it was originally concluded. The French people 

 do not renounce their hope of recovering their 

 lost provinces, yet the impulse of revenge no 

 longer stirs the nation, since Germany has given 

 up the attitude of truculent provocation for one 

 of studied courtesy, which the French Govern- 

 ment is constrained by national feeling to receive 

 but coolly. No more have the Italians aban- 

 doned their aspirations for the unredeemed Ital- 

 ian lands and the shores of the Adriatic, nor does 

 the Hapsburg monarchy cease to contemplate 

 the prospect of an Austrian port on the Mediter- 

 ranean, nor has Russia resigned her secular ambi- 

 tion to hold the seats of the Eastern Empire or 

 given up the role of guardian of all the Slav 

 peoples. The chance, however, of a new war over 

 the Eastern question seems less likely than a 

 peaceful division if the Turks are to be driven 

 out of Europe. Germany from the start refused 

 to support the ambition of Austria. When the 

 triple alliance was new Bismarck declared that 

 to Germany the Balkan peninsula was not worth 

 the bones of a Pomeranian grenadier. A collision 

 of the great Continental armies in central Europe 

 over Alsatia, Luxemburg, Belgium, the Germans 

 of Esthonia, the Esths of Prussia, or any other 

 question seems impossible. So well protected are 

 the frontiers, so destructive the modern weapons, 

 so enormous the forces that an attack would be 

 like national suicide. The renewal of the triple 

 alliance was followed by a. meeting of the Ger- 

 man Emperor and the Czar, who was visited by 

 the President of the French Republic in return 

 for his journey to France. The King of Italy 

 paid a visit to the Czar and stopped in Berlin, 

 but did not go to Vienna. 



The Ausgleich. The acrimonious conflict be- 

 tween the Austrian and Hungarian governments 

 over the renewal of the Ausgleich, which has been 

 kept up almost uninterruptedly for six years, 

 reached a critical stage in the summer of 1902, 

 when negotiations were broken off until the Em- 

 peror intervened between the two Prime Minis- 

 ters. Dr. von Korber gave warning that Austria 

 had made the last concessions in regard to the 

 autonomous tariff, and yet the Hungarian Par- 

 liament still insisted on its demands. The Aus- 

 trian Reichsrath, which came to a deadlock six 

 months before over the language question and 

 was brought into working order again only by 

 a threat from the Prime Minister to suspend the 

 Constitution, gave the Government united sup- 

 port in its insistence on the Austrian views, and 

 it ^vas the general feeling that in the concessions 

 already offered Austria sacrificed her interests to 

 such an extent that the Ausgleich when con- 

 cluded on such terms would be the last one. The 

 danger of an immediate disruption of the cus- 

 toms union seemed to be averted. Meanwhile 

 the continuance of the deadlock placed Austria- 

 Hungary at a disadvantage in respect to the 

 negotiations with other nations for the new 

 commercial treaties, for until the fiscal relations 

 of the two halves of the monarchy were settled 

 there was no adequate basis for these negotia- 

 tions. The dissensions over the tariff involved 

 many technical questions. In the main the Hun- 

 garians desired to protect their agriculture by 

 the imposition of high duties on foodstuffs and 

 raw materials, while the Austrians wanted to be 

 guaranteed against arbitrary interpretations by 

 the Hungarian authorities that would give an un- 

 fair advantage to the industries of Hungary 

 which the state helps in the effort to wrest the 

 domestic market from the Austrian manufac- 

 tures by granting subsidies, remitting taxes, and 

 allowing discriminating railroad rates in con- 



AUSTRIA-H UNGARY. 



5T 



tradiction to what the Austrians hold to be the 

 spirit of the customs union. In Hungary there 

 is a strong party in favor of an independent cus- 

 toms territory, and in Austria the idea of the 

 economical separation of the two monarchies has 

 taken root, though in the latter country more 

 effort would be required to adjust business to 

 such a condition. 



Austria. The legislative authority for the 

 empire is vested in the Reichsrath, but each 

 province possesses a large measure of autonomy 

 and has its Landtag to legislate on all matters 

 not reserved by the Constitution for the Reichs- 

 rath, which has general authority to legislate on 

 all matters concerning rights, duties, and inter- 

 ests that are common to all the lands represented 

 in the Reichsrath. The Reichsrath is composed 

 of a Herrenhaus and an Abgeordnetenhaus. The 

 Herrenhaus contains 18 princes of the imperial 

 family, 67 heads of the territorial families, 5 car- 

 dinals, 6 prince-bishops, and 140 members nomi- 

 nated for life. The Abgeordnetenhaus contains 

 425 members elected for six years 85 by large 

 proprietors, 118 by towns, 21 by chambers of 

 commerce and trade councils, 129 by rural com- 

 munes, and 72 by the general male population 

 paying 4 florins in direct taxes or otherwise 

 qualified. The ministry in office at the begin- 

 ning of 1902 was composed as follows: President 

 of the Council and Minister of the Interior, Dr. 

 E. von Korber; Minister of National Defense, 

 Graf Zeno von Welsersheimb ; Minister of Fi- 

 nance, Dr. E. Ritter Bohm von Bawerk; Minister 

 of Railroads, Dr. H. Ritter von Wittek; Minis- 

 ter of Justice, Baron A. Spens von Booden; Min- 

 ister of Public Instruction and Worship, Dr. \V. 

 Ritter von Hartel; Minister of Commerce, Baron 

 G. von Call von Culmbach and Rosenburg; Min- 

 ister of Agriculture, Baron K. de Giovanelli; 

 without portfolios, Dr. A. Rezek and Dr. Leonard 

 Pietak. 



Area and Population. The area of Austria 

 is 115,903 square miles. The population accord- 

 ing to the census of Dec. 31, 1900, was 26,150,- 

 597, or 226 to the square mile. The increase in 

 ten years was 2,214,802, giving a yearly rate 

 of 0.93 per cent. The area of the individual prov- 

 inces and their population in 1890 and 1900 are 

 given in the following table: 



The number of marriages in 1900 was 214,214; 

 of births, 967,939; of deaths, 658,680; excess of 

 births, 309,259. The number of Austrian emi- 

 grants who sailed from German and Dutch ports 

 in 1900 was 94.611. of whom 91,768 were destined 

 for the United States, 178 for Brazil, and 131 

 for the Argentine Republic. The population of 

 the chief towns on Dec. 31, 1900, was as follows: 

 Vienna, 1.674,957; Prague, 201,589; Lemberg, 

 159,877;- Gratz, 138,080; Trieste, 134,143; Brunn, 



