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Aristocrats and Politics in Austria, 1898–1899: Some Letters of Count Alois Lexa Von Aehrenthal and Prince Karl Schwarzenberg1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2009

Solomon Wank
Solomon Wank
Affiliation:
Franklin and Marshall College
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Extract

The private letters of statesmen, diplomats and generals, as historians know, often are more valuable than voluminous official documents because they reveal more of the personalities and attitudes of the writers and illuminate more of the surrounding sociopolitical context in which they acted. With that in mind, the purpose of publishing the appended letters is two-fold. First, they offer new sources of information on Austro-Hungarian internal politics in the period 1867–1918, particularly the convulsive Czech-German language conflict of 1897–1899. Second, they serve to introduce historians to the private correspondence of Baron (after 1909, Count) Alois Lexa von Aehrenthal, Austro-Hungarian foreign minister from 1906 until 1912.

Type
Foreign Policy in the Twentieth Century
Information
Austrian History Yearbook , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , January 1983 , pp. 155 - 187
Copyright
Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 1983

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References

2 The volumes will be part of a series, Quellen zur Geschichte des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts, under the general editorship of Professor Fritz Fellner of the University of Salzburg.

3 See Fellner, Fritz, ed., Schicksalsjahre Österreichs, 1908–1918. Das politische Tagebuch Josef Redlichs, 2 vols. (Graz-Köln: Böhlau, 1953–1954).Google Scholar

4 The letters of Aehrenthal are deposited in Státní Archiv Třeboni (Wittingau) in Czechoslovakia. Schwarzenberg's letters may be found in Vienna in the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv (hereafter HHStA), Nachlaβ Aehrenthal, carton 3. The original spelling has been kept throughout. A few grammatical errors have been silently corrected. All insertions by me are in square brackets, except for “u.” which has been invariably spelled out, i. e., “und.” All translations from the letters are my own and all emphases are in the originals.

5 There is no modern biography of Aehrenthal. For biographical sketches see Molden, Bertholt, Alois Graf Aehrenthal: Sechs Jahre äuβere Politik Oesterreich-Ungarns (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1917)Google Scholar, and Hantsch, Hugo, “Außenminister Alois Lexa Graf Aehrenthal,” in Gestalter der Geschichte Österreichs, Hantsch, Hugo, ed. (Innsbruck: Tyrolia Verlag, 1962), pp. 513–525Google Scholar. See also the literature on Aehrenthal cited in n. 6 below.

6 In part, the long leaves of absence in those years were occasioned by the death of Aehrenthal's friend and patron Count Gustav Kálnoky, the former foreign minister, in February 1898 and that of his father in May of the same year. On Aehrenthal's concern with internal questions see the following: von Rutkowski, Ernst R., “Aehrenthal über die innenpolitische Lage Österreich-Ungarn im Sommer 1899,” Südost-Forschungen, XXIII (1964), 284–297Google Scholar; Wank, Solomon, “Zwei Dokumente Aehrenthals aus den Jahren 1898–99 zur Lösung der inneren Krise in Österreich-Ungarn,” Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs, XIX (1966), 339–362Google Scholar; and ibid., “Aehrenthal's Programme for the Constitutional Transformation of the Habsburg Monarchy: Three Secret Mémoires”, The Slavonic and East European Review, XLI, no. 97 (06 1963), 513–536.Google Scholar

7 Curiae were hierarchically structured electoral categories based on social class, property-qualifications and vocation. Until 1896, there were four curiae: large landowners, chambers of commerce and industry, towns and rural communes. In 1896, a fifth curia comprising all previously disenfranchised males over twenty-four years of age was created. Until the introduction of universal and equal manhood suffrage in 1907, the Austrian Reichsrat resembled a corporative Estates-General more than it did a popular representative body.

