54 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



The question of returning the friendly visit 

 of King Humbert was a state problem of some 

 difficulty. The Emperor Francis Joseph would 

 not visit Rome without paying his reverence 

 to the Pope, which might bring him, the Italian 

 King and his people, and all the courts of Eu- 

 rope, face to face with the papal question, 

 which perhaps he would not have been loath 

 to bring up. The Italian Government was un- 

 willing to risk the consequences. For the 

 King to capitulate his capital to the Pope and 

 appoint a rendezvous outside would have been 

 ignominious. Count Kalnoky announced that 

 he could not recommend Rome, and the cor- 

 respondence broke off without umbrage, but 

 with the position of the Pope decidedly 

 strengthened as the result of Francis Joseph's 

 pious fidelity. 



At the celebration of the five-hundredth 

 anniversary of the union of Trieste with Aus- 

 tria, and at the subsequent visit of the Emper- 

 or on September 17th, Irredentism manifested 

 itself not merely in inflammatory proclamations 

 but in villainous plots. A grenade was thrown 

 into a procession on the arrival of the Arch- 

 duke Karl Ludwig, and on the coming of the 

 Emperor an Austrian deserter, named Ober- 

 dank, was arrested with Orsini bombs in his 

 possession. The inhabitants of Trieste are 

 thoroughly loyal to Austria. They have reason 

 to rejoice that their city is Austrian, .for it 

 would be only one of several Italian ports on 

 the Adriatic, while now it has the monopoly 

 of the Austrian Mediterranean trade and a large 

 share of the southern and eastern trade of Ger- 

 many. 



POLITICAL SITUATION. The transformation 

 of the empire from a centralized state to a 

 federal union has proceeded far enough to 

 show that the cohesive principle will not be 

 lost. The minor nationalities, having tasted 

 the sweets of political liberty, are more urgent, 

 and the Germans cling less tenaciously to the 

 power which is slipping out of their hands. 

 How far the traditions of German order and 

 thoroughness will be preserved in the new 

 centers of power under popular government, 

 which is inevitable, is the subject of national 

 misgivings. The Hungarians have won their 

 liberty and managed their own affairs under a 

 system of government which seems to satisfy 

 the people. In imperial affairs their Parlia- 

 ment has an equal voice with the Reichsrath. 

 The two Delegations, or committees from the 

 two bodies, must agree upon the appropria- 

 tions, although Hungary contributes but thirty 

 per cent of the amount. The political ferment 

 is confined to Cisleithania. It takes the singu- 

 lar form of a war of languages, and an agi- 

 tation for the political equality of the differ- 

 ent races. Of individual equality very little is 

 said, although Austria is the last country in 

 Europe in which the basis of political repre- 

 sentation is feudalistic. Universal suffrage is 

 the only possible basis of equality of the races ; 

 so that the subjects of the Austrian crown re- 



ceive the extension of the franchise not as a 

 direct aim, but as a means of asserting their 

 suppressed nationalities. The Emperor con- 

 gratulates himself that revolutionary aspira- 

 tions have not been awakened in his domin- 

 ions, and that Nihilistic violence is unknown. 

 The people are absorbed in their various na- 

 tional aspirations. Decentralization has ac- 

 quired an irresistible impetus. The danger of 

 a Russian war, and the German alliance, 

 strengthen the throne and the German party, 

 and preserve for the present the old bond. 

 Magyars, Poles, and Germans are united 

 against Russian aggression. The Government 

 have favored the Ruthenians and other minor 

 Slav nationalities which might waver in their 

 allegiance. Liberty and federalism are seen to 

 be the means of the empire's salvation. The 

 Emperor draws out a sentimental attachment, 

 while he is paying especial court to the nation- 

 alities ; but when a federal system has been 

 established the office of the throne will in a 

 great measure disappear. The German bureau- 

 cracy, while the control over the Austrian 

 populations is passing away from them, seek 

 to perpetuate their mission by taking the Slavs 

 of the Balkans in hand. But their methods 

 have signally failed thus far with the fierce 

 lovers of liberty who live in primeval Slavic 

 unrestraint on the Bosnian highlands. If Aus- 

 tria could extend her sway by old-time rigor 

 and repression, Hungary is unwilling to have 

 the dual monarchy converted into a Slavic 

 empire under German rule. The question ot 

 the definitive annexation of Bosnia and Herze- 

 govina has not yet come to a final solution. 

 The difference of view between the two co- 

 ordinate Governments is almost as great an 

 obstacle as the external difficulties. The Mag- 

 yars are unwilling to sacrifice the principle of 

 the dualistic Constitution to the extent of ad- 

 ministering Bosnia perpetually as a dependency 

 of the empire, and equally unwilling to have 

 it attached to the Austrian crown. The only 

 solution they deem equitable would be to in- 

 corporate it with the Hungarian dominions, 

 but they would be unprepared to accept the 

 gift with the attendant costs and responsibili- 

 ties. 



An attempt to organize a party on genuine 

 liberal principles was attempted during the 

 year, but neither the German Liberals nor the 

 Slavs of advanced opinions showed a disposi- 

 tion to forget the racial conflict which is the 

 question of the hour. The new party grouped 

 itself around Robert von Walterskirchen, a 

 Styrian deputy, who seceded from the Constitu- 

 tional party and was selected as an independ- 

 ent on account of his advanced opinions on 

 electoral reform ; and Dr. Fischhoff; a promi- 

 nent Liberal of 1848, who has held himself 

 aloof from politics on account of the compul- 

 sion exercised by his party upon the minor 

 nationalities which led to its downfall. Now 

 that the imbittered Czechs and Poles, in alli- 

 ance with the Clericals and the Feudalists, have 



