the Feudals and the
Clericals, gained a large majority; they took their seats in the diet only
to declare that they did not regard it as the legal representative of the
Bohemian kingdom, but merely an informal assembly, and refused to elect
delegates for the Reichsrath. The Germans in their turn now left the diet,
and the Czechs voted an address to the crown, drawn up by Count Thun,
demanding the restoration of the Bohemian kingdom. When the Reichsrath met
there were present only 130 out of 203 members, for the whole Bohemian
contingent was absent; the government then, under a law of 1868, ordered
that as the Bohemian diet had sent no delegates, they were to be chosen
directly from the people. Twenty-four Constitutionalists and thirty
_Declaranten_ were chosen; the latter, of course, did not go to Vienna, but
the additional twenty-four made a working majority by which the government
was carried on for the rest of the year.

[Sidenote: The ministry of Hohenwart.]

But Potocki's influence was gone, and as soon as the European crisis was
over, in February 1871, the emperor appointed a ministry chosen not from
the Liberals but from the Federalists and Clericals, led by Count Hohenwart
and A. E. F. Schaeffle, a professor at the university of Vienna, chiefly
known for his writings on political economy. They attempted to solve the
problem by granting to the Federalists all their demands. So long as
parliament was sitting they were kept in check; as soon as it had voted
supplies and the Delegations had separated, they ordered new elections in
all those diets where there was a Liberal majority. By the help of the
Clericals they won enough seats to put the Liberals in a minority in the
Reichsrath, and it would be possible to revise the constitution if the
Czechs consented to come. They would only attend, however, on their own
terms, which were a complete recognition by the government of the claims
made in the Declaration. This was agreed to; and on the 12th of September
at the opening of the diet, the governor read a royal message recognizing
the separate existence of the Bohemian kingdom, and promising that the
emperor should be crowned as king at Prague. It was received with delight
throughout Bohemia, and the Czechs drew a draft constitution of fundamental
rights. On this the Germans, now that they were in a minority, left the
diet, and began preparations for resistance. In Upper Austria, Moravia and
Carinthia, where they were