8 See the excellent biographical sketch of Schwarzenberg, in Fürst Karl Zu Schwarzenberg, Geschichte des reichsständischen Hauses Schwarzenberg (Neustadt an der Aisch: Degner, 1963), pp. 319–325.Google Scholar

9 Baernreither, J. M., Fragments of a Political Diary, Redlich, Joseph, ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1930), pp. 32–33.Google Scholar

10 Beck, Johann Christoph-Allmayer, “Die Träger der staatlichen Macht: Adel, Armee und Bürokratie,” in Spectrum Austriae, Schulmeister, Otto, ed. (Vienna: Herder, 1957), p. 267.Google Scholar

11 Ibid., pp. 266, 269; Baernreither, , Fragments of a Political Diary, pp. 32–33Google Scholar; Allmayer-Beck, Johann Christoph, Der Konservatismus in Österreich (Munich: Isar Verlag, 1959), pp. 49, 56–61.Google Scholar

12 Allmayer-Beck, , Der Konservatismus in Österreich, pp. 25–32.Google Scholar

13 Ibid., pp. 45–55. Originally, Bohemian feudal conservative thought had as its political objective the reconstruction of the noble intermediary role and it projected social-ethical ideals aimed at raising the cultural level of the people. However, after the 1860s, the political organization of the feudal conservative nobility increasingly took on the character of an interest-group as the nobility became an upper class within the bourgeois world. In addition to ibid., see Allmayer-Beck, , “Die Träger der staatlichen Macht,” p. 267Google Scholar and Thienen-Adlerflycht, Christoph, Graf Leo Thun im Vormärz: Grundlagen des böhmischen Konservatismus im Kaisertum Österreich (Graz: Böhlau, 1967).Google Scholar

14 ibid., p. 53 and Skilling, H. Gordon, “The Politics of the Czech Eighties”, in The Czech Renascence of the Nineteenth Century, Brock, Peter and Skilling, H. Gordon, eds. (Toronto:. University of Toronto Press, 1970), pp. 260–261, 265–273.Google Scholar

15 Skilling, H. Gordon, “The Politics of the Czech Eighties,” pp. 265–266, 274–275Google Scholar, and Winters, Stanley B., “The Young Czech Party (1864–1914): An Appraisal,” Slavic Review, XXVIII, no. 3 (09 1969), 434.Google Scholar

16 Skilling, H. Gordon, “The Politics of the Czech Eighties,” pp. 265–266.Google Scholar

17 Allmayer-Beck, J. C., Der Konservatismus, p. 53.Google Scholar

18 Winters, , “The Young Czech Party,” p. 431.Google Scholar

19 Skilling, , “The Politics of the Czech Eighties,” pp. 274–275.Google Scholar

20 Ibid., p. 260.

21 See the standard work by Sutter, Bertholt, Die Badenischen Sprachenverordnungen von 1897, 2 vols. (Graz: Böhlau, 1960–1965)Google Scholar. The ordinances applied to all of the offices and officials of the ministries of Interior, Justice, Finance, Commerce and Agriculture, and to the judicial and state prosecuting authorities in the kingdom of Bohemia. The texts of the ordinance are printed in ibid., 1, 274–276.

22 For a vivid account of the near-revolutionary turmoil see Whiteside, Andrew, The Socialism of Fools: Georg Ritter von Schönerer and Austrian Pan-Germanism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975), pp. 160–188Google Scholar. See also Sutter, , Die Badenischen Sprachenverordnungen, II, chs. VII–IX.Google Scholar

23 For contemporary expressions of this uneasiness see Wank, Solomon, “Varieties of Political Despair; Three Exchanges between Aehrenthal and Gołuchowski 1898–1906”, in Intellectual and Social Developments in the Habsburg Empire from Maria Theresa to World War I: Essays Dedicated to Robert A. Kann, Winters, Stanley B. and Held, Joseph, eds. (Boulder: East European Quarterly Press, 1975), pp. 203–204Google Scholar and the literature cited therein.

24 Sutter, , Die Badenischen Sprachenverordnungen, II, 136.Google Scholar

25 Article Fourteen granted the emperor the authority to issue emergency decrees, having the force of law, for which the ministry bore the responsibility. This power was to be exercised only in situations of compelling necessity when parliament was not in session. Such emergency decrees were to be submitted to the next parliament for ratification (first of all to the lower house) within four weeks of its convening.

