THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN RACE-PUZZLE.* IT cannot be said that the three
hundred and thirty three pages of M. Anerbach's work read like a ncv And yet, read carefully and slowly, it develops interest which will not leave a page unread by an who can appreciate the mystery which it unfolds. Fe the existence of the Austrian—or, if any prefer it, Austro-Hungarian—Empire is perhaps the greatest of historical mysteries. Can any one conceive of a Ro Empire without dominant Romans ? of a British Erni without dominant Englishmen ? Yet that is really the wil improbability which Austria-Hungary represents. There no one really dominant race overshadowing all others an binding them together. There are two races aspiring to dominant, and one a mere offshoot from a stem rising els where. The map at the end of the volume, exhibiting colours the main distribution of the races of the Empire, of itself enough, one would think, to drive an Austri Emperor mad. Ten different colours have to be used mark different races, though confined (with one excepti to those which are sufficiently important to claim some of self-government. The German may predominate Austria, the Magyar (M. Auerbach tells us this should pronounced " Madhiar ") in Hungary. But the German gro represents little more than a third of Austria, in ro numbers 8,460,000 out of 23,470,000 (census of 1890); t Magyar not half of Hungary, in round numbers 7,000,000 of 17,000,000; though to the Germans of Austria should • Lee nacos it us Nationalites in Autriche-Hongrie. Par Bertrand Auer, Protesseur in Faoultci des Lettres de FUniversiti de Nancy. Paris: Alcan.
added a couple of millions more in Hungary, making over 10,000,000 out of 40,000,000, or more than a quarter of the total for the predominant nationality. The next group, that of the Czechs and Slovaks, counting under 5,500,000 in Austria, and rather more than 1,900,000 in Hungary, somewhat exceeds in number the Magyar. The Croato-Serbs are 350,000 in Austria, 2,300,000 in Hungary, making 2,650,000; the Poles, 3,350,000 in Austria only ; the Ruthenians, 3,100,000 in Austria, with 200,000 in Hungary, or 3,300,000; the Ron mans, 3,300,000 in Hungary, with only 100,000 in Austria, or 3,400,000. On the other hand, as between the two dominant races, the future seems to be with the Magyars. Between 1880 and 1890, in Austria, the increase of the German popu- lation was under 6 per cent. (as was also that of the Czechs and Slovaks), whilst that of the Poles was nearly 15, that of the (Jroato-Serbs nearly 144, of the Ruthenians over 11. On the other hand, in Hungary (excluding Croatia) the growth of the Magyar element was nearly 15 per cent., as against over 74 among Roumans and Ruthenians, nearly 74 among
• Croato-Serbs, but only 6-35 per cent. ancong Germans. Even in Croato-Servia it is said that the Magyar element, though very feeble as yet in number, is the one that is growing most rapidly, followed next in this case by the German.
But the ten colours in which the map at the end of the volume is printed give no idea of the Austro-Hungarian Babel. Of three elements out of the ten, the Slovene, the Italian, and the Ladin-Friulan, nothing has been said above. But in the Austrian Alps the local dialects so vary as to be unintelligible from one district to another, and yet have been cultivated in Passion plays and popular poetry. Over and above these dialects are scattered —chiefly in Lower Austria, but even round Vienna—Slav colonies, Czechs, Slovaks, Croats. In Vienna itself the Czechs claim to be 150,000. Slovenians spread over three crownlands,—Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, and dominate in the last, which oontains also Uscoks, Roman Catholic Serbs; but the Slovenians seem to be retreating before the Germans. Of these a remarkable group occurs in the barren Gottschee country, south-east of Laybach, only inhabited since the fourteenth century. Here, again, we find a dialect unintelligible to other Germans, yet rich in tales and poetry. Strange to say, the reawakening of the Slovenian race in the course of the last hundred years seems to have been deter- mined by the first Napoleon, who replaced German in the normal schools of the so-called Illyrian provinces (six in number) by Slovene, and called forth the passionate admira- tion of the Slovenian poets. Tyrol and Vorarlberg, again, are divided between Germans, Italians, and" Ladins " (Latins), the so-called Romansch of Switzerland. In the Tyrol also each valley has its own pronunciation, its own accent, its expressions unintelligible a few miles off. The Ladins were predominant in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; towards the eighteenth century the Italians got the upper hand, but seem now to be becoming gradually outnumbered by the Germans. The Lading form a curious little group of from 10,000 to 20,000 in Tyrol, with nearly 50,000 in Friuli (besides the 40,000 of the Grisons). Their language is nearer 'to Provencal or Catalonian than to Italian. They chiefly inhabit the valleys, while the German climbs the mountain- sides, just as he has done in Bohemia, the Czechs mainly occupying the plains.
