The evening times., 1897-11-24
THE CRISIS IN AUSTRIA.

Possible HismemI,e rment of Empir,
as Result of Race Conflic:.
From the New York Times.)
London, Nov. 6.-The remar ka BILE per
| senal prestige OF the Austrian Emperor ha
| wrought So many miracles OF late yeai'
| that Europe has accustomed itself to tn.
assumption that It will he equal to an,
and all emergencies no matter how appar
emily impossible Of solution. If 1t wer.
| not for this universal confidence In hi'
| capa biiities ii cCnjurer, there would b'
| deep and general excitement over thi
week farming Developments In that cha o.
u hich f. called Austrian politics. So TAI
As human eye can see, FraDcis Joseph II
| In an imCasse, unable to retreat. yet Con
fronted by nothing less than the disrupti"I
! uf his empire Even II Count Paianfs re
tiremeEt could serve as temporary relief
no real element of the problem would b.
| solved by il.
TIL. GciInaus of Bohemia and NGravia
having learned and defnonst rated .heir
p, wer To wreck II they are not ailuw ed
| to ruic, will not abute AN atom of their
pre:ensions SO far from it are they that
their big mass meetings AT Brunn, Bo
zen, Eyer. ana elsewhere, are ending now
with the whole assembly rising AMI
singing die Wacht am Rhein,' NTH un
covered heads, n Song which, Under th,
circumstances rOw existing in Austria,
| means li:tic short of revolution Auy
Cor, 'ession 10 this defiant spirit would
ha fI..,y I.I hr,r hA
numerous dp,. inflamn. able CZechs and
Poles into al instant mutiny For ont
| Oh the other there will have to be martial
law in Bohemia this winter This In 1t
SELF would be no startling novelty. As ali
tn" parties il that seethinS CIsieithan
ca;dior Of warning races are accnstnruei
alternately tu invoke the use of the Ray
onet to Coerce their rivals and 20 run
away from it themselves
But. for the first time I'm the constitu
tional period OF Austrian history, the legal
bends which hold Austria and Hungary
together are Iunperileu by this chronic
scuf:lc In Austria With the end ~ De-.
center tie constitutional tie betw cen
these Two great halves uf the einpr.
lGpses. unless renewed meanwhile A pro-
visiDnal act, extending it for another W eIye
nn1tts, has been practically passed by the
Hungarian. Parliament 1t has heretofOr.
been assumed that If the German IniIorit V
in the Austrian Parliament persisted in
preventing. its passage there, a simple IL
Tough way out OF the difficulty could he
found by dispensing with this Parliament
altogether ard falling hack on the eiuer-
gency ella use cf article XIV of the Austrian
constitution, by which the Emperor car act
or his own responsibility in the name Of
Austria.
Now, however, there arises an unlocked
for obstacle in the decisrat ton OF Francs
Kossut'' that his party viii fight to the
death gainst any bargain between The Hun
garian Parliament and the Austrian govern
ment acting without its Parliament. Ii
would lie liitp as feasible for Kossuth tn
block the provisional Ausgleich 1T Pestl
as it has been fer the Germans 20 do 1t t
Vienna. so there is the cul de sac. and, as
has been said, no nan sees way out o it
Yet even now outsiders can hardly bring
Themselves To take this menaced break up
of TIE Hapshurgs imperial structure Sc
riously. Its crazy medieval framework
of patches has withstood such centuries
Of storms, such "ohflagrati"ns within, tina I.
ii seems incredible that IL should go down
in our time. Moreover, il is pretty well
unde! !StoOd aInong diplomatic experts tia |
Francis Joseph has been promised assist
arcc. or at least kindly and sympathetic
fOrbearances from his great Russian and
German Eeighbors. if thei'worst comes to
worst inside his deminiens. His personal
hold over the irnasinat tive Election Of the
Kaiser is well known. He is said to have
made almost as profound an impression on
Car Nicholes during their interchange
of visits at Vienna and st. Petersburg.
Both OF these Younger monarchs are full
of the idea CT keeping the trade OF EN-
peror up to the highest possible level of
dignity and Independence They perceive
that anything injuring the prestige of one
emperor necessarily reacts on the authority
of the other two. 1t is wholly ineligible,
therefore, that they are willing to make
sacrifices to help the venerab BILE Austrian
monarch over his rough places.
1t is in this spirit, indeed, that Russia
has cone to an understanding with Aus
tria about the Palkan interests. and that
William lent himself So fervently awhile
ago to the task of bracing up dynastic pop
ular;ty in the Hungarian capital. Senti-
meniai considerations of this sort, how
ever, can only operate to n certain point.
If the affairs Of the Austro- HungaTia n mon
archy, drifting, as they long have been,
from had to worse and now well nigh des-
perate, became abruptly hopeless, one ques-
tiens whether either the Gar or the Kaiser
could hold iii restraint the vast and terri
BILE forces of racial enthusiasms the loa tn
ihgs and territorial lusts which engirdle
the Hapsburgs' d0miniOns.
There Is also chapter of accidents,
: crimiually Intentional and otherwise, to
be always taken into account.
The red-handed, black hearted Coburger
at Sofia, for example, takes nc such in
terest in the maintenance Of imperial ira
ditions as is exhibited at Berlin and st.
Petersburg. If he sees way in the
course Of his intricate and stifty game
to profit by Austria's niiseries, be sure no
amiable aruple will deter him All this
weeks stories Of his sudden activity. his
ultimatum to the Sultan. and his inten
tion to declare Bulgarian Independence,