great influence down to 1879. It fell through its efforts to impose the programme of the Liberal party in Germany upon Austria, to liberalize the social and religious institutions of the country, and Germanize the Czechs and other nationalities. The combination of Czechs, Feudalists, and Clericals, who reversed this policy, have already accomplished more in the direction of decentralization than the Constitutional party did toward imposing the German language and ideas on the Slav peoples by extending the sphere of central authority. Count Taafe, as well as independent politicians, has within a year or two labored to form a middle party that would attract the German elements that can reconcile themselves to accomplished facts, and would enable the Government to resist further tendencies to disintegration.

The War of Languages.-The language question in Bohemia became a more serious matter when it extended from the arena of parliamentary discussion into the field of social life. The success of the Czechs in restoring their national tongue as the language of the courts, of official intercourse, and of instruction, did not settle the question for those parts of Bohemia where there is a preponderant or considerable German element. The German party responded with a proposition to separate from the kingdom the German districts. There followed a social persecution of the Czechs in those districts more grievous than the Germans had suffered in the Czechish districts during the earlier stages of the conflict. In the Reichsrath the Constitutionalists offered a challenge, by presenting Count Wurmbrand's resolution affirming German to be the state language of Cisleithania, which the House of Deputies rejected by 186 votes to 155, after a declaration of the ministry that a statute was unnecessary, since the position of German as the actual language of the state was not assailed. A proposal to refer the language question in Bohemia to a committee composed of members of all the groups, which should codify and harmonize the ordinances in force in the various districts, was broached by the Left and withdrawn when the Czechish party showed a willingness to accept this plan. The Liberals threatened to abstain from legislative work, but changed their mind in order to follow the National Liberals of Germany in the new path of social legislation, offering the normal work-day bill in earnest of their conversion to socialistic principles. The language conflict was transferred to the Bohemian Diet, where the German Liberals fought a losing battle with interpellations and fruitless motions.

Suspension of the Constitution in Vienna.-Austria and Hungary were until recently free from socialistic agitation. For three or four years past refugees from Germany and agents from Switzerland have spread among the industrial population the Anarchist doctrines in a dangerous and revolutionary form. Still, the Governments of the two monarchies felt no inclina

tion to copy the anti-Socialist enactments of Germany. The invitation from Germany and Russia to join in a treaty for the extradition of Socialists and revolutionists was rejected. In 1883 a murder for the sake of robbery was committed by persons who were evidently connected with Anarchist associations. The police began to subject the Socialists to an exasperating surveillance, and to treat them as a quasi-criminal class. Collisions occurred, and finally a policeman, Hlubeck, was murdered. On New-Year's-eve a Jesuit preacher in the Vienna suburb of Favoriten, who had offended the Socialists by defending the rights of property, was stoned from the chancel and the congregation dispersed in a panic. On the 10th of January a money-changer, named Eisert, was robbed and murdered in the suburban Marienhilf-Strasse by a band of Socialist desperadoes. A number of revolting crimes, notably the murder of Count Majlath, chief judge in Hungary, and the series of murders committed by Hugo Schenk, who enticed away several women on promise of marriage and killed them for the sake of their money and valuables, alarmed people at this time with the idea of an epidemic of crime. On the 26th of January, in the suburb of Floridsdorf, the detective Bloch, who had been active in tracking out the murderers of Hlubeck, was assassinated. After this deed the Government felt the necessity of providing against a state of terrorism, though still averse to special anti-Socialist legislation. Count Taafe therefore took advantage of an act, passed May 5, 1869, to meet a state of insurrection. This law empowers the Government to suspend constitutional rights in particular localities. On Jan. 30 a decree of the ministry was issued suspending civil rights in Vienna, Kornenburg, and WienerNeustadt, the judicial districts of the metropolis. The rights suspended are the inviolability of the post, the guarantee against domiciliary visits without warrant, the liberty of association, the right of assembly, and the freedom of the press. Another decree, based on the law of May 23, 1873, suspends trial by jury, enacting that certain crimes shall be tried by a bench of six judges. Both decrees remain in force till Dec. 31, 1884. Count Taafe had difficulty in finding a majority in the House of Deputies to confirm these decrees. The Constitutional party denounced them as a reactionary stroke aimed against the freedom of political and religious opinions, while among the young Czechs and other liberal sections of the majority there was a reluctance to consent to the exercise of dictatorial powers and the employment of repressive measures.

