tumult heralds.
Still, there the problem is; and we must take a final glance at it before we quit the subject. It is an old problem in a new form: a fresh presentation of the problem propounded by that Resettlement of Europe in 1815, which served as our historical starting-point—the problem arising out of the claims of ignored but inextinguishable nationalities. The shifting of the orientation of the Austrian outlook from the Italian to the Balkan peninsula, so often acclaimed as an act of wise statesmanship, has only restated that problem in a fresh shape. For the Italia Irredenta which was a thorn in the side of Austria in the past, it has substituted a Servia Irredenta which will prove a thorn in the side of Austria in the future.
In the days when the change was effected, the Servians were a despised people; and the Austrians and Hungarians believed the Turks, who declared that, in their many battles with the Servians, they had only seen their backs. They took that view alike of the Servians within the Empire—the Servians of Illyria, Dalmatia, Croatia, and other regions—and of the Servians of the independent kingdom of Servia. The former, it seemed to them, were naturally their slaves; the latter were a feeble folk, incapable, and never likely to be capable, of delivering those slaves from servitude. But now they are not so sure. Their Bosnian war established the unexpected truth that men of Servian race not only hated Austrian domination, but could make a good fight for their independence. The recent Balkan war has renewed the warning; and it remains to be seen what will happen now that there is a strong Servia—at least as strong as the old kingdom of Sardinia—to which the unredeemed Servians can look for their redemption. The situation, in short, reproduces in almost every particular the conditions which led to the formation of the kingdom of United Italy.
It is a situation in which there is one incalculable factor: the internal dissensions of the Balkan peoples. Those enmities are undeniably acute; and Austria is clearly determined to foment them, in order to postpone, if not to frustrate, the welding together of a formidable Balkan Confederation. That is the obvious inwardness of her recent support of Bulgaria and Albania. The plan may answer for the moment; but it can hardly avail in the long run, for two reasons. Albania is too disorganised to count; Bulgaria is too weak to have any future except as a member of a Balkan Confederation; and there is also Roumania to be reckoned with—Roumania, which may prove to be at once a consolidating influence in the Balkans, and an influence hostile to Austria.
The fact that there is a Roumania Irredenta as well as a Servia Irredenta may be expected to draw the Servians and the Roumanians together; and their ultimate purpose in drawing together would obviously be to raise the questions of the two unredeemed territories simultaneously. If that should happen, the history of United Italy can hardly fail to repeat itself in the Danubian States. That it would so repeat itself there was one of Mazzini’s political predictions; and he exhorted his countrymen, when the day came, to go over to Macedonia and help the Slavs. If they should ever do so, they will certainly want to help themselves to the Trentino at the same time; and they might alternatively—Triple Alliance or no Triple Alliance—demand the Trentino as the price of their neutrality.
The danger is perceived, of course, in Vienna; and there are those in Vienna who have their plan for meeting it. The Archduke Francis Ferdinand himself is generally understood to have a plan: the transformation of the Dual Monarchy into a Triple Monarchy—the third of his Trinity of Kingdoms to be a Kingdom of Slavs. To some the idea seems a brilliant inspiration; to others a counsel of despair. It derives most of the value which it has from the fact that a majority of the Slavs within the Empire are Catholics, whereas a majority of the Slavs without the Empire belong to the Orthodox Church, and that the Catholics despise the Orthodox as their inferiors in piety and civilisation. The Archduke, as a very religious man—the sort of man whom people speak of as being “in the hands of the Jesuits”—relies, apparently, upon differences of creed to keep the Slavs divided and weak, in spite of the brotherhood of race.
He may be right; but there are not wanting indications that he is wrong. Even in the Balkans religious fanaticism is no longer the force that it used to be; and the Austrian police has recently had all its work cut out to prevent inopportune explosions of sympathy with Servian successes, in Croatia. There, and in Bosnia, and in Dalmatia, just as of old in Lombardy and in Venetia, explosions have only been prevented—perhaps one should say have only been deferred—by the policy of sitting on the safety-valve; and when that policy has to be adopted, things never fail to happen which make the oppressed difficult to reconcile. Moreover, there is a further difficulty, already indicated on a previous page: the difficulty which has its double root in Slav numbers and Austro-Hungarian pride.
Of all the races which make up the composite Empire, the Slavs are the most numerous. Admitted to the Empire on equal terms, they will be in a position to control it—to control, that is to say, the Austrians and Hungarians who have hitherto controlled them. If that were allowed to happen, the condition of things created might be as intolerable to the Austrians and Hungarians as is the existing state of things to the Slavs. Foreseeing this, they will be reluctant to take the step which will compel them to bow their necks; and, if they do take it, yet another “unredeemed” question will be raised: the question whether the Teutonic portion of the Habsburg dominions should not be regarded as Germania Irredenta. The Pangermanists of Prussia already, as we know, take that view of it; and Slav predominance might easily create a Pangermanist party in Austria also. Indeed, the nucleus of a Pangermanist party already exists there.
One doubts, therefore, whether the plan of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand—bold though the conception is—will prove to be a panacea. It strikes one as an artifice—a piece of diplomatic jugglery; and the forces which really determine the course of history are forces which mere juggling is powerless to control. The real rivalry of the Europe of to-day and to-morrow is the rivalry between Teuton and Slav; and that is a rivalry which has its origin, not merely in conflicting material interests, but in fundamental antipathies of character. As long as Teutons are anywhere ruling over Slavs, no policy of “live and let live” is feasible; and as the Slavs increase in numbers and in racial self-consciousness, the clash is bound to come. When it does come—when the unredeemed Slavs, assisted by the unredeemed Roumanians, insist upon their redemption—Austria will have played her part on the stage of European history, and the curtain may be rung down.
That is one of the predictions with which we may leave our subject; but there is also another speculation which it would be difficult to avoid. What of that House of Habsburg which has so long been the personal incarnation of the Austrian Empire? Whither is it tending? On what will its ultimate destiny depend? Will the family problems prove to be more easily soluble than those of the Empire itself? Will it still be in the future, as it has been in the past, the unifying principle of a complex political system? One doubts it—one cannot help doubting it—for various reasons.
