*521. Renewed Agitation: the Universal Suffrage Law of 1907.*--Throughout the decade following 1896 electoral agitation was continuous and widespread, but not until 1905 did the situation become favorable for further reform. In September of the year mentioned Francis Joseph approved the proposal that universal suffrage be included in the programme of the Fejervary cabinet in Hungary, and the act was taken at once to mean that the sovereign had arrived at the conclusion that the democratizing of the franchise was inevitable in all of his dominions. In point of fact, by reason of the prolonged parliamentary crisis of late years at Vienna, the Emperor was fast arriving at precisely such a conclusion. Stimulated by current developments in Hungary and in Russia, the Austrian Socialists, late in 1905, entered upon a notable series of demonstrations, and, November 28, Premier Gautsch was moved to pledge the Government to introduce forthwith a franchise reform bill based upon the principle of universal suffrage. February 23, 1906, the promise was redeemed by the presentation in the Reichsrath of proposals for (1) the abolition of the system of electoral curiae, (2) the extension of an equal franchise to all males over twenty-four years of age and resident in their district a year, (3) the division of Austria racially into compartments so that each ethnic group might be protected against its rivals, and (4) the increase of the number of seats from 425 to 455, a fixed number to be allotted to each province, and in each province to each race, in accordance with numbers and taxpaying capacity.

The outlook for the bill in which these proposals were incorporated was at first not promising. The Social Democrats, the Christian Socialists, and the Young Czechs were favorable; the Poles were reserved in their att.i.tude, but inclined to be hostile; practically all of the German Liberals were opposed; and the landed proprietors, long accustomed to dominate within the preponderant German element in the Reichsrath, were violently hostile. In April, 1906, while the bill was pending, the Gautsch ministry found itself without a parliamentary majority and was succeeded by a ministry made up by Prince Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurst. This ministry lasted but six weeks, and June 2 the coalition cabinet of Baron Beck a.s.sumed office. Convinced that the establishment of universal and direct suffrage would afford the best means of stimulating loyalty to the dynasty, as well as the only practicable means of freeing the Government from parliamentary obstructionism, Emperor Francis Joseph accorded the Beck ministry his earnest support in its purpose to push to a conclusion the task of (p. 470) electoral reform. The effort attained fruition in the memorable Universal Suffrage Law pa.s.sed by both houses of the Reichsrath in the closing days of 1906 and approved by the Emperor January 26 of the following year. The measure, which was in form an amendment of the fundamental law of December 21, 1867, concerning Imperial Representation, was opposed by the conservative and aristocratic members of both houses and by the extremer representatives of the various nationalities; but, like other portions of the const.i.tutional system of the Empire, it may not be amended save by a two-thirds vote of both houses, and it is likely to endure through a considerable period unchanged.

*522. Racial and Geographical Distribution of Seats.*--In the course of the prolonged negotiations between the Government and representatives of the various nationalities by which the preparation of the law was attended there was worked out a fresh allotment of seats to the several racial groups of the Empire, in proportion, roughly, to taxpaying capacity. The total number of seats was raised from 425 to 516. Their distribution among the races, as compared with that formerly existing, was arranged as follows:[668]

_Before 1907_ _After 1907_ Germans of all parties 205 233 Czechs 81 108 Poles 71 80 South Slavs (Slovenes, Croats, Serbs) 27 37 Ruthenes 11 34 Italians 18 19 Roumanians 5 5 --- --- 418 516

[Footnote 668: For tables exhibiting comparatively the distribution of seats in 1867, 1873, 1896, and 1907, see W. Beaumont, Le suffrage universel en Autriche: la loi du 26 janvier 1907 in _Annales des Sciences Politiques_, Sept., 1907.]

The striking feature of this readjustment is, of course, the increased number of seats a.s.signed to the non-German nationalities. In proportion strictly to population, the Germans still possess a larger number of seats than that to which they are ent.i.tled. But the aggregate is only 233, while the aggregate of Slavic seats is 259.