Anarchist Trials. The murderer of Bloch, the detective, was arrested while escaping, and was tried in June. He proved to be a shoemaker, named Stellmacher, a young man of remarkable intelligence and resolution, who was deeply versed in socialistic theories, and had been active in their propagation. Facts were revealed

showing an organization, with head-quarters in Switzerland, and ramifications throughout Austria-Hungary, for the spread of Anarchist literature. By the confession of Stellmacher, the murder of the detective was conspired by a group of Socialists, who appointed him to perform the act. On the evidence, though meager and conflicting, of members of Eisert's household, he was convicted of the murder of the banker, after confessing that he killed Blöch, and was executed, Aug. 8. Kammerer, the murderer of Hlubeck, and one of the murderers of Eisert, was tried and condemned. Several of the accomplices in the Eisert_robbery were arrested. The police soon made up their minds that the two convicted murderers, and a very few other persons, were the only Anarchists that were capable of desperate and criminal deeds. In September they discovered a secret printing-press in the house of a decorative painter named Bachmann. He, with his wife and several associates, who were also arrested, had been engaged since the execution of Stellmacher in printing and distributing black-rimmed circulars of incendiary import, pretending to emanate from an executive committee of the revolutionary party.

Normal Work-Day. The party of the Left formerly opposed social legislation as obstinately as the German Liberals. But after the conversion of the most influential section of the latter to the principle of social reform, they have recanted the theory of laissez-faire, and, in order to regain the sympathies of the working-classes, and to prove their capacity for positive legislative work, inaugurated industrial legislation by proposing a legal limit to the working-day. They copied the Swiss law, which makes eleven hours a legal day's work. The fractions that compose the majority readily acceded to such a proposition, emanating from the party that especially represented the manufacturing class. The effect of the measure, however, was defeated by an amendment, which passed by a scant majority, leaving the Ministry of Finance to make out a list of industries, upon representations from the Chambers of Commerce, in which twelve hours' labor will be allowed, which list is subject to revision every three years.

Other Legislation.-The Government made no further progress in their programme of tax reform. Authorization was obtained for the acquisition of several railroads by the state. Additional transfers of state railroads from the central administration to the provincial authorities were effected against the lively resistance of the German Liberals. Notable among the minor legislation was an act according indemnity to individuals condemned by the tribunals whose innocence is subsequently established.

Vienna Cattle Regulations. Simultaneously with the opening of the new Vienna cattle-market, built at a cost of 2,000,000 guldens, the Lower Austrian Government undertook to regulate prices of beef, which were kept up by a com

bination between Hungarian cattle-growers and Vienna commission merchants. The dealers refused to use the market, subject to such a control, and transferred the wholesale business to Presburg. In the beginning of April, 1884, the Government issued an order restricting the direct importation of beeves from Presburg, by imposing quarantine and sanitary inspection at the frontier. The order raised a storm of indignation in Hungary, where it was declared to be conceived in the interest of the Bohemian and Moravian stockraisers. Minister-President Tisza threatened retaliatory measures, and hinted at the abrogation of the Austro-German reciprocity treaty. The measure failed of its purpose. The Bohe mian cattle that were offered at the market were below the standard, so that the butchers went to Presburg for their supply. On that account, and because the decree was considered an infraction of the customs union, and was likely to lead to a serious conflict with Hungary, it was rescinded.

Hungary. The kingdom of Hungary possesses an ancient Constitution, consisting of fundamental statutes enacted at various dates since the foundation of the kingdom in the ninth century. The Constitution was abrogated after the rebellion of 1848, restored in 1860, and extended to its ancient limits in 1867, when the dual compact was concluded with Austria. The Hungarian Diet consists of an upper chamber, called House of Magnates, and a lower, called House of Representatives.

