THE POWER BEHIND THE AUSTRIAN THRONE.

WHO is the power behind the throne? Whose handiwork is this? These are questions which, in one form or another, have been asked again and again of late, and with keen anxiety, in every capital in Europe. For that it was the aged Emperor Franz Josef who planned the coup that set the world's nerves a-jangling last October, no one can believe. His Majesty is much too careworn and weary to sally forth of his own free will in search of adventure; his one wish is, as everyone knows, for rest and peace. If he has taken a step that makes for strife, he has assuredly taken it unwittingly, and only because someone or other had misled him, had persuaded him that it would make for peace all round. Such, at any rate, is the firm belief of a large section of his own people, and they know him better than any other people can. Among them the only point in dispute is who the "someone was.

In London it seems to be almost taken for granted that Baron Aehrenthal was the culprit: never would the Emperor-King have consented to the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the present unsettled state of Europe, it is argued, had he not been captured" by his Foreign Minister. In Russia, however, where the Baron lived for years, and is therefore much better known than he is known in England, the idea of his ever even trying to capture his sovereign is simply scoffed at. There he is looked upon as an eminently safe man, the last man in the world, indeed, if left unprompted, to wax suddenly reckless and take to weaving backstair intrigues. And this is the view which, until quite recently, was held of him practically everywhere, even by those whose purpose it has served sometimes to pretend that they thought him dangerous. His appointment as Foreign Minister, it will be remembered, was hailed on all sides as a good appointment, expressly because of his trustworthiness. He might not have the brilliancy of his predecessor, Count Goluchowski, it was admitted; but on the other hand he had more prudence and was therefore safer, it was maintained. And, as evidence that this was the case, attention was drawn to the fact that he had been in his young days the confidential secretary of Count Kalnoky, who was no mean judge of character, and that the Count had made him his literary executor. Thus, if Baron Aehrenthal played the chief rôle in the annexation drama, he not

only gave the lie to his past life by playing it, but he showed how very little even those who know him best really know him.

In Budapest, however, they who believe that it actually was he who played the chief rôle in this drama are few and far between, while even in Vienna their name is not Legion. In the one city as in the other, a strong suspicion prevails that the rôle he really played was that of the clever, well-trained official, who does what he is told to do very ably, and makes inspired speeches with consummate skill. This suspicion, indeed, amounts to something very like conviction among men of the class who are, perhaps, the best able to judge, i.e., they who, because they have no taste for party strife, stand aloof from politics, watching the while with keen and critical eyes the way public affairs are managed. There are many such men in Austria, some few, too, in Hungary; and among them it is argued, with some show of reason, that the prime mover in this business, the power behind the throne that set the thing in motion, must have been someone who either wields great personal influence over the Emperor-King, or who, owing to his position, can speak to him with a certain authority. Otherwise never would he have been able to induce his Majesty to listen to his project, much less to adopt it, and allow it to be carried out. And neither the one nor yet the other of these conditions is fulfilled either by Baron Aehrenthal or any of his colleagues. The Austro-Hungarian Ministers of Foreign Affairs, War, and Finance are all able men, and so are the ex-Austrian and the present Hungarian Premiers; but not one among them-not a statesman in the whole empire, indeed-wields any influence whatever over their Emperor; not one among them can claim to speak to him with even a shadow of authority. It is not among them, therefore, that the "someone who is responsible for the present turmoil in Europe must be sought. So at least certain of these non-party politicians maintain; and they, having no axe of their own to grind, can see, perhaps, more clearly than those who have.

According to them, although there are several persons -the Archduchess Valérie and her husband among others -who in matters of of no importance can persuade the aged Emperor to do almost anything, there are at the present time only two who, in State affairs, can bring influence to bear on him directly. And both these persons are, as it happens, in a position-practically they are the only persons in such a position-that enables them to speak to him, not, of course, with authority, but with something as near akin to authority as is permissible in the case of a great ruling sovereign. For the one is the German Emperor, Austro-Hungary's allpowerful ally, and the other, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand,

Austro-Hungary's future Emperor-King. The "someone" must therefore have been either the Emperor William or the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, they maintain. And although there are some few among them who hold that it was the Emperor, for every one who does there are a score at least who hold that it was the Archduke.

The Emperor William is both too clever and too egoistic, they declare, to have suggested, even in a whisper, that AustroHungary, his one and only sure ally, should embark on a venture which must necessarily tie her hands for years to come, and thus prevent her from rendering him any service. Besides he gains nothing by the annexation, nay it may even cost him dear in the end, proof positive, surely, that it is none of his handiwork. It is the handiwork of Franz Ferdinand, they declare stoutly. Whether it makes for weal or for woe, the responsibility for it rests primarily on the Archduke. It was he who induced the Emperor Franz Josef to consent to it; it was he who induced Baron Aehrenthal and his colleagues to take the measures necessary for bringing it about. This they say openly, and many of their fellow-countrymen are inclined to agree with them, a fact that accounts perhaps for the lack of enthusiasm with which the announcement of the annexation was received in Austria, as well as in Hungary. For the majority of educated Austrians are prone to look askance on whatever the Archduke does or leaves undone they wax nervous, indeed, whenever he does anything; and that he has done something in this business they have proof. In Berlin it was stated openly, in a semi-official Note, at the time of the annexation, that his Imperial Highness had taken an active part in bringing it about; while in Vienna it was admitted officially that he had interested himself in it quite specially.

