In the allotment of the constituencies to the various races their tax-paying capacity was taken into consideration. In mixed districts separate constituencies and registers were established for the electors of each race, who could only vote on their own register for a candidate of their own race. Thus Germans were obliged to vote for Germans and Czechs for Czechs; and, though there might be victories of Clerical over Liberal Germans or of Czech Radicals over Young Czechs, there could be no victories of Czechs over Germans, Poles over Ruthenes, or Slovenes over Italians. The constituencies were divided according to race as follows:—
| Germans of all parties | 233 | previously | 205 |
| Czechs of all parties | 108 | " | 81 |
| Poles | 80 | " | 71 |
| Southern Slavs (Slovenes, Croats, Serbs) | 37 | " | 27 |
| Ruthenes | 34 | " | 11 |
| Italians | 19 | " | 18 |
| Rumanians | 5 | " | 5 |
These allotments were slightly modified at the polls by the victory of some Social Democratic candidates not susceptible of strict racial classification. The chief feature of the allotment was, however, the formal overthrow of the fiction that Austria is preponderatingly a German country and not a country preponderatingly Slav with a German dynasty and a German façade. The German constituencies, though allotted in a proportion unduly favourable, left the Germans, with 233 seats, in a permanent minority as compared with the 259 Slav seats. Even with the addition of the "Latin" (Rumanian and Italian) seats the "German-Latin block" amounted only to 257. This "block" no longer exists in practice, as the Italians now tend to co-operate rather with the Slavs than with the Germans. The greatest gainers by the redistribution were the Ruthenes, whose representation was trebled, though it is still far from being proportioned to their numbers. This and other anomalies will doubtless be corrected in future revisions of the allotment, although the German parties, foreseeing that any revision must work out to their disadvantage, stipulated that a two-thirds majority should be necessary for any alteration of the law.
After unsuccessful attempts by the Upper House to introduce General election 1907. plural voting, the bill became law in January 1907, the peers insisting only upon the establishment of a fixed maximum number or numerus clausus, of non-hereditary peers, so as to prevent the resistance of the Upper Chamber from being overwhelmed at any critical moment by an influx of crown nominees appointed ad hoc. The general election which took place amid considerable enthusiasm on the 14th of May resulted in a sweeping victory for the Social Democrats whose number rose from 11 to 87; in a less complete triumph for the Christian Socialists who increased from 27 to 67; and in the success of the extremer over the conservative elements in all races. A classification of the groups in the new Chamber presents many difficulties, but the following statement is approximately accurate. It must be premised that, in order to render the Christian Socialist or Lueger party the strongest group in parliament, an amalgamation was effected between them and the conservative Catholic party:—
German Conservatives— | Total. | ||
Christian Socialists | 96 | ||
German Agrarians | 19 | ||
German Liberals— | |||
Progressives | 15 | ||
Populists | 29 | ||
Pan-German radicals (Wolf group) | 13 | ||
Unattached Pan-Germans | 3 | ||
" Progressives | 2 | ||
Czechs— | — | 177 | |
Czech Agrarians | 28 | ||
Young Czechs | 18 | ||
Czech Clericals | 17 | ||
Old Czechs | 7 | ||
Czech National Socialists | 9 | ||
Realists | 2 | ||
Unattached Czech | 1 | ||
Social Democrats— | — | 82 | |
Of all races | 87 | 87 | |
Poles— | |||
Democrats | 26 | ||
Conservatives | 15 | ||
Populists | 18 | ||
Centre | 12 | ||
Independent Socialist | 1 | ||
Ruthenes— | — | 72 | |
National Democrats | 25 | ||
Old or Russophil Ruthenes | 5 | ||
Slovenes— | — | 30 | |
Clericals | 17 | ||
Southern Slav Club— | |||
Croats |
| 20 | 37 |
Serbs | |||
Slovene Liberals | |||
Italians— | |||
Clerical Populists | 11 | ||
Liberals | 4 | ||
| — | 15 | |
Rumanians— | |||
Rumanian Club | 5 | 5 | |
Jews— | |||
Zionists | 4 | ||
Democrats | 1 | 5 | |
| — | ||
Unclassified, vacancies, &c | 6 | 6 | |
| —— | ||
| 516 | ||
The legislature elected by universal suffrage worked fairly smoothly during the first year of its existence. The estimates were voted with regularity, racial animosity was somewhat less prominent, and some large issues were debated. The desire not to disturb the emperor's Diamond Jubilee year by untoward scenes doubtless contributed to calm political passion, and it was celebrated in 1908 with complete success. But it was no sooner over than the crisis over the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is dealt with above, eclipsed all purely domestic affairs in the larger European question.
(H. W. S.)