The Cabinet. The Council of Ministers is composed as follows: President and Minister of the Interior, Koloman Tisza de Brosjenō; Minister Adlatus, Baron B. d'Orczy; Minister of Public Instruction and Worship, A. de Trefort; Minister of the Honved, Lieut. - Gen. Baron Féjervary, who was appointed on the death of Count Guido Raday in October, 1884; Minister of Communications and Public Works, Baron G. Kemény; Minister for Croatia and Slavonia, K. Bedekovich de Komer; Minister of Justice, Dr. T. Pauler; Minister of Finance, Count J. Szápáry; Minister of Agriculture. Industry, and Commerce, Count P. Széchényi.

Finance. According to the closed accounts for 1881, the ordinary receipts amounted to 284,780,897 guldens; the extraordinary receipts to 203,806,965 guldens; total, 488,587,862 guldens; the ordinary disbursements to 309,729,876 guldens; the extraordinary disbursements to 195,163,961 guldens; total, 504,898,837 guldens, leaving a deficit of 16,805,975 guldens. The total receipts are estimated in the budget for 1881 at 301,029,869 guldens, and the total expenditures at 322,711,484 guldens, showing an estimated deficit of 21,681,615 guldens.

The direct taxes, on lands, houses, industrial establishments, financial societies, capital and incomes, transportation, military exemption, etc., are expected to produce 89,080,400 guldens; the excise duties, 15,784,878 guldens; the tobacco monopoly, 38,863,464 guldens;

stamps, 9,427,320 guldens; legal dues, 14,350,000 guldens; the salt monopoly, 14,276,308 guldens; lottery, 8,472,468 guldens; net railroad receipts, 8,653,510 guldens; mines and mint, 6,765,145 guldens; domains, 4,100,000 guldens; forests, 6,027,881 guldens; posts, 7,554,000 guldens; telegraphs, 1,752,600 guldens. The principal branches of expenditure are as follow: Hungarian debt, 58,941,489 guldens; share in the Austrian public debt, 30,316,700 guldens; matricular quota in the common expenses, 28,629,410 guldens; commutation of rents, 16,981,174 guldens; commutation of vineyard tithes, 2,372,370 guldens; interest guaranteed to railroads, 10,770,463 guldens; pensions, 4,415,367 guldens; imperial household, 4,650,000 guldens; Ministry of Finance, 54,229,279 guldens; Ministry of Ways and Communications, 29,552,484 guldens; Ministry of Justice, 10,438,431 guldens; Ministry of the Interior, 8,909,687 guldens; Ministry of War, 6,951,200 guldens; Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, 8,981,486 guldens; Ministry of Worship and Instruction, exclusive of receipts from funds, 4,982,589 guldens; administration of Croatia and Slavonia, 5,842,346 guldens; Diet and Delegations, 1,229,683 guldens.

Of the total product of direct and indirect taxes of the united kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia 55 per cent. are turned into the Hungarian treasury, and 45 per cent. retained for the autonomous administration of the country. The expenditures on the latter account in 1881 amounted to 3,603,464 guldens, of which 1,871,300 were for internal administration, 498,907 for worship and instruction, 1,167,257 for the administration of justice, and the rest for the expenses of the Ban and the Diet.

The public debt, not including the Hungarian portion of the common debt of the empire, amounted in 1882 to 1,118,148,045 guldens. Inclusive of treasury notes and arrears of interest, the amount was 1,225,4'0,188 guldens. The debt has been contracted since 1868, partly to aid the construction of railroads and to purchase railroads, and partly to cover deficits, except 219,887,232 guldens of bonds issued in aid of the conversion of feudal rents. The assets of the state, consisting of domains, forests, mines, railroads, buildings, bridges, movables, credits, and cash, were reckoned on the same date at 1,259,700,000 guldens.