The question before us—before Austria, rather—is the question of the importance which the world of the immediate future will attach to family pride and the exclusiveness of an imperial caste; and that is a question about which the world of to-day does not quite seem to have made up its mind. It has gained a little knowledge without losing an equal proportion of prejudice, and has reached a point at which it finds it equally difficult to live either with its superstitions or without them. It is moved—it cannot help being moved—by the formidable array of facts by which the Eugenists demonstrate that the path to degeneracy is paved with consanguineous marriages; but, at the same time, it cannot easily shake off its instinctive reluctance to accord imperial dignity to the offspring of a healthy young woman of what it regards as the “lower orders.” It is, the world feels, very embarrassing to have to choose between a degenerate and a person of inferior social status.
That, nevertheless, is the choice which lies before Austria in the immediate future. Francis Ferdinand, as we have seen, has married beneath him; his marriage is “morganatic.” That is to say that, when he comes to the throne, the heir to the throne will not be his son, but his nephew. That nephew is a young man about whom comparatively little is known; but when Francis Ferdinand goes into the matter, he will do so with the following facts before him:—
1. The heir to the throne is the son of the family scapegrace, who used to dance in cafés _in puris naturalibus_.
2. This heir is married to a lady who comes of the decadent Bourbon Parma stock.
3. This young man, and his wife, and his family are taking precedence of his own wife, whom he loves, and the healthy[7] children whom she has borne him.
[Footnote 7: Apparently healthy, though there is, unhappily, a strain of insanity in the Chotek family also. Nothing was known or suspected of it at the time of the marriage; but the Duchess of Hohenberg’s father had to be placed under restraint before his death. One may hope that the weakness was developed too late in life to be transmitted.]
The superstition of caste would, indeed, be strong in Francis Ferdinand if he regarded that as a right and proper state of things; and the mere fact that he married as he did, in the face of the opposition which he encountered, shows clearly that, whatever superstitions may still retain a hold on him, that particular superstition has relaxed its grip. Is he likely—human nature being what we know it to be—to accept an affront inflicted in the name of a superstition which he has abandoned? Can we expect his wife and his children to press him to do so?
Obviously we cannot. The thing might have happened in bygone ages—or even in comparatively recent ages—when universal opinion drew a religious as well as a social distinction between hereditary sovereigns and their subjects, and the personal dignity of the individual counted for nothing in comparison with that great impersonal principle. It cannot happen now that all impersonal principles are in the melting-pot and so many postulates which men used to grant as they now grant the law of gravitation are being brought to the bar of opinion to be cross-examined. The postulate which bids the progeny of an Emperor who married for love take a lower seat than the son and grandsons of the family scapegrace will assuredly be questioned by the next Emperor of Austria; and it will be found that it has nothing to say for itself. It may die fighting; but it will die; and the whole of the Habsburg superstition will die with it. What will happen then lies in the lap of the Gods.
It is, however, precisely because of its gradual approach to such problems as these that one finds the reign of Francis Joseph such an intensely interesting period of history. It is interesting from the personal point of view as the story of Nemesis overtaking the oppressor; the story which we have presented symbolically as the story of the fulfilment of Countess Karolyi’s curse. Philosophically it is interesting as the age of transition from mediæval to modern ideas: the age in which both nationalities and individuals have stormily asserted their right to live their own lives in their own way. In both these matters we see, in Austria more clearly than anywhere else, the hungry generations treading down the past.
It is seldom that so complete an evolution of outlook is co-extensive with the life of a single sovereign; perhaps, indeed, Francis Joseph’s reign has been unique in that respect. In any case, he has witnessed all these changes, and lived through all these intellectual and emotional experiences. His _rôle_, while doing so, has been to keep up appearances; but, if we could penetrate to the realities behind the appearances, we should assuredly find that he had not himself been unaffected by the transformations going on around him. That is the true moral of the story of his affection for Frau Schratt, and of the rumour of his desire to give that lady his left hand in marriage. He felt what the other Habsburgs felt, though he controlled his feelings better. Seeing what the other Habsburgs were doing, he had the impulse to be “in the movement,” though he resisted it. He, like the rest, has sometimes had the intuition that happiness lay in living one’s own life rather than the corporate life of one’s country; and there are moments when his biographer feels that, in spite of all the pomp and glory which have attended his public career, the day of days for him must have been the day on which he met Frau Schratt, who, after twenty-eight years of mutual devotion, now totters down the hill with him at the journey’s end.
[Illustration:
_Photo_ _Adèle_
FRAU SCHRATT.]
Daily, for a little while, when health permits, he sits with her and wonders.... We will leave him wondering.
