It is very rare for a distinctive personality to emerge
from among the lower ranks of the European reigning caste, for, as a rule, individualism is crushed out there by the terrible weight of Court etiquette, and of those strange and half-secret family codes which govern the sovereign houses. A curious piece of news from Vienna, published in the Standard of Tues- day, would seem, however, to indicate that the Archduke John, the youngest son of the late Grand Duke of Tuscany, is inclined to take a course of his own. The Archduke intends, it is said, subject to the Emperor's not refusing his request, to resign all his titles, dignities, and appointments, and to become a captain in the English merchant service. He has already passed at Fiume the examination necessary to qualify him for a com- mand, and is now contemplating a voyage in his yacht in order to show his powers of practical seamanship. The strangest part of the story is that the Archduke is in no sense what the Americans call a " crank," but one of the ablest soldiers in the Austrian Army, both as regards the theory and practice of the art of war. Owing to a quarrel with the highest military authorities over the introduction of the new repeating-rifle, and to a belief that he was meddling with politics, the Archduke was a short time ago put on the Retired List. It was, however, expected that he would be soon employed again, as he is universally recognised as one of those officers whom no Army can afford to lose. Probably his present demand is due to some fresh quarrel. In any case, his action, which is primarily intended to produce a recognition of his claims to a high military command, marks out the Arch- duke John as a man who differs widely from the ordinary princeling.
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