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million Germans would be placed in a position of subordination; | had ever attained so great a success. In the Reichsrath a motion but for the last twenty years there had been a constant encroachment by Czech on German. This was partly due to the direct action of the government. An ordinance of 1880 determined that henceforward all business which had been brought before any government office or law court should be dealt with, within the office, in the language in which it was introduced; this applied to the whole of Bohemia and Moravia, and meant that Czech would henceforward have a position within the government service. It was another step in the same direction when, in 1886, it was ordered that " to avoid frequent translations" business introduced in Czech should be dealt with in the same language in the high courts of Prague and Brünn. Then not only were a large number of Czech elementary schools founded, but also many middle schools were given to the Czechs, and Czech classes introduced in German schools, and, what affected the Germans most, in 1882 classes in Czech were started in the university of Prague-a desecration, as it seemed, of the oldest German university.

The growth of the Slav races was, however, not merely the result of government assistance, it had begun long before Taaffe assumed office, it was to be seen in the census returns and in the results of elections. Prague was no longer the German city it had been fifty years before, the census of 1880 showed 36,000 Germans to 120,000 Czechs. It was the same in Pilsen. In 1861 the Germans had a majority in this town; in 1880 they were not a quarter of the population. This same phenomenon, which occurs elsewhere, cannot be attributed to any laxity of the Germans. The generation which was so vigorously demanding national rights had themselves all been brought up under the old system in German schools, but this had not implanted in them a desire to become German. It was partly due to economic causes the greater increase among the Czechs, and the greater migration from the country to the towns; partly the result of the romantic and nationalist movement which had arisen about 1830, and partly the result of establishing popular education and parliamentary government at the same time. As soon as these races which had so long been ruled by the Germans received political liberty and the means of education, they naturally used both to reassert their national individuality.

was introduced, supported by all the German Liberal parties, demanding that German should be declared the language of state and regulating the conditions under which the other idioms could be recognized; it was referred to a committee from which it never emerged, and a bill to the same effect, introduced in 1886, met a similar fate. In Bohemia they demanded, as a means of protecting themselves against the effect of the language ordinances, that the country should be divided into two parts; in one German was to be the sole language, in the other Czech was to be recognized. A proposal to this effect was introduced by them in the diet at the end of 1886, but since 1882 the Germans had been in a minority. The Czechs, of course, refused even to consider it; it would have cut away the ground on which their whole policy was built up, namely, the indissoluble unity of the Bohemian kingdom, in which German and Czech should throughout be recognized as equal and parallel languages. It was rejected on a motion of Prince Karl Schwarzenberg without discussion, and on this all the Germans rose and left the diet, thereby imitating the action of the Czechs in old days when they had the majority.

New

These events produced a great change on the character of the German opposition. It became more and more avowedly racial; the defence of German nationality was put in the front of their programme. The growing national animosity added bitterness to political life, and destroyed the possibility of a strong homogeneous party on which a government might depend. The beginning of this movement can be traced back to the year 1870. About that time a party of young Germans had arisen who professed to care little for constitutionalism and other "legal mummies," but made the preservation and extension of their own nationality their sole object. As is so often the case in Austria, the movement began in the university of Vienna, where a Leseverein (reading club) of German students was formed as a point of cohesion for Germans, which had eventually to be suppressed. The first representative of the movement in parliament was Herr von Schönerer, who did not scruple to declare that the Germans looked forward to union with the German empire. They were strongly influenced by men outside Austria. Bismarck was their national hero, the anniversary of Sedan their political festival, and approximation to Germany was dearer to them than the maintenance of Austria. After 1878 a heightening of racial feeling began among the Radicals, and in 1881 all the German parties in opposition joined together in a club called the United Left, and in their programme put in a prominent place the defence of the position of the Germans as the condition for the existence of the state, and demanded that German should be expressly recognized as the official language. The younger and more ardent spirits, however, found it difficult to work in harmony with the older constitutional leaders.. They complained that the party leaders were not sufficiently decisive in the measures eightieth birthday, which had been arranged in Graz, were for self-defence. In 1885 great festivities in honour of Bismarck's forbidden by the government, and the Germans of Styria were very indignant that the party did not take up the matter with sufficient energy.

case.

