THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN CONSTITUTION
The Austro-Hungarian Constitution exists on paper, but that is all.
The Austrian Parliament met at Vienna, the Hungarian Parliament still
meets at Budapesth, but the National Assemblies never exercised any
actual power. This was partly due to the clever management of those in
authority, but chiefly to the policy of the Emperor, an old autocrat,
who considered that all means were justifiable if all real power could
be kept in his hands. Much of the blame, however, was due to the people
themselves, who held aloof from politics. Some of the most highly
educated men in the country said that the Constitution was a farce, and
that they refused to have anything to do with it. Others refused to
vote to mark their disapprobation. The Government thereupon made voting
obligatory. Anyone who refused to record his vote without due cause was
liable to fine and imprisonment. Thus the Government kept up the farce
of a constitutional system.
Reflecting people of all nationalities within the Dual Monarchy
realised that the people had no power. All decisions in the realm of
the foreign policy of the country were made by the reigning monarch.
No Minister was held responsible. The power of voting money for the
army and navy and all objects common to Austria and Hungary was not
invested in the Parliaments, but held by the Delegations. The Delegates
were elected by the Parliaments, but the nominations were made by
Government, and men noted for their pliability were selected. Delegates
sometimes protested against expenditure. An instance of this kind
occurred when Austria-Hungary embarked upon her big fleet policy. Money
was asked for to build Dreadnoughts. The Delegations refused.
The Government did not give up its project. It gave orders to the
Stablimento Tecnico in Trieste to lay down the first ship “on spec.,”
with a very broad hint as to who would purchase the vessel when
complete. This dishonesty, first towards the taxpayers, then towards
Europe, is a particularly striking sample of the policy carried on by
the country.
Members of Parliament in both Austria and Hungary received payment
for each day’s attendance. When Parliament was dissolved this payment
ceased. The members were, for the most part, men who required the
money to live. They had given up their profession to come to Vienna to
represent their constituencies, and the closing of Parliament meant the
cutting off of their incomes. It was therefore to their interest to do
nothing to anger the Government. The laws of the Constitution provided
for the election of another Parliament, but in actual practice it
remained shut until it pleased the Emperor to permit another election
to take place. Persons of importance did not seek election to the
“Punch and Judy” show or madhouse on the Ringstrasse, as the Austrian
Parliament was usually called.
A stormy sitting at the Vienna Parliament was an interesting sight. A
cordon of police usually guarded the stately block of buildings when
a row was going on within. From time to time a side door would open
and angry attendants would throw out a dozen men, panting from the
struggle. They would fall on the soft carpet of snow, and then be sent
about their business by the police beyond. They were the public who
had been sitting in the gallery and who had joined too loudly in the
demonstrations going on below. Inside the atmosphere was thick. The
Parliament had been sitting for two days and nights unceasingly. The
Czechs, who wished to obstruct the passing of a Bill, had been behaving
like buffoons. They rattled their desks and banged the lids to drown
the speaker’s voice. They brought all kinds of noisy instruments to
disturb the deliberations. Rain-machines, used in theatres to imitate
the sound of rain on the roofs, were rattled; other members blew upon
trumpets and penny whistles. Czechs of huge build spoke for ten hours
at a time. Friends supplied them with water and chocolate while they
carried on their obstruction. At night the Opposition slept in the
passages upon mattresses. Rolled in top-coats, they were ready to
swarm in whenever their services were required at a moment’s notice.
The attendants smiled at the heaps of bodies lying prone, but ready to
fight. The floor of the Parliament was untidy. Balls of paper soaked in
ink that had been flung at an opponent or at the President were seen on
the floor. All kinds of missiles lay thick, for the attendants, careful
of their personal safety, had not ventured to pick them up. It was
difficult to realise that the Austrian Parliament was not a third-rate
tavern.
Year after year the Parliament spent the precious hours that should
have been given to making its voice heard in the country to this kind
of foolishness. The Opposition, instead of securing a majority, always
hoped to delay business and thus secure concessions that the majority
was unwilling to grant. They did not see that they were playing the
game of the Central Administration, which rejoiced to see them making
themselves ridiculous and losing such influence as they possessed by
virtue of their office.
In Hungary things were worse than in Austria. The elections were
nothing more than a farce. There was no secret ballot. Votes were
openly bought and sold. When the Government could not secure a majority
for its candidate, soldiers were used to keep the Opposition voters
from the booths. The Hungarians clamoured for general suffrage and the
removal of the property qualification, which kept the election in the
hands of a few men, but they asked in vain. Their country districts
were represented by Government candidates, and even in the towns it was
seldom that an independent candidate of any standing got in.
The disorders were even worse than in the Vienna Parliament. The
President, Count Tisza, thought nothing of clearing the House with
soldiers, and had the members chased into the street at the point
of the bayonet. The members were constantly sending challenges and
fighting duels among themselves instead of attending to business.
The Government delegated large powers to the local Diets, which decided
questions of expenditure, and, upon the whole, acquitted themselves
of their tasks in a very satisfactory manner. Unfortunately, much of
the money that was granted for local purposes remained unspent, as the
permission required for liquidating the sums did not come from the
Central Government. If a road were required for military purposes or
a railway needed for the transport of troops, the Central Government
made a handsome contribution to the cost; if it were simply required
for the development of the country generally, the project was not
encouraged. When the Diets ventured into the realms of politics they
were promptly informed that they must keep within the limits of their
own jurisdiction.
The central authorities in Vienna and Budapesth had for years followed
a policy of blinding the people; they had encouraged frivolity in every
form. Everything was done to turn people’s minds from serious subjects
to pleasure and enjoyment. The reputation enjoyed by both Vienna and
Budapesth as the gayest capitals in Europe was fully deserved. The
intellectual Classes were completely hoodwinked, and had no idea of
what was really going on, either at home or abroad. The same results
were accomplished in the country by keeping the people in ignorance
and withholding education from them. While much money was spent on the
education of Germans and Magyars, the ruling races, great economy was
practised towards the Slavs. The powerful Bohemians managed to secure
education for their children, and the Government statistics show that
100 per cent. of the children of school age in Bohemia actually were in
attendance at school in 1906. In Galicia only 85 per cent. are reported
as in attendance; while in Croatia 68 per cent. went to school, and
in Bosnia and Herzegowina only 14 per cent. In every case the local
authorities were forced to provide education for the children, unless
they lived on isolated farms where it was really impossible. The
Government, however, refused its grants wherever it could, as the
money was needed for purposes which did not appear in the Budget. The
Slavs and Croats protested bitterly against a system which inflicted
upon them heavy taxes, mostly indirect, and kept the benefits for the
ruling races. This maladministration was one of the chief causes of the
continual unrest among the subject-peoples.
The Emperor, and indeed all the members of the Imperial family, lived
in an atmosphere apart. They never considered whither their policy was
leading, nor that the system of suppression could not be carried on
indefinitely at this period of history. Most of the men in power would
have shone in the Middle Ages; they were useless and impracticable now
that commercial travellers have taken the places of knights-errant and
trade is more important than armaments. They did not realise that in
suppressing progress they were handicapping the country in its race
for commercial supremacy and preventing its being able to compete with
Germany at home and abroad. In their fear of the “people” getting to
the fore, they neglected the foe beyond the frontier.