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IO 1360 . H 1519 . 16 1648 . 18 1740 • 20 1789 > 22 1809-12 . 72 1814-50 . 74 1906 . 88 General Map of Austria-Hungary . , 339 LIST OF DIAGRAMS PAGE Races In Austria-Hungary ... .23 Races in Hungary ,...€. . 112 Slavs of Austria-Hungary and Ball: ans . 157 Races in Bohemia . . . . 161 Races in th 2 Tyre >1 ., ... . 264 FACING PAGE 2 CHAPTER I THE REALM OF THE HABSBURGS There is, in reality, no collective title for the agglomera- tion of territories called Austria-Hungary. The House of Habsburg is merely the connecting link between many distinct parts, not only by virtue of conquest or annexa- tion, but also by inheritance and by the right of long possession. It has to be clearly understood that the fact of mutual dislikes among the various peoples of Austria-Hungary does not necessarily impair their loyalty to the house which has stood for so long a period as the acknowledged representative to each of the kingly power, the keystone of the social and political system, not only of the whole realm, but of each separate part of it. To understand the growth of this Habsburg realm, it is neces- sary to trace its connection with the old Holy Roman Empire and the modern German one, and also to briefly recall the histories, not only of the two kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia, but that of the archduchy of Austria. None of these territories were originally the appanages of the Habsburgs, but to-day they and their dependencies form together the soi-distant empire over which that family rules. The beginnings of the Habsburgs were small. Their family took its name from a castle on the Aar, in southern Swabia, now included in the Swiss republic. From a 2 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE romantic legend this castle, built by the Bishop of Strass- burg, in 1027, was called Habichtsburg, "hawk castle." To-day the cradle of the greatest imperial line is fallen into decay. In the wars of Swiss independence, in 1386- 1474, it was partially destroyed, and, although offers have been made to the Swiss to buy and restore it to the Habsburgs, they have not been accepted, for with it is bound up the proud history of the successful revolt of the confederated cantons against their overlords. Part of the castle is in ruins and other parts are now a stable and an inn. The Counts of Habsburg trace their origin back to a count of Upper Alsace in the tenth century, and even, with less certainty, to Gontran, Duke of Alsace and Lorraine, in the seventh century. Their Swabian do- minions were, however, divided from Alsace by the free territory of the city of Basel. In time the marriages of the Habsburg Counts (the first sign of the successful matrimonial policy of later years) united their lands with those of the Counts of Kyburg and Lenzburg, and gave them a long and scattered domain lying in and out of the Swiss mountains and valleys, taking in Lucerne and including the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden. The free city of Zurich formed a thorn in their sides, and the independence so often characteristic of mountain peoples caused the inhabitants of this region to begin very early their agitation for self-government. It is, therefore, as simple German counts, with scat- tered and not too wealthy domains and far from peaceable subjects, that we first find the Habsburgs, and this was their condition in the thirteenth century, when Rudolf, .tors of HabefeuTgh //// Empire of Charlemagne llll Byzantine Empire = Ancestors of HabsW^h REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 3 Count of Habsburg, was elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. It is necessary, in order to understand the full meaning of this promotion, to go back to the time of Charlemagne and briefly describe the foundation and evolution of the Holy Roman Empire. When the Roman Empire crumbled finally into dust the tradition was still continued by the Byzantine Caesars, who claimed a nominal allegiance from Italy as well as from all regions where men still recognised their connec- tion with the Roman Empire. While the temporal power of Rome was thus in abeyance the Church, with its head at the ancient seat of Empire, began to assume a quasi- imperial position, and in the eighth century the Pope, Leo III., entertained the bold idea that, by reviving the im- perial title and prerogatives in the person of a great living monarch, a new and Christian empire might actually take the place of the old one. The fact that a really great man had already made himself master of a large part of Europe was, no doubt, mainly responsible for the inspira- tion, and, as the only representative of the Caesars was the blood-stained Empress Irene at Byzantium, it seemed an excellent opportunity to found a new empire while bor- rowing the prestige of the old one. Consequently Charle- magne was crowned Emperor of the Romans at Rome on Christmas Day, 800 A. D., and this was the foundation of the Romano-Germanic empire. The circumstance that Charlemagne was a Frank, and the founder of a line of kings who ruled at Paris, somewhat obscures the fact of his Teutonic origin. Charlemagne was a Teuton pur sang. His great grandfather, Pepin, was mayor of the 4 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE palace in Austrasia; that is, in the eastern section of the territory of the Teutonic Frankish kings, who had estab- lished themselves on the ruins of the Roman Empire. His grandfather, Charles Martel, ruled without the title of king both sections of the Frankish domains, and his son, Pepin, finally united them and acquired other territories, which he ruled as king of the Franks. Charlemagne him- self inherited Austrasia, but, by dispossessing other mem- bers of the family and by his successful campaigns, became ruler of all (modern) France, part of Germany, the northern half of Italy, and part of Spain. The centre of his empire was the Rhine, his favourite residence at Aachen (Aix la Chapelle) , and, although he obtained his imperial dignity by a nominal revival of the empire of the Caesars, it was as a Teuton monarch that he regarded himself. The period in which he and the traditions of his house were the dominating influences in the empire created by him must, therefore, be regarded as a Teu- tonising period, and this character became more distinctive when, by the Treaty of Verdun (843) in the reign of his grandsons the western half of the empire, which con- tained a Gaulo-Romanic people, split off from the German part and began to re-form itself as modern France. The Imperial title eventually followed the Teutonic half of the empire, and although the Franconian emperors, who were the lineal descendants of Charlemagne, had territories as wide as those of their great ancestors, they were gained by expansion eastward over the Slavs. From the first the office of Emperor was elective, and until the thirteenth century there was no fixed procedure. REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 5 The ancient custom of the Germanic tribes of choosing their leader from the military chiefs was merely carried out on a larger scale by all the nobles and chief lieges. The position of the Emperor was much the same as that of the successful warrior who was chosen to lead the tribes. The primitive instinct of choosing their chief had, however, to contend with the equally primitive in- stinct in the chosen to secure the rights he possessed for his descendants; and although the Empire was elective and not dynastic, the Franconian dynasty actually held it from 1024 to 1 125; the Hohenstaufens from 1138 to 1254; the Luxembourgs for four reigns (not continuous) ; and the Habsburgs for nearly four centuries, with only one short interruption of twenty-three years. Out of the rude form of election by general consent grew the assumption of electoral preorogatives by certain of the great nobles, and in 1356 the Golden Bull of Charles IV. fixed the mode of procedure, afterwards followed with little varia- tion until the empire dissolved in the beginning of the nineteenth century. The electors were fixed at seven, a mystic number, supposed in the Middle Ages to have spe- cial properties. These princely electors enjoyed great prestige and privileges, and were called after obsolete offices in the old Roman empire. Three were ecclesiastical lords — the so-called chancellors of the three ancient king- doms of Gaul and Burgundy, of Germany, and of Italy — and the other four were the King of Bohemia, Count Pala- tine of the Rhine, Duke of Saxony, and Margrave of Brandenburg. To these was added, in 1692, the house of Brunswick, at that time ruling in Hanover, by which 6 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE means it happened that, until the Salic law separated Han- over from England, the English king of the house of Brunswick was an elector in the Holy Romano-Germanic empire. The actual tie has never been nearer than this, although it might have been, since the Imperial crown was offered by the electors to Edward III., in 1347, but was refused. The election after 1356 was appointed to take place on true Frankish soil, at Frankfort, where in later times the Imperial diet was to meet. This diet, constituted in 1356, was made up of three bodies — electors, princes, and cities — with the result that, as princes and cities were frequently at variance, they formed leagues and even made alliances outside the empire, while the Emperor had to balance himself between them as best he could. The title borne from the eleventh century was " Romanorum Rex," x the actual " Imperator " being reserved by cus- tom until the candidate had been crowned by the Pope at Rome in the basilica of St. Peter's. Many never achieved this distinction, and only one Habsburg was actually crowned at Rome, but after the fifteenth century a compromise was arrived at, and Maximilian I., being unable to reach Rome by reason of the hostility of the 1 The Carolingian emperors after Charlemagne were styled simply "Imperator Augustus." Otho III., 983, was crowned at Rome with this title, prefixing Romanorum; but he and his successors were also crowned at Aachen and Milan as "Rex Francorum," or simply "Rex." After their coronation at Rome all smaller titles were discarded, but for a con- siderable period they underwent four distinct coronations, as King of the Franks at Aachen, King of Italy at Monza or Milan, King of Burgundy at Aries, and Emperor at Rome. REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 7 Venetians, obtained a bull authorising the use of the title " Emperor-Elect " (Imperator Electus) , to which in 1508, he added " Germanise Rex." This, therefore, continued to be the correct official title as long as the Empire lasted, but throughout the Middle Ages and down to modern times there was only one Emperor in Europe, and as " The Emperor " he wore his proud title without any qualifying phrase. It soon became the custom for the Emperor's son to be crowned king during his father's lifetime, and it was as part of Napoleon's scheme for reviving the ancient world-empire that he caused his ill-fated son to be entiled " King of the Romans." This last little King of the Romans was also, by a curious fate, a Habsburg on his mother's side. But it is a " far cry " from the castle of Habichtsburg and the simple Swabian counts to the headship of the empire of Charlemagne. This, in fact, endured but a short time and, although under Otho the Great (936) it enjoyed a real renascence, its character gradually changed. It was only from the time of Otho that the right of the king, elected by the German states to the imperial title and the kingdom of Italy, was fully recognised throughout Europe, so that he may justly be regarded, not so much as the successor of Charlemagne, as the founder of a fresh Romano-Germanic empire. One of the determining forces in mediaeval history was the antago- nism between the Popes and the Emperors, which was the result of a continual struggle as to whether the para- mountry of the Empire should be temporal or spiritual. The religious fervour of the Crusades was largely stimu- 8 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE lated by the Church, to maintain her position in men's eyes and to appeal to their imagination and love of ad- venture, but at the same time the growth of the feudal system, by strengthening the power of the great nobles and reducing the peasantry to serfdom, was setting up a number of petty rulers who wished to be independent of all domination. The Church herself competed with the feudal lords in the extent of her possessions and the arro- gance of her ecclesiastical princes, and so it came about that the Emperor frequently was the rallying point for the lay feudatories of the empire, while the Church waged war through its own great lieges. The wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines had their origin and motif in this age-long contest, the Guelphs or Welfs being the supporters of the Popes, while the Ghibellines took their name from a town (Waibelingen) whence the Hohen- staufen emperors came. The crux of the dispute was in the matter of lay investiture. The Pope claimed entire jurisdiction over all Church lands, and as these com- prised about one-half the best territories in the German states it was impossible to concede this without raising up a second imperial power. The endeavours of the Emperors, German rulers, to assert their power over Italy, led to a series of disasters, and the German period ends with the last of the Hohen- staufens, who, having inherited Italian possessions, per- ished in his attempt to secure them, while remaining as a German monarch independent of, and even hostile to, the Pope. During this period the growing independence of Italy, despite the pretensions of the Emperor, was in REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 9 reality acting as a consolidating force on the Empire, and the internal development of some of the great feudatories led to the beginnings of a real German nationalism. One of these great feudatories was Austria, of which the beginning was the Ost-mark, or Eastern march, set on the frontiers against the Magyars. This region lay on the Danube, between Bohemia, Moravia, and the duchy of Carinthia. The ancient Roman city of Vindobona (in the Roman province of Pannonia), believed to have been the mother of Vienna, was its chief town, and although surrounded by Slav countries a process of Germanisation made considerable advances. In 983 the Emperor Otho bestowed the Ost-mark on the House of Babenberg, which reigned there for over two and a half centuries, and at the court of the Babenbergs German minstrels and minne- singers were gathered, and the whole country fell under German civilisation. The accession of the Swabian house of Hohenstaufen to the Empire, and the relations of the Margrave with Frederick Barbarossa 2 led to the elevation of the Ost- mark to the rank of a duchy in the twelfth century, and in the reign of the third duke, Frederick, the boundaries of the duchy were increased, and its ruler hoped by Im- perial favour to be able to raise it to the rank of a kingdom. His death, fighting against the Magyars, in 1246, led to the extinction of the House of Babenberg, and the Emperor Frederick II. at once laid claim to the duchies of Austria and Styria as liege lands of the empire. 2 The affix " Holy " to the title " Roman Empire " dates from the reign of Frederick Barbarossa. io THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE Another competitor for these was the powerful king Premysl Ottocar of Bohemia, who was descended by his mother from the Babenbergs, and after many wars against Hungary he succeeded in annexing Austria and Styria, in 1260, while a few years later he added Carniola. A strange concatenation of circumstances led to the passing of Austria to a third house — that of Habsburg. The ter- rible conflict between the Emperor Frederick II. (who was by inheritance an Italian as well as a German mon- arch), and the Holy See (whose supremacy was threat- ened by his ambition and lack of orthodoxy), ended by the death of Frederick in 1250, and as his only legitimate descendant was killed shortly afterwards the house of Hohenstaufen became extinct. The greatest confusion followed, and an interregnum lasted for twenty-five years. Although the Empire wa9 revived in name it had no longer the character either of the one founded by Charlemagne or of that reconstructed by Otho the Great. On the other hand the loss of the Imperial power in Italy was ultimately of advantage in building up a new Empire round a purely German centre. A num- ber of competitors for the Imperial dignity were chosen by rival factions, but each was vanquished in turn either by the Pope, the Lombard cities, or the German princes. The title might, in fact, have been allowed to drop, with the semblance of an empire, but the Germans were loath to lose the pretensions to a dignity which gave one of their number a position, in appearance, above all other European monarchs. At the same time they were averse to such a process of centralisation as that which in France riabsbur^k Counts //// The empire in the reign of Frederick BarWossa. llll Byzaniine Em] Emigre = HabsUrgk Counts REALM OF THE HABSBURGS u was making that country strong and homogeneous. The monarchy there, like that of England, was built up by a steady concentration on one point and the gradual reduc- tion of the great feudatories. Germany, on the contrary, in an attempt to retain European hegemony and in a disas- trous struggle with the Papal power, dispersed instead of concentrating her power and remained a loose agglomera- tion of petty states. The electors constantly resisted the attempt to make the Imperial office hereditary, nor were they anxious that it should be exercised by the strongest of their number. Therefore, although they offered it to Ottocar of Bohemia, they were relieved when he refused it and proceeded, without his sanction, to elect another prince, not for his strength and influence, but because he was credited with sagacity and prudence and would avoid collision with the Pope. This prince was Rudolf, Count of Habsburg, and he justified the expectations formed of him, making no attempt on Italy and not even seeking to be crowned at Rome. Rudolf became Roman king in 1273 — the full Imperial title, as we have seen, being reserved for those crowned by the Pope. His title was resisted by Premysl Ottocar of Bohemia, who finally fell fighting against him and having lost Austria and the other duchies, left Bohemia to his infant son. This was the great opportunity of the Habsburgs, who, as simple Suabian counts, had no special power or importance and might have slipped back into obscurity. Rudolf at once claimed Austria and Styria as liege-lands of the crown, and, securing the consent of the Estates, conferred these duchies, as well as the province 12 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE of Carinthia, on his sons Albert and Rudolf. The duchies did not accept their new masters without remonstrance, and Vienna actually revolted and was only subdued by force of arms. Albert eventually succeeded to both the duchies, and added to them by wars with his neighbours, acquiring Carniola. When his father died, the electors, anxious to avoid any appearance of hereditary succession to the Imperial throne, set up Adolf of Nassau, but on the death of that monarch in 1298 Albert was allowed to succeed, and he increased the position of the House of Habsburg substantially. In 1306 the last of the Bohemian dynasty of Premyslides — grandson of Ottocar — died, and Albert then claimed Bohemia as a fief of the empire, or rather as a family estate, desiring to force on it his son Rudolf. Although Bohemia resisted this successfully she never again enjoyed a national dynasty, but in order to escape from the Habsburgs elected to her throne a mem- ber of the House of Luxembourg, at this period one of the greatest rivals of the Habsburgs. This house held sway in Bohemia for 120 years. On the death of Albert the Imperial crown passed from the Habsburgs, although his son Frederick was actually elected and crowned at Cologne. His claims were dis- puted successfully by Louis of Bavaria and during the fourteenth century the imperial dignity was contested by the Luxembourgs and the Bavarians with varying results. During this period the Austrian dukes steadily increased in power. Their family possessions were constantly di- vided, but invariably reunited again under some mem- ber of the house. Albert's sons reigned after him in REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 13 succession, and the eldest, Rudolf, who was married at nineteen to a daughter of the Emperor Charles IV. (of the House of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia), deserves mention as one of the real founders of the house. He was disappointed by the non-recognition of Austria in the Golden Bull (whereby his father-in-law, Charles, settled the electoral college of the empire) , in which Austria had no place, although she was a large state and already two emperors had been chosen from her. Rudolf accordingly resorted to a stratagem, and by means of an elaborate forgery maintained that the Dukes of Austria had been granted special independence and privileges by previous emperors, and had electoral rights. Although Charles re- fused to ratify these pretensions, he eventually agreed to a compromise whereby the houses of Luxembourg and Habsburg respectively agreed to guarantee each other's possessions. Rudolf also gained the Tyrol by one of those deeds of inheritance so frequent in the history of the Habsburgs, which always seemed to turn to their advan- tage. By a similar deed he prepared the way for the an- nexation, later on, of Carinthia, and thus his German and Swabian possessions were consolidated and the way opened to Italy. Rudolf is also known as the founder of the University of Vienna and of the cathedral of St. Stephen, which he began in 1356. After his death his two brothers divided the family lands into the duchies of Austria and Styria. In 1437 the Emperor Sigismund, who by inheritance had become King of Hungary and Bohemia, died without a son, and his successor was Albert of Austria, the hus- 14 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE band of his daughter. Albert was elected Emperor in 1438, and thus for the first time we see the union of Aus- tria, Hungary, and Bohemia under an Imperial head of the House of Habsburg. From this time the Imperial crown remained in the family, but the older line, the house of Austria, became extinct in 1457, and the Styrian house succeeded it. The Styrian branch brought with it Carinthia, Car- niola, the Tyrol, and the town of Trieste, the last of great importance as affording an outlet to the sea. The early possessions of the Habsburgs were, however, being di- minished by the rising independence of the Swiss. As early as 13 13 the " forest cantons " revolted against their count, who was also Duke of Austria, and, as already mentioned, in the early part of the fourteenth century they destroyed the castle of Habichtsburg, which has remained in partial ruins ever since. Although the Swiss cantons and cities did not gain full recognition of their independence till toward the end of the fifteenth century, they had already secured a measure of it, and not even the accession of the Count of Habsburg to the Imperial title could secure him in his ancient rights over them. One of the Styrian counts, Ernest, who ruled at Gratz from 1408-39 and was known as the " Man of Iron," married Cymburga, a Polish lady, daughter of the Duke of Mazovia, and she is said to have bequeathed to her descendants the " Habsburg lip." She was mother to the Emperor Fred- erick III., and grandmother to Maximilian. The succession of the Styrian line to the Austrian duchy was not accomplished without disputes between various The Empire m theXINTCenti The Empire m fheXJV ,h Centu,ry llll J"We of -Hamburgh E astern Empire Kingdom of Hungary \w REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 15 branches of the house, but eventually it passed to Duke Frederick III., who in 1440 succeeded Albert as Emperor. He made Austria an archduchy and augmented the family possessions, and was also the first monarch to use the monogram A. E. I. O. U., which, variously interpreted, is generally taken to stand for Austria est imperare orbi universo — an empty boast quite in character with the rhetoric of the period. Frederick used this monogram on his pottery and had it stamped on his books. He did not hold his patrimony without struggles, and even Vienna revolted against him and besieged him in his own castle, an incident never forgotten by his son Maximilian who, as a child, suffered the pangs of hunger in this siege and never forgave the Viennese, making Augsburg his fav- ourite residence. In Frederick's time an enemy appeared whose dreaded incursions were destined to draw Slav, Magyar, and German together and unite them against the assault of the Crescent. His family possessions as well as the imperial title were handed on by him to Maximilian, who also inherited the Netherlands through his wife. It was the successful matrimony policy of Maximilian in ar- ranging the marriages of his grandson and granddaughter which eventually led to the reuniting of the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia under the Habsburgs, after the dis- aster of Mohacs in 1526. From this time the history of the House of Austria or the Habsburgs is intimately linked with that of Hungary, Bohemia, and the old and new German empires. Bo- hemian independence was lost after the battle of the White Mountain, in 161 8, but Hungary never ceased, 16 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE save for a short period under Leopold I, (1687), to be an elective monarchy, albeit she recognised the heredi- tary claims of the House of Habsburg. The family policy of the Habsburgs has always been the guiding spirit in their history; under their domination it became the ruling factor in the empire. By conquest and inheritance they acquired large and powerful posses- sions and used these to preserve their predominance in Germany and to win back by degrees the hegemony of Italy. But their widening circle of influence was gained at the expense of the German states. They were always ready to embroil the Empire in Italy, or with France, for the sake of a scion of the House of Habsburg, and to retain their hold on the Netherlands they made endless sacrifices, while in 1736 Francis II., husband of Maria Theresa, even bartered Lorraine for Tuscany — a German for a non-German territory. In distinction, therefore, to the German empire founded by Otho the Great the empire of the Habsburgs was an Austrian one, and just as the conception of a great Teutonic European empire which inspired Charlemagne was narrowed under his successors to that of a German empire dominating Italy, so under the Habsburgs the German ideal was put on one side in favour of an Aus- trian one. This is shewn in the intense importance at- tached by the Habsburgs to those portions of the empire which were their hereditary possessions, and in their at- tempt to augment them, as we have already said, even at the expense of German territory. At the same time the rise of German, Slav, or Magyar nationalism was 1519 AD .oneiiude "West from OreenwicTi The empire and hereditary Empire H Inheritance of Charles V Ayr\a sty: ^pire and hereditary possesions of Charley V. Empire ^£l^e?enten\ S?StS Inheritance of CharlesV (Charles abdicated 1556). Bohemia -Hungary_are united unaei / ^ Hovse of Hohenzollern == REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 17 sternly opposed, and as time went on it became the ambi- tion of the Habsburgs to reduce the power of their nobles and build up round the Austrian nucleus a centralised empire. In a way they were entirely successful in this, since the Habsburgs, or Austrian house, are really the centre in every sense of the modern realm, but the resusci- tation of their claims on Italy and the intensely conflicting elements even in the very heart of their dominions proved a serious stumbling block, and in the long run the sup- pressed forces of national feeling have wrecked the hopes of a homogeneous empire. We are, however, somewhat anticipating the march of events. Another factor of supreme importance in mould- ing the fate of the empire has to be considered. In the succeeding chapters we shall see the peculiar conditions under which a large portion of Central Europe received Christianity. Moravia and part of Bohemia were con- verted by the Byzantine apostles, who brought them a Slav liturgy, and, although they no longer retain its forms, they have ancient traditions of independence of Rome. It is not wonderful that religious and national liberty soon became synonymous in countries which were struggling simultaneously against German and Catholic influence. At the same time the corruption in the church and state of confusion in the empire were producing a great effect on the minds of men who were hardly freed from the superstitions of the Dark Ages. The earliest sign of the Reformation was seen in the teachings of the Eng- lish Wycklyffe in the fourteenth and early fifteenth cen- turies, which found an echo in the far-off countries of Bo- 18 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE hernia and Moravia, where John Huss and John of Prague and their followers, the Hussites, fought a long and bitter fight for national and religious freedom. The Thirty Years' War of the seventeenth century was a similar con- flict with a more extended arena and the Germans, in- stead of the Czechs, in conflict with the Emperor and the Pope. The awakening feeling of German nationalism was, in half the empire, driven into hostility against an insti- tution which seemed to bind them to Rome as the centre of a foreign tyranny. As early as 1338 the Germanic Diet at Rense solemnly protested against the pretensions of the Pope to supremacy, and a similar course was taken by the electors at Frankfort. In 1648 the Thirty Years' War came to an end, and the Peace of Westphalia laid the foundation of modern Europe and remains as a landmark in history and the basis of international law. The difference made in the position of the Emperors by this religious disruption of the empire needs to be thoroughly appreciated. The Habsburgs were Catholics, and, although by no means uniformly subservient to the Popes, the force of circumstances caused them to rely on the support of the Church. After ruthless but ineffectual attempts to stamp out the Reformed Religion, they were at length compelled to acknowledge it, and in 1608 the German princes were divided into a Catholic and a Protestant League, which led up to the Thirty Years' War. The predominant note in the period which follows the Peace of Westphalia is the rise of the Protestant Hohenzollerns, as compared with the waning power of the Catholic Habsburgs. In 1701 Frederick, the Protes- I he Holy Komarv ijmpire Domains _ of ..Austria: 1G48 AD TlneHol 7 Roni Q ^E T ow e of H ata 1o-u.y g Collateral Lrancke^ of Hovse of HaoaL-u-rg/' ; -— --xjmpireirvJLXIL ^exvturv llll OttoiviQ.^ Empire E3 Hovae ' of Holiervzolierrv domains . of Anoint H REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 19 tant elector of Brandenburg, was powerful enough to secure the title of King of Prussia. Forty years later Frederick the Great ascended the throne of Prussia and made it one of the first powers of Europe, and at the same time the House of Habsburg came to an end in the male line, but had been secured to Maria Theresa, daughter of Charles VI., by the diplomacy of that monarch. In speaking of the comparative decline of the Habs- burgs we must remember that at the zenith of their power their domains included, besides the archduchies of Austria and Styria, the Tyrol, the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, Milan, the Netherlands, Franche Comte, and Spain. Bo- hemia and Hungary were not included, although Maxi- milian chose to call himself king of them, as they were at this time united under the Jagellon dynasty. Such was the inheritance of Charles V., due to the work accomplished by his grandfather, Maximilian (1493- 15 19), the most attractive and romantic figure in the whole family history of the Habsburgs; perhaps the only one, of a long line of emperors, who attracts by the large- ness of his qualities and chivalric and picturesque person- ality. After Maximilian's death his grandsons almost divided Europe between them, but his domain, like that of Charlemagne, soon split up again, and the really per- manent part of it was that which had its centre in the Austrian possessions, with claims over Bohemia and Hungary. When Maria Theresa (1740) succeeded her father on a very precarious throne, as King of Hungary and Bo- hemia, Archduchess of Austria, etc., she had to contend 20 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE against other claimants of the House of Habsburg, who claimed prior rights, despite the fact of their resignation while Charles was alive and the confirmation of Maria's position which he had gained by obtaining the Pragmatic Sanction of all the Estates to her succession. A long strug- gle ended, largely by the reason of Hungarian loyalty to Maria, in her victory, and her husband, Francis of Lor- raine, was chosen Emperor. On his death her son Joseph succeeded him in the Imperial office, but for forty years Maria was the dominant force in the Empire as well as in her kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia. She followed the Habsburg policy of endeavouring to centralise her domains, and therefore repressed nationalism among Magyars and Czechs, and replaced it by a sense of dependence on a royal house and court. Her son Joseph, when he succeeded her, went a good deal further in this direction and at the same time attempted many internal reforms. He diverged from the traditional Habsburg policy, however, by his resolve to reduce clerical power, which was actually the occasion of a visit of remonstrance by the Pope to Vienna. The position of the Empire was now exceedingly anoma- lous. For a century past the Emperor had ceased to enjoy in Europe the paramount position indicated in his pre- tentious title. To one-half of the subjects of the Empire he was only the titular head of their political system, while to the other he was also the advocate and defender of their faith. Joseph desired that his people should be Catholics, not Romanists; but a large proportion were neither. Moreover, the growth, during the eighteenth century, of the spirit of rationalism and scepticism, espe- H R Empire fill Hovse Hovse H P. Empire Hovse of Habsburg __CcQlateral Rovses \< Hov.se of Hohenz-olLern = TVrki.sk Empire REALM OF THE HABSBURGS 21 dally in France, led to a loosening of the hold of all traditional conceptions over men's minds, and while the jurists of the seventeenth century had already condemned the cumbrous and obsolete machinery of the Empire the wits of the eighteenth made it their laughing stock. Fred- erick of Prussia spoke of the Diet at Frankfort as " dogs baying the moon," and although the personality of Maria Theresa and the skilful diplomacy of her ministers, es- pecially of Kaunitz (who also served Joseph till his death) were enough to secure the prestige of the House of Austria, the Holy Roman Empire was already doomed. The French Revolution, in which the daughter of Maria Theresa perished on the guillotine, was the first breaking of a wave which spread over Europe. Napoleon, rising on its crest, replaced the old tyranny by a new one, and dreamed for a brief moment of a new Empire as widely European as that of Charlemagne. Twice he entered the city of Vienna as conquerer, and a daughter of the proudest Imperial house of Europe was given him as a wife, to soften his attitude towards Austria. In 1804 Francis II., alarmed at the extent to which Napoleon was replac- ing the political divisions of Europe with new ones of his own devising, and fearing to find himself reduced to the status of a mere German monarch, determined to secure his own Imperial claims on a more solid foundation than that of the shadowy electoral Holy Roman Empire by assuming the title of hereditary Emperor of Austria, and two years later he resigned his more showy titles. There is no doubt that Napoleon hoped to emulate Char- lemagne in reestablishing a great European empire on the 22 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE Roman model, and as we have seen he went so far as to have his son called King of Rome, after the title worn by so many heirs to the Empire. In abdicating a title which was an empty one to him Francis strengthened his own position by inventing and conferring on himself the more tangible and realistic title of Emperor of Austria. Austria was, and still is, more or less a facon de parler, since there is no imperial state which actually bears that name, no people who are distinctively " Austrian " in race. But, as applied to certain of the states which have become attached to the House of Habsburg, either by conquest, inheritance or annexation, the term " Austrian empire," as synony- mous with " empire of the Habsburgs," is more con- venient and accurate than the ancient and obsolete title which Francis abdicated. Hungary's position needs to be denned later, but it may be said in passing that this king- dom and its dependencies also form an integral part of the Habsburg hereditary dominions, though on a different footing to the other states. The Napoleonic crisis, 3 therefore, served to strengthen the dynastic empire of the Habsburgs, and, as we shall see, another great revolutionary period — that beginning in 1848 which lasted until Italy finally became free — in reality served the same purpose. The greatest bane of the Habsburgs, as of some of their predecessors on the Im- perial throne, was always the attempt to enforce their claims on non-contiguous territory. The modern Austro- Hungarian realm is fairly contiguous and compact, and its problems are now not so much external as internal. 3 For continuation of historical sketch see Chapter V. Holy Roman Empire II || WITT* CerAury 1769 l.i'ngliu.lo \V,.( rroiu Drr.-n Holy Roman Empire II II Austrian Hovse of Habsbur- Collateral branches of Hovse H ov.se of Hohervzollerri ^ Hovse of Savoy WW CHAPTER II THE COMING OF SLAV AND MAGYAR ,We are all aware that the subjects of the Emperor Fran- cis Joseph are very various in race. For practical pur- poses it is not necessary here to go fully into the divisions, and still less into the many subdivisions, but a clear un- derstanding must be had of the main stocks from which these people come. Roughly, they may be divided into the Germans, the Slavs, and the Magyars. There is also a population using a Latin tongue and claiming descent AUSTRIA-HUNGARY Germars 5Iav.s Roumanians 'Others' HUNGARY Jotal Magyars ^Iav Jsmxmanians Germans * Others' Geanso3s\& Italians Rotrtnanians MaoyarsV RACES IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY from the Romans who were masters of a great part of what is now Austria-Hungary, which they conquered from Germanic tribes. In eastern Europe they found one of their most formidable opponents in the Dacians, who were only conquered after several wars by Trajan. Tran- sylvania, as well as the basin of the Danube to its mouth, 23 24 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE was included in the ancient Dacian kingdom, and modern Roumania claims to have its origin in this remote period of history. Whether or no the Dacians were themselves of Slav origin, it seems more than probable that in eastern and central Europe the Romans encountered ancient Slav tribes who were incorporated in the empire. The modern Roumanians are the historical descendants of this early Latin conquest, and their language is a Latin tongue similar to the Catalan, and even more to Ladinian or the Romansch of the Grisons in Switzerland. People of Rou- manian origin and tongue are found throughout Hungary and in the Austrian coast provinces, but they are most numerous in Transylvania. Buda and Vienna both are on the sites of fortified cities which were seats of Roman government. In the fourth century came Attila and his Huns, who swept across Europe, and when Attila was gone the Ger- manic tribes began their migrations, constantly obliter- ating the Roman frontiers and sweeping down into Italy. On their footsteps, and even beyond them, came another race of more peaceful conquerors — the Slavs. Who and what these people were, and when they made their first appearance in Europe, are still matters for conjecture. The Slavs are identified by some authorities with the an- cient Scythians. Many ideas, expressions, and character- istics of these people recorded by ancient writers are similar to those of the Slavs. It is certain that in very ancient times they spread over a great part of western Europe, and it is considered probable that they formed the bulk of the population in the Balkan peninsula and SLAV AND MAGYAR 25 Greece before the rise of the latter country as a civilised power. The theory that eastern Europe was at a very early date occupied by a Slavonic people rests chiefly on the evidences of an ancient Slavonic language which are to be found, sometimes overlaid with a more recent dialect and sometimes in a singularly pure form, in regions which have not, so far as history shews, been colonised by Slavs. The Slavonic languages are rich and full, and of very ancient origin, approximating most nearly, as does the Lithuanian, to Sanscrit, and thus demonstrating clearly an Indo-European origin. In Roman times the country of the Slavs known as Sarmatia (corresponding with modern Russia, Poland, and Galicia) was a sort of borderland shading off into the unknown. From this land came tribes of Slavic colonists, known by different names, and settled, sometimes peacefully, sometimes by conquest, in different countries. They occupied Bohemia in the fifth century, Moravia a little later, and in Wallachia and Moldavia they met and mingled with the Romanised Dacians. In the Danubian territories they found the Avars, a kindred tribe to the Huns, against whom they had to defend them- selves. Some of the Slav tribes paid tribute to the Avars, and submitted to be transplanted in colonies from one district to another, by which process they were trans- ferred to Carinthia and neighbouring territory. The ac- tual extent of the country originally populated by Slavs is somewhat difficult to determine. The seventh century saw a sort of Slav union under a leader, Samo, who appears, however, to have been of Frankish origin. He actually defeated King Dagobert of the Franks in a big 26 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE battle. The Byzantine emperor, Heraclius, unconsciously laid the foundations of Servia by inviting the Sorabes (originally from what is now known as Prussia) to come down from the Danube and inhabit Upper Moesia, Lower Dacia, and Dardania, so as to form a bulwark against the Avars. This brought them to the Adriatic coast, while the remaining Roman element took refuge in Ragusa and other coast towns, where, under Italian influence, they preserved their Latin characteristics, so that to this day there is a literary and political feud be- tween the Latins and Slavs. In the early Middle Ages Ragusa became the centre of a real Slavonic civilisation, and her schools and universities were celebrated, while she was the home of men of poetry and science at a time when central Europe was still in the darkness of barbarism. These Slav peoples, the almost peaceful successors to those lands left vacant by the Germanic tribes, became the dominant race in Eastern Europe, thrusting west towards the Latinised Franks, north to the Baltic, and south to the Adriatic and iEgean, but were not all known as Slavs. That name was given only to the northern tribes, while those living near the Carpathians were known as Sorabes, by which name they are familiar in German his- tory, and are still found as Sorbs in Prussian Lusatia and Saxony, as well as in far distant European Turkey. The Germans also called them Wends, Vends, or Veneti, and the name " Windisch " affixed to the names of places re- calls a Slav origin. The greatest of Slav-founded cities is said by some authorities to have been Venice, whose SLAV PEOPLE FROM THE CICERIA (NEAR TRIESTE) SLAV AND MAGYAR 27 name certainly seems to bear witness to its origin, as also do many words in common use and some of the distinctive features of its early history. As a race the Slavs were characterised by a peaceful disposition, compared with that of the tribes with which they had to contend; but this reputation they owed proba- bly more to their agricultural pursuits, in distinction to the pastoral habits of the Huns, Avars, or Germans, than to any special mildness of disposition. The question of the political organisation and tend- encies of the Slavs opens up a very interesting field, since there is no doubt that in such matters they were, and still are, widely differentiated from the Teutonic peoples, whose civilisation may be described as Western. From the earliest times of which we have any record the Slavs have practised those principles of democracy, and especially of communism, which it has been the dream of many modern reformers to introduce into western civilisation. The com- munity of kith and kin was, and still is, the foundation of their social system, but it has expanded, as we see in modern Russia or Servia to-day, to include groups of in- dustrialists or agriculturists. In the years which saw the fiercest Ottoman invasions of Europe colonies of Slavs were placed on the frontiers of the empire, who were, like the Cossacks, organised on a military basis, holding the land free on condition of service. They exhibited, until quite recent times, the most extreme form of communism to be found in Europe, living in one large house divided into sections and holding property absolutely in common. The earliest writers who mention the Slavs comment on 28 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE their democratic form of government and love of liberty, and in their history we can trace the actual effect of these traits on their destiny. Despite their peaceful and yet virile character, their love of liberty, their ancient civilisa- tion, and many noble qualities, one after another of the Slav peoples became enslaved. The Mongol invasion kept Russia the vassal of the Great Horde for centuries, and when at last she threw off the yoke she undoubtedly owed much to the infusion of Mongol blood as well as to the influence of her Variag invaders. Bulgaria (a Slavicised Mongol power, ruling a people who were a mixture of Latin and Slav) was the first, and possibly the greatest, Slav power for many centuries, and its rulers re- ceived from Byzantium the title of Tsar two centuries before it was adopted in Russia. Bulgaria spread over the whole Balkan peninsula save the extreme south, and in her golden age (the tenth and eleventh centuries) was one of the great European powers. Yet she fell under Byzan- tine domination, and was ruled by Greek satraps for 170 years. A brief revival in the twelfth century was followed by conquest by Servia. Servia was a purely Slav country which reached the zenith of its power in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when it comprised not only modern Servia but a great part of modern Austria-Hun- gary — Croatia, Bosnia, Dalmatia, and Slavonia — as well as Montenegro and the provinces of European Turkey. Bulgaria and Servia were both in turn the allies or the enemies of the Eastern Empire, but when Constantinople fell the tide of Ottoman invasion swept over them. Servia lost the whole of her aristocracy and from the fourteenth SLAV AND MAGYAR 29 to the nineteenth centuries all these Slav countries were enslaved by the Turks with the exception of Montenegro and the republic of Ragusa. Another ancient Slav kingdom was Moravia, which in the ninth century was the sovereign Slav power of a ter- ritory reaching from what is now Prussia to the Adriatic, but fell to a neighbouring Slav state, that of the Czechs, known as Bohemia. The story of Bohemia must be told elsewhere. It is enough for our present purpose that she became a great and powerful state, but lost her native dynasty, and under the influence of the House of Habs- burg came near losing her language and nationality. In fact, not one of the great Slav countries, save Russia, pre- served its national independence, and, with the exceptions mentioned, all were living under foreign rule and domina- tion until, in the early years of the nineteenth century, the Slav peoples of the Balkans at last threw off the Turkish yoke. Since then a wonderful movement of Slav renas- cence has taken place; ancient literatures have been re- discovered and records ransacked for the early history of the Slavonic races. But no amount of glorious tradi- tion can alter the fact which modern, as well as ancient, Slav history makes evident, that the democratic and com- munistic theory of government does not necessarily lead to efficiency or cohesion in the state. The Slav point of view is essentially parochial and his socialism is opposed to that of Western Europe in being, actually, entirely individual- istic, despite his communism, which from the limited na- ture of its operations is in fact only a slightly expanded individualism. This point of view is illustrated by the care 30 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE with which the Slavs protected the rights of minorities, for they did not, and to this day do not, realise the prin- ciples of representative government by a majority in which the good of the greatest number is the main ideal. The Slav, in fact, is the natural democrat, and as such was quite unable to contend with peoples organised on a more practical basis. His one chance came when he was ruled by an autocrat, a man strong enough to command at once fear and respect, and so the story of the Slav peoples is the story of their leaders. When a strong man appeared his particular branch of the race became power- ful; at his death (or before it, if he attempted to rule the people with their own consent or through councils) his realm was torn by dissensions, and usually, for the sake of peace, offered to a foreign prince strong enough to hold it. There have been Slav dynasties like that of the Premyslides in Bohemia, which had its origin in legend And came to an end in 1306, and the great Tartar-Slav empire of Russia has held its own because a race of despots was raised up to rule it. But no constitutional monarch would have commanded from a Slav people the adoration mingled with fear which the Russian moujik has poured out on his Tsar. It may be that a fresh era of Slav history is about to dawn, but the main difficulty lies with the people themselves. It has become usual, since the Slav renascence of the last century, to endeavour to trace a great deal of Euro- pean civilisation back to early Slavonic influences. But although Europe undoubtedly owes to these much gifted people, it is not possible to discount the fact that Latin SLAV AND MAGYAR 31 influence was the main factor in shaping the history of western Europe and that the Romans, although they may have come in contact with that ancient Slavonic element of which we have spoken, were a strongly individual race whose marked characteristics have left traces on all the lands they ruled which time cannot obliterate. A very interesting theory, however, is the presumed Slavonic ori- gin of at least two Roman emperors, Diocletian, who was born at Spalato, and is said to have taken his Latin name from Ducla, the Slav name of that place, and Justinian, whose Latin name is regarded as a literal translation of his own patronymic, the Slav " Pravda," meaning " truth." Slav influence on the Eastern empire is far less obscure, belonging to more recent times and continuing to the latest days of Byzantium. There is evidence in ancient writers that the Sarmatians — by which name the Romans knew all the Slavonic tribes beyond the empire — were by no means savages. When their incursions into the empire began in the fifth century they understood the use of weapons and even of fortifica- tions, and were passionately fond of music, besides being adepts in the art of agriculture and in certain primitive industries. They were, of course, pagans, and their reli- gion seems to have been of a nature-worshipping character, as might be expected from their pursuits. Their conversion to Christianity was a matter of some time, as they dis- trusted especially the German sources from which enlight- enment might have come, but in the Danubian provinces they met both Byzantine and Latin Christians — a circum- stance which laid the foundation for religious dissensions 32 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE in times to come. The more northern Slavs, whose coun- try of Moravia had become the centre of a great power, at length invited missionaries from Byzantium, and in the ninth century two brothers, Cyril and Methodius, came to Moravia, carrying with them not only the Christian doc- trine but a new version of the Scriptures and a liturgy written in a character composed from Slavonic mingled with Greek. These " apostles of the Slavs " met with great success in Moravia and Slavonia, as they had already done in Lithuania, but the jealousy of the Latin communion was aroused, and, although they went to Rome to vindicate their orthodoxy, and although their version of the Scripture and liturgy was fully recognised by the Latin church, their followers were not able to stand against the opposition of the German prelates and priests. The Slav liturgy passed through Croatia, Servia and Bulgaria into Russia, but was finally lost after a prolonged struggle. One result of the opposition to this new Slavonic form was the preservation of an older one, called " Glagolitza," which still continues to be recognised by the Catholic church in Servia and Croatia. 1 The Cyrillic character survived, however, and is now in use in modified forms in Russia and the Balkan states. When the schism between the Eastern and Western churches was complete, the Slavs, who stretched in a belt across from the Adriatic to the Bosphorus, were naturally torn by religious dissensions. Of the southern Slavs, the Slovenes were more easily Latinised than the Croats, who offered for a long time a sturdy resistance to any dena- tionalising influence, while Bulgaria and Servia, both 1 See also Chapter XIII. SLAV AND MAGYAR 33 Christianised from the East, were each in turn anx- ious to establish a national and independent church. No section of the Slav race can be said to have been dis- tinguished for orthodoxy and devotion to any pre- scribed church until Russia became orthodox, at the strict command of its rulers. The chief significance of the religious development of the Slavs from the point of view of this sketch is the extent to which it became identified with their national aspirations. It is not surprising to find that so democratic a people would not submit easily to a tyranny in matters temporal and spiritual alike by a power which was upheld more by tradition and superstition than by the personal force behind it. In this respect the Slavs differed utterly from the Germanic, Gallic, and Latin races to whom the name of Rome represented a power which in time they came to regard as sacred. When the temporal Empire fell the spiritual one succeeded it, until, in 800 A. D., the revival of the Imperial title in the person of the Frankish king, Charlemagne, started a new current of sentiment and divided men's allegiance, instead of centring it still more firmly on Rome, as the Pope had hoped. The Sla- vonic part of the population always resisted this domi- nation, whether by Pope or Emperor, and thus we find the seeds of the Reformation, sown in England by Wycklyffe, taking root in Bohemia, whence they were never eradi- cated, and leading to a national struggle with German influences. Even the German reformation was looked at with great distrust by the Bohemian Protestants, who were more in sympathy with Calvin than with Luther. The 34 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE unhappy subjection of so large a portion of the Slavs by the Turks kept them from the influences of the Ref- ormation period; hence the Servians, the Bulgarians, and the Roumanians belong to either the Greek or the Latin communion. It is interesting to note that the members of a religious sect of Asiatic origin known as the Bogo- miles, whose doctrines had spread through the Balkans and even through southern Europe to France, being obliged after the Turkish invasions of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries to live under Turkish rule, embraced Mohammedanism rather than become Roman Catholics, as, indeed, did many Serbo-Croatian families. The second race (historically) whose history we must now briefly trace, arrived upon the European stage in the fourth century, when the Magyars penetrated to the heart of the Slav country. They were of similar origin to the Bulgars, Huns, and Avars, belonging to the same race as the Turks and the Finns. Their orignal habitat is said to have been the Ural-Altai region between Europe and Asia, and they seem to have been in many respects similar to other races of horsemen and nomads who from time to time swept across the great Asiatic plain through the low Ural hills and on through the heart of Russia into Europe. The strange fate which left one colony of these people on the Baltic to become enslaved for a time — a brief time — by a Slav empire, took another down through a pass in the Carpathians to settle on the fertile plains which those mountains partially screen. This migration has the appearance of a deliberate move, although the story that it was accomplished in full marching order is probably SLAV AND MAGYAR 35 apocryphal. It is now asserted that these conquering bands were accompanied by Slav serfs who fought for their masters, and afterwards cultivated the soil for them. It is said that a million souls passed over in this way, but it is certain that they must have come in several batches spread over a considerable period. The first descent had been made upon (modern) Eastern Roumania but, being defeated there by the Bulgarian Czar, they apparently decided to put the Carpathians between themselves and a foe of such warlike propensities. They then drove a wedge through the Slav peoples, dividing the Czechs from the Slovenes and Serbo-Croatians, and hastening the subjugation of the latter under Latin and German in- fluences. The Magyars, like all Asiatic nomad tribes, were dis- tinguished for ferocity and virility, and the tales of their savage appearance and behaviour struck terror to the hearts of milder races. They had the dash and spirit of a people trained on horseback, affording a contrast to the imaginative and dreamy Slav, just as their nomadic and pastoral habits were different from his agricultural ones. Intermarriage has very much modified the Magyars and, although it is possible to find among them survivals of, or reversions to, a type which is characteristically Turkish (with the straight black hair, high cheek bone and slant- ing eye), yet the constant infusion of Slav, German, and Latin blood has made the Magyar race as a whole almost as nondescript as is the British. Every type can be found in Hungary, from the golden-haired Slav or flaxen German to the dark Italian, the swarthy Armenian, gipsy, or Jew. 36 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE It is hard to differentiate the true Magyar type, especially as the families whose descent is clearest have often inter- married with foreigners. In character the Magyar has retained certain traits of which we must speak later. The Magyar idea of government was diametrically opposed to that of the Slavs, having its centre in the idea of a military leader. The early custom of giving free- hold rights to families or tribes (and of inviting these from outside if necessary) on the basis of military service, was the origin in Hungary of that small landed nobility which has always been the backbone of the country. One is reminded of the very similar conditions in a region which, however, for various reasons is less homogeneous. In Mongolia each village has a prince or two, all landed nobility and members of a sort of military caste. The intensely aristocratic basis of society in Hungary is in striking contrast with that of the surrounding Slav coun- tries, and yet, by what is on the surface a paradox, Hun- gary was preserved by it from the extremes of the feudal system. The Middle Ages saw the reduction, under this system, of every non-noble man to the condition of a serf, chained to the land and the chattel of his lord, while universal military service was replaced by professional paid soldiers who were maintained by the feudal lords, but in Hungary the large class of small and yet noble free- holders, all of whose descendants were equally free and noble, and the retention of a military system among the people mitigated the extreme division of society and other abuses which became so terrible a feature in other Euro- pean countries. ^H * 1A*j Sj ^5 ■7 E^^,-- ^ •>Sl . 