MAN WHO MADE THE WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 80, 26 August 1914, Page 6

MAN WHO MADE THE WAR.

EMPEIIOK FRANCIS JOSEPH, MAD HOr.SE OF U.AIiSIiURG. BLOOD WITH SEREVI-; COVSCIENCE. 'Then tell us all about the war, And what tliev killed each other for!" \\ hy. that I cannot tell," said lie, "Hut 'twas a famous victory." Ihe satirical lines 011 the battie of Blenheim arc well known. Twenty or thirty years hence another small l'cterkin may pick up tliu skull of one of the soldiers, who will be killed to-morrow 011 a new battleground of Europe, end when he shows it to his father and asks way it was. thrown away, the old man will be just as.uncertain 111 his answer. No one can tell now why all the trouble has conic. Austria attacks Servia, Kussia lights because Servia is attacked, <jerinanv lights because Kussia lights, Iranee and Great Kritain lignt because Germany fights. The haulers of tile civilisation of Europe have 110 more reason nor restraint upon their blood lust tliaa a lr.ob of larrikins throwing bottles at ca.-h otners' iieaus. THE MAD IIAiJSiiL'KG.S. l!ut ii there is any cause of tile rar.'ope an war it is the killing ot an Austrian 'areluluke of the idiotic house of Habsburg. Uccause a fanatic cut short .his miserable life luiiiions of men are set to s.ay each other; yet in the very district wliere he met his death babies are slain every year, poisoned by tne phosphorus in tne milk of ttieir motliei's, working in Austrian match factories. There aas never been a suggestion of men lighting to avenge that crime, and the Frcnc!° man, Jaurcs, who made tne bitter accusation in his paper, L'Mumanite, was murdered by a Koyalist. \\ hen the Archduke Ferdinand was killed by a Servian anarchist the paltry honor of the House ox ilabsburg had to be avenged, and that led to the declaral tion of war against .Servia. A message to his suojects explaining the decision of the Emperor l-raiicis Joseph of Austria-Hungary said: "1 have examined and weighed everything, and take this step with a serene conscience." 111STOKK'Al, LUNATICS. I he serenity of a Ilabsburg conscience is ot little vame, for the family i- notorious for its madness and the taint of madness which it- has spread amongst the few families which have had the misfortune to ally themselves with it. I.hey are one of tiiose families whose j history is known, and who supply examples for eugenic theories. Jn a recent story Dr. t'alippe, a French eugenist, wrote:— "The llabsburgs, having by their intermarriages developed a degenerate taint, and having transmitted it, either separately or in conjunction with other taints, both physical and psychical, to the families matrimonially allied with them, have brought into existence a specific type of human animal, by the same means which the breeders of dogs and horses employ'for the creation of a new sub-species. . . . The llabsburgs of Spain have long since been swept oil' the stage of history, disappearing in sterility or insanity. The llabsburgs of Austria, numerous though the represent: atives of the House are at the present 1 time, will end bv disappearing in their .turn as an historic family if they persist in their errors—that is to say, in their marriages with blood relations." AN EMPEROR'S ANCESTORS. The madness and degeneracy of tne -•llabsburgs are not of recent development. For many generations lunacy and eccentricity Jiave claimed frequent \ietims. and a normal member of tiia family has been an exception. Of tile more prominent ancestors of Francis Joseph, the owner of the "serene eonscience." Charles the Hold of l.urgunay died in melancholic madness, a daughter of Ferdinand of Arragon, Known as Johanna the Mail, travelled over Spain with the coilin of her husband, shrieking whenever the procession stopped. Charles V.. the famous Emperor of the Holy lton.aii Knipire, was an epileptic:, iiis son. irhilip 11., who was the husband of F.nglaud's liloody Mary, was described as "half mad." while his brother was a homicidal maniac. Philip 111. tried to poison his sister, and Charles 11. was afraid of the dark, and would slcp with three monks sitting beside his bed. Phillip V. was all imbecile. and i-'erdinaiid VI. was a victim of religious mania. The mailncs/ of the late King Otto of liavaria, a cousin of l-'ran.-is Joseph/ was notorious. The Archduke Charles, who commanded the Austrians against Napoleon, was an epileptic; while his cousin, the Archduke Otto, claims his title to fame through his liubit of dancing iu a. Vienna eaie dressed in a cap. a pair of gloves and a sword licit. These and other did,ails of the House of Hapsburg are told by Mr Francis dribble i.| the Life of the Emperor l-'raii:-: Joseph. This is the stock from whii-h enines tiie man who can bring about a Kuropeau war "with a serene coll-, ience." ,