New York Times 100 years ago today, February 2, 1913:
By Alexander Konta.
DURING the last decade more and more speculation has been rife concerning the future of the dual monarchy when its venerable and beloved ruler shall be gathered to his fathers. Unfortunately that event cannot be far off. Already it has been deferred by a kindly fate long beyond the allotted span of man. What the protracted reign of Francis Joseph, now the longest in history, has meant to his realm only his subjects can fully realize, though the world at large has a fair estimate of its significance.
The Emperor Frauds Joseph entered in 1848 upon an inheritance that may best be compared with that of Louis XVI. in France, but he lost neither his head nor his crown. He rode the wave of revolution and helped to turn its energy into a progressively beneficent force for the service of his distracted people. Through many trials he has brought peace, prosperity, and renewed power to the Austrian Empire and to his subjects a realization of the supreme importance of unity to them and to their descendants. For this and for his winning personality, which has been so large a factor in the achievement of his life-work; for his simple dignity, his sincere humanity, Francis Joseph is the recipient of much the same degree of affection from his subjects as was accorded Queen Victoria in her long reign. This is the only historical comparison that can do justice to the depth and strength of the personal feeling which Austrians, Hungarians, Czechs, Poles, and all the other races under his sceptre regard him. Through his merits he has made himself the father of his people. Even the bitterest party strife has found him beyond and above its turmoils, inviolate, the ultimate, supreme and secure bond of union.
The Dual Monarch's Mission.
By creating the new dual monarchy that is once more a self-confident and commanding factor in the affairs of the world.
Francis Joseph has given new significance to the old adage that "if Austria did not exist it would be necessary to invent her," Austria meaning here, as so often in the loose employment of the word, the Empire, the Hungarian Kingdom, and all the races that dwell in them. During the Emperor's reign, his realm has entered upon a new phase of its role in history. In the past it served as the military outpost of the West against the East, Hungary bearing the brunt of the long struggle, often as the forlorn hope. Henceforth, the dual monarchy will continue the mission, imposed upon it by its geographical position, as the first defense, with the arms of peace and progress, of Western civilization and culture.
The Slavs of Austria-Hungary.
In a discussion of the outlook for the immediate future of the dual monarchy under a new ruler, constant reference to the past is unavoidable, and this the more because, in current discussion of affairs in the Balkans, deliberate misstatement has been bolstered up by much honest but uniformed enthusiasm. It may suffice, for the moment, to declare as utterly untrue the accusations of systematic and persistent oppression by Austria and Hungary of "the Slavs" within their dominions, the accepted belief abroad being, not unnaturally, that these "Slavs" are one people, one race. The contrary of this is true. The Poles, for instance, have nothing in common with the Ruthenians, who live side by side with them in Galicia; least of all have they a feeling of ethnic solidarity, as was proved in the rising of 1848, when these two Slav peoples opposed each other, arms in hand. The Czechs are utter strangers to the Slovenes, who dwell with the Croats in the southern part of the Empire-Kingdom. Here, too, one Slav race opposed the other in 1848. The Croats are becoming increasingly aware of a cleavage between themselves and the Serbs, although these two have unquestionably a common ethnic origin.
A simple comparison will suffice for that great grievance of the Slavs in the dual monarchy, so industriously exploited abroad — the language question, which is really a question of many languages. It is exactly as if the Spaniards of New Mexico were to insist upon the recognition of their ancestral language, Spanish, as the official tongue of their State. The truth is that Austria is most liberal in its dealings with this matter, especially where educational facilities in the different languages are concerned. German is no longer the only official language recognized by her; and, to cap it all, the use of any Austrian tongue, from Czech to Italian, is legally permitted in the Austrian Parliament, a liberal measure, indeed.
The Language Question.
Hungary, the equal and independent partner of the Empire, transacts her official business in her national tongue. The only possible point at issue between the two allies in this matter to-day is the burning one of the word of command in the imperial armies. It is an old controversy, dating from the sixteenth century, almost from the hour of the election of the first Hapsburg to the Hungarian throne. It was a measure of national self-preservation then, for the armies and garrisons engaged in the Turkish wars on Hungarian soil and in Hungarian fortresses were at times composed of Austrian, Imperial German, and miscellaneous mercenary as well as of Hungarian troops. It was impossible, of course, to keep these troops separated according to their nationalities. Often Hungarian soldiers had of necessity to be placed under foreign leaders.