It may be suggested that the resistance to the German language is to some extent a result of the increased national feeling among the Germans themselves. They have made it a matter of principle. In the old days it was common for the children of German parents in Bohemia to learn Czech; since 1867 this has ceased to be the It may almost be said that they make it a point of honour not to do so. A result of this is that, as educated Czechs are generally bilingual, it is easier for them to obtain appointments in districts where a knowledge of Czech is required, and the Germans, therefore, regard every order requiring the use of Czech as an order which Excludes Germans from a certain number of posts. This attitude of hostility and contempt is strongest among the educated middle ch; it is not shown to the same extent by the clergy and the The influence of the Church is also favourable to the Slav races,

nobles

not so much from principle as owing to the fact that they supply more candidates for ordination than the Germans. There is no doubt, however, that the tendency among Germans has been to esalt the principle of nationality above religion, and to give it an absolute authority in which the Roman Catholic Church cannot acquiesce. In this, as in other ways, the Germans in Austria have been much influenced by the course of events in the German empire. This hostility of the Church to the German nationalist movement led in 1898 to an agitation against the Roman Catholic Church, and among the Germans of Styria and other territories large numbers left the Church, going over either to Protestantism or to Old Catholicism. This "Los von Rom" movement, which was caused by the continued alliance of the Clerical party with the Slav parties, is more of the nature of a political demonstration than of a religious move

ment.

German

The Germans, so long accustomed to rule, now saw their old scendancy threatened, and they defended it with an energy that increased with each defeat. In 1880 they founded a great society, the Deutscher Schulverein, to establish and assist German schools. It spread over the whole of the empire; in a few years it numbered 100,000 members, and had an income of nearly 300,000 gulden; no private society in Austria

German parties.

After the elections of 1885 the Left, therefore, broke up again into two clubs, the "German Austrian," which included the more moderate, and the "German," which wished to use sharper language. The German Club, e.g., congratulated Bismarck on his measures against the Poles; the German Austrians refused to take cognizance of events outside Austria with which they had nothing to do. Even the German Club was not sufficiently decided for Herr von Schönerer and his friends, who broke off from it and founded a "National German Union." They spoke much of Germanentum and Unverfälschtes Deutschtum, and they advocated a political union with the German empire, and were strongly anti-Hungarian and wished to resign all control over Galicia, if by a closer union with Germany they could secure German supremacy in Bohemia and the south Slav countries. They play the same part in Austria as does the "pan-Germanic Union" in Germany. When in 1888 the

Electoral reform.

meat

The

1893.

two clubs, the German Austrians and the Germans, joined once After two years he gave up his cautious policy and took a more under the name of the “United German Left " into a bold move. In October 1893 he introduced a reform bill. Univernew club'with eighty-seven members, so as the better to guard sal suffrage had long been demanded by the working against the common danger and to defeat the educational men and the Socialists; the Young Czechs also had demands of the Clericals, the National Germans remained apart put it on their programme, and many of the Christian with seventeen members. They were also infected by the growing Socialists and anti-Semites desired an alteration of the franchise. spirit of anti-Semitism. The German parties had originally Taaffe's bill, while keeping the curiae of the feudal proprietors been the party of the capitalists, and comprised a large number and the chambers of commerce as they were, and making no of Jews, this new German party committed itself to violent change in the number of members, proposed to give the franchise attacks upon the Jews, and for this reason alone any real in both towns and rural districts to every one who could read and harmony between the different branches would have been write, and had resided six months in one place. This was impossible.