The conversion of the 6 per cent. loan into 4-per-cents was successfully terminated in 1884. This gigantic operation, conducted by a syndicate with the Rothschilds at the head, was begun in Paris before the Bontoux crash, and after the crisis transferred to other centers. It involved the issue of about 550,000,000 guldens of 4 per cent. bonds. They were taken mainly by German capitalists. The amount of 6 per cents redeemed was 400,000,000 guldens. The claim of Hungary for a better rating of her credit is borne out by the success of the Government in re-establishing a

balance between the ordinary revenue and expenditure in 1884.

Legislation. The session that opened September 28, 1881, came to an end May 20th. Among the principal acts of the session are the incorporation of the Military Frontier with Croatia-Slavonia, the conversion of the 6-percent. rente, the introduction of a system of gendarmerie, the embankment of the Theiss, and the rebuilding of Szegedin, the act for the regulation and state control of intermediate schools, the extensions of the railroad network and the convention with the Austro-Hungarian State Railway, and the authorization of new Parliament buildings. The Government, upon the reassembling of the Diet in January, sustained a blow from an unexpected quarter. When the subject of obligatory civil marriage was brought up in 1883, the Government did not venture to proceed beyond a resolution, which was passed November 24th. In January the ministry proposed a law legalizing marriages between Christians and Jews. Such a law has long existed in Austria. The Premier specially identified himself with the project, which was promptly passed by more than the normal majority. An agitation was then set on foot by the Clerical Conservatives and the Anti-Semites. Magnates who never entered the legislative hall were summoned in sufficient number to throw out the bill in the Upper Chamber. It was the first time that the House of Magnates had ventured to assert their legislative powers in opposition to the Government. The bill was sent up a second time, and again voted down by a bare majority, which included Austrian noblemen who possessed no interest in Hungary, except the hereditary right to sit in the House of Magnates, who came in sufficient numbers to turn the scale. The members who appeared for the purpose of defeating the measure were mostly frivolous young nobles, with no serious motives.

The New Parliament. The elections for the next triennial session took place in July. The Liberal or Government party maintained its preponderance, electing 230 members. The Moderate Opposition returned 60. The party of Independence, otherwise called the party of '48, elected 75. The Anti-Semitic party obtained 21 seats and took their place for the first time as an organized party. The unattached members, or Savages," who usually vote together and with the Government in most questions, hold ten seats. The groups representing the non-Magyar nationalities are the Transylvanian Saxons, whose 14 members act in concert with the Moderate Opposition; the 40 Croatians, who are usually found in alliance with the Government; and 6 Roumanians and Serbs. The Government commands a majority of more than 50 over all the opposition parties and groups, not counting the 50 Croatian and 'Savage" votes.

The ministry set before the new Parliament, besides important tasks, an extensive pro

gramme of parliamentary reform. The action of the Magnates on the bill to permit mixed marriages between Hebrews and Christians precipitated the question of reforming the obsolete constitution of the Upper House. The House of Magnates is the largest Upper Chamber in the world, containing from 700 to 800 members. For many years past seldom more than 50 or 60 have taken part in the deliberations. The House has attempted neither to initiate, amend, nor reject legislation, but has contented itself with allowing the regular attendants formally to approve the enactments of the Chamber of Deputies. The list of Magnates comprises the princes of the blood royal, who own lands in Hungary, 2 in number; 50 or 60 dignitaries of the Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, and Oriental Greek Churches; 10 Barons of the Empire and the Count of Presburg; the 68 Counts Palatine, who are simply Government officers; 18 princes; 386 counts; 288 barons; 2 Deputies of the Croatian Diet; and 5 regalists of Transylvania. Tisza's scheme of reform cuts down the representation from the hereditary nobility, all of whose male members have held a seat by right of birth. The Esterházy, Zichy, Szapáry, Bathyany, and other great houses, furnished twenty or thirty peers each. In the reformed House of Magnates only those noblemen have a seat who pay 3,000 guldens of land-taxes. Magnates naturalized in Hungary are not to lose their seats if they sit in the Austrian Upper House. To the spiritual peers are added rep. resentatives of the Evangelical, Calvinist, Unitarian, and Jewish bodies. Another feature of the scheme is the creation of life-peers, not to exceed one third of the total number, from the ranks of citizens who have distinguished themselves in any sphere of public life.

