The Austrian court from within

Preface

BEFORE sending this little book into the world, I would like to warn any readers which it may find that the facts related in it are published by me in full consciousness that some eventual importance may come to be attached to them.

We are fighting an enemy who ignores the most elementary moral principles, and I do think it is the duty of everyone to try to unmask that enemy, to cry out to the civilised world to beware of him. The present work is the result of a careful study of German politics for a period stretching over something like forty years : a study which has convinced me that Austria all through that time has been but a pawn in the hands of her powerful neighbour, and that she is bound in the end to become absorbed in Germany.

I have, therefore, attempted to depict a country, a Court and a society already in the last stages of decay. I will not pretend that in doing so I have been looking only for the best characteristics they may happen to possess. On the contrary, I have tried also to unmask the hypocrisy which has always lain at the bottom of Austrian policy; to point out the bigoted egotism of Austria's higher classes; to draw my readers' notice to

Preface

the selfishness, aggravated by vanity, which from time immemorial has characterised the dynasty and the House of Habsburg.

I feel obliged to make this confession, and also to add that I am indebted to my own observations, and to the correspondence which at different times I have exchanged with several leading political men in Europe, for the facts that I have here sought to fit one with the other so as to produce a whole out of which I draw my own conclusions. Of course, there may be inaccuracies, but I have tried only to mention things which I either knew for fact, or at least had heard from people upon whose veracity I could rely.

C. XV.

Contents

CHAPTER PACtB

1. Francis Joseph, as Archduke and Emperor , 1

2. The Empress Elisabeth ..... 32 8. The Imperial Family ...... 48

Chapter I Francis Joseph, As Archduke And Emperor

'TpHE great wave of revolution which swept over nearly -■- the whole of Europe in 1848 did not spare Austria. Germany was in a blaze of fiery agitation, too. It seemed as if it were inevitable that the two ancient dynasties of Habsburg and HohenzoUern were both destined to immediate exile ; from which there would be no prospect of return.

At Vienna the danger seemed to be more intense than anywhere else. The upper classes and the higher spheres of the aristocracy, indeed, were fully persuaded that not only were their possessions and privileges in imminent danger, but that their very existences were in peril. Prince von Metternich himself — that Nestor among statesmen whom the world, in common with himself, believed to be so firmly established in the confidence of the people as leader of Austrian policy, that death alone could rob him of office — ^found himself compelled to seek refuge abroad. The tide of rebellion rolled strong and swift over those of high estate in Austria.

It is not difficult to explain the seething discontent that reigned. The Sovereign had lost the sympathy and the respect of his subjects by his manner of Hfe. There was, indeed, nothing in his personaHty, attainments or behaviour which could claim either allegiance or affection from his subjects.

The Emperor Ferdinand I. was the eldest son of Francis II., that Emperor who had not hesitated, for political gain, to hand over his daughter to the mercies of the man whom he considered as a mere " Corsican adventurer." Ferdinand himself was imperceptive, obstinate and bigoted in his usual attitude toward life. So strongly, indeed, were these characteristics displayed that even his most devoted adherents were forced to acknowledge that his presence at the head of the Government was a peril for his dynasty as well as for his country. He belonged to the ranks of those who forget that they have obligations and duties, but who never fail to remember that they are in possession of special privileges which raise them above common mortals.

The Emperor Ferdinand married a woman renowned for her loveliness, the Princess Marie Anne of Savoy. At this date, of course, he was still the Archduke. His Archduchess found her life so very different from her legitimate expectations that before she became Empress she lived her days as a nun. When Ferdinand came to the throne the Empress Marie retained her austere views, and, greatly to the distress of her Court and the chagrin of Austrian Society, she tabooed low-cut dresses at the receptions which, occasionally, she was compelled to give.

Should Ferdinand Abdicate ?

In one thing, it must be remembered, both the Emperor and Empress were like-minded : they were devout to a degree. In another aspect, indeed, they were also well-matched : they were both negligible quantities so far as real administrative work was concerned. Metternich held in his hands the reins of the Empire, and the Emperor was only too glad. This state of things suited Metternich very well indeed, for that clever, domineering politician would not have cared to have as his master a man who insisted upon his personal opinions being taken into account.