opposed by the Liberals, for with the growth of socialism and Notwithstanding the concessions about language the Czechs anti-Semitism, they knew that the extension of the franchise had, however, made nó advance towards their real object--the would destroy their influence. On this Taaffe had probably recognition of the Bohemian kingdom. Perhaps the leaders of calculated, but he had omitted to inquire what the other parties the party, who were now growing old, would have been content would do. He had not even consulted Hohenwart, to whose with the influence they had already attained, but they were assistance he owed his long tenure of power. Not even the hard pressed at home by the Young Czechs, who were more pleasure of ruining the Liberals was sufficient to persuade the impatient. When Count Thun was appointed governor of Conservatives to vote for a measure which would transfer the Bohemia their hopes ran high, for he was supposed to favour power from the well-to-do to the indigent, and Hohenwart the coronation of the emperor at Prague. In 1890, however, J-justly complained that they ought to have been secure against instead of proceeding to the coronation as was expected, Taaffe surprises of this kind. The Poles also were against a measure the agree. attempted to bring about a reconciliation between which would give more influence to the Ruthenes. The position

the opposing parties. The influence by which his of the government was hopeless, and without waiting for a division

policy was directed is not quite clear, but the Czechs | Taaffe resigned. Bohemla. had been of recent years less easy to deal with, and. The event to which for fourteen years the Left had looked Taaffe had never really shown any wish to alter the constitution; | forward had now happened. Once more they could have a his policy always was to destroy the influence of parliament share in the government, which they always believed by playing off one party against the other, and so to win a clear belonged to them by nature. Taught by experience coalition field for the government. During the month of January con- and adversity, they did not scruple to enter into an ministry, ferences were held at Vienna, with Taaffe in the chair, to which alliance with their old enemies, and a coalition ministry were invited representatives of the three groups into which was formed from the Left, the Clericals and the Poles. The the Bohemian representatives were divided, the German party, president was Prince Alfred Windisch-Grätz, grandson of the the Czechs, and the Feudal party. After a fortnight's discussion | celebrated general, one of Hohenwart's ablest lieutenants; an agreement was made on the basis of a separation between the Hohenwart himself did not take office. Of course an administra. German and the Czech districts, and a revision of the electoral tion of this kind could not take a definite line on any controversial law. A protocol enumerating the points agreed on was signed question, but during 1894 they carried through the commercial by all who had taken part in the conference, and in May bills treaty with Russia and the laws for the continuance of the were laid before the diet incorporating the chief points in the currency reform. The differences of the clubs appeared, howagreement. But they were not carried; the chief reason being ever, in the discussions on franchise reform; the government, that the Young Czechs had not been asked to take part in the con- not strong enough to have a policy of its own, had referred the ference, and did not consider themselves bound by its decisions; matter to a committee; for the question having once been they opposed the measures and had recourse to obstruction, and raised, it was impossible not to go on with it. This would a certain number of the Old Czechs gradually came over to them. probably have been fatal to the coalition, but the final blow Their chief ground of criticizing the proposed measures was that was given by a matter of very small importance arising from the they would threaten the unity of the Bohemian country. At disputes on nationality. The Slovenes had asked that in the the elections in 1891 a great struggle took place between the Old gymnasium at Cilli classes in which instruction was given in and the Young Czechs. The latter were completely victorious; Slovenian should be formed parallel to the German classes. Rieger, who had led the party for thirty years, disappeared This request caused great excitement in Styria and the neigh: from the Reichsrath. The first result was that the proposed bouring districts; the Styrian diet (from which the Slovene agreement with Bohemia came to an end. But the disappearance minority had seceded) protested. The Slovenes were, however, of the Old Czechs made the parliamentary situation very insecure. members of the Hohenwart Club, so Hohenwart and his followers The Young Czechs could not take their place; their Radical supported the request, which was adopted by the ministry. The and anti-clerical tendencies alarmed the Feudalistsand Clericalists German Left opposed it; they were compelled to do so by the who formed so large a part of the Right; they attacked the popular indignation in the German districts; and when the alliance with Germany; they made public demonstration of vote was carried against them (12th June 1895) they made it a their French sympathies; they entered into communication question of confidence, and formally withdrew their support with other Slav races, especially the Serbs of Hungary and from the government, which therefore at once resigned. Bosnia; they demanded universal suffrage, and occasionally After a short interval the emperor appointed as ministersupported the German Radicals in their opposition to the Clerical president Count Badeni, who had earned a great reputation parties, especially in educational matters; under their influence as governer of Galicia. He formed an administration disorder increased in Bohemia, a secret society called the the merit of which, as of so many others, was that it was Umlading (an imitation of the Servian society of that name) was to belong to no party and to have no programme. He discovered, and stringent measures had to be taken to preserve hoped to be able to work in harmony with

