96o AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 



to improve the administration. It was proposed to divide Bohemia into numerous dis- 

 tricts according to language; there were to be 139 Czech, 95 Germans and 5 mixed areas 

 of this kind. The Bills were debated on February 5th, and the Czech deputies con- 

 demned the scheme in unmeasured terms and raised a storm in the House by their wild 

 and unruly conduct. " You are a disgrace to Austria," flew across the floor from the 

 German benches, and the sentiment only added fuel to the flame. So impossible did 

 the position become that the House was closed. 



Baron von Bienerth (b. 1863), the Premier, sought to win some measure of support 

 from all parties by reconstructing his Cabinet so as to include representatives from 

 Reconstitu- everv party. Baron von Hardt became Minister of the Interior; Baron 

 tion of tin.- von Bilinski went to the Treasury; Dr. von Hochenburger obtained the 

 Bieaerth portfolio for Justice; Count Stiirgkh became Minister of Education; Herr 

 Wreba, of Railways; Dr. Weiskirchner, of Commerce; Marshal von Georgi, 

 of Defence; Herr Ritt, of Public Works, and Herr Braf of Agriculture. But the Czechs 

 were obdurate and asked as the price of their support the re-opening of the Bohemian 

 Diet which had been closed because of German obstruction. To this demand the 

 Germans were deaf, and hence the Czechs in the Reichsrat had recourse to the same 

 policy to which the Germans in the Bohemian Diet had resorted. Nevertheless the 

 Government maintained itself against a vote of censure on its Bonian land policy, which 

 was moved by Dr. Shushtershitch, one of the Slav deputies, and defeated. 



The Ministry continued in office for a little over eight months (Feb. nth to 

 Oct. 31, 1909). It broke up over the language question, on which the pure German 

 Czech oft- Crown Lands Upper and Lower Austria, Salzburg and Vorarlburg took 

 structioa la up a firm stand. A law passed the Diets of these provinces making German 

 the Reichs- ne only language of the schools and of the administration. The Imperial 

 Cabinet recommended the Bill for the sanction of the Crown, despite the 

 opposition of the two Czech ministers, who, being defeated in the Cabinet, forthwith 

 resigned (Nov. 2d). The victory of the German element in Austria stirred up anew the 

 hate of the Czechs, whose national feelings had been strengthened by the Congress at 

 Warsaw, held earlier in the year (Aug. 1909). They accordingly decided on a policy 

 of thoroughgoing obstruction in the Imperial Diet, and members of the party made 

 speeches of 12 and 13 hours duration (Dec. 15-19, 1909). In consequence of this policy 

 the House sat for 86 consecutive hours, virtually doing nothing. To make such a course 

 impossible in the future, new rules of procedure were adopted (Dec. 19, 1909). 



The language question had occupied so much parliamentary time that little was left 

 for the consideration of the Budget. But the Budget this year demanded more atten- 

 tion than usual. For the first time since 1888 there was a deficit, the 

 amount being over six millions sterling. The acquisition of Bosnia and 

 Herzegovina was responsible for this to some extent; also the cost of the 

 administration, which was steadily increasing, owing largely to national jealousies. 

 In many cases one school would suffice where there were actually two and sometimes 

 even more; but since it became necessary to give each nationality its own schools, the 

 difficulty could not well be avoided. New revenues were therefore necessary, and on 

 the 23d of December 1909 a provisional budget for six months was agreed to, which 

 included higher spirit duties, a progressive income tax and death duties. 



As in the House itself, so in the country, racial antagonism was particularly marked 

 during 1909, and it must be admitted that the Bienerth ministry showed more energy 

 in repressing outbursts than many of its predecessors. Especially trouble- 

 some were the student riots at Prague during the first three months of the 

 year. Not till the police charged the crowd with bayonets (March 28th) 

 was there a cessation of hostilities. The student differences were only one aspect of the 

 racial feuds, which expressed themselves in other ways as well. For instance, in Janu- 

 ary, there was an attack on Czech postal officials at Eger; at Cracow the Czech popula- 

 tion resolved on a boycott of German commercial houses; on January 29th Baron Stern- 

 berg, a prominent Czech leader, roused German feeling by declaring that Bohemia was 



