The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-01

N1CNA 49, ShsAN
rath, and thus securing q renewal
Of the decennial fiscal and CONNER
clal treaties with Hungary. Those treaties
expired on Dec. 81, 1897. and the Diet at
Budapest, although earnestly requested by
the Hungarian Prime Minister to wait four
months for the conclusion of the new treaty,
has not yet agreed to do 30. Even the
Prime Minister'S request was coupled with
q distinct intimation on his part that
II, at the end OF the term named, the
required steps had not been taken by
the Reichsrath, the Magyars would pro-
coed to act Independently, and would hence
forth recognize no bond Of union with the
Cls-Leithan kingdom, except the tie Of
common allegiance to the House Of HAPs-
BURG. That. Of course, was the programme
with which KossUTH began, and, to avert
q recurrence to II, 1t has for some
time been deemed by no means impossi-
BILE that FRANCIS JOSEPH, instead Of merely
dlssolving the Reichsrath and ordering a
new general election, which would be
useless in the inflamed state Of the public
mind, may a~brogate the existing Constitu-
tion Of the Cis-Leithan kingdom, and pro-
coed. by virtue Of his sovereign pow
ers, to negotiate the needful fiscal and
commercial treaties with his Hungarian
subjects. Even as we write, VIC learn
hat an imperial decree has authorized
the Cis-Leithan Ministry, during the pro-
rogation Of Parliament, to levy taxes
and provide for the State expenditures
from Jan. / to June 80 next. Already,
then, the Cis-Leithan Constitution has been
suspended. TIL suspension, however, or
even the abolition of the Cis.Leithan Con.
stitution, still leaves the Hapsburg Emperor
confronted with the fundamental question:
Shall Bohemia, with Its historical adjuncts,
Moravia, and Austrian Silesia, become an
autonomous kingdom, and shall FRANCIS
JOSEPH fulfil his promise to be crowned at
Prague1 No doubt he would gladly reply
in the affirmative II he were assured that
the process of d~isintegration would stop
there, but what was given to the Czechs
could not well be denied to those Southern
Slavs who are included In the Cis-Leithan
State, or to the Poles, who form a compact
mass in Galicia, or to the Italians, who
are congregated in the southern part Of
the Tyrol and in the seaports along the
Adriatic. The problem might DO solved by
an extensive application Of the federal
principle but for the fact that the example
would be viewed with dread and hostility
by the Magyars, who in their wi kingdom
Of Hungary firmly dominate other nation
alities. What hitherto has aggravated
the difficulty of finding a solution is the fact
that Russian agents have famed the as
p~irations of the Czechs for practical indie
pendence. and that the Czechs, being them.
selves Of Slavonic origin, would prefer
subsection to the Gear to association with
either Germans or Magyars. For that
reason 1t might be possible for NICHOLAS
II. to mitigate the feverish state of popular
feeling In Bohemia, and this Is but one of
several benefits which the House of HAPs.
BURG nay derive from a revival of the
friendship which once linked it to the
RoMANoFEs. Far-reaching, indeed, are
the possible consequences Of the Czech
agitation for autonomy, which is but
one of many indications that all the SUBJ
jects of FRANCIS JOSEPH. except the Ger
mans. who number about eight and a half
millions, are opposed to the alliance by
which the dual monarchy is connected with
the German Empire. If the inhabitants Of
the Hapsburg dominions could be polled on
the question of that alliance, two-thirds of
the votes in the Cis-Leithan kingdom
would be cast against 1t, while in Hun.
gary there would be an almost unanimous
declaration to the same effect. On the
whole, considering the trouble that the
Czechs have given him, and are likely to
give him hereafter, FRANCIS JOSEPH must
sometimes regret hat Prussia did not
Insist upon acquiring Bohemia after the
battle of Sadowa, in which event the last
named country would by this time have
been thoroughly Germanized.
The recent reconstruction of the italian
Cabinet has no particular significance, and
certainly will not involve any drastic
change in the nations foreign policy. 1t
simply means that a stable Cabinet cannot
be constructed out of the innumerable
groups into which the italian Chamber of
Deputies ls divided, and that there needs
must be ct short intervals a fresh distribu.
ton of the spoils. From CAvoUR's death
in June, 1861, to June, 1895, there
were no fewer than thirty-one different
Cabinets, whose average duration was
but about thirteen months and q half.
This state of things would come to
al end If Catholic electors were permit
ted by the Pope to vote, for then
all the adherents of King HUMBERT would
have to cooperate In self-defence. AS it is,
there are certain questions which, in the
course of the coming year. may tend to con.
solidate the existing groups into two great
parties. We refer to the expediency of ad.
herring to the coalition with Germany and
Austria, and to that of acquiring rams.
marine possessions. There is nodoubt that
the Triple Alliance is unpopular In the
p%eninsular kingdom. 1t leaves ungratiaed
the yearning for Italian unity, which
never can be fulfilled 30 long as
the Italian-speaking section of the Tyrol,
and Trieste, with other Adriatic seaports,
remain In Austrian hands. 1t compels the
Italian Government to maintain a much
larger military establishment, and also q
larger navy, than it would otherwise re.
quire. Worst of all, 1t shuts out Italian