PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2456, 17 April 1901, Page 67

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

THE SEETHING UNREST. Some years, ago I gave you — at least I think so — a «hort description of "Undergiound Russia," a book -which vividly describes the suffeungs undergone in Russian prisons by political pnsoners. It would seem that a thousand or two moie than usual are about to experience the terrois depicted in that book. If the question weie not 'such a feerious one, we should be inclined to laugh at the restiictions put upon the educational advancement of Russians 1 as a v hole — restrictions which, with a rule of despotism, are causing so many of the thinking classes to foster discontent, and to ally themselves with the lower classes in their efforts to obtain greater political freedom. With us, liberty to speak freely, and to publish openly, what we may think of our rulers act« as a safeguard, and, combined with the franchise, not only act& as a safety valve, but in the long run gives the refoims agitated for. In Russia, however, there i« i,o Tmpeiial Pailiarnent, a& we know it ; consequently there is no guarantee that the wishes of the people will be carried into effect. On the contrary, any agitation for reform leads to the repieV sion of expression of opinion, and the result is that seething discontent which now and again bursts out, and gives us &n idea of the volcanic energy existing oelow I the surface. Russia is now in the thioes of one of these eruptions. j But theie is another nation winch is in i

as great a state of unrestj and which per-

haps causes Europs more alarm than the internal condition of Russia. It is now I some centuries since the Turks arrived in sight of the gates of Vienna and caused a . federation of tongues to spring up in selfI defence. The other day I read a graphic description of Austria ; and a part of it reads something like this : "If you take a piece of cloth, a bit of wood, a lump of marble, a strip of leather, some fragments of paper, a pig of iron, and a few other odds and ends, and try to glue them all fast together into one fabric for practical ii^e, you have before you an excellent idea of the great Austro-Hungarian political system. Homogeneity, like-mindedness, a common aim, the natural wish to cohere, one part to another, does not exist : there is none, or next to none. By a most extraordinary succession of events, the great Kingdoms of Hungary, Bohemia, and Silesia, and the long row of once more or less independent, if smaller kingdoms, archduchies, principalities; marquisates, and lordships, and so on, all slipped into the ownership of a little archduchy, Austria, which henceforth was to dominate all of their far more royal and imposing existences So we now see Austria, the head of a family of every variety of racial tem- | perumerit and soil nnd industry, talking j eight absolutely different languages with j nearly fifty dialects, and representing nine j distinct kingdoms. The political atmoI sphere is never clear. It is always full of j thunder and lightning. While " Emperor ; Franz Joseph is alive, no storm is bkely to break ; but no one can foresee what his death may herald. The present fusion may resolve itself into confusion ; and when the crisis comes, Hungary, the predominating j kingdom, will probably have the most important patt to play. Such, in effect, is the outline of an article -which appeared lately in the New York Outlook. In one, or even two. Chats it is impossible to give anything like an adequate idea of the ups and downs — mostly downs, of the Austrian Empire during the reign of our late Queen. "During the past 60 years she has had more than one civil outbreak, and moie than once has had her boundaries extended or contracted. When Victoria the Good ascendtd our throne Austria dominated the German States and Italy. In 1846 a Polish insurrection placed Cracow directly under Austria's rule ; but this was followed some years later by the opposition to Austrian mle becoming: uncontrollable. There was a levival of national spirit in Hungary, Italy, and Bohemia. The time appeared ripe for revolt everywhere. In Vienna itself the Government 'completely lost contio], and Royalty fled to Innsbruck. The Bohemian outbreak was crushed with bloody severity. Hungary also rjised the standard of revolt, and in 1849 proclaimed itself a separate State; but Russia, a«ked by Austria for assistance, put her frontier armies in motion, and the Hunganans were crushed by the irresistible weight of numbers. Then followed a time of puie absolutism Liberty of the press and trial by jury were set aside,, and everything done to Germanise the P3mpire and to crush out all national feeling in Bohemia and Hungary. In 1867 the Hungarians hid m> far been able to as«ert themselves, tint the Austrian Empeior recognised their political independence, and at Pesth \va« ciowned King'of Hungary as a sepaiate kingdom, with all the old historic rites Bohemia lias continually claimed to be put on a similar footing, out hitherto without success Hun in 1859 Austria had to suirender Lombardy to Italy, and a few years a fter Venetia was handed over to the same power. Then about 1850 a struggle arose for supremacy .between Prussia all( j Austria. w Inch w as finally decided m 1866, w hen the Prussians, with their superior mihtaiy organisation and the newly-invented needle gun, completely beat the Austrian forces in the unpaialltled biief time of seven days. Radowa crippled Austria, and gave rive 'to the German Empire, which measured its strength with France in 1870-1, and was firmly consolidated before the walls of Paris when the grandfather of the present Kai-er was crowned Empeior of the Ftdeiation. When the Crimean war bioke out, Austria found herself in rather an embanassmg | position. Giatitude for the help Russia , had given her prevented her from taking , the side of Turkey; as / lecompense, she j received the Province" of Bosnia and Herz- ! govina ; but these gams hardly make up for the linearities caused by the develop- ' ment of Russian power on her eastern J fiontier, and may indeed be a source of j weakness m the futuie. So w ith so many vigorous kingdoms and rn-ineipalities wanting their independence, ' or leaning towards Geimany, Russia, or Tuihey, it can easily be seen that the future of Austria, as has been its past, will be a troublous one; and once a spark ignite.-- the powder in Europe, the whole Continent will bs m a conflagration.

Are the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, going the round" to strengthen colonial patriotism in anticipation of an unheavdl v I f-houldn't wonder if they are.