'w v - ^^ ^ toy * ^■fe^Lr^^l • - — ^"oecxx ' I< H| SLAV AND MAGYAR 37 Although modified in appearance, in customs, and in character by the people they have assimilated, the Mag- yars have retained, throughout all vicissitudes, an extraor- dinary homogeneity. Hungary has been a sovereign na- tion and a kingdom since iooo A. D., and has never owned allegiance to any monarch who has not been affirmed and crowned by her Estates. Moreover, the Hungarian is the only complete nation under the Austrian crown. Even Bohemia, claiming similar historic rights, does not occupy the same position. Her people are not intact; Czechs are living under Prussian rule, and Czech territory has been reduced by the conquest of neighbouring states. Moreover, there is within Bohemia a second nation, the Germans, with equal rights to the Czechs. Their position is therefore constitutionally different from that of Hun- gary as a free sovereign state and nation. The rest of the peoples under Austrian rule are detached fragments of nations, remnants of ancient states. Their ties are, in many cases, with the modern states surrounding them rather than with the power which holds them together. That it does hold them — that the House of Habsburg is the connecting link for this heterogeneous collection of states and peoples — is one of the most interesting phe- nomena in modern history. Other empires have been built up by a similar process of accretion round a reigning house — modern France, for example — but whereas the lands annexed to France became French, both formally and practically, the accretions to the Habsburg realm have retained their racial and political idiosyncrasies in the teeth of the most adverse circumstances. CHAPTER III THE STORY OF HUNGARY Hungary became a kingdom in iooo A. D., and a con- stitutional monarchy in 1222, and its history since that date has been the eventful record of an entire if small nation; of its developments, constitutional and political; and of its relation to half a dozen States by which it was surrounded and to the great Imperial power which overshadowed them. In every phase this kingdom has preserved its independence and national idiosyncrasies, and cannot be confused or grouped with any other State. It is evident, therefore, that it is no easy task to compress its history within a few pages., It is necessary to confine ourselves to an outline of the historical development of the Magyars, especially as regards their relations to the House of Habsburg. In 1000 A. D., as we have already seen, Hungary be- came an independent kingdom by the solemn sanction of the Pope, for which reason the King of Hungary is still known as his Apostolic Majesty. As the Hungarians were by no means all converted — indeed a pagan rising took place in the eleventh century — it is difficult to see why (although the King, Stephen I., was a good Catholic) the Pope should appear in the erection of the kingdom. In the opinion of the age, however, the head of the Roman Empire was the only power who could make kings, and 38 THE STORY OF HUNGARY 39 this period was one in which the Papal See, under a string of profligate and ambitious Popes, was exerting itself (somewhat unsuccessfully) against the last of the Fran- conian emperors. The Hungarians were a thorn in the side of the Empire, and had been disastrously defeated by Otho the Great in 955, so that their appeal for recog- nition was made to the Pope of the day rather than to the Emperor. The confusion which reigned throughout the empire after the end of the Saxonian line found its reflection in Hungary, although that country was not an Imperial State. In the second half of the eleventh century it was under the domination of the Emperor Henry IV. and was a bone of contention between him and his cele- brated adversary, the militant Pope Gregory VII. In 1077 Ladislas became king and succeeded in making him- self independent and uniting Croatia with his own coun- try, and in the reign of his successor Dalmatia was also added. Croatia remained henceforth as an appanage of Hungary, although retaining her autonomous form of government. An important event in the twelfth century was the arrival of a colony of Saxons who were settled at the foot of the Carpathians in Transylvania. They founded many towns, and enjoyed complete autonomy on the condition of paying taxes, furnishing troops, and recog- nising the supreme authority of the King in judicial mat- ters. These colonists had an important influence on the development of Hungary, but neither they nor the Slavs within the kingdom, nor those incorporated with it in Croatia, were strong enough to disintegrate the Magyars. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries found Hungary a 4 o THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE great buffer State between east and west. By a war with Russia she had established claims over part of Galicia, while on the south her contest with the Venetians had led to the loss of part of the Adriatic coast. Her famous king, Andrew II., issued a Golden Bull in 1222 which is regarded as the Magna Charta of Hungary. This was directed partly against the abuses and disorders which were the result of the growing power of the Church in Hungary, but it also defines the constitutional position of the Hungarian monarchy, which was to be hereditary in the House of Arpad, although the Magyars never acknowl- edged any King whose claims were not sanctioned by the Estates, practically the nobility. The most notable clause of the Golden Bull was, however, the last, in which the right of the subject to resist his sovereign in certain contin- gencies is upheld. So long ago were the doctrines of Rous- seau anticipated! The call to arms in Hungary was the sending round of a bloody sword, and the people pos- sessed what was called the right of resistance, without in- curring the accusation of high treason. In the time of Matthias Corvinus the levy was fixed at one man in every twenty, but practically all were liable, in one form or another, for military service. The name " hussar " is derived from this custom, " hus " meaning twenty. The thirteenth century also saw a feud with the House of Austria (not the Habsburgs, however, for they had not yet seized the duchy) , which captured some Hungarian provinces, but was compelled to restore them. In the wars with Bohemia, which ended finally in the overthrow of tKe native dynasty of that country, the Hungarians THE STORY OF HUNGARY 41 fought with Austria. At first Bohemia was the victor and the Imperial crown was offered to her king, Ottocar II., but was refused. The confusion in the empire led at last to the election of Rudolf of Habsburg as Emperor, and as Bohemia refused to recognise him or to do homage a combination of her enemies was formed to overthrow her, in which Hungary was included. The death of the grandson of Ottocar in the first year of the fourteenth century almost coincided with that of the last of the Arpads, the ancient native dynasty of Hungary, and thus both kingdoms were obliged to seek a fresh monarch. Pope Boniface VIII., claiming the right because Stephen I. did homage to the Holy See, in 1308 placed Carl Robert of Anjou, nephew of the King of Naples, on the throne of Hungary. Simultaneously the Emperor gave Bohemia to his son; but, just as Bohemia refused to accept this nomination and turned to the House of Luxembourg, so Hungary resisted Carl Robert, although he was a descendant of Stephen V. through his mother. Wences- laus of Poland and Otis of Bavaria were crowned in turns, but at length the House of Anjou succeeded in 13 10, and in 1370 Louis, son of Carl Robert, also became King of Poland. In his reign Hungary became great and power- ful, and was the champion of Christendom against the Turks, the first battle between Magyars and Osmanlis taking place about 1366 on the Danube near the Iron Gates. Louis was also the first Hungarian king to set foot in Italy, where he made a successful expedition, and he annexed Dalmatia and defeated the southern Slavs of Servia and Bosnia. He had no son. His daughter Maria 42 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE succeeded him conjointly with her husband Sigismund, but the latter was not only beaten in battle by the Turks but driven into flight by his own subjects, who tried to set up his wife's brother-in-law, Wladyslas of Poland. Sigis- mund, however, retained his crown, became Emperor in 141 1, and King of Bohemia as well as Hungary in 1419. His death without an heir led once more to wars of suc- cession, which continued round the cradle of his post- humous son, although Albert of Austria, who succeeded him as Emperor and King of Bohemia, claimed the Hungarian throne also, by virtue of his wife's rights, as daughter to Sigismund, and by a treaty of succession with that monarch. When the posthumous son died, a native King once more sat on the throne in the person of Matthias Corvinus, son of John Hunyady, who had been appointed governor while the infant king remained in the hands of the Emperor. The latter vainly opposed the choice of Matthias, for he was a strong king and like his father a great warrior, not only defeating Turks and Bohemians, but marching against the Emperor, Frederick of Austria, and actually seizing Vienna in 1485. At his death the usual predicament occurred, for he left no legiti- mate son, and finally the crown was offered to Wlady- slaw of Poland, who had already accepted that of Bo- hemia ( 1490) . In this reign occurred the terrible peasant insurrection of the Kurucs, which was the ineffectual pro- test of the serfs against the noble class who monopolised all privileges and treated them as slaves. The son of Wladyslaw was Louis, who fell on the field of Mohacs fighting against the Turks, and with him fell THE STORY OF HUNGARY 43 the flower of the Magyar warriors. Ferdinand of Aus- tria (brother to the Emperor Charles V. and co-heir with him to the vast empire of their grandfather Maxi- milian) claimed both Hungary and Bohemia, as the brother-in-law of Louis. We shall see later how he was accepted in Bohemia. In Hungary a large number of the nobles supported him, as they hoped to find protection against the Turks, but another party chose and proclaimed as king John Zapolya (Slavonic by origin, born at Zapolya on the Serbo-Bosnian frontier) , and round these rival claims raged a contest which divided the country for years. John made an alliance with the Turks, the former foes of his country, and acknowledged the suzerainty of the Ottoman Sultan in order to protect himself. Sultan Soliman marched to the gates of Vienna and proved to the unfortunate Hungarians almost as terrible as a friend as if he were a foe. At John's death his infant son was the centre of fresh intrigues and was taken under Turkish " protection," by which means he was deprived of all his territory save Transylvania, where he was given the title of prince. Hungary was divided into three between Zapolya, the Turks, and Austrians, but after a long struggle the last recognised the claims of the two first for a time. The death of young Zapolya without children led to fresh confusion. Transylvania was invaded by the Austrians and the severities practised there led to a gen- eral revolt in which the Magyars of Upper Hungary joined. Once more a national king was proclaimed, and appealed for protection to Turkey, but in 1606 the throne was again vacant, and by this time the intrigues which 44 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE finally superseded the Emperor Rudolf were well ad- vanced, and Matthias, his brother (afterwards his suc- cessor) tried to ingratiate himself with the Magyars by returning them their ancient crown, and promising to respect their rights and privileges. When Ferdinand II. became emperor in 1619, he inherited the crowns of Bo- hemia and Hungary by the will of his uncle Matthias, and he at once endeavoured to conciliate the voievode of Transylvania, Bethlen Gabor, who from his wise and en- lightened rule had become a great influence. The religious intolerance of Ferdinand, which soon became apparent in his ruthless persecutions of the Bohemian Protestants, led Bethlen to declare against him and to join in the final struggle made by Bohemia to regain her independence. Some of the nobles of Hungary elected Bethlen as their king at the same time that the Czechs chose the Elector Palatine, and at the fateful battle of the White Moun- tain, when Bohemian liberty was lost, Bethlen was so reduced that he was obliged to come to terms with Ferdi- nand by renouncing his claim to Hungary and keeping only his original princedom of Transylvania, with certain other towns and duchies. At his death, in 1629, he was succeeded by the famous George Rakoczy, who en- deavoured to strengthen his position by negotiations with France — the hereditary enemy of the Habsburgs — and Sweden, the champion of the Protestants. As a conse- quence he drew upon himself the attention of the Porte. His territories were invaded and he himself killed, and a similar fate overtook his successor (who had made alii- THE STORY OF HUNGARY 45 ance with the Emperor) after which Transylvania had to accept the nominee of the Ottomans, Michael Apafy. The Magyars continued to alternate between struggles for national and religious liberty with Austria and even more desperate struggles with the Turks. The presence of this terrible foe eventually united them with the Im- perial forces, and at the battle of St. Gothard, or Kormend, the Magyars had the honour of sharing in a victory which was the turning point of the Ottoman invasion of central Europe. The Turks, however, re- tained their Hungarian provinces and took several for- tresses. The yoke of Austria proved even heavier than that of the Turk, and in the reign of Leopold I. (1657- 1705) an insurrection broke out, headed by Emerich Tokoly, in which the Turks were again sought as allies against the Austrians. The effort proved abortive and Leopold exacted a terrible vengeance and enacted that the ancient right of election to the monarchy should be entirely abolished, and the crown made hereditary in his own family. The diets, both of Hungary and Bohemia, were terrorised into assent, and having secured, as he thought, their allegiance, the Emperor recommended the Imperial wars against the Turks which gradually rolled them back. The Servians, who were enthralled by Turkey, aided in these wars, and colonies of them were invited to Austrian domains and to Hungary, settling even near Buda. Transylvania was then added to the Austrian crown, and Prince Michael Apafy sent to Vienna, but smouldering 46 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE discontent again flamed into insurrection, which was headed by Francis Rakoczy and spread to Hungary. As this synchronised with the war of the Spanish Succession, the Emperor had his hands full, and France sympathised with Rakoczy, while the Bavarians, as allies of the French, attacked Austria. In 1707 the diet of Hungary, held at Onod, deposed Joseph I. from being King of Hungary, but although Rakoczy was virtually the ruler of the country, they did not offer him the crown, and, with the traditional policy of obtaining outside help, offered it to the Elector of Bavaria, who, however, declined it. The delay gave time for the war of the Spanish Succession to come to an end, and the Imperial forces succeeded in putting down the insurrection. Rakoczy fled to Paris, where he is a familiar and picturesque figure in the memoirs of the time. The Hungarian diet agreed, in 171 1, to a treaty which, while acknowledging Joseph I. as king, granted an amnesty and restored the ancient rights of Hungary, with the exception of the " right of resistance." In the next reign Charles VI. acknowledged the elective rights of the Magyars, although he afterward secured the suc- cession of his house in the person of his daughter by the Pragmatic Sanction. In his reign Prince Eugene of Savoy completed the defeat of the Turks by the taking of Bel- grade, but the Emperor was too much occupied to push the advantage gained, and a later campaign was less suc- cessful. By the Treaty of Belgrade all Servia was ceded to the Porte. With the accession of Maria Theresa came a change in THE STORY OF HUNGARY 47 the relations of the Magyars to their rulers. Bavaria, aided by France, and Prussia, the new military state which was rising into prominence, opposed the accession of Maria and the election of her husband as Emperor. She fled to Pozsony, where she appeared in the diet with her in- fant son in her arms, appealing to the loyalty of her brave Magyars. She addressed them in Latin, not in German, and promised to respect their rights if, in return, they would help her with their swords. The basis of her rela- tions with them was a romantic feeling on their part of personal devotion, which, however, did not prevent them, in their calmer moments, from looking well to their own interests. Largely by their aid Maria Theresa was eventu- ally established firmly on the throne, and her husband became Emperor, and she never forgot her gratitude to her Magyar subjects and spoke of them with her dying breath. The cordial relations established between Maria The- resa and the Magyars was the worst danger to the preservation of their nationality which they had yet en- countered, for her affection for them did not interfere with her desire for centralisation. Maria's influence drew the great nobles to her court at Vienna, where marriages were arranged and friendships formed outside the circle of their own nation. The attractions of the court did not, how- ever, appeal to the smaller nobles, who were, moreover, opposed to Maria's policy in freeing the peasant from serfdom. Another point of dissension between her and the Magyars was the position of the southern Slavs, especially those included in the military frontier. The 48 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE Empress desired to keep them all under the crown. The Magyars would not sanction this, and consequently many of the frontier colonies of Servians emigrated to Russia. Under Maria Theresa the Magyars gradually lost some of their independence. They were deprived of their power of voting certain indirect taxes, and of their independence in finance generally. All budgets had to be presented to a court of accounts in Vienna. They also lost certain po- litical powers which had formerly belonged to the provin- cial diets, but were now vested in a royal lieutenant. The Empress refused to ratify the right of resistance, but in introducing conscription into her dominions she excepted Hungary and the Tyrol. She founded military schools, and took public instruction under State instead of Church control. In 1773 the Jesuits were suppressed in Hungary, as in the rest of Europe, and in the reign of Joseph II. the Church was deprived of many privileges, and a real blow was struck at the power of the hierarchy throughout Aus- tria by the confiscation of the land of foreign bishops. But in his campaign of reform Joseph was not content with curbing the power of the Church; he determined also to undermine that of the nobles of his realm by granting full rights of ownership in the land they cultivated to the peasants of Bohemia, Moravia, Galicia, and Hungary. Although many of his reforms were enlightened and beneficial, the harshness of his rule was unbearable, and the excellence of his intentions did not prevent his schemes from going astray by reason of hasty execution. Fred- erick the Great of Prussia said of him : " Joseph always MAGYAR PEASANT GIRLS IN HOLIDAY DRESS THE STORY OF HUNGARY 49 takes the second step before the first," and it was the fate of this well-intentioned monarch to fail in everything he undertook and to die when all his territories, especially Hungary, were seething with discontent. Joseph never convoked the Diet of Hungary, and would not be crowned with the crowns either of St. Stephen of Hungary or St. Venceslas of Bohemia. He declared that the only business of the Estates was to deliberate on matters presented by the sovereign. The result of this was to begin a genuine nationalist revival among both Magyars and Czechs. Joseph's successor, Leopold (1790- 1792), made con- cessions both to Church and the Magyar and Czech kingdoms, and he carried on the war with Turkey, which was the hope of the enslaved Servians. When he died the new French republic declared war on his successor as King of Hungary and Bohemia (for he had not yet been elected Emperor) , and in the wars that followed Austria Prussia, and the German States combined against the com- mon enemy, and the Hungarians, together with the fron- tier Slavs and Croatian Pandours, distinguished themselves in every battle. Napoleon, after a victorious entry into Vienna, endeavoured by intrigues to seduce the Hun- garians from their allegiance to the house of Habsburg, promising them a national king and full recognition of their independence. The bait was not taken, but the Mag- yars got little reward for their faithfulness to the House of Habsburg. The land was drained to supply soldiers, and fell out of cultivation, and the exchequer was ex- hausted by subsidies. When, after many vicissitudes, Francis was once more firmly seated on the throne, he 50 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE would not convoke the Hungarian Diet until he was forced to do so at last by his failure to levy taxes (1821-25). The selfishness of the aristocracy was now, as ever, the great barrier to national progress; but nevertheless this was a period of a great revival. Szechenyi used Magyar in the debates of the Diet, a National Academy and Theatre were founded, and many works of public benefit were begun throughout the country, while in 1833 the Diet passed enactments ameliorating the condition of the peasants, and in 1 847 the Hungarian nobility — not the magnates or great nobles, but the smaller nobility, who were, and are, the backbone of the country, relinquished their class privileges, thus placing themselves in the fore- front of the liberal movement. The whole of Europe was now seething with the ideas of individual liberty and na- tional independence, and in 1 848 the Magyars were carried away with the wave of revolution and never afterwards, despite temporary checks, abandoned their programme of national development and complete political independence. This date begins a new era, and brings us almost to the period of contemporary history. CHAPTER IV THE STORY OF BOHEMIA The derivation of the name Bohemia has been the sub- ject of more than one legend, but the one most usually accepted relates that a Celtic tribe, driven from Gaul, settled in the mountain-girt land and called it, after their own name, the land of the Boii — Bohemia. The name " Czech " has a similar legendary derivation, and the origin of the earliest national dynasty is also carried back to a mythical period. If an interesting fragment of an early poem (about which there is much controversy) is to be believed, the ancestors of the Czechs were originally a typical Slav people, holding the land on communistic tenure, but eventually deciding, as did the Jews, to choose a leader from their number and to reorganise their society on a monarchical basis. Still in the more or less legendary period of history we find Bohemia forming part of the great Slav confederacy of which Moravia, under Swatopluk, was the head. Against this Slav union was arrayed the great Frankish empire of Charlemagne, and the beginning of a conflict which was to last throughout the whole of the Dark and Middle Ages is found in the resistance of Moravia to the Christianising efforts of Charlemagne and his de- scendants. Charlemagne, we know, regarded himself as the champion and head of Christian Europe, and bishop- 51 52 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE rics were established throughout his wide domains, one of which, the bishopric of Regensburg, included Bohemia. Moravia, in the zenith of its power, defeated Charle- magne, and decided to counteract the Frankish influence by turning to the East for its Christianity. Nothing illustrates more clearly the intimate connection in the Slav mind between religious and national life than this act. The Latin church had its emissaries at the gates of Moravia, but they represented that Teutonic influence which the Slavs, even at this early period, felt to be the most dangerous enemy of their national independence. The result was the mission of Cyril and Methodius, of Thessalonica, to Moravia, where they had at once the greatest success. They came armed with a Slavonic form of the liturgy, some of the books of the Bible and the early Fathers, written in a character easily read by the Slavs, as it was formed from an old Slavonic character combined with Greek. Nothing was more certain to dis- arm Moravian and Bohemian suspicions than the fact that they thus obtained a Slavonic form of worship. The opposition of the Teutonic clergy to this encroach- ment on what they had hoped to secure as their own pre- serves led to more than one visit of the apostles of the Slavs to Rome, but their orthodoxy was completely acknowledged by Pope Adrian II. and Methodius was recognised as Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia. The Slavonic ritual is believed to have spread to Bohemia, 1 but that country remained under the bishopric of Regensburg, *For further account of the history of the Slavonic ritual see Chapter XIII. THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 53 and the use of any but the Latin form was naturally dis- couraged. The dispute between the Latin and Slavonic forms of Christian worship continued to have a semi- political character. The Emperors, desiring especially to Teutonise, were the supporters of the German bishops, while the Pope was by no means averse to retaining the Moravians and their church in friendly relations as a check on the Emperor. The intrusion of a fresh and pagan element, however, broke up these political combinations altogether, and a fresh phase of Slavonic history begins in which Bohemia no longer plays a subservient part. This epoch-making event was the Magyar invasion of the ninth century, which was invoked partly by the Emperor Arnulf, who violated all Christian principles by calling in pagan tribes to fght against Christian Moravia. The Magyars not only came and conquered, but, having colo- nised the fertile central plain, by their eruption they cut the Slav confederacy in two and destroyed forever the chances of a Slav dominion in central Europe. Moravia was utterly crushed, but Bohemia seems to have rather benefited at first by the destruction of her overshadowing neighbour. Already the Bohemians had begun that chain of defi- nite relations which was to connect them with the Empire, and at this period it was obviously essential that they should recognise their former enemies as their only possible protectors against the Magyar tribes. They paid tribute in oxen and silver, an exaction which Henry the Fowler imposed in the time of St. Vaclav in the year 928 A. D. Vaclav was compelled to this submission by the 54 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE invasion of his territory, and his act, which first placed Bohemia under a German yoke, was resented by many of his people. Vaclav had recognised the jurisdiction of the see of Regensburg and this estranged some of the Bo- hemians from Christianity. The piety of Vaclav, and his death at the hands of his brother while hearing mass, have caused him to be canonised as the patron saint of Bohemia. Boleslav the " Terrible " was unable to resist the German arms and also paid tribute, and in the tenth century Bohemia was also torn by conflicts between Chris- tians and pagans, as well as by disputes between her nobles and reigning family. In the eleventh century the period of national greatness for the Czechs may be said to have begun in earnest. Parts of Poland (Silesia) and of Hungary were conquered, and St. Stephen, the first Chris- tian king of Hungary (who is said to owe his conversion to a Bohemian monk) agreed to an arrangement whereby the northern part of Moravia was ceded to Bohemia, and remains a province of the Bohemian crown, while the southern portion was incorporated with Hungary. The Slovaks of northern Hungary, a race akin to the Czechs, and speaking the same language (albeit an archaic and dialectical form of it), are the remains of the Moravian population, which thus passed under the Hungarian crown. The anti-German feeling of the Bohemians was revived at this period by the attempts made by the Teuton Em- perors to limit the expansion and retard the growth of the Bohemian dukedom, and so fierce did the race war become that Duke Sobeslav actually decreed the expulsion of all Germans from his domains. By this time the tributary THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 55 position of Bohemia had been modified, as, by a treaty with Lothair, the latter recognised the right of the Bohemians to make their own elections, which were only to be ratified by the Emperor. Another step forward was the inclusion of their Duke in the elections of the Empire. The reader of the first chapter of this book will remember that the procedure at these elections was not definitely fixed till the thirteenth century, but the position and prerogatives of the elector states were already partially established in the eleventh, and the fact that Duke Bretislav became an elector about 1050 marks a distinct step forward in Bo- hemian evolution. At the end of the eleventh century the strength and importance of Bohemia were recognised more signally. The Duke Vratislav offered his help to the Em- peror Henry IV. in his life and death struggle with Pope Gregory VII., and was rewarded with the title of king, which, however, was not inherited by his successors but fell into abeyance. Nevertheless, Bohemia was partially released from her tributary condition, on condition of find- ing so many soldiers for the Imperial service. The death of Vratislav ushered in a period of disorders and racial strife, which were aggravated by the ambitions of the Emperor, of the House of Saxony, who came to the Imperial throne in 1126. By one of those kaleidoscopic changes in policy of which history has so many examples we next find Bohemia, under a wise and able duke, as the ally and friend of the Empire, helping to elect Frederick Barbarossa to the throne. Vladislav, the duke of the period, was not only a reforming ruler within his own domains but anxious to secure, by participating in Im- $6 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE perial affairs, the greatness of his country from the Euro- pean point of view. His ambition led him to promise Eelp to Barbarossa in his Italian campaigns, a pledge which the Bohemian Estates, standing on their constitu- tional rights, were by no means inclined to fulfil. They at once declared they were not bound to raise soldiers for foreign warfare. Nevertheless Vladislav got his troops and as a reward Frederick bestowed once more the kingly title upon Bohemia, where it became hereditary, not, how- ever, in the reign of Vladislav or his son but in 1212, when it was confirmed in the Premysl dynasty by the Golden Bull then issued. Until the first years of the fourteenth century Bohemia remained under the native dynasty of the Premyslides, and toward the end of the thirteenth century Premysl Ottocar II. became the head of a dominion which recalls the fleeting power of Svatopluk. He was King of Bo- hemia and Moravia, Silesia, and Lusitania, and by con- quest and annexation he ruled for a short time over Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola: that is, almost from the gates of Berlin to the Adriatic. This was the golden period of Czech history, for at no subsequent time did a native king enjoy such power. The process of Germanisation began in Bohemia, even under the native rulers, with the emigration of German colonists to the frontier districts and the settlement of German traders in the towns. These colonists and traders frequently obtained special privileges and were practically autonomous. The Slav races have never been a conspicu- ously town-building people, and the Czechs in Bohemia THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 57 were mainly agriculturists, leaving all trade and commerce to the Germans. A fourteenth century writer comments on the danger of the growing influence of the Germans on the Czech nationality. When the Slav population was reduced to serfdom under the feudal lords foreigners always retained their privileges. Thus the German mu- nicipalities had a free and settled government, and were fostered by the king as helping to check the ambitious nobles, at the same time that the native population was reduced to abject serfdom. Although the Czechs were en- couraged by their national rulers to take part in this municipal life, the jealousy between the two races proved an obstacle. John of Luxembourg succeeded the last of the Premyslide dynasty, having married the princess Eliza- beth (a daughter of the house), whom he treated with great cruelty. He was an insatiable fighter, spending most of his time away from Bohemia engaging in any dispute which was going on. He lost his sight from a wound, and appears in English history as the blind King of Bo- hemia, who was killed at Crecy, in 1346, where he was assisting his friend and relative, Philip of Valois, against the English. His crest of three feathers and his most in- appropriate motto, " Ich dien," familiar to English people as borne by the Prince of Wales, are an inheritance from the Black Prince, the victor of Cregy. The reign of his son, Charles IV., who was elected Emperor in 1347, marks a second golden age for Bo- hemia, and although he was not a Czech he is called the " Father of his people." He was a beneficent monarch, 58 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE beautified Prague, and founded the university there. Moreover, as Charles was Emperor, and as he always regarded Prague as his home, the Bohemian capital be- came also the capital of the Holy Roman Empire and the foremost city of Europe in consequence. By the Golden Bull of 1355 Charles finally settled the constitu- tional position of Bohemia, which was no longer tributary but was one of the electors of the Electoral College of the Empire. It is believed that there was a considerable Bo- hemian literature of this early period, but unfortunately only a few original MSS. have been preserved. In the same Golden Bull, by which Charles established the law of Germany throughout his domains, there is a passage which is interesting in view of the constantly recurring contest between the German and Czech languages. It pro- vides that the families of the King of Bohemia, Count Palatine of the Rhine, and Margrave of Brandenburg, who are bound to speak German from the cradle, must also learn Slav from the age of seven, a provision which illustrates very clearly the extent to which Germany, at this period, was inhabited by Slav peoples, and the tenacity with which they preserved their language. In the next reign began the terrible religious struggles which were almost to destroy Bohemia. It was a period of religious upheaval. The great schism which had rent the Romish Church, and set up a divided Papal authority at Rome and at Avignon, had shaken men's faith in the infallibility of the Church, while the rapacity of the great ecclesiastical lords had sorely tried their patience. John Huss, the national hero of Bohemia (who was influenced THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 59 by the English reformer, Wyckliffe) ' stood for the Czech people, their ancient language and rights, against the ag- gressions of the German lords, spiritual as well as tem- poral. As the result of changes in the constitution of the University of Prague, introduced at the instigation of Huss, the German masters and students left the university in a body and migrated to Leipsic. The Emperor Charles had intended it to be the real intellectual centre of his empire, and five " nations " were represented on its coun- cils. The Czechs, however, were swamped by the German element, and Huss persuaded the king to an alteration which would have secured their supremacy. Until this time Latin had been the written language of Bohemia, the tongue of its schools and of its church services. Huss retired into the country and poured out pamphlets and books in Czech denying the supremacy of the Pope, de- nouncing the sale of indulgences, and endeavouring to stimulate the national pride of the Czechs and to purify their written language by eliminating Latinisms. His death lighted a flame throughout the country, but his followers went much further than he in heresy and eventually split up into many sects, an unfortunate division which has- tened their final overthrow. Before this came, however, the Czechs had become the terror of Europe and the Pope preached a crusade against them. Had not internal jeal- ousies turned them against each other, and had not the stern, but really religious, spirit of their early days been lost in dogmatic hair-splittings and in the lawless habits of freebooters, the Hussites might have successfully founded a new Czech state. As it was, to secure peace, the 60 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE majority of the nobles offered the crown to the Emperor Sigismund (who was, in fact, the legitimate heir) on the condition that their nationality and religion should be respected. It is interesting to note, at this point, an early connec- tion between the two great houses of Hohenzollern and Habsburg. Frederick of Hohenzollern, Burg-graf of Niirnberg, had been the supporter, if not the proposer, of Rudolf of Habsburg for the Imperial crown in 1273. Now the Imperial crown had passed to the house of Lux- embourg — the chief opponents of the Habsburgs — and we find another Frederick of Hohenzollern assisting the Emperor Sigismund in the wars against the Bohemian sect of the Utraquists, and receiving as a reward the mar- graviate of Brandenburg. Strange that the ancestor of the strictly Protestant kings of Prussia should have won his first promotion by fighting for Catholicism against free- dom of conscience ! In the fifteenth century Bohemia again had a national king in the person of the wise and valiant George of Podiebrad, who was the first non-Catholic king in the history of Europe, and the only Protestant king of Bo- hemia. His position was not at first, however, that of a heretic (who at this period of history would have been unrecognised by Pope and Emperor), since he actually undertook at his accession to suppress " heresy," and was so anxious to secure a legal coronation that he borrowed two orthodox bishops from Hungary. The Utraquist church, to which he belonged, did not, in fact, own that it was heretical but claimed to be a return to a purer and THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 61 more primitive form of the Apostolic Church. The Catholic opposition, however, made it difficult for George to retain his position, and, as he had no son, he recom- mended the Bohemian diet to elect as his successor a foreign prince, Vladyslav of Poland. Vladyslav was also elected King of Hungary in 1490, thus uniting the two crowns. His son was that Louis whose death on the fate- ful field of Mohacs, fighting against the Turks, marks such an important era in the history of Austria-Hungary. The House of Habsburg was by this time ruling over nearly all Europe, for the enormous territory of Maxi- milian had just passed to his two grandsons; Charles, the elder and Emperor, taking Spain and the Burgundian lands, and Ferdinand, Germany and the hereditary posses- sions of the Austrian house. Bohemia was, of course, a state of the Empire, and her king had before now been elected Emperor. Now the case was reversed. Ferdinand, afterwards Emperor, claimed by his marriage contract and connection to be heir to the Bohemian crown, and was in fact duly accepted. Although he was known to be a stern and rigid Catholic Bohemia did not fear so much for her religious as for her national privileges and her power over the dependencies, Moravia and Silesia; and her Estates elected Ferdinand as King (1526), thus originating the connection, so long feared and avoided, of the House of Austria with Bohemia. This election, principally secured by the bribery of one of the Influential nobles, was the beginning of a period of conflict between the constitutional rights of the class to which that noble belonged and autoc- racy, in the persons of the Habsburg rulers. 62 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE The religious question has always played so important a part in the history of Bohemia that it cannot be passed over at this point without further explanation. In the latter half of the fifteenth century a religious community was founded which, though for a long time known as the " Bohemian Brotherhood," 2 is now familiar to us as the Moravians, who are specially celebrated for their success in mission work. Originally resembling the Quakers of England and America, this was essentially a humble, peace- ensuing community, and the steadfast fervour of its ad- herents resisted all persecution. Bohemia had become, after the peasant rising in Ger- many, a refuge for the persecuted Anabaptists, and an attempt made to affiliate these militant Christians with the Brotherhood prejudiced Ferdinand against the latter. The beginning of the sixteenth century had seen, in the setting up of printing presses, a powerful aid to the dis- semination of new doctrines, and the successful revolt of Luther against the Papacy and the Confession of Augs- burg encouraged the Bohemian heretics to hope for a surer foundation of their religious privileges. They had to contend, however, not only with the Catholics and the Emperor, but w T ith the Utraquists, the historical descend- ants of the Hussites, who had secured the recognition of their church by the Pope, and were by no means favour- able to the more extreme Protestant sects. Therefore, al- though all the Protestants were unanimous in resisting Ferdinand's attempt to bring uniformity into the Church in his dominions, the Bohemian Brothers were ultimately 2 The Bohemian name was " Unity of the Brethren." THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 63 the scapegoats, and were finally expelled from every part of the kingdom save Moravia. It is interesting to find that the Estates of this ancient and long-subject kingdom retained sufficient independence to protect these perse- cuted Christians and actually to defy the Emperor when he demanded their expulsion from Moravia. The Habsburgs were from the first bigoted opponents of the Reformed religion. Charles V. did not appreciate at the Diet of Worms, in 152 1, either the personal force of Luther or the movement which he represented, still less the extreme heretical sects. In Bohemia, as in the rest of their possessions, the Austrian Habsburgs attempted to suppress Protestantism by persecution, just as the Spanish house tried to stamp it out in the Netherlands. To be " made a Catholic " became a threat of punishment from mother to child. In Bohemia estates were trans- ferred wholesale to a horde of foreigners, while in Styria the entire nobility, excepting seven families, were deprived of their estates. The leading thinkers of the day were driven abroad. The growth of Protestantism in Germany, however, went on by leaps and bounds and reacted on the rest of Europe. The Smallkaldic League of Protestant Princes was founded in 1542, and, although the death of Luther four years later removed a great pillar of the Reformation, the movement continued to spread and, at the death of Ferdinand, his son Maximilian, who suc- ceeded him, was more tolerant to Protestantism and espe- cially to the doctrines of Luther. The religious question in Bohemia was, however, by no means settled. The Bohemians wanted a national church 64 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE as a rallying point, for they resented the Germanising influences of the Lutherans. Ferdinand had succeeded in gaining from the Pope concessions to the Utraquists, which, as mentioned already, gained them a position as a recognised church. But from this time onward Utraquism, divorced from the sentiment of national and religious independence, ceased to be a force in Bohemian history. For a time it retained its own consistory, but its members were gradually absorbed either by the Catholic or Protestant communities. The Bohemian brothers were rent by dissensions which impaired their influence as a national party. Meanwhile a powerful organisation had been for some little time at work in Bohemia — the newly founded Jesuit order — and in the period of peace from internal wars and consequently of development, which followed the accession of the House of Habsburg to the Bohemian throne, the Jesuits became extremely influential through their traditional policy of educating children and arranging marriages for their pupils. In the last quarter of the sixteenth century a fresh campaign of persecution began against the Bohemian Brothers, whose quondam protectors, some of the Bohemian nobles, were turned against them by Jesuit influences. The opposition of the Moravian Estates was the only check to this movement, although it had no very strong support from Rudolf, the son of Maximilian. The lack of a rallying point for re- ligious and national feeling, together with the influence of the Jesuits, combined at this period to undermine the national sentiment of the Czechs. With the decline and death of Rudolf came the be- THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 65 ginning of the last struggle for Bohemian independence, provoked largely by his growing encroachments on national privileges. At first the struggle took the form of intrigues to supplant him by his brother Matthias, but out of the tangled web one line gradually disengaged itself — the possibility of freeing the country forever from the tyranny of the Habsburgs, — and in this movement the aid of Bethlen Gabor, prince of Transylvania, who was chosen by some Magyar nobles to be prince of Hungary, was a stimulating factor. The Elector Palatine, whose wife was a daughter of James I. of England, became King of Bohemia — the Winter King — in 16 19, after the solemn deposition of Ferdinand II., who had succeeded Mat- thias both as king and Emperor. The Bohemian revolt was, however, predestined to failure. In the first place it had no real support from the mass of the people, who had been reduced from the condition of a free peasantry to that of serfdom during the feudal period. This process, which reduced the free communistic Slav to the level of a chattel of his lord, so that he could be sold (and was) with land or fish ponds, began as early as the time of Boleslav the Cruel, when that duke replaced the judges of the " Zupa," or village councils, with his own nominees, who were able to sell their offices or make them heredi- tary. The result was to form a class of official nobles, who oppressed the people and with the money obtained bought up their land, while at the same time the growth of feudal- ism throughout Europe, and the number of small wars in which prisoners were often sold, completed the work of enslavement. The profession of arms was now confined 66 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE to the paid soldiers, who became, under the feudal lords instruments of oppression to the helpless serfs. In the fourteenth century, under the beneficent rule of Charles IV., some improvement was effected in the position of the people, but the religious wars of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries undid this good and reduced the peasants to misery. Naturally these serfs did not see any prospect of gain in supporting the nobles in a fresh war. They might, perhaps, have joined in the revolt if their demands had been listened to, but they had been to a great extent re- leased from the fear of religious persecution by concessions made by the Emperor, and felt nothing but horror at the prospect of a war which would bring them no benefits in the shape of political and social rights. Then there was the lack of a really strong leader, for the Elector was singularly unfitted for the post, while the fatal mis- take which the Bohemians constantly made of intriguing with German states (whose loyalty to the Emperor was a matter of convenience) was also against the success of the revolt. At the battle of the White Mountain (November 8, 1620), the Imperial troops put the Protes- tant army to flight, the chest containing all the charters of Bohemian privileges was sent to Ferdinand at Vienna, and in the following year the Bohemian leaders were executed, the constitution was suppressed, a,nd the landed property confiscated and apportioned to foreigners — Germans, Italians, French, and Spaniards. The univer- sity became a Jesuit college and German replaced Latin as the literary and official language. From this time till early in the nineteenth century — nearly two centuries — Bo- A BOHEMIAN CASTLE STREET IN TABOR, BOHEMIA THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 67 hernia was in a state of lethargy, and it was not until after 1 8 1 5 that the national movement recommenced in earnest. Ferdinand and his successors ruled Bohemia with iron despotism. Moreover, in the heart of that kingdom was a disintegrating force in the German settlements and colonies which represented the prosperous commercial life of the country. The really national industry of mining which was the mainstay of the country and at its centre (Kutna Hora) enthusiastically Protestant, was entirely wiped out by Ferdinand's persecutions. The Protestant nobles specially fell under the ban, and Protestants of any rank were driven abroad while their places were filled with German Catholics, and under the influence of these new masters the people began to forget their national lan- guage and traditions. In the course of the Thirty Years' War, it is true, the victories of Gustavus Adolphus led to the partial return of the Protestant nobles; but the suffer- ings of Bohemia, which was one of the principal battle- grounds, and particularly of Prague, which was occupied more than once by each army in turn and sacked of its artistic treasures, more than counterbalanced, from the point of view of national progress, the benefits of the Protestant victories. When Charles VI., who succeeded Ferdinand, was bent on securing the succession of his daughter to all his do- minions he convoked the Bohemian Estates to obtain their adherence to the Pragmatic Sanction. This was granted after deliberations lasting about a year, but the Estates, while confirming the hereditary succession of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, reserved their right to choose for 68 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE themselves should that dynasty fail. Taken in conjunction with various laws and enactments, in which the Habs- burgs recognised the elective powers of the Bohemian Estates, this act forms a strong link in the chain of evi- dence on which the Czechs base their " historic rights." Maria Theresa was actually crowned at Prague, and the Czechs have never abandoned their contention that this is juridically essential, since they contend that their country belongs to the Habsburgs, not by conquest but with the consent of their Estates and people. The succession of Maria Theresa, in 1740, saw un- happy Bohemia invaded by the Bavarians and Prus- sians before it was finally secured again to the House of Habsburg, and in the settlement part of Silesia remained in the hands of Prussia, being lost to the Bohemian crown. Maria Theresa, though a wise ruler, was a stern mistress to the Czechs, but she sanctioned an important reform for one section of them, the peasants, who by her efforts were released from their condition of serfdom. After being crowned at Prague, she took the national crown to Vienna, deprived the Estates of the control, hitherto exercised, of the money they contributed toward the Imperial army, arranged that appeals should go to the High Court of Vienna, and that the Chancery of Prague should be absorbed in that of the Imperial Court. A more benefi- cent measure was the modification of the old criminal law, which was made uniform with that of the rest of the Aus- trian dominions, while schools were founded in which, how- ever, the language taught was to be German, not Czech. Maria Theresa's son Joseph was not a bigoted Catholic, THE STORY OF BOHEMIA 69 but he resented the refusal of his Protestant subjects to conform to either one or the other of the confessions of faith recognised by the great Protestant sects. As the Bohemians had always desired religious independence and a national church, they were not prepared to accept any confession of German origin. Joseph also attempted in- ternal reforms which were not acceptable to the Czechs, and in his desire to form a strong centralised state he adopted a general policy of denationalisation and the restriction of all rights and liberties which might tend to foster a national feeling. At the same time the suppression of the Jesuits removed one of the most insidious of the forces at work within the Czech nation, and a genuine revival began slowly but surely to awaken under the stimulating force of so much opposition. It was at first purely literary. In 1793 a Chair of Czech was established at Prague University, and in 18 16 the National Museum was founded at Prague for the collection of all kinds of Bohemian antiquities. Immediately began a controversy over ancient manu- scripts and relics in which the champions of national greatness combated the assertions of German critics, who would not allow that the Czechs could have possessed any civilisation which had not come from German sources. A great stimulus to all the branches of the Slav race was given, in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, by the heroic struggle in which the Servians and Bul- garians threw off the Ottoman yoke. Then the Greeks began to dream of a similar exploit, but were roughly checked by Austria, who used all her influence to prevent 70 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE Russia from going to war with Turkey and so helping the Balkan states to liberty. Her narrow, conservative attitude was as significant of her position toward the Slavs as was the attempt to repress the growth of liberalism and na- tionalism in the German states of her real place in modern Europe. Another stimulus was given to the southern Slavs — the Slovenes, Croatians, and Dalmatians — and in- directly to the Czechs, by the French occupation, during the Napoleonic period, of what was called Illyria — the Adriatic provinces. Under French influence there was a revival in literature and art which afforded genuine sup- port to the renascent sentiment of Slav patriotism. From that time until 1848 the national spirit of the Slav peoples, and particularly of the Czechs, grew daily stronger, strengthened continually by the researches of antiquarians who found many traces of the ancient Bo- hemian civilisation and the literary and artistic achieve- ments of the Slavs, while the studies of their historians confirmed them in their pride in their national and historic greatness. CHAPTER Vi THE HOUSE OF HABSBURG AND MODERN EUROPE The Treaty of Vienna, in 1815, and the Holy Alliance, whereby Austria, Russia, and Prussia combined to secure (inter alia) "religion, peace, and justice," ushered in a period in which the forces of individualism and the demands of long-crushed peoples for political rights were struggling to the surface throughout Europe, despite the attempts to keep them down. Austria was the most reac- tionary force. The House of Habsburg, with Metternich as its adviser, believed the whole monarchical system, and more especially its own safety, to depend on main- taining the status quo throughout Europe; by preserving the conservative forces against anarchy, and preventing the rise of new nationalities or groupings. The great aim was to revive once more the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages with its wide sway, its feudal organisation, and the House of Habsburg as the cornerstone. That the conception was entirely out of date did not prevent it being seriously pursued, and the policy of repression found its vent in an inquisitorial secret police system, in the sup- pression of the press, and in other measures which are best described as " sitting on the safety valve." In Naples and Piedmont Austrian troops helped to quell popular risings, and Austria was the only power which refused to 71 72 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE recognise the independence of Greece in 1829. At this period the Austrian " Empire " comprised the provinces hereditary in the House of Habsburg, ten in number, now known as Upper and Lower Austria; the kingdom of Bohemia, with its dependency, Moravia; Galicia and Bukowina; the Venetian provinces of north Italy which, with Mantua and Milan, were later erected into the kingdom of Lombardy and Venice; while the kingdom of Hungary comprised the principality of Transylvania and the old kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia. The House of Austro-Este also reigned in Modena, and the duchy of Parma had been given to the Archduchess Maria Louisa (wife of Napoleon), while Tuscany had an Aus- trian archduke. It will be seen, therefore, that the pos- ition of Francis I. was as important as that of his pred- ecessors; while, dominating Italy, by the preponderance of Austro-German states in the Germanic confederation, he had secured the hegemony of Germany. There was never any attempt on the part of the Habs- burgs to accommodate their rule to the ideas of their various subjects; on the contrary their one historical am- bition was to press all and sundry into the same mould and unify them by force. The " Germanisation," which was their policy toward Slav, Magyar, and Italian alike, was not an attempt to introduce the features which we associate with modern Germany, for the liberalism and patriotism of that country as we know it to-day were the objects of equally severe repression. In 1 8 15 the first mutterings of the storm led to a hasty concession to German national feeling in the formation Hovse of HabsLurg //// 1509-12 I.cn f Uud* -wet trv„, Q^n^ai Tkelmpire of Napoleon i8o9-i8±2 ^ Confederation of RW dffi) Hovse of Hatsturg THE HABSBURGS AND EUROPE 73 of a national German Diet, which was expected to usher in a period of reform. Austria, however, sat like a heavy weight on all popular tendencies, and it was not until 1832 that the growing liberalism began to make itself heard. Among the members of the Hungarian Diet of that year were Louis Batthyanyi, Francis Deak, and Louis Kossuth, and Hungary was strong enough to secure, be- tween 1839-43, really important concessions, while Kos- suth's paper, the Pesti Hirlap, taught the people their rights. Bohemia, at this time, cherished the hope that by the unification of Germany, in which the Czech state would be one of the strong factors, she might secure her own integrity and independence. The Czech historian Palacky declared that the preservation of Austria was a necessity for Europe and his own people. All this time the nationalist revivals among the Mag- yars and Czechs had continued to gather force, while Italy groaned under the Austrian tyranny. The downfall of Louis Philippe, in February, 1848, gave the signal for revolution all over central Europe. In March there was an insurrection in Milan, and Venice rose tp expel the Austrian. Then a Czech insurrection broke out in Prague, and a revolutionary government was formed there. The court fled from Vienna, where the students of the univer- sity joined with the revolutionary forces. The flames spread to the German states, the King of Bavaria was forced to abdicate in favour of his son, and government after government was obliged in panic fear to accede to the demands for popular representation and reforms. Metternich, who fought to the last for autocracy, fell for- 74 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE ever and was a fugitive. The attempt to satisfy popular claims by appointing a " national " government, of which the Archduke John of Austria was elected president, proved in the long run quite futile, but meanwhile Austria, with remarkable vitality, weathered the storm. Austrian troops under Radetzky were victorious in Italy, and the principle of divide et impera proved successful nearer home. Hungary did not look on unmoved at this upheaval, and began to press for independence. The Croatians, who had been inclined at first to join in the revolt, were detached from the general movement by their antipathy to the Hungarians, whose dependents they were. Vienna was still in a state of revolution and the Emperor was at Innsbruck. Encouraged by his unexpected success in Italy, Ferdinand I. decided to make war on Hungary despite his previous promises and concessions to the Magyars. Vienna at once revolted against this decision, many of the troops joined the insurgents, and Latour, the war minister, was literally torn to pieces by the infuriated mob. The Hungarians, who had refused to join in the Italian cam- paign and murdered Count Lamberg, who was sent as viceroy to Buda, then formed a committee of national defence under Kossuth. War was now inevitable but, although at first the Magyars were successful, they were eventually overcome by a powerful combination of Rus- sian, Austrian, and Croatian forces in August, 1849. In 1848 Ferdinand abdicated his throne in favour of his nephew, Francis Joseph, who at the early age of nine- teen succeeded to an empire which at the moment of his eripnan confe ^ercian eonfed Red lir^e Austrian empire RWu' mpire Black lirva Prussia r '11 *t i tt Ho ^e of Habsburg ^-oUa-terai Hov^e>s * THE HABSBURGS AND EUROPE 75 accession was in flames from one end to another, while his capital was under revolutionary influence. In a compara- tively short time, however, the flames were stamped out. General Heynau conducted sanguinary reprisals in Hun- gary, and, peace restored, the young monarch directed his attention to the consolidation of his power. Ten years of reaction followed. Francis Joseph has always been a humane and tolerant monarch, but behind him was the implacable figure of his mother, the Arch- duchess Sophia, whose one aim was the preservation of the House of Habsburg. The Catholic church lent its powerful support to the family, which was now the only reigning house of Europe faithful to her and the chief barrier against the rising tide of nationalism in Italy. In 1849 tne Austrian prelates protested against all national movements as " a remnant of paganism." Difference of language was " the consequence of sin and the fall of man." In return the Austrian concordat of 1855 con- ferred increased power on the Church, giving her un- limited control over all ecclesiastical and educational matters. For a time political life was entirely at a stand- still and absolutism reigned in Church and State. The condition of the finances remained chaotic, and the deficit was piled up until, in 1859, it amounted to 280,000,000 florins. The Germanisation of the Slavs and Magyars was car- ried on through a ruthless bureaucracy, and the people who had helped to preserve the dynasty — the Croats — were no better off than those who tried to destroy it. Hungary was deprived of the last vestige of self-govern- 76 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE ment, and a general state of siege was maintained, which was only ended ultimately by an amnesty in 1857. Tran- sylvania was placed directly under the Austrian crown and the three alien races in Hungary — the Roumanians, Ser- vians, and Germans — were each to become autonomous. Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia (the old Hungarian sea- board) were formed into a state dependent directly on Austria, and a similar policy was followed with regard to Bohemia and Galicia. Trial by jury and right to public trial were suppressed; the election of municipal bodies was suspended; the equality of the German, Czech, and Mag- yar languages in schools ceased; the Austrian police interfered even in the courts ; liberty of the press was still further curtailed, and papers were no longer allowed to be published in either the Czech or Magyar languages. The treatment of the Italian possessions and Galicia was equally drastic and absolute. On the German stage Austria was occupied with a struggle to maintain her supremacy over the states. The constitutions granted by the various governments were gradually, owing to Austrian influence, revoked or an- nulled, and though the states increased in material pros- perity, and were allowed freedom of discussion in the press, the people were still under a more or less paternal despotism and had no genuine political rights. Prussia, whence deliverance was to come, had been obliged to give way before Austria at Olmiitz, in 1850, and was engaged for some years in internal struggles for constitutional rights, suffering an eclipse of the prestige she had formerly enjoyed, until, in 1861, the accession of William I. and the THE HABSBURGS AND EUROPE 77 growing power of Bismarck ushered in a period of victor- ious militarism. During the Crimean War (1854-56) Austria was in a difficult position, for, while she owed her preservation in 1849 largely to Russia, she was by no means desirous that Russian influence should increase in the Balkans. She remained neutral, but her influence was anti-Russian and led to the famous remark of Schwarzenberg — " Austria's ingratitude will astonish the world." Meanwhile affairs in Italy were becoming critical. In 1848 Pope Pius IX. (although a staunch friend of the House of Habsburg) had declared himself on the side of constitutional liberties, with the result that, as his sub- jects went further than he was prepared for, he had to fly to Naples in the disguise of a footman, and was only restored to his capital by an army of the French Republic. From that time Rome was held for him by a French gar- rison. In the meantime Sardinia began to assume in Italy the place of Prussia in Germany, and in the Treaty of Paris, in 1856, Cavour, the Sardinian Bismarck, raised the question of Italy in an unexpected manner. Austria and Sardinia were soon in collision; Napoleon III., in- variably hostile to the former, agreed to support Victor Emmanuel, and in the war of 1859 the Austrian troops were defeated at Magenta and Solferino and expelled from Lombardy, only Venice remaining to them. Cen- tral Italy, encouraged by these events, expelled its Habsburg rulers from Tuscany and Modena, and al- though the Pope, with an army of French mercenaries, endeavoured to hold his own he lost all his territory be- 78 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE yond the Apennines. Sicily revolted against Naples, and the forces of Garibaldi, joined by those of Sardinia, were finally victorious before Gaeta, where the fugitive king of Naples surrendered, and, the Neapolitans having voted for annexation to Piedmont, Victor Emmanuel took the title of King of Italy (1861). It is unnecessary to follow the events in Italy closely. The Garibaldian revolt against the Pope and the part played by France in supporting Victor Emmanuel against the popular party in Italy, whose national enthusiasm threatened to draw down the intervention of Catholic Europe — this phase with all its complications ended in 1870, when, with the absorption of France in her own affairs, Victor Emmanuel was able to secure his own position and make Rome the capital of his kingdom. Henceforth the Popes were rulers only within the precincts of the Vatican. Thus finally ended the age-long struggle of the Popes to secure to themselves a temporal as well as a spiritual empire. Before this final debacle, however, the Austrians had lost almost the last remnants of their Italian possessions in the campaign of 1866 when, despite the defeat of Victor Emmanuel at Custozza and at Lissa, they were obliged to abandon Venetia on account of the critical position at home and pressure brought to bear by Prussia. The disasters in Italy in 1859 were a crushing blow to the absolutist government at Vienna, and, combined with the pressing financial needs of the Habsburgs, led to the inauguration of a constitutional system; but before this could be established a fierce conflict raged between the supporters of various forms of government, and this con- THE HABSBURGS AND EUROPE 79 flict has continued in modified forms ever since. There was one party strongly in favour of centralisation, this meaning government by the Crown and central adminis- tration in Vienna. The upholders of this view were chiefly the German middle class, who desired a strong central regime for liberal reforms and for protection against the clericals. They were joined by the representatives of the little nations — the Serbs, Poles, and the Saxons in Transylvania — who wanted a strong central protection from their neighbours. The federalist party, on the con- trary, was composed of peoples who claimed historic rights and continued to hope for independent national governments under a federal bond. They were the Czechs, Croats, Slovenes, and (in i860) the Italians of Venetia and Dalmatia. As the aristocratic form of society still prevailed, these peoples were represented by their nobility and clergy, and besides agitating for national rights they desired a return to the old aristocratic regime and were by no means in sympathy with the liberal views of the day. In the German provinces also these adherents of the old regime had supporters among the nobility and hierarchy, for already, it must be noted, the political cleavage was not solely on race lines. The federalists had a majority in i860 and promulgated a constitution which estab- lished the " fundamental law," recognised historic rights, and established an Imperial Council for financial and other legislative purposes. The Hungarians, restored to their ancient constitu- tional rights, promptly declared all acts done by the Gov- ernment without their consent since 1848 as null and void. / 80 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE They went back to their constitution of that date, and an impasse was created by their refusing to pay taxes not voted by their own Diet. Their contumacy was rewarded, for in 1 86 1 the Emperor, largely influenced by the finan- cial situation, which was desperate, adopted the advice of the minority and promulgated a fresh constitution. The outward form of this was calculated to satisfy the demands of the small but aspiring " nations," since they were to keep their own diets, which were to choose repre- sentatives to sit in what was called the Reichsrath, which comprised two chambers. The Emperor had the right to choose his own ministers and the upper house of the Reichsrath, appointing the latter from great landowners and thus retaining control of the government. The crux of the matter lay, however, in the clever manipulation of the electoral power. There is no manhood suffrage in Austria-Hungary; on the contrary an elaborate sliding scale of electoral qualifications. By the constitution of 1 86 1 there were three bodies of electors — large land- owners, townsmen, and rural voters — and the first class secured a strong predominance. Nevertheless, the aristo- cratic party was displeased because of the provision of a council, common to the whole empire, to which they were to be subject, and by refusing to send members to this Reichsrath they attempted to break up the government. The theory of federal government was officially recog- nised, but the Austro-German bureaucracy retained all the strings of administration. In 1863 the demands of the German states led to an attempt to improve the cumbrous machinery of the Ger- THE HABSBURGS AND EUROPE 81 manic Diet by a congress of princes at Frankfort (where Prussia, however, was not represented) which was of no practical utility. The Diet had become useless and powerless, and was the laughing stock of Europe for its antiquated procedure and tortuous methods. The rivalry between Austria and Prussia came to an issue in 1864 after the Schleswig-Holstein war, the victors disputing over the spoil. Prussia eventually declared war and de- feated Austria at Sadowa (1866), the result being the entire break up of the Germanic confederation. Some of the middle states which had supported Austria were occupied by Prussia, and a new North German Federation was formed, having military alliances with other of the German states. In 1863 Polish affairs came to the front by reason of an insurrection in Russian Poland. Prussia concluded a military convention with Russia against the Poles, while Austria intrigued with both. Napoleon III., whose differ- ences with Prussia were rapidly leading up to a critical stage, was rendered uneasy by the growing influence of the house of Hohenzollern. In 1866 a prince of this house was elected to the throne of the Danubian princi- palities, and in 1870 another was candidate for the throne of Spain. Another significant incident was the dispute over the Luxembourg question in 1867. Napoleon en- deavoured, therefore, to cultivate relations with Austria, and with this end supported the Poles against Russia. The position of the Habsburgs at this period was far from satisfactory. They were now shut out from Ger- many and Italy; on the east was the menace of Russia and 82 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE the Balkan states, while in the heart of the monarchy was the canker of the rising nationalities of Magyars and Czechs. Their army and finances were both in a ruined condition. Hungary was hostile during the 1866 war with Prussia and was only prevented by the speedy termination of the campaign from giving practical support to Prussia, while Bohemia, invaded by Prussia, was disturbed and disaffected. It became evident that the non-compromising attitude of the Habsburg dynasty was no longer tenable, and in this emergency Beust, a Saxon statesman who had opposed Bismarck in his policy of uniting the German states under Prussian hegemony, was called in (in his own words) " to wash up the dirty linen." The vigour Beust had shewn in Saxony, in opposing not only Bismarck but the growing liberalism and op- position to government, had gained him the reputation of a reactionary in Germany, but from an Austrian stand- point his policy was almost liberal. Looking round on the Austrian dominions he saw no chance of retaining them under the Habsburg dynasty except by securing the loyalty of the strongest of the different sections. This he be- lieved to be Hungary, which, despite every effort at repression, was a homogeneous and distinct nationality, and so far from being Germanised was engaged in Mag- yarising her subjects, Germans, Croats, or Serbs. On the other hand, the Emperor was entirely dissatisfied with the working of the 1861 constitution and with the Reichs- rath, which, instead of trying to bolster up his finances, only demanded accounts. He therefore decided to sus- THE HABSBURGS AND EUROPE 83 pend the constitution, dismiss the Reichsrath, and to re- turn to the tradition of dualism. Beust advised his master to accede to the demands formulated by Deak, and in 1867 the political independence of Hungary was estab- lished, and the emperor was crowned at Buda-Pest as a constitutional Hungarian monarch. The Ansgleich was thus an accomplished fact, and the duality of the mon- archy, which is a fundamental principle in Austria-Hun- gary, dates from this time. The actual organisation which thus came into being must be described later, but before actually taking up the subject of the monarchy as it exists to-day we must see how other parts of it fared in this period of reconstruction. The Slavs, particularly the Croats, helped to save the dynasty in 1848, and their reward had been a harsh measure of national repression. The Czechs had hoped to secure for the lands of St. Venceslav the same privileges that were assured to those of St. Stephen, but even in the limits of this slight sketch of the historical evolution of the Habsburg empire it must have become apparent that the Slav element was the one most distrusted by the Austrians. The rise of Russia, a great Slav power, was a strong influence in this, for the idea of pan-Slavism, which found expression as early as the seventeenth cen- tury, was a menace to German and Austrian supremacy in central Europe. Moreover, Servia, renascent, hung on the Austrian frontiers and cast longing eyes toward her lost provinces. As regards the southern Slavs, Beust was anxious to limit Austrian responsibilities as far as pos- sible, and Croatia was accordingly handed back to Hun- V\ 84 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE gary, the understanding being that each partner in the dual monarchy was to look after its own " hordes." The Croats obtained a certain degree of autonomy in 1868, after a severe struggle, but the Servians and Roumanians of Hungary lost their national identity, though they could not lose their race feeling, and have been ever since sub- jected to a steady process of Magyarisation. The Czechs protested strongly against the Ausgleich, in which they had no part. They were not consulted, nor called to the Diets, but were merely invited to send depu- ties to a Reichsrath in Vienna. The Czechs of Bohemia and Moravia and the Slovenes of Carniola refused to attend, but the Poles, who had no " historic rights " but wanted command over the Ruthenians, struck a bargain with Beust, who wanted their votes. They saw that their countrymen in both Russia and Prussia were far from happy, and they were contented to secure a special Gali- cian minister, a separate education board, and the use of Polish in secondary schools, law courts, and public offices. The discontent of the Czechs at last led to a revolt, and in 1868-69 Prague was in a state of siege. Beust en- deavoured to placate them with promises of reform and liberal measures, which he was not able to carry into effect. If his law of 1867 had been honestly carried through it would have secured much for which the Czechs contended — the rights of all citizens before the law, the inviolability of the domicile, the right of association, free- dom of conscience, equality of races, inviolability of na- tionality and language, and equality of the latter in THE HABSBURGS AND EUROPE 85 administration, schools, and public life. These provisions, however, were not loyally observed. When the Liberal constitution of 1867 was promulgated it still preserved the old electoral system, for the abstract right of suffrage was not yet recognised and was regarded, even by some Liberals, as revolutionary. There were now four classes of electors — great landowners, chambers of commerce, cities, and rural districts. Each voted sep- arately and elected its own deputies, and the vote was most unevenly distributed, the principle of " one vote one value " being entirely disallowed, as, for instance, in the chambers of commerce, where the number of voters was extremely small in relation to the representation. This unequal system ensured a German majority, even in the Slav countries, as the larger number of the great land- owners, merchants, and manufacturers were either Ger man or Germanised, and the native population was strong only in rural districts. The German majorities in the local diets ensured a German majority in the Reichsrath, and this continued even in Bohemia until, in 1879, the Czechs were strong enough to get a majority in the elec- tion. The language question, which could not be simply settled by the declaration of equal rights made in 1867, continued to afford a field of conflict in which the princi- pal points of attack were the mixed primary schools, sec- ondary and higher education, and administrative posts. By slow but sure degrees the tide has been turned against the German language, and thanks to the national patriot- ^ ism of the Czechs, their tongue has gained ground steadily. ■j/ V / 86 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE The other great political question concerned the rights of the Catholic church, and in this matter race division was, and is, less marked. In 1868 German liberalism abrogated the concordat and inaugurated a new period of liberty. Education was freed from the Church, marriage made civil, press laws were relaxed. At the same time the Prussian military organisation was introduced. From 1866 to 1870 there had been passages of arms between Austria and Prussia regarding the south German states, followed by close friendship of the former with France, and meetings between the two emperors (Francis and Napoleon) at Salzsburg and Paris, in 1867 and 1869. How far Beust's policy was dictated by a desire for re- venge is doubtful, but there can be no question that the hope of replacing Prussia by Austria in the German hege- mony largely dictated his movements, and a plan was negotiated by which Austria, France, and Italy were to combine. In 1870 a formal alliance with France was actu- ally discussed, but the project fell through, and Bismarck, being perfectly aware of the alliance which was brewing, determined on war before Austria should be in a position to give substantial aid to France. The rapidity of the war and the complete success of Prussia had the desired effect of paralysing Austria. Beust was obliged to retire in 1 87 1, and Count Andrassy became prime minister. Mean- while the war with France had drawn all the German states together, and in the coronation of a Hohenzollern king as German Emperor at Versailles vanished the last hope of the Habsburgs of regaining their position in Ger- many. Germany, at the same time, disclaimed all inten- THE HABSBURGS AND EUROPE 87 tion of dismembering Austria, and relations became closer and closer until, in 1872, Francis Joseph visited Berlin and St. Petersburg, and the three empires were for six years united in bonds of peace and friendship. The Franco-German war roused very mixed feelings among the varied subjects of Austria. The Germans ex- ulted in German victories over the quondam friend of their emperor, and many Hungarians rejoiced because they be- lieved that Germany Victrix would absorb the German provinces of Austria and leave the Magyars entirely free to realise their ambitions, including the domination of those Slav countries which Hungary in her palmiest days had conquered. Conciliation being necessary Hohenwart was called in, as he was believed to be popular because he had favoured a federalist policy. He at once attempted to mollify the Czechs, and so offended the Germans of Bohemia, and even those outside the Empire, and the expression was heard, " Are the victors of Sedan to become the helots of the Czechs?" Hohenwart, however, persevered, and the Emperor at length consented to acknowledge the " rights of the kingdom of Bohemia " and to be crowned at Prague, which had not seen this ceremony since the time of Leopold II. in 1791. The opposition to these measures, which was made by both German and Magyar sections of the population, proved too strong, and the Emperor evaded his engagements and replaced Hohenwart, at the same time that Beust was succeeded by Andrassy. The Slavs were now persecuted with fresh vigour. The press was put down, the Imperial Manifesto promising rights 88 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE was destroyed by the police, Bohemian and other local assemblies were dissolved, and a new Reichsrath was sum- moned at which no federalists appeared. Amid these trials the Czech national feeling rose tri- umphant and could not, eventually, be denied. Ten years after the Franco-German war, Bohemia, with the aid of Count Taaffe, who wished to conciliate her, was once more given equality of language in the schools, adminis- tration, and courts. A national university and a national theatre were founded at Prague, the latter by national subscription and by the aid of peasants, who, too poor to give money, carted the material and contributed their labour. We must, however, describe the Czech re- vival at more length in a subsequent chapter. With regard to the Eastern question, Austria's attitude throughout the whole of the nineteenth century was one of uncertainty. She was opposed to the progress of Rus- sia, but her position as a Christian state made it difficult for her to stand aside when her fellow Christians were trying to throw off the yoke of Turkey. Her attitude toward the Balkan states, therefore, was not calculated to win their confidence. The occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was sanctioned by the Treaty of Berlin (1878) was par- ticularly crushing to the patriotic hopes of Servia and Montenegro, since it successfully divided them, and in Novibazar (the district between the two countries) it placed Austria garrisons within Turkish territory at a most important strategic point. Montenegro was shut off from the coveted seaport Cattaro, which had been in The Dual Monarchy 19 oe «• [Longitude West from Greenwich Austria [ I _T Austria 1 ) Kingdom oi Mungrarx 1 i 1 i I Dual iVlorLarclxy', Llack line. German. Rmpire, red line. THE HABSBURGS AND EUROPE 89 the hand of Austria since 18 14. This occupation of terri- tory on their southern border was not favourably viewed by Hungary, who feared Austrianising influences on the Serbo-Croats and was, moreover, opposed to any coercion of Turkey, with whom, since the days of Mohacs, she had frequently made alliances and had rapprochements. The kinship between Magyar and Turk is, in fact, more than once apparent in friendly relations between the two peoples, who at other times were in deadly conflict. As a return for abstention in this matter of the Turkish provinces, Hungary obtained a much freer hand in her policy of Magyarisation and also concessions as to her language and national rights. The advantage gained by Austria in the occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina was more doubtful. Austria-Hungary was plunged into an expen- sive war with the Mohammedan inhabitants, and it is cer- tain that Bismarck's chief reason for the concession was to turn the energies of Austria eastward and to keep her and Russia embroiled in the Balkan states. In 1879 Bismarck and Andrassy (the latter always amenable to influence from Berlin) concluded an alliance for action in case of an attack on Austria-Hungary by Russia, or on Germany by France and Russia. This was strengthened in 1883 by the inclusion of Italy, who had become nervous owing to French activity in the Mediter- ranean. This " Triple Alliance " has never been dissolved, although it has gone through various vicissitudes and modifications. After 1880 better relations were estab- lished between Austria and Russia, although in 1885 the Bulgarian question brought the two powers into active go THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE opposition. In 1886-7 Russian troops were actually massed on the frontier, but the danger was averted by the renewal of the Triple Alliance and by German intervention. The Habsburg dynasty is no longer engaged in foreign intrigues, except in the Balkan States and in European Turkey, where they struggle continually to maintain their influence against that of Russia. Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands are definitely lost to them, but they remain at the head of a powerful state, and their ancient House, the oldest in Europe, may yet continue to play a prominent part in world affairs. The present crisis in its history seems a grave one, but this brief resume will show that they have passed through even darker periods. Whether the proverbial luck which has attended the Habsburgs in political life will continue to come to their rescue it is im- possible to say, but it seems likely that the descendants of Francis Joseph must develop more statesmanship than most of his ancestors possessed, if they are to retain their position under modern conditions. CHAPTER VI THE AUSTRIANS An Austrian lady once told the writer (with some indig- nation at the ignorance displayed) that an Englishman had asked her, "What was her native tongue?" Prob- ably quite a number of otherwise well-informed people would find it difficult to explain the existence, in Austria, of a German-speaking people who are yet distinct, not only historically but even to a certain extent racially, from the other Teutonic states of Europe. The fusion of the petty German states into a great German empire, and the influence of the dominating fac- tor of Prussian militarism, have obliterated, so far as appearances are concerned, the boundaries of the various kingdoms and principalities. Many of these — for in- stance, Brandenburg, the cradle of the Hohenzollerns — were originally Slav in population, but the civilisation which gradually overspread them, and the spirit guiding their destinies, were Teutonic, and as the modern German empire they are welded together on a firm national basis, despite their long history of separate political existence. It is obvious that Austria, which after 1866 was entirely shut out from this family party, must have been differen- tiated from the rest of the Teutonic empire by some special circumstance. This circumstance, as has been shewn in the historical sketch, was the connection with the 91 92 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE House of Habsburg, which was never content to be a merely Teutonic power and drew its inspiration from Spain and Italy rather than German sources. Austria, as we have seen, began its career as the Ost-mark of the Frankish empire. It was an outpost against the pagan and savage hordes outside the pale of Teutonic and Catholic Europe. As a duchy it was given to a Teutonic family, the Babenbergs, who were succeeded by the Habs- burgs, and by the energy and capacity of the latter family it became the centre of a collection of hereditary posses- sions as large as many kingdoms. These remain to-day under the Habsburg dynasty, and, to use an incorrect ter- minology, form the " Empire " of Austria. The family lands consist of no fewer than seventeen parts or provinces, and historically these provinces are distinct, and have a certain individuality. 1 The Austrian emperor, therefore, bears the title of each province separately. He is Duke of Styria, Count of the Tyrol, etc., his hereditary titles num- bering seventeen. The racial .basis of the Habsburg realm was Slav, the peasantry of the duchies being originally of that race, while in Bohemia, Moravia, and Galicia we have old Slav kingdoms which still retain their nationality. Latin 1 Kingdoms Carinthia Bohemia, Galicia and Dalmatia Carniola Margra they see me I feel that they say, ' Ah, here domes the man who wants to kill us ! ' " Theatre-going, as a popular amusement, is naturally 138 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE restricted to town life. It presents no striking features. Budapest has a national theatre, where plays of a patriotic character are specially patronised, and there is a national opera house. There is a good deal of dramatic talent among the Magyars and dramatic literature is supported by the government. But France and Italy supply Budapest, as they do Vienna, London and New York, with most of its theatrical fare, the great exception being, of course, that Wagner has his following in the world of opera. The lighter theatrical fare is also borrowed a good deal from foreign countries. Recently there were advertised in Budapest two English plays, ZangwilPs " Merely Mary Ann " and Conan Doyle's " Sherlock Holmes," while the third was a Hungarian farce containing a number of con- ventional foreign characters — " Yankee Bill," etc. The somewhat morbid modern school of Norway and the de- cadents of France are now influencing the younger Mag- yar writers and critics, rather to the detriment of the national, distinctiveness, which is so remarkable in Petofi or Jokai. The volume and quantity of Magyar writing, both jour- nalistic and that of a more permanent character, is sur- prising when we remember how recent is its growth. In 1823 there were only four publications written partly in Magyar and none in that tongue only. To-day there are 1500 publications, of which more than 1000 are in Mag- yar, and this number increases continually, particularly in periodical literature and journalism. The subject of Hungarian poetry and drama leads one at once to the consideration of a question which has been HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 139 a most controversial one. The merits and demerits of the Hungarian language have been hotly discussed in their bearing on the development of the people. The tongue spoken by the Magyars is of Ural-Altaic origin, and this fact distinguishes them from the other people of Europe. Their language has, however, been subjected to many in- fluences, and has incorporated Italian, Slav, German, and Latin words, while the close contact of many centuries with the Ottoman Turks introduced many Turkish words. In the Middle Ages, Magyar was not yet a literary language. Up to a certain period, while the different parts of Europe were cast into the crucible and were evolv- ing distinct nationalities from heterogeneous materials, the Church, the one repository of learning and culture, dictated the tongue of schoolmen of all parts of the Christian world. This tongue was Latin, and Latin was the polite language of Hungary. As late as 18 15, an English traveller, Robert Bright, records that in wayside inns in Hungary he was able to converse through the medium of Latin with the minor officials and better class farmers, as well as with the nobility. Indeed, while the growth of German cul- ture and the influence of the Reformation combined to in- troduce a more living language into the rest of Central Europe, Hungary opposed the introduction of German, and preferred to use Latin, not only in literature, but in official and social life. Joseph II., however, made a determined attempt to make German the language of all his domains, this being part of the policy of centralisation devised by Maria Theresa, in which it was essential that i 4 o THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE law and administration should have a common language in every part of the Habsburg possessions. Under this pressure a revival of the Magyar tongue began, and it was not only revived, but was actually created as a literary tongue. The task was a tremendous one, for Hungarian literature was practically non-existent; there were no Hungarian universities, and the language was not taught in the schools. In fact, this ancient national tongue had been degraded to the position of a patois, unrecognised save as the means of communication among the uneducated. When, therefore, in 1825, Count Stephen Szechenyi rose in the Diet and addressed his compatriots in the vulgar tongue, the effect was to electrify them. Only one of the genuine Magyar nobles, a member of one of the oldest and finest families, could have dared such a revolutionary proceeding. It was of course part of a preconceived scheme for reviving the Hungarian national independence, and it is said that of the patriots who took the most prominent part in this great movement more than one was handicapped by not being familiar with Magyar. This language revival in Hungary is of the most intense interest to all students of political and social phenomena, and also to an even wider class to whom the psychology of peoples is a fascinating study. It has been argued, and not without reason, that the rejection by the Hungarians of a great living language, possessing one of the finest literatures of the age and affording the open sesame to the best modern works of science and philosophy, was a mis- take; that their deliberate resuscitation of so exotic a tongue as Magyar cuts them off from the rest of the West- "HONVED" AND MOUNTED POLICE, HUNGARY GROUP OF HUNGARIAN PEASANTS HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 141 ern world, retards their mental growth, and hinders their development economically as well as intellectually. As to the rival merits of the two languages, it seems almost puerile to argue. As a medium of expression Magyar may be all that is claimed. It is said to be rich and full in synonyms, flexible, and simple in construction, poetical in form, characteristic in idiom. It is certainly musical on the lips of educated people, distinct in articulation, adapted for oratory, and yet capable of clearness in ex- pression. Moreover, it has not been corrupted by dialects, but is practically the same everywhere and in every rank of life. But with all these inherent virtues it cannot be denied that a language whose literature dates practically from the middle of last century, and which will never jyS' carry a man beyond his own frontiers, is not the best medium for a liberal education. Hungarians recognise this and are accustomed to learn other languages, in order to supply the deficiencies in their own. The educated people are extraordinarily good linguists, quite as good as the Russians, whose reputation in this respect is so great. Nor can it be denied that this necessity for learn- ing languages is an educative stimulus and that the effect is most happy on those who are in a position to obtain edu- cational advantages. Nevertheless, the Hungarians did make sacrifices, and continue to make them, in the preser- vation of their language. They put on one side the more obvious advantages of adopting German, and they sub- mitted to the economic handicap and the educational dif- ficulties, which will become more apparent when the rise of a Hungarian democracy modifies the present system of 142 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE government by the cultured classes. This they did because of the instinct which told them that national existence is bound up with national traditions and a native language. The political struggles centred round this point — the revival of Magyar as the language of schools and admin- istration-^-and in 1825 a National Academy was formed, by means of subscriptions from every part of the kingdom. Soon after the middle of the century the Austrian Govern- ment was compelled to allow Magyar to be used for the laws, government and administration, but only after 1867 / was Hungary entirely free to follow out her own pro- gramme. In 1834 the National Theatre was founded with the object of performing only such plays as would stimulate Hungarian patriotism, and the National Museum, founded in 1802, has been made a most inter- esting and instructive object lesson in the historic greatness of the kingdom. Education was entirely remodelled on the German plan, which is now followed in its most progressive de- tails in the principal school centres. Nevertheless, the condition of general education is still backward, and it is f calculated that fifty per cent, of the population are illiter- ate. This percentage, however, includes Croatia-Sla- vonia, where the peasants are still in a very backward condition, and in any case it must be remembered that the population is the most difficult for which to provide ele- mentary education, being to a large degree agricultural and scattered. Moreover, the task of taking over con- trol from the clergy was necessarily a gradual one, and altogether Hungary had an up-hill task in reorganising HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 143 her education, and it is much to her credit that in the twenty years between 1880 and 1900 the number of those who could read and write was nearly doubled. Technical and industrial education are receiving a great share of at- tention, and trade schools and other facilities for training industrial workers form part of the Government policy of endeavouring to make Hungary independent of Aus- tria. Naturally the language question complicates ele- mentary education, as the school population is in many districts predominantly non-Magyar, while in others there is a mixture of races. The Magyars are anxious that their tongue should be the only official one in the kingdom, and their policy of Magyarisation is bearing fruit. Al- though the Magyars are less than half the population, seventy-six per cent, of the schools use their language, twelve per cent, use German, and the five million Slavs (a quarter of the total population of Hungary) have only five per cent, of the schools using their native tongues. Although the economic question must be discussed in a separate chapter, it may be useful here to record what the Magyar revival has done for Hungarian trade. The Society for Promotion of Hungarian Manufactures and Commerce was founded by Kossuth in 1844, at a time when " Hungarian manufactures " were almost non-exist- ent. In 1875 a national exhibition was held to draw attention to the industries of the country, still in a some- what embryonic condition, and a campaign of self-denial was begun whereby all patriotic Magyars bound them- selves to use the native manufactures even when inferior, rather than those imported from Vienna. One of the most 144 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE striking features was the determined stand made by tobacco smokers, which helped very largely to develop the local industry, now an important one and a source of revenue. Although this artificial stimulation could not in itself have recreated Hungary as an industrial country, it has helped to give an impulse in that direction. Hungary, with ex- cellent waterways, communications, woods, coal, and other natural resources, is a country naturally adapted for in- dustrial expansion, and there are unmistakable signs that she is actually embarking on a successful career as an in- dustrial country. That there are difficulties and dangers in this course cannot be denied, and it is perhaps unfavour- able that the true Magyar is essentially an agriculturist or pastoral in his tastes. The optimistic Hungarian will not allow that this may prove a serious difficulty. He points to the important class, the smaller nobility, who since 1848 have gradually lost much of their connection with the land and become an urban people. Others of this class have started industries on their estates. If these people can develop real commercial instincts and become the capitalists, the captains and directors in the industrial movement, all will be well; but they have to face serious competitors — Germans, with German capital behind them, and the ubiquitous Jew, who is becoming the universal middleman throughout Central Europe. The policy of State aid to industries began seriously in 1 88 1. Within ten years 195 factories and 266 agricul- tural spirit distilleries sprang up. In 1890 a very strong measure was taken in granting subsidies to new under- takings, as well as exempting industries from taxation. HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 145 The textile industry is the one most heavily supported. Besides direct subsidies loans are granted by the State on easy terms, and everything possible is done to facilitate matters by the Ministry of Commerce. A Bill of an even more radical character for the encouragement of industry becomes law in January, 1907. It is too early as yet to judge whether this method, so entirely opposed to that by which Great Britain built up her industrial prosperity, is likely to be successful. A great deal depends on certain political conditions which must be discussed in a subse- quent chapter. The railway policy of Hungary is closely allied to her commercial policy. After 1867 Hungary had her own railway administration, and for a time the system of pri- vately owned lines, guaranteed by Government, was con- tinued. Eventually, however, the State decided to take over the lines, which has been done in various ways (by forced sale if necessary) , so that to-day nearly all the lines are State owned. The zone system was adopted, Hun- gary being the first country to introduce it. By this sys- tem the tariff is relatively lower as the distance increases, thus promoting long-distance traffic. The result has been to give an impetus to passenger and goods traffic, which justifies the experiment, although the railways are still an expense and not a revenue-producing source. Travel in Hungary is not only cheap, but on the State lines is comfort- able, and the courtesy of officials is a pleasant feature, while there is not the necessity to keep an incessant eye on one's luggage (and often have it rifled even then) which makes travelling in Italy such an unpleasant experience. Restaur- 146 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE ants are very fair, and sleeping accommodation can be had in the International wagons-lits which are familiar to all travellers. The Hungarian network of communications is good and the railway system continues to be extended, so that before long every portion of this large kingdom will be easily accessible. A few words as to Hungarian hotels may not be out of place here. A few years ago they were notoriously bad, but great improvement has taken place; all the more fre- quented places have comfortable accommodation and, though in the principal towns the rates are high, yet on the whole Hungary compares favourably in this respect with other countries. In tracing the nationalist revival of Hungary one is struck with many resemblances to the Czech revival which took place simultaneously, but in one respect Hungary and Bohemia differ. Religion has not played the his- toric part in the former that it has in the latter. Hun- gary received her Christianity, it is said, from Bohemia, for her first Christian king, St. Stephen, was converted by a Bohemian monk. Stephen converted his people by somewhat forcible measures, and as a reward the title " Apostolic King " was bestowed on him by the Pope, and has been worn by his successors ever since. Since that time the majority of the Magyars, unlike the Czechs, have been firm in their adherence to the Roman Catholic Church, to which fifty-one per cent, in Hungary belong. The Habsburg influence was actively Catholic, and the Protestants were even at times protected by the Turks. Despite local disputes religious toleration has been, on the - ***-*•— \i i v - •■ ■ / ^* - y T^' ^^ B^' ^ HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 147 whole, more general in Hungary than in any other part of Central Europe, and to-day there is little feeling of antagonism between the various sects. The magnates are, on the whole, Catholics, the Greek Church claims twenty- three per cent, (chiefly among the Serbo-Croats), while the German colonists are mainly Evangelical. Some of the old families belong to the Reformed Churches, a cer- tain number having professed Calvinism, while there are a considerable number of Lutherans among the smaller nobility. The religious question, crystallised into the cleri- cal and non-clerical points of view, has influenced political life, and is important in local considerations, but it has no broad distinctions and is more of an auxiliary than a direct- ing factor in modern political life. One disturbing feature of religious life in Austria is found also in Hungary in the fact that the church owns very large areas of land, so that the wide range of questions in which the land-owning interest is predominant is complicated by the intrusion of the politico-religious element which so greatly embitters the situation in parts of Austria. In all that has been written hitherto of the Hungarians it has been the Magyars, as far as possible, that have been taken as the basis of the country. But on three sides of the central plains, which are the true Magyar country, there are mountainous fringes in which the predominant element is non-Magyar, while to the south is the country of Croatia- Slavonia, racially and historically independent of Hun- gary but politically dependent on \tk since 1090. The mountains of Transylvania, to the east and southeast of Hungary, are extraordinarily interesting, not only from 148 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE the wildness and grandeur of their scenery, but from their turbulent history as the bulwark for centuries of Chris- tianity against Mohammedanism. The tide broke over them again and again, and the impress of the Oriental was left on the country, and gives it a strange non-European flavour even to-day. The early Magyar colonists in Transylvania are known as Szeklers, " guardians of the frontier," and they are descendants of old conquering bands. In some districts the landed proprietors are all Magyar, though the population is Rouman or Wallach, and this beautiful mountain country is rent with dissen- sions as to race and language which seriously retard its development. The racial and linguistic situation is, in- deed, extraordinary. There are in this small country no fewer than six distinct races (Szeklers, Moldo-Wallach- ians, Saxons, Jews, Armenians and gypsies) , five languages (Magyar, German, Roumanian, Greek, andTsigane), and five religions. This is one of the provinces of Hungary in which the religious question is a burning one, and it is complicated by the fact that the races themselves are divided into religious sects. Thus the Moldo-Wallach- ians, who claim descent from the early Roumans (sup- posed to be the result of colonisation by Roman legions), speak a bastard Latin tongue and belong to two sections of the Greek church, the Orthodox and the United. The latter is a compromise between the Roman and Greek communions, in which the marriage of the clergy, the giv- ing of the Cup to the laity in the sacrament, and the use of the vulgar tongue in services, are conceded. Naturally there is considerable dissension between the two sects. ROUMAN PEASANTS, FROM SOUTHEAST HUNGARY HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 149 The Saxons (German colonists brought in by the Hun- garians, who granted them special privileges) form small but prosperous communities, and were at one time entirely self-governing on the condition of furnishing military serv- ice to the emperor. They are all strict Lutherans, and get their ideas and education largely from German sources. They are a very independent people, industrious and self-respecting, and belong to the burgher rather than the peasant class. The Szeklers, and Magyars of a later settlement, represent three more sects, the former being Unitarian and the latter both Roman Catholic and Protestant. Some of the oldest aristocratic families of Transylvania, however, are Calvinist, and besides all these Christian sects there are the Jews and gypsies, the latter being still practically pagans. The nationalist movement centres in the Rouman pop- ulation, stimulated by the renascence and prosperity of the kingdom of Roumania, to which, historically, they be- long. In 1848, during the Hungarian revolution, the Roumans, like the Croats, sided with Austria and re- ceived (when the settlement came) similar treatment; that is to say, they were handed back to Hungary. The influence of the powerful Magyar nobles of Transylvania was instrumental in securing this, and indeed it is hard to see what settlement would have been satisfactory to all the races involved. The dissatisfaction of the Rouman population, however, continues and their racial feeling shews no sign of diminution. They keep up an entirely voluntary system of elementary schools (of which there are said to be over 2000) in opposition to the Hungarian 150 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE state schools where the language is Magyar. In 1895 the Roumans, Slovaks, and Serbs held a congress and formed an alliance for the preservation of local autonomy; and the local press never ceases to agitate for national rights. The fact, however, that the landed aristocracy is mostly Magyar, and that economic pressure is in favour of the Hungarians, is against the realisation of these as- pirations ; nor is it easy to see what other policy Hungary could pursue than that of upholding her sovereignty and therefore declining to recognise separate national rights, although she may permit full local autonomy. With the most serious of these claims to separate nationality within the Hungarian kingdom — that of Croatia-Slavonia — we must deal separately, as it comes under the head of Slav development; and under the same heading we must speak of Galicia, also a Slav country. Before taking leave of this brief outline sketch of the Hungarians, however, we must give some slight descrip- tion of their capital, and of one or two beauty spots in their country of which they are justly proud. The aver- age English traveller who does the journey between Vienna and Budapest (comparatively dull and monoto- nous, whether by rail or river) and then goes on to Bu- charest on his way to Constantinople, has little idea of the range of scenery in this beautiful country. We have spoken of the Alfold, that wonderful plain; in summer a vast sheet of cultivated fields spreading in waves of gold and green to the horizon ; in winter a frozen sea, the grey broken only by dark masses of farm buildings. We have also mentioned the wild romantic scenery of Transylvania. VILLAGE WORKERS, TRANSYLVANIA wjr, « o Slfe-j^a] 'fk "* . 1 ^* fj^M •jH| MB. -* 1 ^i NATIONAL DANCE : ROUMANS, TRANSYLVANIA HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 151 Of late years the Carpathians, the loftiest mountains of Hungary, have become accessible by rail, and are now on a fair way to develop into a second Switzerland as a pleasure and health resort. The Hohe Tatra, the central portion of these mountains, has the most magnificent scenery imaginable, and at the time of year when Central Europe is hot, the climate in these alpine regions is ideal. Great jagged masses of mountain rise sheer from green wooded valleys; beautiful pine woods cover the lower mountain slopes, and the panoramic views obtained from some of the peaks are so wide in range and vivid and changing in colour as to defy reproduction. Hotels are springing up on these slopes, and well-to-do Hungarians are making country homes in these beautiful valleys. The north side of the Carpathians is patronised both as a win- ter and summer resort by Poles and Galicians. The peasantry here are Galicians, while on the south side one finds, besides the Slovaks, those interesting German villages called the free " Zip " towns, settled originally in the thirteenth century. The names throughout on the south side have been Magyarised. Neu and Alt Schmecks have become U. and O. Tatrafiired. To the south of Hungary, near the Hungarian-Servian border, is the lovely Cserna valley, one of the most beautiful spots in the kingdom, where is the ancient Roman bath known as the " Bath of Hercules." The scenery on the Danube is throughout interesting and often beautiful, but the most striking portion is that between Belgrade and Orsova (on the Servo-Hungarian frontier) where the river passes through the Kazan gorge. The tablet recording Trajan's 152 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE feat of making a road along this gorge still remains to remind us of an heroic age. A little below Orsova is an interesting relic of Turkish invasions in the island of Ada Kaleh, which after several changes of owner was finally ceded by the Turks to Hungary in 1878. The inhabit- ants were all Turkish, and retained their ancient mode of life and their feeling of dependence on the Sultan, and the Hungarian government has not interfered with them. The decay of smuggling and increasing economic pres- sure is now inducing these people to emigrate, and the picturesque remnant of Turkish rule in Hungary bids fair to disappear altogether. But the pride of the Magyars undoubtedly centres most in their capital, the twin towns of Pest and Ofen, since 1872 united as Budapest. The situation is far finer than that of Vienna, being on both banks of the Danube. The right bank rises up in a steep slope, crowned with trees and fine buildings, presenting, especially in the evening, a picturesque and romantic appearance. Although the towns of Ofen and Pest have ancient origins (the former being situated on what was once a Roman settlement, capital of Lower Pannonia, and the latter being an old German town before the thirteenth century, when the Mongols destroyed it), yet Budapest is essentially a modern town; and in fact, like nearly everything in modern Hungary, it dates almost entirely from the Aus- gleich (1867). It is, perhaps, to be regretted that the Hungarians, in building their capital, did not endeavour to give it some distinctive features, as has been done with such towns as modern Nuremberg. The difficulty was, J« ■ ^m jTM **] Sfcta^ ■ 3 i- ~- ^■k^ i "¥>«" K ""— -^ -^i -,.— ' .