BOOKS OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2842, 5 August 1916, Page 6

BOOKS OF THE DAY.

THE AUSTRIAN COUnT FROM WITHIN. •■Even before the war many 600k3 haft been published which dealt with tho Court of Vienna, and tho inner history ..'«f tho. House of Habsburg, and at first Bight it might seem that there was now little more left to be told. In her-book "Tie Austrian Court from Within" (Cassell and Co.; per S. and W. "MacKayj -the .Princess E-adzuvill, who has already given ns moro than; one interesting study of ... -European court life, succeeds, however, -. in imparting an entirely new interest to . a well-worn subject. She sets out to -prove that for.-the-last forty.years''"Austria has been but a pawn in the hanua of her powerful neighbour," and that > "'she is bound;in-the end to become ab'■..'tsoibed in Germany." In depicting, as she says, "tv country,'a court, and a society . already in-tho.last stages of .decay," trie' author makes no prtence that she. has'. ' been "looking out for':-tho- best characteristics they may, happen, to; possess." On tho contrary, sho has tried, sho tells lis, "to unmask the hypocrisy which has v always lain at the bottom of Austrian policy; to point out the bigoted egotism ..of Austria's higher, classes," and 'to direct . , attention" of her readers to. "tho selfishness, aggravated by vanity, which ■from time immemorial'has characterised ■ ,; i-he dynasty and the-House of Habsburg." .The narrative certainly makes very ■ ' piquant reading. The-Emperor FraiiciV ■-.'. Joseph is painted in the blackest colours. . So much sentimental fustian appeared in the English papers—before the warabout "that picturesque old figure,"."tho , Kood old ruler who kept > the Austrian Empire from breaking up," and so fortu, 1 that not a few people may have imagined "V: . the aged Emperor to bo tho -b&t and most unselfish of men. .As a matter of fact, there is only too much evidence in iiuropoan history to provo that ilio latest writer to dissect the" character, of Francis Joseph by no means understates tlio . . truth when she declares-him to be "nar- ;*• ■ Tow-minded,, vindictive, hypocritical, -pel-' fish, and mean.'''- . . ■.. ~' .. ' ' He had a wife who' was everything that I was lovely and fair, but ho made her lifo . a hell, and theu wept at her death with-, out having had the, grace to go and look' , for the last time on her mortal remains. Ho had a son whom he almost goaded into an act of madness. Eohad al'neph'ew ov.hom he disliked, and. to'>whom he did . . . not havo the decency to .award.>a-re- , spectable grove. He had Tcla,tives to whom , Jio showed" himself, ■in turn, cruel and V . - ' despotic, whom* he - either relegated into . - exile like his brother, or deprived of their .. > name';and: status in the world like; tho ' . ' •unfortunate Crown Princess .of Saxony; ■ He .had friends whom he .betrayed;' Min-- ' .:is'ters to whom ho 'did nottell the- truth; mistresses whom' ho forsook; dn' army lab'ont '-which ho ';did thongh cx.'.Meeting it .to do. its'duty; .'subjects--whom JieP oppressed; allies whom he'hoped ho miehl forsake.- • : ■ , FMncis; Joseph' began very badly.--' The ■; .'frightfulvfeprisAls ordered' byi.'tho. eight -: -; o'eh-year-old' Emperor' upon : 'tlio "revolted ' -.'Hungarians still remain forgotten. Tho author says;

: *Every Hungarian homestead could tell . how entirely hideous were the things that wcro done, v Women, young-ahd old, were stripped of their garments ajod flogged in the public streets of Budapest,.and. among thom were ladies of the highest Hungarian aristocracy.' Another-incident of;the - 'same rebellion shoula bo. retold!.-Rather than hand down to his descendants the .6taiH,ol a. father criminally hanged, Count • Louis Batthyany poisoned himself on the eve of the day appointed for his execution- It .is related that tho • Countess . Jjattnyany- forced an entrance into tho, . ■ citamber of tho Emperor; and implored ?A m on her knees, to grant her husband's -iife. - He curtly, and with unnecessary cruelty, refused to do so, and when he heard of the suicide of tho Count, ordered ■his lifeless...body, to be hung, from 'the gallows which would have borne.him had •?ii • a few hours longer. The result :of this personal action of: tho Emperor was that tho Countess made her son swear' an oath never to condone his; father's mur--1 J*® 11 ' and never'to accord to the monarch . the loast token of respect;; Whom tho Emperor became King of Hungary, he cn- \ ucavoured by favours and honours to win recognition from the Count, but the son of Francis. Joseph's victim refused • every Advance and every offer with cold'and' \ undisguised contempt.