INDEX
Adamovics, Fräulein Wilhelmina, viii, 107, 322, 326, 327, 329
Albert, Archduke, 134, 136, 138-140, 149, 152-155, 162, 192, 234, 242
Albert, Prince Consort, 135
Alençon, Sophie, Duchesse d’, under restraint at Graetz, 98, 169; affianced to Ludwig II. of Bavaria, 161, 188; photographed with Count Holnstein, 188; the engagement broken off—married to Duc d’Alençon, 189; her death, 161, 191
Alexander I., Czar of Russia, 2, 32, 57, 70
Ambert, General, _Cinq Epées_, 37
Amsterdam, 119
Andrassy, Count Julius, 146, 156, 210, 247
Andrews, Mrs. Clarence, 224
Anjou, Charles of, 20
Aroyo, Don Agostino, 253
Arragon, Ferdinand of, 23
_Assassins, Les_, ballet by Archduke John Salvator, 233
Augustenburg, Duchess of, 189
Augustine, Princess, 286, 292
Austria, a medley of races, not a nation, vi; its history only to be understood in conjunction with the personality of its sovereign, vi, vii; its position in the Holy Roman Empire, 2; the formation of the Empire its chief problem, 4; a Teuton Power when Francis Joseph commenced his reign—its Italian provinces, 7; opposed to the liberal ideas of the period, 33; all its statesmen policemen at heart, 34; the revolution in Lombardy, 36-38; the popular demand for a constitution, 40; risings in Vienna, 41; wonderfully favoured by accidents, 54; bungling policy of, in connection with the Crimean War, 70; at war with France and Italy, 123-130; like all Germans, can only govern in a state of siege, 124, 125; tortured her Italian subjects in prison, 125, 126; an Italian’s opinions of, 126, 127; at war with Prussia, 134-137; surrenders Venetia to Italy, 134; her attitude in the Franco-Prussian War, 148-157; her future not in Italy or Germany, but in the Balkans—occupies Bosnia, 158; her coming troubles in the Balkan States, 342-346
Austrian Alpine Club, 125
_Austrian Court of the Nineteenth Century_, _see_ Rumbold, Sir Horace
Bach, Alexander A., Baron von, 66
Baden, 162
Balfour, Jabez, 257
Baltazzi, Alexander, 201, 211, 214, 224
Baltazzi, Evelyn, 201
Baltazzi, Hector, 201
Ban of Croatia, the, _see_ Jellaçiç, Baron Von
Barclay’s brewery, Marshal Haynau’s reception by the draymen at, 61-64
Barr, Robert, 219
Barrès, Maurice, 79
Batthyany, Elemar, 57
Batthyany, Louis, 57, 58
Bavaria, 155
Bazaine, Marshal, 173
Beck, Baroness von, on the cynicism of the Court during the Hungarian War, 59
Beckford, William, 190
Benedek, General, 135-142
Berlin, 134, 155
_Berliner Lokal Anzeiger_, interviews Frau Schratt on the rumour of the morganatic marriage of Francis Joseph, 109; story of the death of Crown Prince Rudolf in, 219, 220
Berry, Duchesse de, 238
Bertha, Count Alexander von, 82
Berzeviczy, General, 263
Beust, F. F. von, 83, 155
Biarritz, 133, 264, 266
Bismarck, Prince, 68, 132, 133, 135, 140, 162, 272
Bohemia, 46, 51, 136, 155
Boigne, Mme. de, 88
Bomba, _see_ Francis II., King of Naples
Bombelles, Count, 218
Bosnia, Austrian occupation of, 158
Brabant, Marie, Duchess of, 23
Bratfisch, coachman to the Crown Prince Rudolf, 219
Bruckenau, 266
Brussels, 63, 108, 197, 198, 294, 322
Buda-Pesth, 52, 53, 146, 161, 211, 239, 287
Buenos Ayres, 255
Burg, Charles, 71, 291; _see also_ Archduke Ferdinand Charles
Byron, Lord, 6; _Don Juan_, 6
Cairo, 203
Calvi, Colonel, 126, 127
Capet, Hugues, 20
Cap Martin, 119, 264
Capua, Prince of, 237
Carlos, Don, 322
Castiglioni, Countess, 123
Castlereagh, Lord, 5
Caux, 266
Cavour, Count, 122, 123
Chaco, 255
Charles II. of Spain, 24
Charles III. of Spain, 21
Charles V., Emperor, 24
Charles X. of France, 6
Charles, Archduke, 24, 27
Charles, Duke of Parma, 317
Charles of Lichtenstein, 189
Charles Albert, King of Sardinia, 36, 51, 122, 123, 130
Charles Ferdinand, Archduke, 241
Charles Louis, Archduke, brother of the Emperor, 48, 274, 301
Charles Salvator, Archduke, 278, 283
Charles the Bold of Burgundy, 23
Charlotte, Archduchess, wife of Archduke Maximilian: unpopularity in Venice, 127, 146, 165; her ambition causes her to persuade Maximilian to accept the crown of Mexico, 165-167, 170; seeks Napoleon’s influence over the _pacte de famille_, 169; keeps up Maximilian’s spirits during the voyage, 172, 173; returns to Europe to persuade Napoleon to leave the Army of Occupation in Mexico, 175-179; her mind was already unhinged before she left Mexico, 177; heard of Sadowa on her arrival—was not met at the station—Empress Eugénie came to call on her, 178; her interview with Napoleon, 178, 179; goes to her old home at Miramar, 179; and thence to Rome, 179, 180; suffers from mental alienation, 180-181; taken back to Miramar, 181; had occasional glimmerings of sanity, 185
Chotek, Countess Sophie, 293, 300, 303-309, 311, 313
Christina, Archduchess, 27
_Cinq Epées_, _see_ Ambert, General
Corona, 182
_Corriera della Sera_, Count Nigra’s account of the Crown Prince Rudolf’s death in, 221
Cracow, 233
Crenneville, Count, 137, 138
Crimean War, 70
Cristina, Queen of Spain, 238
Cromer, 119
Custozza, 37, 51, 134, 234
Czanadez, Marshal, 248, 249
Czuber, Fräulein, 288-291
_Daily Mail_ on Baron Ernest Wallburg, 287
Darwin, Chas., 11
Deák, Ferencz, 83, 144
Diaz, Porfirio, 174, 182
Domenech, Emmanuel, _History of Mexico_, 173
_Eclair, L’_, account of the Meyerling tragedy in, 223
Eitel Fritz, Prince, 298, 301
Eleanor, Archduchess, 288
Eleanor of Austria, wife of Francis I. of France, 26
Elisa, the circus-rider, 97
Elizabeth, Archduchess, at the abdication of the Emperor Ferdinand, 48; sets her cap at Francis Joseph, 86; burned to death at Schönnbrunn, 192
Elizabeth, Archduchess, daughter of Crown Prince Rudolf, 293, 294, 297-299, 301
Elizabeth, Empress, wife of Francis Joseph, making love to Elemar Batthyany, 58; the tragedy of her death at Geneva, 60; not trained for her position—stories of her early years, 73; her first meeting with Francis Joseph—his proposal, 74; her betrothal, 75; the marriage a failure, 77; the impenetrability of her character—her melancholy, 79; her beauty and popularity with all classes, 80, 82; factors in their estrangement, 81; a valuable asset in the government of the Empire, 81-83; did not get on with her mother-in-law, nor with the Archduchess Elizabeth, 86; her free-and-easy manners, 87; her instructions to Countess Marie Larisch, whom she chose to live with her as _confidante_, 90; her name coupled with that of Count Hunyadi, 91; her adieux with Capt. Middleton, 93; comes to Countess Marie’s bedroom at night to dissuade her from marrying Count N.