26 Kann, Robert A., The Multinational Empire, 2 vols. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1950), I, 205Google Scholar; von Czedik, Alois, Zur Geschichte des k. k. österreichischen Ministerium 1861–1917, 4 vols. (Vienna: Karl Prochaska, 1917–1920), II, 132–140Google Scholar. Whiteside, , The Socialism of Fools, pp. 188–193Google Scholar. The texts of Gautsch's ordinances may be found in Sutter, , Die Badenischen Sprachenverordnungen, II, 278–284.Google Scholar

27 Kann, , The Multinational Empire, I, 205Google Scholar; Molisch, Paul, Geschichte der deutschnationalen Bewegung in Oesterreich von ihren Anfängen bis zum Zerfall der Monarchie (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1926), p. 198.Google Scholar

28 Franz Thun-Hohenstein and Aehrenthal's mother came from different lines of the Thun family.

29 Czedik, , Zur Geschichte der k. k. österreichischen Ministerien, II, 169–177.Google Scholar

30 Ibid., 176; Molisch, , Geschichte der deutschnationalen Bewegung in Oesterreich, p. 198Google Scholar; Sutter, , Die Badenischen Sprachenverordnungen, II, 393–394Google Scholar; and Hugelmann, Karl Gottfried, Das Nationalitätenrecht des alien Österreich (Vienna: Wilhelm Braumüller, 1934), pp. 197–198, 341.Google Scholar

31 Czedik, , Zur Geschichte der k. k. österreichischen Ministerien, II, 215–216.Google Scholar

32 Ibid., 180–190; Kann, , The Multinational Empire, I, 374–375Google Scholar. The text of the program may be found in Sutter, , Die Badenischen Sprachenverordnungen, II, 461–476.Google Scholar

33 Czedik, , Zur Geschichte der k. k. österreichischen Ministerien, II, 190–193.Google Scholar

34 Ibid., 208–210, 219–220, 223–224, 291–292.

35 See appendix 1.

36 HHStA, Gesandtschaftsarchiv, Bukarest 1898, Privatschreiben des Gesandten Aehrenthal und den Grafen Gołuchowski, Bukarest, 15. Jänner 1898. The letter is published as an appendix to Wank, “Zwei dokumente Aehrenthals aus den Jahren 1898–99,” pp. 347–353.

37 The other two areas are the Austrian Hereditary Lands and Galicia. See ibid., p. 351.

38 Burian, Peter, “The State Language Problem in Old Austria (1848–1918)” Austrian History Yearbook, VI–VII (1970–1971), 97.Google Scholar

39 The letter is part of Aehrenthal's correspondence with Thun that will be published in the first volume of the Aehrenthal papers. See Státní Archiv Děčín, A-3; XXIII-C III/Id/831A, Aehrenthal to Franz Thun, Sinaia, 25 July 1898. Sinaia was a summer resort for diplomats stationed in Bucharest.

40 Memorandum: Die Nationalitäten-Frage in Oesterreich-Ungarn in ihrer Rückwirkung auf die äuβere Politik der Monarchie. The text of the memorandum is appended to Jelavich, Barbara, “Foreign Policy and the National Question in the Habsburg Empire: A Memorandum of Kálnoky,” Austrian History Yearbook, VI–VII (1970–1971), 147–159Google Scholar. For a discussion of ideas contained in the memorandum see Wank, Solomon, “Foreign Policy and the Nationality Problem in Austria-Hungary, 1867–1914,” Austrian History Yearbook, III, pt. 3 (1967), 38–39, 41, 45–46Google Scholar. Czedik is wrong in claiming that Aehrenthal sent the memorandum to Thun in July 1899 (Zur Geschichte der k. k. österreichischen Ministerien, II, 221–222). See p. 39 n. 6 of my article cited in this footnote. Aehrenthal was the executor of the private papers left by Kálnoky who had died in February 1898.

41 Denkschrift des neuernannten Botschafters in Petersburg … 31 December 1898: Unser Verhältnis zu Ruβland betrachtet vom Gesichtspunkt der inneren und äuβeren Politik der Monarchie. The memorandum, in German, is appended to Walters, Eurof, “Austro-Russian Relations under Gołuchowski, 1895–1906” (pt. 3), The Slavonic and East European Review, XXXII, no. 78 (12 1953), 196–203Google Scholar. The quotation is from p. 204. For a discussion of the ideas contained in the Denkschrift see Wank, Solomon, “Varieties of Political Despair,” pp. 206–212.Google Scholar

