The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 58, December 16, 1897 A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls

Excerpt

When we take up our history books and read the accounts of the great deeds that have been done, we are very apt to wonder how the people felt in those times, and if it was not much more exciting to live history than it is to learn it.

We have an opportunity of judging for ourselves how it feels, for we are now living through a very important chapter of history.

Cuba, Turkey, Haiti, and Hawaii are all making history for us that will make very stirring reading for the scholars that come after us, and now Austria has joined in the procession, and is giving us an episode that will make one of the most exciting pages in that country's history.

The present occurrences in Austria are of the utmost importance to the world. They show that the time has passed when kings can rule as absolute monarchs, and that the voice of the people must be listened to.

We told you of the anger of the Austrian people against Count Badeni and his Government, and how the Emperor approved of him and his work, and was determined to uphold him in spite of the opposition.

We also told you that there is a clause in the Austrian constitution which gives the Emperor power to act on his own authority without consulting the people, in case of emergency.

But Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, backed by this powerful clause, has not been strong enough to protect his Prime Minister, and in the face of the anger of the people has not dared to use the privilege which the constitution gives him.

This is a great chapter in history. It all happened in this way:

We told you in the last number how the Government rushed a resolution through the Reichsrath, which gave the President of the House the power to suspend unruly members and prevent them from entering the chamber.

As soon as the Reichsrath reassembled, it became evident to the opposition that the Government considered the resolution legally passed, and intended to act on it.

This so enraged the deputies that no sooner was the sitting declared open than they rushed to the President's tribune, seized the papers on his desk, tore them, and scattered them over the house.

The attendants had not been prepared for this rush, and had allowed some of the angry members to pass through the gate which had been made in the fence around the tribune.

As soon as they realized what was passing, they fought and buffeted the intruders, until they had expelled them from the enclosure, and the President declared the sitting adjourned.

This had no effect on the furious mob with which the chamber was filled.

One of the members again made a rush for the tribune. The gate had been closed, but, climbing over the fence, he made a dash for the President's bell and portfolio.

The President, amazed at this daring, pushed him away. In an instant a crowd of his friends, howling and shouting, swarmed over the fence, and a regular fight began on the tribune itself.

The deputies had by this time lost control of themselves, and proceeded with blows and kicks to drive the President and Vice-Presidents of the Reichsrath off the tribune, or raised platform, on which the President sits.

One of the Vice-Presidents was knocked down and trampled on, and one account of the affray said that the President was so roughly handled that he fainted....