In Bohemia, on the other hand, one district (Reichenberg) excepted, the Czechs are gaining upon the Germans. In the town of Pilsen in 1850 there were only from 3,000 to 4,000 Czechs out of 15,000 inhabitants; in 1880, there were only 6,800 Germans to 31,600 Czechs. At Budweis in 1880 the Germans had fallen from 17,774 in 1880 to 7,268 in 1890, the Czechs rising from 24,810 to 32,325. On the other hand, it must be observed that, although massed together with the Czechs proper, both Moravians and Slovaks, and especially the latter, have a distinct sense of racial individuality, and that since about 1840 a Slovak literature has begun to grow up.
That there should be any cohesion remaining among such a concourse of warring elements is next door to a miracle. This accounts for the widespread belief—which, however, we by no means share—that in all probability the life of the present Emperor is all that stands between the existing state of things and a complete break-up. German supremacy, it is alleged, is not only threatened by the slow shrinking of the German ele- ment; recent events have shown that the Austrian Germans have lost their moral fitness for retaining that supremacy. They must, therefore, necessarily gravitate towards Germany proper. The Hungarians are probably strong enough to bold their own against any but one of the really Great Powers, and, if left alone, to stretch the limits of their supremacy. The Rouman element—the extent of which, as shown by the map, will surprise most readers—ought not to be incapable of conciliation. But the Magyars cannot dream of succeeding to the supremacy of Austria- One who has spent seven months lately in Galicia, both Western and Eastern, in other words, both Polish and Ruthenian, informs the writer of this article that both races alike look to Russia, towards which the old animosity of the Poles has virtually died out. This animosity is now concentrated upon Germany. Bohemia would, no doubt, exhibit the same tendency. Would there be sufficient cohesion among the Southern Slays—Croats, Serbs, Slovenes—to form a State of themselves, or together with Servia, Bosnia, and Montenegro ?
And what of the Czechs ? M. Auerbach, whose book throughout shows a careful study of geographical, as also of geological, configuration, observes that, hydrographically speaking, Bohemia is an annexe to Germany through the valley of the Elbe, which opens it out to the north, the German population, moreover, commanding the mountain regions of the country. Taking into account the differences indicated above between Bohemians, Moravians, and Silesians, it is difficult to believe in the future of Czech nationality. Austrian Silesia, largely peopled by Poles already, would probably follow the fate of Galicia. The German element is actually increasing in strength in Moravia. On the whole, it appears probable that, though _the conflict may be a hard one, Germany will absorb, or reabsorb, Bohemia and Moravia.
M. Auerbach is probably an Alsatian; his style is full of neologisms not always to be commended. But his sym- pathies are essentially French. He dwells in a note on the importance for France of Bohemia, as a barrier between the Germans of Germany and those of Austria, thus preventing the completioa of German unity. England has no such interest, however offensive to her may be the bumptiousness of fin-de-si6cle Germany. Her one essential interest is that of peace and goodwill among all nations of the earth.
In what has been said above it has been assumed that race, language, and political sympathies go together. But the actual puzzle is far more complicated. A vast number of so- called Germans are really Slays; Germans themselves are beginning, in some cases, to grow Magyarised. On the other band, many a Slav has no other language but German in which to proclaim his hatred of Teutonism,—just as among ourselves many an Irishman can only be eloquent in English against the hated Anglo-Saxon.
We have given an account of M. Anerbach's picture of this curious political puzzle, but we must by no means be taken to endorse the view that the Empire of the Hapsburgs is going to break up in the near future. In the appalling intricacy of its problems is to be found the Empire's safety. Simpler issues would be far more dangerous. As it is, the crises on all sides tend to neutralise each other. It is like the situation in Sheridan's Critic. No one dares move for fear of somebody else. In fact, the nationalities, though they hate each other, feel they must not separate lest a worse fate befall them. One recalls the scene in "The Snark," and how, though the Butcher and the Beaver were mutually antagonistic, circumstances threw them together-
" Till (merely from nervousness, not from goodwill)
They marched along shoulder to shoulder."
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