42 See appendix 3.

43 Ibid.

44 Gedanken über die Regelung der sprachlichen Verhältnisse in Böhmen. The memorandum and supplement are appended to Wank, , “Zwei Dokumente Aehrenthals aus den Jahren 1898–99”, pp. 353–362.Google Scholar

45 When the memorandum and supplement were published in 1966, it was evident that Aehrenthal had written the supplement because there was a second copy of it in the HHStA written in Aehrenthal's own handwriting and the same as the Reinkurrentschrift copy in the Thun archive. What was not clear then was the authorship of the memorandum itself and the circumstances surrounding its composition. See p. 353, n. 29 of the article cited in n. 6 above. The identity of Schlesinger as the author has become clear from several of his letters to Aehrenthal deposited in HHStA, NachlaβAehrenthal, carton 3. In a letter to Aehrenthal dated February 23, 1899, Schlesinger mentions enclosing a memorandum on the ethnographic organization of Bohemia. On July 1, responding to a letter from Aehrenthal of May 6, Schlesinger wrote: “That your excellency composed a supplement to my memorandum was an excellent thought since I myself said nothing about carrying out my proposals and very little about the state language. The gracious reception of my memorandum by his majesty and his listening to your excellent explanation is very gratifying. I do not believe that I err if I assume that it has contributed to causing his majesty to instruct the prime minister to occupy himself seriously to restoring order in the shattered state by giving consideration to the wishes of the Germans.” After Schlesinger's death in December 1899, Aehrenthal wrote to his mother: “Yesterday, I read through my correspondence with him and the memorandum I transmitted to the Emperor last winter.” Because of the convergence of winter and spring in March, Aehrenthal may have remembered sending it to the emperor in the winter. Aehrenthal's letter to his mother dated January 1, 1900, is deposited in Státní Archiv Litoměříce, Rodinný Archive Doksany (Aehrenthalové), carton 125.

46 This information is contained in Schlesinger's letter to Aehrenthal of February 23, 1899 and an attached note dated February 25 deposited in the Nachlaβ Aehrenthal (see n. 43 above).

47 See n. 43 above and p. 353 n. 9 of the 1966 article cited in n. 42 above.

48 The statements about Aehrenthal's motives are based on Schlesinger's February 23 letter and the attached note (see n. 44 above), and some other pieces of correspondence in the Thun archive in Děčín, all of which will be published in volume one of the Aehrenthal papers.

49 Stadtbibliothek Wien, Nachlaβ Friedjung, carton V, Aufzeichnungen über verschiedene Persönlichkeiten der österreichischen Politik, A [ehrenthal], 4. März 1899.

50 Wank, , “Zwei Dokumente Aehrenthals aus den Jahren 1898–99,” pp. 359–362Google Scholar. The quoted part is on p. 362.

51 For the available information on Aehrenthal's role in the campaign against Thun see the following: ibid., pp. 342, 354; Rutkowski, , “Aehrenthal über die innenpolitische Lage Österreich-Ungam im Sommer 1899,” pp. 288–297Google Scholar; Czedik, , Zur Geschichte der k. k. österreichischen Ministerien, pp. 220–222Google Scholar; Molisch, , Geschichte der deutschnationalen Bewegung, pp. 205–206Google Scholar; and Baernreither, J. M., Der Verfall des Habsburgerreiches und die Deutschen: Fragmente eines politischen Tagebuch 1897–1917, Mitis, Oskar, ed. (Vienna:. Adolf Holzhausens, 1938), pp. 95–96, 109–110.Google Scholar

52 See appendix 5. For a similar statement made by Aehrenthal at about the same time, see his letter to Fieldmarshal Count Friedrich Beck-Rzikowsky (1830–1906), chief of the general staff of the Austro-Hungarian army. The text of the letter is appended to Rutkowski, “Aehrenthal über die innenpolitische Lage Österreich-Ungam im Sommer 1899,” pp. 293–297. The passage is on p. 296. Aehrenthal may not have been alone in considering a constitutional change. Other information in Rutkowski's introduction suggests that the possibility was being considered in Austro-German circles. For further allusions by Aehrenthal to constitutional revision see pp. 17–18 above, and n. 61 and 80 below. Schwarzenberg also thought about changing the constitutional structure of Austria (see p. 21–22 below).

