No. 22.
Mr. Kasson
to Mr. Evarts.
Vienna, January 30, 1878. (Received February 16.)
Sir: I have on several occasions communicated to the Department the serious embarrassments entailed upon the Austro-Hungarian Government by the dualism and incompleteness of its federal pact. These difficulties have now entered upon a new phase.
[Page 30]The separate cabinets of the two dominions had agreed upon certain measures which were to precede the renewal of the pact; one of these involved a new tariff in which the duty upon coffee and petroleum was to be greatly increased. On coffee, which has hitherto paid 16 florins per 100 kilos, 24 florins were demanded. On petroleum, which has hitherto paid only 1½ florins per 100 kilos, the extraordinary increase to 4 florins was demanded. The principal consumption of these articles is in Austria, and so the Hungarians demanded this as a condition sine qua non of the adoption of the act. The Austrian cabinet therefore made its adoption by the Reichsrath a cabinet question. Before putting it to vote, however, the development of opinion in the house convinced the cabinet that they could not carry the proposition. They accordingly tendered their resignations to the Emperor. Before his action thereon, Prince Auersperg, the president of the cabinet, called a meeting at his house of the presidents of the several clubs into which the members of the various shades of political opinion are divided, and requested their best judgment of the situation. They gave it, reported their declarations to their respective clubs, which confirmed them, and so settled the point that the house would not go beyond 20 florins on coffee and 3 florins on petroleum.
The Emperor, upon receiving notice of this, accepted the resignations of the ministers, but requested them to remain in discharge of their several ministerial functions until a new cabinet could be formed.
After consulting various chiefs of the parties in the house, he has been unable to find a solution of the crisis.
No new ministry can be on this question more satisfactory than the old, without abandoning the unacceptable measure. As long as that measure is a sine qua non with Hungary the dead-lock must continue, or the Reichsrath must recede. In the latter case the old ministry would go on.
The Austrians complain of Hungarian dictation. The Hungarians manifest a high spirit of independence and strenuously assert their state rights. So dualism bears its bitter fruits of disorganization within and weakness without.
I have, &c.,