The Hapsburgs, however, in their constant policy of centralization of power abused the necessity for this, their undeviating purpose. Army matters always involve financial questions, and thus a second point long at issue between Austria and Hungary had its origin in the historic past. The chief struggle between the Austrian rulers and their Hungarian kingdom was, however, over the constitution of the country; for Hungary has had its Magna Charta since the beginning of the thirteenth century, its charter of liberties, which is called the Golden Bull. It is through this constitution, the expression of the nation's intense love of liberty and feeling of solidarity, as much as by arms, that Hungary has maintained its independence to this day.
To make this language question still clearer, it may be added that the attempts to "Germanize" Hungary and the different races of Austria were not systematically begun until the reign of Maria Theresa. They were the final logical outcome of the Hapsburg policy of centralization; but before the great Empress's reign Latin had been used as the official language of the realm. "Moritamur pro rege nostro Maria Theresia!" cried the Hungarian nobles when she appealed to them for loyalty and support.
The Pragmatic Sanction, which handed the Hapsburg heritage down in the female line established the indivisibility of empire and kingdom. Maria Theresa's successor, Joseph II., a theorist of the French encyclopedistic variety, believed that he could dispose of the whole racial question by ignoring it and dividing his dominions into districts instead. He failed, of course, as Kossuth's dream of the fraternization of the races failed at a later day.
It was the great Austrian statesman, Metternich, who carried to its extreme ends the other policy, that of playing race against race, of Hungarian garrisons in Italy, Austrian garrisons in Hungary, Italian garrisons in Gallicia. Metterinch's rule, however, was the tyranny of paralysis, not of energy, under a well-meaning but incompetent and indolent monarch, Francis I., who insisted upon keeping in his own hands the entire central power, but could never be stimulated to action. It was during this regime of repression from day to day that Austria won the reputation that still, and most unjustly, clings to her. Curiously enough, it was during this period of oppression that the intellectual renascence of the various Slavic peoples in the dual monarchy began. Metternich encouraged it, under the delusion that people who were busy with languages and literatures would pay no heed to politics. He was disillusioned in 1848.
A renewed attempt at "Germanization" during the decade that followed ended, so far as Hungary was concerned, with her victory in 1867. Since then the pendulum has swung to the other extreme of claims tolerated for the sake of internal politics until they reached the danger point of disruption within and weakness abroad. It is Francis Joseph, who has taught the "crazy quilt" of Europe that the strength of the thread by which it is held together is of far more importance to its continued existence and growth in security, prosperity, and power than is the uniformity or multiplicity of the color of the pieces of which it is made. It has been a Herculean task, but the quilt will last with the exercise of proper care, needful authority, common sense, and goodwill.
An International Dynasty.
The Hapsburgs have been an international dynasty, since the end of the Middle Ages. In the sixteenth century they had far greater interests in Spain, in the German Empire, in the Low Countries, and even In Italy than in Austria or Hungary. In the latter countries, for the sake of a free hand in the West the Hapsburgs often were satisfied with the Turkish status quo, whereas the Hungarians insisted on driving back the Moslem invader and breaking his power. This state of affairs, this preoccupation of the Hapsburgs with western Europe, lasted until the end of the Napoleonic era, when, driven in upon herself, Austria's "Drang nach Osten" may be said to have begun. Her present interest in the Balkans, however, dates from the days of Catharine the Great and the appearance there of Russian influences and designs.
The monarch who is usually described to-day as Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary is officially "Emperor of Austria, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, of Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Gallicia, and Illyria; Grand Duke of Cracow, Duke of Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Corniola and Bukowina; Grand Prince of Transylvania, Margrave of Moravia, Duke of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Ragusa and Tara, Lord of Triest and Cattaro, Great Voyvode of the voyvoyet of Servia, &c." I omit many of his minor dignities. What is given sufficiently indicates the origin of the "crazy quilt" figure of speech applied to his dominions, and it is germane to our subject.
What, then, may happen when, this complicated State, with its multiplicity and internal clash of races, problems and claims, loses the old, wise, tactful head and the purposeful hand that bound it together and strengthened its cohesion? Prophecy is always unwise — unless the prophet knows. No prophecy is attempted here, only a review of the salient tendencies, the leading motives now perceptible in the Dual Monarchy to one who has followed its affairs closely through thirty years. Francis Ferdinand of Hapsburg.
The chief factor to be taken Into consideration is, of course, the heir to the throne himself. Public opinion concerning him is reserved, if not positively unfavorable, in the realms he is to inherit, and is certainly so in the German part of the Empire. He will have to prove his mettle; the warm cloak of national affection which Francis Joseph has earned for himself will not fall upon his shoulders merely by inheritance. The Hungarians, strong in their belief in the vital importance of continued unity, will give him the fullest measure of their co-operation in internal and external affairs; the Slavs, or at least some of them — I must again insist that there are different sorts of Slavs in the dual monarchy — build high hopes upon him.