53 There were some interesting individual exceptions. Count Leo Thun (Franz Thun's uncle) lined up with the Catholic social reformer Carl von Vogelsang, and Prince Alois Liechtenstein lined up with Karl Lueger, the Christian Social leader. Both aristocrats blended populism with traditional monarchical authority. See Schorske, Carl E., “Politics in a New Key: An Austrian Triptych,” Journal of Modern History, XXXIX, no. 4 (12 1967), 361–362Google Scholar, and Allmayer-Beck, , Der Konservatismus in Österreich, pp. 61–69.Google Scholar

54 Schorske, , “Politics in a New Key: An Austrian Triptych,” pp. 344 (for the quotation), 350, 361.Google Scholar

55 Lentze, Hans, “Der Ausgleich mit Ungam und die Dezembergesetze von 1867,” in Die Entwicklung der Verfassung Österreichs vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart, Institut für Österreichkunde, Wien (Graz and Vienna: Stiasny, 1963), pp. 109–110.Google Scholar

56 Skilling, , “The Politics of the Czech Eighties,” p. 262.Google Scholar

57 Allmayer-Beck, , “Die Träger der staatlichen Macht,” p. 266Google Scholar. See also Rosenberg, Hans, Groβe Depression und Bismarckzeit: Wirtschaftsablauf, Gesellschaft und Politik in Mitteleuropa (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1967), pp. 244–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

58 Allmayer-Beck, ibid.

59 See appendix 1. Aehrenthal probably is referring to the acquittal of Major Esterhazy on 11 January. He had been charged with committing the act of treason for which Captain Alfred Dreyfus had been convicted earlier. The acquittal rekindled the violent debate over Dreyfus' innocence among the public and in the chamber of deputies.

60 See appendix 2.

61 Aehrenthal's and Schwarzenberg's ideas about surmounting domestic political difficulties by dismantling or drastically altering the existing parliamentary system bear a resemblance to Bismarck's 1890 Staatsstreichpläne to abolish the parliamentary system in Germany. See Zechlin, Egmont, Staatsstreichpläne Bismarcks und Wilhelms II, 1890–1894 (Stuttgart: J. G. Cotta, 1929)Google Scholar and Stürmer, Michael, “Staatsstreichgedanken im Bismarckreich,” Historische Zeitschrift, CCIX (1969), 566–615.Google Scholar

62 See appendix 3.

63 See appendix 1.

64 See Havránek, Jan, “The Development of Czech Nationalism,” Austrian History Yearbook, III, pt. 2 (1967), 255–266Google Scholar, and Burian, , “The State Language Problem in Old Austria,” pp. 101–102.Google Scholar

65 See appendix 5.

66 Ibid;

67 See appendix 4.

68 Ibid.

69 Ibid.

70 Allmayer-Beck, , “Die Träger der staatlichen Macht,” p. 267.Google Scholar

71 See n. 53 above.

72 Allmayer-Beck, , “Die Träger der staatlichen Macht,”, p. 267.Google Scholar

73 See appendix 4.

74 Ibid.

75 Allmayer-Beck, , Der Konservatismus in Österreich, p. 26.Google Scholar

76 See appendix 4.

77 Ibid.

78 Quoted in Wank, Solomon, “Aehrenthal and the Sanjak of Novibazar Railway Project: a Reappraisal,” The Slavonic and East European Review, XLII, no. 99 (06 1964), 367.Google Scholar

79 Státni Archiv Litoměříce, Rodinný Archiv Doksany (Aehrenthalové), carton 126, Baroness Marie Aehrenthal to Alois Aehrenthal, November 19, 1908.

80 Fellner, , ed., Das politische Tagebuch Josef Redlichs, I, 08 7, 1911, p. 98Google Scholar. It should not be left out of account that the Aehrenthal-Schwarzenberg conception of a non-parliamentary government stressing vigorous foreign policy and Territorium to overcome nationalism contended with another kind of non-parliamentary government which focused on economic and cultural development. This line, anchored in the Josephin-bureaucratic rather than the dynastic-monarchist-cum-aristocratic tradition, was energetically pushed by Prime Minister Ernest von Koerber (1900–1904). Koerber's strategy, which was reformist and non-aggressive and internally rather than externally oriented, was built on an expansive educational program and social welfare based on rapid state-sponsored economic expansion. It was this alternative that was defeated by the annexation of Bosnia and Balkan adventurism which were manifestations of the ideas shared by Aehrenthal and Schwarzenberg. On Koerber's alternative see the older but still useful work by Charmatz, Richard, Österreichs innere Geschichte von 1848–1907, 2 vols. (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1909), I, 141–160Google Scholar. For more recent interpretations see: Ableitinger, Alfred, Ernest von Koerber und das Verfassungsproblem im Jahre 1900 (Vienna: Böhlau, 1973)Google Scholar, and Gerschenkron, Alexander, The Spurt that Failed: Four Lectures in Austrian History (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977), pp. 23–24, 69–71.Google Scholar

