INTERNAL CRISIS IN AUSTRIA

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3026, 13 March 1917, Page 5

INTERNAL CRISIS IN AUSTRIA

EMPEROR CANCELS HIS ENGAGEMENTS

FACTORS MAKING FOR DISRUPTION

Amsterdam, March 11

The Vienna- correspondent of the "Zeitung" at Frankfurt-on-Maiu states that the Emperor suddenly broke off his stay at Budapest and his visit to South Hungary and returned to Vienna. The resignation of Count Tim (Premier) and_ the formation of a. Coalition Cabinet is oxpectcd.—Router. Tf ABSBURG-MAGYAR DUEL. Writing in the "Scotsman," Mr. A. P. Whyto, M.P., says Austrian Cabinet crises are purely domestic affairs, anil have no direct effect upon tho European situation; but, as they frequently arise from movements" in the larger sphere, tlicy are valuable as symptoms. Three times in the course of this war events in Budapest or Berlin have thrown the Austrian Cabinet into disarray; and on each occasion there might bo discerned, through the half-lifted, veil of the censorship, a struggle between Austria and tho new intruding conception of Mittel-Europa. And cacli time Austria seemed weaker and weaker. In tho present case something of the kind is again happening. Dr. von Korber—tho fallen Premier— was known |o he a stauncli Austrian, jealous alike of Prussian and of Magyar demands; but there is now no living forco left' in Austria upon which ho could confidently invite the young Emperor Charles to rely in resisting the Count Tisza's request for now privileges for Hungary.- Ho - was therefore faco to face with surrender to Hungary or resignation. Being an honourable man, tenacious of his Austrian patriotism, lie chose tho latter; and once more Count Tiszn wins. Compared with some of his previous exploits, the victory is clieap. Everything was in his favour; a. new Emperor, young, headstrong, inexperienced, eager to make his coronation in Budapest a great popular triumph, and tnereforo'willing to purchase Magyav plaudits by concessions which must weaken Austria; the army, once the bulwark of Habsburg strength, now controlled by Germany and devoid of the prestige it formerly possessed; and, above all, a kind'of lifelessness in Austria which offered no resistance to tho overbearing Magyar, hi this mattor of political activity there is a marked contrast between Vienna and Budapest. Austria-Hungary is still a dual i monarchy, but the true constituent! parts nre fho dynasty on the one hand and tho ambitious Magyar oligarchy on the other. Austria long ago ceased to Irount, and lier Ministries ivoro "mcro administrative officials with an uncertain tenure of office." .

| The master-figures in this Habsburgj Magyar drama were tho lato Emperor I Francis Joseph \nnd Count Stephen j Tisza. In the dialogue botwecn tlfe I Hofbur;* and the Parliament of BudaI pest, which is tho sum and substance of Austro-Hungarian. constitutional life, Count Tisza has taken an cver-in- ! creasing part. On tho ove of the death of Francis Joseph, an unusually well-informed, observer (himself an Austrian subject) wrote thus of Count Tisza: —"Tisza is tho intermediary between tho Hofburg and the Hungarian Parliament, and bullies both. Tho strongest statesman in tho war and ono of its main authors, lio lias tho proud force and upright wrill of a Puritan, with tho perversity in fundamental principles of tho Miltonic Satan. Hungary's unity and power, and Magyar dominion within Hungary, are for him all the Law and the Prophctsj The wrongs which such'' a dominion implies, and the woe which it creates, he overlooks with a cruel belief in unavoidable ovil nnd damnation. Never shaken in his Magyar faith and blindness, Count Tisza works for his aims, uncheercd and undepressed. Ho has mastered Hungary; ho talks to Berlin as nu equal; the common Austro-Hun-garian Foreign Minister is his nominee, In public utterances ho threatens Archdukes and Generals who plot for tho overthrow of tho Magyar dominion. over Hungary and over Vienna. Tho difficulties of tno path he treads might well bring tlio strongest of men to despair. The victories of Austrian Archdukes threaten Hungary's constitution; thoir defeats threaten her very existence. Tho fato of the Magyars is wedded to that of Mittel-Europa, yet its rise may swamp; them. Tisza sees tho perils of his course, lie is a danger to Europe a curso. But ho-is a great mau ... an autocrat, whose colleagues must be puppets. There is only one post from which a Magyar could fight Tisza with a. chance of victory—the common Austro-Hungar-inn Foreign Office; and this, is now the goal of Tisza's most prominent rival. Count Julius Andrassy. A Magyar holding that office is either the Foreign Secretary to tha Hungarian Premier (as may bo ysaid of the present holder, Burian), or the Hungarian Premier becomes his Minister for j the Interior." . 1

, From all this, the part played by domestic crises in Austria easily becomes evident. By hook or by crook the whole official entourage of the Emperor must ha given as Magyarophil a complexion as possible. Pliant Ministers must replace all Austrian patriots, and oertain high places in finance must always be filled with willing accomplices of the city which is sometimes called "Juda-Pest." As long as Francis Joseph reigned the process was not easy. But in his declining years, and now most markedly sinco his death, the Magyar invasion of Vienna proceeds unchecked. Tho late Premier, Dr. Ernst von Korber, was always an obstacle, in tho way. He was a Minister of greater mark than most Austrian Premiers, and held obstintite opinions regarding Magyar insolence. When Anstrophil people in Great Britain—there are a_ good many sKl— speak of the possibility of a separate peace with the Dual Monarchy, based on tbe assumption that Western Europe lias 110 quarrel, with Vienna, they may profitably be asked to pause, and to consider two vital that Budapest, the home of political tyranny, is the true centre of power; and second, that of the five or six men who made the war, at least three lived in Vienna, and that two of tliem are still in power. We may po further and sav that Mittel-Europa' is already a reality in this sense, that whatever Vienna or Budapest may think, Borlin decides.