Even if the former German-Italian _bloc_ were still effective it could control a total of only 257 votes; but, in point of fact, the Italians in the Reichsrath to-day are apt to act with the Slavs rather than with the Germans.

After decision had been reached regarding the distribution of seats in accordance with races it remained to effect a distribution geographically among the provinces of the Empire. To each of the several provinces was a.s.signed an aggregate quota which, in turn, (p. 471) was distributed within the province among the racial groups represented in the provincial population. The allotment made, in comparison with that prevailing under the law of 1896, was as follows:

_Before 1907_ _After 1907_ Kingdom of Bohemia 110 130 Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, with the grand-duchy of Cracow 78 106 Archduchy of Lower Austria 46 64 Margravate of Moravia 43 49 Duchy of Styria 27 30 Princely County of Tyrol 21 25 Archduchy of Upper Austria 20 22 Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia 12 15 Duchy of Bukovina 11 14 Duchy of Carniola 11 12 Kingdom of Dalmatia 11 11 Duchy of Carinthia 10 10 Duchy of Salsburg 6 7 Margravate of Istria 5 6 Princely County of Gorz and Gradisca 5 6 City of Trieste and its territory 5 5 Territory of Vorarlberg 4 4 --- --- 425 516

*523. Electoral Qualifications and Procedure.*--By the law of 1907 the cla.s.s system of voting was abolished entirely in national elections, and in its stead was established general, equal, and direct manhood suffrage. With insignificant exceptions, every male citizen who has attained the age of twenty-four, and who, at the time the election is ordered, has resided during at least one year in the commune in which the right to vote is to be exercised, is qualified to vote for a parliamentary representative. And any male thirty years of age, or over, who has been during at least three years a citizen, and who is possessed of the franchise, is eligible to be chosen as a representative. Voting is by secret ballot, and an absolute majority of all votes cast is necessary for a choice. In default of such a majority there is a second ballot between the two candidates who at the first test received the largest number of votes. It is stipulated, further, that when so ordered by the provincial diet, voting shall be obligatory, under penalty of fine, and in the provinces of Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Silesia, Salsburg, Moravia, and Vorarlberg every elector is required by provincial regulation to appear at every parliamentary election in his district, and to present his ballot, the penalty for neglect (unless explained to the satisfaction of the proper magistrate) being a fine ranging from one to fifty crowns. In the House of Lords, where there was strong opposition to the (p. 472) principle of manhood suffrage, effort was made to introduce in the act of 1907 a provision for the conferring of a second vote upon all voters above the age of thirty-five. By the Emperor and ministry it was urged, however, that the injection of such a modification would wreck the measure, and when the lower chamber tacitly pledged itself to enact a law designed to prevent the "swamping" of the peers by Imperial appointment at the behest of a parliamentary majority, the plural voting project was abandoned.[669]

[Footnote 669: As has been pointed out, the pledge was redeemed in 1907 by a measure fixing the minimum number of life peers at 150 and the maximum at 170. See p. 466.]

So far as practicable, the electoral const.i.tuencies in the various provinces are arranged to preserve the distinction between urban and rural districts and to comprise racial groups that are essentially h.o.m.ogeneous. In regions, as Bohemia, where the population is especially mixed separate const.i.tuencies and registers are maintained for the electors of each nationality, and a man may vote on only the register of his own race and for a candidate of that race. Germans, thus, are obliged to vote for Germans, Czechs for Czechs, Poles for Poles; so that, while there may be a contest between a German Clerical and a German Liberal or between a Young Czech and a Radical Czech, there can be none between Germans and Czechs, or between Poles and Ruthenes. In general, each district returns but one representative.

The 36 Galician districts, however, return two apiece. Each elector there, as elsewhere, votes for but one candidate, the device permitting the representation of minorities. The population comprising a const.i.tuency varies from 26,693 in Salsburg to 68,724 in Galicia.

The average is 49,676.[670]

[Footnote 670: On the electoral law of 1907 see W.