81 Jászi, Oscar, The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy (Chicago: Phoenix Books, 1961), p. 379.Google Scholar

82 Brunner, Otto, “Das Haus Habsburg und die Donaumonarchie,” Südost-Forschungen, XIV (1955), 123.Google Scholar

83 Ibid., p. 144.

84 Schorske, Carl E., “Die Geburt des Möglichkeitsmenschen: Wien als Nährboden der Moderne in der Auflösung des Alten Reiches,” Die Presse, Sonderausgabe-Sarajewo-Ursachen, Folgen und Lehren, Vienna, 06 27/28, 1964, p. XIVGoogle Scholar. Schorske's view is based on an essay by Broch, Hermann, Hofmannsthal und seine Zeit, in Essays, Arendt, Hannah, ed., 2 vols. (Zurich: Rheinverlag, 1955), I, 84–95.Google Scholar

85 Fichtner, Paula Sutter, “The Habsburg Empire in World War I: A Final Episode in Dynastic History,” East European Quarterly, XI, no. 4 (Winter 1977), 445–446.Google Scholar

86 Ibid., 446.

87 Ibid., 458.

88 Aehrenthal had been on leave from December 13, 1897, until January 12, 1898.

89 Count Karl Coudenhove (1855–1913) was the royal governor (Statthalter) of Bohemia from 1896–1911. Which declaration Aehrenthal is referring to could not be ascertained. On January 20, 1898, after several violent incidents between German and Czech students, Coudenhove forbade the wearing of student insignia, i.e., fraternity colors, as a way of cooling off the situation. That declaration does not seem to be the one Aehrenthal means. See Sutler, Die Badenischen Sprachenverordnungen, II, 237.

90 Aehrenthal probably is referring to Emperor Franz Joseph's determination to proceed energetically against violent acts and demonstrations by Czechs and Germans, especially students, that were taking place in Prague and elsewhere in Bohemia. See Sutter, , Die Badenischen Sprachenverordnungen, II, 235.Google Scholar

91 During the Czech demonstrations protesting Badeni's forced resignation, Czech demonstrators threw stones through the windows of the Palais Aehrenthal in Prague. See ibid., 231.

92 Four lines pertaining to a third person have been omitted. They are purely personal and without any political significance.

93 The interview Schwarzenberg most likely is referring to is in Neue Freie Presse, Abendblatt, Thursday, February 3, 1898, p. 2, In the interview with a correspondent of the French newspaper, Figaro, Badeni claims that he was driven from office not because of the language ordinances, but because anti-German motives were attributed to him because he was a Pole. He is also reported as stating that Austria could be saved only by federalism.

94 Baron Joseph DiPauli von Treuheim (1844–1905), a German Catholic conservative from the Tirol, was a representative of the Catholic People's Party in the Reichsrat and Minister of Commerce from October 6, 1898 until October 2, 1899.

95 Dr. Alfred Ebenhoch was a Catholic conservative member of parliament until May 6, 1898, provincial governor (Landeshauptmann) of Upper Austria 1898–1907, and Minister of Agriculture, 1907–1908.

96 Aehrenthal was leaving for his new post as ambassador to Russia.

97 Baron Felix Lexa von Aehrenthal (1853–1918) was Aehrenthal's older brother.

98 The reference is to Aehrenthal's memorandum of December 31, 1898. See p. 15 above.

99 Gołuchowski in his instructions to the newly appointed ambassador to Russia, dated March 2, 1899, outlined a foreign policy that was more passive than the one Aehrenthal recommended. For the text of Gołuchowski's instructions see Walters, , “Austro-Russian Relations under Gołuchowski 1895–1906 (pt. 3),” pp. 206–213Google Scholar. See also p. 15 above.

