The Archduke Albrecht of Austria died on Monday at the
great age of seventy-seven. He was one of the four or five Princes who, in this latter half of the nineteenth century, have reminded us that the reigning families of Europe spring from stocks originally strong enough to build thrones. Of them all, the Austrian Emperor, the Archduke himself, -Victor Emanuel of Italy, the Queen-Regent of Spain, William I. of Germany, Frederick of Germany, William II. of Germany, and the Red Prince, the first four sprang either by the father's or the mother's side from the House of Hapsburg, and to them many would add the Archduke Maximilian. The Archduke Albrecht was a great soldier who won only one pitched-battle, but who reorganised an army, and who throughout a long life did the hard work -which democracy fancies can be done only by the elect of the people. Had he been in command at Sadowa instead of a popular General, the history of Europe might have gone -differently, and the invasion of France, which broke the Napoleons but burdened Europe with a quarter-of-a-century of armed peace, might never have occurred. The Archduke was one of the richest subjects in Europe, probably the only one who paid fifty thousand a year in taxes, and he is said to have used his wealth well, though chiefly to the advantage of his own family, among whom, at his death, it has been distributed. It is wanted, for the great number of the Arch- dukes and Archduchesses begins to press severely on the resources even of the Hapsburgs. They have immense estates in three countries, but they cannot manage them with the severity of ordinary owners, or sometimes with any profit.
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