64 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



for the administration of the public debt, 18,- 

 434,750 florins for pensions and grants, 6,911,400 

 florins for subventions, and 104.918,942 florins 

 for the common expenditure of the whole mon- 

 archy, being the Cisleithan quota. 



Disorder in Bohemia. The political situa- 

 tion in Bohemia has been throughout the year 

 unsettled and at times critical. The feeling be- 

 tween the Czechs and the Germans continues 

 very bitter. The Germans inhabit chiefly the 

 northwestern part of the country, where the 

 famous health resorts, such as Carlsbad, Marien- 

 bad, and Franzenbad are situated, and the lan- 

 guage spoken in this section is chiefly German. 

 The enmity of the Czechs is based largely upon 

 the belief that the Germans have been unduly 

 favored by the Austrian ministry. For a time 

 the feudal party, or party of the nobility, and 

 the Czech party worked together upon a pro- 

 gramme which included the maintenance of both 

 German and Bohemian as official languages. 

 But when by the compromise of 1890 the nobles 

 and the Old Czechs surrendered their ideal of a 

 dual official language in favor of the German 

 demand for an administrative recognition of 

 each language adjusted to local requirements, 

 the Young Czechs seized the opportunity to 

 take their stand as the sole national party of 

 Bohemia. They declared for absolute Bohemian 

 autonomy and for emancipation from Germani- 

 zation within and the triple alliance without. 

 Under their programme, Moravia and Silesia are 

 to be absorbed, thus increasing the Czechish 

 majority in the state. With their power thus 

 augmented the Young Czechs believe that the 

 German element may be completely Czechized, 

 and its language excluded from official cor- 

 respondence and reduced to a minimum in 

 school instruction. The Young Czechs have suc- 

 ceeded in carrying with them the great body of 

 the Old Czech party and the Czechish people, 

 leaving no course open to the nobles but to fall 

 in with them or seek an alliance with the Ger- 

 mans. For putting in force in detail the pro- 

 visions of the compromise of 1890 the assent of 

 the Bohemian Diet was required, and it was 

 there that the Young Czechs made their fight. 

 On May 17, a bill authorizing the establish- 

 ment of a judicial circuit in the German district 

 of Trautenau was being reported to the Diet by 

 Herr Funke. The Czechs at first tried to count 

 out the Assembly, but upon a quorum being de- 

 clared they rushed into the chamber, vociferously 

 attempting to obstruct the proceedings. Count 

 Lobkowitz, President of the Diet, directed Herr 

 Funke to dictate his speech to the stenographers, 

 and upon attempting to carry out this order 

 Funke was forcibly ejected from the tribune 

 while the stenographers were maltreated and 

 their notes seized and torn up. The President 

 of the Diet, who is appointed by the Emperor, 

 was also threatened with personal violence, and 

 abruptly closed the sitting. The disturbance in 

 the Diet caused great excitement in the Bohe- 

 mian capital, and was followed by rioting by the 

 university students, who demolished the "win- 

 dows of club houses and of the mansions of peo- 

 ple obnoxious to them. During the night a rope 

 was tied around the neck of the statue of the 

 Emperor at Prague. On the following day the 

 session of the Diet was permanently closed by 



order of the Emperor. The Young Czechs were 

 much disturbed by this order, and meetings were 

 held at which it was resolved to send a large 

 deputation to the Emperor, requesting him to 

 continue the Assembly. On the anniversary of 

 the Emperor's birthday, Aug. 18, a riot oc- 

 curred in Prague during which revolutionary 

 and antidynastic handbills were distributed 

 among the crowd, and in a number of the langer 

 provincial towns of Bohemia placards of similar 

 character were posted in the streets. The au- 

 thorities ascertained that all this was the out- 

 come of a preconcerted arrangement, and ar- 

 rested 69 persons, all of whom were charged with 

 high treason. On Sept. 13, the Austrian ministry 

 issued a decree suspending the twelfth and thir- 

 teenth sections of the Constitution in the city of 

 Prague. These sections refer to the holding of 

 public meetings and the freedom of the press. 

 A further decree suspended also in that city the 

 right of political offenders to trial by jury. 



Session of the Reichsrath. At the sitting 

 of the Reichsrath, Dec. 2, 1892, the vote on the 

 secret-service fund resulted in a defeat of the 

 Government by a majority of 21 in a total of 313 

 votes, the Czechs and Germans of Bohemia hav- 

 ing for the first time in many years voted to- 

 gether. The Prime Minister had previously an- 

 nounced that he did not consider the question of 

 confidence involved in the vote, and the Cabinet 

 did not resign. During the Christmas holidays 

 Graf Taaffe took the opportunity to negotiate 

 with the three principal parties in the House to 

 secure a Government majority. The three groups 

 thus approached were the German Liberals, un- 

 der the leadership of Dr. von Plener, the Poles, 

 of whom Jaworsky is chief, and the German Con- 

 servatives and Clericals, led by Graf Hohenwart. 

 The programme upon which these elements were 

 invited to unite was in the main that indicated 

 in the last speech from the throne. The mate- 

 rial interests of the country were to receive the 

 first attention, and all irritating questions spe- 

 cially concerning either of the three groups were 

 to be for the time being completely set aside ; 

 the Austro-Hungarian dual system was to be 

 maintained against all attacks, and the funda- 

 mental laws of the Constitution to be guaran- 

 teed. The Poles found no difficulty in accepting 

 this programme, but the German Liberals hesi- 

 tated through fear that the education laws might 

 be disturbed, while the Conservatives objected 

 that the programme was too liberal. The pro- 

 gramme was drawn up by Baron Gautsch and 

 Dr. Steinbach, both of whom took part in the 

 negotiations. At the sitting of Feb. 25, Dr. 

 Gregr, the leader of the Young Czechs, who is 

 recognized as one of the ablest and most eloquent 

 parliamentarians in Austria, made a vehement 

 appeal in favor of Bohemian home rule. On 

 March 20 Herr von Chlumecky, who had hith- 

 erto acted as vice-president, was elected presi- 

 dent, and Dr. Kathrein and Herr Medeyski were 

 elected vice-presidents. The Czechs had a bill 

 introduced fixing the number of Deputies at 400, 

 of whom 145 should be Germans and 255 should 

 belong to the other nationalities, every male citi- 

 zen twenty-four years of age to have the right to 

 vote. Beyond merely routine work but little was 

 accomplished in the Reichsrath during the ses- 

 sion of 1892-'93. 