The plan by which Koloman Tisza proposes to reform the Lower House is by changing the duration of the Legislature from three years to five. The motives for this seemingly reactionary step are to prevent the petty gentry, who constitute the bulk of the representatives from ruining themselves in election expenses, and to minimize the excitement, the abuses, and the scandals of the periodical elections.

A third measure is the enlargement of the disciplinary powers of the parliamentary presiding officers, which have been limited to the right to call to order, and, if the member prove refractory, to administer a rebuke.

The Croatian Question. The episode of the escutcheons has united the Croatians in as strong a determination for independence from Hungary as that which fired the Hungarians in their struggle with Austria. After the revolution of 1848, the Slav provinces of Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia were ered from Hungary. A year after the establishment of the dual monarchy, Croatia, Slavonia, and a part of Dalmatia, merged into a single state, were reunited with the Magyar Kingdom. The compact of union was carried

sev

through under pressure by a Magyarophile Ban, and was so unpopular that in 1871, three years later, the National party, which represented the Croatian sentiment of national independence, gained a majority in the Diet. The Hungarian Government dissolved the Assembly, and when a still larger Opposition majority was returned, would have proceeded to more arbitrary measures if the Nationalists had not offered to come to terms. They agreed to uphold the compact on the promise of concessions and benefits, but soon sank into the position of a Government party, neglecting to demand the fulfillment of these pledges, practicing the same official and military pressure at elections, and perpetuating the administrative abuses that they had denounced when in opposition. Those of the party who were dissatisfied with the treatment of Croatia by the Hungarian Government, and with the practices of the party in power, seceded and constituted a Moderate Opposition, under the name of the Independent National party. A Radical Opposition, which aimed at complete independence, grew up under the lead of Antun Starchevich, who was at first almost the solitary representative of the Great Croatian idea. They took the name of the Legality party, in reference to their assumption that the compact of 1868 was not concluded in a regular and constitutional manner. The status of Croatia under the compact is variously interpreted in the various parties, aud by the Hungarian Government, which has treated it as a province or land of the crown, with certain guaranteed autonomous rights, while certain Croatian jurists insist that the union is personal, with a common Legislature for common purposes, of the same nature as that which subsists between Hungary and Austria. The Croatians consider that they are exploited by the Magyars. Of the taxes collected in the land, 55 per cent. go into the royal treasury, only a small portion of which is returned in public improvements or any other useful form. They are cut off from the port of Fiume by differential railroad tariffs, which favor their Hungarian competitors. The popular support of the secessionist and Great Croatian movements is derived partly from the notion that the growing agrarian distress, which is chiefly due to backward agricultural methods and the too sudden breaking-up of feudal and communistic institutions, is caused by the stepmotherly treatment of Croatian economic interests by the Hungarian Government. To this conviction is joined the fear that Hungary intends to destroy the autonomous institutions of Croatia, reduce it to a Hungarian province, and eventually crush out the Croatian nationality and language. Hence the outbreak which Minister Szápary occasioned by replacing the Croatian with the Hungarian arms on a public building. The national aspirations are of various degrees. The movement has grown strong in sympathy with the success of the Slav peo

ples of Austria in asserting their nationalities, and has received encouragement both from Prague and from Vienna. The more moderate look forward to the revision of the compact securing parity with Hungary and to the restoration of the rest of Dalmatia, with the port of Fiume, so as to complete the "triune kingdom" of Croatia, Dalmatia, and Slavonia. The more ambitious patriots fix their hopes on a triune empire, in which Great Croatia, embracing the whole Serbic and Croatian population in Croatia, Dalmatia, Slavonia, Carniola, Carinthia, southern Styria, Istria, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, shall take a coördinate position with Austria and Hungary.

