A ROYAL RADICAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2471, 2 March 1893, Page 1

A ROYAL RADICAL.

The Archduke Frederick Ferdinand of Austria, accompanied by several other Royal personages, will arrive in Now Zealand shortly. Mr Henry Lucy, in the Sydney Morning Herald, states that the object of their A'isit as follows: —" A

friend in the diplomatic service here tells me that though on pleasure bent the Archduke Ferdinand is really charged with a mission of discovery. Two years ago one of the Hapsburg family disappeared from the scene in dramatic fashion that would have been scouted as hopelessly improbable had it appeared in a serial story in the Loudon Journal. He was the Archduke John, son of the last Grand Duko of Tuscany. "When the family were driven from tho grand ducal throne the Archduke John was taken to

live at the Court of his high kinsmen, tha Emperor of Austria and Hungary. He was a handsome lad, high-spirited and highly gifted. But even while at school he developed tendencies towards radicalism which in a Hapsburg were simply appaling. Being provided for in the army he set himself to work out reforms devised in the interests of the men. This being peremptorily stopped, there shortly afterwards appeared a pamphlet in which the military organisation of the Austrian army was scathlingly reviewed. It created a profound sensation, not all lessened when the authorship was traced to tha young Archduke. The pamphleteer was exiled to Cracow, but war shortly breaking out, he was despa*"' ■, to Bosnia, where the army co*~ . "j. his command covered »*' \ c ' '-Vf U V When h« returned <«** w + f duke boo- ■ . ./> y»«na tho Arch- „. - xio the idol or society ana the and was not a less favourite with the Emperor and Empress. Bo came in personal conflict with the Crown Prince Iludolph, whose later career forms another romance in the history of the liapsburg family. Things went from bad to worse, till at; length, the Emperor abandoning his favourite, darkness and night fell upon him. Bis name was struck off the Army List and he was forbidden to appear at Court. For two years he fretted under disgrace, and then getting tired of it all, struck back blow for blow. He wrote to the Emperor expressing a desire to relinquish his position as a member of the Imperial Family. He returned the last draft on account of his civil pension, and announced his determination of earning his own living. He went to school, studied navigation, and, presenting himself in the ordinary way, passed his examination as a merchant captain. Armed with a master's certificate, he took a berth as first mate on a sailing ship, and three yaars ago set sail from Trieste bound for the Argentine. No longer Archduke John, member of the stateliest Imperial family in Europe, he was plain Johu Orth drawing so many thalers a month as first mate, smelling of tar, dining off salt junk and sleeping contentedly in his berth.