the moderate elements order. The government therefore veered round towards the of the Left; his mission was to carry through the composition German Liberals; some of the ministers most obnoxious to the (Ausgleich) with Hungary; to this everything else must be subGermans resigned, and their places were taken by Germans. ordinated. During 1896 he succeeded in carrying a franchise For two years the government seemed to waver, looking now to reform bill, which satisfied nearly all parties. All the old

categories the Lest, now to Hohenwart and his friends; for a time Taaffe of members were maintained, but a fifth curia was added, in which really had the support of all parties except the Young Czechs. almost any one might vote who had resided six months in one place

On this see Menger. Der Ausgleich mit Böhmen (Vienna, 1891), and was not in domestic service; in this way seventy-two would where the documents are printed.

be added to the existing members. This matter having been

• Badeals ministry

settled, parliament was dissolved. The result of the elections of 1897 was the return of a House so constituted as to make any strong government impossible. On both sides the anti-Semitic parties representing the extreme demagogic elements were present in considerable numbers. The United German Left had almost disappeared; it was represented only by a few members chosen by the great proprietors; in its place there were the three parties -the German Popular party, the German Nationalists, and the German Radicals-who all put questions of nationality first and bad deserted the old standpoint of the constitution. Then there were the fourteen Social Democrats who had won their seats under the new franchise. The old party of the Right was, however, also broken up; side by side with forty-one Clericals there were twenty-eight Christian Socialists led by Dr Lueger, a man of great oratorical power, who had won a predominant influence in Vienna, so long the centre of Liberalism, and had quite eclipsed the more modest efforts of Prince Liechtenstein. As among the German National party, there were strong nationalist elements in his programme, but they were chiefly directed against Jews and Hungarians; Lueger had already distinguished himself by his violent attacks on Hungary, which had caused some embarrassment to the government at a time when the Degotiations for the Ausgleich were in progress. Like anti-Semites elsewhere, the Christian Socialists were reckless and irresponsible, appealing directly to the passions and prejudices of the most ignorant. There were altogether 200 German members of the Reichsrath, but they were divided into eight parties, and nowhere did there seem to be the elements on which a government could be built up.

The parliamentary situation is best explained by the following between the police and the workmen, followed by assassinations; table showing the parties:

Democrat

10

German Liberals

1897.

Constitutional Landed Proprietors. 28

1901. 28

German Radicals

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German Popular Party

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Schoenerer Group

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Kronawetter

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Social Democrats

14

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37

Catholic Popular Party

Christian Socialists

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The most remarkable result of the elections was the disappearance of the Liberals in Vienna. In 1879, out of 37 members returned in Lower Austria, 33 were Liberals, but now they were

replaced to a large extent by the Socialists. It was impossible to maintain a strong party of moderate constitutionalists, on whom the government could depend, unless there was a large nucleus from Lower Austria. The influence of Lueger was very embarrassing; he had now a majority of two-thirds in the town council, and had been elected burgomaster. The emperor had refused to confirm the election; he had been re-elected, and then the emperor, in a personal interview, appealed to him to withdraw. He consented to do so; but, after the election of 1897 had given him so many followers in the Reichsrath, Badeni advised that his election as burgomaster should be confirmed. There was violent antipathy between the Christian Socialists and the German Nationalists, and the transference of their quarrels from the Viennese Council Chamber to the Reichsrath was very detrimental to the orderly conduct of debate. The limited suffrage had hitherto prevented socialism from becoming a political force in Austria as it had in Germany, and the national divisions have always impeded the Socialism. creation of a centralized socialist party. The first object of the working classes necessarily was the attainment of political power; in 1867 there had been maŝs demonstrations and petitions to the government for universal suffrage. During the next years there was the beginning of a real socialist movement in Vienna and in Styria, where there is a considerable industrial population; after 1879, however, the growth of the party was interrupted by the introduction of anarchical doctrines. Most's paper, the Freiheit, was introduced through Switzerland, and had a large circulation. The anarchists, under the leadership of Peukert, seem to have attained considerable numbers. In 1883-1884 there were a number of serious strikes, collisions

