Seventy Years a Ruler Aged Prince of Liechtenstein

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 560, 12 January 1929, Page 22

Seventy Years a Ruler Aged Prince of Liechtenstein

■NE of the strangest anomalies in a world of republics occurred a few days ago when Prince John 11. celebrated the seventieth year of his reign over the ] | ,1c principality of .Liechtenstein. Jonn the Good lie is known to his 11,00(1 subjects, and well he may be, for not only has the Prince spent large sums from his private fortune in making their lot a happy one, but they live in peace and contentment, unruffled by the heavy hand of the tax collector. This little country, with its sixtyfive square miles, nestles in the foot-

aills of the Swiss mountains on the border of Austria. Its capital is Vaduz, consisting of little more than a primitive main street and about 1,2 0 0 population. But it is a proud little country. While empires and kingdoms toppled in 191 S and emperors and kings scurried away into

exile, the Diet of Liechtenstein, its 15 Deputies duly assembled, solemnly abrogated its economic dependency on Austria-Hungary and reaffirmed its independence, with Prince John as its sovereign ruler. Like Andorra, the tiny State of the Pyrenees, Liechtenstein is a political curiosity. Originally the country was split into two parts—the county of Vaduz and the lordship of Schellenberg. in 1613 both were bought, after having passed through many hands, by the Count of Hohenems. For almost one hundred years the Count held on to his estates, as they then were, but in 1699, on account of adversity in financial matters, he sold the lordship to the Liechtensteins and in 1713 he disposed of the county of \ aduz to the same family. The Liechtenstein Line The Liechtenstein family is a very old one, vying in that respect with the Hohenzollerns and Haps burgs.

First mention of them comes in the history of the twelfth century, but it was not until the seventeenth century that they were raised to princely rank. In 1719 the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire raised the new Liechtenstein possessions to a principality under the name of Liechtenstein. As such the country endured until, in 1806, when the tottering empire finally fell, it became part of the German Confederation and a sovereign State. The next change came after the battle of Sadowa, 1866, when the Prussians conquered the Austrians and brought the Confederation to an end. Prince John was then 26 years old and in the eighth year of his reign. He took steps to make his sovereignty more real than it had been. although the country, being small and relatively poor,, had to rely on Austria for its postal and telegraph facilities, its coinage, and ultimately was forced to join the Austrian customs union. Thus Liechtenstein was to l* vc through the fall of one of the. strangest and oldest empires the world has seen; to witness the breakup of an imponderable political federation: and finally to triumph through the maelstrom of the World War that set the seal of fate on the heterogeneous dual empire of the East. And for the world's smallest State, with the exception of Andorra and San Marino, that was an achievement to be proud of and was due ver largely to the tactful diplomacy ° the Prince who ruled her. An Enlightened Prince Prince John, once fabulously rich and still a minor Croesus, has nO Ji llD ® of the despot about him. * ro the outset his rule has been e lightened. He succeeded his in 1858 and four years later ne granted of his own free will a co • stitution to his “household," as calls his subjects. This constituti has been four times amended, last time in 1921, and as it nostands grants universal suffrage » proportional representation ro (Continued on Page 23)-