Esterhazy, 93; her own experiences allegorised in a fairy-tale, 94, 95; her roving disposition, her melancholy and cynicism, 96; her attention to the _toilette_, and daring horsemanship, 97; the insanity in her family, 97, 98; _The Martyrdom of an Empress_, an untrustworthy life of her, 99-105; never used a gun—yachting in the Ionian Islands, 101; not at all musical—never rode alone, 102; introduces Frau Schratt to the Emperor, 104, 105, 109, 110; supposed reasons for her trip to Madeira, 116, 117; her indifference as to the training of the Crown Prince, 116; her constant wanderings and ceremonial appearances at Court, 116-119; specimens of her poetic pessimism, 119, 120; her popularity in Hungary helped the settlement, 143, 144; her murder, 162; refuses to believe her brother Ludwig mad—suggests a plan for his escape, 190; did not believe him dead, 191; said to have written reminiscences, 260; her outlook on life and her religious beliefs, 261, 262; M. Paoli’s account of her when in France, 263-265; omens preceding her assassination, 265-267; stabbed at Geneva, 268
Elizabeth of Hungary, Saint, 83
Elizabeth, Princess, granddaughter of the Emperor, 292-293
Elizabeth, Princess, of Bavaria, _see_ Elizabeth, Empress
Ernest, Archduke, 239
Escobedo, 182
_Essays and Reviews_, 259
Esterhazy, Félicie, 41
Esterhazy, Count Nicholas, 93, 120, 143
Esterhazy, Valentine, 70
Eugéne, Archduke, 278, 279, 283
Eugénie, Empress, 118, 152, 178, 264
Faucigny-Lucinge, Mme., 240, 241
Faye, M. Jacques La, his life of the Empress, 99
Federal Assembly, the, 3
Ferdinand, Emperor, uncle of Francis Joseph, 22; his character, 42, 46; his abdication, 47-51
Ferdinand, King of Bulgaria, 318
Ferdinand, Grand Duke of Tuscany, 220, 221, 323
Ferdinand VI. of Spain, 24
Ferdinand Charles, Archduke, 288-291, 301
Ferdinand of Este, Archduke, 47, 48
Ferenzy, Mdlle., 103
France, war with, 123-130
Francis I. of France, 26
Francis II., Emperor, grandfather of Francis Joseph, 21, 22
Francis II., King of Naples, 6, 125
Francis Charles, Archduke, father of Francis Joseph, 22, 29, 48, 49, 69
Francis Ferdinand, Archduke, 269, 288, 293, 300; nephew to the Emperor—delicate boy and grew up delicate, 301; educated amongst Jesuits—medical treatment has its effect on him, 302; is expected to marry Archduchess Gabrielle, 303; but was courting a lady-in-waiting, Countess Sophie Chotek, 303-305; Archduchess Isabella’s discovery of their affection, 305, 306; the Emperor sanctions the marriage as a morganatic one, 305; the Archduke’s oath, 309; possible ways of evading it, 311-313; his plan for settlement of Balkan troubles, 344-346; his morganatic marriage stands in the way of the natural succession after him, 348, 349
Francis Joseph I., Emperor of Austria, materials for a full biography not available, viii; short-comings essential to previous biographies, viii-x; the difficulties with which he was met on ascending the throne, 3; the formation of the Austrian Empire the central problem of his reign, 4; the risings in Italy and Hungary in the beginning of his reign, 7; his present popularity, 7, 8; to be considered both as Emperor and Habsburg, 8, 9, 18; the only sane member of the family, 15, 16; the tragedies of his position, 17, 18; his ancestors, 20-22; and collateral branches of the family, 23-26; ascends the throne at eighteen, the rising hope of a decadent family, 22; his birth and parentage, 29; his education and love for his people, 30; his first engagement with the army, 37, 38; his return to his studies, 38; at his uncle’s abdication, 48; succeeds to the throne, 49; the impression he had made in Hungary on an early visit did not insure popularity, 52; was bound to follow the advice of Windischgraetz and Schwartzenberg, 52; Hungarians refuse to recognise his authority till he takes the constitutional oath, 53; cut in the hunting field by Elemar Batthyany—was he responsible for the atrocities of the Hungarian War? 58; nicknamed at birth “the child of the gallows,” 64; his affront to Napoleon III., 65; and its result, 66, 123; his travels through his dominions—releases political prisoners—an attempt on his life, 67; Bismarck’s opinion of him, 68; the King of Belgium’s, 68, 69; Lady Westmorland’s description of him, 69; his romantic marriage, 71-76; first sees the Princess Elizabeth by accident, 73; his proposal, 74; their betrothal, 75; his marriage a failure, 77; the obviousness of his personality, 78, 79; the happiness of his early married days, 80, 81; factors in their estrangement, 81; he comes to visit the Empress whilst she is saying adieu to Capt. Middleton, 92; his rooms far from those of the Empress, 92; his flirtations make no startling tale, 104; his friendship with Frau Schratt, 104-113; his love of field sports, 113-115; story of his attentions to a peasant girl, 116; at war with France and Italy, 123-130;
summons Sardinia to disarm, 124; took part himself in the war, 128, 129; his sullenness over the terms of peace, 129, 130; Italian hatred of him, 131; refuses Italy’s offer to buy Venetia, 133; Offers to cede Venetia if Italy will leave him free to deal with Prussia—has to surrender it as result of the defeat at Sadowa, 134; his treatment of General Benedek, 135-141; sends for Deák, 144; and comes to terms with Hungary, 144, 145; his coronation at Buda-Pesth, 145, 146; he was stronger after Sadowa than before, 146; in negotiation with Napoleon on the Triple Alliance, 149; and with Victor Emmanuel, 150; in public affairs has the luck which saves him from his blunders, 160; in private is spared no sorrows, 161-163; his attitude as head of the family to Maximilian’s acceptance of the throne of Mexico, 167-171; helpless to aid Maximilian, 180; he might excuse himself had he taken no steps to aid him, 183, 184; but he did all he could without avail, 184-186; rumour that he was father of Mary Vetsera, 229; his reception of the news of the Meyerling tragedy, 230; his displeasure with Archduke John Salvator, 236, 242, 243; his last communication with him, 248; sends a cruiser to search the coast of Chili for John Orth, 254; sometimes visited the Empress at Cap Martin, 264; his reception of the news of the Empress’s death, 269-271; his varying attitude to morganatic marriages, and marriages between the Habsburgs and commoners, 286-293; permits the marriage of Princess Stéphanie to Count Lonyay, 294-296; and of her daughter Elizabeth to Otto von Windischgraetz, 297-299; his anxiety for his nephew, Francis Ferdinand to marry, 303; he
sanctions the marriage with Countess Sophie Chotek as morganatic—his speech to the Privy Council, 307, 308; he retains more mediæval ideas than any ruler of to-day, 309, 310; his interview with Archduke Leopold Ferdinand, 328; his long reign and great age, 341; his unique reign, 350
_Francis Joseph I., His Life and Times_, _see_ Mahaffy, R. P.