When the revolution broke out and threatened Vienna, the politicians who aided Metternich in ruling the State were obliged to realise that it had become impossible to keep on the throne a Sovereign who could hardly sign his name to documents put before him and who had but a dim understanding of the duties of a monarch. The difficult thing, however, was to persuade Ferdinand that it was for the good of his country that he should abdicate. He shared with other individuals who have crossed the pages of history by way of the Habsburg throne, an exalted idea of his own fitness for the Imperial mantle, and his attitude to those around him — who, whatever their status, he considered were inferior beings — was that of a despot with the instincts of a tyrant. In regard to his own family he was imperious and impatient, brooking no challenge to his decisions and no difference from his opinions. Yet, with it all, Ferdinand was not a bad man so far as his private life was concerned. He had no desires, no aspirations beyond eating a good dinner, or going to church, or participating in some rehgious function, while he found perennial enjoyment in feeding one or other of the many monkeys he kept about him. Had Ferdinand been a common mortal he would have been considered a bore, with some suspicion as to his mental fitness.

When the question of abdication became more insistent, considerations arose as to upon whom the crown would devolve. Ferdinand's next brother, the Archduke Francis Charles, had made himself unpopular by a suspicion of being implicated in reactionary propaganda. He was accused, indeed, of being the instigator of the indignation against the Austrian Government which lay .at the root of the turbulence of those troubled times.

How far true in reality was the belief held by those in power never became known, but the shadow remained upon the name of Francis Charles. Had circumstances been different in regard to his political activities he would hardly have been chosen to succeed his brother, because he, too, had those unmistakable traits of degeneracy which mark the Habsburgs, and is the outcome of intermarriage with their own line. It would be unfair to speak of their idiosyncrasies in any stronger way than to utter the remark that these men were not well balanced, and were liable at any moment to indulge in extravagance or break into some form of dangerous originality. No doubt much of this defect could have

been eradicated by judicious education, but this, instead,

Empress Marie Anne

proceeded upon lines which failed to correct their natural deficiencies or to temper their extravagances of thought ; rather, it increased their sense of self-importance and inculcated the certainty that in brain power they were infinitely superior to the rest of mankind.

Under these circumstances it was doubly unfortunate that the Empress Marie Anne was a woman incapable of arousing in her husband the desire to do something toward the progress of his Empire. She neither urged him to make use of his own capabilities nor pointed out to him that the wise course would be to surround himself with Ministers possessing the qualities and experience which he lacked. She was lovely, kind and meek, but with no grain of enterprise in her soul. Marie would never have dared to interfere, even for the best of reasons, with what did not immediately concern her. History says that she was once implored by the mother of a young soldier condemned to death for desertion to beg Ferdinand I. for a commutation of the sentence. The only reply the Empress made to the agonised mother was that she would try her best should the Emperor speak to her on the subject, but on no account could she broach the matter to him unasked. The Empress had all those traits which come of being bom in a circle where there are always people to do the thinking and to relieve one from the necessity of attending to one's wants. She firmly believed that the only duties of an Empress consisted in setting a good example to her Court ; of wearing the Crown jewels

on stated occasions ; of going to church every day — fasting whenever the Church required her to do so ; and ultimately; to retire into a complete retreat from the world when she became a widow.

The sister-in-law of the Empress, Sophy of Bavaria, who married the Archduke Francis Charles — the second son of the Emperor Francis II. — was of very different cahbre from the Empress, being used to give expression to her opinions with entire freedom. A member of that gifted race, the Wittelsbachs, she was endowed with their high intelhgence, but managed to evade their penchant for extravagance of thought and manner. She was clever to a remarkable degree, ambitious, enterprising, and of a dominating temper. She was, indeed, quite the antitype to the archduchesses of Austria. Beautiful and accomplished, too, she easily acquired influence over all with whom she came into contact, and \yas always able to hold her own with people cleverer than herself. She had all the dignity of her unfortunate aunt, Marie Antoinette, and was imbued with the grand manner to her very fingertips. From the very first day she entered into the intimate family circle of Imperial Habsburg she was a power in it, and was listened to with far more deference than the Emperor himself. As a matter of fact, though Ferdinand was feared, he was neither liked nor considered among his immediate kindred.

One of the early determinations of the Archduchess Sophy was that when she became Empress she would sweep away the old regime at the Hofburg, where contact with the outside world was prohibited, and the

Archduke Francis Charles

domestic and Court life so hedged round with archaic customs and ceremonies that existence became unbearable to anyone possessing originality of thought. With this intention firmly fixed in her mind Sophy gathered around her men and women who held other claims to notice than high birth, a procedure which aroused bitter animosity among the courtiers as well as among her immediate relatives. Of this, however, Sophy was disdainful, though she curbed her feehngs in the face of opposition. She was by temperament an opportunist, determined in the end to secure her own way, but wise enough, or unscrupulous enough, to dissemble for the time being ; she understood, in short, the art of diplomacy in its more delicate phases.