it was a peculiarity of Austrian anarchists that in some cases they united robbery to murder. The government, which was seriously alarmed, introduced severe repressive measures; the leading anarchists were expelled or fled the country. In 1887, under the leadership of Dr Adler, the socialist party began to revive (the party of violence having died away), and since then it has steadily gained in numbers; in the forefront of the political programme is put the demand for universal suffrage. In no country is the 1st of May, as the festival of Labour, celebrated so generally.

Badeni after the election sent in his resignation, but the emperor refused to accept it, and he had, therefore, to do the best he could and turn for support to the other nationalities. The strongest of them were the fifty-nine Poles and sixty Young Czechs; be therefore attempted, as Taaffe had done, to come to some agreement with them. The Poles were always ready to support the government; among the Young Czechs the more moderate had already attempted to restrain the wilder spirits of the party, and they were quite prepared to enter into negotia tions. They did not wish to lose the opportunity which now was open to them of winning influence over the administration. What they required was further concession as to the language in Bohemia. In May 1897 Badeni, therefore, published his celebrated ordinances. They determined (1) that all correspondence and documents regarding every matter The brought before the government officials should be language conducted in the language in which it was first intro- ordinances duced. This applied to the whole of Bohemia, and' meant the introduction of Czech into the government offices throughout the whole of the kingdom; (2) after 1903 no one was to be appointed to a post under the government in Bohemia until he had passed an examination in Czech. These ordinances fulfilled the worst fears of the Germans. The German Nationalists and Radicals declared that no business should be done till they were repealed and Badeni dismissed. They resorted to obstruction. They brought in repeated motions to impeach the ministers, and parliament had to be prorogued in June, although no business of any kind had been transacted. Badeni had not anticipated the effect his ordinances would have; as a Pole he had little experience in the western part of the empire. During the recess he tried to open negotiations, but

of 1897.

Renewed conflict

Germans sod Crechs.

