THE CORRUPT COURT OF AUSTRIA.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 227, 17 November 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE CORRUPT COURT OF AUSTRIA.

is iwmhwp in* wwf I HIS • I TRAGIC • S PICTURE S • GALLERY. • # #

(.From Pearson's Weekly.) I entered the service of Baron Alois Arentlial in 1908, a few months after that remarkable man had obtained tho summit of his ambition and had been appointed Minister of the Royal Household and of Foreign Affairs. The fanner position, I must explain, is the highest post in the Austrian State, and the holder of it is always made -Minister for Foreign Affairs. The post of Minister of the Royal Household corresponds, roughly speaking, to that of the Prinme Minister of England, or, more nearly to that of the Chancellor in Germany, but he is much more concerned than either with affairs in the Royal Household. He is apopinted by the Emperor and dismissed by him at will, and his policy in all public affairs is entirely controlled by the aged Francis Joseph.

Baron Arenthal, as Minister of the Royal Household, occupied a magnificent set of apartments, sumptuously furnished, on the left wing of the Royal Palace at Vienna. COSTLY TROUSERS FOR SERVANTS.

There were 700 men servants at the Royal Palace. Tiie corridors, .stui cnses and entrances of the Palate were lined with them. They wore blue tunics and white trousers braided with gold cord that costs £ls a yard. A servant was given three liverv.s when he entered the royal service and a. fresh one every four months. The cast-off liveries were the perquisite of the Chief Groom, who made about £2,000 a year by selling them, fhe sanio individual ordered them, and eteived a commission of £I,OOO a year from tlie tailor who supplied 1 them! Tiie Chief Groom was a man named Hendrich —a notable individual, who had been in the employ of the Emperor for thirty-five years. Foreign royalties visiting the royal Palace who wanted to >ee the shady side of life n thei Austrian capital, did so under the guidance of the Chief Groom, who made a considerable income in this way. for the proprietors of various "dens'' and other plates halved with the Chief Groom the large stuns that royal vsitors paid to see these places.

FRANCIS JOSEPH'S BIICTAL FACE.

The hr>t day ] saw the Emperor .it close quarters was one morning nlio.it a month after 1 had entered I3aron Arenthal's service. I only obtained a fleeting glance :it his face. It struck me then that ] had never seen a more repliant countenance. Cruelty and vie-? were stamped on it, and the great grisly white wnnkers protruding round the mouth gave the whole face a peculiar sort of ghoulis happearance. That was the impression left on mo. by my first sight t Franc-is Joseph, and it always remaine.l with me. x There is no royal house in Euro upon wnoin so many sorrows have fallen as they have upon the House o r liapsburg. To the family of the present Empercr tlie most terrible tragedies have occurred. There is a pietur? gallery in the Royal Palace containing portraits of various members of th* royal iamilv, and it is called the "Gallerv of Sorrows,'' for the life of every man and woman whose picture hang-! there ended tragically. I in TRAOJU PICTURES. ' i I was shown over this gal lory one day sou few months after I bad entered Baron Arenthal's service by Hendrich, the groom. Pages alone might Ik> wi itten on the ill-fated originals cf these portraits, of which tlieiv were twenty-eight. The Emperor is by no means a glutton ; he is far too careful of his health to be that. But he ha.s a very dainty appetite which he satisfies by always having a great variety of the daintiest dishes to select from. Every night at dinner, fifteen ir twVnty of the rarest and most costly dishes are served at the royal table, . m these the Emperor will taste about half-a-dozen, and the greater part <>' this banquet, which costs at least t'3 a clish. and is prepared bj a sma.ll army of chefs, the chief of whom was pail €2,<)OU per annum—is subsequently thrown away. The servants' table is almost as equally well provided as that of their royal master, so that except .11 regard to some very special dainties, they do not care about feeding from the"crumbs'' that fall from their master's table.

Francis Joseph is extremely careful of his health. Almost every day lie takes a walk of about two miles about the palace grounds. Twice a day —.1 tho morning after breakfast, and in tli>evening before dinner —he sees a doctor.

What he dreads more than anything is a chili. If lie is suffering, or thinks ho is suffering, from tho slightest signs of having caught a citil, lie at oncr> takes tho utmost precautions to prevent it developing. If lie has the slightest cold in his head, for example, lie will keep to his room until all signs of it have disappeared. Another rather peculiar p"ecuitiou tli.it- Francis Joseph takes under tho advics of one of in* doctors to guard against chiils and other kindred complaints is to rub himself over with ill thie? days a. week during the winter and early spring months. The oil the Emperor uses for this purpose is ordinary salad oil.

I was once told the details of one 'if the attempts to assassinate 't was rather a curious story. Unlike most oi sucii attempts it was not.

