The Emperor of Austria has, it is said, resolved not
to yield to the Hungarians upon the question of the language to be used in giving the words of command. There must, he conceives, be one language for the whole Imperial Army, or it will become a comparatively useless machine. It has been decided, therefore, in a Council called to debate the situa- tion created by a widespread refusal to collect the taxes, to make one more effort to break up the Opposition in Par- liament, and if that fails, to substitute, either through an Act or through a decree, a wider suffrage for the present restricted one. Every man who can write is to have a vote. The effect of this change will be to increase greatly the number of Slav voters, and thus to diminish or destroy the present Magyar majority. The project is an astute one, as it is always difficult to reject a wide suffrage when proposed from above ; but it is a little half-hearted. The franchise will still lack the plebiscitary force which attaches to a really universal suffrage, and it is not certain that many of the new voters will not agree to regard the Magyars as their leaders. The masses are often found to be very conservative, and much inclined to believe that that which has been ought to continue. The Slays of Hungary do not hate the Magyars, who have so long defended the Constitution of their kingdom, as the Slays of Bohemia hate the Germans.
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