Page:The Bohemian Review, vol1, 1917.djvu/63



Since Charles I. succeeded his grand-uncle, Francis Joseph, in November, 1916, stories of a contradictory character have been coming from Vienna. Ministries have been dismissed and new servants of the emperor appointed to have charge of the Austrian affairs and of the affairs common to both halves of the monarchy. Only the all powerful Count Tisza, friend of the German Kaiser, has not been disturbed in his position of dictator of Hungary and arbiter of the foreign policies of the entire dual empire. A month after his accession to the throne, Charles went through the solemn ceremonial of being crowned king of Hungary and, at that time, took the oaths which bind him to maintain the rights of Hungary as a self-governing kingdom.

The medieval ceremony of coronation means to the Americans merely a gorgeous pageant which it is worth while to witness, even if one has to pay a stiff admission fee. To the subjects of European monarchies, and particularly to the inhabitants of those parts of the Hapsburg empire that were formely independent states, coronation still means much the same thing that it signified for their ancestors five hundred years ago. It is the solemn ratification of a pact between the king and his people, wherein the people accept the king for their true lord, and promise him loyalty and allegiance, while he swears in the cathedral church of his capital and in the presence of the highest church dignitaries that he will maintain and faithfully observe all the ancient liberties and privileges of the kingdom and its people.

During the long reign of Francis Joseph Austrian politics turned mainly on the question of his two fold coronation. Although primarily known as the Emperor of Austria, he is not crowned as such. The title of Emperor of Austria was assumed by Francis II. in 1806, when changes introduced by Napoleon compelled him to give up the nominal headship of the medieval German Empire. Since the upstart Napoleon gave himself the style of an emperor, Francis, the scion of some fifteen generations of emperors, would not be content with the title of King of Bohemia and Hungary and therefore created an Austrian empire out of the possessions of the House of Hapsburg.

The dominions of the Hapsburg dynasty were composed in the main of three political and historical groups. There were the Austrian lands proper, provinces on the Danube and in the Alps, which Emperor Rudolph, the founder of the Hapsburg for tunes, took away from the Bohemian king Ottokar. They had always been a part of the German empire, their ruler a vassal of the emperor, bearing the title of duke or archduke and having the right to a ducal coronet only, not to a royal crown. More important than the Austrian duchies were the two kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary to which Ferdinand I. was elected in 1526. In course of time, through changes more or less constitutional, these kingdoms be came hereditary in the House of Hapsburg, and each ruler, upon his accession, was styled King of Bohemia and Hungary, while waiting to be elected emperor by the secular and ecclesiastical electors of Germany.

Francis, the last emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the first Emperor of Austria, had been crowned king of Bohemia and Hungary shortly after his father’s death in 1792. Ferdinand, who succeeded him in 1835 and whom Austrian historians call Benevolent—he was really dull-witted—allowed himself also to be crowned king of the two ancient kingdoms and swore to maintain their historical rights. But Francis Joseph, who came to power shortly after insurrection in Bohemia had been quelled and while the Magyars in Hungary were fighting to establish their independence, determined to be