The Austrian rule there» as in Italy of old, has its
two well-known characteristics — ^material efficiency and
political tyranny. They can make excellent roads and
railways, and have done much to bring material civiliza-
tion into places as backward as Bosnia and Herzegovina
were when the Turk quitted them. But politically
they have no idea save repression. The German-
Austrians were indeed forced, after their defeat in 1866,
to take the Magyars of Hungary into partnership with
them on equal terms. Since that date the Austrians
and Hungarians have combined to oppress the Slavs.
It is said that the Archduke, murdered at Sarajevo,
intended to do something to liberalize the system in
these Slav provinces when he came to the Austrian
throne. That adds another reason why we must all
regret that murder in blood and tears. Whether
such a scheme was not too late, whether such a reversal
of Austrian policy could have been carried through by
the will of one man, we shall, alas! never know. But
the Austrian assertion that the Archduke's murder
was prepared or instigated in Servia is utterly unproven
and in the highest degree unlikely. It is unproven,
for Austria had every reason to advance the proofs
if she had them, and she has advanced none. It is
unlikely, because Servia was engaged in various delicate
negotiations at home, among other things a negotiation
with Montenegro, and it is absurd to suppose that
she would have chosen that moment to force on a
crisis, even if she were held capable of doing so by so
base a crime. The act needs no such explanation;



THE SERVIANS AND AUSTRIA 189

it was the unfortunate outcome in a few desperate
minds of the fierce discontent of the Slav provinces
under Austrian and Hungarian tyranny.
