HUNGARY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1618, 4 March 1903, Page 19

HUNGARY.

It is difficult, now that the-kingdom is tranquil, to interest our countrymen, m the affairs of Hungary, though in 38*18 they occupied so much of their thought; but we hope that many of them have read the sketch' of the speech delivered by Count Albert Apponyi. President of the Power House, which appeared in the “Times'’'’ (writes the London “Spectator”). That speech shows clearly that grave Hungarian politicians note with alarm the growth of racial differences among the masses of their countrymen. They see that the two millions of Germans within their borders are pressing their claims to a separate official language and separate local government with a perfectly new fury, and are looking for aid to the multitude of their kinsfolk beyond the border, whose doctrine it is that where there are Germans they ought to be the ruling caste. Although the Germane form only one-eighteenth of the population, they cannot be disregarded, first, because of their connection -with a great military State, and secondly, because if they are separately treated, the Slavs, -who have almost a majority in the whole kingdom of Hungary, and are silently favoured by "Russia, will demand “Particular” treatment too. The unity of the kingdom which for a thousand years has been its strength will be seriously menaced, and with its unity its weight in the Austrian Empire will * disappear. This weight the Magyars consider essential to the existence of their State, for without it that Stiite will be “partitioned”—that is shattered into fragments—and ruled from Vienna, where reactionary and clerical ideas, though now restrained by the long experience and calm sense of the Emperor, may at any moment gain ascendency. This, it must be remembered, is no" dream' of fanciful politicians. Though abandoned in 1861 this idea had before that time been a favourite one with the house of Hapsburg. . and has seemed, from time to time within measurable distance of realisation. The alarm is therefore quite sincere, and as it is driving the Ministry into tentative measures of repression it already creates new difficulties in the peaceable government of the kingdom. Hungary is in fact not so strong as it was. because the racial question, which is the great latent menace to its strength, is rising, or at all

.events threatens to rise to the surface. We can all see for ourselves how a question almost identical in its origin paralyses swift progress in Ireland, and in Hungary the masses of the struggling races are very much larger and are much more likely, if the quarrel become sharp, to appeal to physical force. But supposing the alarm well founued, what is the danger to us? It may or must greatly worry Austrian statesmen, and it will reduce the power of Austria, but how are Englishmen concerned in either of these two results? Well, not to mention that it is. rather a pity to see a great European kingdom, which is now very fairly governed, thrown into anarchy, and that tlie present rulers are most friendly to Great Britain, tho _ matter concerns us somewhat directly in Dus way. Austria and the power of Austria are essential to the peace, and therefore to the well-being, of ‘Europe. The nan who said i hat ‘‘if Austria did no'coexist it would be necessary to invent hor” was net only remaking an old epigram, buc stating ‘an incontrovertible truth. Txie existence of that great mass of power in South-Eastern Europe keeps Slav and German from flying at one another’s throats. That strange but historical nexus, the Hapsburg authority, . holds forty millions of Europeans in quiet and safety, and allows time for civilisation to penetrate deeply into populations which have scarcely yet imbibed it fully, and are liable if the withes are once broken to lose it altogether in a long spasm of confused war. So long as that bond endures Austria, with its multitudes of potential soldiers, can hardly be attacked; and, at all events, while Constantinople remains in powerless hands, it can, and to all appearance will, remain non-ag-gressive. The governing house, though once furiously ambitious, has been taught wisdom by misfortunes. It has receded from Italy; it has withdrawn from Germany; and it is afraid it is pushes too hard in the Balkan Peninsula of having, with half its own population Slav, to face the gigantic Slavic Power. It sits therefore in quiet, content with vast dominion, and intent rather on elevating its position through the prosperity of its many subjects than on adding to possessions already too numerous and too varied for its statesmen's governing skill. Of that quiescence the strength of Hungary under her Magyar rulers, the condition of which is her unity, is one great, perhaps even" the principal, guarantee. The Magyars never did want Italy; they dread the very idea of More German subjects; and they are so adverse to the acquisition of more Slav territory that they protested bitterly, though uselessly, in 1875, against the absorption of Bosnia Herzegovina, into the Hapsburg Dominion. If they cease to weigh in the Dual Monarchy one great fetter on dangerous ambitions will bo released, and the Austrian Empire will either become an active Power, or, more probably, be partitioned between Germany, Italy and Russia. The confusion and, for a time at least, the misery would be something horrible. We do not wonder, therefore, that Hungarian statesmen view with trepidation the uprising of racial differences, though we may doubt whether the cure for them is that repression and “Magyarisation” which Count Albert Apponyi so passionately recommends.

It is very difficult for ill© onlooker in European politics even to think of a practical cure for this racial bitterness or “nationalising” spirit, which is visible in so many countries of Europe. The French found cue after the steam roller of the Revolution had passed over everything, and bound Brittany and Alsace Lorraine to themselves m bonds which even foreign conquest has in the latter case proved unable to break. The British have succeeded perfectly in Scotland, but there we had no difference either of race or creed to co-ntend with, and we had the means of enabling the Scotch to acciuire wealth, which were granted freely. We however, have never succeeded perfectly in Ireland, though we have granted to her people the liberties which we enjoy ourselves. The Germans, who employ force only, have failed with their Polish and Danish subjects. The Russians hold down Poland and Finland with bit and bridle, but obtain from Poles or Finns no willing adhesion; while the Austrians, though they did not succeed so badly in the Netherlands, excited in Italy an inextinguishable hate, were beaten in Hungary, and in Bohemia are opposed at every turn. But for the house of Hapsburg and the success of its plans for a unified army Austria would still fly in pieces. Even the Hungarians, who, as Count Albert Apponyi says, have succeeded for a thousand years, are now threatened Avith failure. Force is no remedy, as we see in Poland and Bohemia; concession is no remedy, as Ave see in Hungary. What is to be the remedy at a period when, as Ave all aeknOAvledge, little nationalities cannot groAV up because the big nationalities Avill eat them? There must be a remedy someAvhere, for the great aggregations Avill continue, if only in self-defence; but the historian who looks on calmly cannot Avonder that statesmen groAV perplexed and troubled, and in many instances fall back on repression, not because they like repression, Avhich doubles their Avork, but only to gain time.