to
impose taxes in Bohemia; that the diet was not qualified to elect
representatives to go to Vienna, and that a separate settlement must be
made with Bohemia similar to that with Hungary. This declaration was signed
by eighty-one members, including many of the feudal nobles and bishops.[15]
The German majority declared that they had forfeited their seats, and
ordered new elections. The agitation spread over the country, serious riots
took place, and with a view to keeping order the government decreed
exceptional laws. Similar events happened in Moravia, and in Dalmatia the
revolt broke out among the Bocchesi.

[Sidenote: Parliamentary breakdown of 1870.]

Before the combination of Clericals and Federalists the ministry broke
down; they were divided among themselves; Counts Taaffe and Alfred Potocki,
the minister of agriculture, wished to conciliate the Slav races--a policy
recommended by Beust, probably with the sympathy of the emperor; the others
determined to cripple the opposition by taking away the elections for the
Reichsrath from the diets. Taaffe and his friends resigned in January 1870,
but the majority did not long survive. In March, after long delay, the new
Galician demands were definitely rejected; the whole of the Polish club,
followed by the Tirolese and Slovenes, left the House, which consequently
consisted of 110 members--the Germans and German representatives from
Bohemia and Moravia. It was clearly impossible to govern with such a
parliament. Not four years had gone by, and the new constitution seemed to
have failed like the old one. The only thing to do was to attempt a
reconciliation with the Slavs. The ministry resigned, and Potocki and
Taaffe formed a government with this object. Potocki, now
minister-president, then entered on negotiations, hoping to persuade the
Czechs to accept the constitution. Rieger and Thun were summoned to Vienna;
he himself went to Prague, but after two days he had to give up the attempt
in despair. Feudals and Czechs all supported the declaration of 1868, and
would accept no compromise, and he returned to Vienna after what was the
greatest disappointment of his life. Government, however, had to be carried
on; the war between Germany and France broke out in July, and Austria might
be drawn into it; the emperor could not at such a crisis alienate either
the Germans or the Slavs. The Reichsrath and all the diets were dissolved.
This time in Bohemia the Czechs, supported by