HUNGARIAN CRISIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13148, 10 April 1906, Page 5

HUNGARIAN CRISIS.

COMPROMISE AGREED TO. THE UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE QUESTION. By Telegraph.— Press Association.—right. (Received April 9, 11.38 p.m.) Bucharest, April 9. The Hungarian political crisis has ended. Baron Fejervary and the coalition having agreed to a compromise. The proposal to increase the use of Magyar as the regimental language of regiments recruited from Hungary has been dropped for the present. M. Wekerle has formed a Cabinet, and will conduct the election on the single plank of universal suffrage.

A fresh election will be held after normal conditions have been restored, and the suffrage reform carried.

Count Andrassy has been appointed Minister of the Interior, and M. Kossuth Minister for Commerce.

lii a recent article on the outlook in Hungary the London Daily News stated that the occasion of the crisis may seem to be trivial, hut its cause lies deep, and lias been slowly maturing ever since 1867, when the present Constitution was fixed. Hungary has developed into a great and progressive people, while Austria and her provinces still remain by comparison reactionary, or, at any rate, Conservative. Just as the Norwegians fought their battle upon an- apparently insignificant pretext—the question of Consuls—so the Hungarians appear to he staking all for the sake of Magyar words of command in their portion of the dual army. This concession has been stoutly resisted by the King-Emperor, and gradually the entire Hungarian nation has rallied to the side of independence, precisely as in Norway, where Liberals and Conservatives coalesced against Sweden. For a time, Franz Joseph lias tried to rule by means of a minority in the Hungarian Diet. The only hope of his Ministers lay in adopting a much broader •franchise which might have swamped the purely Hungarian vote by introducing the other racial elements, which even in Hungary constitute a majority of the population. •This plan broke down, largely because Austria would have had also to submit to adult suffrage, and the deadlock remained, ever becoming more and more acute. At last the King-Emperor determined to dissolve the recalcitrant Diet on the old franchise, and to seek refuge in a general election. The Diet, like the Long Parliament, determined to resist dissolution, and returned the Monarch's letter unopened. The .House then adjourned, and the King's Commissioner, backed by troops, entered, read the message to empty benches, and proceeded to place the entire building under lock and key.