The Archduke Francis Charles was fortunate in his choice of a wife. Her domestic and family life was wise and womanly. The four sons which came of the marriage were brought up with care and foresight and a wise restriction rarely met with in royal families. Some there were who said that the Archduchess had realised that when her husband came to the throne he would not, without a terrible struggle, allow her to exercise power. Therefore, she was training her sons so that, when the turn of one of them came to reign, he would recognise her political and diplomatic wisdom, and be content to let her be the real ruler. Be that as it may, it is certain that Sophy had been the dominant partner all through their married life. It was equally certain, too, that

Francis had chafed exceedingly under the imperious will of his Archduchess. Like all weak temperaments, he would be certain to take the first opportunity of his new power as Emperor to avenge himself for the state of servitude in which she had managed to keep him. The Archduchess knew quite well that though her career as Empress would be brilliant, from the moment she entered the ancient walls of the Vienna Hofburg as a bride she would not be permitted to do as she liked to the extent she had been accustomed.

In the meantime the Archduchess Sophy was content to watch the unfolding of events and to observe the motives and aims of the political agitations which were beginning to trouble the serenity of Europe. She was in constant correspondence with her sisters, the future Queens of Prussia and of Saxony, thereby remaining familiar with all that went on at these two Courts as well as at Munich. What she observed as to the trend of affairs, from her knowledge of current events and her conclusions based upon what happened, led her to determine to train her boys in a way entirely different from the lines hitherto adopted in regard to young archdukes. Usually they were educated to be keenly alive to their own importance, but at the same time denied anything approaching to serious education fitting them to take up their part in life with real earnestness and discernment.

The Archduchess reversed this order, and succeeded admirably in her plans, particularly with her son Maximilian, who was afterwards to perish so miserably at

Francis Joseph as Archduke

Mexico. Her eldest son, Francis Joseph, also showed the benefit of the training his mother enforced, though in his case his grip of matters was more superficial ; still, to those who judged from outward appearances, he was so different from his cousins that he was certain to become a popular monarch when the time arrived for him to rule the Empire of the Habsburgs.

The manner in which young Francis Joseph was received by the people was a source of much joy to the Archduchess Sophy. He was her favourite son, and, more than that, in him she saw her future assured. It is said that a considerable factor in the depth of her affection was that Francis Joseph resembled another prince to whom Sophy had been warmly attached in her youth. The young nobleman for whom she had nursed a romantic affection was the Duke of Reichstadt, that unfortunate man whom sad destiny wrenched from the splendours of the Tuileries and thrust into the semiimprisonment he so long endured at Schonbrunn. This luckless son of the greatest man of modern times had found in the Archduchess Sophy a kind and attentive friend, one who had never failed him in time of need, and who had done all she could to bring joy into his miserable life. When he died the young Archduchess Sophy shed for him more tears than even his mother — whom, history records, callously left him to his fate when misfortune overcame him. Later on it pleased the Archduchess to find some resemblance between the object of her former tenderness and the son for whom she nursed so many dreams of ambition, dreams in which, in truth, she played a leading part herself.

When the Archduchess Sophy found her young son Francis was not so pliable as she imagined he would be, her love for him underwent some change ; she managed, nevertheless, to retain a very considerable influence over him in regard to political matters, upon which he constantly sought her advice and acted upon it. In the more intimate domain of the private domesticities of the royal household the strong personality of the Archduchess Sophy maintained its dominance, and the manner in which she exercised her power at Court and in the inner life at the Hofburg made life very hard indeed for the exquisitely beautiful bride whom Francis Joseph wedded.

As Francis Joseph approached his later 'teens it became evident to even the strongest partisans of the House of Habsburg that its tenure of the throne was really in peril. Discontent was on every hand, and it seemed inevitable that the House would lose its kingdom if the Sovereign were allowed to continue his erratic rule. Nor was it likely that the people would look with favour upon the direct successor, the Archduke Francis Charles, the father of Francis Joseph and the brother of Ferdinand I. The only hope lay in the abdication of the one, and the renunciation of the right of succession on the part of the other in favour of his son Francis Joseph, then a young man of considerable promise. Undoubtedly, from the point of view of the nation's best

Princess Schwarzenberg of Liechtenstein

interests this was quite the best thing to do, but everyone felt that it would take a very great deal of diplomatic persuasion to induce the Archduchess Sophy to consent to being deprived of the pride and glory of wearing the diadem of an Empress. Curiously, the feelings and claims of the two men most interested were not looked upon as factors of any importance in the affair ; what they thought or wanted mattered but little ; they were negligible factors.