The Serb Party. The incorporation of the Military Frontier in 1883 imported a new element into Croatian politics. This district, containing nearly as large an area, and more than half as many inhabitants, as Croatia, was organized in military fashion to prevent raids from the neighboring Turkish provinces. Since Servia has been erected into an independent kingdom, and Bosnia and Herzegovina have been occupied by Austria-Hungary, the reason for military administration is removed. The bulk of the population is of Servian nationality. The incorporated district sends 35 of the 158 members of the Croatian Diet. The Serbic deputies, uniting with the Serbs already in the Chamber, formed a group apart, which played the same role in the Croatian Assembly as the Croatian delegation in the Hungarian Parliament, demanding in return for their votes concessions in favor of their nationality and religion. Their reward was the recognition of the autonomous rights of the Greek-Oriental Church. The Croatians have always shown intolerance toward the religion and national customs of their Serbic brothers. The intervention of the Emperor formerly shielded the latter from persecution. The Croatian Diet refused to adopt the Hungarian statute of 1868, granting religious and educational autonomy to the Greek-Oriental Church, and passed a school law intended for the suppression of the Serbic schools. Since the incorporation of the Military Frontier, the Serbs constitute 26 per cent. of the Croatian population. Before the passage of the act of 1884, all their religious and civil rights were based upon ancient imperial privileges. The act recognizes the GreekOriental Church, and legalizes the Serbic national schools under the supervision of the clergy, with instruction in the Greek Orthodox creed and the use of the Cyrillic alphabet.

The Session of the Diet.-The Hungarian Government suspended the Constitution, and appointed Gen. Ramberg Royal Commissioner, with extraordinary powers, to restore order after the outbreak of the insurrection that followed the substitution of Hungarian for Oroatian inscriptions on the Government buildings in Agram. After the suppression of the disturb ances, Count Khuen-Hédervary, a Hungarian of German descent, was appointed Ban; Pejache

vich, who had refused to restore the Hungarian escutcheons, having resigned. When the National Assembly came together in December, 1883, there was no Government party left. Many went over to the Opposition, and those who remained were too timid to defend the course of the Hungarian Government. Members who spoke in justification of the authorities were hissed from the galleries and mobbed in the street. The Starchevich party uttered the most incendiary language, and allowed no other sentiments to be heard. Soldiers and gendarmes were posted in the chamber to prevent violence, and the leaders of the Opposition were forcibly removed. After a month of violent scenes, the Government obtained a vote of indemnity for exceptional measures taken during the insurrection, and a provisional budget allowing them to collect taxes and pay necessary expenses for six months, and then dismissed the Assembly. After confiscating the chief organ of the Legalists and repressing popular agitation, the Hungarian Government adopted conciliatory measures, such as the employment of the people on public works to relieve distress, and the authorization of railroads in Croatia and the Military Frontier. Before reassembling the Diet in May, the Ban assured himself of a working majority by a bargain with the Serbs. The inevitable arraignment of the Hungarian ministry for a breach of the Constitution in appointing a dictator was framed in moderate terms. The vote of censure pointed out that the Constitution could only be suspended by the crown, on the recommendation of the Ban, and dernanded, as a guarantee against one-sided action in the future, the appointinent of deputations to consider and declare the principles of the bilateral compact between Hungary and the united kingdoms of Croatia, Dalmatia, and Slavonia. The budget was voted and the arm of the executive strengthened by the suspension of the law making judges irremovable. The debates grew more and more violent. The Speaker again used arbitrary means to silence the patriotic fury of the Radicals. Students of the university encouraged the defenders of national rights, and, when the Government proceeded to investigate these demonstrations, the professors resigned. Magistrates and corporation officials in various towns were dismissed on account of anti-Magyar demonstrations. In July the session was again summarily closed. The adjourned House came together in August to complete the business of the session, which was the last one of the triennial period. After another week of conflict between unbridled license and gag-rule, the Legislature was dissolved. The elections for the new Diet took place in September. The result proved the thorough disaffection of the Croatian people. The National party, by putting forth all the means of pressure at the disposal of the Government, obtained enough seats to make, with the Serbs, a majority. They showed an actual