AGED EMPEROR'S FEARS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 68, 20 March 1915, Page 11

AGED EMPEROR'S FEARS.

AUSTRIA'S MONARCH IN DAILY DREAD OF ASSASSINATIOX. The Paris 'Matin" publishes an ac count of the visit to Vienna -of a special correspondent, who wished to see the Uunperor Francis Joseph. He says:— "'Gone is the former deep adoration of the people, which was displayed at every appearance of the Emperor; extinguished is the spontaneous enthusiasm which was manifested at the sight of the Monarch; ended are the battles in the streets born of the desire to approach him more closely; finished are the cheers, and cries of joy which only a little while ago were raised on his passage ,by a delirious crowd swaying round the-aged Sovereign. " To-day - all -is void, official, icy. If he still has an escort, it is composed of plain-clothes policemen, or women and mothers in mourning. These silent demonstrations wiU soon give way to hostile cries, the forerunners of the downfall. "Francis Joseph is afraid; he has gone to earth at Schonbrunn. Formerly he went thither for reasons of health; now he Jives there as a measure of precaution. Frances Joseph goes in fear of his Jife. The Serajevo outrage had already shaken him greatly; the cries of the wounded, the death-rattle -of th c dying, the tears of the widows and mothers have completed the work. " The fact is that the Slavs are no longer the only enemy to be feared; the Czechs and Hungarians are murmuring; the former are openly demanding ] the realisation of their legitimate aspirations. The clandestine executions and arrests carried out wholesale recently in Bohemia have but fortified in the sou! of the Czech the desire for liberty. "The 'Hnngarians, for their part, are beginning to grasp that they have been tricked. Instead of the promised victory they see their ooimtrv invaded and condemned to devastation and ruin. With their hopes deceived and their pride humbled, their King, formerly beloved, has become suspected. This is why Francis Joseph is afraid, and fears tho act, of a madman, a visionary, or a fanatic."