Beaumont, Le suffrage universel en Autriche: la loi du 26 janvier 1907, in _Annales des Sciences Politiques_, Sept., 1907; H. Hantich, Le suffrage universel en Autriche, in _Questions Diplomatiques et Coloniales_, Feb. 16, 1907; M. E. Zweig, La reforme electorale en Autriche, in _Revue du Droit Public_, April-June and July-Sept., 1907.]

*524. The Reichsrath: Sessions and Procedure.*--By the law of 1867 no limit was fixed for the period of service of the parliamentary representative. The life of the Reichsrath, and consequently the tenure of the individual deputy, was terminated only by a dissolution.

Under provision of an amendment of April 2, 1873, however, members of the lower chamber are elected for a term of six years, at the expiration of which period, as also in the event of a dissolution, a new election must be held. Representatives are indefinitely eligible for re-election. Vacancies are filled by special elections, which may be held at any time, according to procedure specified by law.

Representatives receive a stipend of 20 crowns for each day's attendance, with an allowance for travelling expenses.

The fundamental law prescribes that the Reichsrath shall be (p. 473) convened annually, "during the winter months when possible."[671] The Emperor appoints the president and vice-president of the Herrenhaus, from among the members of the chamber, and for the period of a session. The Abgeordnetenhaus elects from its members its president and vice-president. Normally, the sessions of both houses are public, though upon request of the president, or of at least ten members, and by a decision taken behind closed doors, each house possesses the right, in exceptional instances, to exclude spectators. Projects of legislation may be submitted by the Government or by the individual members of the chambers. Measures pa.s.s by majority vote; but no act is valid unless at the time of its pa.s.sage there are present in the lower house as many as 100 members, and in the upper house as many as 40. A curious provision touching the relations of the two houses is that if, on a question of appropriation or of the size of a military contingent, no agreement can be reached between the two houses after prolonged deliberation, the smallest figure approved by either house shall be regarded as voted.[672] By decree of the Emperor the Reichsrath may at any time be adjourned, or the lower chamber dissolved. Ministers and chiefs of the central administration are ent.i.tled to take part in all deliberations, and to present their proposals personally or through representatives. Each house may, indeed, require a minister's attendance. Members of the chambers may not be held responsible for any vote cast; and for any utterances made by them they may be held responsible only by the house to which they belong. Unless actually apprehended in a criminal act, no member of either house may be arrested or proceeded against judicially during the continuance of a session, except by the consent of the chamber to which he belongs.[673]

[Footnote 671: Law of December 21, 1867, concerning Imperial Representation, -- 10. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 77.]

[Footnote 672: Law of December 21, 1867, concerning Imperial Representation, -- 13. Dodd, Ibid., I., 81.]

[Footnote 673: For a collection of the rules of order of the Austrian Parliament see K. and O.

Neisser, Die Geschaftsordnung des Abgeordnetenhaus des Reichsrates, 2 vols. (Vienna, 1909).]

*525. The Reichsrath: Powers.*--The powers of the Reichsrath are, in general, those ordinarily belonging to a parliamentary body. According to fundamental law of 1867, they comprise all matters which relate to the rights, obligations, and interests of the provinces represented in the chambers, in so far as these matters are not required to be handled conjointly with the proper representatives of the Hungarian portion of the monarchy. The Reichsrath examines and ratifies or rejects commercial treaties, and likewise political treaties which place a fiscal burden on the Empire or any portion of it, impose (p. 474) obligations upon individual citizens, or involve any change of territorial status. It makes provision for the military and naval establishments. It enacts the budget and approves all taxes and duties. It regulates the monetary system, banking, trade, and communication. It legislates on citizenship, public health, individual rights, education, criminal justice and police regulation, the duties and interrelations of the provinces, and a wide variety of other things. It exercises the right of legalizing or annulling Imperial ordinances which, under urgent circ.u.mstances, may be promulgated by the Emperor with the provisional force of law when the chambers are not in session.[674] Such ordinances may not introduce any alteration in the fundamental law, impose any lasting burden upon the treasury, or alienate territory. They must be issued, if issued at all, under the signature of all of the ministers, and they lose their legal force if the Government does not lay them before the lower chamber within the first four weeks of its next ensuing session, or if either of the two houses refuses its a.s.sent thereto. Each of the houses may interpellate the ministers upon all matters within the scope of their powers, may investigate the administrative acts of the Government, demand information from the ministers concerning pet.i.tions presented to the houses, may appoint commissions, to which the ministers must give all necessary information, and may give expression to its views in the form of addresses or resolutions. Any minister may be impeached by either house.[675]