Even in favour of her own son, it was beyond expectation that the Archduchess Sophy would quietly and willingly forgo her legitimate ambition. Especially was this felt when it was remembered that her personal concerns were always accorded first place in her plans.

At this difficult juncture a lady well known in Viennese society, the Princess Schwarzenberg, became the deus ex machina of an intrigue which successfully resolved the difficulty in a manner congenial to all concerned, and caused the Archduchess Sophy herself to propose the alternative which all had feared to place before her.

By birth the Princess Schwarzenberg was a Princess

of Liechtenstein, and among her friends in Society was

known as Princess Lory. She was one of those women

who make an impression in whatever kind of environment

they may be thrust. She was beautiful, and loved to see

that her charms called forth admiration. She was fond

of the good things of life, and, needless to relate, was

the object of all sorts of stories as to the genial frailties she was supposed to possess. She exercised an undisputed sway over Society in Vienna until the day of her death.

At the time when the Princess made her influence felt in connection with the matter of the Habsburg succession, she was the object of the adoring passion of Count William von Montenuovo. This dashing noble, like the Princess, was one of the idols of Society, who made much of him because of the valiant deeds he had performed. He was the only son of the morganatic marriage of the Empress Marie Louise, the widow of the great Napoleon, with Count Neipperg.

During the Italian war of 1848 Count Wilham had accomplished many heroic deeds and had displayed such skill in leadership that he was promoted to be Colonel when he was only twenty-seven years of age. His other promotions and various honourable decorations were also won at the point of the sword. Few men were so popular as he in Vienna Society and in Court circles, for in addition to his personal qualities and attractions, the fact that he was the son of an Archduchess procured for him an exceptional position. With the young Archduke Francis Joseph he was a favourite companion, the Emperor himself liked to have him in his entourage, while the proud and haughty Archduchess visibly unbent whenever he was near. She had been fond of him from the day he had come to the Court with a letter from Marie Louise, begging Sophy to extend to the son of her second marriage the same kindliness and courtesy she had given to

Who Engineered the Abdication?

her only son by the first marriage, the Duke of Reichstadt.

The Princess Lory was a keen judge of human nature, and it did not take her long to enlist the entire allegiance of her admirer, von Montenuovo, to the scheme which she propounded into his willing ear. Gossip said with emphasis 'and delight that the Princess embarked upon her adventure largely because it afforded her an opportunity to repay a grudge she nourished against the Empress Marie Anne, who had expressed herself with more freedom than discretion respecting the sprightly ways of the Princess. The Empress, indeed, used a much stronger term, for which the Princess had never forgiven her.

Thus it came about that circumstances played together, and the outcome was that the Princess recognised that the situation between the Royal House and the country provided a ready means of revenge for an oldstanding slight. Her knowledge of her own sex enabled her to understand how to appeal to the Archduchess Sophy. She wanted her to view the facts in such a light that it would appear to her best interests, as well as to the future welfare of the Habsburgs, that Ferdinand should be dispossessed. And not only that : Sophy's own husband, too, would have to be sacrificed to the future welfare of the House, though she herself need not be a sufferer; it would be her lot, rather, to reign in reality through the nominal headship of her son.

In following out this plan the Princess was too wise to make her advances in person. She did so through the Count von Montenuovo. He, already, was assured of a favourable hearing to anything he might say, and the proposals, therefore, had better chance of success.

So strongly did the Count put the case from the tutoring he had received from the Princess, that the Archduchess became persuaded that the whole fate of the Habsburg dynasty depended upon Ferdinand resigning the Crown into hands better able than he to carry with dignity, respect and efficiency the weight of responsibility in the momentous times which the Empire was passing through. This thoroughly frightened the Archduchess, whose love for her son would not allow his ultimate succession to be endangered, and she agreed to persuade her husband to look at matters from the same aspect.

That point being settled, the Archduchess Sophy was then introduced to the fact that her husband was also considered incompetent to occupy the throne. Impinging as it did upon her own prospect of becoming Empress, it required considerable tact and persuasion for the Count von Montenuovo to force home to the Archduchess the hopelessness of the future for the Habsburgs under any other condition than that the power should pass into the hands of her son, Francis Joseph. At last, however, the Count succeeded in the task the Princess had set him, and this made things much easier. For one thing, as soon as there was no likelihood of Archduchess Sophy becoming Empress, the Empress Marie Anne was willing to fall in

with the idea, affording her, as it did, an opportunity of

Francis Joseph becomes Emperor

embracing more completely than ever the ascetic course of life she preferred.

