EUROPE. 



253 



or 3,749,313 square miles.* With regard to 

 their population, the countries of Europe (in- 

 clusive of their European dependencies) held 

 the following relative position in 1880: 



1 Russia (inclusive of Finland) 74,509,000 



2. Germany 45,5)0,000 



3 Austro-Hungary 88,000,000 



4. France 37,147,000 



5. Great Britain (inclusive of Malta, Gibraltar, 



and Heligoland) 85,038,000 



6 Italy. ........ 28,210,000 



7 Spain 16,343.000 



S.Belgium 5,536,000 



9. Roumania 5,376,000 



10. Turkey (exclusive of Bulgaria, East Eoume- 



lia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina) 4,790.000 



11. Portugal (inclusive of Azores) 4,613,000 



1-2. Sweden 4,579,000 



13. Netherlands 4,037,000 



14. Switzerland 2,808,000 



15 Denmark (inclusive of Faroe Islands and Ice- 

 land) . . . 2,053,000 



16. Bulgaria 1,965,000 



17. Norway 1,879,000 



18. Servia 1,682,000 



19. Greece 1,630,000 



20. Bosnia and Herzegovina 1,326,000 



21. East Eoumelia 816,000 



22. Montenegro 800.000 



23. Luxemburg 205,000 



24. Andorra 18,000 



25. Lichtenstein 9,000 



26. San Marino 8,000 



27. Monaco 7,000 



Total 818^000 



The Eastern question kept Europe through- 

 out the year in a state of excitement, though 

 not to the same degree as in 1879. (See EAST- 

 ERN QUESTION.) Of the two provisions of the 

 Treaty of Berlin which had not been carried 

 out in 1879 the cession of territory to Monte- 

 negro and Greece only the one relating to 

 Montenegro was disposed of toward the close 

 of the year 1880 ; the other, the Greco-Turkish 

 difficulty, being carried over into the new year. 

 The Porte, with the consent of the great pow- 

 ers, concluded a special treaty with Montenegro, 

 according to which Turkey kept the territory 

 which the Berlin Treaty had given to Monte- 

 negro, and in exchange promised to cede to 

 Montenegro the town of Dulcigno and some 

 neighboring villages. In the execution of this 

 new treaty the Turkish Government was so 

 dilatory, that the European powers, by sending 

 their fleets into Turkish waters, made a joint 

 demonstration against Turkey. In October the 

 representations of the German, Austrian, and 

 French ambassadors at last prevailed upon the 

 Turkish Government to order the evacuation, 

 which was effected in November, after the re- 

 sistance of the Albanians to it had been over- 

 come. (See MONTENEGRO.) For settling the 

 dispute between Greece and Turkey, the great 

 powers arranged another conference of pleni- 

 potentiaries at Berlin, on June 16th. The con- 

 ference agreed upon a new frontier between 

 Greece and Turkey, which the Turkish Govern- 

 ment refused to accept, and which Greece de- 

 clared itself determined to conquer if necessary 

 by force of arms. (See EASTERN QUESTION and 



* See " Annual Cyclopaedia' 1 for 1879, article EUROPE, for 

 a table of the European countries, arranged in order of their 

 areas. 



GREECE.) At the close of the year no real 

 progress toward the permanent settlement of 

 the question had been made. In the mean 

 while the condition of Turkey continues as 

 hopeless as before, and a further disintegra- 

 tion of the empire becomes more and more 

 probable. (See TURKEY.) 



In England, public attention was engrossed 

 by the change of government and the threat- 

 ening attitude of the Irish Land League. The 

 general elections which began at the close of 

 March, led to a crushing defeat of the Conser- 

 vative party, and to the formation of a new 

 Liberal Government under the leadership of 

 Gladstone. It was to be expected that Eng- 

 land's influence in the great international ques- 

 tions, especially in the Eastern question, would 

 be weakened by this change, and so the new 

 Government, at the close of the year 1880, could 

 not point to a single success in its foreign re- 

 lations. In home questions the successful prog- 

 ress of the Irish Land League was a cause of 

 still greater embarrassment. All parties in the 

 United Kingdom agree in the opinion that in 

 Ireland the leaders of the Land League possess 

 a much greater influence than the English Gov- 

 ernment. No one expects that the result of 

 the trial, which the Government in the last days 

 of the year instituted against the leaders of the 

 League, can in any way determine the further 

 development of the Irish question, which bids 

 fair to occupy a very prominent position in the 

 history of the year 1881. (See GREAT BRITAIN 

 and IRELAND.) The war in Afghanistan inflict- 

 ed again some severe losses upon the British 

 army, and at the close of the year no definite 

 agreement between the English and Afghan 

 governments had been arrived at. (See AF- 

 GHANISTAN.) In South Africa, the English Gov- 

 ernment had to face two new wars, the rising 

 of the Basutos, who refused to deliver up their 

 arms, and the attempt of the Boers of Trans- 

 vaal to restore their republic. (See CAPE COL- 

 ONY.) 



In Russia the Nihilists again scared the Gov- 

 ernment by a new plot against the Emperor's 

 life, which was followed by the appointment 

 of an executive commission, with General 

 Loris-Melikoff at the head. The commission 

 was clothed with very extensive powers for the 

 purpose of rooting out Nihilism. The effect of 

 the terrorism which prevailed in Russia in con- 

 sequence of the bold operations of the Nihilists 

 made itself felt at the gloomy celebration of 

 the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Emperor's 

 accession to the throne. In the course of the 

 year Melikoff succeeded, however, in checking 

 the demonstrations of the Nihilists, and in al- 

 laying, to some extent, the growing discontent 

 of large classes of the Russian people. The 

 negotiations with China on the retrocession of 

 Kulja were not yet concluded at the close of 

 1880, and the war against the Tekke-Turko- 

 mans was to recommence. (See RUSSIA.) 



In Italy, the resignation of the Ministry of 

 Cairoli led to the dissolution of the Chambers, 