[Footnote 674: Issued under warrant of the much-controverted Section 14. See p. 461.]

[Footnote 675: Law of December 21, 1867, concerning Imperial Representation, -- 21. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 83. A work of value is G.

Kolmer, Parlament und Verfa.s.sung in osterreich (Vienna, 1909).]

IV. POLITICAL PARTIES

*526. Racial Elements in the Empire.*--The key to the politics of Austria is afforded by the racial composition of the Empire's population. In our own day there is a tendency, in consequence of the spread of socialism and of other radical programmes which leap across racial and provincial lines, toward the rise of Austrian parties which shall be essentially inter-racial in their const.i.tuencies. Yet at the elections of 1907--the first held under the new electoral law--of the twenty-six party affiliations which succeeded in obtaining at least one parliamentary seat all save possibly two comprised either h.o.m.ogeneous racial groups or factions of such groups. Fundamentally, the racial question in Austria has always been that of German _versus_ non-German. The original Austria was preponderantly German; the wealthiest, the best educated, the most widespread of the racial (p. 475) elements in the Empire to-day is the German; and by the Germans it has regularly been a.s.sumed that Austria is, and ought to be, essentially a German country.[676] In this a.s.sumption the non-German populations of the Empire have at no time acquiesced; and while they have never been able to combine long or effectively against the dominating Germanic element, they have sought persistently, each in its own way, to compel a fuller recognition of their several interests and rights.

[Footnote 676: Lowell, Governments and Parties, II., 95.]

The nationalities represented within the Empire fall broadly into three great groups: the German, the Slavic, and the Latin. In an aggregate population of 26,107,304 in 1900 the Germans numbered 9,171,614, or somewhat more than 35 per cent; the Slavs, 15,690,000, or somewhat more than 60 per cent; and the Latins, 958,065, or approximately 3.7 per cent. The Germans, comprising the most numerous of the individual nationalities, occupy exclusively Upper Austria, Salsburg, and Vorarlberg, the larger portion of Lower Austria, north-western Carinthia, the north and center of Styria and Tyrol, and, in fact, are distributed much more generally over the entire Empire than is any one of the other racial elements. The Slavs are in two princ.i.p.al groups, the northern and the southern. The northern includes the Czechs and Slovaks, dwelling princ.i.p.ally in Bohemia and Moravia, and numbering, in 1900, 5,955,397; the Poles, comprising a compact ma.s.s of 4,252,483 people in Galicia and Silesia; and the Ruthenes, numbering 3,381,570, in eastern Galicia and in Bukovina. The southern Slavic group includes the Slovenes, numbering 1,192,780, in Carniola, Gorz, Gradisca, Istria, and Styria, and the Servians and Croats, numbering 711,380, in Istria and Dalmatia. The peoples of Latin stock are the Italians and Ladini (727,102), in Tyrol, Gorz, Gradisca, Dalmatia, and Trieste, and the Roumanians (230,963) in Bukovina. Within many of the groups mentioned there is meager survival of political unity. There are German Clericals, German Progressives, German Radicals, German Agrarians; likewise Old Czechs, Young Czechs, Czech Realists, Czech Agrarians, Czech Clericals, and Czech Radicals.

Austrian party history within the past fifty years comprises largely the story of the political contests among the several nationalities, and of the disintegration of these nationalities into a bewildering throng of clamorous party cliques.