*. , u.' s 2^ -- IN THE HIGH TATRA, HUNGARY CSORBA LAKE, HUNGARY (HIGH TATRA) HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 153 however, that there was in reality no old Budapest to serve as a model. The city had become mainly German and was not until after the national revival the focussing point of national traditions, as was the case of Prague with the Bohemians. The church of Mathias, dating from the thirteenth century, is almost the only historic building that remains. Here the kings and queens of Hungary must be crowned with the crown of St. Stephen. The royal castle of Visegrad (a Slav word meaning " high fortress "), inhabited by the kings of Hungary as early as the eleventh century and restored by Mathias Cor- vinus, was destroyed by the Turks, and the modern royal residence, originally built by Maria Theresa, was partially burned in 1849 but has since been restored, rebuilt and enlarged. This magnificent royal palace — from whose terraces a fine view of the Danube and the city spread out on its banks is obtained — stands empty and silent almost all the year. The King comes at times, but seldom for more than a few days, and when he appears brings with him his whole staff of servants, every article of household plenishing and food, and even, if the bitter Hungarian report can be believed, his Austrian wines and mineral waters. No other member of the royal family comes to Budapest, and the heir, the Archduke Ferdinand, is unknown there. This neglect is a source of great grievance to the Magyars, who not only built their king a splendid residence, but must in addition to its upkeep con- tribute to the civil list. They feel that the presence of their monarch is necessary for the dignity of his Hungarian capi- tal and that without it, for a part of the year at all events, 154 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE the royal city is shorn of its splendour and they themselves deprived of their rights. Hungarian nobles have now made their homes in Budapest instead of Vienna. The Esterhazys, Festetics, Karolyis, and Pallavicinis have built splendid palaces, and all that is wanting from the social point of view is the centre and stimulus which the court could supply. The principal public buildings are in the Renaissance style and are handsome, if not characteristic. The Par- liament House is a fine though florid pile, but already it is not large enough for the requirements. In the pretty suburbs are parks for recreation, of which the Town park is the most popular, and one of the favourite resorts is the beautifully situated Margit Island, which is reached by river steamboats. The bridges over the Danube, of which there are five, afford an interesting object lesson in the development of the Magyars. The first was built by an English firm, the second by a French, the third by a German, the fourth by Hungarians and Germans, and the fifth, from incep- tion to completion, by Hungarians alone — plans, mate- rials, everything — as the Hungarians proudly proclaim. All names of streets and buildings are now Magyarised, but an even more interesting process is converting the names of citizens as far as possible to a Hungarian form. Now, the population of Budapest is by no means predomi- nantly Magyar. The Jewish element is extraordinarily prevalent, the official estimate being one-fourth of the total population. They not only control the press and \/ money affairs, as in other European cities, but actually HUNGARY AND HUNGARIANS 155 do physical labour as porters, cab drivers, and in other humble walks of life. As tradesmen they are ubiquitous, and in some of the main streets the names over the shops are indicative of a compromise between German-Jewish racial pride and the Magyarisation which is at work. Thus, Mr. Rosenberg has " Bela " as his " Christian " name, while Mr. Rosenbaum selects " Ferencz." In a short period, therefore, German names, whether of Jew- ish origin or not, have been largely replaced by Magyar, and the Magyar form of first names is universally adopted. According to statistics six-sevenths of the inhabitants of Budapest speak Magyar and only one-seventh German, and it is by no means unusual for middle-aged people, who were brought up to speak German, to refuse to use that tongue in conversation with strangers. The situation is exactly similar in Prague, and the traveller who expects a 1 knowledge of German to carry him comfortably through the realm of the Habsburgs will have some surprises. It is stated that it is better for a stranger to address the middle and lower class people in French or English first, not with the expectation of being understood, but as a pass- port to favour, after which he may get the desired in- formation in German. Although this is mainly the re- sult of a policy of Magyarisation, there is an element at work in producing it which is more than mere State policy or compulsion. It is agreed by many foreigners living in Hungary that there is a contagion about the nationalist aspiration which is almost irresistible. In no country in the world are there to be seen so many divers races mak- ing one (despite local jealousies) in their support of 156 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE Hungarian national tradition, and all are as vehement in their advocacy of Hungarian independence as the Mag- yars themselves. Jews and Germans swell with patriotic pride over their " ancient constitution," and more than one instance could be cited of Hungarian patriots (some well known as the exponents of the Magyars to Europe) who have not one drop of Magyar blood. The contagion, the attraction, are in the Magyar people themselves, and surely in this magic quality lies the secret of their success. The magnetic force they exercise is do- ing work which mere coercion or manoeuvring could not accomplish. Elements of weakness, of unevenness, and of danger there are, but the core of the matter, the char- acter of the true Magyar, is not only sound, but is display- ing that most valuable and intangible of qualities — the power of attraction and assimilation. CHAPTER VIII THE SLAVS A glance at the tables (both in the text and in the appendix) which give the relative proportions of the various races will show that the Dual Monarchy is not SLAVS OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND THE BALKANS predominantly either German or Magyar in population but Slav. The Slavs are more numerous than the Mag- 157 158 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE yars and Germans together (over twenty-two millions against twenty), and, if we take Austria and Hungary separately, we find that in the former the Slavs are three- fifths and the Germans one-third, while in the latter the Slavs are one-quarter and the Germans one-tenth, of the total population. Notwithstanding this numerical preponderance the Slavs are not the ruling race, and great as their influence must be they are handicapped by the extent to which they are broken up. Only two sections of the race can lay claim to distinctive nationality and historic rights, all the others being merely scattered fragments of races, detached portions of ancient kingdoms, conquered or annexed by alien peoples and living under foreign rule. The Czechs of Bohemia and the Serbo-Croats of Croatia-Slavonia form the two exceptions, and though it is not possible to put them quite in the same category, it is sufficiently correct for the purpose of generalisation to say that these two races and countries are both ancient, in- dependent kingdoms, annexed, the first to the Habsburg crown, the second to the kingdom of Hungary, but retain- ing their sense of historic independence and a rising senti- ment of nationality. Bohemia is part of Austria, Croatia of Hungary; both must give allegiance to a government which is foreign in speech to them; both are fighting for their own language in schools and administration; both have a very considerable degree of autonomy. Having given the main outlines of their position in common we must now look a little closer at each country separately. We have already traced the outline of that fascinating story in which Bohemia plays so great a part. There is THESLAVS 159 no chapter in history more romantic or fuller of heroic figures and exploits. We have seen Bohemia rise to the predominant position in Europe under the Luxembourg emperor who was her king. We have seen her capital, Prague, the first city of the empire, famous for its learn- ing and beauty. We have seen at a later period the heroic warfare for religious and national rights which turned the country into an armed camp. Indeed, the ex- ploits of the Czechs as fighters somewhat give the lie to the theory of the peaceful disposition of the Slav. If peaceful, he is at least tenacious and obstinate, and the whole history of this long submerged race, now rising again in various parts and by devious ways — but steadily rising all the same — shows that it is one of the races of the future. And among the Slav peoples, the Czechs are pre-eminent. Since the beginning of her history Bohemia has struggled against Teutonic influence, and for a time it seemed that she had struggled in vain. The process of Teutonisation was insidious. The agricultural Slav could not hold his own economically against the Germans, and with the rise of the cities during the Middle Ages, pro- tected and fostered by the Emperor as a check on his feudal lords, the Germans increased in prosperity and influence while the peasant Slavs sank to serfdom. Then came the religious persecutions of the Habsburgs, in which the Bohemian Protestant nobles lost their lands, and the un- successful rebellion, after which twenty-seven of the Czech noble leaders were put to death ; and so we come to a period in which there were in Bohemia (for a time at all events) German (or other alien) nobles, German cities and trad- 160 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE ers, and only the miserable serfs to represent the Czech people. It is not wonderful that, under such circum- stances, the spark of national life nearly nickered out. German was spoken throughout the country and the only remains of its constitutional independence was the meet- ing of the Estates to vote taxation, a privilege of which they had never been formally deprived. The first impulse towards renascence came, in Bohemia as in Hungary, from a literary revival, and in many respects this was more natural and possible for the Czechs than for the Magyars, for Bohemia possessed a genuine national literature, one of the earliest in Europe to be written in a vulgar tongue. The works of John Huss have already been mentioned, and English-speaking readers will be interested to trace the similarity in the work done by Wyckliffe's translation of the Bible in laying the founda- tions of the literary form of our language, and that of Huss in purifying Bohemian from Latinisms and putting it on a new footing as a cultivated tongue. In each case it was the revolt of what was indigenous, the language of the soil, against an arbitrary foreign tongue, imposed chiefly through the medium of the churchmen who were the teachers and writers (and also the politicians) of the day. Huss secured a temporary triumph for his own language at the Prague university, which had been origi- nally intended to be equally German and Slav, and his action illustrates the difficulty of securing permanence for any system of equal rights to two conflicting races and languages. One or other must prevail. The swing of the pendulum made the university a Jesuit college in THE SLAVS 161 the seventeenth century, and the Czech language was nearly forgotten, but the traditions remained, and in the early part of the nineteenth century the troubling of the waters throughout Europe sent currents of feeling to Bohemia which manifested themselves in the renewed in- terest of the Czechs in their ancient language and litera- ture. There is a story, believed to be true, though there BOHEMIA are different versions of it, that a company of Czech pa- triots and savants in the early years of the nineteenth cen- tury met together in a coffee house in Prague and talked of their country, its ancient language and literature. Then one of them, probably Jungmann, said: "If this roof were to fall in on us Czech literature would perish with us ! " So feeble was the flame, so widespread the influence 1 62 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE by which the Germans had apparently stamped their own individuality over the country of Bohemia. A century later we find the Czech language spoken all over the country, and there are 752 newspapers and period- icals. Besides the Czech National University founded in 1882 (it has three times as many students as the German University), there is a National Museum (1885), with the Pantheon in the centre for national festivals, and a National Theatre. Czech is granted equal rights with German in schools, but the progress of the national lan- guage may be judged from the fact that whereas in the German schools (where German children predomi- nate) one out of every eight speaks Czech, in the Czech schools only one in forty-seven speaks German. The percentage of illiteracy among the Bohemians is much lower than among any other peoples in the Austrian lands, so that the educational test is a good one. The census shews that an increasing number of people of Ger- man origin enter themselves as Czechs, and testimony to this is found in the names over shops. Prague, once so German, is now intensely Czech. One can hardly get an answer to a question in German, and apart from these obvious signs it becomes evident to all who make any study of modern Bohemian life that the native tongue is a living one and that it is the medium through which not only daily life but every branch of study, art, science and literature is being pursued. The effort to raise it to the position of a Kultur Sprache has been so successful, even in the teeth of the position held by the great German language, that it has actually invaded middle and high-class education in THE SLAVS 163 Vienna. The Slavicising of the names of places, rivers, streets, etc., is almost a minor detail in this campaign. In many cases this merely involves restoring the original names, as the nomenclature of Central Europe was almost all of Slavic origin. The work done in the century which has seen so won- derful a change for the Czechs has been mostly accom- plished since 1866. At that date, by the treaty between Austria and Prussia, Bohemia (together with all the Aus- trian lands) ceased forever to form part of a Germanic empire. The federation of Germanic states which was formed, and which was to develop in a few years into the German empire, excluded the territories of the House of Habsburg, and thenceforth German influence has been a declining factor in Bohemian development. This change would not, however, have been so favourable to the re- nascence of the Czechs had not their national party suc- ceeded by this time in establishing a constitutional position. Political manoeuvres took the place of open rebellion, which in 1848 had proved abortive and had ended in firm re- pression. These political manoeuvres are not to be de- scribed here, only their results, and of these the most remarkable is certainly the gradual winning back by the Czechs of their liberty as to language. At present the attitude in principle is that the Germans and Czechs, con- stituting two separate nations, enjoy equal rights in Bohemia, with the exception of the fact that the central administration is German in language. The Czechs still contend that their language should be compulsory even for the officials of this department in Bohemia, nor is there 1 64 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE any sign that they will be contented with lesser privileges. They form seventy per cent, of the population, concen- trated for the most part in Central and South Bohemia and in certain districts of Moravia, and Prague is now over five-sixths Czech. The basis of electoral represen- tation at present favours the German minority, and the Czechs have been engaged in a fight to secure universal suffrage, which has recently been promised, and, if properly carried through, will throw a far greater balance of power into Czech hands. The Slavic character of the Czechs has undoubtedly been modified by the long intercourse with Germany, al- though they, like the Hungarians, do not care to admit this as freely as they might. The result in Bohemia has been to produce a race strongly differentiated from other branches of the Slavs. The Czechs are universally said to be industrious, hard-working, thrifty, intelligent and pushing. The latter quality is essentially non-Slavic, and it is extraordinarly developed in the Czechs. Possibly the rigour of the fight through which they have come has helped to strengthen their character. The artistic qualities so early developed in Bohemia, and still maintained in their manufactures (the beautiful peasant costumes surviving in many regions are relics of native art) , form the subject for debate, since it is hard to decide how far they were due to Teutonic influence or how much the Germans borrowed from their Czech neighbours. The broad general impression given by all the Slav races, however, is that they are peculiarly sensitive to beauty of form, sound, or colour, and this natural capacity has helped THESLAVS 165 the Czech to become at once an artist and a craftsman. The high degree of civilisation to which the country at- tained at an early period of her history gave room for the development of taste and skill, and, as one of the first cities of Europe, mediaeval Prague drew artists from distant parts of the world whose influence was felt in her architec- ture and decoration. Unfortunately at a later period Prague was again and again the scene of conflict, and her artistic treasures were ransacked and her buildings de- stroyed, but she remains still one of the most interesting of European cities, with many ancient buildings saturated with historic associations. Perhaps no city of Europe is so rich in ancient legend and historic interest. Lovers of the antique can gaze at the castle of Vysehrad and wonder which of the stones used in it were originally part of the castle of Libussa, traditional foundress of the Bohemian dynasty. The castle of later rulers still stands sentinel over the town, a grand romantic pile, built at different periods, and recording in every carved stone some chapter in the stormy history of the Czech people. The Imperial palace, dating from the golden age of Bohemia, the reign of the Emperor Charles in the fourteenth century (but also restored and enlarged in the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries), contains also many historic spots, notably the room in the old town hall whence the Imperial counsellors were thrown from the window by the Bohemians in 161 8. Then there is the splendid bridge of Charles IV., begun in the fourteenth century, and, with a wide transition to a different type of monument, there is the Jewish cemetery, the oldest burying place of the Jews in Europe. Apart 1 66 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE from all these interesting antiquities, however, Prague has a flavour of its own, a distinction well conveyed in a passage by a French writer (M. Ernest Denis) : " Florence, like a painting of Botticelli, is elegant and delicate. Venice is voluptuous and magnificent as a paint- ing of Titian. Paris is charming, and pleases the stranger because there everything breathes a smiling charm and the desire to please. Vienna is joyous and sparkling like an operette of Offenbach, . . . Bruges and Ratisbon have the melancholy grandeur of ruins — Prague is tragi- cal. Every one of its stones recalls an heroic drama." Nevertheless, Prague does not live any longer in the past, but has embarked on a new career as a modern city. The modern town is a manufacturing one, and, as we shall see subsequently, Bohemia is one of the most industrial countries of Europe. Prague has become, by virtue of the genius of the Czechs, one of the musical centres of Europe, for they are in the front rank as musicians, both in creation and execu- tion. The religious body of the Bohemian Brothers, which played so large a part in Czech national history, encour- aged music in their services, and the choral singing of the Czechs was a feature of their religious worship. The in- fluence of other countries, especially during the eighteenth century, when the pre-eminent genius of Mozart and Bee- thoven could not fail to affect the musical thought of all Europe, has detracted from the purely Slav character of Bohemian music, but the revival of interest in national traditions began to make itself felt in the middle of last century, and a school arose which went back to folk songs T H E S L A V S 167 and national dances as their musical inspiration. The best known Bohemian composers of this school are Dvorak and Smetaud, who have familiarised the English and American public with the rhythms and strange harmonic effects peculiar to Slav music. It is hardly necessary to say that other and greater composers, particularly the Pole, Chopin, have borrowed freely from this source, but to do anything like justice to the influence of Slav folk songs on modern music would be impossible in the scope of this sketch of one phase of Slav development. Many names familiar to modern music-lovers belong to the Czech peo- ple. The two most famous modern professors of the violin are Sevcik and Kocian, and the world-renowned Kubelik is the son of a Czech peasant. It may interest lovers of grand opera to know that the great singer Ter- nina, though not a Czech, is of Slav origin, being a Slovene born at Agram in Croatia. Interesting and romantic as are the associations awak- ened by the old city of Prague and its ancient buildings, it is in the modern industrial city that we must look for the key to the situation of Bohemia. We have spoken of the renascence of the Czech language and national tradition and of the transformation by which the whole life of the country has been changed, and we have said that the first impulse was given by the revival of literary and historic associations which were used to stir up a long dormant sense of national independence. But this stimulus in itself could not have been sufficient for the work accomplished. It was not even so powerful an agent in Bohemia as in Hungary, for the conditions of life in the former country 168 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE were peculiarly unfavourable to any sentimental influences. The Czechs, as we have seen already, were originally a pastoral and agricultural people, living on the land, to which during the feudal period they became attached by ties not of ownership, but of serfdom. The industrial and commercial life of the country was almost entirely in Ger- man hands. It happened that the crisis of the national movement came at the very eve of the industrial awaken- ing of Europe, and the Czech patriots were faced by the fact that their future as an industrial country lay in Ger- man hands. The Czech nation (or rather that section of the Czech people which had not been entirely denational- ised), was composed chiefly of the stratum of society in- cluding the rural population, small artisans, domestics and workmen — not promising material for a great national movement. But although the nobility contains compara- tively few families of pure Czech origin, this has not pre- vented the rise of a genuine nationalist feeling among them. The literary and historic campaign had done its work in creating an enthusiasm for Czech ideals among the educated upper class. The arrangement of society was abnormal, for between the two classes of Czechs came the well-to-do middle class of Germans, and in their hands lay most of the industrial interests of the country. More- over, towards the middle of last century those German districts which, situated in the mountainous country fring- ing Bohemia, had been miserably poor and struggling, were by mechanical inventions (especially the utilisation of water power) able rapidly to improve their position. The fight appeared a very unequal one. THE SLAVS 169 In 1848 the reforms effected in the position of the peasants freed them from the last remains of the feudal system and made possible the revolution in their position which followed. Already, as early as 1770, a national movement for the improvement of agriculture (promoted by the Bohemian nobility, especially such families as the Bucquoi, Gallas and Clary, which are not of Czech ori- gin) had led to the formation of a society which endeav- oured to improve the time-honoured methods of peasant cultivation. The rotation of crops, intensive culture, and other modern ideas were developed on the large estates, and the work done, though not immediately productive, was preparing the soil for future developments. The Czech patriots saw that the only chance for the recreation of a Czech nation was to enable their people to take part in the industrial evolution then beginning. The Czech had always been a hard and careful worker; he had now to be made something more, in order that he might rise in importance and become the mainstay of the industries of the country by his talent and capacity. It was a conflict between capital and talent, made harder for the Czechs by the fact that, while brains were their only equipment, the Germans often possessed both brains and money. The nobility again came forward as initiators of this industrial movement, though the factories they started were gradu- ally (with some exceptions) absorbed by companies or private persons, the latter being almost invariably Jews. In the improvement of the economic position of the Czech peasantry a most important factor was the establishment of mutual credit co-operative societies, on the Schulitz- 170 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE Delitsch model. The first of these was founded in 1858", and thirty years later there were no fewer than four hundred in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, and actually one (for Czech workmen) in Vienna. In five years from this date these numbers had increased by over fifty per cent, many developing into banks which are able to lend money for large industrial enterprises. Even the financial crisis of 1873 (which shook the economic position of Austria to its foundations), while it retarded the de- velopment of these societies, did not seriously damage them. A less successful movement was initiated about 1870 for the association of workmen and artisans in vari- ous ways; the movement being akin to that attempted in England for the establishment of co-operative workshops, in which the principles of mutual benefit and profit sharing are embodied. For a variety of reasons these have not been very successful in Bohemia. It was not until after 1867 that Bohemia was able to expand her educational system in a manner favourable to the industrial progress of her people, but at the present time this branch of education is developed with great com- pleteness. Technical schools and institutes have been established in every part of the kingdom and great assist- ance is given to all secondary courses. For instance, at Turnov a complete course in every branch of applied art or science can be had gratuitously, the town and state shar- ing not only the cost of this training, but also of giving aid to needy students while pursuing their studies. It may be noted here that Bohemia has not yet found sufficient scope for the number of her people who acquire higher educa- THE SLAVS 171 tion. Before the Czech university was founded at Prague, Czech professors were employed in the Slav schools and universities of Croatia, Russia, and other Slav countries, and a large number of the secondary school masters are still employed in Russia and Bulgaria. To return to the task of the Czech patriots in the mid- dle of last century. It was well that they perceived the fact that in the creation of new industries, even more than in the invasion of those already flourishing in German hands, lay the path of salvation, and fortunately the epoch was favourable to fresh developments. The high intelli- gence and advanced education of the younger Czechs were demonstrated in their achievements as chemists, mechanical engineers, and inventors, and the talents which had been used formerly in the service of other people were now engaged in evolving new forms of industry specially suited to the conditions of Bohemia. The beet sugar industry owed its inception to this combination of science and patriotism, and the impetus given to this production in i860 by the American civil war carried it forward on a wave of prosperity in which several other manufactures were included. The establishment of distilleries and of a variety of factories in which sugar is a raw material, and also the manufacture of machinery, were the direct out- come of the success of the beet sugar industry. Nothing was more effectual in accomplishing the change of the Czechs from an agricultural into an industrial people and in giving their prosperity a national foundation apart from German enterprise. While German capital and enterprise continues to hold 172 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE its own, therefore, the Czechs have secured their position. As workmen they are sought after by employers of labour, and this not only in their own country, but in Austria, Ger- many, and the United States. An estimate of the num- bers to be found in the United States and the high state of their education can be formed from the fact that there are no fewer than seventy Czech papers published in America. The migration of the Czech workman is chiefly in search of higher wages, and it is estimated that a very considerable percentage of the workmen in Austria come from Bohemia. Unfortunately the racial question, com- plicated by the influence of socialism, leads to many serious disputes between employers and workmen and even to race conflicts among the workers themselves. The influence of socialism on this newly created Czech industrial proletariat is hard to estimate, since the whole development of socialism in every part of the world is wholly erratic and in Bohemia is unusually affected by ex- traneous circumstances. There is a nationalist socialist party and a Catholic socialist party (the latter of course anti-Semite), but the growing influence of socialism is in the direction of internationalism; the patriotic ideals and self-abnegation of the period just past are giving way to a programme in which social reforms and the revolt against class government are the salient features. In dealing with the problems of unemployment, pauperism and provision for old age, which are always pressing ones in an industrial country, Bohemia is following a line laid down in more than one of the European countries, but not yet recognised in England or America. The principle is that the State THE SLAVS 173 must find work for its citizens and that vagrancy and beg- ging must not be permitted. In practice, a very complete system of labour bureaus is maintained and special public works are undertaken to provide employment. Needless to say this method of dealing with one of the invariable phenomena of industrial growth is still on its trial. As to the social system of the reconstituted Czech nation, it does not differ outwardly from that of neigh- bouring German states. There is a nobility, very largely of foreign origin (though Bohemian in sympathies) , which owns a considerable percentage of the country. One family, for instance, the Schwartzenbergs, owns 600,000 acres. 1 Moreover, the Jews are acquiring land in Bohemia at a rate which is causing some disquietude. The process is one which, by the humbleness of its methods, attracts little notice at first, but which is, in fact, at work in more than one country and more than one continent. Were the Jews not so peculiar a people, were it possible to assimilate them or to break down the barriers which separate them in so many ways from other races, this acquisition of land by them would not be of any consequence as a social pheonom- enon. It is, however, the more remarkable because the Jew is not generally supposed to suffer from land hunger. The process is simple. A Jewish pedlar appears one morning in some hamlet; bye and bye, by the exercise of the habits of frugality and industry and by the special commercial talents of his race, he saves a little money, gets a liquor license (somehow or another), and begins to lend 1 The chief landowning families are the Schwarzenbergs, Lichtensteins, Lobkovics, Schcnborns and Thuns, who between them own 7.59 per cent, of the total area of Bohemia. 174 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE money to the peasant on his crops. This advances to a system of mortgages on future crops, and the debt piles up until the wretched peasant is a mere serf. In some parts of Austria and Bohemia whole villages have passed in this way from their peasant owners to the landlordship of a Jew. This system is to be studied in its most advanced state in Galicia, where it is aggravated by the habit of the Polish nobility of employing Jewish factors or stewards on their estates. The Jew, as middleman, forces the hands of his employers by putting them under monetary obligations and is in reality the master of the situation. So grave is the state of affairs produced that agrarian rev- olution is continually menaced, and there seems reason to believe that in many parts of Central and Eastern Europe we are already over the threshold of one of those periodical waves of irresistible anti-Semitism which at various times have almost overwhelmed this irrepressible race. The granting of universal suffrage in Austria-Hungary is very likely to precipitate matters by throwing power (for the first time) into the hands of the people who are most in- jured by the Jewish predominance. It is impossible here to explain how the Jewish question is differentiated in the various sections of the Dual Monarchy by special social or economic conditions. But the situation is broadly the same in all these countries, and is distinguished from that in England or America by the fact that, whereas with us the Jews are confined to two classes — the lowest industrial and the wealthy commercial — and do not buy up the land to any appreciable extent, on the continent of Europe they are obtaining a position which menaces the freedom of the A BOHEMIAN LANDSCAPE THE WAYSIDE SHRINE, BOHEMIAN OBERLAND THE SLAVS 175 agricultural and industrial proletariat. They are enabled to do this by means of special qualities of brain and char- acter which give them an advantage, but they have also been favoured hitherto by the impotence of these classes (in Austria-Hungary and Russia especially) to protect their own interests. In Bohemia, for instance, the elec- toral franchise gives the land owners and capitalist class (through various channels) an entire control of legisla- tion, and, moreover, the position of the Jews as the bankers and capitalists gives them a leverage which they are not slow to employ through the medium of the press and po- litical parties. Where they are unable to buy land they lease it from the owners of large estates (sometimes the church) but the tendency now observable in Bohemia to break up the large estates (which are not in " fidei-com- misso " — that is entailed) gives them opportunities for acquiring a more permanent footing. It will be seen that Bohemia is a country full of vital interests. In natural beauty she may claim comparison with any other country in Europe, for her mountains, pine- woods, forests, valleys, rivers and lakes are not only beau- tiful, but give every variety of landscape. Historically, too, she yields to none; her quaint towns and mediaeval castles are a delight for the antiquarian, and the costumes and customs of a more picturesque era linger in her villages. But for the student of political and social prob- lems she offers an equally rich field, and it is impossible in this brief sketch to do more than indicate the special features which have made the Czech renascence remark- able. 176 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE Among the northern Slavs of Austria-Hungary must be reckoned the Poles and Ruthenians of Galicia, which is a crown-land of Austria. Something has already been said of the conditions in Galicia, where six and a half millions of the population are Little Russian or Ruthenian peasants and Polish nobles, and the remaining million are three- fourths Jews and one-fourth Germans. The Jewish ques- tion is assuming formidable proportions. Originally the land was held communally by the peasants after Slav custom, but after the Polish occupation they lost it, and their condition to-day between alien (and often im- poverished) landlords and the Jewish middleman is in- tensely miserable. At the same time there is great poverty and distress among the Jewish population itself, and de- spite the constant stream of emigration the condition of the Galician Jew probably shews the low water mark reached by the race in Europe. An attempt is being made to assist the peasants by promoting the home industries — embroid- ery, lace, woodwork, basket-making — many of which are interesting and picturesque; but the poverty of the poorer and the lack of a real progressive element in the upper classes makes Galicia one of the most backward countries in Europe. The percentage of illiteracy is no less than sixty-eight per cent., including a very highly educated noble class, and this is the more deplorable because Galicia, as a province of Poland, had a very early civilisation and a history full of romance and patriotism. Cracow, the cap- ital, is a city of memories of past greatness, full of ancient palaces, time-worn monuments of a heroic past. The Poles, as is well known, displayed great qualities as fighters THE CZARTORYSK.I MUSEUM, CRACOW THE ROTUNDA, CRACOW THE SLAVS 177 and patriots in "their struggles against the Turks, and their religious convictions continue to be a powerful influence in the country. Unfortunately the racial division between Poles and Ruthenians is accentuated by the fact that they belong to rival churches, the former being Roman Cath- olics and the latter Orthodox. Owing to the electoral system which prevails, the Poles control the legislation, for the Ruthenians, who form three-sevenths of the population, only send seventeen out of 161 members to the local Diet, and are hardly repre- sented at all in the Reichsrath. Owing to the oneness of their aims, and the disunion of the Germans and Czechs, the Polish representatives in the Reichsrath, acting as a compact body, have been able to dictate terms to the Gov- ernment, which has had to purchase their support by whole- sale concessions. The Polish provinces therefore enjoy very considerable autonomy under an Austrian governor and an independent Diet, which, however, they use in the manner to which the history of Poland is a witness. Mal- administration of the grossest character, mutual jealousies and dissensions in the local Diet, and oppression of the peasant class are characteristics of Polish rule which are no novelty. At the same time the Poles continue to main- tain their old pre-eminence in the brilliance of their liter- ary and artistic achievements, and in the Polish provinces of Austria the attempts at Germanisation have proved futile, the tide having turned in the opposite direction. Polish, which is closely allied to Czech and the Lusatian Wendisch, is the language of the administration as well as the schools. There are two universities, at Lemberg and 178 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE Cracow, and it is said that their students, though not nu- merous, are very highly cultivated, and draw their inspira- tions now, as in the past, from French rather than from German sources. The most celebrated writer ( from Aus- trian-Polish soil) is Henri Sienkiewicz, whose reputation is international, but there have been many others, such as Mickiewicz and others of the so-called " emigration school," whose headquarters were in Paris. The predomi- nant note in the later literature is rather that of the mordant French school than the robust romance of Sienkiewicz, but the imaginative, dreamy and somewhat fatalistic strain is common to all writers of Slav blood. It is necessary to remember, in criticising Austrian rule in Galicia and the backward condition of that country (criticisms which apply equally to Bukowina), that this region belongs geographi- cally as well as racially to the Russian empire. It forms part of a high terrace on the north side of the Carpa- thians sloping to the Russian plains, the climate is rig- orous, and the conditions of life are dissimilar to those of Central Europe, to which politically it has been attached. Another of the many races of the Dual Monarchy found in the northwest of Hungary and in the east and south of Moravia are the Slovaks. They are not in reality a dis- tinct race, being the remains of those Moravian peoples who were long ago conquered by Hungary. Their lan- guage is fundamentally the same as the Czech, or rather is probably an older form of the original Slav language. The Slovaks are a poor, industrious but slow and ignorant people, retaining with some tenacity their ancient forms mi HHHBB? HP*. : ' : "'^rB B 1 THE SLAVS 179 of speech, their customs and costumes. They are largely employed as agricultural labourers. 2 The Southern Slavs are divided into Slovenes, Croats or Serbo-Croats, and Servians. The first of these, found chiefly in Lower Austria and Styria, and forming prac- tically the whole population of Carinthia, are the remains of the original Slav population of Central Europe, who for six centuries have been subjected to a steady pro- cess of Germanisation by their rulers. There was no cen- tre among these people for a nationalist propaganda, be- longing as they did for a long period to different Teutonic governments which were only finally united under the Habsburgs. Nor has the religious question played a great part. Protestantism made some converts and, as we have mentioned already, the Styrian nobility actually lost their lands en masse because of their adherence to the Reformed religion. But the steady orthodoxy of their rulers has made most of the Slovenes Roman Catholics, though side by side with the Latin communion the Greek church has its adherents among the Serbo-Croats and Servians. Croatia-Slavonia is the second of the two sections in- habited by a Slav race in Austria-Hungary which has a genuine national existence. Originally it was an inde- pendent and powerful Slav State, but was united to Hun- gary in 1090. From 1769 till 1799 Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia were united as the kingdom of Illyria, but after the break up of the Napoleonic empire Croatia-Slavonia was restored to a position of dependency on Hungary. From 1848 to 1868 the country enjoyed a practical inde- 2 A further account of the Slovaks will be found in Chapter XIII. 180 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE pendence, for services to Austria in the period of revolu- tion, but in the settlement of the Ausgleich it was once more handed back to Hungary and remained a province of that kingdom. The population is pure Slav, the language is Serbo- Croatian (practically the same as Servian with merely a difference as of dialects) the religion chiefly Roman Catholic, the Greek church claiming only thirty per cent. Here among these Serbo-Croatians we find the legacy of an ancient dispute between, the Eastern and Western churches, and this has been a disintegrating influence un- favourable to true national unity. The Servians who form part of the population represent emigrations from the old Servian kingdom at the time when it was conquered by the Turks, and consequently a close affinity exists between Croatia and Servia. But the influence of the Roman Catholic church, which accomplished the conversion of this part of the country, has been exerted to prevent the predominance of the Servian element and consequently that of the Greek church. The written character used is either Cyrillic or Latin, both being printed side by side in the grammars, but Latin is no longer used as a spoken language, as it was until about i860. After that time it was temporarily superseded by German, but when, in the settlement of 1868, Croatia was finally placed under Hun- garian control, German ceased altogether to be spoken save by the higher officials and merchants. The Hun- garians began with the attempt to make Magyar the lan- guage of official and social life, but the sense of the country and the local autonomy which it has always enjoyed make this difficult of accomplishment. THE SLAVS 181 The historic rights claimed by Croatia-Slavonia are in fact a replica, on a smaller scale, of those successfully as- serted in the Ausgleich by Hungary. The Croats are proud that they were never conquered by the Turks, and they have always had their own governor or Ban (who is, however, a Hungarian noble), their national Diet, and a very considerable local autonomy. They send forty delegates to the Hungarian parliament, but this is not in proportion to their numbers, and the balance will un- doubtedly be altered by any scheme of suffrage reform that may be passed for the Dual Monarchy. The elec- tions are, as a matter of fact, often rather of a farcical char- acter. The voter is told to come to the polling booth at a certain time and then he will be shewn what to do. It is extremely doubtful, however, whether such an ignorant peasantry would really be well served at present by a scheme of universal suffrage or whether it would not be a weapon for the unscrupulous. In any case the condi- tions of life in Croatia are at present unfavourable to any rapid rise in the condition of the peasantry. They are in many ways attractive, unspoilt, and ingenuous. Physi- cally they are fine, tall, strong and clean-looking people, with steel-blue eyes and straight fair hair. The influence of the East is strongly noticeable in their white clothes, loosely fashioned and decorated with elaborate embroid- ery. Perhaps no other country of Europe has such beau- tiful peasant costumes, on which a wealth of stitchery has been expended to give beauty and value to the commonest fabrics. The old capital of the country, still its most important 182 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE city, is Agram, which is not so interesting to the anti- quarian as its history leads one to expect, because it was partly destroyed by an earthquake in 1880 and has since been rebuilt. A fine .specimen of a real Croatian house (very similar to the Czech architecture) is to be seen at a Government model farm near Agram. The orna- mental gables, the carvings, the heavy wooden furniture, the characteristic fenced-in compound with a roofed en- trance (like the English lych-gate) are all comfortable adaptations of the old style. In the neighbourhood may be seen communal houses, still inhabited by several fami- lies, but the ancient Slav custom of communal build- ings to accommodate the whole village is now almost un- known, though the communistic tenure of land is still usual. On the outskirts of Croatia-Slavonia was that original strategic frontier which was held by military colonies which were in every way communistic, and lived in large houses common to all. Market-day at Agram is a most picturesque sight, gay with coloured embroideries on white garments, with bright shoes and rugs and the almost Eastern paraphernalia of open-air booths. The life of many of these peasants is poor and hard, and it is even said that in their houses some of the women wear nothing above their waists. But the Croat woman has a good reputation notwithstanding, and the hard life is said to produce in both sexes the virtues of patience, industry, and chastity. The men are honest, good-natured, and hardworking, and on this account have a good reputation as workmen, which they take with them to America. THE SLAVS 183 There is a very small class of Croat aristocracy, for a great proportion of the original noble class have been dispossessed or wiped out in the course of Croatian his- tory. The military and officials form " Society," and the ambition of parents who can afford it is to get their sons into this class or to marry their daughters to a mem- ber of it. The pay of officials is very small and the career for a promising young man a poor one, while the life is monotonous and trifling. Small wonder that the volume of Croat migration is so large and is by no means con- fined to the poorest class. There are at present about 270,000 Croats in the United States, and, curiously enough, they go chiefly to Pennsylvania, where they take well to the work in coal-mines or factories at Pittsburgh. They are lost forever to their country, for after the high wages and increased standard of living they can never return to the hard life of agricultural toil which the condi- tions of Croatia demand. The Croat country is in some ways a poor one, generally mountainous and inaccessible (the Hungarian railway-system has not yet embraced it), bare and unbeautiful, judged by conventional stand- ards. But the Croatians are a people of the soil — it is their mother, though a hard one — they have grit and back- bone, and a tradition which they proudly cherish. They had a very high degree of culture in the sixteenth century, when their students were well known in the universities of Padua and Pisa. They have now their own elementary schools and, although the exigencies of life under a foreign government make it difficult for them to preserve their i84 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE national distinction in secondary and higher education, yet the sentiment of Croatian patriotism is a living and grow- ing force and will not be denied. The language question will not be conceded by Hungary to an extent that will impair her sovereign rights, nor will she cease to work for the recognition, by all her subjects, of Hungarian nation- ality as opposed to the conflict of races. But even within these limits the Croatians may, with tact and forbearance on the part of their leaders, accomplish a renascence of their people. There is, of course, a party which demands the entire independence of Croatia, but they forget the weakness of their position from the geographical point of view, Although Croatia-Slavonia retains Fiume and a strip of coast within her boundaries (this being a concession to Hungary's demand for a port), Austria owns Dalmatia and the islands that fringe the coast. Moreover, by the occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina a wedge was driven between Croatia-Slavonia and Servia, and Novi-Bazaar (Turkish territory with an Austrian garrison) still further divides the Slav countries. The possibility of independent development for a country so poor as Croatia, and so com- pletely hemmed in by political adversaries, would not be very great, and the best possible course for the Croats is to endeavour to emulate the Czechs by improving the con- ditions and prospects of life among their peasants. These, then, are the principal features, the main prob- lems, which characterise the Slav races of Austria-Hungary. Each section is differentiated in some degree from the others, but it is possible to give, in a rough generalisation, THE SLAVS 185 some of the salient characteristics which distinguish the Slav races from the Teutons and Magyars. Physically the Slavs are not marked out in any special manner. Education and convention may make them almost indistinguishable from the Teutonic races, but in the depths of their natures they have something hidden which makes them unlike any other European peoples. Perhaps this element may be best described as unreason. The Slav does not possess his own soul with the compla- cent, philosophic self-knowledge which comes to the Teu- ton; he is not even able to make a pose for himself behind which he can shelter his real ego, like the Latin. He is sensitive to an intense and painful degree, emotional, and inflicted with the artistic temperament to an excess. The last quality militates against his being truthful. He is essentially and unconsciously untruthful — a moral defect conquered in certain sections of the race by their educa- tion, but remaining in others in colossal proportions. The Slav is always spoken of as a fatalist and this is un- doubtedly the trend of his mind, but it is varied by an almost childish optimism. The peasantry of Slav origin, like most agricultural people, are subtle and cunning de- spite their simplicity. They have a worldly wisdom all their own and a philosophy of life as well. The tendency of the educated classes is to overdo their learning. They are apt to get top-heavy with their own brains, and their linguistic achievements tempt them to more reading than they can digest. The alternation of high spirits and despondency so well illustrated in Slav folk-music is not peculiar to the 186 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE Slavs, but the Latin races (who have the appearance of being quite as emotional) do not touch the depths which the Slav is forced to plumb. Also they are not inflicted with one fatal drawback of Slav character, the distrust of self. Readers of Turgenieff's brilliant studies of Slav psychology will remember how finely he brings out all these qualities. The love of abstract theory, the eloquence and enthusiasm, the interminable stream of talk, the hot heads that cool so quickly, the tenderness, imagination, and confusion of ideas — all that goes to make up the lovable, unpractical, and yet subtle Slav, are summed up in the title of one of his books — " Smoke." But there is no smoke without fire, and the Czech renascence — yes, and the renascence of Servia and Bulgaria, too — is not all smoke. There is a pure flame burning. And Europe is richer, and not poorer, that the Slav peoples have relighted the torch of nationality. HERZEGOVINA WOMAN IN HOLIDAY DRESS CHAPTER IX BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA AND DALMATIA The political status of Bosnia-Herzegovina is only in- telligible by a reference to its geographical position. It will be seen that between the Dalmatian coast and the Save River, which is the southern boundary of the king- dom of Hungary, lies a wedge-shaped territory. This is still nominally the northwestern vilayet of the Ottoman empire, and owns the sovereignty of the Sultan; but since the Treaty of Berlin, in 1878, it has been occupied by an Austrian army and administered by the Dual Monarchy. Its position, therefore, resembles that of Egypt, and the Austrians claim for their first administrator, Baron Kal- lay, who governed the country for twenty years until his death a couple of years ago, a reputation equal to that of Lord Cromer. Kallay certainly accomplished a great deal in pacifying the country, and giving it some of the machinery of a modern civilised country. It is cut off from the rest of the Turkish provinces by Servia and Montenegro, between which is a narrow neck of land, the sanjak of Novi-Bazaar. The strategic importance of this region to both Austria and Turkey has led to an anomalous situation there, whereby Turkey still retains the civil administration while Austria occupies it with a militiary force. 187 1 88 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE The mountainous and picturesque country of Bosnia, with Herzegovina lying to the south and bordering Mon- tenegro, is a very interesting region from many points of view. Its history is intimately linked with that of the other Balkan states, but has some peculiar features. Chief of these was the religious conviction of the majority of its people, high and low, in the period which preceded the Mohammedan conquest. They belonged to the Pa- tarine sect, Otherwise called Bogomile, which appears to have been one of a series of heretical religions which ex- tended from Armenia to Aquitaine, and included the Albigenses on one extreme and the Paulicians on the other. Both Greek and Latin churches viewed this heresy with horror and considered it Manichoeism. The Franciscans in particular worked hard to suppress it, and some of the Bosnian rulers became Catholics. The result was to hasten the fall of the country before the Turks, for the Bosnians made no secret that they regarded Islam as preferable to Catholicism, and in 141 5 a number of them actually were Turcised and fought with the Turks against Hungary. The political and religious questions were then, as now, much interwoven. The Bosnian kings were feudatories of Hungary, and the country at present called Herzegovina was a vassal state under a duke, 1 who was faithful to the Bogomile tenets. After the death of John Hunyady of Hungary, in 1458, only one great leader re- mained to bulwark Christianity against the Turk, and this was the famous Albanian George Castriotes, known, be- 1 The Emperor gave the voivode the title of Duke=Herzog ; hence " Herzegovina," meaning " Duchy." BOSNIA PEASANT HOUSE BOGOMILE TOMB BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 189 cause of his Turkish upbringing, as Scanderbeg. While he lived, this corner of the Balkans was successfully de- fended from the Ottomans, and even on his death Mon- tenegro kept one spot inviolate and one line of Slavonic princes free from Turkish yoke. But Servia had fallen in 1457, the catastrophe hastened by the dissatisfaction of the nobles with the interference by Catholic powers, which their ruler had sought for protection. It is said that, after 1458, 200,000 Servians were carried from the land, probably to be settled in other parts of the empire. Then came the turn of Bosnia, which (with Herzegovina) had attempted to secure immunity from attack by offering tribute. Again, the Bogomiles preferred the Turks to Catholic rulers, and the royal residence was betrayed by its defender, who secretly belonged to the national reli- gion. Mohammed I. wished to be the absolute ruler of the Balkans, no mere suzerain of Christian states, and his policy was to exterminate the native rulers and princes, and to carry as many captives as possible to other parts of his dominions. The racial confusion of the Balkan penin- sula, in which his decendants are now reaping such a harvest of difficulties, may partially be traced to this policy, but the immediate effect was to paralyse the national life of the country and render it amenable to Ottoman rule, which was not particularly oppressive. King Mathias Corvinus of Hungary tried to rescue Bosnia, and was temporarily successful, but only for a brief time. The country became definitely part of the Ottoman empire, and Herzegovina was added in 1483, by which time only two Slavonic powers in the Balkan peninsula retained igo THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE their freedom. These were the republic of Ragusa and the principality of Montenegro. The close kinship between Bosnia and Servia — both part of one great Servian empire until that ill-consolidated state collapsed after the death of Stephen Dusan in 1356 — gives a special interest to the modern history of the former country. Servia has regained national conscious- ness, and has emerged as a modern Christian state. Is such a renascence possible for Bosnia? The peasantry are still purely Slav in race, the Turkish element (even where the Slavs are Moslems) being clearly distinguish- able. Their language is Serbo-Croat, albeit corrupted with Turkish words. But the impression gained from an observation of them is that, unlike the Servians, they have taken the stamp of Orientalism deep on their minds and hearts. The peculiar conditions under which they ac- cepted the Turkish yoke, and the extent to which the Bogo- miles embraced Islam, have had the effect of destroying their national and racial pride to a greater extent than has been the case in Servia. The dissension between the Christian churches here, as in other parts of the Balkan peninsula, stands in the way of a national and religious unity of purpose, and the line of cleavage between the dif- ferent parties among the people is not so much racial or religious as sectional. The portion of the community which is not Moham- medan is divided between the Latin and Greek churches, the former claiming about one-fifth, who are called Croats, and the latter, known as Servians, about one-half of the total population. The rivalry of the churches in the BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 191 matter of " conversions " is keen and (as in other Balkan states) the same family may contain people nominally of two or three different races and religions. The rocky and difficult nature of the country has helped to make it a battle-ground of the Turks and their Euro- pean opponents for centuries, and it was only by the peace of Sistova, in 1791, that a period of repose was secured. When in 1878 the Turks agreed to military occupation by Austria the latter had to meet an obstinate resistance from the people, who in their mountain fastnesses were/^^ able to make a long defence, even against trained armies. Naturally a country so given over to warfare has remained backward in many elements of civilization, and even agri- culture, which occupies nearly ninety per cent, of the people, is primitive in its methods. Here again, as in Croatia, was an early civilisation, and there are interesting remains of the Roman occupation. The scenery as one travels from Ragusa to Mostar, and thence still north to Sarajevo, is some of the finest to be seen on any railway line in the world. The line runs along the beautiful and romantic valley of the Narenta, then over the pass of the Ivan-Planina (a fine piece of engineering) , and so on through the mountains that form the watershed of the Adriatic to the capital of Bosnia — Sarajevo — with its glittering minarets and mosques and flat-roofed houses set in gardens, the whole backed by lofty ranges behind which the sun sets, casting long rays of gold and purple down the wooded slopes. Here, as in Mostar, the Austrian occupation has put a thin veneer of Europe over the imperishable East. The 1/ 192 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE result is somewhat to accentuate the picturesqueness of the latter at the expense of the former, but one has to confess one's debt of comfort in the way of railways and hotels, however indifferent the latter may be. The successors of the Turks have built barracks (possi- bly sanitary, but ugly and hot-looking), opened technical schools, introduced cafes, made experimental farms and constructed a variety of large and hideous Government offices, besides studding the country with forts. What they have accomplished in making roads and railways and in establishing a fine police force is the most ad- mirable part of their work, but naturally the first two are not so much designed to develop the country as for strategic purposes. A railway, it may be mentioned, has recently been constructed from Sarajevo to the frontier of Novi-Bazaar. Nor have the Austrians forgotten to attempt (at all events) educative work among the better class people. They have founded colleges for young mullahs and a law- seminary for the kadis. It is interesting to notice that the muftis of the mosques, who have always been ap- pointed by the Sultan, must now (since 1882) be confirmed in their position by the Emperor of Austria. The costumes of the peasants, like those of all the Slav races, are as varied as they are picturesque. There are different styles for each valley, and Oriental influence has produced many beautiful designs in embroidery and metal- work which are applied to dresses, carpets and utensils. The poverty of the people makes it difficult for them to indulge their natural taste, but the general effect of a BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 193 gathering of peasants is gay and picturesque. Many, of course, wear the distinctive Turkish dress, and their women (in the towns at all events) are veiled, but among the Catholic and Orthodox the old Slav styles of costume and headdress survive. On a holiday or market-day one may see the " kolo," a national dance, danced by the Servians. The better class dance in a circle of their own, the ladies in evening dress, but the true dance is best seen among the peasants. Hand in hand, men and women move round in a circle, swaying to and fro, keeping up a monotonous chant and continuing this singular form of amusement literally for hours. It is curiously unlike the usual European conception of dancing. A very interesting field of speculation is opened by the conditions of Bosnia-Herzegovina, where for the last quar- ter of a century European influence has been at work in a country originally European which has been for over four centuries under Moslem rule. The experiment is still young, but judging from the experience of other European administrators of Oriental countries, Austria's task is no easy one. The five and twenty years of Austrian occupa- tion has not, in Sarajevo, the capital, done more than place a surface crust over the lives of the people. Even here one may turn out of one's modern hotel and in a few steps enter the bazaar — that labyrinth of lanes, flanked with wooden booths in front of stone buildings. Here is no trace of the West. The barber plies his trade; the shoe- maker displays his peaked slippers of red or yellow and patches his customers' worn goods, spectacles on nose; the silver and copper smith has his little furnace and apparatus %c&( l^ 194 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE of primitive simplicity; the tailor sits cross-legged on his bench, and the sweetmeat-seller greets one's nostrils with the odour of ghee, to be smelt a long way off. Most characteristic of all is the be-turbaned old greybeard, seated cross-legged before his door, smoking sedately and imperturbably his cigarette or long hookah and surveying the world with the indifference of age-long philosophy. Through the murmur of sounds that fills the heavy air laden with the many smells of an Oriental bazaar comes a familiar clang — the importunate jangling of the bell of an electric train which glides along near by in vivid contrast to this bit of the old world. The policy of the Austrians is to attempt to break down the race tradition as far as possible, and they take a certain number of Bosnians, both Christians and Turks, into their government offices, while the soldiers recruited in Bosnia are drafted to regiments quartered at Graz, Vienna or Budapest. What do the people think of Austrian rule? What did they think of their former rulers, the Turks, or of any rule save their own? Under four centuries of Ottoman domination they undoubtedly absorbed enough of the patient resignation of the Oriental to be philosophical under the features of misrule peculiar to Oriental gov- ernments, but a more active and systematic method of government is likely to arouse definite opposition. Tax- ation, they complain, bears heavily, and the price paid for Austrian order is too great — Turkish disorder was prefer- able. Then, the usual complaint of the Oriental under European domination. There is no longer any flavour in SLIPPER SELLER, SARAJEVO ROASTING LAMBS, BOSNIA BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 195 life; no risks, no chances, and no gambling with Fate, no possibilities of a career founded on nothing more than skill and tact — nothing but the bare facts of a bureau- cracy bound hand and foot with red-tape and a peasantry compelled to pay taxes. With the usual adaptability of the Slav race the Bos- nians, employed by the Government in tobacco-factories, have already varied the monotony by strikes, adopting the weapons of a different phase of development for lack of better. The appearance of the Bosnians impresses one favourably. They have the fine bearing of a mountain people, and the open countenances and square look in the eyes which one hardly expects from a race with their history of subjection. The women are often very hand- some, and both sexes have a bright intelligent look and are said to have excellent mental capacity. The Bosnians naturally make good soldiers and there are native regi- ments totalling some seven thousand men. Conscription for the Austro-Hungarian army is on the same footing as in Austria, and, as we have said already, the attempt is made by associating the conscript with regimental com- panies from other parts of the Dual Monarchy to cure him of a too narrow and local patriotism. Dalmatia is a crown-land of Austria, and consists of little more than a montainous fringe and a long string of (comparatively) barren islands. Yet the importance of this region in history shews that it must have some stra- tegic advantages, and, in fact, its position on the coast of the Adriatic makes it essential to the region of Central Europe which is cut off in every other quarter from the ig6 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE sea. Here again we have the Slav population contending with an alien race and civilisation, and the tenacity with which they have held their own is the more remarkable because in this case it was the tide of Latin and Italian influence which they have had to combat. The people are, like the Bosnians and Croato-Slavonians, Serbo-Croats, a compound name which indicates not so much two races as two forms of Christianity. The Italian element is strong, especially in some of the towns, like Trieste or Zara, and there is a continual conflict between the national (Slav) party and that of the Italians. The costumes of the Dalmatians and their fine personal appearance make them very attractive, and it is curious to trace the warring influences of East and West in their dresses, which are as much Turkish as Italian or Slav. No part of the Austrian lands has a more varied his- tory than this coast of the Adriatic, which was an inde- pendent kingdom before Augustus annexed it to the province of Illyricum. Then came Goths, Avars, and a Slav dominion which lasted for five centuries, and when in the twelfth century the kingdom of Hungary conquered part of it, the rest, forming the duchy of Dalmatia, came under the suzerainty of the Venetian republic, from whom it was partially wrested by the Turks some three centuries later. Then Dalmatia was ceded entirely to Venice in 171 8, in 1797 was handed to Austria, in 1805 became part of Italy, in 18 10 formed part of the Napoleonic "kingdom of Illyria," and since 18 14 has once more been placed under Austria. It has, in fact, been a pawn in the game played by the Powers, for in all these trans- DALMATIA 197 actions Dalmatia itself has been more or less passive. One part of it has, however, a record of independence only broken when Napoleon conquered it in 1806, and that is Ragusa, the ancient town which once was the centre of a republic, small in fact but great in historical tradition. As early as the fourteenth century Ragusa was a flourish- ing town and the centre of a civilisation far ahead of any contemporary in Germany or even Italy. In this beautiful coast town, lying picturesquely at the foot and on the slopes of Mt. Sergio, there were schools and colleges of European renown. Here poets sang and philosophers taught, and students came even from Germany to listen to them. There is a quaint old-world air about the sleepy town to-day, but little to remind one that it was once the seat of learning or the centre of a busy trade, and that its harbour was full of vessels and its markets of merchants. It lies in the broad sunshine, its white buildings contrasting with the green of foliage and brilliant hues of the flower- gardens that surround its villas, the deep blue Adriatic beating against its rocky shore. In many respects Ragusa is the most beautiful city of the Adriatic, though it is hard to realise that this sleepy, shut-in, little, old town ever played a great part in history. Since the conquest by Napoleon Ragusa has followed the fortunes of the rest of Dalmatia, and it is to-day under Austrian rule, though there is little to shew that any living force is at work. An Adriatic coast town of a different character is Trieste, which has also a long history, but, unlike Ra- gusa, lives very keenly in the present. It is practically the one sea-port of Austria, Fiume being the only one of 198 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE Hungary; and these two divide the Austro-Hungarian trade. The Emperor Charles VI. made Trieste a free port in 1 7 19, but it is not free since 1891 and only the new harbour is outside the customs limit. Austria has spent a good deal of money on improvements and continues to enlarge the accommodation for ships. The position of Trieste, at the head of the Adriatic and close to the Italian frontier, is of great importance in relation to the political situation, and it is no secret that the control of this key of the Adriatic, the nearest coast town and harbour for Central Europe, is the subject of many chauvinist designs on the part of Italy and Germany. It is, however, ab- solutely essential to Austria, nor would it be convenient for Hungary to see it converted into a rival port, in the hands of a powerful neighbour and possible commercial opponent. At Pola, on the point of the Istrian peninsula, is the Austrian naval station. It still contains magnificent re- mains of the Roman days when it was an important place, though the constant dispute for its possession by the Genoese and Venetians led to much destruction of the ancient town. Like the rest of Dalmatia, it passed into Austrian hands after the Napoleonic war. The salient features of the Dalmatian province are, first, the historical traditions, a modern administration built up on the ruins of ancient kingdoms and republics; second, the eternal race conflict, in which the substratum of Slavs are now shewing renewed vitality. In another place we have mentioned the influence of the French occu- pation during the brief " kingdom of Illyria " period in STREET SCENE, RAGUSA DALMATIA 199 reviving native sentiment. The reawakened feeling has not died out, and the result is that the predominance of the Italian element is being slowly but surely reduced. Whither this revived national sentiment is leading the Slavs of Dalmatia it is hard to say, but for the present they contend chiefly for control of their provincial Diet and local and municipal governments, and for the privilege of sending as many as possible of the eleven members who represent them in the Reichsrath. 