On Thursday it was understood in Vienna that the Premier,
Dr. von Korber, had resigned after five stormy years of office. Dr. von Korber was a typical bureaucrat, highly accomplished, persuasive, tactful, experienced, but he was not a statesman of the first rank, and the task to which he was called proved too great for him. He tried to govern on the normal lines of the Constitution, but the persistency of Czech demands compelled him to resort to the abnormal powers which the Constitution provides for emergencies. This meant in effect the negation of Parliamentary government, and when he wished to pass his extraordinary Military Estimates last summer he had to have recourse again to Parliament, and purchase the goodwill of the Slays by concessions which alienated the German party. Then came the Innsbruck riots, and the defeat of the Government by a combined force of Czechs and Germans. He leaves no sinecure to his successor, who will be difficult to find, men of the stamp of Count Tisza being rare in Austrian politics.
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