*527. Centralists and Federalists.*--The more important of the party groups of to-day trace their origins to the formative period in recent Austro-Hungarian const.i.tutional history, 1860-1867. During this period the fundamental issue in the Empire was the degree of centralization which it was desirable, or possible, to achieve in the reshaping (p. 476) of the governmental system. On the one hand were the centralists, who would have bound the loosely agglomerated kingdoms, duchies, and territories of the Empire into a consolidated state. On the other were the federalists, to whom centralization appeared dangerous, as well as unjust to the Empire's component nationalities. Speaking broadly, the Germans, supported by the Italians, comprised the party of centralization; the Slavs, that of federalism. The establishment of the const.i.tution of 1867, as well as of the Compromise with Hungary in the same year, was the achievement of the centralists, and with the completion of this gigantic task there gradually took form a compactly organized political party, variously known as the National German party, the German Liberals, or the Const.i.tutionalists, whose watchwords were the preservation of the const.i.tution and the Germanization of the Empire. For a time this party maintained the upper hand completely, but its ascendancy was menaced not only by the disaffected forces of federalism but by the continued tenseness of the clerical question and, after 1869, by intestine conflict. As was perhaps inevitable, the party split into two branches, the one radical and the other moderate. During the earlier months of 1870 the Radicals, under Hasner, were in control; but in their handling of the vexatious Polish and Bohemian questions they failed completely and, April 4, they gave place to the Moderates under the premiership of the Polish Count Potocki. The new ministry sought to govern in a conciliatory spirit and with the support of all groups, but its success was meager. February 7, 1871, a cabinet which was essentially federalist was const.i.tuted under Count Hohenwart. Its decentralizing policies, however, were of such a character that the racial question gave promise of being settled by the utter disintegration of the Empire, and after eight months it was dismissed.

*528. Rule of the German Liberals, 1871-1879.*--With a cabinet presided over by Prince Adolf Auersperg the German Liberals then returned to power. Their tenure was prolonged to 1879 and might have been continued beyond that date but for the recurrence of factional strife within their ranks. The period was one in which some of the obstructionist groups, notably the Czechs, fell into division among themselves, so that the opposition which the Liberals were called upon to encounter was distinctly less effective than otherwise it might have been. At no time since 1867 had the Czechs consented to be represented in the Reichsrath, a body, indeed, which they had persisted in refusing to recognize as a legitimately const.i.tuted parliament of the Empire. During the early seventies a party of Young Czechs sprang up which advocated an abandonment of pa.s.sive (p. 477) resistance and the subst.i.tution of parliamentary activity in behalf of the interests of the race. The Old Czechs were unprepared for such a shift of policy, and in 1873 they played directly into the hands of the Liberal government by refusing to partic.i.p.ate in the consideration of the electoral reform by which the choice of representatives was taken from the provincial diets and vested in the four cla.s.ses of provincial const.i.tuencies. For the carrying of this measure a two-thirds majority was required, and if the Czechs had been willing to vote at all upon it they might easily have compa.s.sed its defeat. As it was, the amendment was carried without difficulty. A tenure of power which not even the financial crisis of 1873 could break was, however, sacrificed through factional bickerings. Within both the ministry and the Reichsrath, the dominant party broke into three groups, and the upshot was the dissolution, February 6, 1879, of the ministry and the creation of a new one under the presidency of Count Taaffe, long identified with the Moderate element. Three months later the House of Representatives was dissolved. In the elections that followed the Liberals lost a total of forty-five seats, and therewith their position as the controlling party in both the Reichsrath and the nation. Taaffe retained the premiership, but his Liberal colleagues were replaced by Czechs, Poles, Clericals, and representatives indeed of pretty nearly all of the existing groups save the Germans.[677]

[Footnote 677: As at first reconst.i.tuted, the ministry contained a German Liberal, but he soon resigned.]