100 See p. 16 above.

101 See p. 14 above.

102 Joseph Kaizl (1854–1901) was a prominent Young Czech political leader, member of Parliament and Minister of Finance in the Thun cabinet (1898–1899).

103 In 1897, nationalist obstruction in the Austrian parliament prevented enactment into law of the new decennial tariff and commercial agreements negotiated by the Austrian and Hungarian governments. The 1887 tariff and commercial alliance between the two halves of the monarchy thereby remained in force. In 1899, the emperor issued the necessary laws in the form of decrees based on the emergency power clause—Article Fourteen—of the constitution. According to Hungarian law, however, the approval of both the Austrian and Hungarian parliaments was necessary for the tariff and commercial alliance to become legally binding. The Hungarian government accepted the situation but not before the Hungarian prime minister, Koloman Széll, enunciated the Széll formula which was embodied in Hungarian Law XXX of 1899. The Széll formula stated that, in view of the failure of the Austrian parliament to sanction the new compromise agreements, the lands of the Hungarian crown had become an independent tariff area. Austria and Hungary would continue to constitute a common tariff region until 1907, but only on the basis of reciprocity. Furthermore, the Széll formula stipulated that in the absence of legal ratification of a tariff alliance between Austria and Hungary by 1903, new commercial treaties with foreign countries—most of the old ones were scheduled to expire in 1903—could not be concluded for a period extending beyond 1907. Brusatti, Alois, ed., Vol. I in Die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung (Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1973), 589–590Google Scholar. Vol. 1 in Die Habsburgermonarchie 1848–1918, Adam Wandruszka and Peter Urbanitsch, eds.

104 In 1895, the Austrian government, over the opposition of the Germans, approved a Slovene language Gymnasium in the southern Styrian town of Cilli (Celje) as a concession to Slovene national sentiment. Kann, , The Multinational Empire, I, 301.Google Scholar

105 In the negotiations for the economic compromise, the Hungarian government demanded full parity in the management of the joint Austro-Hungarian Bank. This was achieved in 1899 through the stipulation that six of the twelve general directors of the bank had to be Hungarian citizens and six would be Austrian citizens. See Brusatti, Alois, ed., Die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung, pp. 354–355.Google Scholar

106 Count Franz Thun-Hohenstein, the prime minister, was Schwarzenberg's brother-in-law.

107 The word is difficult to decipher, but “Rasse” seems correct and it fits with Schwarzenberg's thought.

108 von Bismarck, Otto, Gedanken und Erinnerungen, 2 vols., (Stuttgart: J. G. Cotta, 1898).Google Scholar

109 Aehrenthal is referring to the Austrian coalition ministry headed by Prince Alfred Windischgrätz (1851–1927), which was based on the support of the German liberals (united German left), clerical conservatives and Polish deputies. That government fell in 1895 when the Germans withdrew their support from the cabinet in protest over the Cilli affair (see n. 104 above). On Windischgrätz' government see Czedik, , Zur Geschichte der k. k. österreichischen Ministerien, II, 1 ff.Google Scholar

110 Count Gandolf Kuenburg (also Khünburg) (1841–1921) was a member of parliament and Minister without portfolio in the cabinet of Count Eduard Taaffe 1891–1892. Kuenburg was a staunch supporter of German national demands. See ibid., I, 388–389, II, 24.

111 Prince Alfred Windischgrätz (see n. 109 above).

112 Baron Ernst von Plener (1841–1923), a prominent Austro-German liberal leader, was Minister of Finance and the leading figure in the Windischgrätz cabinet. See ibid., II, 15–32.

113 Count Gundacker Wurmbrand (1838–1901), who as a Reichsrat deputy in 1884 introduced a bill to make German the state language, was Minister of Commerce in Windischgrätz' cabinet. See ibid., 33–34.

114 Karel Kramář (1860–1937) was a prominent Young Czech political leader and Reichsrat deputy. His correspondence with Aehrenthal will be published in volume one of the Aehrenthal papers.

115 Georg Ritter von Schönerer (1842–1921) was the notorious leader of the Pan-German party in Austria and a Reichsrat deputy.

116 Karl Hermann Wolf was a Pan-German member of parliament.