AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



Count Eduard Taafe, appointed Aug. 19, 1879 ; 

 Minister of Education and Ecclesiastical Af- 

 fairs, Baron S. Conrad d'Eybesfeld, appointed 

 Feb. 17, 1880; Minister of Finance, Dr. J. 

 Dunajewski, appointed June 26, 1880 ; Minis- 

 ter of Agriculture, Count Julius Falkenhayn, 

 appointed Aug. 9, 1879 ; Minister of Commerce 

 and National Economy, Baron F. Pino von 

 Friedenthal, appointed Jan. 14, 1881 ; Minis- 

 ter of National Defense, Maj.-Gen. Count S. 

 von Welsersheimb, appointed June 25, 1880 ; 

 Minister of Justice, A. Prazak, appointed Jan. 

 14, 1881 ; without portfolio, F. Ziemialkowski, 

 appointed Aug. 12, 1879. 



Finances. The estimate of revenue for the 

 year ending March 31, 1885, is 474,555,699 

 florins, of which 95,262,000 florins are derived 

 from direct taxes on land, houses, industries, 

 and incomes; 250,946,800 florins from excise 

 and customs duties, tobacco and salt monopo- 

 lies, stamps, the state lottery, and other indi- 

 rect taxes; 26,005,000 florins from posts and 

 telegraphs; 17,385,450 florins from railways ; 

 and the remainder from mines, forests, and 

 other ordinary sources of revenue, except 16,- 

 458,681 florins of extraordinary receipts. The 

 ordinary expenditures are estimated at 440,- 

 581,960 florins and the extraordinary expendi- 

 tures at 74,337,413 florins. The ordinary ex- 

 penditures include 118,044,051 florins on ac- 

 count of the public debt, 100,360,790 florins 

 for the Ministry of Finance, 33,817,835 florins 

 as the Oisleithan quota of common expendi- 

 tures, 41,420,110 florins for the Ministry of 

 Commerce, 19,806,300 for the Ministry of Jus- 

 tice, 16,679,250 florins for pensions and dota- 

 tions, 16,097,005 florins for the Ministry of the 

 Interior, 11,103,710 florins for the Ministry of 

 Agriculture, 10,934,726 florins for education, 

 9,115,200 florins for the Ministry of National 

 Defense, 4,650,000 florins for the Imperial 

 Household, 4,253,870 florins for Public Wor- 

 ship, and smaller sums for central establish- 

 ments, management of the debt, etc. 



The general debt of the empire amounted on 

 July 1, 1884, to 2,683,944,438 florins of con- 

 solidated funds, 88,318,027 florins of floating 

 liabilities, and 13,917,407 florins of capitalized 

 annuities. The interest charge in 1884 was 

 115,003,860 florins, of which Austria bore all 

 but about 30,000,000 florins. Austria owes 

 besides a consolidated debt of 530,191,416 flor- 

 ins, a floating debt of 1,513,264 florins, and 

 142,116,953 florins of land-redemption annui- 

 ties. The paper currency in forced circula- 

 tion amounted to 350,951,770 florins besides. 

 The interest on the general and special debts 

 amounted in 1884 to about 114,670,000 florins. 



The Dissolution of the Reichsrath. The Reichs- 

 rath closed the sixth and final year of its ses- 

 sions in April. Count Taafe was called to 

 office in 1879, during the crisis that followed 

 the downfall of the German Liberal Cabinet 

 of Prince Auersperg. With the aid of the 

 personal interposition of the Emperor, the 

 Czechs were induced to cease their absten- 



tion from the Reichsrath. A compromise was 

 effected with the Bohemian land-owners, by 

 which the Czech representation was increased. 

 A combination of Czechs, Poles, and German 

 Clericals gave the ministry a majority, in 

 which the moderate section of the German 

 party united. The Cabinet was composed of 

 Slavs and Germans in about equal numbers. 

 The moral effect of the Slav success and cer- 

 tain changes in the electoral laws gave the 

 Czechs a majority in the Bohemian Diet, a 

 result that exasperated the Germans. The Ger- 

 man Liberals left the Cabinet, and the two fac- 

 tions of the party joined to oppose the Gov- 

 ernment as the United Left. The Cabinet re- 

 mained a coalition ministry only in name, but 

 the Slav tendencies were restrained and mod- 

 erated by the skillful management of the Prime 

 Minister. The late Reichsrath was composed 

 of 145 German Liberals, 54 Czechs, 57 Poles, 

 and 57 other Slavs and German Clericals. The 

 extravagant demands of the Poles for public 

 works in Galicia nearly broke up the minis- 

 terial majority by driving the Clericals over to 

 the Opposition. The ministry passed a liberal 

 electoral law, extending the town and county 

 franchise to all persons paying 5 florins in 

 direct taxes, instead of 10 florins, as formerly. 

 This was counterbalanced by a retrograde edu- 

 cation act, lowering the standard of public 

 education, that was passed at the instance of 

 the German Clericals. Toward the end of its 

 period the Reichsrath passed for the Czechs 

 two acts that excited the jealousy and hostility 

 of the Germans more than all others, and in- 

 flamed race passions on both sides. These 

 measures were a compromise that failed to 

 satisfy the desires of the Czechs, but they 

 are sufficient to encourage their aspirations 

 to form a separate state with its own Parlia- 

 ment and ministry, and to see the Emperor 

 crowned King of Bohemia at Prague. The 

 more important of these two acts decrees that 

 the Czech tongue shall be, equally with Ger- 

 man, the official language of Bohemia. The 

 other creates a Czech University, besides the 

 German University existing at Prague. 



The General Election. The result of the elec- 

 tions for the new Reichsrath that were held 

 in June gave the Taafe ministry a somewhat 

 larger and more solid majority, but failed to 

 secure the two thirds that the Germans feared, 

 which would enable a revision of the Constitu- 

 tion to be carried through against their votes. 

 The German Liberals lost about 20 seats. In 

 Bohemia they lost 11. In Vienna, which they 

 have always carried without opposition, they 

 were defeated in four out of the nine wards, 

 through the votes of the new electors, the 

 "five-gulden men," who returned Democrats 

 and Anti-Semites in their stead. The Demo- 

 crats are extreme Liberals who are antago- 

 nistic to the German Liberals on the question 

 of favoring the aspirations of the Slav nation- 

 alities. The 25 National Germans returned 

 from Bohemia and Styria, on the other hand, 



