76 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



and rural constituencies and 40 delegates of 

 Croatia-Slavonia. All male citizens of the age 

 of twenty or upward who pay a certain low tax 

 on house" property, land, or income, or who have 

 an educational qualification, are entitled to vote, 

 the number of electors being about 1 in 18 of 

 population. 



The Cabinet of Ministers, constituted Jan. 15, 

 1898, was composed as follows: President of the 

 Council and Minister art latus, or near the King's 

 person, ad interim, Baron Desiderius Banffy; 

 Minister of Finance, Dr. Ladislas de Lukacs; 

 Minister of National Defense, Baron Geza Fejer- 

 vary; Minister of the Interior, Desiderius de 

 Perc/el ; Minister of Education and Ecclesias- 

 tical Affairs, Dr. Julius de Wlassics; Minister of 

 Justice, Dr. Alexander Erdely; Minister of In- 

 dustry and Commerce, Baron Ernest de Daniel; 

 Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Ignatius de Daranyi; 

 Minister for Croatia-Slavonia, Emerich de Josi- 

 povich. 



Area and Population. The Hungarian do- 

 minions, inclusive of Croatia and Slavonia, have 

 an area of 125.039 square miles, with a popula- 

 tion of 17,463,791 at the census of 1890. The 

 number of marriages in 1897 was 151,176; of 

 births, 7(55,430; of deaths, 529,020; excess of 

 births. 219,077. About 51 per cent, of the popu- 

 lation are Roman Catholic, 15 per cent. Greek 

 Oriental. 10 per cent. Greek Catholic, 13 per cent. 

 Calvinist, 7 per cent. Lutheran, and 4 per cent. 

 Hebrew. Buda-Pesth had 617,856 inhabitants in 

 the beginning of 1897. 



Finances. The revenue of the Government 

 in 1897 was 556,964,000 florins, of which 511,082,- 

 000 florins were ordinary and 45,882,000 florins 

 extraordinary receipts. The ordinary expendi- 

 ture was 455,492,000 florins; transitory expendi- 

 ture, 13,228,000 florins; investments, 70,019,000 

 florins; extraordinary expenditure, 9,392,000 

 florins; total, 548,131,000 florins. The total rev- 

 enue for 1898 was estimated to be 498,775,291 

 florins, and the total expenditure 498,726,570 

 florins. The budget estimates for 1899 made the 

 ordinary revenue 482,464,037 florins and the ex- 

 traordinary revenue 20,839,566 florins; total, 503,- 

 303,603 florins. Of the ordinary revenue 1,502,241 

 florins come from the public-debt account, 1,000 

 florins from the Ministry art latus, 3,641,888 

 florins from the Ministry of the Interior, 329,- 

 717.648 florins from the Ministry of Finance, 

 126,342,382 florins from the Ministry of Com- 

 merce, 18,091,211 florins from the Ministry of 

 Agriculture, 1,820,667 florins from the Ministry 

 of Instruction and Worship, 991,956 florins from 

 the Ministry of Justice, and 355,044 florins from 

 the Ministry of National Defense. The total or- 

 dinary expenditure for 1899 was estimated at 

 460,005.399 florins, transitory expenditure at 15,- 

 869,462 florins, investments at 27,389,585 florins; 