_Francois Joseph Intime_, _see_ Weindel, H. de
Franco-Prussian War, 148-157
Frederick, Archduke, 303, 305
Frederick IV., Emperor, 23
Frederick August, King of Saxony, 319
Frederick the Great, 21, 32, 57
Frederick, Landgrave of Furstenberg, 48
“Fried Fish,” _see_ Bratfisch
Frossard, General, 153, 169
Fugger, Countess, 337
Gabrielle, Archduchess, 303, 304
Galippe, Dr., _L’hérédité des Stigmates de Dégénérescence_, 10, 12, 13
Geneva, 60, 267
Georgei, 54
German Federation, the, 3, 132, 134
_Giornale d’Italia_, Victor Emmanuel’s letter to Napoleon in, 150
Giron, M., 322, 332-334, 336
Gisela, Archduchess, daughter of Francis Joseph, 101, 102, 107, 286, 292
Gladstone, W. E., 126, 160
Gödöllo, 90
Graber, Captain, 56
Graetz, 98, 138, 140
Gramont, Duc de, 154, 155
Greece, Isles of, 119
Grunne, Count, 48
Guizot, F. P. G., 35, 36, 40
Habsburg, House of, its characteristics essential to the understanding of Austrian history, vi, vii; the eccentricities of its members, viii; marriage of a daughter of, to Napoleon, 2; eugenist’s opinions of, 10-13;
revolt from family traditions, 14, 15; the effect upon the head of the house, 16-19; their origin and pedigree, 20-23; inter-marriages with the Spanish and Portuguese branches, 23-25; physical characteristics, 26, 27; some members have justified their _liaisons_ by the Emperor’s friendship with Frau Schratt, 107; recent tragedies in the family, 161, 162; the difference between their madness and that of the Wittelsbachs, 188; some of the family who have tried to be ordinary men, 273; the only characteristic common to them all, 282; their centrifugal marriages, 284-286; their superiority to the rest of mankind, 309; what will be the future of the house? 347
_Habsburg Monarchy, The_, _see_ Steed, H. W.
Halbthurn, 305
Halévy, Leon, _M. et Madame Cardinal_, 202, 211
Haynau, Marshal, the cruelties of his campaign in Hungary, 55-60; his command withdrawn from him, 61; his adventure at Barclay’s brewery, 61-63
Heiligenkreuz, Abbey of, 215
Heinrich, Herr, 249, 251
Helen, Princess, of Bavaria, afterwards Princess of Thurn and Taxis, 72-75, 98, 100
Henrietta, consort of Leopold II., King of the Belgians, 197, 286
Henry, Archduke, 238, 276
Hoffmann, Leopoldine, 238, 276
Hohenlohe Schillingfürst, Prince Gottfried zu, 288
Holnstein, Count, 188, 189
Holy Alliance, the, 3-5
Holy Roman Empire, its collapse, 1; the impossibility of reviving it, 2
Hoyos, Count, 218, 230
Hübner, Count, his amazement that anyone should value nationality, 34, 35; his account of Metternich’s resignation, 43; his account of the proceedings at Ferdinand’s abdication, 47-49
Hungarian War (1849), 54-60
Hungary, 40, 45, 46, 51, 53-58, 82, 83, 143-147, 156, 160, 211, 225
Hunyadi, Count, 91
Iglau, 322
In-breeding, results of, 13-15
_Indépendance Belge_ on M. Leopold Wulfing (Archduke Leopold Ferdinand), 330, 331
Ionian Islands, 101
Isabella, Archduchess, 297, 303-306
Ischl, 73, 103, 108, 266
Italy, War with, 123-130; offers to buy Venetia, 132; Venetia surrendered to, 134
Jarras, 153
Jecker, Baron, 165
Jellaçiç, Baron von, Ban of Croatia, 46, 48, 52, 54
Joanna the Mad, 23, 24
John, Archduke, 21, 238
John, Field-Marshal Baron, 139
John Salvator, Archduke of Tuscany, afterwards John Orth, viii, 15, 71, 107, 162, 210; the first of the family rebels, a man of many accomplishments, 232; his musical compositions and military pamphlets, 233; his liberalism, 234; his close friendship with the Crown Prince, 234, 235; Countess Marie Larisch’s account of his parting with her, 235; account by Princess Louisa of Tuscany, 235, 236, 252; his love affairs with an Englishwoman, 236-239; and with Milly Stübel, 240-243; his interview with the Emperor, 242, 243; had he been plotting with Rudolf? 244-247; the uncertainty of his marriage with Milly Stübel, 247, 248; the Emperor’s last communication with him, 248; his farewell to his friends, 248-251; his last voyage, 253; was he lost at sea? 254; legends of his being seen since, 255-257
Johnson, Andrew, President of the United States, 174
Joseph II., Emperor, 21, 31
Joseph, Archduke, 48, 162, 278, 292
Juarez, Benito, 174, 182, 183, 185
Karolyi, Countess, her curse on Francis Joseph, 60, 68, 71, 76, 122, 142, 161, 186
_Keystone of Empire, The_, v
Kisch, Baron, 108
Kissingen, 119, 266
Kloss, Alfons von, 288
_Kölner Zeitung_ on Austrian cruelty in Hungary, 58
Kossuth, L., 40, 50
Ladislas, Archduke, 162, 192
Laeken, 197
Lainz, 266
Larisch, Countess Marie, more in the Empress’s confidence than anyone else, 79; a story of the Empress before she was her companion, 84; says that the Emperor was the first to be dissatisfied with the marriage, 89; the Empress’s instructions to her when she sent for her to be her companion, 90; she prevents the Emperor from entering the Empress’s room whilst she is saying adieu to Capt. Middleton, 92; she is asked in marriage by Count Nicholas Esterhazy, and the Empress dissuades her from accepting him, 93; she repeats a fairy-tale told her by the Empress, 94, 95; her corrections of _The Martyrdom of an Empress_, 100-103; she tells of the Empress’s introduction of Frau Schratt to the Emperor, 104, 105, 109; on the Empress’s indifference as to the training of the Crown Prince, 116; her description of the difference between the madness of the Habsburgs and the Wittelsbachs, 188; her account of the Meyerling tragedy, 194, 197, 204-207, 210, 214, 216, 217; her refutation of an account of the tragedy in the _Berliner Lokal Anzeiger_, 219, 220; her own account, 223, 224; her account of the Archduke John Sebastian’s farewell, 235, 253
