284 



EUROPE. 



land for the establishment of a provincial com- 

 mittee, which in future will be consulted in all 

 questions relating to the administration of the 

 country. (See GERMANY.) 



The adoption of the new Federal Constitution 

 in Switzerland by the requisite majority of the 

 cantons and of the people, marks a turning- 

 point in the history of the oldest European re- 

 public. The new constitution greatly strength- 

 ens the jurisdiction of the Federal authorities, 

 especially in all questions relating to the Church 

 and schools. The legislation concerning the 

 Catholic Church continued to be much more 

 stringent than in Germany, and in several 

 cantons the utmost efforts were made by the 

 cantonal governments to put the administra- 

 tion of all the Catholic congregations in the 

 hands of Old Catholics. The new laws required 

 for the execution of the Federal Constitution 

 were, at the close of the year, in the course of 

 preparation. (See SWITZERLAND.) 



In Austria, the new electoral law has as yet 

 not produced the results which the Liberal 

 party expected from it. The difficulties arising 

 from the nationality conflict and the financial 

 distress of the country continued, and the 

 Reichstag is divided into so many small parties 

 warring against each other that it proved un- 

 able to carry any measure against the ministry. 

 The latter continued, in all questions relating 

 to Church matters, to waver between the two 

 parties, not gaining the entire confidence of 

 either. Hungary has the same difficulties to 

 surmount as Cisleithan Austria, and its Diet was 

 even more powerless than that of the other 

 half of the monarchy. (See ADSTEIA and HUN- 

 GAET.) 



The relations between Turkey and Austria, 

 which were formerly of the most friendly char- 

 acter, were greatly changed in 1874. The 

 Sublime Porte suspected the Austrian Govern- 

 ment of encouraging the struggle of Roumania 

 and Servia for independence, with a view to 

 the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to 

 the Austrian dominions. It therefore opposed 

 the conclusion of a commercial convention be- 

 tween Austria and the Danubian Principali- 

 ties, but had finally to abandon its opposition, 

 as Russia and Germany took sides with Aus- 

 tria. The financial embarrassments of Turkey 

 have at length prevailed upon the Government 

 to establish a great banking institition, with 

 the aid of which extensive reforms are to be 

 introduced. For the present, however, the 

 country is at the mercy of the foreign bankers, 

 and a radical improvement cannot be expected 

 until the absolute form of government shall 

 be abolished. (See TURKEY.) 



The Government of Kussia, which is grow- 

 ing in extent with marvelous rapidity, is chiefly 

 intent upon consolidating all the discordant na- 

 tionalities of the empire into an homogeneous 

 population. It makes, therefore, extraordinary 

 efforts to improve the system of public instruc- 

 tion and to force upon all the use of the Rus- 

 sian language. It finds, moreover, that the 



difficulties in the way of carrying through this 

 plan are much greater than had been imagined, 

 and are for the present insurmountable. There 

 are many indications that all the branches of ad- 

 ministration are utterly corrupt, and the fre- 

 quent conspiracies, in which sometimes persons 

 of the highest rank are involved, are therefore 

 all the more dangerous. (See RUSSIA.) 



The financial condition of France has greatly 

 improved in consequence of an excellent har- 

 vest and the revival of commerce, but the po- 

 litical future of the country is as uncertain as 

 ever. At the supplementary elections held in 

 several departments, the Republicans gained a 

 number of new seats, but nothing as yet indi- 

 cates that the majority of the French people 

 really wants the permanent establishment of 

 the republic. Among the monarchical parties, 

 the Bonapartists are steadily gaining ground. 

 The foreign relations of France were of a thor- 

 oughly peaceable nature as far as Germany is 

 concerned ; this was officially recognized by the 

 German Government, while the withdrawal of 

 a French man-of-war from Civita Vecchia, 

 where it had been stationed for the protection 

 of the Pope, greatly improved the relations 

 with Italy. Only Spain had repeatedly to com- 

 plain of the indirect encouragement which the 

 French Government afforded to the Carlists, 

 and it needed the support of the Spanish re- 

 monstrances by Germany to put an end to the 

 partiality of the French for the Carlists. (See 

 FRANCE.) 



At the beginning of the year 1874 the ad- 

 ministration of the honest Castelar was over- 

 thrown by a conspiracy of generals, who were 

 believed to plan a restoration of the monarchy. 

 The authors of this coup d'etat placed Marshal 

 Serrano at the head of a new ministry, whose 

 attention throughout the year was absorbed 

 by the war against the Carlists, who, favored 

 by several governments of Europe, made at 

 times considerable progress, arid seriously en- 

 dangered the existing Government. In the 

 last days of December, the preparations for the 

 restoration of the Bourbons had been com- 

 pleted, and the son of Queen Isabella was pro- 

 claimed King of Spain, under the name of 

 Alfonso XII. (See SPAIN.) 



In Italy, a new Parliament was elected, the 

 second since the completion of Italian unity. 

 The majority of the. new Parliament belonged, 

 like the ministry, to the moderate Liberals, but 

 the opposition, consisting of Radical and Re- 

 publican deputies, was strong enough to ob- 

 struct in many ways this administration. The 

 conflict with the Pope remained in full force, 

 and the Government appeared to be at a loss 

 as to 'the policy which it would be safest to 

 pursue. (See ITALY.) 



The vast British Empire was again enlarged 

 in 1874 by the annexation of the Feejee Islands, 

 and a new district in "Western and South 

 Africa. At home the Liberal ministry, which 

 had been in power for several years, was 

 gradually losing ground, and Mr. Gladstone 



