AUSTRO-HDNGARIAN MONARCHY. 



77 



In February, the Emperor Francis Joseph 

 j>:ii.l a vi-it to tli- Kmperor of Russia at St. 



-'iii-jr. wla-re he was received with marked 

 honors. The conferences of Austrian and 



:ii ministers held on this occasion appear 

 to have chiefly concerned commercial ques- 

 tions as a mixed commission was appointed 

 1-y the two Governments to meet in March in 

 St. Petersburg. Complaints of the Russian 

 mode of levying duties on goods crossing tho 

 frontier have been frequent in Austro-Hun- 

 piry for some time. With a view to obtain, 

 if possible, a removal of the grievance, the 

 Austrian Government, not long ago, requested 

 the Chambers of Commerce to set forth their 

 several views in written memorials, stating 

 what the present grievances are, and how they 

 may bo remedied. Copies of these memorials, 

 illustrated by established facts, were submitted 

 to the Russian Government by the Austrian 

 legation at the time of the Emperor's visit to 

 St. Petersburg, and the propositions therein con- 

 tainod were at the same time warmly advo- 

 cated by the Austrian diplomatists assembled 

 at the Russian capital. The Russian authori- 

 ties met the Austrian suggestions in a friendly 

 and sympathetic spirit, offering to cooperate 

 in the proposed reforms to the best of their en- 

 deavor. The Austrian negotiators took care to 

 prove that the advantage would be mutual, 

 and that Russian interests cannot possibly suffer 

 from the alterations. Semi-officially it was 

 also stated that "the happy issue" of the 

 journey of Francis Joseph " protects Austria 

 against a disturbance of her internal develop- 

 ment by the bugbear of Panslavism." 



On June 14th, the Minister of War, J. von 

 Kuhn, resigned, and the Governor of Bohemia, 

 General von Roller, was appointed in his 

 place. Kuhn had asked for his dismission 

 twice before, the last time when the general 

 staff was separated from the Ministry of War, 

 and an independent chief of the staff appoint- 

 ed. The Emperor at that time declared to 

 Kuhn that no competent man had yet been 

 found to carry through the organization of the 

 army. It is no secret that the old military 

 party, at the head of which is Archduke Al- 

 brecht, was the cause that Kuhn's resignation 

 was formerly offered and this time accepted. 



A visit made by the Emperor, in September, 

 to Bohemia, called forth a number of addresses. 

 The Czechic towns had sent a number of depu- 

 tations which were to express the wishes of the 

 Czechic population for a decentralization of 

 the empire, and the restoration of Bohemian 

 autonomy. The Emperor was, however, care- 

 ful in his answers not to give any encourage- 

 ment to the hopes of the Czechs. When the 

 Town Council at Prague, in its address, demon- 

 stratively declared that it offered the expres- 

 sion of its confidence exclusively to the person 

 of the monarch, the Emperor replied by ex- 

 pressing the hope that Prague would continue 

 to grow under the protection of the laws and 

 tin/ institutions given by him. Those deputa- 



tions which intended to present addresses of 

 outspoken federalistic tendencies were not ad- 

 mitted at all to the audience. While the atti- 

 tude of the Emperor with regard to the Czechic 

 federalists was, on the whole, satisfactory to 

 the Liberal party, they were leas pleased with 

 the position he took with regard to the new 

 Church laws in his intercourse with the Li-h- 

 ops. In a private audience given to the Car- 

 dinal-Archbishop of Prague, Prince Schwarz- 

 enberg, he was reported by Catholic papers to 

 have expressed his regret that up to the present 

 time he had been prevented by circumstances 

 from doing what he desired to do for the Church; 

 and, on the other hand, his satisfaction in hav- 

 ing averted from her some evils which other- 

 wise would have befallen her, and his deter- 

 mination to protect the Church so far as the 

 present circumstances would allow. The Lib- 

 eral papers did not deny that remarks like these 

 had been made, though they claimed for them 

 an entirely private and unofficial character. 



All the provincial Diets of cis-Leithan Aus- 

 tria were opened on September 16th. The 

 Czechs in Bohemia are divided as to whether 

 their representatives shall take part in the 

 proceedings of the Bohemian Diet or not. 

 The Old Czechic party persists in its refusal to 

 attend the Diet, while the u Young Czechs " 

 (Liberals) are of the contrary opinion. The 

 latter had been successful in electing seven of 

 their candidates, who were present on the 

 opening of the Diet. All the Diets closed their 

 sessions by October 17th. In order to avoid 

 the simultaneous meeting of the provincial Di- 

 ets and the Reich srath, the former will in fu- 

 ture be held in the spring. * 



The Reichsrath reassembled on October 20th. 

 The Minister of Public Worship, to the great 

 disappointment of the Catholic party, had pre- 

 viously announced that the Government would 

 strictly carry out the new Church laws. The 

 same minister had made another concession to 

 the Liberal party by the appointment for the 

 theological faculty of the University of Inspruck 

 of two professors not belonging to the order 

 of the Jesuits which hitherto had filled all the 

 chairs of this faculty. The preliminary state- 

 ment of the budget for 1875, which the Minis- 

 ter of Finance read to the Reichsrath in Oc- 

 tober, did not give satisfaction, as it showed a 

 decrease in the direct revenue. 



The joint annual meeting of the legislative 

 delegations of Austria and Hungary took place 

 this year in April at Pesth. In reply to a 

 question relative to Austria's foreign relations 

 and the present state of Europe, Count An- 

 drassy positively denied the existence of any 

 immediate danger of war. Austria in her inter- 

 course with neighboring and other states had 

 greatly contributed, and would continue to 

 contribute, to the preservation of peace. The 

 best means of rendering this line of conduct 

 effective in the future consisted in continuing 

 to maintain the strength of the monarchy at 

 such a point as to enable Austria to preserve 