In judging of this matter it must be remembered that, for some time past, the Archduke has taken his place by the side of the Emperor-King at State Councils, whenever Near East affairs were under discussion; and that in the days immediately preceding the annexation, he was closeted with his Majesty, again and again, for the hour together. It must be remembered too, that the Emperor Franz Josef is an old man now, one whose strength is failing him fast; and that his nephew and heir is in very close relations with the Austro-Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Baron Beck, who until the other day was the Austrian Premier. Already three years ago a well-known Hungarian assured me that Baron Beck was the Archduke's devoted servant, and that he might always be relied upon to do his master's behests faithfully.

Whether the Archduke was, or was not, the prime mover in

this business may be a moot point; still, if he was, things that would otherwise be difficult to understand would be easily explained. For instance, the scant heed paid to Germany's convenience in arranging the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina would then be fully accounted for; so would the fact that, although the Magyars have often clamoured for it, now that they have it they regard it with suspicion; for the fact, too, that whereas in Prague all the world extols it, in Vienna it is only in Federalist and Ultramontane circles that it meets with wholehearted approval.

one.

That the Archduke is no blind admirer of Germany and her ways all the world knows. He is far too devout a Catholic to have much sympathy with a Protestant State, far too fervent a patriot to have any sympathy at all with a State that allows even its own allies to feel its mailed fist upon occasions. He is, no doubt, just as firmly convinced as his uncle is that for AustroHungary the Triple Alliance is a necessity; still, he hardly takes the trouble to conceal the fact that the necessity is a painful It is an open secret that he bitterly resented the sending of the "brilliant second" telegram; and that he is determined no chance shall ever again be given, if it lie in his power to prevent it, of sending another of the same kind. He took good care when Count Goluchowski fell that it was a friend of his own, one on whom he could securely count to adopt his views and pursue his policy, who was installed in the Ball Platz Palais. And thereupon the Palais at once began to change its tone toward the sister Palais in Berlin, to become more elaborately courteous even than before, but more reticent the while, less subservient; a fact which, coming to the knowledge of the Austrian PanTeutons, they were quick to ascribe to the influence of the Archduke. Before Baron Aehrenthal had been in office many months, they seized a quite frivolous pretext for making a virulent attack on his Imperial Highness in the Reichsrath. They showed strong personal animosity against him; and at the root of it was undoubtedly their conviction that in no undertaking in which he had the dominant voice would the convenience of Germany ever be consulted, or would her advice ever be asked.

Then the Archduke is a strong Federalist. When coming to England to represent the Emperor Franz Josef at the Coronation of King Edward, he raised a storm of indignant wrath by announcing his determination to bring with him representatives of Bohemia and Poland, as well as of Austria and Hungary. This in itself accounts, of course, for the high esteem in which he is held by all true Federalists, and also for the profound

mistrust with which he, as all that he does, is regarded by the Magyars. For to the Magyars the mere mention of Federation is as the shaking of a red rag before the eyes of a bull. The thought of Slavs, Czechs, Poles, and perhaps even Croats, taking their place side by side with them on equal terms, as sister nations, drives them quite wild. And that this is the state of things the Archduke is bent on bringing about, they have never a doubt; for, not only is he a Federalist by conviction, but he is, as they profess to have proof, strongly pro-Slav and anti-Magyar in personal sympathy. The moment, therefore, that it was even suspected that the annexation was his handiwork, it was a foregone conclusion that they would-just as they have donecavil at it, pronounce it inopportune, and regard it as boding them no good; a foregone conclusion, too, that the Federalists would hail it as a master-stroke of political wisdom. The Magyars would rather a thousand times that Bosnia and Herzegovina should have remained Turkish provinces for ever, than that they should be annexed to any part of the Empire but Hungary. · And the Archduke will never consent to their being annexed to Hungary, they are sure. The Federalists are sure of it, too, and rejoice that it is so; for they wish Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia and Dalmatia to be united, and formed into an autonomous dominion. This is the Clerical solution of the Near East problem, and most of the Federalists are Clericals.

Significantly enough, among the very men who are most firmly convinced that the Archduke took the leading part in effecting the annexation, a difference of opinion exists as to the whys and wherefores of his taking it. On the one hand, it is argued that he insisted on the provinces being appropriated, because he himself approved of the appropriation, holding that it was for the benefit of the Empire; on the other hand, that he did so because he wished to gratify the Clerical party, whose support for himself, personally, he is determined at any cost to retain. He gained it, both for himself and his morganatic wife, Princess Hohenberg, seven years ago by placing himself at the head of the Catholic School Union, their chief political association.

The Clericals have long had their hearts set on the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina; for, as these two provinces form almost the only region where, in this our day, the Jesuits have quite a free hand, they look on them as their own peculiar property, a sort of happy hunting ground specially preserved for them. They have never a doubt but that they are destined to do a great work there for the honour and glory of their Church, and to find compensation there for losses sustained elsewhere. They have already done a great work there, indeed, they boast;