The race contest in the Austrian Parliament threatens three results,
all equally unpleasing to the Imperial Govern- ment,—namely, a quarrel with Hungary, a long continued block in all civil business, and a distinct diminution in the weight of the Monarchy in European affairs. The Emperor, therefore, has taken an unusual step. He has summoned the leaders of all parties to the Hofburg, and has informed them that all the measures important to the State must be carried through the Reichsrath at once. The block must end or be would end it. The parties thought they could upset the Ministry, which is not Parliamentary, but a Ministry of Under-Secretaries for the management of affairs, but his Majesty assured them that he should retain it, at all events until the machine worked a little more smoothly. As the Emperor would not have remonstrated without having de- cided how to act in the event of refusal, it is nearly certain that the parties will give way, pass all necessary Bills, and postpone the race quarrel until a fitter season. That is how all race quarrels end in Austria. They go on so furiously for a time that they become dangerous to the unity of the Empire, all enemies of Austria exult, and then at the last moment they die away, leaving the house of Hapsburg quietly seated above a vast grave of reputations. The races, in truth, are prepared for everything except that separation of the Empire into discordant atoms for which, nevertheless, they always appear to be striving.
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