Sonderband 3. „wir aber aus unsern vorhero sehr erschöpfften camergeföllen nicht hernemben khönnen…” – Beiträge zur österreichischen Wirtschafts- und Finanzgeschichte vom 17. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert (1997)
Ronald E. Coons - Carey Goodman: An Audacious Proposal. A Memorandum Attributed to Finance Minister Karl Ludwig Freiherr von Bruck
Ronald E. Coons - Carey Goodman 4 March 1849, and he resigned as Commerce Minister in 1851 when it was becoming increasingly clear that Emperor Franz Joseph did not intend to implement constitutional, parliamentary rule. In addition, in 1859 Bruck openly called for a constitution in his pamphlet Die Aufgaben Österreichs'9, and in the same year he played a significant rôle in setting the monarchy on a road that would eventually lead to parliamentary government19 20. None of this can be denied. The fact of the matter is, however, that on the constitutional issue Bruck left a record that is highly ambiguous. Early in 1849 he shared responsibility for the dismissal of the Reichstag then meeting at Kremsier to prepare a constitution that would have been the work not of appointees of the crown, as was the case with Stadion’s „oktroyierte Verfassung“, but of members of a popularly-elected deliberative body21. If Bruck was indeed a consistent proponent of political liberalism, moreover, it is curious that in October 1849 so uncompromising an advocate of reaction as Alfred Fürst Windischgrätz could praise him as „ein gescheiter und sehr braver Mann“ and the only member of the Schwarzenberg cabinet worthy of trust22. Even Brack's resignation in 1851 provides no proof of liberal principles, since his associate Gustav Höfken subsequently noted that the minister had left the cabinet primarily because of his failure to block a plan of then Finance Minister Philipp Freiherr von Krauß to extend the Austrian tobacco monopoly into Hungary23. And finally, as Friedrich Walter has incisively noted, no „liberal“ scruples prevented Brack from taking up another ministerial post in 1855, when neoabsolutism was in high gear24. In short, one of the most consistent features of Brack’s political behavior is its very inconsistency. The motives behind his vacillations are admittedly open to differing interpretations. Personal ambition or astute political realism could well provide an 19 The pamphlet is published in Ch armat z : Minister Brack, pp. 241-281; see pp. 255-257 for Brack’s discussion of the need for an Austrian constitution. As Brandt; Der österreichische Neoabsolutismus, p. 815, observes, the pamphlet was in fact written late in the summer of 1859 by Brack’s close associate, Gustav Höfken. 20 Brandt: Der österreichische Neoabsolutismus, pp. 813-899. 21 On Brack’s opposition to the Kremsier Reichstag see Gottsmann, Andreas: Der Reichstag von Kremsier und die Regierung Schwarzenberg. Die Verfassungsdiskussion des Jahres 1848 im Spannungsfeld zwischen Reaktion und nationaler Frage. Wien 1995, pp. 103-104. 22 Windischgrätz to Karl Friedrich Freiherr Kübeck von Kübau, 14 October 1849, cited in: ÖZV Abt. 3, Bd. 4, p. 430. That Windischgrätz subsequently concluded that Brack was in fact „prinzipienlos“ reveals the difficulty even a well-informed contemporary had in discerning any consistent political philosophy that motivated the minister’s actions; see Müller,Paul: Feldmarschall Fürst Windischgrätz. Revolution und Gegenrevolution in Österreich. Wien-Leipzig 1934, p. 315. 23 HHStA Wien, Nachlaß Höfken, Karton 2, Schriften 1, fol. 113v, „Denkschrift über die Aufhebung des Tabakmonopols in Oesterreich“, Vienna, 20 October 1865. 24 ÖZV Abt. 3, Bd. 4, p. 484. Significantly, Brack was reluctant in 1855 to accept the post of Finance Minister not because he found absolutism unacceptable but because specific economic policies that he had favored during his tenure as Commerce Minister had not been implemented and because it was unlikely that he would succeed in gaining their acceptance in a new ministerial post; see Brack to Buol, 18 January 1855 in: Akten zur Geschichte des Krimkriegs [hereafter cited as AGKK]. Serie 1: Österreichische Akten zur Geschichte des Krimkriegs, ed. Winfried B a u m g a r t. Bd. 2:30. März 1854 bis 9. September 1855, ed. Werner Zü rrer. München-Wien 1980, pp. 707-708. 156
