THE HOUSE OF HAPStURG.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—Mr. Freeman's proposal to call that which is commonly called "the Austrian Empire" by the term "the House of" Austria," would create as complete a confusion as that which he wishes to correct. "House of Austria," till the establish- ment of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain, included both the- native and Spanish branches of the Hapsburgs.
Whether the present Austro-Hungarian Empire is or is not a political necessity and a natural political product, it rests. on a foundation of fact deeper than that any artificial political reasons can supply. That fact is the geographical fact of the River Danube, which, so long as it shall run in its present channel, binds together the countries on its banks with bands which nations and politics did not make and cannot break.—
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