*529. The Taaffe Ministry, 1879-1893.*--The prolonged ministry of Count Taaffe comprises the second period of Austrian parliamentary history.

Of notably moderate temper, Taaffe had never been a party man of the usual sort, and he entered office with an honest purpose to administer the affairs of the nation without regard to considerations of party or of race. The establishment of his reconst.i.tuted ministry was signalized by the appearance of Czech deputies for the first time upon the floor of the national parliament. The Taaffe government found its support in what came to be known as the Right--a quasi-coalition of Poles, Czechs, Clericals, and the Slavic and conservative elements generally.[678] It was opposed by the Left, comprising princ.i.p.ally the German Liberals, In 1881 the various factions of the German party, impelled by the apprehension that German ascendancy might be lost forever, drew together again and entered upon a policy of opposition which was dictated purely and frankly by racial aspirations. (p. 478) Attempts to embarra.s.s the Government by obstruction proved, however, only indifferently successful. In 1888 the party was once more reconstructed.

[Footnote 678: In the Chamber the Czechs, Poles, and Clericals controlled each approximately 55 votes.]

Among the diverse groups by which the Taaffe government was supported there was just one common interest, namely, the prevention of a return to power on the part of the German Liberals. Upon this preponderating consideration, and upon the otherwise divergent purposes of the Government groups, Taaffe built his system. Maintaining rigidly his determination to permit no radical alteration of the const.i.tution, he none the less extended favors freely to the non-Germanic nationalities, and so contrived to prolong through nearly a decade and a half, by federalist support, an essentially centralist government.

Government consisted largely, indeed, in perennial bargaining between the executive authorities on the one hand and the parliamentary groups on the other, and in the course of these bargainings it was ever the legislative chambers, not the Government, that lost ground. The bureaucracy increased its hold, the administrative organs waxed stronger, the power of the Emperor was magnified. The ministry became pre-eminently the ministry of the crown, and despite strictly observed const.i.tutional forms the spirit of absolutism was largely rehabilitated.[679]

[Footnote 679: The forcefully expressed view of an eminent Austrian authority, written during the parliamentary deadlock which marked the close of the last century, is of interest. "His [Taaffe's]

prolonged ministry had decisive effects upon the political life of Austria. It rendered forever impossible a return to Germanizing centralism. It filled the administrative hierarchy with Slavs, who, remaining Slavs, placed at the service of their national propaganda their official influence.

In combatting the Liberal party it restored the power of the court, of the aristocracy, of the Church, and it facilitated the obnoxious restoration of clericalism, by which Austria to-day is dominated. It at the same time aroused and corrupted the nationalities and the parties. It habituated them to give rein unceasingly to their ambitions and to seek to attain them less by their own force and labor than by intrigue. The public demoralization, ill.u.s.trated to-day so clearly by the Austrian crisis, is properly the result of the Taaffe system." M. L. Eisenmann, in Lavisse et Rambaud, Histoire Generale, XII., 177.]

*530. The German Recovery: Badeni, 1895-1897.*--To the eventual breakdown of the Taaffe regime various circ.u.mstances contributed. Two of princ.i.p.al importance were the defection of the Young Czechs and the failure of the several attempts to draw to the support of the Government the moderate German Liberals. At the elections of 1891 the Young Czechs obtained almost the entire quota of Bohemian seats, and at the same time the Liberals recovered enough ground to give them the position of the preponderant group numerically in the lower chamber.

Neither of these two parties could be persuaded to accord the (p. 479) Government its support, and during 1891-1893 Taaffe labored vainly to recover a working coalition. Finally, in 1893, as a last resource, the Government resolved to undermine the opposition, especially German Liberalism, by the abolition of the property qualification for voting in the cities and rural communes. The nature of Taaffe's electoral reform bill of 1893 has been explained elsewhere, and likewise the reason for its rejection.[680] Antic.i.p.ating the defeat of the measure, the premier retired from office October 23, 1893.

[Footnote 680: See p. 467.]

