Year: 1871

Vienna Correspondence (oet IL Of London Mall


The Bohemian Diet, from which it will be re-


membered the opposition minority seeded, has


passed without debate, all the proposals of its


committee, and the address together with the


fundamental laws, will be sent at once to Vienna


to be presented to the Emperor. The question


now is what will be the answer of the Crown to


the conditions Of the Czechs.


II ever there was a case of asking with the


French Q,i trompet-on ici?" it is the present


one. To believe that the demands put forward


by the Czechs are the last words Of the solution
agreed upon by the Minister-Presideut and the


Czechs, as the only one calculated to restore in
ternal peace among the populations of Austria,
would imply so harsh judgment on the political
capacity Of Count Hohenwart as is by no means
warranted by his past career or actions since he
took office. Even his bitterest enemies must
give him credit for the skill which be has main.
tanned his position and influence in high quarters,
and gathered together the Conservative, Clerical,
and non-German elements to oppose them to the
Liberal party which has been in power since 1867.
Until therefore, the contrary is proved by facts,
Count Hohenwart must have the benefit Of. the
doubt, and We must suppose that the Czechish
demands are the first and not the last word of
the solution intended


Manifold can be the meaning Of this first word
1t may mean the first price named by the shop
keeper in an Oriental bazaar, which is tried on al
though there is not the remOtest hope Of its be-
ing accepted. This imaginary price may have
been agreed upon for forms sake by both Sides
each of them with the Interior view Of getting
the better in the final bargain. But the possibil-
ity is by no means excluded that the private be-
gotiations we're not conducted with precseness,
and that at the last moment, after having com
promised the Minister and having allowed him to
burn his ships. the Czechs came forward with
pretensions which we're as new to the Minister
President as to the rest Of the world. The length
of time which the committee Of the Bohemian
Diet took to draw up the address and its preten-
tious, and the necessity which arose at last for
having the chei movers in the matter up at vi
emma would seem to indicate that at least up to a
certain point such has been the case. Another
meaning Of this, as I believe, first word spoken
by the Czechs, may be 70 show those who are
averse to all concession that something must be
done if eternal peace is to be restored only that
in this case there has been chosen for the purpose
an expedient just calculated to produce the oppo-
site impression, not only in those who bsve been
and still are against any concession to the Czechs,
but even in those who were willing to go very far
but not the length of breaking up the monarchy
into a set of States united only BY federal bond
There is one more possible construction, and this
would be the most dangerous-namely, that there
exists settled plan to furnish the most convinc-
ing evidence, that where the pretensions Of the
different populations are go wide apart as the
Czechish demands are from the present Constitu-
tion to which the Germans stick so stubborny,i it
is hopeless to expect that the two antagonistic
parties will ever come to an agreement by their
own free will, and therefore. that the peoples Of
Austria arc unfit to govern themselves.