 total, 503,264,446 florins. Of the ordinary ex- 

 penditure 4,650,000 florins were required for the 

 civil list, 78,307 florins for the Cabinet chancery, 

 1,783,9(56 florins for the Legislature, 28,318,076 

 for the matricular contribution to common ex- 

 penses of the empire, 23,203 florins for the com- 

 mon pension fund, 9,044,927 florins for Hun- 

 garian pensions, 128,913,726 florins for the 

 national debt, 13,671,340 florins for debts of 

 guaranteed railroads acquired by the state, 293,- 

 028 florins for guaranteed railroad interest, 

 2,947.313 florins for other debts, 8,291,790 florins 

 for the administration of Croatia, 153,135 florins 

 for the Accountant General's office, 260,517 florins 

 for the law courts, 482,815 florins for the Minister 

 Presidency, 74,236 florins for the Ministry art 

 latus, 44,530 florins for the Ministry for Croatia 



19,600,367 florins for the Ministry of the Inte- 

 rior, 88,487,768 florins for the Ministry of Fi- 

 nance, 86,860,961 florins for the Ministry of 

 Commerce, 19,769,585 florins for the Ministry of 

 Agriculture, 13,111,264 florins for the Ministry 

 of Public Instruction and Public Worship, 16,- 

 694,141 florins for the Ministry of Justice, and 

 16,450,404 florins for the Ministry of National 

 Defense. 



The consolidated debt of Hungary at the end 

 of 1897 was 1,089,033,000 florins; annuities, 1,058,- 

 . 740,000 florins; treasury bonds, 14,891,000 florins; 

 debts of the ministries, 65,214,000 florins; ar- 

 rears unpaid, 250,067,000 florins; total indebted- 

 ness, 2,477,945,000 florins. 



Cabinet Crisis. The Clerical and Conserva- 

 tive Opposition in the Hungarian Parliament, 

 supported by the dissident Liberals, prevented 

 the transaction of any legislative business in the 

 early part of 1899 by means of obstructive tac- 

 tics with the object of forcing Baron Banffy to 

 retire, as Dr. Wekerle, the preceding Prime Min- 

 ister, had been compelled to lay down his office 

 by machinations of the same parties. The pres- 

 ent deadlock was not only demoralizing in a 

 political sense and a blot on the fair fame of 

 Hungary as one of the model parliamentary 

 states of Europe, but it had even an injurious 

 effect on the hitherto flourishing Hungarian 

 trade and industry. The dissenting Liberals, 

 under the lead of M. Szilagyi and Count Julius 

 Andrassy, had placed themselves in opposition to 

 the Government on account of the lex Tisza, an 

 enactment of Parliament giving the Government 

 some degree of arbitrary authority in the event 

 of the breakdown of parliamentary government, 

 but not to the extent of the emergency para- 

 graph of the Austrian Constitution. The Cler- 

 icals desired the repeal of the civil-marriage act 

 and other religious legislation of recent Liberal 

 Cabinets, and objected to Baron Banffy as a 

 Protestant and the foremost exponent of the 

 policy of which such legislation \vas the out- 

 growth. Both they and the Liberal seceders ac- 

 cused tin Premier of having connived at elec- 

 toral corruption in the last elections. A motion 

 was presented in the Chamber of Magnates, where 

 the Conservatives have a majority, to solicit the 

 exercise of the royal prerogative in putting an 

 end to the extra-constitutional condition prevail- 

 ing, but even the bishops voted against such 

 an attempt to exert pressure on the Crown. 

 Some of the chief men in the Clerical Conserva- 

 tive party, as well as the dissident Liberals, 

 were disposed to abandon the policy of obstruc- 

 tion and come to terms with the Liberals in 

 order to allow useful laws to be made on an 

 Ausgleich settled with Austria, demanding only 

 that Baron Banffy should withdraw from the 

 ministry. Negotiations were begun in January, 

 and were continued until the various sections of 

 the Opposition pledged themselves not to ob- 

 struct the passage of certain urgent measures 

 in the ministerial programme. On Feb. 23 Kolo-* 

 man Szell, an ex-minister, who had stood aloof 

 from recent political conflicts until he was called 

 to the aid of Baron Banffy to act as mediator in 

 effecting a compromise with the Opposition, and 

 had, as his chosen successor, taken part in the 

 negotiations with the Austrian Government over 

 the Ausgleich, took his place at the head of the 

 Cabinet. The new ministry was constituted as 

 follows: President of the Council and Minister 

 of the Interior, Koloman Szell; Minister of Fi- 

 nance, Dr. Ladislas de Lukacs; Minister of 

 National Defense, Baron Geza Fejervary; Minis- 

 ter of Education and Worship, Dr. Julius de 