The Germans now recovered, not their earlier power, but none the less a distinct measure of control. November 12 there was established, under Prince Windischgratz a coalition ministry, comprising representatives of the German Liberals, the Poles, and the Clericals, and this cabinet was very successful until, in June, 1895, it was wrecked by the secession of the Liberals on a question of language reform in Styria. After four months, covered by the colorless ministry of Count Kielmansegg, Count Badeni became minister-president (October 4, 1895) and made up a cabinet, consisting largely of German Liberals, but bent upon an essentially non-partisan administration. The two tasks chiefly which devolved upon the Badeni ministry were the reform of the electoral system and the renewal of the decennial economic compromise with Hungary, to expire at the end of 1897. The first was accomplished, very ineffectively, through the electoral measure of 1896; the second, by reason of factional strife, was not accomplished at all.

*531. The Language Question: Parliamentary Deadlock.*--The elections of 1897 marked the utter dissolution of both the United German Left and the coalition which had borne the designation of the Right. Among the 200 Germans elected to the Chamber there were distinguishable no fewer than eight groups; and the number of groups represented in the aggregate membership of 425 was at least twenty-four. Of these the most powerful were the Young Czechs, with 60 seats, and the Poles, with 59. Profiting by the recently enacted electoral law, the Socialists at this point made their first appearance in the Reichsrath with a total of 14 seats. Taking the Chamber as a whole, there was a Slavo-Clerical majority, although not the two-thirds requisite for the enactment of const.i.tutional amendments. The radical opponents of the Government were represented by the 51 German Liberals only. But no one of the Slavic groups was disposed to accord its support save in return for favors received. In the attempt to procure for itself a dependable majority the Badeni government succeeded but in creating confusion twice confounded. The Young Czechs, whose support appeared (p. 480) indispensable, stipulated as a positive condition of that support that Czech should be recognized as an official language in Bohemia and Moravia, and by ordinances of April-May, 1897, the Government took it upon itself to meet this condition. Within the provinces named the two languages, Czech and German, were placed, for official purposes upon a common footing. The only result, however, was to drive the Germans, already hostile, to a settled course of parliamentary obstruction, and before the year was out the Badeni cabinet was compelled to retire.

The Gautsch ministry which succeeded proposed to maintain the equality of the Czech and German tongues in Bohemia; wherefore the German Liberals persisted in their obstructionist policy and declared that they would continue to do so until the objectionable ordinances should have been rescinded. March 5, 1898, the Government promulgated a provisional decree in accordance with which in one portion of Bohemia the official tongue was to be Czech, in another German, and in the third the two together. But no one was satisfied and the ministry resigned. The coalition government of Count Thun Hohenstein which succeeded labored in the interest of conciliation, but with absolutely no success. Parliamentary sittings became but occasions for the display of obstructive tactics, and even for resort to violence, and legislation came to a standstill. By the use of every known device the turbulent German parties rendered impossible the pa.s.sage of even the most necessary money bills, and the upshot was that, in the summer of 1898, the Government was obliged to fall back upon that extraordinary portion of the Austrian const.i.tution, commonly known as Section 14, by which, in default of parliamentary legislation, the crown is authorized to promulgate ordinances with the force of law. The period of extra parliamentary government here inaugurated was destined to be extended through more than six years and to comprise one of the most remarkable chapters in recent political history.

*532. The Nadir of Parliamentarism.*--Following the retirement of the Thun Hohenstein ministry, at the end of September, 1899, the government of Count Clary-Aldingen revoked the language decrees; but the parliamentary situation was not improved, for the Czechs resorted forthwith to the same obstructionist tactics of which the Germans had been guilty and the government had still to be operated princ.i.p.ally on the basis of Section 14. A provisional government under Dr. Wittek, at the close of 1899, was followed by the ministry of Dr. Korber, established January 20, 1900; but all attempts at conciliation continued to be unavailing. In September, 1900, the Reichsrath was (p. 481) dissolved and the order for the new elections was accompanied by the ominous declaration of the Emperor that the present appeal to the nation would be the last const.i.tutional means which would be employed to bring the crisis to an end. Amid widespread depression, threats of Hungarian independence, and rumors of an impending _coup d'etat_, the elections took place, in January, 1901. The German parties realized the largest gains, but the parliamentary situation was not materially altered, and thereafter, until its fall, December 31, 1904, the Korber ministry continued to govern substantially without parliamentary a.s.sistance. In 1901-1902, by various promises, the premier induced the combatants to lay aside their animosities long enough to vote the yearly estimates, a military contingent, and certain much-needed economic reforms. But this was virtually the sole interruption of a six-year deadlock.

