15 SEPTEMBER 1900, Page 2

The Government of Austria has at last been wearied out

by the conflict between the German and Slav elements in Parliament. Obstruction has gone so far that nothing is ever done, and that the Deputies can hardly be restrained from open fighting. The Emperor, therefore, on Sep- tember 7th issued a Resoript dissolving the Reichsrath. The Dissolution, according to the Vienna correspondent of the Times, is welcomed by all parties, not because it will do any good, but because, when the new Parliament has proved impracticable, as it will, there must be intervention from above. The Slays and Clericals, who are acting together, hope for an absolutist regime, but we fancy, for reasons explained elsewhere, that the Emperor will shrink from resuming autocratic power. He had enough of that as a young man. It is more probable that he will simplify the suffrage, which is now intended to represent all interests, and therefore gives none the clear predominance essential to the good working of Parliamentary life. The grand difficulty is that in Austria the less civilised nationalities outnumber their more civilised rivals, but the latter may yet attract some section of their opponents.