2 The future of these two territories, Bosnia-Herzego- vina and Dalmatia, is involved not only with that of the Dual Monarchy but with that of the Balkan States and Italy. No portion of the Habsburg domains is fuller of interest, and none presents more difficulties of racial, reli- gious and political development than these lands bordering the blue Adriatic. 2 In the summer of 1906 serious riots occurred between the Serbo-Croatian and Italian elements in Dalmatia and Croatia. A gathering of sokols (gymnas- tic societies from different Slavonic lands), held at Agram, was the signal for displays of Slav nationalism which aroused the ire of the Latin population; outrages were committed and street fighting took place, order only being re- stored by the military. CHAPTER X STATE ORGANISATION That there is a considerable degree of misconception as to the actual constitution of Austria-Hungary is plain from the errors in terminology which one meets in the writings of well-informed people as well as in ordinary conversation. The expression, " Austrian empire," fre- quently applied to the two countries of Austria and Hun- gary with their dependencies, is the most common of these mistakes. There are English maps which bear this legend printed right across Central Erope. It is therefore neces- sary to begin at the beginning, in order to explain the or- ganisation of the Dual Monarchy as a state. There is an Austrian empire and an Austrian emperor — emperor by virtue of his descent from a long Imperial line, though the empire over which his predecessors ruled was different in character and extent to the dominions over which he holds sway to-day. Austria itself is only one part of those dominions, but it is the centre round which others are grouped and gives its Imperial name to certain erstwhile independent kingdoms, duchies, and counties now under the rule of the house of Habsburg. There are seventeen of these " crown lands," called generically provinces, 1 each having a provincial Diet or local par- liament and a certain degree of autonomy and all sending 200 STATE ORGANISATION 201 representatives to the Austrian imperial parliament or Reichsrath. 2 While these provinces are collectively termed Austria, just as the French provinces make France, yet the Aus- trian emperor must de facto assume all the titles connected with each division in order to establish his claim on them. Thus he is king of Bohemia, Dalmatia, and Galicia; archduke of Lower and Upper Austria; duke of Styria, Carinthia, etc.; count of the Tryol, etc. Bohemia claims independence for herself and for the lands belonging to the Bohemian crown by reason of her historical constitu- tional rights. Her claim is to be an independent country with a separate constitution under the kingship of the "J *-,*./ Austrian emperor. At present, however, the Emperor ""^^^f Francis Joseph has never consented to a coronation in Prague, which would involve the recognition of Bohemia as not a province, but an allied, independent state, and she remains a province of Austria. The kingdom of Hungary is not a province of Aus- tria — a disclaimer which may seem unnecessary to many people, but which is, in fact, justified by the misconceptions which prevail. It is very usual for Hungary to be com- 1 Kingdoms Carinthia Bohemia, Galicia and Dalmatia Carniola Margraviates Silesia Moravia and Istria Bukowina Arch-Duchies " Land " sim Ph Upper Austria Vorarlberg Lower Austria Counties, raised to Principalities Duchies Gorz-Gradiska and Tyrol Salzburg Special Crown Land Styria Trieste and District 202 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE pared to Ireland, in its relations to an alien king, but the comparison is misleading. In traits of character, and in some degree in economic conditions, there is a likeness between the two countries, but their constitutional posi- tion is totally different. Hungary is, and always has been, an independent sovereign state governed by rulers whose authority has of necessity been recognised by her Estates. The basis of the connection with Austria is the fact that the reigning house of Austria is also the reigning house of Hungary, and this personal link has brought about a close political and commercial union. At the same time since 1867 the two monarchies have been organised as one state for certain purposes, and this union is not casual nor mechanical but is founded on a constitution promulgated by their common ruler and recognised by their Estates. Both in Austria and Hungary the crown is hereditary in the house of Habsburg-Lorraine, and the monarch must be a member of the Roman Catholic Church. His official titles are Emperor of Austria and Apostolic king of Hun- gary, and the correct style of his dominions is the " Austro- Hungarian monarchy." It is obviously incorrect to speak of the Austro-Hungarian empire, because Hungary is neither an empire nor part of an empire. It has become usual in text books to adopt a division of the dual mon- archy into two parts, and to call these " Cisleithania and Transleithania," that is, the lands west and east of the river Leitha, roughly Austria and Hungary. This nomenclature, however, does not appear to have any au- thority, and it obscures the actual facts of the case and is obnoxious to Hungarians, because it has the appearance STATE ORGANISATION 203 of making them part of an Austrian empire. Lest this be thought a far-fetched objection it may be worth while to quote from an otherwise admirable book of reference, the last edition of Baedeker, " The Leitha is here the boundary between Austria and Hungary, dividing the empire into Cisleithania and Transleithania." We have already traced the historical genesis of the Dual Monarchy, and explained the circumstances that led up to the reorganisation of its political relations which took place in the Ausgleich of 1867. The subject is, however, so complicated that it may be well (at the risk of repetition) to give here the salient features in that compact. The entire independence of the two states and the hereditary claims of the house of Habsburg-Lorraine on both being recognised, a certain number of affairs were placed for mutual advantage under joint control. These common affairs are (1) Foreign relations; (2) Military and naval affairs connected with common defence (each country has, besides, its own independent military depart- ment) ; (3) Finance relating to common affairs. The operations of these joint departments are explained in more detail later on, and it need only be said here that they are dependent on the bodies in Austria and Hungary, which have the power of voting money for joint expendi- ture. This money is controlled by what are known as the two Delegations, each composed of sixty members chosen from the parliaments of the two countries and appointed for one year. These Delegations, which form the parliamentary organ of the Dual Monarchy as a whole, meet alternately at Vienna and Budapest every 204 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE year and deliberate independently, their decisions being communicated to each other in writing. If a mutual agreement cannot be arrived at, the Delegations, or an equal number of their members from either side, meet and vote on the question without discussion. It is notorious that the power of producing a deadlock in the affairs of the country is a weapon which has been used without scruple to secure party ends. This political union is theoretically permanent and forms, indeed, a part of the Constitution. There is, how- ever, a commercial union which has to be renewed by mutual agreement at intervals of ten years. The two states form practically one territory for customs and commerce; they have the same coinage, weights, and measures, and a joint bank. The agreement on which the continuance of this state of affairs depends was renewable in 1897, but for purposes of political obstruction the necessary consent was withheld and the situation had to be met by a provisional arrangement, by which the emperor, exercising his pre- rogatives, prolonged the duration of the agreement. We have seen that the Austrian provinces enjoy a considerable degree of autonomy exercised through the medium of the provincial diets. These diets are, in prin- ciple, representative of the people, but the preponderance given to the landed and monied interest precludes any representation in the democratic sense of the word. The present electoral basis secures this state of affairs, but the granting of universal suffrage, now under considera- tion, will undoubtedly cause a great upheaval of the present system. The constitution of the provincial diets is, in STATE ORGANISATION 205 fact, a smaller replica (with only one house) of the Reichsrathor Austrian parliament, and the briefest descrip- tion of the latter will therefore suffice. There are in the Austrian (as in the British) parlia- ment two houses, the first hereditary and the second elective. The upper house includes all Imperial princes who are of age, a number of hereditary nobles possessing large landed property, a certain number of princes of the Church (prince-bishops and archbishops), and life mem- bers nominated by the Emperor for services to Church or State or distinguished in art or science. The lower house consists of members elected, partly directly and partly indirectly, by the votes of all citizens twenty-four years of age and possessing certain small property and personal qualifications. It is not, in fact, so much the electoral qualification as the classification of voters which constitutes the advantage obtained by a sec- tion of the population. By a careful gerrymandering the landed proprietors, the towns, and the chambers of trade and commerce, obtain a preponderance in the Reichsrath which is out of proportion to the numerical strength of their supporters. As the whole of this system, which has given rise to great discontent, will be revised by the Bill passed in December, 1906, it need not be discussed in detail, but it must be noted that the preponderance in Austria and Bohemia of the German element in the towns and com- merce, and also the strong conservative element in the Church and among the large landed proprietors, have hitherto been favourable to the preservation of German influence and interests. r 2o6 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE The Hungarian half of the Dual Monarchy has a Con- stitution different in many respects from that of Austria and dating back to 1222. This Constitution was frequently disregarded, but the only period in which it can be said to have been really in suspension was that following the abortive revolution of 1849. ^ n !867, however, it was reaffirmed and established by the coronation-oath of Fran- cis Joseph. Hungary was established first as an aristo- cratic monarchy, and the historic chamber of its govern- mental system is the House of Magnates, originally the " Table," the true constitutional assembly of the Magyars. Although the crown is hereditary, the consent of the Mag- nates has always been considered essential to the legal position of the sovereign. Since 1885 this House of Lords has been reformed, and now includes, besides the great nobles in whose families the dignity is hereditary, a number of Church dignitaries of the Roman Catholic, Greek, and Protestant Churches. There are also life- peers appointed by the crown and others appointed by the house itself, and the high judges and officials of State are, ex officio, members of this house. Besides all these, there are three members who are delegates from Croatia-Slavonia. The lower (representative) house is elected on a lower suffrage qualification than in Austria, and in the case of professional, scientific or learned classes without any but the requisite age qualification. The elections take place every five years and parlia- ment meets annually at Budapest, Magyar being the language spoken, though the Croatian-Serbs may use their STATE ORGANISATION 207 own tongue. Members are paid £200 a year, with an allowance for house-rent. In Austria, it may be men- tioned, they get only 16s. 8d. for each day's attendance, with travelling expenses. The system of local government is based on the com- mune as the unit of administration, and all males over twenty who pay the State taxes have electoral rights within their commune. In Croatia-Slavonia each county has an assembly similar to the local representative bodies of Hun- gary, and this country has also a national Diet and au- tonomy for home affairs, public instruction and justice. At the head of this autonomous provincial Diet, and responsible both to it and to the Hungarian prime min- ister is the Ban of Croatia, who, nowadays, is a Hungarian noble. The parliamentary system of the Dual Monarchy differs in some points from that of Great Britain, and notably in the position of the sovereign. In our country the defeat of a political party entails upon the King the duty of in- viting the one of the leaders of the party which has secured a majority to form a new ministry, and the Prime Min- ister is responsible to his party and must follow the policy and traditions of that party. In Austria and Hungary the emperor selects a prime minister and entrusts him with the task of getting a party together with a sufficient majority to get its policy through. The prime minister in this case is responsible to the sovereign, whose policy he has undertaken (more or less) to put through. It is obvious, therefore, that the personal influence of the sov- ereign is a very important factor, and also that the 208 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE situation is one that specially favours the continuance of small political parties and the rise of the smaller nation- alities. Though relatively small in number, a united party, like the Poles of Galicia, for instance, can secure great concessions at critical moments by the weight they are able to throw into the scale. We have a similar phe- nomenon (quite at variance with the true traditions of parliamentary party government) in our own Irish party, but Austria and Hungary have each not one but several Irelands to contend with. No sketch, however incomplete, of the administration of Austria-Hungary could fail to notice the prevalence of that objectionable feature known as red-tape. This is specially pronounced in Austria, where the machine is a very old and complicated one, but Hungary has not escaped the taint, and the whole administration of the monarchy is complex and elaborate in the extreme. As in Russia, Germany, Italy, and France, the position occu- pied by the functionaries of the State, down to the hum- blest of street officials, is hedged round with a kind of divinity. The British and American public, who regard the officers of the State as their servants and not their masters, may consider this objectionable, but in a country so full of discordant elements as Austria-Hungary it is peculiarly necessary to uphold the majesty of the law. It is sometimes stated that the police abuse their privileged position and that brutality and corruption are as rife here as in Russia, but due allowance has to be made for a country which is only just emerging from a reign of absolutism. JEWISH TYPES, GALICIA RUTHENIANS, FROM CRACOW STATE ORGANISATION 209 There are certainly regulations which, designed for the protection of the community, are a restriction on the lib- erty of the individual. Such is the law of Schubmesen, whereby it is enacted that a person without means of sub- sistence should be sent to the commune in which he was born. Then in Austria the workman must carry a certifi- cate of his place of domicile and a book in which the record of his work is shewn, and other formalities must be complied with which, in the hands of petty officials, may be made a source of irritation or oppression. These provisions, however, are not to be criticised as peculiar to the Austrian system, since they are in fact identical with those found in the most modern and progressive industrial centres — for instance, in Berlin — and side by side with the most advanced socialist propaganda. A little while ago a party of superior mechanics from Birmingham paid a visit to some fellow-workmen in Berlin, and in comparing their lot with those of their German fellows they remarked that the discipline inflicted on the latter (from military service downwards) appeared to have the effect of mak- ing them healthier, richer, and happier than their untram- melled contemporaries in England. It is not advisable, therefore, to pass judgment too hastily on any continental system, but in the administration of the system it is possible to detect serious defects. These are almost invariably due in Austria to red-tape. The lack of originality and initiative which are apparent in the educated Austrian are increased tenfold by an official train- ing. From the court, with its wearisome and elaborate 210 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE etiquette, down to the merest municipal offices, everyone is so weighted with rules, regulations and traditions, books of reference and precedent that it seems impossible to move them out of the narrow groove in which their minds are set. An almost incredible incident of bureaucratic red tape occurred some little time ago in connection with a minor railway official. It must be premised that every station master must fill in elaborate returns of all the traffic, place of origin and destination, character, bulk, etc., and after a day's hard labour the busy man of all work on a small station is not too particular about his " returns " so long as they are plausible. On these figures are built up an elaborate superstructure of statistics, demonstrating the most undemonstrable facts with the clearness and convinc- ing force customary with such documents. The story is concerned with one of these busy officials who, in supply- ing material for such heavy artillery, was so unfortunate as to traverse some of the regulations. He was haled be- fore a committee of inquiry, when his advocate appeared followed by a stout porter staggering under the load of thirty heavy volumes. The advocate arranged these be- fore him and said, " Gentlemen, the regulation my client has infringed is contained in one of these volumes. He is still a young man. I have nothing more to say." Re- sult, acquittal ! The Italians used to have a saying regarding the Aus- trians which dates from the early days of the occupation by the latter of north Italy. They say the Austrians are a people " che vogliano la carta " — " always want paper," STATE ORGANISATION 211 and the criticism is almost equally applicable to the Hungarians. All government employes, even for the lower grades, must have a complete Realschule or Gymnasium education, and unless they have passed the examination which en- titles them to enter the university, their chances of promo- tion are slight. Except for the natural operation of favouritism there is no distinction, social or otherwise, in the appointments. An excellent provision is that by which the lower civil services (copying clerks, porters, postmen, and minor post and telegraph officials, etc.) are given to men (non-commissioned officers particularly) of the Honved (Hungarian army) and Landwehr (Austrian militia) who have been twelve years with the colours. Besides the ordinary police, there is a secret service or " Staats " police, and the functions of this body, so repul- sive in principle to Britons and Americans, need some explanation. After 1848, during the period of absolutism which was directed by Metternich, Austria and Hungary were permeated by the secret police, and it is true that a tyranny was established by means of the information they were able to acquire. But the transformation of not only Hungary but Austria also into constitutional states has been accomplished, and the permeation of liberal ideas has made inevitable the gradual restriction of the functions of the secret police. They are now employed, undoubt- edly, partly for political and partly for criminal investiga- tions, and also to carry out the system by which each citizen is personally under the observation of the law, but it is not necessary to construe this into an interference with 212 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE private liberty; it is rather in the nature of a preventive measure, which the democratic countries where every man is his own keeper do not deem necessary. In one respect this supervision is necessary to the military organ- isation of the county, for it is necessary to keep in touch with all the Reserve officers in case of mobilisation. The real evil, if there is an evil, lies not in any special feature of the system, but in the system itself, and (as our Birming- ham mechanic pointed out) even the extremes of bu- reaucracy may have their advantages. It is, however, incontestable that the development of a bureaucratic sys- tem is favourable to the growth of red tape, and that both are frequently the cause of inconvenience, or even worse, while the multiplication of petty functionaries creates a class of men whose chief business in life is to make work. We must now turn to another side of Austro-Hungarian administration and one which is of the deepest political, as well as economic, importance — the finances of the two countries. The story of the national finances of Austria is a chequered and often melancholy one. It is of course im- possible to trace it in any detail, or to go, back to any remote period. In 1812 there was practically a State bankruptcy, caused partially no doubt by the drain of the Napoleonic wars, but also due to a long period of State improvidence. For a hundred years paper money was cours-force, and at the end of the eighteenth century the State began to issue, without the intermediary of banks, notes which were called " banco zettel." This paper de- preciated in value until in 18 10 the Treasury fixed the STATE ORGANISATION 213 rate of exchange at which the notes could be accepted (at one-fifth of their face value) for other notes which were called " retreats." But even this was not the lowest depth reached by the paper currency, since the notes given for the "banco zettel " were in 18 13 exchanged for anticipatory notes, so called because they were to be guaranteed and exchanged at a later date on the security of certain taxes yet to be levied. The depreciation in this paper money was, later on, limited by law to 60 per cent., but not even this liberal margin covered the actual loss. It became apparent that some strenuous effort must be made to save the situation, and the Austrian National Bank was founded, with privileges and concessions from the State. The " retreat " and " anticipatory " notes were destroyed and exchanged for bonds ("obligations") or for notes issued by the bank. In 1839 there were still in currency 135 millions of old State paper notes {cours-force) and these constantly depre- ciated, having to pay a premium on metal, as the bank- notes could be exchanged against specie at par. This state of affairs continued until in 1848 the bank ad- vanced important sums to the State in notes. The calls made by the State upon the resources of the bank ham- pered the operations of the latter, and commerce and industries suffered in consequence. Moreover, the care- less administration of the State finances brought about a depreciation in the value even of the bank paper, and in 1848 the situation was aggravated by the decreeing of cours-force for banknotes. In 1855 there was a general breakdown in the Austrian 214 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE finances, a state of affairs which was largely instrumental in deciding the Emperor to grant constitutional rights to his subjects. In the October patent of i860, and still more in the February charter of 1861, the control of finances and issue of new loans were among the first pre- rogatives of Parliament, but that body did not altogether fulfil the hopes of its originators in " raising the wind," being more inclined to ask for accounts than to provide funds. Nevertheless, reforms were planned, and payment by specie was to begin in 1867, a pious aspiration entirely defeated by the war of 1866 and the necessity for a fresh issue of paper money. In 1867 came the Ausgleich and a rearrangement of the finances of the Dual Monarchy on a basis to be described later. After a period of economic development came another of wild flotation and stock-jobbing, and in 1873 a terrible financial crisis was the result. In 1878 the occupation of Herzegovina and a great expansion in railway construction made it impossible for the State to begin its task of call- ing in paper, but since that period there has been a steady and continuous effort both in Austria and Hungary to remedy the chronic deficit in the budgets and to arrive at payment in specie. The privileged Austrian bank was, in 1878, transformed into the Austro-Hungarian Bank with centres, having equality of control, at Vienna and Buda- pest. In 1892 both states adopted a gold standard on the basis of the 10-krone piece (the krone equalling iod.) , and this reform of the currency has proved very beneficial, though, to begin with, the gold standard had to be consoli- dated at fifteen per cent, loss on the former legal silver STATE ORGANISATION 215 standard of Austria-Hungary. Gold has been bought abroad by means of " gold loans," and at the present time the bank must hold a reserve of gold to cover forty-nine per cent, of banknotes in circulation. Although not legally bound to do so, the bank pays its notes in gold on demand. As a matter of fact, the gold coinage has never become pop- ular, paper being preferred, and the gold in the possession of the bank in 1904 amounted to over sixty-three million pounds and exceeded that of the German Reichsbank or the Bank of England. The single paper florins were with- drawn in 1898 and replaced by silver and nickel money, but there are still State notes of five to fifty florins (equal- ling ten to a hundred krone) in circulation, which will in time be absorbed and replaced by metal or banknotes. The State has to make a deposit with the bank to cover each State note converted into a banknote. There have been many conversions and operations too technical and compli- cated for description here ; it is sufficient to say that Austria has emerged from the slough of financial difficulties which at one time threatened to engulf her. She has no longer a depreciated and uncertain coinage, and her State paper is all fully guaranteed. Her heavy liabilities are, it is as- serted, due to the necessity of military expenditure, but in fact they are due also to past financial misdeeds. Because of these, educational requirements and public works were neglected, and at the present time the growth of social and humanitarian feeling in State and country alike makes increased expenditures inevitable. The Austrian budgets for the last few years shew, on paper, a balance of revenue over expenditure, and both are V 216 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE increasing steadily. The great increase in expenditure on public works includes the taking over and construction of railways, about sixty per cent, of which have been placed under State control. A network of local lines exist in addition to the main arteries of traffic, and these are partly privately owned, or are the property of the provinces or communes. The Government encourages construction. Tariffs and freights are kept low on State lines to promote trade and industry, and although the railways are unre- munerative — earning only two per cent, and costing over four per cent, on their capital value — they must be con- sidered as indirectly productive, and essential to the proper development of the country. On the other hand, the nominal increase in revenue is deceptive, as there are in- cluded in it assets which are not ordinary income. Were it not for the method of preparing the budgets a deficit would appear in the place of the surplus, and the financial condition has, in reality, been less satisfactory than it might have been for the last five years owing to the method em- ployed by various political parties of obstructing the voting of supplies. Large sums demanded for the services and public works remain unvoted. The financial affairs of the Dual Monarchy are divided into three sections, each having its own finance minister. It is recorded that when Victor Emmanuel visited the Aus- trian emperor at Vienna, and was presented to each of these functionaries in turn, he exclaimed with surprise: ' What a rich country this must be to want three finance ministers!" The three departments are, however, kept entirely separate, and as this arrangement is one of the STATE ORGANISATION 217 fundamental characteristics of the Constitution and fur- nishes matter for perennial debate between Austria and Hungary, it is necessary to understand it clearly. Each half of the monarchy has a separate budget, with revenue and expenditure entirely independent and distinct. Each has its own civil list, its own national debt, its own internal administration and its own chancellery (to mention only a few of the heads of expenditure), while Austria has to keep up a ministry of national defence and Hungary main- tains at her own expense her national army or Honved. The sources of revenue are similar in principle in both countries, but differ in detail. They consist of taxation, direct and indirect, State monopolies and State properties, the latter including forests, silver and coal mines, and State railways. Besides the two distinct financial departments of Austria and Hungary there is a third joint department, which deals with common affairs and has a common reve- nue, partly derived from the common customs receipts and partly from contributions from each half of the monarchy. The question of the right proportions of these contribu- tions has naturally been a burning one. It is nominally decided every ten years by two committees chosen from the delegations from the two parliaments and called "Quota" deputations. Up to 1897 Austria paid 65.6 and Hungary 34.4, but the Hungarians refused to accept this proportion, and the deputations failed to agree. As a result parliamentary business broke down, neither the customs union nor the Bank charter were confirmed and the necessary steps had to be taken by Royal charter. Peace was restored for a time in 1899 by the reduction of 218 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE the Hungarian proportion to 33, but while Austrians con- tinue to grumble that, although paying two-thirds of the expenses they have only half control, the Hungarians are by no means satisfied, and believe that with entirely sepa- rate departments they could work more economically. The departments included in this Common budget are three: First, foreign affairs, including diplomatic and consular representatives abroad, as well as international relations (with regard to tjie latter, however, sanction to treaties, commercial or otherwise, must be given alike by the Aus- trian and Hungarian parliaments) . Second, the army and navy, excluding measures in which Austria alone is con- cerned, such as the voting of recruits and legislation re- specting military service; Third, finance, so far as the joint budget is concerned. There is also a class of financial questions upon which the two halves of the Dual Monarchy determine in com- mon, such as customs legislation, coinage and currency questions, railways in which both have an interest and the military system. The Dual Monarchy also has customs and commercial relations in common. A customs and commercial union was made in 1867, renewed in 1878 and promulgated in 1887 for a period of ten years. Since that time, as has been said already, it has not been renewed by parliament, but the Emperor-King has prolonged it by the use of his prerogatives, and at the time of writing a provisional arrangement is in force pending the sanction of Parliament. This is one of the battlefields of the Dual Monarchy. Round this customs convention wages the fiercest war, and it is only possible to understand the polit- STATE ORGANISATION 219 ical situation in Austria-Hungary by appreciating the im- portance of the question in the relations of the two countries. It must be premised that the revenue of the joint customs is ear-marked for common expenditure, and is the only revenue actually set apart for that purpose. There is always a deficit, which moreover is increasing out of proportion to the increase in customs revenue. It is this deficit which has to be supplied by the proportional contributions already described. The customs convention is undoubtedly useful to Austria, as it protects her manu- factures against German competition, and Austrians de- clare that without the customs convention their legitimate contribution to common expenditure should be reduced by ten per cent, and would still be too high. Many Hun- garians who are bent on entire independence of Austria in commercial matters would prefer to have their own con- sulates, and do not allow that they have a control of joint affairs in proportion to their contribution. The whole question raised, however, is essentially one of high politics, and must be considered in a subsequent chapter. Enough has been said to shew that the common affairs of the Dual Monarchy bristle with difficulties. The Hungarian finances have been complicated by Par- liamentary obstruction in the same way as the common finances. In 1903-4 nearly two million pounds were lost to the Government through the Radical opposition to the Budget and the failure to vote supply and therefore to collect taxation. It is calculated that, as the great joint stock companies paid their taxes in spite of obstruction, the mass of the population remained debtors to the State of 220 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE half their taxes, and a great deal of this cannot be recov- ered. Nevertheless the Government was able to stand the strain, for, Hungarian finances having been placed on a sound basis by Dr. Wekerle (a financier of European re- putation) , the revenue and expenditure are now made to balance despite the heavy and progressive expenditure on public works. This satisfactory state of affairs was not reached until some years after Hungary secured her in- dependence. A heavy initial outlay was made on rail- ways, and the policy of nationalising all lines has been fol- lowed out, sometimes by means of forced sales. The zone tariff was adopted, and the lines are not regarded as revenue-producing, being on the contrary partly covered by income from other sources. Educational and industrial institutions are the subjects of State solicitude, and although Hungary enunciates the principle that private enterprise is essential to industrial activity, she is in fact indulging, like Austria, in some extreme forms of State socialism. The revenue and expenditure of Hungary for 1905 were esti- mated respectively at £51,583,000, and £51,385,000. At the time of the Ausgleich Hungary took over a pro- portion of the national debt, incurred during the absolut- ist period, which amounted to about one-fourth. This arrangement was altered in 1876 to a fixed annual contri- bution towards interest (£2,431,000), but, owing to differ- ences of opinion between the two countries on the details of the conversion which then took place, a portion of the debt was put on one side as the Hungarian share, and still pays the original rate of interest, while Hungary contri- butes a fixed sum of two and a half millions as her con- STATE ORGANISATION 221 tribution. Besides this joint national debt, which in 1903 amounted to 226 millions sterling, each half of the Dual Monarchy has its own national debt. That of Austria amounted in 1903 to £382,791,000, and that of Hungary to £141,075,000, or nearly £10 per head of population, about half that of the United Kingdom. These debts, especially that of Austria, are heavy charges, but it is necessary to remember the expensive reforms in currency and financial methods which the mistakes of former years made necessary, and also the recent heavy expenditure on works which may reasonably be expected to be in time reproductive. We have said already that in principle both halves of the Dual Monarchy raise their revenue by similar means. Direct taxation in both countries has been considerably raised and is proportionately high. There are two divi- sions of direct taxation; one current in both States, fixed by renewable compromise, which includes taxes on various articles of consumption, and the other separately raised and varying in incidence in each country, such as ground, house, trade, income, and transport taxation. The income tax is levied on nearly the same basis in both halves of the monarchy and is divided into four classes, which include ( 1 ) ground rent and mortgages, (2) industrial and commercial revenues, (3) professional or other private incomes, salaries and profits on farming, (4) interest on revenue from capital or unearned increment. As in England, the tax on personal incomes is progressive (immunity being only granted below £50) ; being .6 per cent, up to £75 and rising to nearly five per cent, on in- 222 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE comes exceeding £8,333 P er annum. Nearly half the tax- payers pay on incomes below £75 a year; moreover many individuals may have to pay twice over, as there is a sepa- rately levied tax on salaries over £266 which are not in- cluded in income. A merchant who owns land in the country and a house in town pays the land-tax, the house- tax, the industry tax, and probably a tax on dividends, and then, deducting the total of his taxation, he pays a tax on his income counting the sources already taxed. 3 The State monopolies constitute another and very fruit- ful source of revenue. Austria has had a State monoply of tobacco since 1670. To-day it is directly exploited, both in culture, importation and manufacture. Hungary has followed suit since 1851, having built up an industry of her own in this respect, partly by a patriotic resolve on the part of the Magyars to smoke only Hungarian tobacco. Of the foreign capital in the Dual Monarchy nearly half that invested both in Government stock and private enter- prises is French ; twenty-eight per cent, is German and the rest is English, Dutch, and Belgian. The French in- vestor, who is notoriously shy of financing any enterprise in his own country, has, in addition to Government and railway stock, been willing to take up less reliable invest- ments in mines. Austria and Hungary are both anxious to retain the control of the railways, many of which are built with French capital, and in some cases are forcibly buying up railways, paying for them in State bonds. The 3 Compare with the English income tax; immunity below ^160 per annum and abatements on a progressive scale up to ^700. STATE ORGANISATION 223 most solid financial Austrian institution is the Austrian Credit Foncier, which is built up largely on French capital and has a central office at Paris, with branches in most of the large Austrian cities and at Bucharest. The Hungarian Credit Foncier was also a French creation and has a good standing. German capital is especially engaged in indus- trial enterprises in which the direction and control is also German. Curiously enough, German enterprise is more extensive in Hungary than in Austria. The Stock Exchange, both at Vienna and Budapest, is entirely controlled by the Jewish element. We have al- ready mentioned that all the bankers are Jews, and the shares of the great credit establishment, the Austro-Hun- garian bank, practically regulate the market. Capital is, to a very large extent, foreign, and foreign influence is a great factor, a circumstance which might cause uneasiness, in view of the weight of the money market in matters political, were it not becoming more and more apparent that in Europe, and indeed in the whole civilised world, the operations of the various stock exchanges, controlled by a narrowing ring (chiefly Jewish), are influenced far less than might be expected by national or political considera- tions. The third department of State which Austria and Hun- gary share in common is that of Defence. The geographi- cal position of the two countries gives them an immense stretch of frontier to defend; they have three powerful States as neighbours, and it is not surprising to find that the military spirit is highly developed and that the whole social organisation is built up round the army. As in 224 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE Germany and France, the system of defence rests on uni- versal conscription. Practically from the age of nineteen to that of forty-two, all able males are liable to military service in one form or another, and even those exempt in time of peace are liable to be called out in wartime. There are three classes of service; the common army of the Dual Monarchy, the special armies {Honved of Hun- gary and Landwehr of Austria), and the levy-in-mass. The term of service is twelve years, of which three years are passed with the colours, seven in the reserve (common army) and two with the Honved or Landwehr. Con- scription for the common army begins at twenty-one years of age. In addition to the men recruited under this reg- ulation, the Honved and Landwehr have the right to recruit independently a yearly contingent which serves two years with the colours and ten with the reserves. The peculiar significance of this regulation is that it establishes the principle that the two national armies are entirely separate from the common army though they are linked up for the purposes of defence. Besides the ordinary service of twelve years, all males between the ages of nineteen and forty-two, whether belonging to the exempt classes or not, are liable to be called out by the levy-in-mass, unless (of course) they already belong to the common army or navy, reserve, or special armies. This levy-in-mass cannot, how- ever, be sent beyond the country except by statute, and it forms in reality a reserve which would only be indented upon at a national crisis. It must be noted that the " exempt " classes (elementary school teachers, single men supporting mothers, and others) are not released from all STATE ORGANISATION 225 military obligation. They are formed into a supple- mentary reserve called the Ersatz, and are liable to eight weeks' training and four weeks' manoeuvres in the year. Moreover, those who have adopted the military profession are not exempt from service after the age of forty-two, and both they and civil officials in retirement may be called on to serve in the levy-in-mass until the age of sixty. The Emperor-King is the head of the army, and is called the "War Lord" (Oberste Kriegs Herr). Im- mediately under (and responsible to) him are the three or four inspectors general. The Landwehr and Honved have each their own commander-in-chief, answerable only to the Emperor, and the common army has a General Staff, the chief of which is responsible to the Emperor alone. The central administration of the common army is the war ministry at Vienna, and the Landwehr and Honved have respectively national ministries of defence at Vienna and Budapest. The General Staff, like the organisation of the army generally, is modelled on that of Germany and presents no special features. Officers serving on it have not only to pass very severe examinations, but must perform prac- tical staff work with distinction. They are also given relief from staff work and kept in touch with the troops by short periods of command in different districts. Each army corps and each division has a " General Staff sec- tion," with a Staff officer as chief of Staff assisted by three or four others. The brigades have each one General Staff officer. The recruiting for the medical corps is partly accom- 226 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE plished by granting subventions to young men who, in re- turn for aid in pursuing their medical studies, give a certain number of years' service in the army. All other medical students are liable to the usual conscription, but give only six months under the colours and six months in military hospital. The three years of ordinary conscription serv- ice with the colours is reduced to one in the case of univer- sity or military academy students who have passed a certain standard. The commissioned ranks in the common army are not reserved, as in Great Britain, for a special class of society, but are open to all. This, however, has only been the case since the reorganisation of the army after Sadowa, up to which period the rank and file were chiefly long-service men and the officers drawn from the aristocratic classes. There are now three ways of becom- ing an officer: first, by graduating as sub-lieutenant from one of the two military academies (equivalent to university standard) ; second, by passing through the cadet schools and entering the army as a cadet-officer aspirant (a com- mission is generally obtained after one or two years) ; and third, all officers of reserve (who have been in the one-year class) can, if they desire and if they pass their examina- tions with distinction, get commissions in the line. The officers of the two national armies are as a rule transferred from the common army or from the reserves, but there are cadet schools for each, and Hungary is now anxious to secure an independent supply of officers for the Honved. It may be mentioned that over half the officers follow the profession permanently, but the rest retire into civil life, and (after a year's training and passing the necessary STATE ORGANISATION 227 examinations) enter the reserve with the grade of sub- lieutenant. An exceedingly high state of efficiency and scientific knowledge is required from the Austrian officer, as well as an amount of work not dreamed of in non-continental armies. The compulsory service has done away with the long-service non-commissioned officer, who was the drill- master for the soldier and the mentor for the young officer, as is still the case in the British army. All this — the drill- ing, education of the soldier, the whole detail of the inner service — now rests on the shoulders of the subaltern officers. Besides creating out of the raw recruit in a short time a serviceable soldier, teaching him to shoot and to ride, the officer has to be his own schoolmaster and teach the common soldier reading, writing, arithmetic, geog- ! v y raphy, history, etc., and the elements of the duties and rights of a citizen. The more intelligent of the troops are taught to scout, read maps, and survey. The average work-hours of an officer (not counting the exceptionally early rising hour of four o'clock in time of manoeuvres) are from six a. m. to noon and from two to five p. m., and in certain periods of the year till seven or eight in the even- ing. For months at a time the officer is on duty in barracks from five a. m. till seven p. m. with only one to two hours' respite at midday for dinner. Little wonder that he feels that he has well earned the rare holiday occasionally ac- corded him. If officers are frequently seen idling and loaf- ing in Vienna, Prague, or provincial capitals it is because they come on short leave of absence from many points of the compass; each one, perhaps, only gets two such short 228 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE leaves in the year. The standard of duty, honour and devotion is very high, the mode of life simple, and the character of the men compares favourably with that of other services. Officering in Austria is not a lucrative business, but luckily the officer's social status in no way depends upon the length of his purse — most of them are poor men with nothing more to live on than their scanty pay, which does not allow much margin for carousing and gambling. Of course there are among the officers, and particularly in certain crack regiments, a number of young noblemen whose means allow them more scope for extravagance and display, but these are rather the exception than the rule, and the work exacted from the young officers deters those who are not in earnest in their profession. The spirit of camaraderie and of esprit de corps (two words for which the English language contains no true equivalent) is still strong among the Austrian officers, those of the same grade addressing each other by the affectionate " thou " in the second person. The rank of officer carries with it (even when in the reserve) a social status above that of the middle class and even above the civil officials, unless the family position of the latter is high. No difference can be made (once an officer is accepted) on the score of his parentage. He gets his education free, passes his examination, and his regi- mental pay is sufficient for his actual needs. He cannot, however, be appointed to a regiment without special ac- ceptance by the entire corps of officers, which is decided by secret ballot. Anyone making an objection to a candidate STATE ORGANISATION 229 must state his reasons, which must be based on questions of honour, family or individual. An objection, for in- stance, could be raised against a man whose father had been punished by the law. A rejected candidate has the right to appeal to a Court of Honour, and can even appeal to the brigade commander, who must decide what must be done and whether it is permissible for him to apply for another regiment. Regimental expenses are kept low, except in some of the crack cavalry regiments. The regi- mental silver is provided, and it is a point of honour among the higher officers to check any sign of display. Some of the richer regiments keep packs of hounds, and the love of sport is common with all, though not all have the time in which to indulge it. Both in Austria and Hungary horse racing is a most popular form of amusement, and gam- bling (in private) is indulged in despite the official attitude. Great allowances must be made for the men who are con- demned for long periods to garrison life in some small pro- vincial town, where life is unbearably monotonous. The number of suicides is proportionately high in the army among the officers, this being due not only to the strain of head work, but to a mistaken sense of honour which makes men prefer death to facing any financial difficulty into which imprudence may have led them. Suicides among the rank and file of soldiers are also common, but it is not necessary to imagine them as victims of brutality, since the homesickness from which many of these peasants suffer is sufficient to account to a large extent for the phenomenon. Marriage among the officers is regulated, as in Germany by strict consideration of ways and means, and the aspir- 230 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE ing bride must pass muster before she can be received into the army. A Court of Honour, if it is satisfied as to the means of the young couple, the honour of the lady and her family and their social status, will give permission. Only a certain number of officers are on the statutory list whose widows get pensions; others, if they marry, must contrib- ute for a certain number of years to the fund before they can get on the list. The practice of duelling is still common, and may even be ordered by the Court of Honour under pain of dis- missal. The evils of the system and its advantages (which certainly exist) cannot be discussed here, as it is not peculiar to Austria-Hungary, but it may be said that the morale and high education of the officers and the growth of liberal and humane ideas are an increasing check on the abuse of the practice. In spite of all this it is inevitable that the new demo- cratic basis of the army should somewhat destroy the feeling of camaraderie, just as the nationalist propaganda undermines esprit de corps. It is inevitable that officers drawn from all social grades and different races should carry with them their social distinctions as well as their national prejudices and antagonisms. Every year a con- siderable number of officers hand in their resignations, and the difficulty of maintaining the military spirit and dis- cipline is increased by the extent to which the military officers return to civil life and are subjected to a different kind of influence. There are no less than eleven nationalities in the army : Germans, Magyars, Italians, Roumanians (each speaking STATE ORGANISATION 231 a different tongue) and the various Slav races, Czechs, Croatians, Servians, Poles, Ruthenians, Slovenes