■ .vjl he author reminds us that when, with the aid of Russia,' the Hungarian: rebellion had been suppressed, Francis .Toseph , Sent a most flowery message of gratitude to the Tsar. "Tell your Emperor," he saul to the' Russian commanders, "that he lias in me a son who will always ha ready to obey any orders that he may choose to give him. So long as I livo I .will remembor, :<ind I' will tell mv '•fludrcn^toi.remember when I am 'no .-more, It is entirely owing to: the generous initiative of ;., the. Emperor. Jiicholas that I have, been able to retain V ..my throne." And July, 1911, the very.monarch who uttered these words deliberately took a: course :wliicli-lio knew' . • lull well spelt war with Russia. ,Tho l'riucesa lias much to say about the' Austrian grand dukes, ,and their matrimonial and other adventures. She also, adds some hitherto - unpublished ? r alleged facts,' concerning the ill-fated Empress. Elizabeth, and the ■ tragic death of the Crown Prince' Rudolph, and the Countess Alarje Vetessra at Be; Meyerling shooting-box. The "Austrian people she describes as being very ignorantj-and for .the average Austrian . .inefficient in his profession, and ; thinking only and always of his personal pleasures, she had nothing but contempt. Austria,; she. declares, is "diseased' and corrupt.' She . foresees - certain dis- > Tuption'of the Empire 'as it exists to-d-ay.- Whichever way the war goes, Austria, she must lose. ;»,\Vcro the Germans'to be victorious,- Pru«s 'i,'.would thrust Austria, • aside with tho . utmost unconccru, after taking away from " c -i';all, that'was worth taking;. Hungary j.®°^ e e lla would claim independence, ana Austria would cease to exist, at least in her present shape and form. Every .■. ny " i if* vovc r,-, nK . ! -" ;eii it. more certain that -tho Allies will win, when -tlio fate of Aus"ft. indeed be a sad one. RuS3ia will,, of ,course, take. Galicia;'ltaly, Trieste \ aud tho VaLley of tlio' Trentino; Serbia will 'claim Bosnia end-Herzegovina, with Croatia thrown into the bargain; whilst two-new kingdoms, those of Bohc-mia and • S «! mE f ry i ?" u , a , ris °. of -the ashes of -tie- Austrian Monarchy. What then , yui remain to the Habsburgs of all their , - former proud possessions? What will thcy do," who will lie put in' their place,' and what will bo tho fato of the few German provinces that their realm . contains' These ,will form some, of tho most, serious Questions of- tho settlement. author.devotes a special cliapter to the Austrian clergy, and-much of what she says, on this subject, and upon the ■part played in connection with tlio war by the pro-Austro-German party at tho Vatican, may not improbably bo challenged;, as ; inaccurate; or at least.ex- . I a'ggorated. ; -According to tho author, the Austrian.; clergy ; ne,yer. .beai; able to establish.«. firm hold in tho minds of tho proud Magyars Try. as they could, the clergy found" it.'mpossible to mtcrfero with the conduct or affairs in Hungary, and they hdd to rosign .themselves to wait for tho unexpcct-cd..-..The:war gave; them JJieir golden opportiinity.' The supremlT ability- of tlio Emperor., William XI was ; shown in - his persuasion of .the Catholic clergy that its Cherished ambitions, (the supremacy of its order in the State, and tho restoration of tho Papal, temporary power) were at la6t about, to bo realised. For onco, tho Church failed to grasp the true significance of tho bait, .which- was proffered, and rushed on to' its -fate,, just as blindly as the Sovereign,'just, as joyfully as tho diplomats : who ought to have foreseen, and iuet as carelessly as the Ministers who had failed to avert-the calamity which will domolisli the throno of tile nnbsburgs." Tlie volume contains eight fnll-pago . beautifully -executed ' photogravure portrait? bf members of tlio Austrian Imperial Family, also of Frau Schratt, who _ for'-'so iniinr years exercised great power ' over 'Francis ./Joseph, and the unhappy --Rawness Marie Vetsera. (N.Z. price, !(!••;. Gd.)

fecsil• Chesterton; ;'il|e : clever brdthor'of' ihys' yot niore gifted f 'G.Iv.C;," luis writf£." " little (book oil ' .'.Perils of Hilaite Belloc contributes an introduction, and Werner Laurie is tlio publisher; ,