Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-04

These demands the crown has peremp-
torily and convfncingiy refused. and the
newly elected parliamentary majority had
to choose between relinquishing its prin-
ciples or abandoning Its prospects OF pow
err. 1t decided to hold to Its principles and
1t is apparently as firm in its demands as
the crown is In Its refusal Of them.
The Whirligig Of Politics.
The man who would have said last Feb
ruary. when the designations of the Tisxa
cabinet were placed in the hands OF the
king. that this cabinet would be in office
In May. would have found no one to be-
lieve him.
The new elections. which had been or
dered because the house could not agree on
sively for the opposition that men thought
the only thing remaining to be done was to
turn over the administration of affairs to
the victorious parties. The establishment
OF an administration on the basis of the
verdict given at the polls seemed COM
paratiyeIy easy matter. The crown had
recognized the constitutional consequences
of the electoral victory. for on February II
Francis Kossuth was received In audience
by the emperor and king In Vienna. KOS
suth appeared before his majesty as the
official head of the united oppOsitional par
ties in the Hungarian house.
Yet in spite of this election the old Tfsza
cabinet Is today still In power. Its resigna-
ton was accepted on February 2; 1t Is
poweress. every member wants to be re-
heved Of Office and none more than Premier
Tisza himself. and it Is thoroughly discred-
lted Still every attempt to appoint a new
ministry has failed. and until this is done
the old ministry must remain in office.
Kings Unwise Counsellors.
Members of the opposition declare re-
sponslbility for the continuance of the pres
ent crisis rest with the kings advisers who
give him unwise counsel. and while this
may in measure be so. yet to certain
extent 1t rests upon the false meaning
which 1t would appear the leaders of the
opposition give to their electoral victory,
and by which they have made it impossible
for the crown to name a cabinet from the
ranks of the new majority.
The victory at the polls did not decide
against the continuance of the AuSgleich
Of 1867. but 1t did decide against the fam
Gus lex Daniel the measure with which the
administration under TfsZa desired to bring
about cloture proceedings in the house and
to put stop to obstruction. The only
actual platform upon which these elections
were held was the matter of the lex Dan
lei. Consequently the result of the election
should not be taken as an evidence Of the
desire of the Hungarian people for radi-
cal change in the relations between the two
states.
In recognition Of this fact the opposition
elected to the post of confidential agent to
y,
duty 1t was to guarantee the observance OF
the 1857 Ausgielch by the new oppOsitional
cabinet. A surprise followed the publica-
ton OF the opposition's program. for In this
announcement separate customs tarfn
was urged and measures wherein the
crown perceived an attack on the unity OF
the army were demanded. The opposition
is therefore charged with overstepping the
limits Of it's brief from the people.
The Kings Attitude.
From the very first moment the king
made known his attitude clearly and fore
IDLY. II the two halves Of the monarchy
united in a modus vivendi he would not OPP
pose the establishment of a separate Hun
garlan customs district but he declared the
army demands of the opposition to be quite
impossible of acceptance.
The month of February saw the calling
to the Vienna Hofburg to confer with the
king, of the leaders of the various Hun
garian political parties In these confer
ences the king listened closely but said lit
tie himself.
With the visit to the Hungarian capital
of the king in March, the scene of action
changed to Budapesth The opposition still
declared 1t must respect the vote of the
people of January 26. and, putting it's own
Interpretation upon what this vote meant.
1t did not recede from it's position or with
draw any of its demands During March
the crown made certain proposals to the
opposition looking toward an ending of the
crisis. but not receding from its position in
any material way. The proposals were re-
fused. and when parliament met on April
there was no work for it to take up.
Crown Holds to It's Opinion.
At this time the only hindrance to thu
naming of a cabinet was the unacceptable
demands of the opposition, that still had
hopes that the crown would make conces.
he iott
however. it was realized that the crown
would not recede one iota from it's position,
and at this time certain serious results Of
the prolonged crisis came up for active dis
cussion.
For four months Hungary had been with
out authorization for the budget parla-
ment not having adopted the necessary bill.
The constitution provides that the direct
imposts under the budget do not have to
be paid until this bill Is passed. The OPP
position assumed the attitude that the vol
untary payment of direct imposts would
be considered an act Of treason. and
threatened to make use of It's influence
In this direction.
Up to the present time the minister of
finance for Hungary has been able to find
means to pay the coupons of the state
debts as they fell due and to provide
enough money for the payment of official
salaries. but the income of the state Is
falling off even now. and 1t could be
reduced by one-fourth on the legal refusal
to pay direct imposts Attempts of the
crown to collect these payments by force,
In default of the parliamentary legislation,
cause outbreaks Of violent resistance and
disorder.
Army Bill Affected.
The yearly recruiting bill also has not
been passed. and as the matter stands to-
day the common army will soon have to go
short of Its regular yearly quota of men
from Hungary. or the crown will have to
adopt one of two measures-first. to retain
in the service the men whose time expires
this year, or second. to attempt to get re-
cruits from the various Hungarian coun-
ties without the sanction of parliament.
Both of these measures would be uncon-
stitutional, and their enforcement would
be most unpopular and result In very strong
protest. not to say disorder and revolt.
The above outlines some of the weapons
in the hands Of the opposition in Its con-
hict with the crown. They would seem to
be methods by which the opposition can
force the crown to take sohe steps con-
trary to the provisions of the Hungarian
constitution, and the moment the crown
should do this the feeling of the whole
country would rally to the side of the op-
position. For the constitution must not
be violated. The weapons of the crown
against the opposition are limited. One OF
the strongest of them Is to obstruct. to