The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-30
A ToTTERING MoNARcHY.

1t has been predicted for some time
past that, upon the death of Emperor
Francis Joseph, the slender bonds that
now hold together the Austro- Hun
garian empire will be snapped, and
that a civil strife between the incon-
gruous elements of which that country
is composed, fomented, as it would be-
+ by neighboring and hostile powers
will be the inevitable result Current
events lend force to the prediction. The
crisis in the internal affairs of Austria,
which stopped barely short of revolu-
ton when the crown bowed to the
popular demand, tells the story palmer
than words could write it. The dis
turbances which have turned the par
liamentary assembly of Austria into
prize ring, caused it's suspension for
days a a time and then it's dissolution,
and involved the fall of a ministry.
hinged upon no more important fact
than race jealousy and hatred With
such an outbreak as this under current
conditions, with no public revolt
against the throne and with no do
mestiC abuses under consideration, the
lack of hOmOgeneity among the people
of the empire and the apparent hope
1essness of holding them together as a
political entity impress themselves
upon every mind
The issue which has stirred all Aus
tria TO its foundations, dissolved the
reichsrath and filed the streets with
rioting mobs prepared to assault the
government itself is not even the old
one of jealousy between Austria and
Hungary. The relations of the two
portions of the empire are, for
the time being, pacific. 1t is
jealousy this time of the peo-
pie of a particular province, a yield
Ing for political favor on the part of
the government to the demands of
Bohemia and stout resistance by the
populace that have stirred the waters
TO their depths. By order of the late
minister, the Czech language was made
official for the province of Bohemia.
This is the whole issue about which
the Vienna hornets nest has been buzz
ing, and which has so far threatened
the throne itself that extraordinary
measures were taken to pacify the peo-
pie by proclaiming in public places that
their demands had been complied with.
The official language of the Austrian
empire is German. Composed, as it is,
of cOnglomeration of provinces and
peoples essentially different in dialect
and in custom, the German language is
not universal and is probably spoken
by about one-third of the whole peo-
Pie. 1t has been, Notwithstanding, the
official tongue of the state, and it needs
no argument to show the amount of
confusion likely to ensue, not only from
eleVating to state rank the language
of single province, but from the in
eVitable granting of the same demand
to other provinces of the empire in
their turn. The proposition drove the
people of Vienna and the Opposition in
the parliamentary house simply wild
with rage They held it virtual treason
to the empire, and the opposition delib-
erateiy proceeded to such obstruction,
vocal and physical, as effectually put
an end to all attempts TO Iegislate Rep
Pesentatives, who joined in the uproar
and were taken in custody by the state,
were regarded by the people as mar
tyrs, and it soon became evident to the
authorities that the Dlan of Sl1pnreSS-
tng opposition by violence could not be
carried out without a popular upris-
dng. When the streets of Vienna were
On the possession of bowling mobs, who
would not even yield to charges of the
police or the soldiery, and who were
beginning to mutter against the crown
itself, the empire yielded, the
minister who announced the offensive
measure was deposed, and popular
clamor is stilIed for the moment by the
8election of another premier, who, it
is supposed, will rescind the action
taken.
The pride and hatred of race survive
nowhere in such intensity as in East
ern and Southeastern Europe, The
monarchy has al
ways resembled rather a handful of
pebbles in bag than drops of water,
which unite and coalesce into a whole.
one of whose parts is indistinguishable
from another. 1t is a political, not
social or race union. How sudden and