e Christian Socialists
had supported the government since the confirmation of Lueger as
burgomaster) and the German Nationalists under Herr Wolf, a German from
Bohemia, the violence of whose language had already caused Badeni to
challenge him to a duel. The Nationalists refused to allow Lueger to speak,
clapping their desks, hissing and making other noises, till at last the
Young Czechs attempted to prevent the disorder by violence. On the 24th of
November the scenes of disturbance were renewed. The president, Herr v.
Abrahamovitch, an Armenian from Galicia, refused to call on Schoenerer to
speak. The Nationalists therefore stormed the platform, and the president
and ministers had to fly into their private rooms to escape personal
violence, until the Czechs came to their rescue, and by superiority in
numbers and physical strength severely punished Herr Wolf and his friends.
The rules of the House giving the president no authority for maintaining
order, he determined, with the assent of the ministers, to propose
alterations in procedure. The next day, when the sitting began, one of the
ministers, Count Falkenhayn, a Clerical who was very unpopular, moved "That
any member who continued to disturb a sitting after being twice called to
order could be suspended--for three days by the president, and for thirty
days by the House." The din and uproar was such that not a word could be
heard, but at a pre-arranged signal from the president all the Right rose,
and he then declared that the new order had been carried, although the
procedure of the House required that it should be submitted to a committee.
The next day, at the beginning of the sitting, the Socialists rushed on the
platform, tore up and destroyed all the papers lying there, seized the
president, and held him against the wall. After he had escaped, eighty
police were introduced into the House and carried out the fourteen
Socialists. The next day Herr Wolf was treated in the same manner. The
excitement spread to the street. Serious disorders took place in Vienna and
in Graz; the German opposition had the support of the people, and Lueger
warned the ministers that as burgomaster he would be unable to maintain
order in Vienna; even the Clerical Germans showed signs of deserting the
government. [Sidenote: Badeni resigns.] The emperor, hastily summoned to
Vienna, accepted Badeni's resignation, the Germans having thus by
obstruction attained part of their wishes. The new minis