*533. Electoral Reform and the Elections of 1907.*--With the establishment of the second Gautsch ministry, December 31, 1904, a truce was declared and interest shifted to the carrying out of the Imperial programme of electoral reform. From the proposed liberalization of the suffrage many of the party groups were certain to profit and others had at least a chance of doing so; and thus it came about that the great electoral law of 1907 was carried through its various stages under parliamentary conditions which were substantially normal. Its progress was attended by the fall, in April, 1906, of the Gautsch ministry and, six weeks later, by that of its provisional successor. But by the coalition government of Baron Beck (June 2, 1906 to November 8, 1908) the project was pushed to a successful conclusion, and in its final form the law was approved by the Emperor, January 26, 1907.

The promulgation of the new electoral measure was followed, May 14, by a general election, the results of which may be tabulated as shown on the following page.

Each of the twenty-six groups here enumerated maintained at the time of the election an independent party organization, although in the Chamber the representatives of certain of them were accustomed to act in close co-operation. To the clericals and conservatives of all shades fell an aggregate of 230 seats; but among the various groups of this type there has never been sufficient coherence to permit the formation of a compact conservative party. Among the liberal and radical groups lack of coherence was, and remains, still more p.r.o.nounced. The most striking feature of the election of 1907 was the gains made by the Social Democrats and the Christian Socialists, to be explained largely by the extension of the franchise to the non-taxpaying and small taxpaying population.

(p. 482) _Seats after _Seats in election of previous 1907_ Chamber_

Social Democrats 90 11 Christian Socialists 67 26 German Clericals 29 29 German Progressives 23 60 German Radicals 24 46 German Agrarians 21 4 Independent Pan-Germans 8 7 Pan-Germans 3 15 Polish Club 54 66 Polish Radicals 16 0 Polish Independent Socialists 3 0 Ruthenes 28 9 Jewish Zionists 3 0 Young Czechs 19 47 Old Czechs 6 3 Czech Realists 2 0 Czech Agrarians 25 5 Czech Clericals 19 2 Czech Radicals 10 8 Slovene Clericals 22 19 Slovene Liberals 3 6 Italian Liberals 4 12 Italian Clericals 10 6 Croats 9 7 Serbs 2 0 Roumanians 5 4

*534. The Elections of 1911.*--The truce by which the election of 1907 was accompanied was not of long duration, and November 8, 1908, the ministry of Baron Beck was driven by German obstructionism to resign.

After three months as provisional premier Baron von Bienerth, former Minister of the Interior, made up a cabinet which included representatives of a number of parties and which, despite occasional readjustments of portfolios, exhibited a fair measure of stability throughout upwards of two years. In December, 1910, the Czechs and Poles precipitated a cabinet crisis in consequence of which the ministry was reconstructed (January 9, 1911) in such a manner as to strengthen the Slavic and weaken the Germanic element. But the forces of opposition were not appeased, and as a last resort the Government determined upon a dissolution and an appeal to the country. The results, however, were by no means those which were desired. At the general elections, which took place June 13 and 20, the Christian Socialists, from whom the Government had drawn its most consistent support, were roundly beaten, and June 26 Baron von Bienerth and his colleagues resigned. The ministry thereupon made up was presided (p. 483) over by Baron Gautsch. It, however, endured only until October 31, when it was succeeded by that of Count Stuergkh.