LIECHTENSTEIN.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5393, 27 February 1929, Page 1

LIECHTENSTEIN.

A MEDIAEVAL COTWSY-

AN ENGLISH GIRL AS PRINCESS-

(Written for the “Hauraki Plains Gazette,” by Arpad Szigetvary.)

Liechtenstein, the tiny European principality whose new I’.uler has ah English girl as his Princess, ha»s had a chequered career’ of nominal independence. The country has been ruled by the Liechtenstein family since 1613, under tue protection ot

various, countriesin 1719 it was made a principality uf the Roly Roman Empire, in iao6 it was part of tne Rhine Conieaeration, and from 1815 to 1866 or. the German Confederation. Ip the Prussian and reorganisation of 1867 Liechtenstein was left cut, and became once again nominally inuepenaent, and joined to some extent to Austria by a .Customs, Union. With tne br,eak-up of Austria in 1918 the Diet resolved to establish complete; independence, a desire that did not last long, as the country was soon seeking a political union .with the Helvetian Confederation. Switzerland aid not agree, but made a provisional treaty in 1922 for a complete fluatoms union.

The country is 65 square miles in area, and has a population of some 12,000 people. Situated in the northwest corner of Austria, its western frontier adjoins Switzerland!, while par,t. of the northern frontier is, on Lake Constance. It is a mountainous, beautiful land, an isolated unit of Mediaeval Europe still remaining. Forbidding, castles on c,raggy. lonely point® abound, while the landscapes are a perfect setting for days long gone, and without the stretch of much imagination one can picture knights, their ladies, and the übiquitous dragons. Agriculture and. pastoral pursuits oc.cupy the attention of most of the populace, although a goodly proportion of them make quite a lot of jponey out of, tourisms. On 6 picturesque cattle has beep turned into an hotel, another into a pmseum. The, exterior, and interior of this latter fortress have been leftt entirely a$ they were centuries ago, so one can step from present-day life straight into the age otf .chivalry. The naturally peaceful inhabitants, strangq successors to warlike ancestors, go their way unhampered by thoughts of, war or external affairs. They exist as a self-contained unit, content with their quiet occupations and old-fashioned, wgys—they desire pot the; rush and worry of modern commercial life. Patient and peaceful though the peopje may be, their store of .those two magnificent, graces, is not inexhaustible. Ip 192 t, as a culmination of long existent dislike of their late ruler, John 11., living all his time in Vienna and acting as an “absept landlord,’’' they revolted. A period of sustained excitement, was too much for .them, however, and a foreq of 500 citizens loyal to the Prince easily prevented his overthrow and that of the Government, the country s’oon relapsing into idyllic life once, more.

To gain a conception of the tiny size of /the Principality one has only to realise that standing op a certain mountain the whole area of the country can be seen without the aid of glasses. Liechtenstein is small, but there are other quasi independent states in Europe just as tiny. The Principality of Monaco is only eight square miles in extent and has a population of 23,000 nationals. iOf course, the transient population is large through the constant stream of foreigners atractejd by the gaming tables of its capital, Monte Carlo. Monaco is entirely independent, except for foreign affairs, which are conducted by France. Another minute state is Andorra, the eldest Republic in the world, a country of 17 miles by 18, the whole area being a valley in the Pyrenees, support! Ing a population of 5000. Founded 1100 yeans ago, in the time of' pharlem Rgne, it has remained independent through the iages> although now, for external matters and protection, it is. under the joint guardianship of tlfle President of France and the Spanish, Bishop of Urgjel. Then, too, there is San Marino, an. independent Republic of 38 square miles in the porth-easterp part o£ Italy, which existed for over a thousand years. The country a,jid its population of 127000 maintain a midget army'of 3& officers and 950 men, really for the use of Italy, which now watches and protects he;r outside interests.

With, the exception of Monaco all these lilliputian countries are situated in mountain flastnesses, which explains to somb extent how they have kept their independence f<j>r hundreds of years. Modern mehods of warfare could reduce any of them in 24 hours, but with large countries ac ting in the; light of fairy godmothers they ard* secure and safe.