and Slovaks, speaking different forms of a Slavonic language. The tongue of command for all (in the common army) is German, but each regiment to a large extent speaks its own language, which is used perforce for purposes of in- struction, since the average soldier understands only his own maternal tongue. The position of the Emperor-King as Supreme Head (and not a figure-head) of the army is upheld by constitu- tional rights. Since the defeat at Mohacs in 1526 there has been no real Hungarian army, for the Honved is not a true army but a militia. Kossuth raised a revolutionary force in 1848, but the beginning of the present Hungarian army (that is, the Hungarian half of the Common army) was made in 1867, when the Emperor-King was constitu- tionally authorised to organise and command the army from both halves of his monarchy. It is necessary to ap- preciate this, because the Hungarian claim to a separate and individual army is thus shewn to be without historical foundation. The common army, with its Austrian and Hungarian regiments, is a fundamental principle of the dualist system, and is, in fact, essential to the union of the two countries. The claim of the Hungarians that the Magyar language should be the word of command in Hungarian regiments thus seems to be without constitutional warrant. There must be one language of command, or the machine will be incapable of working as a whole and will be split in two. And as the language of command has always been Ger- 232 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE man, as over 58 per cent, of the army is Austrian (or at least non-Hungarian) , and as the " War Lord " is a Ger- man-speaking monarch, it is reasonable to expect that Ger- man should continue to hold its place. Outside the larger question is the one of convenience and of national amour propre. As regards the former it is a genuine grievance that Hungarian regiments should be officered by men who do not speak the tongue of the soldiers. For the latter, the Hungarian officers, naturally wishing to seek the so- ciety of their co-nationals, complained that they were sent to any regiment save a Hungarian one and that this policy was adopted to denationlise them. Both difficulties are now being met by the expedient of quietly filling up the vacancies in Hungarian regiments with Hungarian officers, and in this matter it may be remembered that, as the Hun- garians would not enter the army till after the reorganisa- tion of 1867, the supply of officers was at first necessarily inadequate. This was particularly the case with the higher commands, which have also been made a ground for grievance. It was not possible, however, to find Hun- garians with the requisite training and experience for these posts, and even to-day the only men with any practical ex- perience of war operations or of the reorganisation period must of necessity be Austrians. A more reasonable griev- ance is the extent to which the royal family monopolise high commands. Although Bohemian statesmen have al- ways recognised that one language of command is essential for the common army, they are inclined to follow the Hun- garian lead in other matters. Their genuine and legiti- mate demand is that Bohemian officers should command STATE ORGANISATION 233 regiments recruited in their country, but the army is not a popular profession with better-class Czechs, who must pass \^ through German military schools to qualify for it. It is important to estimate how far the national and race jealousies could influence the troops in time of war. The corps of officers, despite these mutual jealousies, may be considered as sound. We have said already that poli- tics are not allowed to interfere with their Loyalty to their profession and its discipline. But the rank and file, drawn from such heterogeneous sources, though drilled with an appearance of complete discipline, must retain a powerful sense of nationality which their esprit de corps is not suf- ficient to dispel. In the past Austria has had serious difficulties of this character. The non-German regiments, when called upon to put down insurrections in Italy, Croatia, and Galicia in 1820 and 1840, gave considerable trouble, and when, after 1848, the nationalist revival be- came more marked, many of the troops which mutinied at Vienna were from regiments which had been considered perfectly reliable. In Italy several Italian battalions of Radetzky's army went over to the enemy at Cremona and Brescia, as well as entire garrisons elsewhere, some 20,000 men in all deserting the colours. Again in Italy, in 1859, the Austrian army shewed lack of enthusiasm, and at Magenta only twelve out of sixty-one thousand actually took part, while the attack by the Kintzel brigade failed chiefly because of the defection of the Sigismund (an Italian) regiment. The Croatian districts along the frontier being hostile, the Slavonic regiments had to be withdrawn and replaced by Germans and Hungarians. In 234 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE 1866 in the Prussian campaign a large number of men allowed themselves to be captured without striking a blow, and at Aschaffenburg the Italian regiments, with bands playing, passed over to the enemy; while in Upper Silesia the famous Hungarian legion under Klapka was formed entirely from deserters from the Austrian army. Dur- ing the Prague riots Czech troops refused to march against their fellow-countrymen, and a regiment of dragoons al- lowed themselves to be disarmed by the populace. These historical instances are, however, somewhat dis- counted by the fact that since Sadowa the army has been entirely remodelled and is now subjected to great strictness of discipline, while the opening of the career of officer to men of all ranks and all races has been a powerful link between the rank and file and their commanders. On the other hand, national self-consciousness has immensely in- creased. In 1899 and 1900 Bohemian recruits had to be punished for answering the call in Czech, and we find the Czechs asking for their language to be used in Bohemian regiments as the language of instruction, while the Croats, who have secured the use of their native tongue for the Domobranci (their local territorial army) are quite ready to prefer a similar claim. It must of course be pointed out that the defection of troops usually took place when they were called upon to fight their own countrymen or (in the case of Slavs and Croats) their kinsmen. Such contin- gencies may not arise again, but the loyalty of the army to the dynasty is nevertheless the corner-stone of the Dual Monarchy, and the question is therefore a serious one for Austria-Hungary and still more for the Habsburgs. STATE ORGANISATION 235 The Emperor Francis Joseph is understood to be quite unyielding, therefore, in the matter of the word of com- mand, which is not only the key to the situation, but is frankly admitted by some Hungarian leaders to involve a good deal more. He has expressed willingness to meet the Hungarians on such matters as ensigns, military fac- ings and badges, and even the introduction of Magyar as the language of instruction in regiments where the Hun- garian element predominates, but beyond this he declines to go. There can be little doubt that, as the Emperor is convinced, the granting of the double language of com- mand would not only impair the efficiency of the army and infringe his rights as a constitutional monarch, but would pave the way for a military separation which must in- evitably lead to the entire severance of the two countries. In a country with such an extended frontier as Austria- Hungary, the question of fortifications used to be a serious one, but modern warfare has to a great extent reduced the value of such defences. In Alpine countries where there are only a few passes by which an invading army can enter, there are still important strategic points, and the most valuable of these for Austria are in the Tyrol and Carinthia, where two powerful groups of fortifications have recently been constructed. Cracow and Przemysl are fortified camps, but the old fortifications in various parts of the country are antiquated and useless. Pola, the naval station, is said to be a strong, well-fortified post, but its exposed position and the length of the line of communica- tion between it and Austria or Hungary make it undoubt- edly a vulnerable spot. 236 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE The Austro-Hungarian navy, though small, is main- tained in a high state of efficiency and manned by a corps of officers among whom not only a high standard of educa- tion, but also excellent spirit and discipline prevails. Al- though Austria-Hungary has in Dalmatia a very extended seaboard, there is no reason for her to embark on a naval programme, even if she could afford to do so. Her trade is not sea-borne to the extent of needing protection, and the demands made upon the country for military protection absorb so large a share of the revenue as to leave little for hypothetical needs. In the event of conflict with Italy, for instance, the defence of the seaboard towns would be practically impossible, but to compete with the Italian navy is out of the question, and Austria must rely upon her army for security in the same way that Great Britain does upon her navy. It is a drawback for the Austrian navy that its recruiting must be done in the Dalmatian provinces, where the sympathies of the sea-faring people and their racial affinities are rather with the Italians than the Austrians. CHAPTER XI SOME INTERNAL PROBLEMS First and foremost among the economic questions, as it is among the political questions of the day, is that which concerns the commercial Ausgleich between the two halves of the Dual Monarchy. Austrian industrialists, it must be noted, were anxious for a protective tariff at a time when Hungary still desired free trade, and the result of these counter interests was that, after the agreement of 1899, a low protective tariff was placed on textile and other in- dustries, while raw material was practically free. The growth of tariff walls in Europe and America, however, caused an inevitable modification of this attitude, and it is well known that Great Britain alone has continued true to free-trade principles. In 1892 Austria-Hungary united with Germany, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland in com- mercial treaties for twelve years, the object being to secure for Central Europe a stable market, since industry was be- ing crippled by the high tariff walls in America and Russia. The latter country joined this circle two years later, and Great Britain secured the same treatment by her " most favoured nation " treaty with Austria-Hungary. It was the conclusion of these agreements in 1903 that made nec- essary the arrangements on a fresh basis for foreign com- merce, and the Liberal premier, Count Tisza, rather took the wind out of the sails of the extreme Independence 237 238 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE party by concluding new commercial treaties with Ger- many and Italy (which bind the country till 19 19) with- out waiting for parliamentary consent to the Ausgleich. We have already seen that this commercial Ausgleich, upon which the union of the two countries in all matters of trade and custom rests, was originally made for a period of ten years, after which it had to be renewed. The first period expired in 1877, was renewed in 1878, and pro- mulgated in 1887 for a period of ten years, but since the expiration of that time parliamentary obstruction has prevented a fresh renewal, and the necessary arrangements are carried on by means of a provisional Ausgleich com- manded by the Emperor-King, by virtue of certain con- stitutional rights. The question of foreign trade has, however, complicated matters. Treaties with foreign powers could not wait till the Hungarian parliamentary crisis was over, therefore these treaties were concluded on the supposition that, during the time covered by them, Austria and Hungary would continue to be one for com- mercial purposes. The Hungarian Independence party were not slow to perceive in this an opportunity for break- ing away from the customs union without at once dislocat- ing Hungarian foreign trade. Hungary requires time to build up the industries by which she hopes to render her- self commercially independent of Austria, and this time is secured by the continuance of the foreign treaties, while simultaneously an opportunity presented itself for getting in the thin end of the wedge for commercial separation. Therefore at the end of May, 1906, a separate Hungarian tariff bill was laid before the Hungarian chamber, and SOME INTERNAL PROBLEMS 239 although this bill is almost identical in form with the joint tariff voted by the Austrian parliament, it contains the germ of separation since it is a Hungarian and not a joint bill. This plan was intended to keep Hungarian hands free — for the Parliament need not renew the Ausgleich — without allowing Austria the excuse for retaliation. Shorn of all technical details it was an ingenious scheme whereby Hungary could obtain all the advantages of a cus- toms union with Austria for another ten years without rec- ognising the constitutional nature of that union. Austria is not, however, prepared to accept the role offered her, and the situation aroused so much alarm and indignation that in the early weeks of June, 1906, the various races and parties of Austria combined together for the first time to defend Austrian interests. Broadly speaking, the only legitimate object of Hun- gary in pressing for an independent commercial existence, is that she may protect herself against Austria as against a foreign country, and to accomplish this it is the inten- tion of Hungary to press forward the industrial develop- ment which is just beginning in a country hitherto mainly agricultural. To facilitate this, as we have seen al- ready, the State is granting heavy subsidies, and has plunged into great expense to provide necessary communi- cations. Although there is promise of industrial success in Hungary, under normal conditions, there is the possi- bility that to stimulate this development unduly by sub- sidies, taxation and protective tariffs will cost the country too dear (especially if it tends to produce more expensive and less well-made articles which could be made cheaper 240 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE and better in Austria) and may ruin Hungarian agriculture. Agriculture is still the staple of the country and is specially helped by the fertility of the soil and the proclivities of the people, and to sacrifice the markets of this agricultural population would be far from beneficial to the Hunga- rian nation. Englishmen who are at present striving in the interests of national physique and morale to get their population back to the land and to recreate agricultural England, cannot but watch with misgivings the tactics of the party in Hungary which is bent at all costs on artifi- cially stimulating Hungarian industrialism. 1 Austrians say that a tariff war with Hungary would drive them into the German system more surely than any pan- German propaganda, and an Austro-German Zollverein would suit the Austrian industrialists very well from cer- tain points of view. Possibly it might not be palatable to the Czechs, and the suggestion is not one that at present comes within the range of practical politics, but, while Aus- trian and Hungarian experts deliberate on a possible new form of commercial Ausgleich, all these alternatives have been fully discussed, and in the agitation aroused through- out Austria by the Hungarian proposal it has become plain that Austria has more than one possible weapon for retali- ation. These complicated and technical questions as to com- mercial relations are in reality of equal importance with 1 The surplus agricultural produce of Hungary, after she has fed her own people, amounts to some ,£40,000,000 worth a year, which goes to Austria. Can Hungary retain this market while building protected industries? Can she create a sufficient home market by artificially stimulated industrialism? In other words, can she live on her own fat, like a Polar bear? SOME INTERNAL PROBLEMS 241 tKe " language of command " or any other nationalist question now agitating Austria-Hungary. Indeed, as a State lives on its purse just as an army travels on its belly, the economic outlook and the question of commercial rela- tions are the most important of all subjects. The object of all who support the principle of dualism is to shew that agreement can be arrived at, that the interests of the two countries are interwoven and not antagonistic, and that a solution of the problem could be reached with a little mutual forbearance. There is indeed a strong case to be made out for the commercial unity of Austria-Hungary. Although the latter might prefer the liberty, as a separate territory, of making her own treaties for commerce and following out her design of industrial expansion by a boycott of Aus- trian goods, protective tariffs and government subsidies, yet she would find it difficult to replace a market to which three-fourths of her whole exports go and from which three-fourths of her imports come. Her geographical position, added to the undeveloped condition of the countries which surround her (except Aus- tria and Germany), would greatly increase her difficulties. Still, the Balkan states will continue to go forward, and Hungary may legitimately hope to capture a great deal of their trade. Despite her lack of ports she has the ad- vantage of the great waterway of the Danube, but this advantage is discounted by the fact that the mouth of the river is in the Black Sea and belongs to Roumania. Al- together, taking into account the fact that Hungary is still an agricultural country, that her industrial progress can- 242 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE not be expected to be as phenomenal as that of Germany for instance (at a period when competition was less keen and the discovery of steam and electricity gave an enor- mous impetus) , that Austria is by far her largest market and that she is handicapped by lack of ports from develop- ing a sea-borne trade (Italy has the advantage here) ; taking all these things into consideration one is obliged to conclude that there is something hasty and premature about the demand for a separate commercial existence. One cannot see what tangible gains would accrue to com- pensate for the dangers run, and if there are to be no dangers — if Hungary is simply to follow the same policy as a separate state that she did as part of a dual one — then we must conclude that the present agitation is purely political. One thing is certain. The Austrians are now determined not to accept partition by degrees, such as would be implied by a gradual dissolution of the commer- cial bond. They are not prepared to consent to a policy like that by which it was recently declared that Ireland should have " Home Rule by Instalments." Although Austria is an industrial country in esse and Hungary in posse, both continue to expend large sums of money on agriculture. The governments have state train- ing and experimental institutes, stud farms, and organ- isations for supervising land cultivation. The State breeding of horses is a large and also a remunerative busi- ness in both countries, but the total of expenditure on these departments far exceeds the actual revenue. In Austria the Ministry of Agriculture spends £833,000 yearly, while the direct income from the departments is £75,000. SOME INTERNAL PROBLEMS 243 The conditions of industrial life in Austria are regu- lated by a code dating from 1883. As in Great Britain, the laws regulating life and labour originated in the humanitarian movement for the protection of child workers who were so terribly exploited at the commence- ment of the industrial era. The Austrian code closely resembles that of Germany, but is dissimilar in one respect, that it sets a definite limit to the hours of work, which may not exceed eleven, except in the case of overtime paid for directly to the workmen. Children may not be employed in factories or mines under the age of fourteen, but they may begin industrial work of other kinds at twelve. The age is lower than in Germany, where thirteen is fixed and even later unless the required educational standard is passed. Women are protected by legislation similar to that in Germany and France. Hungary presents no special features in labour legislation, except that there is, at present, no time limit to adult labour. Factory and mine inspection was established in 1893, Dut 1S not Y et svs ~ tematically carried out. The German and Austrian method of compulsory insurance against sickness or acci- dent is in force, but the employer is only liable in case of criminal neglect. A Bill providing for fuller insurance against sickness and old age is now before the Hungarian house, but is denounced by the Labour party as worse than useless. There are extraneous circumstances, not so prominent in the German Empire, which must also be taken into consideration in judging of the condition of the people. First and foremost comes the influence of the Church 244 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE on daily life. One of the most striking features of modern Austrian political life has been the growing an- tagonism to the Roman Catholic Church and the Clerical party. It is almost impossible to describe the various phases of this revolt and the forms which it is taking in various parts of the monarchy, but it is perhaps best ex- plained as the struggle of nationalism against Catholi- cism, the nationalism in this case being many-headed. By the concordat of 1855 the House of Habsburg handed over to the Church a vast range of power and responsi- bility. Education was altogether in priestly hands, but an even more potent weapon was the entire control of certain relations of life, such as marriage, which could not be contracted without the permission of the Church. Moreover, the wealth and power of the Church, which had grown up during many centuries, gave her a pre- ponderating influence in affairs of State. The abrogation of the concordat in 1875 at once changed the status of the Church. It was rendered neces- sary by the growing liberalism of the country, which demanded fresh marriage laws, and a more democratic form of education. At the same time the clerical endow- ments, which are of great value, were placed under civil control, thus depriving the Church of a privilege for which she had contended since the early days of the Holy Roman Empire. The Church had always been regarded as the " Sentinel " of the Habsburgs, the most faithful Catholic family in Europe, but the attitude which Francis Joseph was obliged to take in this matter called down the strongest remonstrance from the Pope. A few years SOME INTERNAL PROBLEMS 245 later the Triple Alliance still further disturbed the old relations between Rome and the Habsburgs. Catholi- cism, which claims eighty per cent, of the total population of Austria and fifty-one per cent, in Hungary, has now assumed a new significance as a political force. The extreme German nationalist party, attracted by the Los von Rom movement, and agitating for a political union with Germany, watches with distrust any action of the clericals, and even refuses the name of German to a pro- fessed Roman Catholic. The " Los von Rom " movement, closely allied with the pan-German propaganda which must be discussed in a subsequent chapter, is intrinsically political rather than religious. Schoenerer, the leader of the extreme German nationalist party, gave the first impulse to it in Austria by exhorting his fellow-countrymen to " break the chains which bind us to a Church hostile to Germanism." He then organised an anti-Catholic campaign, which was assisted by German pastors from across the frontier, but the proceedings were so obviously of a political rather than a religious character that the Austrian Government interfered, as it was well entitled to do by the trea- sonable character of the speeches. It is probable that without German clerical aid the whole movement would have been much less noticeable, and at the present time Schoenerer, its leader, is discredited as a politician. The Catholic party in Austria has more than once appealed to the Government to protect their religion against the attacks on it which rre so largely engineered and financed in Germany. The Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir 246 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE to the throne, has placed himself at the head of the Catholic School Association (a very powerful and wealthy organisation) and has said that the " Los von Rom " movement " cannot be too strongly suppressed." As a matter of fact, from the religious standpoint the result has not been very serious ; probably not more than twenty thousand people having seceded from the Church. The political consequences are more striking, but the Austrian Government has not seen its way to adopting any stern repressive measures, probably with the wise conviction that to do so would advertise the movement even more widely and make it still more attractive. The result of this tolerant attitude is that the attempt to Protestantise Austria has failed, but in failing has accomplished far- reaching changes in the political world. It has caused a serious breach among the Austrian Germans, who are as much divided from each other by the anti-Catholic move- ment as they are by nationalist aspirations from the Czechs or Italians. The moderate Catholic Germans are pro-Slav, while the (Catholic) Christian Socialists are pre-eminently anti-Semitic. The only non-Catholic party is that of the pan-Germans, but the Catholics are divided by their opinions as to the proper policy towards the Slavs, as well as by their federalist or centralist convictions and by their leaning towards clericalism or Liberalism. Nevertheless the Catholic party, as such, continues to be a strong one, and this politico-religious movement of Los von Rom is the first real shake that has been given to its position. The Church, albeit she has lost many of her privileges, remains both rich and powerful, and is SOME INTERNAL PROBLEMS 247 a considerable landowner. The wealth of some of her prelates is very great, and the influence of the Church in all grades of society cannot be discounted. Naturally, the extent to which the priest dominates the family and daily life varies in different parts of the country, but it is considerably greater in Austria (and in some parts of Hungary) than in any other modern Catho- lic country, save, perhaps, Ireland. The growth of Ger- man liberalism has affected the middle and working classes in the towns, but the aristocracy and agricultural peasants are under priestly influence to a great extent. In the upper classes we have seen the effect in stereotyping so- ciety and limiting the mental outlook. The Church in Austria has never stood for progress. In the lower ranks of life we find the Church responsible for a variety of social phenomena generally marking (as in Ireland) a stage of mental development in which reason is sub- ordinated to instinct and both are warped by superstition. In those parts of the Austrian lands where the Ruthenian, Serbo-Croatian, or Servian element is found there is a keen conflict between the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox communities, a religious warfare which is still further complicated in Bosnia-Herzegovina by the duplication of sects. The perception that the Church was not taking suffi- cient part in the forward humanitarian and social move- ments of modern times has led quite recently to the formation in Austria of a young Catholic party, including some priests and a number of promising young men. Their movement is as yet only in its infancy, but it should 248 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE enlist the sympathy of all patriotic Austrian Catholics, since it is intended to initiate a Catholic national demo- cratic party — that is, to gather together all that is best in the religious, national, and social world of politics. The position occupied by the Roman Catholic Church in Hungary is somewhat different to that in Austria from the political point of view, since it is essentially nationalist and even a zealous propagandist of Magyar aims and ideals. Throughout Hungary the influence of the Church is very great (although less than ten millions out of the nineteen belong to it) , and its power has not been impaired by such reverses as have been meted out to Catholic Aus- tria. As a national Church the Roman Catholics have a plainer task in Hungary than in Austria. They are opposed to racial differences within the kingdom, and to the revival or retention of other languages than that of the Magyars. In the Slovak country, where a determined effort is being made to resist Magyarisation and retain the Slav language, the Magyar clergy are the instruments of a strong anti-Slav organisation. Priests are eligible throughout Hungary as deputies, and in many country districts they are the most suitable candidates. But the Magyar bishops will never give the necessary sanction to a Slav candidate, and the result is that among the numerous priests in the Diet of Budapest few are other than Magyar in sentiments, and fewer still in origin. The Church is a very considerable landowner in Hungary, and, moreover, a great portion of the land owned by her is inalienable. Her most serious difficulty will probably arise eventually from the rising Evangelicanism which has SOME INTERNAL PROBLEMS 249 its stronghold in Transylvania. Of the religious confusion in that country we have already spoken, and it may be imagined that if Catholicism in Hungary is synonymous with Nationalism, so that it does not rouse opposition from the Magyar Protestants, it is strenuously opposed on ob- vious grounds by those churches whose members belong to the smaller nations. Also it is evident that their na- tional pride and affinities will lead the Protestant Germans of Hungary to oppose any suggestion of separation which would sever the connection of Hungary with German Austria. Now, as in the past, the religious and political ques- tions are closely interwoven, and it is merely an historical continuation which puts the Roman Catholic Church in opposition to Germanism in Austria and to the policy of generosity to the smaller nations in Hungary. CHAPTER XII PAN-GERMANISM The contest between Teuton and Slav is, as we Have seen already, no new one. It has been the motif, not always clearly marked but never altogether absent, of a series of struggles changing in fortune as in character, sometimes political, sometimes religious, but always capable of being resolved into the simple constituents of race antagonism which have made up most of the history of Central and Eastern Europe. It is true that the various branches of the Slavs have been far from loyal to their racial ties, and have resented encroachments by each other as by an alien race, but in the main the history of Central and Eastern Europe is the history of the Slav struggle for independ- ence against the Teuton on the west and the Turk on the east. To-day, in the remarkable renaissance of the scat- tered Slav nations it is natural that one should find an attempt to resuscitate the racial as well as the national feelings, and pan-Slavism may well be considered as a possible factor in European development. On the other hand, there is the great pan-German movement, not an attempt (like that of the Slavs) to revive and regain, but a more organised and definite effort to hold for Germany what Germans have gained for themselves. Between these two great currents which find their meeting place in the whirlpool of the Habsburg realm lies Hungary, by some 250 PAN-GERMANISM 251 strange fate isolated, foreign, apart — the cuckoo in the robin's nest of Slav Europe, but equally the barrier against German expansion eastwards. No attempt to understand the present position of Aus- tria-Hungary would be complete without some apprecia* tion of these two great currents in the political and na- tional evolution of the Slav and Teuton. The reader of this book is already aware that the subjects of the Habs- burgs are predominantly Slav, but that at the same time the civilisation, the government, and the language of a considerable part of Austria is German; that the tie with Germany is a close one, and that a proportion, at all events, of the population is enthusiastically and patriotically Ger- man in its sympathies without ceasing to be Austrian. There is, however, an extreme section which disclaims all Austrian nationality, refers openly to Germany as its fatherland, and proclaims its belief that only under the Hohenzollerns will Austria find peace and progress. Be- fore describing the tenets of this section further we must try briefly to define that pan-Germanic movement which has been their inspiration. It is always difficult to trace the actual origin and growth of any movement which is not precise and definite, and it must be premised that, although there is no lack of pre- cision about certain sections of the pan-Germans and their views, yet as a whole the movement is somewhat indefinite. Taken in its broadest sense it is an attempt to strengthen " Deutschthum " throughout the world and to bind all Germans by ties of patriotism as well as race to the Father- land. The Teutonic countries of Europe, which by a some- 252 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE what tortuous process of reasoning are expected to regard the modern German empire as their fatherland, in- clude the Low-German countries (Holland and Belgium) Switzerland, and Scandinavia. It is obvious that only the wildest of Chauvinist dreamers would imagine the actual annexation of all these to Germany as possible, nor is actual warfare in the programme of the pan-Germans, who are Irredentists rather than Chauvinists. It is the civilisa- tion of Germany, the ties of intellect and race, by virtue of which these countries are to be reclaimed and to form one day a vast German confederacy. Besides countries originally Teutonic in origin, there are many in which this indefatigable race has formed colo- nies and settlements and where, as in Bohemia, they at one time almost displaced the original inhabitants. Of late years the enormous growth and increasing energy of the German empire has driven her into a fresh expansion over- seas, and the mission of pan-Germanism in its rational form is to link up these scattered units, and by maintaining in them the sentiment of nationality, preserve them as the instruments and apostles of Deutschthum. The pan-Germanic sphere of activity is therefore prac- tically world-wide. It covers Europe — Scandinavia, Den- mark, the Baltic provinces, Bohemia, Austria, the Tyrol, parts of Hungary, the Balkan states, Turkey in Europe, Switzerland, Holland, and Belgium. Besides these there is a pan-Germanic propaganda in Asia Minor and in South Africa, where an attempt has been made to establish ties of kinship with the Boers as " Low Germans." In the American continent there are to be seen at work two dis- PAN-GERMANISM 253 linct phases of pan-Germanic work, one which aims at pre- serving the national sentiment of the individual who is being rapidly assimilated by the United States, and the other in South America, where a genuine colonisation pol- icy is being successfully pursued. There are, besides these, a vast number of Germans distributed throughout the whole civilised world, engaged usually in commerce or in educational work, particularly in Russia, and it is safe to say that in these isolated units a strong sentiment is aroused by the pan-Germanic ideals. The spectacle of so many of the fine fleur of the fatherland being forced by economic pressure to seek their fortunes in other countries and there being assimilated has naturally been a bitter one to patri- otic Germans, but even before this latest phase (which can only be said to date from the industrial evolution of Ger- many) there already existed the germ of the Pan-German propaganda. As early as 1853 Paul de Lagarde (a curi- ous name for the chief saint of the pan-German cult!) was urging that the Germanic peoples should control the Dan- ube, colonise Asia Minor, and so find their way to the East. This is not the history of the pan-Germanic move- ment, merely an attempt to define its scope, so that we may appreciate its bearing upon Austria-Hungary, and it is im- possible to trace the growth of the idea or to explain the attitude of its various protagonists. It is sufficient to note that at one period it met with a considerable degree of offi- cial encouragement and that the Emperor William II gave it his imprimatur in the following speech, made in 1896, the year of the Jameson Raid. He said: " Out of the German empire a world empire has arisen. Everywhere 254 'THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE in all parts of the earth thousands of our countrymen reside. German riches, German knowledge, German ac- tivity make their way across the ocean. The value of German possessions on the seas is some thousands of millions. Gentlemen, the serious duty devolves on you to help me to link this Greater German Empire close to the fatherland, by helping me, in complete unity, to fulfil my duty also towards the Germans in foreign parts." This pronouncement, be it noted, is in the nature of an exhortation and a pious aspiration. No policy is chalked out, no specal method indicated. The aim itself is ex- pressed in language which may be interpreted according to the idiosyncrasies of the hearer, and might refer to a mere cultural and moral empire or to a more tangible political one. Naturally the ruler of a state at peace with the world at that moment was not likely to give offence to friendly governments by the suggestion that Germans domiciled in foreign countries were to be practically or politically " gathered in." There are now two aspects of pan-Germanism, suffi- ciently broad in their scope to win the suffrages of the most diverse schools of thought and unite them in a common aim. The first and rational interpretation is, as we have already indicated, that which is concerned with Deutsch- thum as a cultural and moral influence and seeks to per- petuate the tie of Germans with their fatherland and to glorify the race and empire by the spread of Germanic civilisation. The second, and far more definite and active propaganda, sees in every German colony or settlement (much more in old Teutonic countries) a part of a future PAN-GERMANISM 255 confederacy of all the Germans. We shall see shortly by what means this propaganda is disseminated, but first it must be recorded that the pan-Germanic leagues began their active work at a time when the tide, which had borne their race successfully for so long, seemed to be actually turning. One of the singularities of the German character, so full of the highest virtues and most sterling qualities, is the ease with which the individual lends himself to assimila- tion. This has become most noticeable in the United States, where it is estimated that there are now over eleven million Germans, of whom some eight millions were born in the country. Despite the retention in certain quarters of certain towns of characteristic features in German social life, despite an attempt to keep up German schools and clubs and the propaganda of the pan-Germans, it is unde- niable that these people in the second generation, if not in the first, become American in sympathy, in habit, and even in intellectual outlook. Politically their conversion does not require more than a few years, and the tradition of Prussian discipline is replaced by the most blatant form of democratic fervour. It was a German immigrant who, thumping the table at a stump meeting, shouted : " Amer- ica — my country — right or wrong! " But even nearer home the emigrant German is inclined to lose his nationality. It is estimated that over two mil- lions are now settled in Russia, and in parts attempts have been made to preserve their national characteristics through the medium of schools, language, and customs. The suc- cess of the attempt may be gauged by the fact that in all 256 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE Russia there are now but two German schools — one at HelsingfOrs and one at Riga. The policy of Germanisa- tion in the eastern provinces of Prussia (which are Slav in population) has been rigorously pursued. The use of Polish is forbidden, letters addressed in that language will not be forwarded, and all Polish institutions are repressed. There is a large settlement fund for buying up land and settling German peasants on it, by which it was hoped to replace the agricultural population by true Teutons, but neither this nor any other measure has been at all success- ful. The Poles continue to increase and are a thorn in the side of the German empire. 1 At the same time a counter- movement of Russification has been going on in the Baltic provinces which owed their civilisation to German sources and were largely colonised by Germans. There is still a considerable proportion of Germans among the intellec- tual classes, the prominent men have German names, and there are theatres and newspapers which use the German language. Since 1881 the policy of Russia has been to denationalise these Germans as well as all non-Russian peoples throughout the empire, and accordingly privileges accorded to German-speaking communities and corpora- tions have been curtailed and cancelled. The University 1 Prince von Billow has declared that the Polish question is the most vitally important in German home politics. He favored a return to the most rigorous policy of repressing Polish, which, however, is deprecated by many people who say it will put German education in the wrong and furnish Polish agita- tors with an effective weapon. In August, 1906, the Prussian minister of edu- cation ordered German to be used for prayers and religious instruction, but the children, instigated by their parents, refused to say the Lord' s prayer in German, and their obedience cannot be enforced. At the time of writing the Struggle continues. PEASANT WEDDING, GALICIA ST. BARBARA CHURCH, CRACOW PAN-GERMANISM 257 of Dorpat, founded in 1630 and an ancient centre of Ger- man culture, has been deprived of its autonomy and Rus- sianised, marriages between Protestants and members of the Russian Church are forbidden, and the Russian lan- guage is compulsory in the law-courts. Even the German names of towns are being once more Slavicised. This is a heavy blow to German amour propre, for she has always prided herself on having been the guiding star of Russian civilisation, and she was the centre of learning and culture while Russia was still a congeries of half-savage tribes. Therefore the Russo-German situation (despite the dictum of Bismarck that friendship was essential between the two nations) is not without its bitter pills, but this is a side of the question to be referred to later. To return to the emigrant German. In France, where there is an estimated German population of 100,000, there are only two elementary schools, but this must not be taken too seriously, since the children of Germans both in France and England can be educated in their home-land. Never- theless, a large proportion of those domiciled in England are educated there. In the Tyrol, where there is a par- tially Teutonic original population, a curious historic de- velopment has alienated sympathy from Germany. The Germans have annexed William Tell as one of their na- tional heroes, but as a matter of fact he represented an entirely different phase of national manifestation. The Tyrolese are intensely averse to any form of German dom- ination, and their resistance to the Bavarians was as des- perate as to the French. At the present time Italian influ- ence and language are slowly but steadily gaining gross : ' 258 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE in the Tyrol. The Catholic priesthood, it must be noted, being opposed to German liberal ideas (and especially to German socialism, which is almost invariably indifferent to religion) , is helping in the Tyrol, as in Moravia and Bo- hemia, to undermine the German schools. In other of the Austrian lands, in Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, a de- spised, almost illiterate and forgotten tongue has been successfully revived as a rival to the great German lan- guage. The Slovenes, having since 1882 secured a major- ity in their diet in Carniola, have proceeded to declare Slovenian the " customary " language and to found a Slovene gymnasium at Laibach. In Carinthia even towns with a majority of German-speaking inhabitants are com- pelled to use Slovenian in official and public life. The story of the language and racial struggle in Bohemia has been told elsewhere. The tide has turned in this country more than in any other. In Switzerland the most casual tourist who revisits the country may notice the increase of the French-speaking element compared to the German, and despite the enormous economic pressure on the Low Coun- tries a similar process is at work there. In short, Germany has been losing every day, by small but steady instal- ments, drops of that precious fluid of national life which, conserved in the hearts of loyal Germans throughout the world, would soon make this prolific and enterprising race the true cosmopolitan, and would render Deutschthum the most potent force in world history. It is estimated that twenty-one millions of German-speaking people live in Europe outside the German empire. The pan-Germanic movement cannot be said to be or- PAN-GERMANISM 259 ganised into a single central body, although there is one called the Pan-Germanic League. It is rather the guiding principle of a number of societies and associations dealing with various phases of German expansion. The Pan-Ger- manic League naturally has its headquarters at Berlin, and its organ is the Alldeutsche Blatter. The League dates the beginning of its success to a reorganisation in 1894 and the leadership of Professor Hasse, and in 1903 it num- bered some twenty thousand subscribing members. An example of the nature of its work may be given in the jour- ney, in 1905, of its secretary to South Africa, where he personally visited all the German settlements, interviewed the Dutch leaders, and afterwards published a clever book in which a strong case was made out for the extension of Germany's influence in South Africa. Besides the main body, however, there are at least fifty associations affili- ated with it. Of these the most important is the General School Association for the preservation of Deutschthum abroad. The society is peculiarly interesting in regard to its work in Austria-Hungary, where it was first started as an answer to the Badeni language ordinances and what was considered the surrender to the Slavs. We have already seen that in Hungary all the subject races are expected to fall in with the Magyar ideas and adopt their scheme for a united Hungarian nation. Many of the German settlers in Hungary, who from time imme- morial had enjoyed complete autonomy or special privi- leges, had thrown in their lot with the Magyars in the time of war and fought against Austria. There are three di- visions of these German settlers, the Zip towns of the Car- 2 6o THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE pathian slopes, the Swabians in the south, and the Saxons of Transylvania. The Swabians (who are Catholics) and the Zips were some of the most obstinate revolutionaries of 1848. Now they are threatened with absorption and the loss of their national idiosyncrasies. The assimilative process has done this to a great extent for Germans dwell- ing among the Magyars, but the independent settlements were peculiarly tenacious of their nationality, which, in time past, had set them apart and secured them a special position in the country. The Magyars refused to allow the intervention of the School Association through Vienna, and the Berlin Society was therefore obliged to subsidise private German schools to carry on the work. The mani- festo which accompanied this effort was not calculated to pour oil on troubled waters or to smooth the path of Ger- man educationists among the proud Magyars. It called on " the forty million who in Germany enjoy all the blessings of German culture to come to the rescue . . . wher- ever modern methods of barbarism dare to trample upon German education." But the Magyars will not tolerate any disruptive influence, and on this point are absolutely united. Other associations connected with pan-Germanism which are specially designed to rescue Deutschthum in Austria are the German League in Bohemia, the German Bohemian Forest League, the German People's Bank in Bohemia, the German League in north and south Moravia, the South " Mark " Association and People's Savings Bank at Gratz, the Ulrich Miners' League, Germanic League in Vienna, German National Association in Austria, the East PAN-GERMANISM 261 " Mark " Self-Help Association, the German People's Union in South Tyrol, and others of a similar character. There are a great number of economic associations whose work is directly helpful to pan-Germanism, besides certain religious or semi-religious societies doing pan-German work. The " Odin," a politico-religious society having headquarters at Munich, devotes itself to a Protestant- nationalist propaganda in Austria. The character of its work may be judged from the fact that the distribution of its official organ is prohibited in Austria, but it still has a considerable circulation, while it indemnifies itself by the dissemination of treasonable postcards. The Gustav- Adolf and the Evangelical Protestant missions are both active in Austria and took a prominent part in the semi- political " Los von Rom " movement, but there is a coun- terbalance in the shape of a vigorous Catholic German Society, the St. Raphael, which supports German national- ity on Catholic lines. A large amount of money is ex- pended annually in Austria and the Austrian " lands " in supporting pan-German work. In Bohemia there is a heavily subsidised German press keeping alive the German sentiment, while in Vienna a number of the papers (includ- ing the influential Neue Freie Press e) are notorious for their advocacy of German interests. The connection between the press of Vienna and the Foreign Office (Press- bureau) at Berlin is extremely intimate, but the pan-Ger- mans, who are not officially recognised, have their own methods of influencing the press. In 1899 the Pan-German League issued a pamphlet which, although proscribed in Austria, was widely cir- 262 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE culated. This pamphlet is interesting because it illustrates the extreme view of the pan-German role when the Austro- Hungarian monarchy shall no longer succeed in holding to- gether. The ideal set forth is the consolidation of the Germanic peoples from the Baltic to the Adriatic in one vast German confederation under the Hohenzollern em- peror (it is freely declared by pan-Germans in Austria that the Habsburg period is over and that the Hohenzollerns must succeed them). This vast confederation will include a kingdom of Austria (Upper and Lower Austria, Carin- thia, and Carniola), under a Hohenzollern prince; a " South Mark," consisting of the southern duchies, Salz- burg and the Tyrol going to Bavaria; and a strategic frontier to cover the Adriatic and coast towns, which will be the base of a German Mediterranean fleet. Bohemia will be made a present to Saxony, who must assimilate the four and a half million Czechs as best she may, while Moravia and Silesia, with two million Czechs and half a million Poles, will be the share of Prussia. It may be noted that history repeats itself. The pan-Germans have revived the nomenclature of an early Teutonic empire. Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein are the " North Mark," Austria the " East Mark," the southern " lands " of Austria the " South Mark." Holland and Belgium presumably are to be the " West Mark " in this future empire of all the Germans. Thus did Napoleon, in a similar dream of re- viving an empire beside which that of Charlemagne would have been a mushroom, recall the name of Illyria and re- shape for himself a realm of continental magnitude, united, like that of Rome, by a code of universal law. The pan- PAN-GERMANISM 263 Germanic dream as demonstrated in this pamphlet is only valuable because it reveals at once the weak spot in any scheme of German expansion in Europe. At present Germany has a population which is 94 per cent. Teutonic. But she has already, as we have seen, con- siderable trouble with that minority of Slav blood found in her northeastern corner. Prussia, it has been said already, was originally entirely Slav in population. The Mark of Brandenburg grew by conquest over Slavs, and Prussia enlarged her boundaries at the expense of Poland. Even to-day Slav is spoken at the gates of Berlin, for there are colonies of Sorabes, or Sorbs, in Lusatia who are said to be kin to the Slavs of Southern Europe. The tenac- ity of the Slav race feeling is one of the most striking phenomena in European history. If the pan-German scheme were realised (even with the elimination of Buko- wina, Galicia, and Dalmatia, which is proposed) , the per- centage of Germans in the reorganised empire would be reduced to eighty-four. Moreover, this settlement would leave out in the cold the Germans of Hungary, who, with the Magyars and Roumans, would be left to work out their own salvation. The truth is, of course, that no political rearrangement which is geographically possible would re- store the Germans to their fatherland, nor is it possible to attempt a political partition on an ethnographic basis. To take the various partitions separately: The Czechs would eat up Saxony before Saxony could get her teeth in them, for the public opinion of Europe would not tolerate the ruthless annihilation of an earlier epoch which crippled them in the past, and the Czechs are incontestably the more 264 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE aggressive of the two peoples. The Poles of Silesia and the Moravians of various races would help to turn the HD German VZ& Italian Hee3 Ladiniarv — ■ »i ''vani RACES IN THE TYROL tide against Prussianisation, and nothing but extermina- tion could root out their invincible conservatism and patri- otism. Moravia is spoken of frequently as if she had little P A N - G E R M A N I S M 265 identity, but she preserved the independence of her Estates even through a religious persecution which enslaved the best part of Europe for a time. Take the Tyrol again — she will have none of Bavaria, now as in the past. The Swiss are partly German in culture, but they have no sym- pathy with German imperialism. Will Italy look on un- moved while Germany advances to the southern slope of the Alps ? The Trentino, commanding the plains of Lom- bardy, will not be surrendered to Deatschthum without a struggle, and both this region and Trieste are ardently devoted to the cause of Italia irredenta. The strongest centre of pan-Germanism is in Austria proper. Here, as nowhere else, it is a definite political propaganda and party. In Germany it has no such posi- tion. There are no " pan-German " members, no recog- nised party, no elections fought on Pan-German principles. This is because within the German empire there can be no actual party or political aspect of pan-Germanism, which presents itself to the public as a national and not a politi- cal cult. If a man is labelled as a pronounced Pan-Ger- man he will still belong to one or other of the recognised political parties, and his pan-Germanism is a kind of extra polish. In Austria it is different. The struggle against the Slav, in which the German element appeared to have emerged victorious, has been revived. The moderate Aus- trian party, including many Catholic Germans, are Slav- ophil. They were not opposed to the rise of the Czechs and regarded the renascence of the Slavs generally as a counterpoise to the growth of the German free-thinking liberal element. A section (and a considerable one) of 266 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE the German-Austrians regarded the granting of language and other privileges to the Slavs as the beginning of a Slav hegemony in Austria, whereby Germans, once the dominant race, would have to take a lower place. Racial rather than national pride and the desire to participate in German greatness were the keynotes of this movement, which found its most vigorous expression in the " Los von Rom " agitation already described. The pan-German associations were active agents in this movement. The religious bodies abused their privileges by mixing treason to the Austrian emperor with their at- tempts to convert from Roman Catholicism, and the dep- uty Wolf, the co-partner with Schoenerer in leading the agitation, frankly admitted that the sinews of war came from Germany. The doctrine preached then (and by no means abandoned now) is that the Germans in Austria, in order to combat the Slav danger, must turn to Germany for support, must make political and commercial union with the fatherland, and must renounce their allegiance to a dynasty which is allied with Catholicism and favours the Slavs. This propaganda has spread, and at the last election enabled the pan-German party to capture two seats from the Catholic Christian Socialists, the natural infer- ence being that the working class is becoming more and more infected with German socialism, which is indifferent to religion. Although Pan-Germanism in Austria is anti-Austrian and anti-dynastic, it has not been repressed with the severity that might have been expected. The wisdom of this policy will be discussed later. No scruples in this respect have, PAN-GERMANISM 267 however, deterred the Magyars, and since 1902 a cam- paign has been instituted in Hungary against the Pan-Ger- man press, in which editors have been imprisoned and even deported. Other measures have been resorted to which have damaged, not only the Pan-Germanic work, but the legitimate and historic position of the German Hunga- rians, long settled in the country. Pan-Germans would like to see the Beriin government putting gentle pressure on Budapest, but the fact is that these Pan-Germanic excur- sions are proving far from convenient and are not to be smiled on officially. The irresponsibility of political idealists cannot be ac- cepted by a serious German government, which may use the propaganda at times but does not wish to be identified with or compromised by it. Therefore Hungary may suc- cessfully keep her pan-Germans in order, but the move- ment is a serious factor in Austrian politics, and, in a sub- sequent chapter, its further growth and influence must be. taken into consideration. CHAPTER XIII PAN-SLAVISM When we turn to the second great racial movement, the pan-Slavonic, we find at once a great difference both in the character and methods by which it is advanced. There is, in the first place, no focussing point, no fatherland, for the attempt made at various epochs to place Russia at the head of a Slav hegemony is naturally not altogether acceptable to other branches of the Slav race, who were advanced and civilised before " Holy Russia " had emerged from the status of a semi-barbarous, semi-Ori- ental vassal state of the Great Horde. Moreover, while the German Reformation has provided the pan-Germans with a rallying point at once national and religious, the Slavs are violently severed by the two Churches of East and West, between whom there is a fiercer rivalry than can divide even Catholic and Protestant. Nevertheless, the pan-Slavonic movement is not only of respectable antiquity, but has considerable importance in the polity of modern European states. The Slav race, or rather races, are numerically predominant in Eastern Eu- rope, their share of the continent being fairly compact except for the great wedge of Hungary. It must be re- membered that the countries of Russia, East Prussia, Bohemia, Galicia, the whole of the Balkan countries, European Turkey to a large extent, Montenegro, Croatia, 268 PAN-SLAVISM 269 Dalmatia, and the greater part of the Austrian " lands " are either altogether or preponderatingly Slav, not only in race but in character and feeling. At the end of the eight- eenth century there were only three independent Slav states — only two over which some alien dynasty was not ruling. These three were the great empire of Russia, the tiny prin- cipality of Montenegro, and the small republic of Ragusa. But, as we have seen, the deprivation of national rights, even the imposition of an alien language, did not deprive the Slav of his birthright, and at the beginning of the twentieth century we have four important Slav states and an extraordinary revival of nationalism among the other branches of the race. At this auspicious moment comes the terrible upheaval in the Russian empire which, by breaking into anarchy, destroys the dreams of those pan-Slavists who had hoped to find in her the protagonist of a universal Slav revival. Although the Slav peoples settled all over Central and Eastern Europe, from the Baltic to the Adriatic, and from the Oder eastwards, yet their expansion was not without geographical elements of disunion. Their natural line of expansion was across the great plains of Southern Russia and on into the well-watered plateaux of North Germany, but when their migrations took them further south, fol- lowing the Danube first south and then east, they became involved in the geographical confusion of this part of Europe. Different characteristics developed among the Balkan mountains to those found in the fertile, well- watered Bohemian country, and as an entirely fresh set of problems was presented to each section of the race, so they 270 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE developed on different lines. The Germanic tribes, later the German states and principalities (of which there were no fewer than several hundred shortly before the period of amalgamation) were homogeneous compared to these Slav states, and yet there is evidence that from an early age an attempt was made to keep up the feeling of kinship. The pan-Slavic political union, of the period which immediately precedes the Magyar invasion, was broken up by that foreign incursion into Slav countries, and by the blow struck at the heart of the Slav world which then beat in Moravia. After this time no actual political group- ing of all the scattered Slavs was ever again possible, but the rise to greatness, first of Bohemia and then of Poland, gathered different sections together for a time into mighty Slav empires. At the period of the modern Slav renas- cence no such development seems likely or possible. Still, while it is true that pan-Slavism has no rallying point, no common language (more of this hereafter), and no re- ligion, culture, or literature in common, yet the feeling of kinship between the Slav peoples is a real one, and it is the appreciation of this fact that has stimulated the pan-Ger- manists to such strenuous efforts in Central Europe. The pan-Slavist movement is not, as is sometimes sup- posed, the result of the Czech and other Slav revivals, but was in existence a considerable time ago. Not long after the downfall of Bohemia in 1620, we find the Polish am- bassador to Peter the Great dwelling upon the racial unity of the Slav peoples and predicting a third epoch of Slav history (following on those of prosperity and adversity) in which all the branches of the race shall unite " in frater- PAN-SLAVISM 271 nal love, and return to their first state of union." This language is closely followed by the pan-Slavist Czech writers of the middle of last century. " We are a young people," said Kollar. " We know what the other peoples have done, but no one can yet divine what we shall one day be in the book of humanity. ... A hundred years hence the Slav life, like a deluge, will spread its power in every quarter.'