At last wiser counsel prevailed in Vienna, and while certain members
favored repression, even force, to bring the Bohemians to submission,
there were others, Count Taaffe among them, who urged moderation. The
Potocki ministry (1870) tried to breach the differences between Prague
and Vienna. More successful than Potocki was Count Hohenwart, whom
the emperor encouraged to make terms with the Bohemians. Hohenwart’s
first step was to name two distinguished Bohemians, Jireček and
Habětínek, members of his cabinet. The “Neue Freie Presse” commented
on Hohenwart’s appointment as “the Sedan of German ideals in Austria.”
Hohenwart’s next step was to select an Austrian commission, in
co-operation with a similar commission of Bohemians, headed by Count
Clam-Martinic and Dr. Rieger, to draft terms of settlement, which
came to be known as the “Fundamental Articles.” These “Fundamentals”
defined precisely the future relations of Bohemia and Austria. In
the “Fundamentals” one could clearly discern Palacký’s ideas of
federalistic Austria.
Thereupon an imperial rescript was issued, bearing date September 12,
1871, in which the emperor made this memorable promise: “Recognizing
the state rights of the Bohemian Crown, calling to mind the renown
and power which the crown has conferred upon Us and Our predecessors,
and mindful further of the unwavering loyalty with which the people
of Bohemia have at all times supported Our throne, We are glad to
recognize the rights of this kingdom and are ready to renew this
recognition by Our coronation oath.”[13]
Obviously it was not the mere mediæval ceremony of coronation that
Bohemians were anxious to have take place. By having himself crowned
as king, the sovereign would affirm by implication that the Kingdom
of Bohemia, the Margravate of Moravia, and the Duchy of Silesia were
one and indivisible; that Bohemia was a part of the monarchy only as
long as the Hapsburgs survived in the male or female line; that in the
event of the Hapsburg-Lothringen line becoming extinct, Bohemia was
free to elect its own ruler; that the power of legislation was vested
jointly in the king and in the diets and that the king, upon taking the
coronation oath, bound himself to defend the indissolubility of the
Bohemian Crown.
In answer to the emperor’s declaration the diet passed in its sessions
of October 8 and 10, 1871, the “Fundamental Articles.” Meantime the
centralists worked indefatigably to defeat the settlement with Bohemia.
Their journals employed every means to prejudice public opinion
against it. “Austria is about to capitulate to the Slavs,” wrote these
journals, “and Prague will eventually supersede Vienna as the capital
of the empire.”
It is known that Bismarck, fearing that Bohemian home rule might
have a stimulating effect on his Poles, and Andrassy, solicitous
about the “welfare” of his Slovaks, jointly intrigued to defeat the
autonomy which Premier Hohenwart was ready to concede. “Hungary will
have nothing in common with Slavic Austria,” declared the “Pester
Lloyd,” speaking for the Hungarian Government. “We Hungarians shall
do everything in our power to frustrate the reconstruction. Call it
selfishness, if you will, but that shall be our policy.”
The victory of the Prussians over the French in 1871 naturally made
the Austro-German centralists more stubborn than ever, and Hohenwart,
despairing of the passage in the parliament of the “Fundamental
Articles,” resigned October 30th. For the second time since 1848 the
rehabilitation of the Bohemian State had been frustrated. That the
emperor, always vacillating and ever fearful of the Pan-Germans, was
not himself without blame, is obvious. In fact, it is charged that the
coterie of archdukes around the throne welcomed opposition to Bohemian
home rule, if it did not secretly foment it.
A new rescript commanded the diet to elect delegates to the parliament.
Refusing to do this, the diet was dissolved. The Auersperg-Lasser
Ministry which followed Hohenwart was outspokenly German-centralistic
and Bohemian autonomists made ready for another onslaught from Vienna.