18th Aug.
Franz Joser I, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, enters to-day on his 64th year. We gave on this day last year a slight sketch of his life, and we need not repeat it to-day, but the visit to the Far East of his design nated successor on the twin thrones has contributed to attract our attention to the great Power of South-east Europe. Want of time prevented the Archduke Franz from visiting Shanghai, but this disappointment does not prevent our fol lowing his movements with interest, and feeling glad that one who is destined to take so high a position among the Governors of Europe should add to his preparation for that position a personal knowledge of the world. We quoted a few days ago from u leading Vienna paper, the Wewe Freie Presse, an extract from a pleasant article commending the excellent relations that constantly subsist between Austria-Hungary and Great Britain; and it is pleasant too to feel assured that the visit paid this year to the British depen-doneies and colonies in Asia and Australia by the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne will leave a permanent good impression on his mind. Austria-Hungary would not have survived and surmounted the perils' that have threatened her during the forty-five years of the Emperor's reign unless her existence as a great Power were uecessary to Europe; and it has been a great thing for her, her salvation in fact, that her ruler has been a man so universally admired and respected at home and abroad as the Emperor-King Franz Josef I.
Nothing is more remarkable in -tha character of this sovereign, or has contributed more to the success with which he has kept his empire-kingdom together, than his tact and his readiness to conform his policy to the spirit of the times, qualities which we do not, taking past history as our guide, always expect to find in a descendant of Rudolf von Habsburg. When the treaty of Berlin assigned the administration of Bosnia-Herzegovina to Austria, there was much discontent among the Liberals of Europe at the transfer of one of the Balkan States ' struggling to be free' to the strict rule of what was thought to be such an eminently Conservative Power. But the tact of Franz Josef I. did not fail him, and so gently and yet firmly was the new territory, in strictness still a province of the Porte, reconciled to the rule of Vienna, that every complaint has long since been stifled, and it is now by no means unlikely that Austria~ Hungary may be the political heir, if Tarkey in Europe ever ceases to exist, to a considerable part of the European dominion of the Ottoman Empire, and the head of a South Slavonic confederation. Fifty years ago, or even less, the Liberal sentiment of Europe would have shrunk back aghast at such a suggestion; there would now be hardly a word of remonstrance heard, and the change is largely due to the personal character of the monarch whose birthday is celebrated to-day.
A still more recent instance of the tact of Franz Joseph I. is brought before us by the mail that was delivered here yesterday morning. Austria has her Socialists as well as France and Germany, and they are a strongly organized party with marked influence at the elections. hey are split up into two parties, the larger of which is led by Dr. Adler. Ihe success of the Socialists in Brussels, who have at Tength secured universal suffrage, has encouraged the Socialists of Vienna to demand the same concession, and on the 9th of July a great mass meeting of Socialist workmen, in favour of this revolutionary movement was held in the large courtyard and great hall of the Vienna Rathhaus. It was the largest meeting ever held in Vienna, and not capital and the troops ould have' base many years ago all the police of the
called out to prevent and suppress such a dangerous demonstration. But the Austrian Emperor has also learned that public security is not enhanced by sitting on the safety-valve, and the event proved how much wiser it was to allow the workmen to have their meeting and their speeches unhindered. Five police oticers and ten policemen were able to keep the masses in order—a task in which they were assisted by 2,000 workmen, distinguished by wearing red rosettes, 'I'he Times' correspondent's account is worth reprinting, for it is practically a testimony to the good sense of the Emperor-King "This is the first time that the workers have with the permission of the authorities marched through the streets of the city decorated with the emblems of their associations, with red scarves and bows and displaying mottoes in favour of universal suffrage, A further notable feature of the proceedings was that the police along the route were instructed to offer no opposition to cheers for the franchise being raised by the demonstrating multitude. The meeting assumed unexpectedly large proportions, there being, according to an authentic estimate, about 30,000 persons present, the great majority of whom were obliged to remain outside. In the vast courtyard of the Rathhaus no fewer than 6,000 to 8,000 congregated, while in an adjoining part of the building there was a second meeting of about 4,000. The former included a considerable group of Czechs, who delivered speeches in their own language. Some of the speeches sharply criticised the Government and Parliament. The commissary of police on duty had, however, been instructed to tolerate perfect freedom of speech. The well-known Socialist leader, Dr. Adler, was one of the principal speakers, and he closed his harangue by calling for cheers for international Social Democracy, after
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.