Larisch, Countess Marie, _My Past_, v, 57, 84, 85, 90, 91, 97, 104, 105, 194, 197, 204-207, 210, 214, 216, 217, 235, 253
Latour, Austrian War Minister, 55
Laxenburg, 101, 298
Lebœuf, Marshal, 153
Lebrun, 153
Leipzig, Battle of the Nations at, 1
Leopold I., King of the Belgians, 68
Leopold II., Emperor, 21
Leopold II., King of the Belgians, 196, 197, 286, 294-296
Leopold, Archduke, 280
Leopold Ferdinand, Archduke, viii, 15, 71, 107, 129, 232, 252, 299, 315, 322, 327-332
_L’hérédité des Stigmates de Dégénérescence_, _see_ Galippe, Dr.
Libenyi, attempts to assassinate the Emperor, 67, 80
Linz, 234
Lobkowitz, Prince, 48
Lombardy, 34, 38, 46, 125, 165
London, 119, 243, 247
_L’Origine du Type familial de la Maison de Habsburg_, _see_ Rubbrecht, Dr. O.
Lorraine, Francis, Duke of, 20, 21
Loschek, valet to the Crown Prince Rudolf, 219, 221
Louis IX. of France (St. Louis), 20
Louis XIV., 341
Louis XVI., 278
Louis, Archduke, 43
Louis Philippe, 36
Louis Salvator, Archduke, 277, 283
Louis Victor, Archduke, brother of the Emperor, 180, 274
Louisa, Princess of Tuscany, viii, 15, 27, 129, 220, 222, 232, 235, 236, 239, 241, 242, 244, 251-255, 277, 299, 315-327, 332-340
Louisa, Princess of Tuscany, _My Own Story_, v, 318, 319
Louise, Princess, of Saxe-Coburg, 197, 256, 294, 321, 339
Luccheni assassinates the Empress Elizabeth, 268
Lucchesi-Palli, 238
Ludwig I. of Bavaria, 25, 72
Ludwig II., King of Bavaria, his madness, 72; affianced to Sophie, afterwards Duchess d’Alençon, 161; breaks off his engagement, 187-189; smashes her bust, 189; his solitary life in fantastic splendour—the Empress refused to believe in his madness, and was ready to assist his escape, 190; his suicide, 162, 191
Luxemburg, 149
Madersbach, Mme. de, 56
Madiera, 91, 116, 117
Magenta, Battle of, 66, 124
Mahaffy, R. P., _Francis Joseph I., His Life and Times_, v
Majorca, 277
Maria Dorothea, Archduchess, 48, 286
Maria Henrietta, Archduchess, 288
Maria Theresa, Empress, 20, 31, 57
Marianna, Empress, 47, 49
Marie of Burgundy, 26
Marie-Amélie, Queen, consort of Louis-Philippe, 177
Marie-Antoinette, 21
Marie Louise, Archduchess, wife of Napoleon I., 26
_Martyrdom of an Empress, The_, vi, 99-105
Mary I. of England, 24
Mathilde, Princess of Saxony, 196
Matilda, Archduchess, 162
Matilda, Duchess, in Bavaria, _see_ Trani, Countess de
Mattatich, Count, 321
Maximilian, Archduke, brother of Francis Joseph, afterwards Emperor of Mexico, at the abdication of the Emperor Ferdinand, 47, 48; the tragedy of his death, 60, 161, 163, 164, 185; his unpopularity in Venice, 127, 146, 165; invited to be Emperor of Mexico, 164; unfitted for post—the tool of Napoleon and the Mexican exiles—dismissed from his government of Venetia, 165: retires to Miramar and writes poetry—egged on by his wife to accept the Mexican throne, 166; stipulates for French military support, 167; the _pacte de famille_, 167, 168; he objects to renouncing his Austrian rights, 168; the _pacte_ signed at Miramar, 169, 170; his gloomy forebodings, 170, 171; Pius IX. blesses the enterprise, 171, 172; his wife keeps up his spirits on the voyage, 172; looking to the ceremonial aspect of the enterprise, and the disillusionment, 173; French Army of Occupation withdrawn, 173, 175, 182; nothing but pride prevented his abdication, 181; exclaims that he is free when the French Army had gone—he goes to Queretaro and is captured, 182; he had instructed Miramon to condemn Juarez to death, 183; is shot in the public square at Queretaro, 185; his body brought to Europe and buried in the tombs of the Habsburgs, 187
Maximilian I. of Bavaria, grandfather of Francis Joseph, 22, 29
Maximilian, Duke, in Bavaria, 72, 75, 100, 189
Mazzini, G., 344
Mélanie, Princess, _see_ Metternich, Princess
Mendel, Henrietta, 188, 276
Mérode, Cléo de, 196, 286
Metternich, Clemens, Prince, the author of the Holy Alliance, 4; instructs Francis Joseph in statecraft, 30; a greater man than any whom he served, 32; a policeman at heart, 34; the object of popular hostility, 41; his resignation, 42; Archduchess Sophie’s letter to him, 44; his reply—his flight to England, 45; had been concerned in advising Ferdinand’s abdication, 47
Metternich, Princess Mélanie, 35, 36, 39-44, 50
Metternich, Count Richard, a special constable in London, 43, 155; Austrian Ambassador in Paris, 155
Mexico, 60, 161, 163-186
Meyerling, 60, 93, 118, 161, 187, 194, 207, 208, 211-216, 218-231, 242, 245, 246, 266, 269
Middleton, Capt. “Bay,” 91
Miguel of Braganza, 203
Milan, 36, 128, 146
Minghetti, Marco, 152
Miramar, 165, 166, 169-171, 179, 181
Miramon, General, 182, 183
Moltke, Baron von, 136, 140
Montez, Lola, 25, 72
Morny, Comte de, 165
_My Own Story_, _see_ Louisa, Princess of Tuscany