the Germans refused even to enter into a discussion until the less disturbed than in the former year, but the Germans still ordinances had been withdrawn, "The agitation spread through-prevented any business from being done. The Germans now had out the country; great meetings were held at Eger and Aussig, a new cause of complaint. Paragraph 14 of the which were attended by Germans from across the frontier, and Constitutional law of 1867 provided that, in cases of led to serious disturbances; the cornflower, which had become pressing necessity, orders for which the assent of the between the symbol of German nationality and union with Germany, was Reichsrath was required might, if the Reichsrath were freely wors, and the language used was in many cases treasonable.. not in session, be proclaimed by the emperor; they had The emperor insisted that the Reichsrath should again be to be signed by the whole ministry, and if they were summoned to pass the necessary measures for the agreement not laid before the Reichsrath within four months of its meeting, with Hungary; scenes then took place which have no parallel or if they did not receive the approval of both Houses, they in parliamentary history. To meet the obstruction it was ceased to be valid. The Germans contended that the application determined to sit at night, but this was unsuccessful. On one this clause to the Ausgleich was invalid, and demanded that occasion Dr Lecher, one of the representatives of Moravia, spoke it should be repealed. Thun had in consequence to retire, in for twelve hours, from 9 P.m. till 9 A.M., against the Ausgleich. September 1899. His successor, Count Clary, began by withThe opposition was not always limited to feats of endurance of drawing the ordinances which had been the cause of so much this kind. On the 3rd of November there was a free fight in the trouble, but it was now too late to restore peace. The Germans House; it arose from a quarrel between Dr Lueger and the were not sufficiently strong and united to keep in power a Christian Socialists on the one side (for the Christian Socialists minister who had brought them the relief for which they had had supported the government since the confirmation of Lueger been clamouring for two years. The Czechs, of course, went as burgomaster) and the German Nationalists under Herr Wolí, into opposition, and used obstruction. The extreme German a German from Bohemia, the violence of whose language had party, however, took the occasion to demand that paragraph already caused Badeni to challenge him to a duel. The Nation 14 should be repealed. Clary explained that this was impossible, alists refused to allow Lueger to speak, clapping their desks, but he gave a formal pledge that he would not use it. The hissing and making other noises, till at last the Young Czechs Czechs, however, prevented him passing a law on excise which attempted to prevent the disorder by violence. On the 24th of was a necessary part of the agreements with Hungary; it was, November the scenes of disturbance were renewed. The pre- therefore, impossible for him to carry on the government without sident, Herr v. Abrahamovitch, an Armenian from Galicia, breaking his word; there was nothing left for him to do but to refused to call on Schönerer to speak. The Nationalists therefore resign, after holding office for less than three months. The stormed the platform, and the president and ministers had to emperor then appointed a ministry of officials, who were not fly into their private rooms to escape personal violence, until bound by his pledge, and used paragraph 14 for the necessary the Czechs came to their rescue, and by superiority in numbers purposes of state. They then made way for a ministry under and physical strength severely punished Herr Wolf and his Herr v. Körber. During the early months of 1900 matters were friends. The rules of the House giving the president noauthority more peaceful, and Körber hoped to be able to arrange a comfor maintaining order, he determined, with the assent of the promise; but the Czechs now demanded the restoration of their ministers, to propose alterations in procedure. The next day, language in the internal service of Bohemia, and on 8th June, when the sitting began, one of the ministers, Count Falkenhayn, by noise and disturbance, obliged the president to suspend the a Clerical who was very unpopular, moved "That any member sitting. The Reichsrath was immediately dissolved, the emperor who continued to disturb a sitting after being twice called to having determined to make a final attempt to get together a order could be suspended for three days by the president, and parliament with which it would be possible to govern. The for thirty days by the House.” The din and uproar was such new elections on which so much was to depend did not take that not a word could be heard, but at a pre-arranged signal place till January 1901. They resulted in a great increase of from the president all the Right rose, and he then declared that the extreme German Nationalist parties. Schönerer and the the new order had been carried, although the procedure of the German Radicals-the fanatical German party who in their House required that it should be submitted to a committee. new programme advocated union of German Austria with the The next day, at the beginning of the sitting, the Socialists German empire—now numbered twenty-one, who chiefly came rushed on the platform, tore up and destroyed all the papers from Bohemia. They were able for the first time to procure the lying there, seized the president, and held him against the wall

. election of one of their party in the Austrian Delegation, and After he had escaped, eighty police were introduced into the threatened to introduce into the Assembly scenes of disorder House and carried out the fourteen Socialists. The next day similar to those which they had made common in the Reichsrath. Herr Wolf was treated in the same manner. The excitement All those parties which did not primarily appeal to national spread to the street. Serious disorders took place in Vienna and feeling suffered loss; especially was this the case with the two in Graz; the German opposition had the support of the people, sections of the Clericals, the Christian Socialists and the Ultraand Lueger warned the ministers that as burgomaster he would montanes; and the increasing enmity between the German be unable to maintain order in Vienna; even the Clerical Nationalists (who refused even the name German to a Roman Germans showed signs of deserting the government. The Catholic) and the Church became one of the most conspicuous

emperor, hastily summoned to Vienna, accepted features in the political situation. The loss of seats by the Badeni's resignation, the Germans having thus by Socialists showed that even among the working men the national