^ After 1848 the reviving energy of the Slavs, although less organised than that of the Hungarians, continued to / , gain ground, and three sections of the race in subjection ^ developed independently of each other. These were the Poles, Czechs, and Croats. The eternal hope of all Poles to ultimately achieve the independence of their ancient kingdom found a centre at Cracow, where plots were hatched and plans discussed with the energy, eloquence, and futility so characteristic of Slav intrigue. The Czechs, a practical and sober variant on the Slav type, were chiefly absorbed, as we have seen, by an economic struggle, while the Croats began a literary and political movement of a revivalist character. It cannot be said, despite the flowery speeches and writ- ings of pan-Slavists, that the various subject races of Slavs played into each other's hands. In 1848 a conference of pan-Slavists was held, with a view to knitting up the ties of kinship, but it does not seem that any definite result was achieved, though the immediate consequence was the out- break of riots between Czechs and Germans and the bom- bardment and reduction of Prague by Prince Windisch- gratz. In 1862 the pan-Slavist agitation received fresh y 272 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE impetus from the creation of a Bohemian Diet and from the growth of Czech liberty generally. It is necessary at this point to touch on a much-debated question — the linguistic unity of the Slav peoples. The most diverse opinions on this subject are given by people well qualified to judge. It was a gibe of the Germans, thrown at the pan-Slavist congresses, that the delegates could none of them understand each other and were com- pelled to converse in German. On the other hand, it is con- tended that a knowledge of Serbo-Croat, one of the oldest forms, will carry one not only through the Balkan coun- tries but in Russia, Poland, and Bohemia. M. Leger, who is enthusiastically Slavophil, does not lend his authority to this view. He describes a worthy Slovak, deceived by the bookmen of his own country, in hopeless difficulties with a Moscow douanier, with whom he had expected to communicate by virtue of their common Slav tongue. There are at present three main groups of the Slav language, if we may be permitted to use that term for the root principle which obtains in Eastern and Central Eu- rope. These three are Russian, Polish-Bohemian, and Serbo-Croat. 1 Each has its own history and literature. There are dialects, some older than the languages men- tioned, such as the Slovak and Slovene, but they cannot be put quite on the same plane. The source from which Christianity was received was a determining factor not only in the historical development of the Slav races but in the crystallisation of their various 1 Bulgaria claims to have a distinct form and possesses an ancient literature, but, as is shewn later, it is in reality closely akin to the Serbo-Croat. JAGELLON (UNIVERSITY) LIBRARY AT CRACOW. STATUE OF COPERNICUS PAN-SLAVISM 273 dialects into modern languages. The beginning of the Christian era in Bohemia and Poland was not till the ninth century. The former country possessed legends of an ear- lier period and stories of half mythical heroes, and this foundation of a national literature was of service in later days. We have seen how the attempt to establish at once a national caligraphy was opposed by the Latin Church, and in fact, during the epoch which preceded the Hussite national revival, Latin was the literary tongue of Bohemia as it was of Poland. Vernacular literature, properly so called, began in Bohemia in the fifteenth century, in Poland (as in England) in the sixteenth, though translations of various portions of the Bible, hymns, sermons, and a lit- urgy in the Slav tongue were in existence in both coun- tries considerably prior to this. Cracow University was founded in a humble form in 1364, Prague (in greater state) in 1348, and the influence of the literature of the Czechs, then at the height of their prosperity, was pre- dominant in Poland, as in other Slav countries. Polish stu- dents formed one of the " nations " which voted in the University of Prague, but they also went to Padua and to Paris. It is impossible to trace Polish civilisation and the development of that wonderful literature which still holds its own among the rich heritages of the Slav peoples, but it is necessary to show how close was the connection be- tween these two branches of the race, and, as the reader of history knows, they were more than once united under the same sovereign. Although modern Czech and modern Polish are considered as two languages, they are closely connected and may be regarded as the northern branch of 274 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE the Slav tongue. Latin, although it was partially ousted in later years by the Hussite and German reformations, was undoubtedly a powerful factor in shaping the thought, civilising the life, and helping the development of literary and artistic perceptions which reached a high standard at so early a period as the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. At this time the third great branch of the Slavs was still in the half-light of emergence from pagan and Oriental thraldom. The sixteenth century saw the consolidation of a political power which was to be the foundation of mod- ern Russia, but it was not until the seventeenth that Russia began to be considered worthy to be included in the Euro- pean system. At the end of that century arose the prince who, by virtue of his strength of will and character, set the seal of European civilisation firmly on his dominions. Peter the Great turned to the West for the reorganisation of his kingdom, and although he went to England, Hol- land, and France for his military and naval ideas, he asks, in a celebrated letter, to have Bohemian savants sent to his country that they may translate books into Russian, and he also wishes for Moravians and Silesians of similar capacity. At this period the existence of Slavs in Bohemia and Moravia (which were believed to be completely Ger- manised) was almost entirely ignored by the rest of Eu- rope. It is a curious fate which effaced the Czechs from the map of Europe at the very time when the greatest of the Slav powers was beginning her career. The attempt at a rapprochement of Slavs was not lim- ited to the Czechs. In 1617 Krijanich, a Croat, appealed to the Russian Tsar to come to the rescue of the Slavs of PAN-SLAVISM 275 the Danube and the Balkans, making a strong plea for Slav solidarity. Like the Russians, the Serbo-Croatian- speaking peoples who made up the Southern Slavs were, and are, under the sway of Byzantine Christianity; but whereas in Russia there was unity in this matter, the Serbo- Croatians are divided, first by the fact that a section of them belong to the Latin Church, and still further by religious sects like those of the Bogomiles in past times and by the divisions of the patriarchal and exarchical churches within the orthodox fold itself. The Cyrillic or Byzantine- Slav character became that of Russia, and when that coun- try began to develop a national literature and art it was influenced to a marked degree by the East, or perhaps it is more correct to say that it shewed a cast, both of thought and expression, which was not European or derived from the West. No student of Russian life, character, or liter- ature can have failed to notice the Oriental strain which constantly obtrudes itself, despite the influence of certain Western schools of thought and expression, and it is a commonplace to say that even the modern Russian is half Oriental. This feature in the development of their national life and language cut them off, despite the utterances of pan- Slavists, from a great body of their southern Slavonic brethren. We are not directly concerned in this book with the Balkan States, nor is there space to differentiate the Bulgarian and Servian peoples and their early civilisations from those of other southern Slavs, with whom we are now concerned. In Bulgaria and in Roumania the Roman and Greek empires, and the influences emanating from them, 276 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE were the decisive factors rather than any indigenous Slav national development, and in the principalities of Molda- via and Wallachia (now combined as Roumania) the state of society in the sixteenth century was still little more than savage. The language of literature (which must have been chiefly of a religious character) was Slav, but after the setting up of printing presses in Bucharest in 1640, and at Jassy a few years later, Roumanian became the literary as well as the vernacular tongue. Roumania, it need hardly be said, is by virtue of the Roman blood and tradition which she cherishes so fondly, a Latin and not a Slav country, though the population was at one period similar to that of the neighbouring countries. Bulgaria, Slav in population, but deriving itsjiame and distinctive characteristics from a tribe of conquerors who came (tradition says) from the banks of the Volga and were probably Asiatic in origin, is now one of the rising Slav countries, and has always preserved a Slav language. The Bulgars may claim to be the most ancient of the Slav peoples, since their authentic history begins with their con- flicts with the Greek empire in the eighth and ninth cen- turies, and they were converted to Christianity by the earliest of Byzantine missionaries, their first Christian Tsar being Boris I., in 1064. It is said that he hesitated in his choice between the Latin and Greek churches, for the former had previously been active among the Slav countries of the Balkans, and the political and religious controversy between East and West had already begun. Bulgaria was, from the first, anxious to have a church of her own, and it is of the greatest interest to trace in the PAN-SLAVISM 277 history of nearly a thousand years ago the same problems that are exercising men's minds to-day and to realise how narrow, in reality, is the scope of human experience, so that * we must go on fighting the same battles over and over again. Bulgaria had her period of greatness very early; her rulers assumed the title of Tsar five centuries before there were Tsars of Russia, and the golden age of Bulga- rian literature arrived as early as the tenth century, when there were quite a number of writers, historical and eccle- siastical, who used the Cyrillic character, and also a num- ber of translators from the Greek. The rich heritages of the Bulgarians in folk lore and song have been collected in later times, and the poetry is of a haunting melody, but belongs chiefly to the period of enslavement to the Turk and loss of national greatness. The eighteenth century saw a return to these sources and a revival of Bulgarian literature. The Bulgarian language, which has naturally undergone modifications since the very early period of its first literary efflorescence, differs somewhat from the Serbo- Croat, to which, however, it is closely akin. The influ- ences, cultural and political, of the East on Bulgaria have left their mark, while in Servia, the great empire which succeeded it in power among the southern Slavs, there has always been the thread of Latinism, interwoven with that of the Greek Church and the Byzantine capital, with which for some centuries Servia had close intercourse. The relations between the languages of Servia and Bulgaria are, however, too close to allow any doubt as to their essential unity. The Servians were Christianised in the same center*- :.s 278 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE the Bulgarians and Moravians — the ninth, — but their growth to power was slower than that of their neighbours, the Bulgars, and their national development was propor- tionately later. Servia emerges from the condition of a loose federation of vassal chiefs under Byzantine suze- rainty in the fourteenth century, and under their great na- tional king and hero, Stephen Dusan, the country at once rose to the extreme height of its power and became a real Slavonic empire, with a territory stretching from the Save to the Gulf of Corinth and from the iEgean to the Adri- atic. This Slav empire had its own code of laws, a civili- sation which surprised visitors from the most advanced countries of Europe, and a literature in the vernacular. Like all Slav countries, Servia had an interesting folk lore and song, but on the whole the Servians of this golden period were too warlike a people to develop the softer side of life, and they never had time to enjoy the fruits of their victories. The empire of Dusan fell to pieces almost as rapidly as it was reared, and in the fifteenth century, weak- ened by dissensions with other Christian countries, and disunited within itself by differences of creed, Servia fell before the Turks. The story has been told elsewhere. As to its bearing on pan-Slavism, it is only necessary to 9ay that the conditions which prevented a Slav union in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are present to-day, in the fatal disunion of the religious world which embitters relations between fellow-countrymen, and still more be- tween neighbouring countries. Bulgaria and Servia have been hereditary rivals, though kinsfolk, since the begin- ning of their history, and there is no bond of language, CATHOLIC SERIRANS, MOHACS (ON THE DANUBE) HUNGARIAN WOMEN, MOHACS (ON THE DANUBE) PAN-SLAVISM 279 culture, or religion which is sufficient to unite them, though the exigencies of modern political life for small countries might be expected to do so. Undoubtedly pan- Slavists hope to work up the racial tie through literary reunion, but the past history of the two countries, and the extent to which their " historic claims " overlap, make agreement very difficult. The southern Slavs have had one phase of national efflorescence which is peculiarly interesting from the liter- ary and language standpoint. It centred (as has already been described) in the coast town and republic of Ragusa, which retained its independence when all the rest of the southern Slavs were more or less subjugated, either by Turks, Magyars, or Teutons. Before this debacle Ragusa had won her reputation. She was the centre of a remark- able literary and poetic movement which rivalled that of the Italian school, and was enthusiastically Slav in spirit and inspiration, although adopting the Latin form of ex- pression and being essentially a part of the European liter- ary renaissance. The Slav dialect used was examined by George Palmotich, a writer of the eighteenth century, who attempts to identify the Dalmatian or Illyrian lan- guage (Serbo-Croat, in fact) with the Czech of Bohemia, which had been recognised by Charles IV., in his Golden Bull, as necessary for imperial princes to learn. But this attempt and that of other Dalmatian writers were chiefly an effort to console their depressed little country for its pri- vate misfortunes by linking it up with the great lands to which it was racially related, and by recalling past great- ness to banish the memory of present insignificance. It is 2 8o THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE interesting to remember that, in the islands of Dalmatia, there still linger fragments of the earliest form of literary Slav in the shape of a liturgy written in Glagolitza. The greatest differences of opinion exist as to this ancient Slav form of writing, which some authorities have tried to connect with the so-called " Sarmatian " inscrip- tions. While the authenticity of the latter remains to be proved, an examination of Glagolitza seems to establish a close connection between it and the cursive Greek of the seventh and eighth centuries. There are two forms of Glagolitza, the Bulgarian and the Croat, and quite a num- ber of manuscripts have been unearthed in this writing, the earliest authentic document, however, being a signature on a manuscript of 982. Glagolitza is a difficult and involved form of writing, and would never have held its own against Cyrillic but for the opposition of the Church to the latter. Attempts were made to introduce it into Bohemia and Moravia at different periods, under the rather mistaken idea that it represented a more distinctive form of Slav than that written in Cyrillic characters, but it only survived in Croatia, where it was used in a lay as well as a clerical form, and finally (as already said) in the islands of the Dalmatian coast, where a Glagolitza liturgy is still in use. Cyrillic is used side by side with Latin among the Serbo- Croats to-day; the Latin character is used by the Bohemian- Polish group and the Slovaks and Slovenes. Whatever doubts may be cast on the possibility of union between the scattered sections of the Slavs, it is impos- sible to discount the influence of the strong racial and na- tionalist propaganda in Dalmatia, where at present Austria OLD CLOISTERS OF THE FRANCISCANS, RAGUSA PAN-SLAVISM 281 imposes her rule without for a moment penetrating below the surface of national life. Closely allied with the history of Dalmatia is that of Croatia, which was an independ- ent constitutional kingdom until the twelfth century and attained to a very respectable degree of internal organisa- tion and civilisation, always on purely Slav lines. The kingly title had been bestowed upon the Croat rulers since the tenth century, as vassals either of Eastern or Western empires, but in 1076 the Pope bestowed the kingly title direct on Zvonimir, who was crowned at Spalato and whose usual place of residence was Zara in Dalmatia. The union of the Croatian crown with that of Hungary and the final loss of national independence have not prevented the Croats from preserving jealously their Slav traditions. The conditions of life and religion have been described elsewhere, and the only essential difference between the Croats and their near kinsmen in Servia and Bosnia is that the former hardy, brave, and patient people never fell under the Turkish yoke. Like the Poles and Magyars, they were for centuries the sentinels of Europe against the East, and their strenuous lives and fighting qualities were calculated to develop the hardier virtues, but were not a fertile soil for the flower of national life. Nevertheless, modern research has revealed many ancient works, chiefly of a religious character, written in the ancient Glagolitza character which, as we have seen, had its most permanent home in this region. For the real literary development of the Serbo-Croatian peoples one must, however, turn to Ragusa, which was their rallying point when the condi- tions of their own countries no longer permitted the growth h~ 2S2 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE of national literatures. We have seen a Croat of the seventeenth century developing a scheme of pan-Slavist union, but it was reserved for the Napoleonic invasion to reawaken, in the beginning of the nineteenth century, a genuine racial enthusiasm among the southern Slavs. A glance at one of the sketch maps in this volume will indicate the extent of the kingdom which the Cor- sican Caesar grouped together and called Illyria, in a man- ner which might appear both arbitrary and fanciful, but which was in its way a stroke of genius. Illyria, intended to recall the Illyrian provinces of the Roman empire, was a fleeting kingdom and resolved into its component parts when the Napoleonic empire crumbled away. But the re- grouping accomplished for the southern Slavs an extraor- dinary renascence. It divorced them violently from that Germanic world to which a great portion of them (the Slovenes) are tied and from the Magyar domination in the case of Croatia, and by throwing them back on a period before their subjection to diverse disruptive influ- ences, and by organising them once more as a Slav king- dom, it helped more than any mere political or literary propaganda could have done to quicken their sense or racial unity and destiny. At the same time the intelligence and sympathy of the French, and their interest in reviving the Slav and opposing the German element, were instru- mental in stimulating the literary renascence which was necessary to revive racial pride. The most interesting phase of this Illyrian revival is to be found in the ancient Slav duchies so long attached to the Habsburg dynasty as to be considered completely Austrian. PAN-SLAVISM 283 The Slovenes of Carinthia, Carniola, and Styria have retained little trace of an early literature. Their language was little known, and is a Slav dialect rather than a lan- guage, although it has been provided with a grammar. The double weight of Latinism and Teutonism imposed upon these Slav countries by Church and State did not leave the Slovenes much of their national traditions, and it is one of the wonders of Slav renascence that this denationalising force, to which no organised resistance was opposed, should have failed to extinguish the spark of Slav nationality. Like other peoples, the Slovenes stooped to conquer. The tide has passed over their heads and now the back-wash brings them up again. The centre of their revival was the little town of Laibach, where, by a caprice of Napo- leon, Francis Nodier became librarian. This was the Slo- vene town where, in 161 6, the Habsburgs and the Jesuits had burned thousands of volumes written and collected by the school of religious and political reformers who echoed the Bohemian revolt against Catholicism and Germanism, being deeply influenced by Luther and the German Refor- mation. It has been recorded in another chapter how the whole of the Styrian nobility, save seven families, were deprived of their estates for their adherence to the re- formed faith, and the Counter Reformation was more suc- cessful here than in other parts of the Habsburg domains, since Catholicism regained her hold on the Slovenes. To return to Laibach and the influence of the French. After the Illyrian period the Slovenes never again allowed them- selves to lose their sense of racial distinctness, and we have seen how, by slow degrees, they have consolidated their 284 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE position. The constitution granted by the Emperor to all his lands restored to them the autonomy so dear to the Slavs, and which, be it noted, they understand so well how to use. They have used it to such good purpose that to- day they have Slovene schools, use their language in mu- nicipal public life and in their diets, and return Slovene deputies to the Reichsrath. Their literary revival is some- what jealous of being confounded with the Serbo-Croatian, and their dialect is in fact different from any other which has assumed literary form, being naturally entirely free from the Cyrillic or Byzantine element. The movement is a provincial rather than a national or racial one, and in this respect it resembles one other phase of Slav revival, that of the Slovaks of North Hungary, while the use made by the Catholic Church of both movements to oppose the advance of liberalism and religious indifferentism marks a second point of similarity. The Slovaks, the last in our litany of pan-Slavism, live in a beautiful district of Northwest Hungary, and are the descendants of the Moravian peoples annexed by the Mag- yars at an early date in their own history, but at a time when Moravia was just ceasing to be the premier Slav state in a vast confederacy. The Slovaks are a simple people, in a primitive stage of development, but with the usual Slav tenacity they have maintained their racial dis- tinctiveness even in the teeth of the absorbing force of Hungarianism. Nevertheless they had no special propa- ganda, no sense of racial or religious grievance (the only sources of a successful propaganda) until in recent times it suited certain political parties to work it up. The Slo- - H v^^ft^^^l s ;B mi -•.r'^fe^JB Bit 1st. 1 Bfe ' - 1 PAN-SLAVISM 285 vaks are chiefly exploited by the clerical party to form a counterpoise to the growing liberalism in Hungary. There are now newspapers in Slovak, which have a considerable circulation because the people, otherwise illiterate, have always been taught to read in the Bohemian Bible, a cus- tom not departed from when they were reconverted from the Bohemian religion to the Roman Catholic Church. The pan-Slavist movement which is at present being engi- neered among these people must, therefore, be regarded as different in its foundation from that of any other Slav country, and, although the racial feeling is spreading, it is solely with relation to the political phenomena of Hun- gary and is not affected either by the Czech agitation (with which Slovaks have no special sympathy because the Czechs have wanted to impose their own literary language on them) or with the Slav renascence of the South. 2 The so-called pan-Slavism of the Slovaks is nothing more than an attempt to resist Magyarisation, originally engineered by a Magyar party for its own purposes, but tending more and more to form into a little obstructive and defensive cave of its own. By careful gerrymandering the Magyars keep this Slovak party from becoming numerous in the parliament at Budapest, but these two millions of Slavs will be a force to reckon with if universal suffrage gives them a chance. Such are the elements in which certain writers profess 2 Until 1840 the Slovaks can hardly be said to have had a literary language distinct from that of the Czechs, but since that time the Slovaks of Hungary have developed an independent form, although in Eastern Moravia the Slovaks attend Czech schools and use the Czech language in writing and reading. 286 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE to find the component parts of a pan-Slavic union or league. As a serious political idea it is altogether chimer- ical, and, as we began by saying, there is no organisation, no machinery, no funds (like those at the disposal of the pan-Germans). Pan-Slavism is a politico-ethnological theory, a cult, an aspiration. The entirely different stages of evolution, the different ideals, religions, and languages which divide the Slav peo- ples, make any general scheme of pan-Slavism imprac- ticable. In its most plausible form the cult presupposes an altogether successful and magnificent Russia attracting be- neath her sheltering wing some of the scattered Slav nations of similar religion and with affinities eastwards rather than westwards. This dream has been shattered for at least a century to come, perhaps forever, by the events of 1905 and 1906. But at the moment of Russia's — autocratic Russia's — greatest brilliance there was much in her to repel rather than attract those Slav races which had won back to the more genuine Slav traditions of gov- ernment on democratic lines, whereas Russia was an Ori- ental oligarchy. 3 Then there is the peculiar position of Bohemia. This book has been written in vain if it has failed to convey to the reader the extraordinary possibili- ties of the Czech people, endowed alike with proud his- torical traditions and practical modern energy. No Slav people have achieved so high a position as the Czechs. They are first in the Slav world, not by reason of territo- 3 The struggling renascence of the Slovaks has received .neither pecuniary aid nor sympathy from Russia, although she supports Slavism in the Balkans. The strict orthodoxy of the Russian Slavs has been an impenetrable barrier between her and other Slav peoples. CATHOLIC VILLAGERS, HERZEGOVINA PAN-SLAVISM 287 rial conquest or brilliant artistic achievement, but because, while still struggling for national independence, they have succeeded in that most difficult task of reshaping them- selves and accomplishing internal reforms. It is the boast of Bohemia that in education, as in industries, she is the first country of the Austrian lands and could compete even with modern German states in these respects, while at the same time in the artistic side of her national life, literature, music, painting, and the sister arts, she continues to hold her own against the world. It may well be asked, there- fore, how this brilliant, patient, virile, and successful peo- ple could be expected to take any but a first place in a Slav hegemony. Their geographical position, however, makes this almost impossible, and even were it possible we have seen that the little Slav peoples nearest to her, even the Slovaks of Northern Hungary, are not inclined to join in a union in which they would be eclipsed and possibly ab- sorbed by their brilliant neighbours. Not one of the Slav peoples, be it noted, would cede the right of their own form of language or their own national literature, delved up from an almost forgotten past, to be the true and original form and the one which should predominate in a Slav union. Not one would abate a jot of their national preten- sions (which frequently clash) , and all are intensely jealous on the subject of religion and resent any attempt to bind them more closely to one of the great churches. While pan-Slavism, therefore, is chiefly a form of speech, there is a genuine movement — Slavism — which in the last century caused the upheaval of Eastern Europe and is at work preparing fresh developments and perhaps some surprises. 288 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE Although the possibility does not enter into a scheme of pan-Slavism, and is therefore foreign to this chapter, it may be mentioned here that combinations among sections of the southern Slavs are not impossible. Slavism has many supporters, and there are numerous societies, liter- ary, antiquarian, and political, which are directly auxiliary to it. Since 1867 there has been no Slav congress on a large scale, but rapprochements between the different sec- tions of the race have taken place from time to time. The most vital of the bonds forged in behalf of pan-Slavism is that which unites the young Slavs through the medium of the Sokols, or athletic societies. These are patriotic as well as athletic, and are being formed all over the Slav countries which they unite in a friendly rivalry. There is a national Sokol Union which includes associations all over Europe and even among the Slav emigrants in America. At present the bogey of the pan-Germans is an Austrian empire where the principle of federalism shall replace that of centralisation, thus depriving the Habsburg dynasty (and the German Austrians) of their chief weapon, while the predominance of autonomous Slav states in the feder- ation will turn the scale finally in favour of Slav against Teuton. CHAPTER XIV POLITICS AND POLITICIANS The study of politics in Austria-Hungary is complicated for the British or American reader by the fact that al- though he may be acquainted with the theory of parlia- mentary government upon which the systems of the two countries rest, he will not necessarily be able to understand the way in which it is worked. One of the Hungarian leaders recently took advantage of this circumstance to enlist the sympathies of English people by postulating a case in which the scene was moved from Hungary to Great Britain. The defeat on vital questions of a great political party was described as being followed by the calling of the Opposition by the King, who, instead of instructing the putative Prime Minister to form a government to carry out the mandate given to his party by the electors, asked him, certainly, to form a cabinet, but at the same time required him to carry out the desires of the sovereign, and not of the nation as expressed at the election. Naturally this presentation of the case is likely to win sympathy from the British public, and, moreover, it is in its broad features a true account of what happened after the final destruction of the Liberal party in Hungary in 1904. It is, however, at the same time utterly misleading, because the parlia- mentary systems of Austria and Hungary are quite differ- ent in their workings from that of Great Britain. It is, 289 290 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE indeed, impossible to appreciate the political situation without a knowledge of history, and although the readers of this book already understand the relations of the two halves of the Dual Monarchy, it is here necessary to reca- pitulate them in brief. Everything in Austro-Hungarian political life dates from 1867. At that time the King ratified the Hungarian Constitution and bestowed a similar one on his Austrian lands. In doing so he entered, as Emperor of Austria, into an arrangement with the independent allied kingdom of Hungary. His own constitutional position was defined in so doing. Hungarians accepted the arrangement, though a certain number of irreconcilables refused to ac- knowledge it, and Louis Kossuth died abroad rather than do so. Like all constitutions, the Hungarian one is not in the form of a treaty or single document but is the growth of centuries, partly founded on fundamental prin- ciples recognised by the rulers and partly on long-estab- lished custom. The position of a king in such a constitu- tional monarchy is affected more by precedent than by actual law. Our own monarch, in a phrase which has be- come dear to the stickler for " constitutional rights," y reigns but does not govern. The King of Hungary both reigns and governs, though he is bound to govern with the will of the people; but conversely the people cannot govern without him. The King and Parliament are indivisible for this purpose. King Francis Joseph has successfully asserted his prerogatives, in that he has actually refused to sanction bills passed by both houses of parliament. Without his sanction they are of course invalid, as they POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 291 would be in any constitutional monarchy. King Edward VII. could exercise a similar prerogative, but, whereas it is inconceivable that he should do so, it is a fact that King Francis Joseph has done so, and their position is therefore entirely different. The same difference, in practice if not in theory, exists in the choice of the re- sponsible ministers through whom the King must govern, and who must countersign any acts or ordinances of his. In Great Britain the choice of the King is governed by exigencies over which he has no control. Custom, prece- dent, and the smooth working of the party system impose on him a course of action in which his own private con- victions or desires must not play any part. On the contrary, King Francis Joseph is equally within his con- stitutional privileges when, on the dissolution of one gov- ernment, he chooses the political leader (outside that gov- ernment) who is most likely to carry out the views of the Crown, and entrusts him with the task of getting together a party which will command a majority in the House. In both cases the theory of the parliamentary majority rep- resenting the will of the nation (without which the con- stitutional monarch may not govern) is carried out in the letter. The comparative merits of the two systems are neither here nor there, and as a matter of fact, without the system of proportional representation and a number of other electoral reforms, the " will of the nation " is as little, or as much, expressed by one form as by the other. The result, however, in Austria and Hungary is to make the relations of the Crown and the ministers, and of the ministers and the political parties, quite foreign to *•- 292 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE anything within the experience of parliamentary life in Britain. The ministers are the servants of the Crown rather than of parliament, and the political parties have to shape a programme which the Crown will sanction before they are likely to be asked to take office. In the event of a deadlock the Crown, which is bound to summon parlia- ment at stated intervals, can exercise its prerogative and dismiss it on the same day. It was the exercise of this power which recently created such a sensation in Hungary when, like Cromwell, the King dissolved parliament with an armed force to support his authority. Besides the Austrian parliament and the Hungarian parliament, and the Austrian government and the Hun- garian government, there is that debated land of Common Affairs over which the Delegations hold sway. The Hun- garian dislike of creating anything like a dual parliament led to the extraordinary device of these two bodies, debat- ing separately and not allowed even to speak to each other, like two children whose mothers will not " make friends." They communicate in writing and, if it is necessary to take a joint vote, they vote without debating! The position of the Emperor and King towards this amorphous crea- tion was naturally defined by the compact of 1867 which gave rise to it. The ministers of common affairs (Kaiser- lich und Koniglich) are also responsible to the Emperor and King, a mutual responsibility complicated by the obli- gation to obtain a third ratification, from the Delegations, who in their turn are answerable to the parliaments of the two countries. The King on his side is responsible also to the ministers and parliaments, with one extremely impor- POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 293 tant reservation. In the department of defence he is, as Commander-in-Chief, not responsible to anyone in the appointment of officers or the organisation of the army. The minister of war is not required to countersign acts dealing with these, 1 though responsible for such mat- ters as commissariat, equipment, and the technical side, while the parliaments of the two countries, by the stand- ing laws, retain the control of recruiting. The contingent of recruits is voted annually by each parliament, and in case either refuses to contribute their quota there is no pos- sible means of coercion. The parliamentary situation in the Austrian half of the monarchy is complicated by the disunited nature of the autonomous " provinces," which are represented. If one could imagine the state of affairs at Westminster, with, members of parliament coming from half-a-dozen coun- tries and races as widely opposed as the most recalcitrant Irish and the most uncompromising " Saxon," the compo- sition of the Austrian parliament could, perhaps, be real- ised. When the Ausgleich was made it was believed that both Hungary and Austria, mutually helpful, would be able independently to control the elements of disunion within their own borders. How far this expectation has been fulfilled will be partly shewn by the story of the growth of parties in Austria. In 1867 the German element in Austria was the richest, most powerful, best educated, and most widespread of the peoples of the " lands represented in the Reichsrath." This section alone was in favour of the arrangement with 1 Law of Dec. 21, 1867. Par. 5. 294 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE Hungary. The Slavs of Bohemia and Moravia, although not in a position to prevent it, protested by the one means in their power : by absenting themselves in a mass from the Reichsrath, which was therefore in the awkward predica- ment of having to try to carry on government without the consent of some of the most important provinces. The tactics adopted by Beust were to dissolve the provincial diets of the two Czech provinces and, by influencing the great landowners, to secure a German majority in the new diets. As the provincial diets elected the members for the Reichsrath at this time, this manoeuvre was suc- cessful in obtaining for the latter the necessary deputies, who were, moreover, likely to support Beust's policy. At this time the majority in the Reichsrath belonged to what was known as the German Liberal party, and the opposi- tion parties (who did not coalesce) were the Feudal-Cler- icals (members of the old-fashioned Catholic and aristo- cratic families, who resented any disturbance of the old form of government, or any innovations in social or re- ligious legislation) and the three national parties of Ital- ians, Slovenes, and Poles. The policy of the Liberal Gov- ernment in introducing anti-clerical laws, as to marriage, schools, and religious privileges, was approved by the ma- jority in the Reichsrath, but met with opposition in the country, where the autonomous provincial governments refused to carry out the laws. The Poles, as has been said before, (though all Catholic in principles) came to terms with the Government, which gave them, in exchange for their support in the Reichsrath, important concessions re- garding language, railroads, and educational questions. POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 295 The Czechs stood out, declared Bohemia to have nothing in common with Austria except the dynasty, and finally ^ broke into riots which had to be repressed with martial law. The German Liberals might have held their own but for divisions within, and now began to develop that in- variable appendage of any Liberal party — an extreme sec- tion, or Radical Left. The head of the ministry was Count Taafe, a man of moderate and conciliatory views, who was above everything an opportunist. He resigned to make way for a less conciliatory minister, but the Poles and Slavs by refusing co-operation forced the formation of a fresh cabinet in which Taafe and Potocki returned to office and once more tried to get a majority together by conciliating all the races. The result of this policy was to please none, for the period was one little calculated for allaying race feeling, being that of the Franco-Prussian war and of important events in Italy. The Emperor was inclined, by the failure of Taafe to get a majority, to lean to another political party, and although the Liberals still predominated in the House, Count Hohenwart, represent- ing the Feudal-Clerical and Nationalist elements, was called on to form a ministry. The impossibility of carry- ^ ing through any important bill, in the teeth of a majority not pledged to support the Government, appears to the English reader to be an insuperable objection to such a ministry, but the Liberals themselves were disunited and undisciplined. Nevertheless they did reject a bill in the Lower House, whereupon the time-honored practice was ]/ resorted to of dissolving the provincial diets, capturing 296 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE as many of them as possible by means of pressure on the great landowners (who, of course, were largely included in the Federal-Clericals) , and thus securing a fresh Reichs- rath with a majority friendly to government. This was done and the Czechs joined in accomplishing it, receiving as a reward a rescript suspending the fundamental laws and acknowledging the peculiar rights of their country. This constitutional change aroused, however, a unanimity of feeling among the German Austrians which caused them for the time to sink party differences, while the south- ern Slavs and Poles immediately began to clamour for similar concessions. Finally Hungary (with her own sub- ject races to consider and a large Slav population) threw her weight into the balance; the Federal party lost the support of the Crown under this pressure, resigned, and was succeeded by a government with precisely opposite views. This was the Auersperg Cabinet, which lasted from 1 87 1 till 1879, and by the usual method restored the Ger- man Liberal majority in the Reichsrath. In 1873 a ^ aw was passed which made a great reform in the method of electing the deputies to the Reichsrath, who were no longer the choice of the provincial diets but elected direct by the voters. No reformy however, was made in the electoral basis, which was founded on the class system and gave such an enormous preponderance to certain sec- tions of society. The final break-up of the Auersperg Cab- inet was due not so much to racial disputes as to the internal dissensions of the Liberal party, which broke up into three factions, each of which formed a " club." The POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 297 part played by these in Austria resembles that of the French clubs of the revolutionary period rather than of the great political clubs of England. Affairs were discussed and the action of members decided on, and the Liberal clubs did not feel themselves bound by ties of party loyalty to the Government, but criticised it freely, and even voted against it, till at last the Auersperg ministry could no longer main- tain its position. One of the chief disintegrating factors was the war be- tween the Church and Liberalism of the more advanced type. Foreign policy also was the subject of disagreement, and the renewal of the commercial arrangements with Hun- gary, which fell due in 1877, was the subject of great dissension. The next ministry, under the conciliatory Taafe, was designed to put an end to internal squabbles by uniting all races and religions in one government. The cabinet con- tained a German Liberal, a Clerical, a Pole, and even a Czech. The Czechs had hitherto maintained their atti- tude of aloofness and of refusing to recognise the consti- tutional position, but for some time a party had been grow- ing which, under the name of the Young Czechs, was in favour of abandoning the attitude of passive resistance in ^ favour of an aggressive political campaign. The Old and the Young Czechs at this time effected an understanding and came into the Reichsrath, while the deputies who be- longed to the Old party became firm supporters of the Government. We now find the Austrian Parliament composed of a Left (the Radicals and advanced Liberals), the Centre or 298 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE Liberals, and a Right, which was made up of most hetero- geneous elements — Czechs, Slavs, Poles, and Conserva- tives — not at all at one in their views, but supporting the government for what they hoped to get out of it. On the whole, however, they were agreed in preferring federalisa- tion to centralisation, but they were not strong enough to force any vital change in this direction in the teeth of the objections of the bureaucracy (so powerful in Austria) and of the army, always opposed to decentralisation. The German Liberals, at first supposed to take a share in this combination government, went into opposition almost im- mediately, and their representative in the ministry re- signed. Ostensibly their chief grievance was the policy of concession to the Slavs, but in reality neither Czechs nor Poles got any very substantial reward for their services to the Government. It is obvious that such a party government as this gave the widest scope for exercise of the talents of the Em- peror in effecting political combinations and compromises, and in fact the Reichsrath became an instrument on which he could play. The influence of the Czechs on parliamen- tary life was the chief factor in breaking up this artificial harmony of discordant and disunited elements. The Young Czechs had formed a strong party which con- demned the attitude of submission which was bringing little reward, and they moreover joined in violent opposi- tion to a scheme for settling the race difficulty in Bohemia by carefully separating Germans and Czechs and assuring to each equal influence and equal rights. This would have been fatal to the Czech ambition of recovering the su- POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 299 premacy of their race in their own country, and such a storm of national feeling was raised that the project fell through. A fresh appeal to the country, in the hope of securing a majority for the moderates of all parties, was far from successful. The Old Czech party was nearly wiped out by their more violently patriotic countrymen and the Ger- man Liberals, still in a majority, strengthened the Left rather than the Centre. In October, 1893, Count Taafe fell, after a term of office lasting fourteen years, but the cabinet which suc- ceeded him was not a new one, except for the inclusion of a German Liberal. The peculiar conditions of Austrian political life are well illustrated by this circumstance, and it is interesting to note that the personality of the leader seems to count for more than the policy of the party he represents. The revolt was against Taafe, of whom the Reichsrath was tired, just as, at a later date, Koloman Tisza met with a similar fate in Hungary. The coalition cabinet formed in 1893 was wrecked chiefly on a language question relating to the revival of Slovenian in Styria. A four months' ministry under Count Kielmansegg was succeeded by another under Count Ba- deni, the Polish governor of Galicia, who announced, as Count Taafe had done at a previous period, that he should hold himself above all race feeling and party politics but would respect the priority of the Germans. Despite this announcement, the name of Badeni will go down to pos- terity forever linked with the language ordinances, which granted to the Czechs the use of their own tongue in the 300 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE internal administration (for which they had been contend- ing) and thus united the German factions in one wave of passionate indignation and made the resignation of the min- ister inevitable. In the stormy history of the Austrian chamber no scenes more violent have been enacted than those which greeted this attempt to conciliate the Czechs. Vienna was on the point of revolution, and only the immediate inter- vention of the Emperor and the recision of the ordinances restored anything like order. Needless to say, the Czechs did not accept their disappointment quietly. It will be re- membered that, in the early 'seventies, the German Lib- erals began to split up into " clubs," and that the Left section which emerged continued to gain in influence. In 1878 this extreme party took on itself a fresh complexion by adopting the principles of pan-Germanism. At first this propaganda was a small one as regards its influence in the Reichsrath. It was first introduced to that body by the deputy Schoenerer, when he announced that there was a growing desire among Austrian Germans for union with Germany, but a definite policy was not formulated till 1882, when the Linz programme was announced, which demanded the exclusion of the purely Slav " lands " (Ga- licia, Bukowina, and Dalmatia) from Austria, and com- plete inclusion within the German customs union. This extreme German propaganda did not meet with very wide support until the Badeni ordinances of 1897 gave such an impetus to German nationalism. After this time the utter- ances of Schoenerer and his party became actively treason- able, for the Habsburg dynasty was declared to have POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 301 surrendered to the Slavs, and the Hohenzollerns were held up as more worthy of German allegiance. The burning question of the position of the Church was another of the disuniting factors within the German ranks, and now became involved with that of nationality, but, as this movement has been described already in the chapter on pan-Germanism, it need not be treated at any length here. The rise of Socialism, itself divided into Christian Socialism and International Socialism (a distinction chiefly lying in the respective attitudes of the groups towards the Jews, the first being extremely anti-Semite, the latter pro- moted by Jews) , was another split in the German Liberal camp, but the divisions in the main are only three, for the various groups coalesce on certain vital points. First come the constitutional landed proprietors, with a considerable representation under the present electoral system. They are Centralists, Catholics, and opposed equally to amalgamation with Germany or to any radical change in the constitution of the country. Second, there is a group which favours federalism and also includes a certain number of great landowners, the Conservative Cler- ical Popular Party, and the Christian Socialists, with those Radicals and Democrats who do not favour the pan-Ger- mans. It must be understood that all these parties have little cohesion, and are only grouped together as favour- ing federalism, rather than increased centralisation, or (the other extreme) amalgamation with Germany. The third group is the small but growing one formed by the pan- Germans, whose demands we have already stated, and who are supported in part of their programme by the most 302 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE powerful (numerically) of all, namely, the German Pop- ular Party. These two, the Pan-Germans and the Popu- lists, are the only parties which are not intensely loyal to the dynasty, and in the main to the Catholic church. 