AUSTRIA. 



59 



Of which sum the cis-Leithan provinces fur- 

 nish 70 per cent., or 70,250,033 ; and the trans- 

 Leithan provinces 30 per cent., or 30,107,157. 



The budget of 1868, for the cis-Leithan 

 provinces, was as follows : Receipts, 317,336,- 

 591 ; expenditures, 322,892,490 ; deficit, 5,555,- 

 899. The public debt, on December 31, 1867, 

 was 3,025,315,896 florins; on December 31, 

 1866, 2,919,717,689 florins. 



The strength of the army on the peace and 

 war footing was, in 1868, as follows : 



Peace footing. War footing. 



Infantry 153,700 608,447 



Cavalry 39,229 42,705 



Othertroops 43,072 105,019 



Total 236,001 756,171 



In addition to these troops, there were 

 "Troops of Public Safety," consisting of 

 eleven commands of gensdarmerie, and the 

 corps of military police ; together 7,927 men. 



The navy consisted, in 1868, of 45 steamers, 

 with 12,756 horse-power and 529 guns, and 16 

 sailing-vessels, with 76 cannons. The mer- 

 chant marine, in 1868, consisted of 7,836 ves- 

 sels, together of 324,415 tons. 



The liberal ministry, which had been ap- 

 pointed, in December, 1867, for the cis-Leithan 

 countries, showed a firm determination to 

 carry through constitutional principles. Dr. 

 Giskra, the Minister of the Interior, in Janu- 

 ary, issued a circular to the chief officials in 

 the provinces, announcing that as in future all 

 members of the administration are bound to 

 swear to inviolably observe the fundamental 

 laws of the empire, so also must those who 

 have already been sworn now make a fresh 

 declaration, swearing fidelity to the new con- 

 stitution. Nobody is to be forced to make 

 this declaration. It is not a mere formality, 

 but a political act of national importance. Be- 

 sides inviolable fidelity to the Emperor, there 

 will be required from all functionaries an un- 

 conditional observance of the constitution and 

 fundamental laws. The minister the more 

 emphatically requires sincere devotion and 

 stainless fidelity to the constitution, since he is 

 responsible for all acts of the internal admin- 

 istration. Treachery and hostility to the con- 

 stitution, he says, must be regarded as quite 

 as grave a dereliction of duty as any other 

 violation of the official oath. Mere indiffer- 

 ence or neutrality to the constitution is not 

 sufficient. In conclusion, the minister re- 

 quires from the officials strict punctuality, 

 quick ^ transaction of business, a thorough 

 emancipation from formalism, constant will- 

 ingness in their communications with the peo- 

 ple, disinterested impartiality, and the main- 

 tenance of their social position by an irre- 

 proachable private life. Then will the Aus- 

 trian officials be the most efficient interpreters 

 of the constitutional idea. 



In a second circular to the provincial gov- 

 ernors of Upper Austria and Styria, Dr. 

 Giskra calls attention to the agitation fo- 



mented by the clergy in the above-named 

 districts against the new constitution, and in- 

 structing the governors to warn the clergy 

 against encouraging intrigues. The governors 

 are desired to inform the bishops that the 

 Government has no intention of interfering 

 with the clergy in the execution of their 

 spiritual duties, but that it also demands that 

 they should not consider themselves above the 

 laws. In case of non-compliance, says the 

 circular, the Government will be compelled to 

 bring the disturbers of the public peace before 

 the tribunals. 



The two Houses of the ReichsratJi adopted 

 in April and May several important laws intend- 

 ing to introduce equality of civil rights for all 

 inhabitants of the empire, and restricting the 

 influence of the church. The following is an 

 abstract of the most important of these laws : 



The law concerning civil marriage consecrates, for 

 the benefit of all citizens, the right to contract a law- 

 ful union outside of the Catholic or any other church, 

 and without the intervention of the clergy of any sect 

 whatever. 



The law relative to primary instruction restores the 

 principle of the civil authority in the public schools 

 rounded and maintained by the state ; it takes away 

 from the clergy the exclusive direction of sucli in- 

 struction. 



Article 1 of the law, on the subject of profession 

 of faith, declares invalid every engagement made with 

 the heads or the subordinate officers of any church or 

 religious society concerning the profession of faith in 

 which the children (of the party) are to be brought 

 up. (This refers to the solemn engagement required 

 in the Catholic Church as a condition of its assent to 

 such a proposed marriage, that the children of mixed 

 marriages shall be brought up as Catholics.) 



Article 4 sanctions in the most absolute manner 

 the principle of liberty of conscience. At the age of 

 fourteen years every one has the right of freely choos- 

 ing his religion according to his own convictions, and 

 the civil authority is bound in case of need to protect 

 this free choice. Before that age legitimate children 

 follow the religion of their parents, if both belong to 

 the same faith ; illegitimate children follow the re- 

 ligion of their mother. In the case of mixed marriages 

 the son follows the religion of his father, the daugh- 

 ter that of her mother ; this arrangement may, how- 

 ever, be modified by the contract of marriage. 



After the age of fourteen every one may freely 

 change his religion. Notice of such a change must be 

 given to the civil authorities, in order that it may 

 have its legal effect. 



The provisions of the civil and penal codes, which 

 disinherited any one who should abandon the Chris- 

 tian religion, are annulled by article seven. The 

 same is true of those sections which characterized as 

 crimes all acts tending to pervert any one from Chris- 

 tianity, or the propagation of doctrines contrary to 

 the Christian religion. 



According to articles 9 and 10, no one can be 

 bound to contribute, in money or in kind, to the sup- 

 port of a form of worship not his own. The same 

 provision applies to contributions for schools, unless 

 the adherents of different sects have agreed to the 

 support of a common school. Articles 12 and 13 reg- 

 ulate the question of cemeteries until the passage of a 

 special law on the subject. The police of the ceme- 

 teries is under the jurisdiction of the civil authorities 

 of the parish. No religious community can refuse 

 burial in its cemetery to a member of another church, 

 either first, in case of an interment in a family vault, 

 or second, if there be in the parish where the death 

 occurs no cemetery belonging especially to the church 

 or religious society of which the deceased was a mem- 



