The Austrian Premier’s Swan Song
[We print below a condensed report of the speech delivered by Count Clam-Martinić, ex-Premier of Austria, on the eve of his fall.]
After praising and asserting (for the benefit of foreign opinion) the Monarchy’s unimpaired power, he emphasised the indissoluble solidarity . . (Zusammengehörigkeit) of the Austrian people, and “the firm foundations of the Empire, which have survived the political confusions of recent years.” “Only a well-knit State organism can meet the demands of the time. Well-tried foundations must not be undermined. The Government must above all resist every proposal to interfere with the sovereignty of allied powers or of the other state of the Monarchy”—a direct rebuff to the Czech demand for Czecho-Slovak unity, which can only be realised at the expense of Hungary. . . . The Austrian peoples must not “exhaust their forces in endless and hopeless struggles.” “The peculiar conditions of distribution under which races and racial fragments dwell in this inmost kernel of Europe, have necessarily led to the formation of our State, and history has in this war provided the proofs which justify its creation. That is a fact that cannot be ignored if we are to consider possible developments on a basis of Realpolitik, and that imposes upon the Austrian peoples a renunciation of the Summum of national activity.”
“Instead of conflicting and unrealisable programmes, the Government offers you another programme, which perhaps combines and harmonises whatever in those proposals is realisable and in accord with popular needs. This programme shows you what is firm instead of what is tottering, the whole instead of the parts; and instead of nebulous state-formations, the real State, proved and powerful. It contains an attainable reality, a common factor (ein Gemeinsames), which, despite many bitter words uttered in this House, you certainly all love at the bottom of your hearts—not with the enthusiasm of national fanaticism, but with the love of devoted, grateful and trustful sons. (Loud German applause and prolonged Czech interruptions.) The Government’s Programme is, Austria—the Austria which has grown during a glorious historic .development, and which has, during this war, become convinced of its indestructible forces, the Austria which is preparing to be a powerful factor in the future economic and social development of the world—Austria, the venerable, proud and eternal fortress of her peoples. The Government could never, never tolerate rash hands being laid upon her proved foundations. . . . We have, perhaps, exhausted our forces too long already with national problems, and if we once succeed in bringing them to rest, we should then have to make up the leeway which the nationally-united States have gained. . . . It is a question of collecting, not dividing, one’s forces. . . .”
Two days later, before the Herrenhaus, Count Clam-Martinić was more explicit: “Neither a one-sided Centralism nor a one-sided
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