CHAPTER XXIIITHE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN CONSTITUTION
TheAustro-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 tofine 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 andHungary 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 demonstrationsgoing 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, CountTisza, 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 turnpeople’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 againsta 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.