In all these aspirations, let it be said at once, there is no element to justify the expectation, still so widely spread abroad — though less confidently than it was a decade ago — that on the accession of the new Emperor-King the dual monarchy will be riven asunder and cease to exist. Whatever hopes, whatever apprehensions may exist within its borders are of internal agitations only, not of attempted secession and resultant civil war. There are three problems to be confronted in the immediate future: A dynastic complication caused by Francis Ferdinand's morganatic marriage; and two Slav aspirations, that of the Czechs in Bohemia, and that of the Croats in Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia. I shall deal with these later on, taking up the question of the Archduke's marriage and its consequences first of all.
Problems of the Succession.
The belief in Francis Ferdinand's Slav leanings is chiefly based on the fact that he is morganatically married to a Czech lady, the Countess of Chotek, Chotkowa and Wognin, now Duchess of Hohenberg. Be this as it may, it is more to the point just now to consider the fact that, under the laws of succession of the House of Hapsburg and the Austrian Empire, the Duchess of Hohenberg cannot be its Empress. No law exists in Hungary forbidding the occupancy of its throne by a woman of non-royal birth, whence the perplexing possibility of a Queen of Hungary who would have no official standing in her husband's empire. It is said that the German Emperor is willing to recognize the Duchess of Hohenberg as Empress of Austria if a way can be found to raise her to that dignity; but the question is a domestic, not a foreign one. It is also said that Francis Ferdinand will attempt to have his wife recognized at least as Empress Consort, on the same footing as that of the late Prince Consort of England and the present Prince Consort of the Netherlands. But this would only defer the question without solving it, for the succession would still remain to be solved.
The children of the Archduke and the Duchess of Hohenberg are not Hapsburgs, but Princes bearing their mother's name. Therefore, even if a modus vivendi were to be found in the case of the next reign; Prince Maximilian Charles of Hohenberg will be barred from the Austrian throne, and, in consequence of this, from the Hungarian succession as well, since the King of Hungary and the Emperor of Austria must be one and the same person.
The Duchess of Hohenberg is a clever, ambitious woman. To her is ascribed, in large measure, her husband's supposed inclination to support the two Slav aspirations, in order to strengthen her position and that of their heir in the Empire. One of these aspirations, as just indicated, is the revival of the old kingdom of Bohemia on a footing of dynastic and political equality with Hungary, The other is the formation of a so-called "triune" kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia, not on an equality with Hungary, but in a subordinate position of conditional home rule. Here another excursion into the complicated history of the dual monarchy may not come amiss.
The Kingdom of Bohemia
The kingdom of Bohemia, like the Apostolic kingdom of Hungary, came to the house of Hapsburg in the sixteenth century through the election of one of its members, the Archduke Ferdinand, to the throne. In the case of the Czech monarchy there was no more question of conquest, of subjection, than in that of Hungary itself. The Bohemians, like the Hungarians, freely and voluntarily chose Ferdinand as their King from among a number of candidates. Other Austrian Archdukes had occupied the elective throne of the country in the past, but the Hapsburg dynasty in Bohemia began with Ferdinand, who in the same year (1527) was elected King of Hungary.
Thus far the cases of the two kingdoms run parallel; thereafter they differ widely, for whereas the Hungarians tenaciously upheld their constitution even in the darkest hours of their national existence, and whereas they upheld their right to a separate national existence until this day, the Bohemians gradually lost their ancient liberties and institutions, and, from being an equal partner, became a subordinate part of the Empire. The Hapsburg policy of centralization of power was entirely successful there. A discussion of the influence of the religious quarrels of the seventeenth century in bringing about this result would lead us too far afield. Suffice it to say that just within a century after Ferdinand's election in 1627, Bohemia ceased to be a kingdom and became a province.
Its claim to the re-establishment of its old independent status is based, not so much on these old historical grounds, as on new political ones. The clamor for a separate coronation of the Emperor of Austria as King of Bohemia at Prague was first raised in the sixties of the last century. The campaign for this restitution of the Czech monarchy to its original standing in the Empire was pressed with ever-increasing energy until, in 1871, Francis Joseph, through his then Prime Minister, promised to grant the measures demanded and to be crowned at Prague. This was in September, but the opposition of the German Bohemians to this prospect of Czech supremacy became so violent that the proclamation already issued had to be withdrawn before the end of the year. The agitation has been carried on since then without cessation. That it will be revived in an acute form on the accession of Francis Ferdinand is very likely. That it will meet again with stubborn resistance from the German Bohemians is just as certain. That it would lead to more than local and temporary troubles is most unlikely, indeed. The crown of the old Bohemian Kingdom, by the way, is preserved, not at Prague but in Vienna. That of Hungary, as is well known — the famous crown of St. Stephen — has never been taken out of the country, but reposes in the St. Matthias Church at Budapest.