_My Past_, _see_ Larisch, Countess Marie
Napoleon I., 2, 22, 24, 26, 27
Napoleon III., 43, 65, 66, 123-125, 128-130, 149-151, 154, 165, 167, 169, 171, 175, 177-179
Nash, Eveleigh, 247, 256, 257
Nauheim, 266
_Neue Freie Presse_, a bogus advertisement in its agony column, 108; on the character of the Archduke Leopold Ferdinand, 327, 328
Nigra, Count, 156; his account of the death of the Crown Prince Rudolf, 220-222, 224, 227
Norwegian Fiords, 119
Novara, 51
O’Donnell, 80
Olmütz, 44, 47, 153
Orleans, Duc d’, 286
Orleans, Duchess d’, _see_ Maria Dorothea, Archduchess
Orth, John, _see_ John Salvator, Archduke
Ott, Baron, 256
Otten, Frederick, 256
Otto, Archduke, 27, 280-282, 285, 288, 301
Otto, King of Bavaria, 25, 72
Paar, Count, 269
Palacio, Riva, 182
Palacky, F., his protest for the Slavs against their position as inferior to the Hungarians, 145
Palmerston, Lord, 54
Paoli, Xavier, 263-265, 267
Paris, 119, 153, 161, 191, 264
Parma, 327
Pedro, Dom, 319
Pedro of Saxe-Coburg, 189
Philip II. of Spain, 24
Philip III. of Spain, 24
Philip V. of Spain, 24
Philip of Saxe-Coburg, 197, 218
Philippe le Beau, 23
Pilsen, 153
Pius IX., 108, 111, 151, 169, 171, 172, 180
Pius X., 260
Plombières, 123
Podanitzky, Baron, 55
Port Said, 236
Possenhofen, 103
Prégny, 267
Presburg, 303
_Private Life of Two Emperors, The, William II. of Germany and Francis Joseph of Austria_, vi, 245
Prussia, 4, 130-137, 148-157
Puebla, 177, 179
Queretaro, 60, 161, 163, 182, 183, 266
Radetzky, Marshal, 36-38, 45, 46, 80, 122, 136
Rainer, Archduke, 275, 276, 283
Regules, 182
Reichstadt, Duc de, 22
Revolution of 1848, the; In Italy, 36-38, 45, 46, 51 In Austria, 39-42, 45, 46, 50-53 In Hungary, 40, 45, 46, 51, 54 In Germany, 40, 41 In Bohemia, 46, 51
Rio Quarto, 255
Ritter, Fräulein, 330
Robert, Duke of Parma, 317
Roll, Fräulein, 116
Rome, 60, 108, 151, 171, 180, 181, 306
Rothschild, Baroness Adolphe, 267
Rothschild, Nathan Meyer, 61
Rubbrecht, Dr. Oswald, _L’Origine du Type familial de la Maison de Habsburg_, 10-12
Rudolf, Archduke, 279
Rudolf, Crown Prince, reproaches Countess Marie Larisch for acting as go-between for the Empress, 90; errors about, in _The Martyrdom of an Empress_, 101-103; directed to write to General Benedek, 140; his the only life between Maximilian and the throne of Austria, 168; the fatality of the name Rudolf—his literary and artistic tastes, 193; his quarrel with the German Emperor—conspiring for the throne of Hungary, 194, 206, 210; capable of both affability and hauteur, 194, 195; popular with the people, a spoiled child and precociously cynical, 195; whilst seeking a wife had a lady as provisional companion travelling with him—rejects the suit of Princess Mathilde of Saxony and asks the hand of Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, 196; neglects her for Mary Vetsera, 200, 201; whom he says he could not shake off, 203; asks Countess Marie Larisch to bring Mary to him at the Hofburg, says he is in political danger, hands the Countess a steel casket, 204; the person to whom it is to be delivered, 205; his hunting box at Meyerling, 208; the Princess taken there, 208, 209; the Princess follows him when he goes to visit Mary Vetsera and changes his carriage for hers, 209; his death, 60, 161, 212—and the various official accounts, 212-214; his last letter, 216; various accounts of the tragedy, 218-231; his association with Archduke John Salvator, 234, 235; was the latter concerned in his death? 246
Rumbold, Sir Horace, _The Austrian Court of the Nineteenth Century_, v, 299
Ruskberg, 56
Russia, 156
Russo-Turkish War, 158
Saarbrücken, 154
Sadowa, Battle of, 134, 137, 144, 146, 151, 160, 174, 176, 179
Saint-Nazaire, 178
Salzburg, 254, 274, 321
San Remo, 266
Santa Lucia, Battle of, 37
Sardinia, 124, 129
Schleswig-Holstein, 125, 133
Schlictling, General, von, 136
Schönnbrunn, 29, 109, 192, 266, 341
Schratt, Frau Katti, 104-113, 162, 271, 289, 350
Schwartzenberg, Felix, 45, 47, 48, 52, 58
Seefried zu Buttenheim, Baron Otto von, 292, 293
Servia, and Austria’s Servian subjects, 159, 342-345
_Siècle, Le_, on Frau Schratt’s mission to Rome, 108
Slav problem not solved by the granting of the Hungarian Constitution, 145, 158
Smith, Penny, 237
Sobieski, John, King of Poland, 70
Sodich, Captain, 253
Solferino, Battle of, 66, 124
Sophia, Archduchess, mother of Francis Joseph, 22, 29; her letter to Metternich on his resignation, 44; her concern in securing the throne for her son on his uncle’s abdication, 22, 47, 48; the names of murdered Hungarians shouted at her in the streets, 59; her strange declaration during her confinement with Francis Joseph, 64; arranges for her son’s marriage, 71-73; her disappointment, 76; her jealousy of the Empress, 86; she is charged with throwing a mistress at the head of her son, and a lover to the Empress, 89; had the care of Archduchess Gisela when a child, 101; objects to the Empress’s training of the Crown Prince, 116; sides with Maximilian over the _pacte de famile_, 168, 169; her warning to Maximilian, 177
Starnberg, Lake of, 162, 190
Starztay, Countess, 261, 269
Steed, H. W., _The Habsburg Monarchy_, v.
