66 



AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN MONARCHY. 



courage, force, and success, and you may quit with 

 well-earned satisfaction your sphere of action, in 

 which you have rendered the most eminent services 

 to the monarchy and to my House. I do not consider, 

 however, your present retreat as the end of your po- 

 litical activity. On the contrary, your loyalty to me 

 and the self-sacrificing devotion with which you have 

 testified this are a pledge to me that you will most 

 readily follow my call whenever and in whatever 

 sphere I may again require your trusty services. You 

 retain my full confidence not less than my grateful 

 recognition. 



The administration of Bosnia and Herzego- 

 vina was regulated as follows in the beginning 

 of the year : The head of the Government is 

 the Duke of Wiirtemberg, who is subordinate 

 in questions relating to the civil administration 

 to the Common Ministry only. The latter, in 

 accord with the governments of the two halves 

 of the empire, establishes for the transaction 

 of the current business the Bosnian Commis- 

 sion, composed of three delegates of the Com- 

 mon Ministry and one representative of each 

 of the two Governments of Austria and Hun- 

 gary. In this Commission the three delegates 

 of the Common Ministry form an executive 

 committee, whose decisions were to be coun- 

 tersigned by Count Andrassy as President of 

 the Common Ministry. As Count Andrassy, 

 however, felt unable to attend to all of this 

 business, it was ordered that these decisions 

 should in future be signed by Baron Hofmann. 



After negotiations had continued over nine 

 months, during which they were repeatedly 

 dropped and resumed, a convention was signed 

 on April 21st between Turkey and Austria, 

 concerning Bosnia, Herzegovina, and the san- 

 jak of Novi-Bazar. The convention recog- 

 nizes the existing condition of affairs in Bos- 

 nia. It also recognizes the right of Austria 

 to garrison Novi-Bazar, but it is expressly 

 stipulated that the presence of the Austrian 

 troops shall in no way interfere with the Turk- 

 ish administration, nor shall any impediment 

 be placed in the way of the Turkish Govern- 

 ment if it should desire to send troops to the 

 sanjak. The entry of the Austrian troops into 

 the sanjak of Novi-Bazar was delayed until 

 September. On the 8th, at 6 A. M., a brigade, 

 composed of two regiments of infantry, a bat- 

 talion of chasseurs, two mountain batteries, 

 and half a squadron of hussars, crossed the 

 frontier of Bosnia close by Svetlo Borje, not 

 far from Cainitza. Every precaution was taken 

 against any unexpected incident, columns being 

 detached from the bulk of the brigade to cover 

 the flanks of the Austrian force a function 

 which required these detached columns to 

 make their way over almost impassable moun- 

 tains. The road followed by the bulk of the 

 army was itself sufficiently toilsome, the ground 

 from Cainitza to the frontier rising to the 

 height of 2,100 feet. After a six hours' march, 

 the troops encamped near Han-Kovac. They 

 were well received. The Turkish detachment 

 which held Karakula Gorzd retired at the ap- 

 proach of the Austrian forces. Besides this 

 brigade, which crossed the frontier on the 



south side of the sanjak, another entered it 

 on the north side, by way of Visegrad. Cross- 

 ing the frontier close to Ratcha, the latter por- 

 tion of the Austrian troops directed their steps 

 to Priboj, where they met with a friendly re- 

 ception at the hands of the municipality ; a su- 

 perior Turkish officer, the Kaimakam, and the 

 leading men of the place also turning out to 

 welcome the brigade. The southern part of 

 the sanjak occupied by the Albanians was 

 closed by a cordon of twelve Ottoman battal- 

 ions, extending along Sienitza, Novi-Varosch, 

 and Bielopolje. Previous to the entry of the 

 Austrian troops, Safvet Pasha, the Turkish 

 Minister for Foreign Affairs, declared to the 

 Austrian Ambassador that he considered the 

 Porte had the greatest interest in showing as 

 distinctly as possible the existence of its com- 

 plete understanding with the Austro-Hunga- 

 rian Monarchy. "With this view, Husni Pasha 

 was expressly ordered to accompany the Aus- 

 trian troops upon their entry into Novi-Bazar. 

 Fresh orders were also sent from the Sultan to 

 the Turkish authorities in the district to afford 

 every possible facility to the Austrian troops 

 on their advance. The latter met with no re- 

 sistance whatever, and within a week of their 

 entry those troops not destined for garrison 

 duty began their backward march. As for the 

 remaining troops, a definite agreement was 

 come to by the Duke of Wurtemberg and Hus- 

 ni Pasha, as follows : All the important mili- 

 tary positions were to be jointly occupied. 

 The line of communication from Priboj to 

 Priepol, as well as that from Cainitza, the most 

 advanced point in Bosnia from the west to 

 Tashlidje, was to be kept open by Austrian 

 detachments posted on the more important 

 points, while the line from Tashlidje to Prie- 

 pol was to be held jointly by an Austrian de- 

 tachment occupying the height of Jabunka, 

 which forms the watershed, and a Turkish 

 detachment. The rest of the line was to be 

 held, as hitherto, by the Turks, who would 

 perform likewise the patrolling service. 



Spizza was formally taken possession of by 

 the Austrians on May llth. The Montenegrin 

 commissioner, in an address to the people, 

 called upon them to be loyal to their new sov- 

 ereign. 



On January 20th, a treaty based on the most- 

 favored-nation clause was signed between Aus- 

 tro-Hungary and France. The negotiations 

 had been going on for some time, and, not hav- 

 ing been concluded by December 31, 1878, it 

 was feared that the general tariff would have 

 to be applied on both sides, a result which 

 would have almost put an end to commercial 

 intercourse between the two countries. The 

 present general tariff of France is so high that 

 in most cases it would have caused an increase 

 of duty of about 60 per cent. On the other 

 hand, the Austrian tariff, though much lower, 

 permits an addition of 10 per cent, to the duty 

 on all articles coming from countries having no 

 treaty with Austria. This would have told 



