44 



AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN MONARCHY. 



In the Right, which embraces as subdivisions 

 the Feudal, the Clerical, the Czechist, the Pol- 

 ish, and the Slovenish parties, the Poles were 

 openly at variance with the Czechs, and a large 

 number of the Poles with a minority of the 

 Czechs were decidedly opposed to the principles 

 of the Clerical party. In the Left, the two prin- 

 cipal divisions of which are the Constitutional 

 party (Verfassungspartei) and the party of Prog- 

 ress (Fortschrittspartei), the latter informed the 

 former that in consequence of the support 

 given by a large portion of the Constitutional 

 party to certain anti-liberal measures of the 

 Government, the party of Progress deemed it 

 best to recede from a union of the two parties. 

 The latent dissension among the sections of the 

 Right was greatly widened in the beginning of 

 February by a memorandum addressed by the 

 Catholic bishops of Bohemia to the Ministry of 

 Education and Worship, in which they demand 

 the restoration of denominational schools. The 

 memorandum is signed by all the four bishops 

 of Bohemia, and concludes with these words : 

 " The principle of undenominational schools, 

 and therefore of a separation of the school from 

 the Church, blocks the way to any thorough im- 

 provement in the educational system. Favors 

 in regard to any secondary provisions, even if 

 they were granted (which hitherto has generally 

 not been the case),can not avert the injury which 

 is inherent in that principle. Nothing is there- 

 fore left to the bishops but to request the Min- 

 istry to adopt the necessary measures for re- 

 storing the denominational character of the 

 schools for the Catholic population, and to se- 

 cure to the Church her due influence upon the 

 instruction and education of the youth. If the 

 Imperial Ministry should leave this remon- 

 strance of the bishops likewise without answer, 

 or if it should not afford a definite prospect of 

 a speedy and radical improvement of educa- 

 tional affairs, it would be impossible for the 

 bishops to cooperate any longer in the execu- 

 tion of the school laws. They could, in that 

 case, no longer allow any participation of the 

 clergy in the school boards, and they would 

 deem it their duty to remind the faithful of the 

 sacred duties which will devolve upon them if 

 their children can be intrusted to the schools 

 into which they are compelled to send them, not 

 with confidence, but rather not without great 

 detriments." The Czechs as a national party 

 are more for national Czechic than for Cath- 

 olic schools, and, though the Old Czechic party 

 regards an alliance with the Church as desira- 

 ble, they are loth to subordinate their national 

 claims to the interests of the Church. The "Po- 

 krok," the organ of the young Czechs, openly 

 opposed the episcopal memorandum and the 

 action of the Clericals, and expressed the con- 

 viction that the Czech members would leave 

 no doubt as to their views. The Poles desire 

 a more efficient state control than in the case 

 of confessional or national schools, which in 

 Galicia might be claimed equally by the Ru- 

 thenes or the Greek Church. On the 3d of 



February the two parties in the House of Dep- 

 uties measured their strength at the election 

 of twelve members of the Staatsgerichtshof 

 (State Court), who have to be chosen by the 

 House. The Right succeeded in electing their 

 entire ticket. A partial change in the Ministry 

 took place on February 17th, when Baron Con- 

 rad von Eybesfeldt, the Governor of Lower 

 Austria, was appointed to the Department of 

 Education, and Baron Kriegsau, formerly a 

 candidate for the office of Education, to the 

 Ministry of Finance. Neither of the two new 

 Ministers had played a political part, but both 

 had made their way in the administrative 

 career. Baron Eybesfeldt, who was appointed 

 to the post of Governor of Lower Austria when 

 the Constitutional party was in power, is sup- 

 posed to have a leaning toward that party. 



On April 6th the important debate on the 

 budget began. Great preparations had been 

 made for it on both sides, for it was known 

 that the discussion, as is customary on such 

 occasions, would extend to all great questions 

 of the day, political and national. One of the 

 most remarkable speeches made on the occa- 

 sion was that by Dr. Plener, one of the most 

 gifted among the younger generation of Par- 

 liamentary men in Austria. He severely criti- 

 cised the political and, above all, the financial 

 measures of the Government, and developed a 

 new scheme of financial reform which attracted 

 great attention on all sides of the House. He 

 combated the idea that the equilibrium between 

 the revenue and expenditure could be brought 

 about by any reduction on a grand scale, either 

 in the military expenditure or in the internal 

 administration. On the contrary, he maintained 

 that the improvements which must be made on 

 account of the army, and the outlay which is 

 still necessary in order to complete the means 

 of communication, will tend rather to increase 

 than to diminish the expenditure. The only 

 way to deal with the deficit was to make a 

 thorough reform of the taxation. Dr. Plener 

 went fully into this subject, and showed the 

 general features of such a reform, laying great 

 stress on the income-tax and the indirect taxes 

 on sugar and spirits. He criticised the present 

 system of drawbacks on these two articles upon 

 exportation, the result of which is that, owing 

 to the large sum thus repaid at exportation, the 

 home consumption of these articles is very 

 small as compared with the consumption in 

 France or Germany. If only one half of the 

 quantity consumed in Germany was consumed 

 in Austria, it would make a revenue of over 

 ten million florins, instead of one million 

 which it now makes, net, after the subtraction 

 of the duty repaid on exportation. It is the 

 same with the duty on spirits, a considerable 

 portion of the revenue on which is also returned 

 at the exportation. The reform of the system 

 of taxation on these two articles would be al- 

 most sufficient to grapple with the deficit. 

 Instead of initiating such a policy of reform on 

 a grand scale which alone could meet the diffi- 