The Triune Kingdom.
Only one other Slavic claim need be dealt with here in connection with the supposed pro-Slavic policies to be adopted by Francis Ferdinand on his accession, that of the proposed "triune" Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia, at the extreme southern end of the dual monarchy. This, like the Bohemian plan, is not one of disruption, secession, but of reorganization within the realm. The Cassandras who have been predicting the end of the dual monarchy these many years have really very little ground for their lugubrious prophecies. The triune proposition, by the way, is in itself sufficient proof of the lack of substance behind the Belgrade dreams of a new Servian empire. Whatever the agitations within his dominions, Francis Joseph has taught his peoples the vital importance, the absolute necessity of sticking together. I will dispose here briefly of the remaining "Slav" interests in the dual monarchy. The Poles in Austria continue to dream of the re-establishment of their historic kingdom, but otherwise they know that they are far better off under Austrian rule than under that of Prussia or — their only alternative in view at present — that of Russia. The Ruthenians, Rumanians, and Slovaks are best described as "scattering," their demands being local ones, easily dealt with by administrative routine. And, in taking leave of this part of the subject, I wish to say for the last time that to consider the Slavs of the dual monarchy as one body is entirely to misunderstand its conditions and problems from the root upward.
Croatia-Slavonia, to which Dalmatia is added because its population is almost entirely Croat, has shared the historic fate of the Christian races in the northern Balkans and the southern parts of Austria and Hungary. The country was under Hungarian rule from the eleventh until early in the sixteenth century, when the Turks conquered and held it until the end of the seventeenth century, with intervals of Hungarian reconquest. In 1718 the whole region was again in the hands of the Hungarians and Austrians.
The national renascence began in 1840, and with it began also the steadily increasing divergence between the Croats and the Serbs. Racially they are identical; the growing difference between them is that of religion, the spoken language and the use of two different alphabets, though their literature is the same.
The movement for a subordinate "triune" kingdom was launched in 1865 under the leadership of the famous Bishop Strossmayer, The net result up to date was the decision of the Croatian Diet of 1867 to exchange Austrian for Hungarian sovereignty. The agreement with Hungary, concluded at that time, will expire in December of the current year. We shall have to wait till then for developments. I may add that there has always been a strong pro-Magyar party among the Croats themselves.
Conditions To-day.
This, then, is the sum and substance of present conditions and tendencies in the dual monarchy, and of that Slav propaganda of which so much has been made by the world at a distance, under the impression that it is a united movement, instead of several local ones. Pan-Slavism is no more serious in the dual monarchy to-day than Pan-Germanism is in German Austria; both have had their day. The Slav movements have crystallized into a number of claims for internal changes, to be settled with much internal friction, perhaps, but certainly without ultimate danger to the state. In how far the heir to the throne, once he has become Emperor-King, will lend himself to their furtherance is still a matter of the future; that his encouragement of them would materially strengthen his own position and that of his wife and heirs is decidedly problematic. Moreover, what evidence we have of his future policy thus far points rather the other way, to his maintenance and support of German-Magyar hegemony in his realms, to his upholding of the two races that have spread and still are spreading Western civilization in its historic outpost against the East, the races that through the centuries have given their blood and their substance for the cause, and largely for the benefit of their Slav fellow-citizens. Of the two races, the Hungarians stand first, for, in the long struggle with the Turk, Austria often left them to their fate, preoccupied with what she then considered her greater interests in Western Europe.
When the late Count Aehrenthal decided upon the immediate necessity of the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, it was the heir to the throne who upheld him and seconded him in persuading the Emperor-King. This, as I have said, is the only instance of Francis Ferdinand's active participation in affairs of state thus far, but it is highly significant, because Aehrenthal's coup was as much one of internal as of external policy. It has revealed the Emperor-King that is to be as a strong man, fully conversant with the true interests of the dual monarchy, and determined to advance them to the best of his power. Whatever the situation that will confront him, he may be relied upon not to seek its solution by helping to cut and rip the strong thread with which Francis Joseph has bound together the "crazy quilt" during a long lifetime of patriotic service. And it is as unlikely that any element in the dual State will enter upon so suicidal a course.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.