The Constitutional troubles of the Emperor Francis Joseph never end,
though it must in fairness be added that they never come to a final crisis. In Hungary Parliament has been paralysed by obstruction, and the Premier, Count Tisza, who fights boldly for new Standing Orders which will put it down, is threatened with something very like rebellion. He believes that the majority of Magyars, who practically monopolise voting power, are with him ; and on January 4th, therefore, the Emperor, as King of Hungary, in person dissolved Parlia- ment. "It is incumbent," he says," upon the nation to proclaim its will." The Election will be of great political importance, for the leader of the Opposition, Count Apponyi, has boldly declared that he is fighting for total severance from Austria, though he still wishes the two crowns to rest upon one head. In Cisleithan Austria, again, though obstruction has not gone quite so far, and though an "emergency clause" in the Con- stitution enables the Government to carry on business with- out Parliamentary help, Dr. Korber has been so harassed by obstruction in the interest of the German section of the people that he has resigned, and has been succeeded by Baron Gautsch, who has been Premier once before. He is an administrator of great merit; but as he cannot turn Germans into Slays or Slays into Germans, he will inherit all the diffi- culties of his predecessor. The problem of working free institutions in a State populated by two or more races is one of infinite complexity, and has been completely solved as yet only in Switzerland. We manage it after a fashion, but it is one of our weakest places.
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