AUSTRIA. 



rins. A sum of 125,473,744 florins is 

 piiiv 1 t> pay the animal interest on tho public 

 \\ lii.'li lias increased since tho end of I'i-- 



234,831,693 florins. 

 ogth of the army on the pence- and 

 In December, 1865, as follows: 



Peace footing. War footing. 



ry 171,428 489,788 



39,183 41,903 



Other troops 45,122 98,962 



ji 



e 



MM 



| 



Total 255,733 .625,853 



Tho navy consisted, in December, 1865, of 66 

 re, \v ith 13,580 horse-power, and 723 guns ; 

 .1 r>l Ailing vessels, with 340 guns. 

 The relations between Austria and Prussia 

 from the beginning of the year, most un- 

 friendly. In a note, of February 7th, Austria 

 eclined to acknowledge the grievances ex- 

 1 in a Prussian dispatch of January 6th, 

 ith regard to the Austrian administration of 

 the duchy of Ilolstein, and defended its right 

 of independent administration. In the course 

 of March Austria began to arm, and on March 

 KHli established a council of war in the cities of 

 Prague, Pisek, Tabor, and Pilsen. On the same 

 day the Austrian Government addressed a cir- 



Jar to the Governments of tho Germanic Con- 

 eration concerning its relations with Prussia, 

 and intimated that it would appeal to the Con- 

 federation. In reply to the remonstrances of 

 the Prussian Government, the Austrian envoy 

 at Berlin declared, on March 31st, that his Gov- 

 ernment had not the remotest thought of 

 attacking Prussia, and that the emperor had 

 o intention to act contrary to art. 11 of the 

 'ederal pact. The same assurances were re- 

 eated in a note of April 7th, and the hope was 

 expressed that, as Austria had not taken any 

 extraordinary military measures, Prussia would 

 not execute the military orders that had recently 

 been given by her. In a note of April 18th Aus- 

 tria declared her readiness to disarm on a fixed 

 day (April 25th) if she could rely upon the same 

 conduct on the part of Prussia. The Prussian 

 Government having virtually assented to that 

 proposition, Austria declared, in a note of April 

 26th, that she would disarm on the Bohemian 

 frontier before Prussia, hoping that the arma- 

 ment in Italy would not be regarded as being 

 directed against Prussia. In a second note, of 

 e same date, Austria urged a mutual uuder- 

 anding in the Schlcswig-IIolstcin question, 

 and indicated the concessions which she was 

 ready to make to Prussia, namely, the definite 

 cession of the military positions of Kiel, Rends- 

 burg, and Sonderburg ; a cession of territory for 

 tho establishment of fortifications at Duppel and 

 Alsen ; the union of the duchies with the Zoll- 

 verein ; and the construction of a canal from the 

 German Sea to the Baltic. It was 'also inti- 

 mated that if Prussia should refuse to accede to 

 these propositions, Austria would appeal to the 

 Confederation. These propositions appearing 

 unacceptable at Berlin, Austria again, in a note 

 of May 4th, assured Prussia of her pacific inten- 



tions, bat insisted on her right of arming against 

 Jtaly, in order to protect not only her own fron- 

 tier, but the frontier of Germany. This note 

 cm In! the diplomatic correspondence concern- 

 iiiLT the armaments, and henceforth both powers 

 prepared for the great struggle. An invitation 

 (May 28th) from the great neutral powers to take 

 part in a peace conference was accepted by 

 Austria, upon tho condition, however, that from 

 the negotiations every combination should be 

 excluded which would tend to give to any one 

 of the powers an aggrandizement of territory. 

 Thus the last attempt to prevent war failed. 

 On June 1st Austria formally appealed for a 

 decision on the Schleswig-IIolstein question to 

 tho Federal Diet. The Prussian Government 

 having maintained, in a note of June 3d, that 

 Austria, by the proposition made at the Federal 

 Diet, had violated the treaty of Gastein, and 

 thereby justified Prussia in falling back upon the 

 provisions of the treaty of Vienna (a common 

 occupation of the duchies), the Austrian Gov- 

 ernment, on June 9th, replied that the arrange- 

 ments between Prussia and Austria could not 

 be prejudicial to the rights of the Confedera- 

 tion, and that Prussia had already previously 

 violated the treaty of Gastein (for instance, by 

 having the question of succession decided by 

 the crown syndics, by imposing fines based 

 upon this decision, etc.) Hostile movements of 

 Prussia against Saxony, Hanover, and Hesse- 

 Cassel having begun on June 15th, the emperor 

 on June 17th addressed a manifesto to the people 

 of the empire, which Count Mensdorif commu- 

 nicated to the representatives of Austria at for- 

 eign courts. On June 18th, the first Austrian 

 troops crossed the Prussian frontier, thus actu- 

 ally opening the war against Prussia and Italy, 

 which, after the short duration of a few weeks, 

 ended in the total defeat of Austria, and the 

 loss of one of her richest crown-lands. The pre- 

 liminaries of peace between Austria and Prussia 

 were signed at Nicholsburg on July 26th. Be- 

 tween Austria and Italy an armistice was signed 

 on August llth. The definitive treaty of peace 

 between Austria and Prussia was signed at 

 .Prague, on August 23d, and that between Aus- 

 tria and Italy at Vienna, on October 4th. (For 

 a full history of this war, see the article GEE- 

 MAN-ITALIAN WAR.) 



The German provinces of Austria were 

 greatly agitated relative to their future rela- 

 tions with Germany. On September 9th a 

 meeting of the deputies of the German Diets 

 of Austria was held at Aussee, Steiermark, to 

 consider the measures to be adopted for deter- 

 mining the position of the German population 

 of Austria, and for preserving their connec- 

 tion with Germany. The meeting recognized 

 the formation of a united German party as in- 

 dispensable, and that the principal of dualism, 

 with the restriction that certain matters bo rec- 

 ognized as common affairs and dealt with by 

 common parliamentary treatment, was the only 

 arrangement by which real liberty could be at- 

 tained. It was further agreed that the state of 



