The San Francisco call., 1897-12-12

That the Alps OF alSburg and the
| Tyrol belong to the German nation; that
he Danube remains as German as the
| Rhine; that the tomb OF Mozart and OF
Grillparzer are as German as those of
Schiller and of Goethe-uobody, even in
the iiyeliest strife between us, can doubt
cold Germans of the northl
The suicide of the Austrian monarchy
is provoked by the madness of the pc pie
OF Cislythania, the folly of the liberals
OF Pennsylvania and the emasculation OF
the Ca holes. who wear their beads above
their birthplace and serve their country
as Peter disavowed the Lord.
Every where let us be obdurate. Reason
cannot enter the skull OF Czech, but he
| Is sensible in the Dodyl Let us be harsh !
ut is not parliamentary weapons we
should employ against our adversaries,
who respect ne ither justice nor order.
-''While these outrages are perpe trated
against him the German of Austria ceases
to be an Austrian"
Here is an affirmation of revolutionary
policy from one OF the greatest-if not the
| greatest-Austrlan scholars. How plainly
does he charge the condition to be one OF
suicidal intent on the part OF the Austro-
Hungarian monarchy, traceable not 10
| the resoluteneSs of the German spirit to
dominate the empire without com promise
and at any cost, but rather to the special
political mania and disloyalty of those
who seek larger liberties and wider lati-
| tude of self-government, as well as rescue
from parliamentary despotism.
That Professor Mommsen should go to
| such lengths in obviously seeking 10
solidify German sentiment against the
! HOMOGENEOUS iority of the empire while
invoking the policy of the bayonet and
cannon is sufficient indication of an Aus
trian revelation of pan-Germanic motive.
Nor is this impulse, generated and nur-
tured by sympathy of language and or-
gin, and defensible by tradition, to be
lightly queIled by the maxims of states
men to whom the status quo is the first
law of preservation.
Bismarck we'll defined opposition TO
| such ambitions, whether OF Prussian or
Austrian origin, has been regarded as in
sincere, on untenabIe grounds. Austrie-
Hungary is the southern paling of the
| inclosure in which is growing to the
| fullness of strength the tree OF Prussian
confederation. However weak, the Haps-
burg empire Is vastly preferab bic TO a
states added to those already sustained
| by concord of the powers in the Balkans.
| Realizing the nsibilities of the retired
| Chancellor, we may readily perceive the
mind that die ated the following sarcastic
criticism OF Professor Mommsen, which
| appeared recently i'll Bismarck's private
organ:
1--WE have always thought that Profess
sor MOmmsen, like Professor Virchow. is
great savant but poor polite an. The
! letter which he has written, and which
viyidly recalls the phraseology of Victor
! Hugo, does not alter this opinion. Pro-
! fessor Mommsen, despite his ad-
vanced age and the weight of ideas he
has acquired, seems 30 consider politics as
a matter to be treated by sentiment rather
| than reason. We fear that his manifesto
! tions will do the Germans of Austria more
| harm than good.
| I'm any case their adversaries will be
poor tacticians if they do not use Momm-
| sens letter as a pretext for casting sls-
| piciOn on the Austrian Germans and on
| the ''yisees" which they grant. We will
not dwell on the monstrous politics con-
tanned IN Mommsen's letter nor on its ten
! dency to provoke acts of violence.
But we feel it to be our duty to express
our regret at seeing an ilIustrious German
! philosopher interfering, after fas hion as
| shocking as it is distressing, in The in
| terror strifes OF a state with which we are
| bound by treaty OF alliance"
! Ii any Iurther evidence were required as
! to Bismarck 8 views on the subject of a
! Pan-GeTmaniC sCneme that would leave
/ the Austrian empire in ruins as complete
as the fragments of a shattered planet
| rolling through all opaque orbit IN space.
| it would be found in his declaration TO
Ernest Judet, made in his retirement:
"There are some persons in Germany
and elsewhere" said he, ''who accuse me
of a desire to destroy Austria and take
into the confederation her 5000, GOO or
! 10000 900 of Germans. This is an absurd
lty TO which time has done justice, like il
| has TO many another.
| Moreover, Vienna and Berlin, the two
great German capitals, can never exist
simultaneously in the same empire"
1t is not the purpose of this review to
treat upon the glaring necessities for
| modi fcations In the domestic laws OF an
empire in which a public lying-in hos
pital is supported by the Government in
amehoration OF the immoral consequences
of repressive marriage DEGREES growing
out Of its barbaric tax system.
1t is sufficient to say that the popular
grievances, aside from the sectarlan and
racial conflicts and antipathies, are largely
| justified and merit the concihatory atten-
ton Of the highest statesmanship rather
than the brusque and repeilant hostility
of tue despotic governing class.
The sum of the political situation is
this: That Emperor William, no more
than Bismarck, cherishes any desire to
see the Austrian Empire erupted and dis
| mem bered, Notwithstanding the common
belief that the Prussian aspiration is to
EN- brace the Austrian Germans in the
! Hohenzollern EN- mpire.
That the most active and threatening
revolutionary forces at work in Austria
Hungary are not those of the Magyar,
Slavic, German sOclaIistic or irredente
cast, but the Austro- German monarch
lists who would rather see the imperial au.
thority degraded before the world and