The session was to be opened by the Premier, Count Badeni. When he
entered the hall he was greeted with howls and hisses, and cries of
derision.

For certain reasons, which we will explain later, the Premier is at
present very unpopular with the parliament, and so the members greeted
him in this shameful manner, and finally one of the members, becoming
more excited than the others, advanced toward the Premier, and began
calling him names.

The result has been a duel between the member, Dr. Wolff, and the
Premier, and the occurrence has raised a storm throughout the country,
for that a Prime Minister should fight a duel with another member of the
Government is an unheard-of thing.

Austria is a very difficult nation to govern, and the position of
premier is by no means a bed of roses.

The reason of the difficulty is that Austria is composed of so many
different states which have very little in common with each other.

In all, there are three great divisions: the Austrians proper, who are
Germans in their leaning and language; the Hungarians, or Magyars, who
are a haughty, fierce people, speaking their own tongue, proud of their
traditions, and who look down on the more modern Austrians as upstarts.
Besides these there are the Bohemians or Czechs (cheks), who speak still
another language, and are a wild and quickly irritated people,
obstinate, and as a rule slow-witted.

It is but natural that one or other of these people should be constantly