obstruction attained part of their wishes. The new agitation was gaining ground; the diminished influence of the minister, Gautsch, a man popular with all parties, held office for anti-Semites was the most encouraging sign. three months; he proclaimed the budget and the Ausgleich, Notwithstanding the result of the elections, the first months and in February replaced the language ordinances by others, of the new parliament passed in comparative peace. There was under which Bohemia was to be divided into three districts a truce between the nationalities. The Germans were more one Czech, one German and one mixed. The Germans, however, occupied with their opposition to the Clericals than with their were not satisfied with this; they demanded absolute repeal.feud with the Slavs. The Czechs refrained from obstruction, The Czechs also were offended; they arranged riots at Prague; for they did not wish to forfeit the alliance with the Poles the professors in the university refused to lecture unless the and Conservatives, on which their parliamentary strength German students were defended from violence; Gautsch| depended, and the Germans used the opportunity to pass resigned, and Thun, who had been governor of Bohemia, was measures for promoting the material prosperity of the country, appointed minister. Martial law was proclaimed in Bohemia, especially for an important system of canals which would and strictly enforced. Thun then arranged with the Hungarian bring additional prosperity to the coal-fields and manufacture: ministers a compromise about the Ausgleich.

of Bohemia.

(J. W. HE ) The Reichsrath was again summoned, and the meetings were The history of Austria since the general election of 1901 is the

Badent resigas.

works

policy.

history of franchise refcrm as a crowning attempt to restore | had become so obnoxious to the Czechs that his removal would parliament to normal working conditions. The premier, Dr be regarded by them as a concession, his resignation was suddenly von Körber, who had undertaken to overcome obstruc- accepted by the emperor, and, on the 1st of January 1905, Public tion and who hoped to effect a compromise between a former premier, Baron von Gautsch, was appointed in his Germans and Czechs, induced the Chamber to sanction stead. Parliamentary activity was at once resumed; the Austrothe estimates, the contingent of recruits and other Hungarian tariff contained in the Széll-Körber compact was "necessities of state" for 1901 and 1902, by promising to under- adopted, the estimates were discussed and the commercial take large public works in which Czechs and Germans were alike treaty with Germany ratified. In the early autumn, however, interested. These public works were chiefly a canal from the a radical change came over the spirit of Austrian politics. For Danube to the Oder; a ship canal from the Danube to the nearly three years Austria had been watching with bitterness Moldau near Budweis, and the canalization of the Moldau from and depression the course of the crisis in Hungary. Parliament Budweis to Prague; a ship canal running from the projected had repeatedly expressed its disapproval of the Magyar demands Danube-Oder canal near Prerau to the Elbe near Pardubitz, upon the crown, but had succeeded only in demonstrating its and the canalization of the Elbe from Pardubitz to Melnik, a own impotence. The feeling that Austria could be compelled by navigable connexion between the Danube-Oder Canal and the imperial ordinance under paragraph 14 to acquiesce in whatever Vistula and the Dniester. It was estimated that the construction concessions the crown might make to Hungary galled Austrian of these four canals would require twenty years, the funds being public opinion and prepared it for coming changes. In August furnished by a 4% loan amortizable in ninety years. In addition | 1905 the crown took into consideration and in September to the canals, the cabinet proposed and the Chamber sanctioned sanctioned the proposal that universal suffrage be introduced the construction of a "second railway route to Trieste " de- into the official programme of the Fejérváry cabinet then engaged signed to shorten the distance between South Germany, Salzburg in combating the Coalition in Hungary. It is not to be supposed and the Adriatic, by means of a line passing under the Alpine that the king of Hungary assented to this programme without ranges of central and southern Austria. The principal sections reflecting that what he sought to further in Hungary, it would of this line were named after the ranges they pierced, the chief be impossible for him, as emperor of Austria, to oppose in tunnels being bored through the Tauern, Karawanken and Cisleithania. His subsequent action justifies, indeed, the belief Wechein hills. Sections were to be thrown open to traffic as that, when sanctioning the Fejerváry programme, the monarch soon as completed and the whole work to be ended during 1909. had already decided that universal suffrage should be introduced The line forms one of the most interesting railway routes in in Austria; but even he can scarcely have been prepared for the. Europe. The cost, however, greatly exceeded the estimate rapidity with which the movement in Austria gained ground and sanctioned by parliament; and the contention that the parlia- | accomplished its object. mentary adoption of the Budget in 1901-1902 cost the state (100,000,000 for public works, is not entirely unfounded. True, these works were in most cases desirable and in some cases necessary, but they were hastily promised and often hastily begun under pressure of political expediency. The Körber administration was for this reason subsequently exposed to

severe censure.

