AUSTRIA. 



161 



tria, 10 ; Lower Austria, 18 ; Salzburg, 3 ; 

 Styria, 13; Carinthia, 5; Carniola, G; Buko- 

 wi"na, 5 ; Moravia, 22 ; Silesia, 6 ; Tyrol and 

 Vorarlberg, 12 ; Transylvania, 26 ; and Istria 

 and Trieste, 6. Each Provincial Diet consists 

 of only one assembly, composed 1st, of the 

 archbishops and bishops of the Roman Catholic 

 and Oriental Greek Church and the chancellors 

 of the universities ; 2d, of the representatives 

 of great estates, elected by all landowners pay- 

 ing not less than one hundred florins taxes ; 3d, 

 of the representatives of towns, elected by 

 those citizens who possess municipal rights; 

 4th, of the representatives of boards of com- 

 merce and trade unions, chosen by the repre- 

 sentatives of rural communes, elected by such 

 communes or by such inhabitants as pay a small 

 amount of direct taxation. 



To the revenue of the Empire the German- 

 Slavonic population contributes about 65 per 

 cent., the Kingdom of Hungary 25 per cent., 

 and Venetia about 6 per cent. Among the 

 most important items of the revenue is the mo- 

 nopoly of the Government for tobacco, which 

 has existed since 1670, and has been continually 

 increasing of late year's. Among the items of 

 expenditures the interest on the public debt is 

 the largest. This debt has gradually grown up 

 to immense proportions. While in 1763 it was 

 150,000,000 florins, it was 283,000,000 in 1781, 

 349,000^000 in 1789, and from that year until 

 1863 there has not been a single year in which 

 the revenue of the year has come up to the ex- 

 penditure. According to a report of the Com- 

 mission on the Public Debt, published in the 

 official Vienna Gazette of 2STov. 15, 1862, 

 the capital of the debt, both consolidated and 

 floating, amounted, on Oct. 31, 1862, to 2,364,- 

 316,761 florins, of which the floating debt con- 

 sisted of 396,972,206 florins. The sum of 2,- 

 237,932 florins, which at that moment was 

 contained in the deposit bank, being deducted 

 from that amount, there remained 2,362,078,829 

 florins as the net amount of the general debt. 

 In addition, the Lombardo- Venetian debt 

 amounted to 66,419,385 florins, and the debt 

 of the land-redemption fund was 522,586,239 

 florins. A new loan of 80,000,000 florins 'was 

 contracted in November, 1863, and another 

 loan of 90.000,000 florins in May, 1864. The 

 latter loan, sanctioned by the Reichsrath in the 

 vote of the budget estimates for 1863-'64, was 

 to defray in part the expenditure incurred in 

 the war against Denmark. 



According to official returns Austria pos- 

 sessed, on the peace footing, at the end of Oc- 

 tober, 1863, an army of 269,103 men, rank and 

 file, with 42.201. horses. The navy consisted, 

 in August, 1864, of thirty-nine steamers, with 

 639 guns and 11,730 horse-power, and twenty 

 sailing vessels, with 145 guns. 



The session of the Reichsrath of 1863 was 

 brought to a close by a speech from the Em- 

 peror on the 15th of February. He said that, 

 with great satisfaction, he observed the mate- 

 rial and intellectual progress made by Austria. 

 VOL. iv. 11 A 



He expressed his thanks for the support and 

 sympathy he had received from the whole 

 monarchy. The session had not been unfruit- 

 ful, some important bills having already been 

 sanctioned. Eastern Galicia and the Buko- 

 wina would have the advantage of railways, 

 and a line would also be constructed in Tran- 

 sylvania. In conformity with the vote of the 

 Federal Diet, and in concert with the King of 

 Prussia, he had taken part in the federal exe- 

 cution in Holstein, and Schleswig had been oc- . 

 cupied as a pledge. The Emperor said, in 

 conclusion, "Austria has shown that, in her re- 

 juvenated form, she preserves her good old 

 spirit, and that the inheritance of her strength 

 and glory abides with her on the new path of 

 liberty which she has entered/' 



Notwithstanding the hopes expressed in this 

 speech of the Emperor, very little progress was 

 made in the conciliation of the disaffected na- 

 tionalities. The state of Galicia appeared to 

 be so alarming that, on the 28th of February, 

 the state of siege was proclaimed in all Gallicia 

 and Cracow. The ordinances published on this 

 occasion by the Governor, Count Mensdorff, 

 were to the following effect : 



The civil authorities are subordinated to the mili- 

 tary commander of the kingdom of Galicia. The 

 courts-martial have to administer justice on the basis 

 of the civil laws wherever they are in accordance 

 with the military laws and with the military method 

 of procedure in criminal cases. Thus, persons 

 guilty of high treason, misprision of treason, of- 

 fences against members of the Imperial family, re- 

 bellion, sedition, murder, or disturbance of the pub- 

 lic peace, will be punished according to laws con- 

 tained in certain paragraphs of the Civil Code. The 

 militarvauthorities are also charged to proceed against 

 all persons who may offend against the laws for the 

 regulation of the public press. The commander of 

 the forces in Galicia is empowered to commute pun- 

 ishment, or even to grant a full pardon, if the person 

 convicted be not sentenced to more than one year's 

 imprisonment. He has also the power temporarily 

 to suspend the appearance of periodical papers, or 

 altogether to suppress them. Tne new laws relative 

 to the personal liberty of the subject and to the 

 inviolability of his domicile are suspended. 



An order was also issued for a general sur- 

 render of arms to the police authorities in 

 Galicia within a fortnight, and that under 

 pain of heavy fines and imprisonment. Per- 

 sons attempting to conceal weapons of war and 

 ammunition were to pay a fine of 1000 florins, 

 or to be closely imprisoned for one year. Gov- 

 ernment officials and persons wearing the na- 

 tional (Polish) costume were allowed to retain 

 their side-arms. All foreigners sojourning hi 

 Galicia were summoned to present themselves 

 to the poh'ce authorities within forty-eight 

 hours, and to obtain permission to remain in 

 the country. On the 13th of March disturb- 

 ances broke out in Pesth, Hungary, but they 

 were easily suppressed. The repeated reports 

 that the Government would convoke the Diet 

 of Hungary, in order to make a new attempt 

 at reconciliation, proved to be unfounded. 



The Franco-Italian convention concluded on 

 the 15th of September, led to the resignation 