Bibliography.—1. Sources. A collection of early authorities on Austrian history was published in 3 vols. folio by Hieronymus Pez (Leipzig, 1721-1725) under the title Scriptores rerum Austriacarum veteres et genuini, of which a new edition was printed at Regensburg in 1745, and again, under the title of Rerum Austriacarum scriptores, by A. Rauch at Vienna in 1793-1794. It was not, however, till the latter half of the 19th century that the vast store of public and private archives began to be systematically exploited. Apart from the material published in the Monumenta Germ. Hist. of Pertz and his collaborators, there are several collections devoted specially to the sources of Austrian history. Of these the most notable is the Fontes rerum Austriacarum, published under the auspices of the Historical Commission of the Imperial Academy of Sciences at Vienna; the series, of which the first volume was published in 1855, is divided into two parts: (i.) Scriptores, of which the 9th vol. appeared in 1904; (ii.) Diplomataria et Acta, of which the 58th vol. appeared in 1906. It covers the whole range of Austrian history, medieval and modern. Another collection is the Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte, Literatur und Sprache Österreichs und seiner Kronländer, edited by J. Hirn and J. E. Wackernagel (Graz, 1895, &c.), of which vol. x. appeared in 1906. Besides these there are numerous accounts and inventories of public and private archives, for which see Dahlmann-Waitz, Quellenkunde (ed. 1906), pp. 14-15, 43, and suppl. vol. (1907), pp. 4-5. Of collections of treaties the most notable is that of L. Neumann, Recueil des traités conclus par l'Autriche avec les puissances étrangères depuis 1763 (6 vols., Leipzig, 1855: c.), continued by A. de Plason (18 vols., Vienna, 1877-1905). In 1907, however, the Imperial Commission for the Modern History of Austria issued the first volume of a new series, Österreichische Staatsverträge, which promises to be of the utmost value. Like the Recueil des traités conclus par la Russie of T. T. de Martens, it is compiled on the principle of devoting separate volumes to the treaties entered into with the several states; this is obviously convenient as enabling the student to obtain a clear review of the relations of Austria to any particular state throughout the whole period covered. For treaties see also J. Freiherr von Vasque von Püttlingen, Übersicht der österreichischen Staatsverträge seit Maria Theresa bis auf die neueste Zeit (Vienna, 1868); and L. Bittner, Chronologisches Verzeichnis der österreichischen Staatsverträge (Band G, 1526-1723, Vienna, 1903).
2. Works.—(a) General. Archdeacon William Coxe's History of the House of Austria, 1218-1792 (3 vols., London, 1817), with its continuation by W. Kelly (London, 1853; new edition, 1873), remains the only general history of Austria in the English language. It has, of course, long been superseded as a result of the research indicated above. The amount of work that has been devoted to this subject since Coxe's time will be seen from the following list of books, which are given in the chronological order of their publication:—J. Majláth, Geschichte des österreichischen Kaiserstaates (5 vols., Hamburg, 1834-1850); Count F. von Hartig, Genesis der Revolution in Österreich im Jahre 1848 (Leipzig, 1851; 3rd edition, enlarged, ib., 1851; translated as appendix to Coxe's House of Austria, ed. 1853), a work which created a great sensation at the time and remains of much value; W. H. Stiles, Austria in 1848-1849 (2 vols., New York, 1852), by an eye-witness of events; M. Büdinger, Österreichische Gesch. bis zum Ausgange des dreizehnten Jahrhunderts, vol. i. to A.D. 1055 (Leipzig, 1858); A. Springer, Geschichte Österreichs seit dem Wiener Frieden, 1809 (2 vols. to 1849; Leipzig, 1863-1865); A. von Arneth, Geschichte Maria Theresias (10 vols., Vienna, 1863-1879); the series Österreichische Gesch. für das Volk, 17 vols., by various authors (Vienna, 1864, &c.), for which see Dahlmann-Waitz, p. 86; H. Bidermann, Gesch. der österreichischen Gesamtstaatsidee, 1526-1804, parts 1 and 2 to 1740 (Innsbruck, 1867, 1887); J. A. Freiherr von Helfert, Gesch. Österreichs vom Ausgange des Oktoberaufstandes, 1848, vols. i.-iv. (Leipzig and Prague, 1869-1889); W. Rogge, Österreich von Világos bis zur Gegenwart (3 vols., Leipzig and Vienna, 1872, 1873), and Österreich seit der Katastrophe Hohenwart-Beust (Leipzig, 1879), written from a somewhat violent German standpoint; Franz X. Krones (Ritter von Marchland), Handbuch der Gesch. Österreichs (5 vols., Berlin, 1876-1879), with copious references, Gesch. der Neuzeit Österreichs vom 18ten Jahrhundert bis auf die Gegenwart (Berlin, 1879), from the German-liberal point of view, and Grundriss der österreichischen Gesch. (Vienna, 1882); Baron Henry de Worms, The Austro-Hungarian Empire (London, 2nd ed., 1876); Louis Asseline, Histoire de l'Autriche depuis la mort de Marie Thérèse (Paris, 1877), sides with the Slavs against Germans and Magyars; Louis Leger, Hist. de l'Autriche-Hongrie (Paris, 1879), also strongly Slavophil; A. Wolf, Geschichtliche Bilder aus Österreich (2 vols., Vienna, 1878-1880), and Österreich unter Maria Theresia, Joseph II. und Leopold I. (Berlin, 1882); E. Wertheimer, Gesch. Österreichs und Ungarns im ersten Jahrzehnt des 19ten Jahrhunderts (2 vols., Leipzig, 1884-1890); A. Huber, Gesch. Österreichs, vols. i. to v. up to 1648 (in Heeren's Gesch. der europ. Staaten, Gotha, 1885-1895); J. Emmer, Kaiser Franz Joseph I., fünfzig Jahre österreichischer Gesch. (2 vols., Vienna, 1898); F. M. Mayer, Gesch. Österreichs mit besonderer Rücksicht auf das Kulturleben (2 vols. 2nd ed., Vienna, 1900-1901); A. Dopsch, Forschungen zur inneren Gesch. Österreichs, vol. i. 1 (Innsbruck, 1903); Louis Eisenmann, Le Compromis austro-hongrois de 1867 (Paris, 1904); H. Friedjung, Österreich von 1848 bis 1860 (Stuttgart, 1908 seq.); Geoffrey Drage, Austria-Hungary (London, 1909).