Stéphanie, Princess of Belgium, wife of the Crown Prince Rudolf, 196-200, 203, 208-210; her marriage to Count Lonyay, 293-297
Stockau, Count George, 201, 214, 215
Stübel, Fräulein Milly, 107, 240-243, 247, 253
Taaffe, Count von, 43
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, _The Lord of Burleigh_, 88
Thurn and Taxis, Prince of, 75 Princess of, _see_ Helen, Princess of Bavaria
Tichborne, Sir Roger, 257
_Times, The_, confirms the reports of Austrian cruelty in Hungary, 55; prints Rothschild’s letter on the Haynau affair at Barclay’s, 61; and rebukes the draymen, 62
Tisza, M., 230
Toselli, Signor, 27, 232, 239, 241, 315, 331, 336-340
Trani, Ludwig Count de, 162, 192
Trani, Matilda, Countess de, 108, 162
Trentino, The, 150, 151, 344
Trieste, 101, 116, 180, 236, 255
Triple Alliance, The, 149-151, 155, 156
Turkey, Sultan of, 57
Turr, General, 150
Tyrol, 51
United States, President of, _see_ Johnson, Andrew
Valérie, Archduchess, daughter of Francis Joseph, 101, 102, 107
Valois, Charles de, 20
Valparaiso, 253, 255
Vaughan, Baroness, 196
Venetia, 125, 130, 133, 134, 151, 165
Venice, 127, 146, 165
Ventnor, 119
Vetsera, Baroness, 201-203, 211, 229
Vetsera, Ferenz, 220
Vetsera, Laszlo, 220
Vetsera, Louis, 220
Vetsera, Mary, did not meet the Crown Prince in London as the author of _The Martyrdom of an Empress_, says, 102, 103; died with him at Meyerling, 200; belonged to a family well known in Vienna, 201; her character, had started her acquaintance with Rudolf by writing asking him to see her, insulted the Crown Princess, 203; Rudolf asked the Countess Marie Larisch to bring her to him at the Hofburg, 205; which she did, 206; she was taken by Rudolf to Meyerling, 207; a former occasion on which the Prince had visited her, 209; her belief that Rudolf would become King of Hungary and marry her, her parents seeking for her, 211; her death with Rudolf, 213; theories about the tragedy, 213-215; her last letters, 216; her reputed part in the tragedy, 222-227
Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, 51, 122, 123, 128, 131, 149-152
Vienna, 41, 43, 45, 46, 51, 52, 108, 136, 169, 183, 184, 192, 198, 208, 212, 219, 229, 234, 251, 253, 254, 266, 274, 276, 288
Vienna, Congress of (1814-15), 1, 4
Visconti-Venosta, Marquis, 152
Waldeck, Countess of, 238
Walburg, Baron Ernest, 287
Waterloo, Battle of, 1
Weindel, H. de, _François Joseph Intime_, v, 117
Wellington, Duke of, 63
Wiederhofer, Dr., 214, 223
_Wiener Zeitung_ on General Benedek, 138; on the degradation of Princess Louisa of Tuscany, 323, 324
William I., King of Prussia, 133, 152, 194
William, Archduke, 279
William Francis Charles, Archduke, 161
Windischgraetz, Alfred von, 46-48, 52, 53, 88, 298
Windischgraetz, Prince Ernest von, 299
Windischgraetz, Prince Otto von, 293, 297-299
Wittelsbach, House of, family to which the Archduchess Sophia and the Empress Elizabeth belonged, insanity in both branches of it, 72; which are madder, they or the Habsburgs? 187; the difference in description, 188; Ludwig II., 188-191; Duchesse d’Alençon, 191; Comte de Trani, Archduke Ladislas, Archduchess Elizabeth, 192
Wörth, 152
Wulfling, Herr, _see_ Leopold Ferdinand Archduke
Zurich, 162
BIOGRAPHICAL WORKS BY FRANCIS GRIBBLE.
MADAME DE STAEL AND HER LOVERS. [8]GEORGE SAND AND HER LOVERS. ROUSSEAU AND THE WOMEN HE LOVED. CHATEAUBRIAND AND HIS COURT OF WOMEN. THE PASSIONS OF THE FRENCH ROMANTICS. THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF LORD BYRON. RACHEL: HER STAGE LIFE AND HER REAL LIFE. THE ROMANTIC LIFE OF SHELLEY. THE COMEDY OF CATHERINE THE GREAT. ROMANCES OF THE FRENCH THEATRE. THE TRAGEDY OF ISABELLA II. THE COURT OF CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN AND THE LATER ADVENTURES OF THE QUEEN IN EXILE.
[Footnote 8: Popular Edition at 2_s._ net.]
Transcriber’s Notes
Page ix—changed depreciaton to depreciation Page 108—changed Siècle to Le Siècle Page 149—changed Luxemburg to Luxembourg Page 215—changed herself to himself Page 265—changed yould to would