10 DECEMBER 1898, Page 2

The irony of fate still pursues the Emperor of Austria.

Every man among his subjects seems to exalt in his Jubilee, but not one among them will let him manage as he pleases. Bohemia is shattered by the race contest ; in Galicia there is a peasant rising ; in the Hereditary States Germans and Clericals are at fisticuffs ; Croatia threatens rebellion against Hungary ; and now Hungary is in an uproar. Thanks to obstructive tactics, the Ausgleich, or arrangement between Austria and Hungary, cannot be passed in time, and the Liberal Premier of the kingdom, Baron Banffy, pro- poses that he be authorised to conduct the govern- ment until it is. He is a Liberal Protestant with a large majority, but the Opposition is most bitter against him, and is joined just now by sections of his own party which thinks that if the Constitution is departed from, even nominally, freedom will ultimately be lost. They call on him to resign, and let M. Szilagyi, who has just resigned the Speakership, be head of the Administration; but this is con- trary to the view of the Emperor-King. His Majesty wishes, it is believed, that Baron Banffy should remain till the Ausgleich is arranged, but when that will be no one seems to know.