Page:The Bohemian Review, vol2, 1918.djvu/78

 the Entente and in particular for President Wilson in whom the people of Bohemia see their special champion.

In the meantime at the other end of the monarchy grave disorders broke out. The Slovenes who inhabit the southern slopes of the Alps from Styria to Trieste followed the example of the Czechoslovaks and led by their deputies and priests demanded boldly the union of their people in one Jugoslav state, comprising Austro-Hungarian territories inhabited by the Slovenes, Croatians and Serbians, to be joined to the Kingdom of Serbia. The conduct of the Slovenes has been a great blow to the Hapsburgs, for the emperor had confidently expected that the old enmity between Italians and Slovenes would keep the latter loyal to the cause of Austria. But throughout the past year Slovene deputies in Vienna supported the Czech rebellion in parliament, and according to recent news the people of Laibach, the Slovenian capital, have come out in violent demonstrations against the Germans, and like the people of Prague openly cheered the Allies.

The seriousness of the Slovene revolt is best illustrated by the fact that the Austrian government requested the Vatican to take disciplinary action against the prince-bishop of Laibach Jeglich who is accused of agitating for the creation of an independent Jugoslav state. This is indeed an unmistakable symptom that the days of Austria are numbered. When the official representatives of the Catholic church join the liberals and socialists whom they were bitterly fighting before the war, then the conclusion is inevitable that among the Austrian Slavs the determination to conquer independence is unanimous. Bishop Jeglich wrote in his journal, the : “Never has our national idea been so strong—it is the principal motive in all public life. It has swept over our lands like a flood, reached the most remote village and fired the heart of every Jugoslav. It is so because we have realized that we do not fear the struggle. Every day we encourage our deputies in Vienna : Do not yield a step. We are with you to the last man.”

Dr. Von Seidler found himself unable to cope with the open revolt in the North and the South, as well as with the hostile attitude of the Poles and the criticism of the German socialists. He had been trying to resign, but there is no one to take his place, for the crisis facing Austria is not parliamentary or even constitutional, but a crisis that threatens to put and end to the ancient monarchy of the Hapsburgs.

Late report state that Emperor Charles took the decisive step of suspending Austrian parliamentary life. It means that he has given up, either on his own initiative or by German pressure, whatever hopes he may have cherished of gaining over his Slav subjects. At the same time first steps were taken to punish the Czech rebels; the integrity of the Kingdom of Bohemia was violated by dividing it into Czech and German food administration districts. On top of that comes the significant report that northern Bohemia and northern Tyrol have been placed under Germany for food administration purposes. The break-up of Austria has begun.

To the internal difficulties of Austria we must add the disagreement with Hungary. It is very likely that the boldness of the Slav revolt and the weakness of the government is due to a large degree to the food situation. This is getting to be desperate. The supplies from the Ukraine have not materialized and Austria is faced with absolute starvation in May and June. On the other hand Hungary is comparatively well off in food supplies, and to the old causes of disagreement between Vienna and Budapest is added the bitterness on the part of the people of Vienna who see the Magyars well fed, while the Germans, to say nothing of the Slavs, go hungry. It is said that the rich people of Vienna make daily trips to Budapest to smuggle eatables under their high silk hats to their starving families. But the Magyars are masters of the situation. For many years, inferior in numbers and wealth as they are to the Austrian half of the empire, the rulers of Hungary were rulers of the dual empire. They determined the course of its foreign policies and have been the strongest supporters of close dependence on Germany. When Czernin fell, they came into their own again, and Baron Burian, a member of the Magyar oligarchy, once more administers the foreign affairs of the monarchy. The weakness of the emperor-king was proved recently upon the occasion of the resignation of the Wekerle ministry. Wekerle was entrusted by Charles with the task of making more democratic the extremely unfair franchise of Hungary. But the ruling Magyar clique objected to the curtailment of their power, and though the