Bitter discussion is going on in the Austrian Empire as
to the propriety of the Emperor being crowned King of Bohemia. This would be Home-rule for Bohemia, as the separate king- dom must have a separate Parliament and a Ministry of its own. The Hungarians say that the change would dissolve their compact with the cis-Leithan Monarchy, on which the present Constitution rests; and the Germans, who form two- fifths of the population of Bohemia, are furiously opposed to the change, which would, in fact, resolve the Empire into a Federal Monarchy with the Crown for sole nexus, and the Emperor therefore the only common authority. It does not appear that the Emperor, though he has always been willing to be crowned at Prague, has any present idea of reviving the question, which has sprung up because Count Taaffe has admitted an advocate of Home-rule into his Cabinet. The German opposition will probably be fatal for the present, but the hopes excited will greatly intensify Czech particularism. Geography is heavily against the patriots, as Bohemia is geographically an enclave among German States, which do not intend to tolerate an independent Slav Kingdom in their midst.