This article, which contains a most striking and vivid account of the corrupt and luxurious Court of Francis Joseph j the aged Austrian Emperor, has been written by a Belgian .who was valet and secretary to Baron Alois Arenthal. the obscure Greek Jew who became Minister for Foreign Affairs. The writer afterwards occupied a position in the Royal Household.

! WHY THE • I EMPEROR I S OILS HIS I ; BODY. 3

prompted in any way by political mot'.ves or ambitions.

There was a memlier of the Roval Household, a Baron Meomter. who had iaien deeply in love with trie Emperor s unhappy consort Elizabeth. The Baron was a young man of aHout twentv-six. No one suspected his attachment to the Empress, least of all the Empress 'herself, for the Baron neve by the least word or act allowed her or anyone else to know of his feelings towards the royal ]adv, whose devoted and loyal servant he was. The Emperor's treatment of his wife and her sufferings, however, aroused in the Baron the most furious feeling of hate towards Francis Joseph. Hendrich, who was a rather acute observer, to.'d me that when the Baron was in tne presence of the Emperor ho noted that h would occasionally glance at Francis Joseph in a curious manner.

"It was the sort of glare," said Hendrich, "the kind of glare I have seen a madman give his keeper: and I daresay tiie man was mad--mad with love and hate."

Still the Baron did nothing, and then one day came the news of how the Empress had been assassinated at Geneva. The Baron ,on receipt of the news, left the Royal Household, to return three weeks later.

The day hp came bacft another member of the Household had an audien e of the Emperor in the morning. When the other left the royal presence the •Baron found some excuse for remaining behind. Scarcely had the doc closed liehind the departing official when the Baron whipped out a revolver from his pocket, and pointing t straight at the head of tlie Emperor, said :

" i'ou infernal scoundrel! You ruined the life of a woman who loved yon, though you were umvorthv to touch l:qr."

Then lie pulled the trigger, the pistol jammed, and in another instant the. Emperor—who was twice as powerful as the Baron, and who never lost his presence of mind for an instant—hod seized the Bairon by the wrist in which lie held the pistol and disarmed him. The Emperor rang a bell; the summons was answered by Hendrich.

BAROX SHOO IS HIMSELF

" The Baron has gone mad! He tried to shoot me! Have him removed !''

-aid the Emperor as lie quietly left the apartment. The Baron was taken into custody. At the Emperor's suggestion th» Baron was taken to the rooms lie occupied at an hotel in Vienna, where lie was kept confined for two days, and then he did what the Emperor obviously hoped he would do—he shot himself, and so saved the scandal of a trial for his attempt on the Emperor's life. There is no Court in Europe, where living is so loose as it is among the. entourage of Francis Joseph. This a due in part to the example of the Emperor himself, and even more largely, 1 think, to the profound contempt that is entertained by the Hapsburgs and their friends for the opinion of everybody outside the exclusive circle 1 ) which they live. Francis Joseph was easily swayed l\ a woinans' charms. This was very evident in the case of the Duchess of Hohenburg. who married the Archduke Ferdinand, the then heir to the Austrian throne. VALERIE v. SOPHIE. She was the daughter of the Count and Countess Chotek. The Clioteks belonged to what is "noun in Austria a the second order of nobility, and were not of sufficiently high rank to be vceived at Court. The Emperor at first absolutely refused to give his consent to a marriage, but ultimately agreed to do so partly because he took a great personal liking to Sophie Chotek. After tier marriage she. occupied a most unpleasant position at Court, where her only two friends were the Emperor and Baron Arenthal. When she dined at the Pa'ace she had to attire herself in the scanty sort of gown that the Emperor liked, and she had to joke with the old monarch in a manner that the Archduchesses and Princesses regarded as disgrace! il and impudent. On one occasion, when she was dini.i.j; :;t the Palace, the Princess Marie Valerie, the Emperor's youngst daughtr, who hated Sophie, asked her if sh.? would like "to dress herself after dilino:-. " The Emperor treated the f|uest:on as a joke, and laughed heartil.% but Sophie lost her temper completely. She -wept everything near her off the table, and then rushed out of the room. MADE HIS DAUGHTER APOLOGISE.

Tito Princess Valeric was secretly delighted at the success of her remark, lor she felt sure that Sophie would b» banished from Court lor ever after such behaviour in the Emperor's presome. Anyone else would have been, hut the Emperor, partly for the reason that ho knew every woman at Court wanted to set rid of Sophie, and partly liecausi? lie really liked her, took ner part. Turning to his daughter, 1' ranci? .Joseph said: "Valerie, I like that girl's -pint. '

That was all lie said; but he received Sophie the next day at a private audience, and made the Princess Valerie apologiso to her for the remark the Princess had made about her dress.

The Emperor later on Itestowed on Sophie the title of the Duchess of Hohenburg. and gave her precedence at Court directly after the Princesses of the Poyal House!