2 After the crisis caused by the Badeni ordinances a period of the greatest confusion ensued and the Austrian Cham- ber was the scene of wild disorder. Baron Gautsch was made Premier and attempted to restore order, but only held office for two months, and during his premiership it became necessary to close the universities, which were in- fected with the general political excitement. In the spring of 1898 Count Thun, a member of a noble Bohemian fam- ily, took office, and attempted to placate both sides by including in his ministry one of the great German land- owners and a Young Czech. He also endeavoured to sup- press the pan-German agitation, put down the students' association " Teutonia," which was anti-Austrian in char- acter, and arrested some of the German pastors who were mixing treason to Austria with their " Los von Rom " propaganda. The result was that his reputation as a Slav- ophil caused his fall, and in the 1901 elections the extreme Left party increased their representation in the Reichs- rath and for the first time secured the election of one of their party to the Delegations. The retirement of Count Thun was followed by a three months' tenure of office by Count Clary, who endeavoured to maintain himself by German support. In the year 1900 the Emperor called 2 The Bohemian political parties are, the Old and the Young Czechs, the Progressives, Realists, Socialists, National Socialists, Agrarians, Conserva- tives (large landowners), and one or two minor groups. POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 303 a fresh ministry, with Korber at its head, which at first seemed likely to get along peacefully. In a short time, however, the Czechs began to reiterate their demands, and after more stormy scenes the Reichsrath was again dis- solved. At the elections of 1901 the Clericals lost heavily and the Extreme Left increased its numbers, the Schoen- erer group of pan-German Radicals now numbering twenty-one. A feature of this period was the increasing enmity between these parties and the Church. In 1902 the German Popular Party separated from the more mod- erate sections. The relationship with Hungary came up for debate on the question of the renewal of the commercial com- promise. A number of Austrian-Germans were entirely dissatisfied with the basis of the arrangement, and still more with the way in which it was always worked by Hungary, which is able, by political solidarity in the Del- egations, to get the whip hand. Korber went so far as to declare that without more favourable terms for Austria he would not sanction a fresh commercial Ausgleich, and the difficulties reached such an acute stage that he wanted to resign, but was persuaded to remain in office to avoid the chaos which otherwise must ensue. The new army bills were a great bone of contention, and the action of Hungary in refusing to ratify them led to a similar policy of obstruction on the part of the Czechs and Croats. In 1905 Gautsch took office again, an appointment which was made by the Crown in much the same spirit as that which, shortly after, dictated the calling of Fejervary to form a Hungarian cabinet. The Emperor and King, 304 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE faced with irreconcilable opposition in each country, was making a desperate attempt to obtain a majority for the policy he favoured by means of compromises, but the un- success of these tactics ultimately led to a fresh phase (described more fully later on) in which the question of electoral reform was used to disarm the opposition in both countries. The expedient of giving his sanction to uni- versal suffrage was not dictated by any demand for that reform in the Austrian Parliament, though a measure of electoral reform had long been pressed for. On the whole, all the Slav nationalist parties are favourable to the scheme, except the Poles, who naturally oppose bitterly any measure which would put power in the hands of the Ruthenian peasants. The German Liberals are somewhat divided in their opinions, but the Clerical Party are not opposed to it, except that portion closely allied with the old Conservatives. The Socialists are naturally delighted, and the Government is now devoting itself to a consideration of the best basis for the reform. In this rapid survey of the course of Austrian parliamentary his- tory since the Ausgleich too little has, perhaps, been said of the Hungarian question in Austria — that is the ever- recurring problem of "the relations of the two halves of the monarchy. If all internal questions between Germans, Czechs, Poles, Slovenes, Clericals and Anti-Clericals, Na- tionalists and Federalists could by some miracle have dis- appeared there would still have remained this perennial source of discontent. The German party particularly, although in its old form responsible for the Ausgleich, is now far from united in approving the basis on which the POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 305 two countries are joined together, and is practically unani- mous in declaring that, whatever the changes made, they must not be in favour of Hungary, which already has much the best of the bargain. As said already, Hungary, by means of greater solidar- ity, has actually been the predominant partner. In the Dele- gations, for instance, while the Hungarian members are elected by the parliament without restriction and form a compact body, the Austrians, who must be taken from each province in due proportion, are disunited by all the ques- tions of race and party. The advantage of Hungary is obvious. Moreover, although the Hungarian Parliament is by no means a calm and peaceful one and contains many discordant elements, yet on questions of race the govern- ment can always count on a majority. The Magyars, in fact, display to a very high degree the power of organisa- tion for political purposes, and despite the intensity of party strife the general tendency has been more and more towards settling down to a steady and non-extreme form of parliamentary government. In recent times a less admir- able temper has shewn itself, as we shall see, but it is to be hoped that the moderate party will ultimately prevail. When Francis Deak, one of Hungary's greatest states- men and patriots, succeeded in carrying through the com- promise of 1867 with Austria, there was a large body in Hungary which did not approve, and, except for the great following which Deak, as a patriot, commanded, the measure could not have been ratified in the Hungarian parliament. A ministry was therefore formed from his followers, with Count Andrassy at its head, as Deak him- 306 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE self did not wish to take office, but the true government was the " Deak Club." The opposition (which on any question of race advancement became at once converted into a government party so far as its Magyar members were concerned) was formed of the Right, or moderate opposition, including the aristocratic and clerical party, in close sympathy with Vienna and opposed to any liberal changes ; the Liberal Left, an intensely nationalist Magyar party, formerly opposed to the Ausgleich and upholding the constitution of 1 848 ; and the Extreme Left, made up of the non-Hungarian deputies, chiefly Roumanians and Slavs. Andrassy remained in office till 1871, and was succeeded by Lonyay, who was forced by charges of corruption to resign after a year, when Szlavy took his place but held it only till 1874, after which an even more short-lived cabinet was formed under Bitto. The years between 1867 and 1875 saw a great change in the political situation in Hungary. At first the Deak party, a liberal ministerial majority, devoted themselves to the work of reconstruction, and to a steady policy of strengthening the Magyar ele- ment, and especially of introducing the language through- out the country. In 1873, however, Deak himself retired and the party began to go to pieces. The financial crisis of the same year and the scandals over railway concessions shook the Government, which was, moreover, involved in heavy expenditure which meant extra taxation and conse- quent unpopularity. The Left now removed the great bar which had prevented it from coming into office by withdrawing its opposition to the 1867 compromise, and POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 307 a great Liberal party was formed out of the Centre and Left, with the best and most moderate men of each, under the leadership of Count Tisza, whose ministry lasted for fifteen years. The change made by the accession to power of a party containing the elements of the old irreconcila- bles naturally brought about a more vigorous nationalist policy. Only the Extreme Right — the conservative-cleri- cal aristocratic body — and the Extreme Radical Left were in opposition, but Tisza commanded a large ma- jority, and it looked as if his term of office might last till the end of the century. His autocratic temperament and the sternness of his attitude towards all who opposed him and towards subject races were, however, against his con- tinued popularity, and in 1890 he uttered some disparag- ing remarks about Louis Kossuth, in whose honour the Left had organised great demonstrations, and, as the result of a stormy scene in the Chamber, resigned. His general policy was much the same as that of the Deak party, but he increased the centralisation of power. Among the suc- cesses of his administration were the conversion of the Austrian National Bank into a joint concern for the two halves of the monarchy, the nationalisation of the rail- ways, and the adoption of the zone tariff, which has done so much for the prosperity of Hungary After a short ministry under Count Szapary, Dr. Wekerle, the Minister of Finance, took office in 1892, and by this time the increase in the extreme Left, or Radi- cal section, forced government to take up questions of Church and State. These had been postponed as long as possible to avoid the disunion in the national ranks which 308 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE these controversial points had raised among the German Austrians and might be expected to raise in Hungary likewise. Laws establishing civil marriage, religious liberty, and the legal equality of the Jews were passed with the aid of the Left, but were rejected by the Magnates, supported (it is said) by the King. The ministry resigned, but as no new one could be formed without the support of Wekerle and his friends, they were reinstated, the King withdrew his opposition, the Magnates gave way, and the compulsory civil marriage bill was passed, while other measures also went through both houses triumphantly. Wekerle, however, resigned at the desire of the King, under strong Catholic pressure, and Baron Banffy took office in 1895. He proceeded on the same lines as Wekerle in passing bills granting religious freedom. In 1897, when the renewal of the commercial compromise fell due, Banffy pledged himself that, failing an understanding with Austria within a year, he would propose to Parliament the economic independence of Hungary. The condition of obstruction in the Austrian parliament entirely pre- cluded the conclusion of a fresh compromise and, as we have seen already, the mutual economic relations were carried on provisionally by Imperial and Royal procla- mation. Early in 1899, when Banffy was compelled to resign, a ministry was formed under Szell, and the renewal of the commercial Ausgleich relieved the congestion of affairs to a certain extent. For the next two years, until 1901, comparative peace reigned in the Hungarian parliament, POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 309 but the increase of anti-Magyar feeling in Austria, chiefly due to commercial jealousy, found a reply in Hungary and fed the flames which burned among the Magyar Inde- pendence Party. It must be mentioned that the Nation- alist Party had split in two, the extreme section which desired complete separation being led by Francis Kossuth, son of the old patriot of '48. The Nationalists proper, under Count Albert Apponyi, did not go quite so far, being for one thing loyal to the dynasty, but a few years later a reunion was effected, and the two parties are now, nominally, united under a programme which, while refus- ing to recognise the 1867 compact, is still favourable to the retention of the common crown. In 1903 began the agitation over the new army bills, and the " language of command " question became a prominent feature in the Nationalist propaganda. A campaign of obstruction en- sued, which led to the most violent scenes both in and out of the chamber. Count Stephen Tisza, son of the old Liberal Premier and heir to the Liberal traditions, tried in vain to form a Cabinet. He and his party are upholders of the Ausgleich, and although identified with the name Liberal in Hungary are rather the Tory Moderate Party. Baron Hedervary, the successful autocratic Ban of Croatia, was asked to form a Cabinet, and did so by dropping the army bills for the time, but King Francis Joseph was by no means in favour of these concessions, and announced his intention of maintaining all his prerogatives as regards 11 my army." He flung down the gauntlet to the Inde- pendents, and summoned Hedervary again, but in 1903 this minister was succeeded by one who was expected to be 3 io THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE more successful in obtaining a genuine support from par- liament, and Count Stephen Tisza took office. For two years he held things together with a strong hand, but despite his high character, his autocratic temper made him enemies, and private jealousies, aided by his lack of tact and organising power, eventually caused his downfall. When he saw the opposition gathering force he tried to put through a coup d'etat to smash the obstruction. An altera- tion in the standing orders was carried, but the most violent scenes followed, and after a struggle Tisza was forced to resign. The break up of the once great Liberal Party and the final defeat of Count Stephen Tisza took place in 1905, and by this time the second great reorganisation of parties in Hungary was accomplished. With Tisza's fall the old Liberal Party melted as if by magic, nor are there any signs at present of its revival. The defeat of the Lib- erals was effected by a coalition of four groups which have been formed out of the Extreme Right and Extreme Left of earlier days. These were the Clerical Independents, the Independence party under Kossuth and Apponyi, the Clerical People's party, and the Liberal Dissentients or Andrassy group. The Clerical Independents have been fused with the Independence Party, which for various reasons is now the most prominent in the state and the one whose leaders make most noise in the world. In 1905 this party represented the old Irreconcilables or Extreme Nationalists, who seemed at one time to have almost dis- appeared, merged in the Liberals. They desired the aboli- tion of the compromise of 1867 so that Hungary might POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 311 return to the status of 1848, when for a short time she was an entirely separate kingdom. The connection of the son of Louis Kossuth with this group gives it a fictitious resemblance to the Patriotic Party of 1848, and with him is associated the picturesque figure of Albert Apponyi, the Magyar orator, whose fine periods and impressive appear- ance have made him the effective representative of his country in England and America. The two Clerical par- ties are united in their desire to increase the influence of the church, to check the growing power of the Jews, and to repeal the civil marriage and divorce laws, but, while the Clerical Independents join with Kossuth's party, the Cler- ical Populists desire the maintenance of the Ausgleich with a progressively separatist interpretation. The An- drassy group, whose leader belonged to the Liberals by tradition and was originally the close friend of Tisza, has considerable influence through his great historic name and family. He was left somewhat stranded by the events of 1905 and maintained a sort of balance between Tisza and the Opposition, but finally threw his weight against the former, influenced it is said by personal feelings, which had much to do with the fall of the Liberal premier. Like his father, Count Tisza, a man of high attainments and sterling character, was lacking in the tact and suppleness essential for the difficult task before him. Besides the four main groups there was one other, composed of the per- sonal supporters of ex-Premier Banffy, and these five bod- ies, all taking such different points of view, were in 1905 bound together by a solemn pact for the overthrow of the Liberal party and government. It is believed that, be- 312 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE cause the tie that unites them is so slender, it was thought necessary to strengthen it by a solemn form of oath or pact; certain it is that no sooner was their object accom- plished than the yoke began to gall some of them consid- erably. The pact binds all members of the Coalition to hold together under all circumstances during the duration of the new Parliament, while, as a whole, the Coalition is not to sanction any policy not acceptable to any of its parts. It is hard to imagine any legislation which might not be vetoed by this arrangement, but, having made it, the Coalition leaders dare not break it. At the time it was made they expected only to act as an opposition, and the situation is now one which some of them would never have faced had they expected to take office. One of the last acts of Count Tisza was to put through the commercial treaties with Germany, to which reference has been made, his desire being to checkmate the Inde- pendence party by presenting them with the accomplished fact, so that the commercial compromise must be renewed. The King wished Tisza to continue to hold office, but that minister was neither able nor willing to continue to gov- ern without parliamentary support. The King therefore called on Baron Fejervary, an old soldier, whose personal devotion to his sovereign did not permit him to refuse, and who had been Minister of National Defence for a quarter of a century. With some difficulty Fejervary got a cabinet together, but, despite his high character and personal pop- ularity, it was impossible not to realise that he was ap- pointed against the sense of the parliamentary majority and represented the sovereign but not the people. He POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 313 was, in fact, defeated at once in the House, but was in- structed by his sovereign to remain in office and try to come to terms with the Coalition. The latter had now crystallised their joint ambitions into a demand for the use of Hungarian as the language of command, a plank in the nationalist platform which is discussed on its own merits in Chapter X. The suggestion of minor conces- sions, as we have seen, was rejected by the Coalition, and with frank cynicism some of the party allowed that the language question was not the end but the beginning of their demands. The new Minister of the Interior, a young Liberal, Mr. Kristoffy, now had the idea that the only way to break up the Coalition was to raise some question on which they were fundamentally divided, and accordingly he proposed a scheme of universal suffrage. The opposition of the Crown to such a revolutionary proposal delayed its sanc- tion for some time, and gave the Coalition time to con- sider its position and to organise resistance on new lines. The quondam leader of the Liberal government, Count Tisza, came forward as a bitter opponent of the proposal, which is indeed far from palatable to a large majority of the conservative and liberal landowners, who have the old aristocratic prejudices against popular government and who are also afraid that the vote given to the Slav and Roumanian population will shake the dominant position of the Magyars. This suffrage question must be touched on again, as it is undoubtedly one of the most crucial in the history of modern Hungary. Meanwhile, because of the condition of deadlock caused by the disagreement between 3H THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE the King and Parliament, affairs throughout the country were in a state of ex lex. Taxes could not be collected, officials resigned rather than be identified with an unpopu- lar government, and it was with the greatest difficulty that a cabinet could be kept together. Fejervary, a high- souled and high-principled Magyar, was placed in a most painful position, but the debt of gratitude he owed to his sovereign (who had saved his life during a severe ill- ness by sending to Berlin for the necessary surgical help and paying all expenses himself) did not allow the old soldier to waver in his fidelity. The Coalition were offered office on terms, but these they would not entertain, and Fejervary had to remain at the post of duty as the target of the Opposition. The Parliament had, by law, to be summoned at intervals every year, but the Crown has the power to dissolve it at once, and this was done by the King in June, September, October, and December, 1905, and again in February, 1906. In view of the opposition shewn to the commissary who, in February, was charged to enter the House and read the Royal rescript, Francis Jo- seph promptly backed his prerogatives with force and sent a colonel and soldiers with drawn swords to carry out his orders. The Coalition leaders, being advised that their legal position did not allow them to resist this order, submitted for the time, but signed a declaration that, on March 1st, 1906, when by law the Parliament must again be summoned, they would refuse to be dissolved and would remain sitting. Such procedure would be flat rebellion. The most dramatic situation which, in modern times, has occurred in any State or Parliament was thus created. POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 315 The ides of March were indeed awaited breathlessly, for only a little more than a month's respite remained before the momentous decision had to be made. The King was reported to have decided to meet rebellion by a re- turn to absolutism, and indeed, holding the strong views he does about the union and maintenance of the Ausgleich intact, it was hard to see what other step he could take. An additional difficulty was created by the fact that the new commercial treaties were to come into force on March 1 st, and as they involved numerous changes in the tariff it was essential that some parliamentary government should be in existence to issue the necessary instructions. This Parliament had therefore to be summoned by the middle of April. The Coalition, it must be mentioned, had at first tried to make terms with the Crown, but their tactics had se- verely angered Francis Joseph, because, while their repre- sentatives avowed that all they wanted was the dismissal of the Fejervary-Kristoffy Cabinet, the leaders openly de- clared that they would only make peace on terms of sub- stantial concession. After this the old monarch refused to negotiate, and, summoning the Coalition to his pres- ence, read them his list of conditions and curtly dismissed them. Up to the end of the first week in April nothing was done and chaos reigned. Fejervary, it is said, urged his master to avoid the crisis by not summoning the parlia- ment at all, but Francis Joseph was firm in his determina- tion that he would fulfil the letter of the constitution and let the first breach (if made) come from the other side. 3i6 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE On Monday, April 9th, the summons for the new Parlia- ment had to go out. On Saturday the miracle happened. At the eleventh hour the Coalition and the Crown came to terms, which were actually arranged on the last day of grace, and by these terms of Coalition took office. They " reserved their principles," and agreed to carry, on the business of the country during the next two years, to pass a universal suffrage bill, and to vote the supplies so long in arrears. Concessions as to commercial relations are believed to have secured this compromise. The vital questions of the language of command, eco- nomic independence, and, practically, of the continuance of the Dual Monarchy, are thus postponed, and when they come up for consideration it will be in a parliament elected for the first time on a democratic basis. The Premier is "Dr. Wekerle, and the transition government contains prac- tically all the leaders of any note except, of course, Count Tisza, who has retired into private life on his estate. There is Francis Kossuth, leader of the Independence party and heir to the prestige and popularity, as well as the rather inflated eloquence of his father, but not to the men- tal and physical stamina of that remarkable man. That the son of Louis Kossuth, who died in exile rather than rec- ognise the hated Habsburg as King of Hungary, should now be a minister of that same Habsburg is one of time's revenges. The younger Kossuth is more pliable than his father, but he and his party still stand for the idea of com- plete separation and the repudiation of the Ausgleich. With him is Count Andrassy, one of the party who wrought the work of '67, the inheritor of the Deak tradi- POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 317 tion, if there is such a thing as political consistency. Dr. Wekerle, who introduced the anti-clerical laws, and Count Zichy, a Catholic, are colleagues, and towering over all is that handsome, specious, frothy politician who, beginning life as a Don Quixote, now gives one the impression of an American demagogue — the great Hungarian nobleman, Count Albert Apponyi. For a short time an unwonted calm reigned. In May the Emperor went to Budapest to unveil the statue of King Stephen, and although his reception was not demonstrative, it was, at least, respectful and cordial. The Premier took the opportunity of making a speech which sounded like a lecture on constitutionalism for the benefit of the monarch, who may have had some moments of amusement in reflect- ing on the " constitutionalism " of the King-Saint, his pred- ecessor, in whose honour they were gathered together. By autumn, 1906, a new crisis arose, with reference to the levy of recruits for the common army, which the King desired and the Hungarian government refused. A secret pact with the Coalition gave the King the right to demand recruits in case of " unavoidable necessity," and the Eu- ropean situation seemed to him to fulfil those conditions. The Hungarians, however, saw only an opportunity for wringing from him fresh concessions. The year of 1905 was a wasted year for Hungary, a period in which the condition of the parliament precluded any useful legislation and hindered the actual carrying out of existing laws. It is to be hoped that the short respite now gained will be used to the best advantage. CHAPTER XV FOREIGN RELATIONS — AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, AND EUROPE At the end of our historical sketch we said that the con- clusion of the war with Prussia began a new epoch for the territory ruled by the Habsburgs, in that, their fron- tiers being settled, their distracting interests in non-con- tiguous possessions of their House no longer the predomi- nant feature in their policy, their pretensions to Italy forever quashed, and their exclusion from Germany made certain, they were now at liberty to devote themselves to the consolidation of their power within their own borders and the reconciling of conflicting elements. Despite the confusion of subsequent periods, the present state of sus- pense, and keen racial conflict it cannot be denied that the progress of the two halves of the Dual Monarchy in the years that have elapsed has been far from unsatisfactory. Their finances have been restored, communications have been opened, education has been brought up to date under State control, the armies have been reorganised, and social legislation on a liberal and humanitarian model has been introduced. In short, both Austria and Hungary are on a higher plane as modern civilised countries than ever be- fore, and there is no reason to suppose that, under a Habs- burg regime, this improvement would not be maintained. Hungary, of course, is rather inclined to take the attitude 11 alone I done it ! " Moreover, she likes to speak con- 318 FOREIGN RELATIONS 319 temptuously of Austria as old and worn out, of Vienna as a " dead city," and to believe herself the only progres- sive element in the Dual monarchy. Bohemia, which has an equally strong claim to youth and progressiveness, is inclined also to disclaim any assistance from " German " sources. The outsider, who sometimes sees most of the game, is obliged to ask himself under whose guidance the Ship of State for both countries has been, almost entirely, during the period that has seen these progressions towards economic and social prosperity. Francis Joseph has, at least, deserved credit for preserving his country from inter- national complications. The geographical situation of Austria and Hungary, and the ethnographic affinities of many of the peoples of both countries, give rise to a number of possible points of collision with the surrounding nations. We have already seen something of this in the pan-German agita- tion, but whatever the aspirations of the German nation- alists may be, it is certain that, since the fall of the Slavo- phil Count Thun, Berlin and Vienna have been on the best of terms, and the former has been embarrassed and an- noyed, rather than pleased, by the pan-German demon- strations and the attempt to glorify the Hohenzollerns at the expense of the Habsburgs. The treaty of 1879, signed by Bismarck and Andrassy, bound Austria and Ger- many to assist each other in the event of an attack by Russia, or by France and Russia, and some years later the inclusion of Italy in this compact formed the Triple Alli- ance which has been repeatedly renewed. The terms are not actually known, but there is good authority for believ- 320 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE ing that Germany and Italy are pledged to support each other from French attack, while Austria and Italy promise to maintain benevolent neutrality in case either is attacked by Russia. It will be seen that Austria is only pledged to give active support in case of an attack by Russia, and claims no assistance except against Russia. The elimina- tion of Russia as a possible aggressor consequent on her internal disorders, therefore, makes the Triple Alliance of little effect in binding Austria, and it is an open secret that Italy is by no means contented with the possibility that she might have to assist Germany against France or against any other Power joined with France. The recent Anglo-Franco-Italian entente has, in fact, rather cut the ground from under the feet of the Triple Alliance, which only continues to endure because of the difficulty of repu- diating it. The action of Italy at Algeciras was indicative of her feeling, as she declined to support Germany, and the telegram in which the Emperor William thanked Aus- tria for the correctness of her attitude was intended as a reproof to Italy. It did not, however, meet with much gratitude in Vienna. The elimination of Russia, while it immediately removes one of the bogeys of Eastern Europe — the possibility of a Slav reunion under the hegemony of the great Slav em- pire — increases the delicacy of the situation both as regards Germany and the Balkan States. Germany is now far freer to pursue her ambitions in the Near East, and is, in fact, taking every opportunity she can find, not- withstanding the opposition of Great Britain, to strengthen her influence in Asia Minor and secure her great desire, a FOREIGN RELATIONS 321 port on the Persian Gulf and a railway towards it, which would act as a counterpoise to the two great routes to the Far East — the Suez canal, controlled by Britain, and the Siberian railway. To make such a communication com- plete, however, a more direct and easily controlled route to the JEgean than at present exists would be necessary, and Austria, credited with the design of pushing through Novi-Bazaar (already linked with her own system) and southeast to Salonica across Macedonia, is an important factor in the case. An Austrian state in which German influence predominated, possibly within the German cus- toms union, united to Germany by ties of blood and tradi- tion, would be a valuable ally in such a matter. Pan-Ger- mans, of course, regard the affair as settled. Their maps shew " German " territory stretching out boldly to Salon- ica, the great line running thence without break from Berlin, and so on down the Bagdad Railway (fringed with German agricultural colonies) to the Persian Gulf. That there should be an " all-German " line to the East is the dearest hope of the Chauvinists and even of more mod- erate people, and, without making too much noise about it, the most exalted personage in Germany casts a favour- able eye upon these dreams. Whether Austria will allow herself to be the cat's-paw in this matter is not yet clear. A great deal depends on the issue of the internal strug- gles which are at present rending her and upon the con- tinuance or severance of the Dual monarchy. As for the possible political absorption of Austria by Germany, it may be doubted whether the latter would welcome any such addition to her internal troubles, but this subject 322 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE has already been touched on and need not be elaborated here. The relations of Austria and Italy are of a delicate character. The settlement, after the defeat of Austria in 1859, left her still in possession of lands which, although belonging by hereditary right to the House of Habsburg, are Italian both geographically and ethnographically. The same racial situation is found in Switzerland, however, and it is by no means certain that political boundaries need coincide with those of race or geography. The rise of Italy as a modern power and the renewal among her peo- ple of a real national patriotism has, however, affected the Italian lands of Austria very keenly. Chief of these is the Trentino, the district on the southern slope of the Alps so well known to tourists as the Italian Tyrol. The ports of Trieste and Fiume are other centres of Italian irre- dentism, and in the event of any dispute between Austria and Italy it would be difficult to hold the coast for the former in view of this internal sympathy with the latter. The Italian fleet, as is well known, is far superior to that of Austria, and altogether the outlets to the sea of this great Central European country (in which Hungary is included) cannot be regarded as secure. Under the cir- cumstances there would be nothing astonishing in the fact, if demonstrated, that Austria and Hungary look towards Salonica as an alternative. But here we find ourselves at once involved in that forest of difficult questions with which the Balkan States bristle. The relations of Austria-Hungary (for in this case the Dual Monarchy must not be considered separately) with FOREIGN RELATIONS 323 Servia and Macedonia arc directly involved by the pres- ence of the army of occupation in Bosnia-Herzegovina. There is no real distinction of race or language in this region, inhabited by the Serbo-Croats who spread right across the Balkan States and through Croatia-Dalmatia- Slavonia up to the country of the Slovenes. In August, 1906, it was reported that the Serbo-Croats of Bosnia- Herzegovina were asking for incorporation with the Croats, and it is certain that sooner or later there will be a rapprochement among these peoples, for which end Ser- via is working quietly but heartily. Her own position, hemmed in by Austria-Hungary on north and west, by Bulgaria, her kinsman and rival, on the east, and by the amorphous Turkish provinces on the south, makes her peculiarly sensitive to the manoeuvres of the Great Pow- ers in Macedonia, where Austria, as one of the mandatory powers, has acquired a special position considerably strengthened by the present impotence of her coadjutor, Russia. In 1906 the rest of Europe became aware of a differ- ence of opinion between Servia and Austria as to customs matters, which, considering the bulk and character of the Servian trade (chiefly pigs), did not appear (to Europe) to be a very great matter. Servia, it seems, suddenly an- nounced a customs treaty with Bulgaria which infringed the rights of Austria under existing arrangements. That she should have made a treaty without reference to Vienna seemed a piece of defiance, in view of the fact that the bulk of her trade is with the Dual Monarchy. Austria-Hun- gary closed her frontiers to Servian pigs, to the great in- 3 2 4 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE convenience of the people on either side who lived on the one hand by selling and on the other by eating them. In the 'pourparlers which followed Austria was deter- mined to make terms only on the consent of Servia to ob- tain certain armaments (for which she was anxious) through Austrian sources. At the time of writing Servia is still impenitent, has ordered guns from France, and seeks fresh markets for her pigs, with seeming success. A source of more pressing anxiety to her is the process by which Novi-Bazaar is being actively Austrianised. The Turkish vilayet which lies between Servia and Mon- tenegro contains the strategic key to Macedonia through which troops must pass to reach Turkey in Europe and which, moreover, commands Servia to a great extent. The army of the Dual Monarchy is supposed to maintain outposts there under the civil administration of the Turks, but a good deal more effective occupation than that of a mere outpost has been accomplished. At Plevlje, the centre of the vilayet, Austro-Hungarian barracks, quar- ters, and every sign of permanent and effective occupation are to be seen. The telegraph lines run there, and it is rumoured that a railway is planned, if not already in con- struction, to reach it. Other garrisons are maintained further East, as far as the Turkish amour propre will ad- mit, and the Servians say that Austria looks forward to a mandate from the Powers (as the only one with troops available) to descend upon Macedonia for the preserva- tion of the " oppressed Christians." Bulgaria, however, is playing a similar game, nor is Greece backward in her designs on the oppressed co-religionists. The sufferers are FOREIGN RELATIONS 325 the unfortunate Macedonians of every creed, who are safe neither from their friends nor their enemies. In the event of a collision between any of these discordant factors, let loose by the removal of the Russian peril which had hung over them so long, Austria-Hungary would inevitably be drawn into the conflict — a contingency always present to her few real statesmen. A third range of possibilities is opened by the internal disorder of Russia. If the powers of anarchy prevail over those of centralised autocracy, either now or in the future, the Poles will certainly not lose the opportunity for re- gaining that independence of which they still fondly dream. In this struggle it is highly probable that the Polish provinces of Austria would take a part. There are many people within both Austria and Hungary who regard these appendages as worse than useless, and, indeed, they belong to another and non-European world. The effect of universal suffrage on these provinces would be so revolutionary that the Polish aristocracy, long the sup- porters of the Austrian government in the Reichsrath, will oppose it by every means in their power, and would even prefer an exchange of masters rather than run the risks of finding the suffrage in the hands of the Ruthenian peasantry. The extraordinary feature in the situation of the Dual Monarchy is the isolation of Hungary. Except for her association with Austria in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hun- gary, with her rampart of mountains on north, southwest, and east, and her southern boundary of great rivers, has little contact with great countries save on the northwest, 326 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE where she meets Austria via the Danube. But she has a hostage to fortune in that hand stretched out to the Adri- atic and clutching Fiume, her one and only port, and she has, in Croatia and in Transylvania, subject races whose affinities outside the borders of the kingdom may yet cause her trouble. The Roumanian population of Hungary is nearly three millions, and is barely separated by the Southern Carpathians from that young and vigourous Roumanian state which, under a Hohenzollern prince, has made such extraordinary progress to prosperity and sta- bility and became a kingdom in 1881. The granddaugh- ter of the late Queen Victoria is the future Roumanian queen, and the energy and patriotism of the present king have wrought wonders for his adopted country. Ronmania irridenta is as popular a cry as the similar one respecting Italy, and the uncompromising attitude adopted by Hun- gary towards her Rouman subjects (who have been unable to win concessions like those made to Croatia) drives them into an attitude as friendly to Roumania over the bor- der as it is hostile to Hungary, their ruler. We have already dwelt on the other weak spot in the Hungarian armour — the Croatian province, with its growing desire for a fuller measure of autonomy and its sympathies with the Serbo-Croatian peoples just beyond in Bosnia and in Servia, and we have noted the suggestion of an amalgama- tion of these peoples. It will be seen from this brief sketch of the foreign rela- tions, present and possible, of the Dual Monarchy that the outside pressure which in time past was supplied by the Turks, and which held the heterogeneous provinces FOREIGN RELATIONS 327 and kingdoms of the Habsburgs together despite internal friction, is not as absent from the present situation as some politicians would have us believe. In particular, the situation of Hungary as an independent state, owning no connection with Austria (save perhaps a common king) would be at once an isolated and precarious one. It is hard to see how she could successfully ensure her outlet on the Adriatic, the allegiance of Croatia, or the peace of Transylvania. Her own example is the one most closely followed by Croatia, and without the check of the armed occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina the Slavs of the Bal- kan States could spill over into Southern Hungary and keep the country in a perpetual ferment of politics and race animosity. The elimination of Russia, far from re- moving the Slav danger, increases it by letting loose the Balkan States, who will simultaneously have a severe attack of Chauvinism and Irredentism. True, as an armed state Hungary could hold her own, that is, unless the Croa- tians — among the best fighters in the Dual Monarchy — took up arms seriously against her at a critical moment. But Hungary has just pledged herself to a career of indus- trial expansion. The Magyar is no longer the wild rider of the plains, a horseman and fighter from his youth up, all spurs and mustachios ; he is a serious worker, a man of business, an industrial employer. To carry out a military policy adequate for her needs as a separate and independ- ent nation and country would be to cripple Magyar in- dustry and progress at the outset by imposing on Hungary the inevitable accompaniments of militarism. The lesson of foreign relations should, therefore, not 328 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE be left unstudied by Hungarian patriots, nor is it to be despised by a large section of Austrians. The Czechs should moderate a policy of obstruction which may drive German Austria into the arms of Germany, and should do all they can to promote the continuance of an alliance be- tween Austria and Hungary in which Bohemia, by her wealth and progress, may play a moderating part. As a part of a German confederation her role would be less im- portant. However unfair the Ausgleich of 1 867 may have seemed to Slav interests in the Austrian lands, it created a state in which the Czechs have been gradually gaining more and more power. A moderate use of that power is the wisest course they can take, for their little kingdom is not ripe for independence, save in the sense of self-govern- ment, and while it must hang on to the skirts of a big country that country had better be Austria than Germany. CHAPTER XVI THE DUAL MONARCHY AND THE DYNASTY There are two questions which rise to the lips whenever Austria-Hungary is mentioned in other countries : " Will the monarchy break up ? " " What will happen when Francis Joseph dies?" As a rule the general impression seems to be that the second question contains the answer to the first. The Emperor and King is so commanding a figure, the part played by him in the Dual Monarchy is so all-important, that it seems as if his removal from the stage must mean the immediate dislocation of the whole machinery. The reader of this book may perhaps be surprised that so little has been said directly about the striking person- ality of Francis Joseph. Everything that is known of him, however — which the rigid privacy of Austrian life permits to be known — has been so thoroughly canvassed that it is not possible to throw any fresh light on the subject. Everyone knows the outward appearance of the ruddy, healthy old man, his simple habits, the story of his sad married life, the fates of his only son and beautiful wife — the whole tragic story of a long and troubled life, in which the family formed no haven from cares of state. The unanimous opinion is that any ordinary man could never have survived the blows dealt at Francis Joseph by fate, coming on the top of a life of strenuous work and mental 329 330 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE worry. What has preserved him to a good old age, how- ever, is a certain toughness of fibre, both mental and phys- ical. His attitude in the recent crisis illustrates this, and is more indicative of his true character than the apparent vacillations by which he leaned, first to one and then to another side, in the earlier stages of the parliamentary struggles. Francis Joseph was brought up in a school of severe duty. His leanings to Czechs, Germans, or Mag- yars at different periods were apparently concessions to popular will, but they were equally expressions of his de- sire to be even and just to all his people. When it came to a question involving what he believes to be his own con- stitutional position — a question which will inevitably lead on to breaches in the 1867 compact — the Emperor and King shewed no sign of weakness. His attitude towards the "language of command" question is simply this: the army was created by the Ausgleich, and the Crown was especially constituted the organiser and controller of the army, which is neither Austrian nor Hungarian but uni- tary and common. The question of language was not raised at the time the army was created, but it is a military necessity that a unitary army should have one language of command, and for reasons of expedience as well as custom (and we may add compliment to the commander-in-chief or War Lord) that language is German and will re- main German so long as the Dual Monarchy endures. The only logical alternative would be to make the lan- guage of command Hungarian, but even the extreme Mag- yar party could not, in the interests of efficiency, make so wild a demand. It must not be forgotten that all minor DUAL MONARCHY AND DYNASTY 331 concessipns as to the placing of Hungarian officers, the use of Magyar in instruction, the use of badges, flags, etc., have been promised or offered. The principle, how- ever, is reserved. The attitude of Francis Joseph towards the Magyars generally is a subject of contention. The great grievance is that he does not keep up a court or reside part of every year in Budapest, and it is certain that a few concessions to Magyar national pride in their capital would have gone a long way in softening their attitude. Francis Joseph is their own King, accepted and crowned by them in the church where all their kings are crowned, with the diadem of King Stephen and the traditional, half Oriental ritual. Magyars are extremely susceptible to such ties; they are aristocratic in their traditions and ideals and consequently monarchical. Maria Theresa, with a woman's insight, managed them better than any of her predecessors or suc- cessors. A little flattery, a little gratification of their sumptuary instincts would have gone far to modify their jealousy of their monarch as an Austrian and a foreigner. But Francis Joseph was no longer a young man when the Ausgleich put him on a footing with his Hungarian sub- jects in which such tactics became possible. He had had nearly twenty years of absolutism under the influence of reactionary and despotic ministers. He was, and is, of the true Austrian type, to whom new ideas penetrate slowly and who dislike change in their habits. Forced into the position of a constitutional monarch he interpreted his role, as we have seen, with the utmost freedom, and hav- ing, as he thought, met the desires of his Magyar subjects 332 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE finally and conclusively in 1867, when he incurred the blame of Austrian-Germans and Slavs and handed over the Croats, he did not expect to make further concessions. This is one side of the picture. On the other we have Francis Joseph, dreaming in his young days of the restora- tion of the Holy Roman Empire and of the humiliation of Protestant Prussia. The lesson learned from the ultra- montane teacher of his youth had sunk deep into his soul. He was the champion of military and religious despotism, the enemy of liberalism and capitalism alike — the two pro- tagonists of the middle class industrialist. The dream castle fell in 1859 at Magenta and Solferino, but not till after Sadowa was his true destiny revealed to him. The Hungarians made terms with him which he could not refuse — this is " the other side " — or rather Beust made the terms in haste, anxious to form a solid state and to strengthen Austria as a revenge on Prussia. Barred out from Germany, deprived of the empire of his dreams, Francis Joseph turned eastwards. One thing is certain: both Deak and he intended the Ausgleich to be a perma- nent arrangement, while the modern Hungarian leaders regard it as a leasehold of the monarchy renewable on fresh terms at certain intervals. The process by which the Emperor has drifted away from his Austrian-German subjects can be easily under- stood, but in alienating the extreme portion of them he yet did not win the suffrages of the Slavs. As soon as the latter began to gain in power, so that the parties were more equal, the struggle became also more acute. It is easy to criticise his policy as vacillating, but the difficulties were DUAL MONARCHY AND DYNASTY 333 inherent, not created by any lack of firmness on the part of the Crown. Taafe is reported to have said that the only way to rule Austria was to keep everyone perma- nently discontented, a saying which illustrates the diffi- culties of a monarch who is forced in his old age to aban- don absolutism for popular government. Nothing could have been more distasteful at first sight to the Emperor and King than the idea of universal suf- frage. The extent to which the great landowning class could be counted upon to come to the rescue of the minis- ters of the Crown in emergencies can be gathered from the political summary of a previous chapter. Both in Hungary and Austria these great and noble landowners form a class quite apart either from the gentry or the people, and they are almost invariably extremely loyal to the dynasty and to the Catholic faith. The basis of suffrage in Austria and Hungary alike is at present one of classes. The great mass of the people are not represented in either country, being either artifi- cially excluded, or even if they vote, deprived by the dis- tribution of seats of any real share in the parliamentary representation. Two views prevail as to the effect of including these people in a scheme of genuine representation. Kristoffy, the author of the suggestion, reckons that the inclusion of that large body of Hungarian landowners with as little as two acres — in reality a body of agricultural labourers with small holdings — would at least double the purely Magyar electorate. He and his supporters undoubtedly build on the fact that the non-Magyars (the Slovaks, Sax- 334 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE ons, Croats, Servians, and Roumanians), are not to the same extent likely to fulfil a landowning and educational qualification which they intend to propose. The Magyars undoubtedly will adopt some such precaution, and for the time it may be sufficient, but the suffrage is a dangerous weapon with which to play, and to create in people the desire for a vote by dangling it just before their eyes is the first step to their getting it, by hook or by crook. This scheme would, however, break the power of the landed gentry, and it is opposed by such men as Count Tisza, not only because the Magyars have long been accustomed to declare that this small nobility class is the backbone of the country, but because it is difficult for him and his like to believe that their ignorant peasantry (often of several races) would be better off as free voters than they are under the sort of feudal and paternal regime on their es- tates, where the owner is his own overseer and personally looks after his people. The objection to the large class of workmen in towns who would be enfranchised is that they would elect socialists, who are inter-national or anti- national in views. In short, the chief fear of a great num- ber of worthy and patriotic Magyars is that the authority so jealously guarded in hands where the national honour and all questions of race were quite safe, despite party dis- sensions, should now devolve upon shoulders unaccus- tomed to it, upon people not imbued with Magyar tradi- tions and not yet sufficiently in touch with Magyar ideals — in some cases frankly anti- Magyar. In Austria the suffrage question was also unwelcome, but for different reasons. The danger of an increase in TRANSYLVANIA VILLAGE GYPSIES NOMADIC GYPSIES DUAL MONARCHY AND DYNASTY 335 the socialist ranks is almost overshadowed in the minds of the Austrian Germans of every party by the dread of the overwhelming Slav majority which may be returned. The opinion of the Emperor and King on this momen- tous subject may be guessed by the difficulty with which his consent was obtained, although the situation was grow- ing desperate and it seemed the only weapon ready to his hand. The remedy must have seemed to him almost worse than the disease. The combination of clerical and demagogue foreshadowed by the agreement of the politi- cal parties which have received the proposal favourably gives the key to one reason which may have influenced Francis Joseph as a staunch Catholic. The failing power of the church, it is hoped, will receive a fresh lease of life from the popular support to be expected from the enfran- chised proletariat. The middle class, growing in wealth and influence, and above all the Jewish middle class, will, say the clericals, receive a crushing blow. There has been in the last few years a Catholic reaction against the growth of Protestantism and indifferentism in Hungary. Wekerle lost his first premiership because of the opposition to his anti-clerical laws, and in the present cabinet a staunch Catholic, Count Zichy, is included, as a sign that the breach has been healed. Apponyi, it may be noted, is a pupil of the Jesuits. In attempting any summary of the central European crisis, the possible turning point in the history of both Aus- tria and Hungary, as well as of the Dual Monarchy as one, the writer is bewildered by the kaleidoscopic nature of the problems presented. The great Whirlpool of Eu- 336 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE rope seethes with hidden currents; only those which re- volve on the surface can be described and mapped out. We come back, however, to the main factor in the case, and that factor is the house of Habsburg. There is no special merit in this ancient house. Its members have only once or twice displayed exceptional qualities of any kind. But the Whirlpool had to have a centre, and the House, with its narrow dynastic policy, its line of obstinate cen- tralising rulers, and its military traditions, was the best centre that could be found. It outlived any other possible centre, it displayed vitality at the most unexpected points, and finally it remains to-day the link which binds together the most heterogeneous collection of peoples and countries the world has ever seen in one continental realm. De- spite the party differences, the nationalist aspirations, the religious disputes of the peoples of Austria-Hungary, an overwhelming majority of them are true in their loyalty to the dynasty. The personality of Francis Joseph has something to do with this, but it is not everything. The great misfortune is that his son, also the son of the gra- cious and sympathetic Elizabeth, did not live to reap the harvest sown by his father and mother in the hearts of the people. He could have gone much further in the way of concession to national and racial pride and yet retained his position. The present heir to the throne is little known and that little does not endear him to any section of his future subjects except the constitutional German- Austrians. But the judgment may be premature. As a ruler Francis Ferdinand may prove as complete a surprise to his people as the present King of Italy, who was as much DUAL MONARCHY AND DYNASTY 337 overshadowed by his Berserker father as the present heir of the Habsburgs is by his popular uncle. Two alternatives present themselves in the event of the Monarchy continuing to run in double harness. The first is that, with the retention of the present form, Hun- gary shall be contented to increase her power by slow and legitimate means — means legitimate with a loyal adher- ence to the Ausgleich — until she is the predominant part- ner, in fact if not in name. To do this she must effectively control and absorb her subject races (by no means an ac- complished task) and at the same time she must support the dynasty and the national party in Austria. The Slavs must be kept in check. The other alternative is the develop- ment of a federalist form of government, which will give autonomy to all the nations claiming historic rights, in- cluding, of course, Croatia. The opponents of universal suffrage expect this to be one of the developments from a system which will give full play to all national parties. The present Emperor and King, as has been said, is en- tirely opposed to Federalism, but his successor may feel inclined to try a fresh form of Ausgleich which does not, like the 1867 compact, leave that most important factor, the Slavs, out of its reckoning. In any case, it is clear to anyone who cares to study all the forces at work that there is a centrifugal as well as a distintegrating power at work, and as a result of all the considerations, historical, geographical, political, and ethnical, which have been presented to the reader, one can only say that the dictum of Palacky seems to be abundantly proved — that Austria is essential to the balance of Europe. 338 THE WHIRLPOOL OF EUROPE To this we may add that, as Austria divided from Hun- gary would gravitate inevitably to Germany, the saying must be amended to include the Dual Monarchy and not Austria alone. Moreover, if the continuance of the Dual Monarchy is essential for Europe, it is also equally essen- tial for the true greatness and progress of each half of it. United they form a great central European Power; apart they would be at best two second-rate states surrounded by great and ambitious rivals. George Philip & Son.I>- d APPENDIX I DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY IN 1900 Population 11,306,795 8,751,817 22,409,539 3,757,544 913,664 47,139,359 Races GERMANS MAGYARS SLAVS Czechs I (a) North \ | lo y, aks . I ci- Kuthenians Slav [Poles Slovenes Serbo- J Croats J .Bulgarians (b) South Slav ROUMANS (a) E. Rou- Moldo-Wal- manian lachians (b) W. Rou- manian Italians Friaulians Ladinians OTHERS Including Jews, Gypsies Armenians Albanians Chief Habitat Austria, the Tyrol, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Moravia, Silesia, Hungary, and Transylvania Hungary and Transylvania Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia Hungary Galicia and Hungary Galicia and Silesia Carniola, Styria, and Carinthia Croatia, Slavonia, Istria.Dalmatia, Hungary, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Hungary Hungary, Transylvania, and Bukowina Hungary and Transylvania Tyrol and Coastland Coastland Tyrol Widely diffused Transylvania and Hungary Bosnia APPENDIX II The racial proportions of the Austrian population in 1900, ktaen roughly in millions, were as follows: Germans 9 Czechs ) Moravians > Slovaks J Poles Ruthenians Slovenes Servians 1 Croats J Italians Roumanians Magyars and Others ►Sb 26 millions, of whom 15V& are Slavs. The racial proportions of the Hungarian population in 1^00, taken roughly in millions, were as follows: Magyars Slovaks Croats Servians Ruthenians J Roumanians Germans Others, less than Slav 2 1% 1 y 2 23/4 2 19% millions, of whom 1(% were not Magyars Between 1850 and 1900 (a period of fifty years) the Slavs increased by seven millions, the Germans by four millions, the Magyars by three millions, and the Roumanians (Wallachs) by one million. APPENDIX III LIST OF PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES CONSULTED "The Holy Roman Empire." Bryce. " Historical Geography of Europe." Freeman. " Les races et les nationality en Autriche-Hongrie." B Auerbach. " Ethnographie der Oesterreichischen Monarchic" Von Czornig. s " L'histoire de l'Autriche-Hongrie." Leger. X " Le monde Slave." Leger. " Nouvelles Etudes Slaves." Leger. / "Russes et Slaves." Leger. " Histoire Politique de 1'Europe Contemporaine." Seignobos. " Various historical works dealing with Austria." V. Krones. "Le compromis Austro-Hongrois de 1867." Eisenmann. / "L'Autriche Contemporaine." Chelard. "La Hongrie millenaire." Chelard. "Aus drei Vietrel-Jahrhunderdten," (Memoirs). Benst. " The Court of Austria." Vehse. "The Magyars." Patterson. / "Pan-Germanism." Anon. "Bohemia" (Story of Nations Series). Maurice. "Bohemia" (various publications). Count Liitzow. " Government and Parties in Continental Europe." Lowell. "L'idee de l'etat Autrichien." Palacky. " Histoire generale." Lavisse et Rambaud. Miscellaneous writings by Apponyi, Deak, Andrassy, Due de Broglie, Kramar, Brdf, Offermann, V. Brachelli, Hantich. INDEX A. E. I. O. U., origin and meaning of, 15 Andrassy, and Bismarck, 89 Andrassy, 306 Apponyi, Albert, 309 Army, 223 officers, 227 language of command ques- tion, 231 loyalty of, 233 Arpads, end of, 41 Ausgleich, the, 83 attitude of races toward the, 294 Austria, beginning of, 9 empire of, created, 22 Albert of, claims Hungary, 42 and Slav rennaisance, 70 war with Prussia, 76, 81 attitude to Eastern question, 88 after 1866, 91 " empire " of, 92 Germans in, 93 language in, 93 distinguished foreign names in, 94. influence of Jesuits, 95 society in, 96 character of aristocracy, 96 Spanish influence, 96 music, 102 education, 105 Jews, 109; socialism, 109 task in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 194 " lands represented in the Reichsrath," 201 finances, 212 attitude in commercial dispute, 241 ; taxation, 221 labor legislation, 243 Austria, rise of German national party, 245 German element in, 293 political parties in 1897, 297 political parties, 301 rise of Socialism, 301 relations to Germany, 321 relations to Italy, 322 Austria-Hungary, state organisa- tion, 200 " common affairs," 203 the Delegations, 203 commercial union, 204 Austria, the constitution of parlia- ment, 205 Austria-Hungary, parliamentary sys- tem, 207 red tape in, 208 civil service, 211 finances, 216 defence, 223 ——commercial Ausgleich, 237 necessity for commercial unity, 241 question of commercial rela- tions, 303 progress of, 318 geographical situation, 319 and the Balkans, 323 Austria, customs dispute with Ser- via, 323 Austria-Hungary, the lesson of foreign relations, 327 Badeni, takes office, 299 Banffy, 308 Beust, sent for to Austria, 82 helps to form Ausgleich, 83 retires, 86 Bismarck, and Andrassy, 89 Bogomiles, 34 343 344 INDEX Bohemia, first united to Austria, 13 conversion of, 17 battle of White Mountain, 44 early history, 51 derivation of name, 51 and the Church, 52 relations with empire, 53 and Germans, 54 becomes elector state, 55 golden age under Charles IV, 58 ; religious struggles, 58 George Podiebrad, king of, 60; comes under Habsburgs, 61 persecutions in, 63 invites Elector Palatine to be king, 65 position of peasants, 65 revolt of 1619, 65 and Maria Theresa, 68 language question, 85 struggle against Teutons, 159 literary revival, 160 language question, 163 early civilisation, 165 music in, 166 industrial development, 167 position of peasants, 169 education, 170 industrial development, 171 ; emigration, 172 Socialism, 172 Jews in, 173 scenery, 175 first of Slav countries, 287 suffrage in, 174 Bohemian Brotherhood, 62 discussions among, 64 Bosnia-Herzegovina, occupation, 88 Bosnia-Herzegovina, 187 religion in, 188 conquest by Turks, 189 kinship with Servia, 190 early civilisation, 191; scenery, 191 peasants, 193 the Austrians in, 194 Budapest, origin of, 152; royal palace, 153; neglect by King, 153 . bridges over Danube, 154 Jews in, 155 names over shops, 155 Budapest, stock exchange, Jews on, 223 Bukowina, 178 Bulgaria, 28 conversion, 276 language, 277 Centralisation, versus federalism, 79 Charlemagne, crowned Emperor, 3 titles of, 6 and the Slavs, 51 Charles IV, Emperor and King of Bohemia, 13 reign in Bohemia, 57 Church, the, and Empire, 8 the, and Bohemia and Mo- ravia, 17 and Emperor, 18 the, and German nationality, 18 and Emperor, policy of Joseph I, 20 — —Joseph I curbs power of, 48 and Bohemia, 52; and Mo- ravia, 52 and Czechs, 59 and Hungary, 146 influence on daily life, 243 Los * *%*$ . » * > % «* o^ <£ o* ~ [v » ^ c ■* ■OS' "• V** $ -de. - .«tf s Z ' " <$> cP - s ' " ' '/ ^ c P * s * ' * \^ %& %^ ^>KN 'T^T^ aC? //7r: v LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 019 301 530 Al J ■ maaKM ■m ■ ■ ■ W Sbbb ■ ■ ■