When the Archduchess went to her husband she experienced far less surprise and opposition than she expected. Francis did not find it a hard task to approach his brother Ferdinand, and point out that unless he abdicated the dynasty would be in jeopardy. He, too, had not needed much persuasion to renounce, also, his right of succession, so that when he went to see his brother he was prepared to put the whole proposition before him : that the abdication should be in favour of Francis Joseph. The Empress added her views to those of Francis Charles, and the matter was speedily settled.

The solemn abdication of the Emperor Ferdinand I. took place with great pomp on the 2nd of December, 1848, after which he retired to the Palace of the Hradschin in Prague, where he ended his days on the 29th of June, 1875, twenty-seven years later. The Empress survived him a few years, and left behind her a memory more marked by respect than regret.

The part which the Count von Montenuovo had taken in bringing Francis Joseph to the throne was never forgotten by the Emperor, who showered favours upon the Count and later created him a prince. He always remained on the most intimate terms with the Count, and it is noteworthy that in recent years his son. Prince Montenuovo, is easily the most influential man at the Austrian Court.

When Francis Joseph took upon his shoulders the

Imperial mantle, he was a young man of eighteen : a handsome, tall, splendid fellow, full of life and activity and desirous of distinguishing himself not only as a Sovereign, but also as a man ; life had not yet soured him, nor sapped away his principles. To anyone seeing Francis Joseph for the first time he created a distinctly favourable impression ; only to the close observer did the latent cruelty of his disposition become apparent, and only after knowing more of him did the selfish and superficial traits which dominated his character show themselves. He was an example of Habsburg degeneracy. Well concealed as yet but nevertheless present, the inherent defects of his race were perpetuated in his person, to come out strongly as the years rolled by.

Francis Joseph had been brought up with a strict regard to the outward observances of the State religion, Roman Catholicity, and was supposed to be very religious. At heart he was no believer in the tenets of Mother Church ; indeed, it would have puzzled him to explain what they were. To him Catholicism was an abstract something which was a powerful factor in keeping his House on the Throne ; while Church attendance was but a necessary means of demonstrating to his people that he adhered to the traditions of his forefathers. The matter appealed to his sentiment with far more force than to his reason.

From his mother, Francis Joseph had inherited an

imperiousness of manner and character which was often

of use to him in impressing his dignity upon the people.

The Hungarian Rebellion

He had not, however, been endowed with her active brain and intelligent mind. Consequently, all through his life he has been governed by prejudices rather than convictions. His private life has been unfettered by deep moral qualities, and he has carried that same feeling into his political activities, not scrupling to break his word whenever he has thought it of advantage to do so. His reign has shown this more than once. A single reference will display his shortcomings in this respect. Take the Hungarian rebellion; it clearly demonstrated to all who cared to make a study of his character and of his actions during that period, that he was narrow-minded, vindictive, hypocritical, selfish and mean.

At the beginning of his reign Francis Joseph did not hesitate to invoke the aid of Russia against his own subjects. When the revolution was broken the Hungarians were so mistrustful of the Austrian Sovereign and his advisers that their leader, Georgey, preferred to surrender to the Russians than to the officials of Austria. And history proved the Hungarians right, because to this day the terrible reprisals this eighteen-year-old Emperor ordered remain unforgotten. Every Hungarian homestead could tell how entirely hideous were the things which were done. Women, young and old, were stripped of their garments and flogged in the public streets of Budapest, and among them were ladies of the highest Hungarian aristocracy.

Another incident of the same rebellion should be retold. Rather than hand down to his descendants the stain c 17 of a father criminally hanged, Count Louis Batthyany poisoned himself on the eve of the day appointed for his execution. It is related that the Countess Batthyany forced an entrance into the chamber of the Emperor, and implored him on her knees to grant her husband's life. He, curtly and with unnecessary cruelty, refused to do so, and when he heard of the suicide of the Count, ordered his lifeless body to be hung from the gallows which would have borne him had he lived a few hours longer. The result of this personal action of the Emperor was that the Countess made her son swear an oath never to condone his father's murder and never to accord to the Monarch the least token of respect.

When the Emperor became King of Hungary he endeavoured 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.

When the Hungarian rebellion had been crushed, the Emperor Francis Joseph received the Russian commanders in audience. In returning to their own country he wished them to carry away his thanks for the help they had given, and also asked them to convey to their Emperor words which, since that day, have acquired a sad significance: "Tell your Emperor," he said, "that he has in me a son who will always be ready to obey any orders that he may care to give him. So long as I live I will remember and I will tell my children to remember