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Despite these public works Dr von Körber found himself unable to induce parliament to vote the Budgets for 1903, 1904 or 1905, and was obliged to revert to the expedient employed by his predecessors of sanctioning the estimates by imperial ordinance under paragraph 14 of the constitution: His attempts in December 1902 and January 1903 to promote a compromise between Czechs and Germans proved equally futile. Körber proposed that Bohemia be divided into 10 districts, of which 5 would be Czech, 3 German and 2 mixed. Of the 234 district tribunals, 113 were to be Czech, 94 German and 7 mixed. The Czechs demanded on the contrary that both their language and German should be placed on an equal footing throughout Bohemia, and be used for all official purposes in the same way. As this demand involved the recognition of Czech as a language of internal service in Bohemia it was refused by the Germans. Thenceforward, until his fall on the 31st of December 1904, Körber governed practically without parliament. The Chamber was summoned at intervals rather as a pretext for the subsequent employment of paragraph 14 than in the hope of securing its assent to legislative measures. The Czechs blocked business by a pile of " urgency motions" and occasionally indulged in noisy obstruction. On one occasion a sitting lasted 57 hours without interruption. In consequence of Czech aggressiveness, the German parties (the German Progressists, the German Populists, the Constitutional Landed Proprietors and the Christian Socialists) created a joint executive committee and a supreme committee of four members to watch over German racial interests.

By the end of 1904 it had become clear that the system of government by paragraph 14, which Dr von Körber had perfected

Baron Gautsch preinter.

was not effective in the long run. Loans were needed for military and other purposes, and paragraph 14 itself declares that it cannot be employed for the contraction of any lasting burden upon the exchequer, nor for any sale of state patrimony. As the person of the premier

Franchise

On the 15th of September 1905 a huge socialist and workingclass demonstration in favour of universal suffrage took place before the parliament at Budapest. The Austrian Socialist party, encouraged by this manifestation and reform. influenced by the revolutionary movement in Russia, resolved to press for franchise reform in Austria also. An initial demonstration, resulting in some bloodshed, was organized in Vienna at the beginning of November. At Prague, Graz and other towns, demonstrations and collisions with the police were frequent. The premier, Baron Gautsch, who had previously discountenanced universal suffrage while admitting the desirability of a restricted reform, then changed attitude and permitted an enormous Socialist demonstration, in support of universal suffrage, to take place (November 28) in the Vienna Ringstrasse. Traffic was suspended for five hours while an orderly procession of workmen, ten abreast, marched silently along the Ringstrasse past the houses of parliament. The demonstration made a deep impression upon public opinion. On the same day the premier promised to introduce by February a large measure of franchise reform so framed as to protect racial minorities from being overwhelmed at the polls by majorities of other races. On the 23rd of February 1906 he indeed brought in a series of franchise reform measures. Their main principles were the abolition of the curia or electoral class system and the establishment of the franchise on the basis of universal suffrage; and the division of Austria electorally into racial compartments within which each race would be assured against molestation from other races. The Gautsch redistribution bill proposed to increase the number of constituencies from 425 to 455, to allot a fixed number of constituencies to each province and, within each province, to each race according to its numbers and tax-paying capacity. The reform bill proper proposed to enfranchise every male citizen above 24 years of age with one year's residential qualification.

At first the chances of the adoption of such a measure seemed small. It was warmly supported from outside by the Social Democrats, who held only 11 seats in the House; inside, the Christian Socialists or Lueger party were favourable on the whole as they hoped to gain seats at the expense of the German Progressives and German Populists and to extend their own organization throughout the empire. The Young Czechs, too, were favourable, while the Poles reserved their attitude. Hostile

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