AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



43 



of Dec. 5, 1868, is that of universal liability to 

 arms, on the model of the German army. The 

 term of service is three years in the standing 

 army and seven years in the reserve, with a 

 liability to serve two years more in the Land- 

 wehr. The reorganization of the army, be- 

 gun in 1883, introduces the territorial system, 

 dividing the empire into fifteen corps cVar- 

 mee districts, subdivided into recruiting pre- 

 cincts. The 102 regiments of infantry, of four 

 battalions, will each be stationed in the dis- 

 trict from which it is recruited. The stand- 

 ing army numbered in -the beginning of 1882 

 251,455 men on the peace footing and 779,597 

 including the reserves. The active army was 

 made up as follows : infantry, 144,738 men ; 

 yagers, 16,136; cavalry, 42,271 ; field-artillery, 

 20,223 ; fortress artillery, 7,110 ; engineers, 

 5,296; pioneers, 2,672; staff and departmental 

 services, 13.009 ; total, 251,455. 



The Austro- Hungarian navy consisted, in 

 1882, of 13 iron-clad war-vessels, 37 steamers, 

 chiefly small and constructed for coast-defense, 

 6 sailing-vessels, and 12 torpedo-boats. Of the 

 armored vessels, ten are sea-going cruisers. 

 The largest is the Custozza, a broadside ship 

 of 7,060 tons, covered with 9J-inch plates, and 

 armed with eight 18-ton Krupp guns. Of more 

 modern type is the Tegethoff, of 7,390 tons, 

 armored with steel 13 inches thick, with six 

 25-ton Krupp guns ranged broadside and in a 

 turret. The Erzherzog Albrecht has 8| inch 

 plates and eight 18-ton Krupp guns. The navy 

 was manned in July, 1882, by, 6,270 officers and 

 men, who can be doubled in the event of war. 

 The navy is recruited by a levy on the sea- 

 faring population, subject to the same term of 

 service as in the army, supplemented by enlist- 

 ments. Austria has a strongly fortified naval 

 harbor at Pola, which has been enlarged so 

 as to be enabled to contain the entire fleet, 

 and another naval port at Trieste, where the 

 arsenals are situated. 



Foreign Relations. The situation of Austria- 

 Hungary in its relations to foreign powers and 

 the peace of Europe, though more difficult 

 than that of any other country, is becoming 

 more secure through the strengthening of the 

 league of peace of which the German Chancel- 

 lor is the author. The dangerous feelings which 

 were rife in both Russia and Italy in the preced- 

 ing year were less noticeable in 1883. The bond 

 betweeh the Governments of Austria and Italy 

 seems to grow more acceptable to the Italian 

 people, although a large section do not yet give 

 up the idea that there are still scores to se'tle 

 with their old enemy. The Irredentist demon- 

 strations continued in the early part of the year, 

 but subsided later. The Russian strategic' rail- 

 roads and rumored massing of troops on the 

 frontier created great alarm in the beginning 

 of the year, but the visit of the Russian minis- 

 ter, M. de Giers, at Vienna, and the manifes- 

 tations of pacific intentions for the present on 

 the part of the Czar tranquillized this feeling. 

 The source of the danger, however, the situa- 



tion of the south Slav peoples, became still more 

 evident in 1883. The King of Servia, by becom- 

 ing the protege of Austria, effectually alienated 

 his subjects, who after his return from a visit 

 to Vienna, in August, broke out in open revolu- 

 tion. The pretender, Karageorgevich, fortified 

 by Russian support and a matrimonial alliance 

 with the Prince of Montenegro, hovered on the 

 borders, ready to seize the throne. The occu- 

 pied provinces remained tranquil during the 

 year. The refugees nearly all returned from 

 Montenegro. In the autumn the recruiting 

 proceeded without objection. The difficulties 

 with the Roumanian Government were not de- 

 cided at the Danubian conference in a manner 

 satisfactory to Roumania, but negotiations be- 

 gun at Vienna with M. Bratiano in the fall 

 promise to remove some of the causes of jeal- 

 ousy. (See DANUBE, EUROPEAN COMMISSION OF 

 THE.) The Roumanian Minister apologized for 

 his hostile declarations of the preceding year. 

 A boundary commission began the adjustment 

 of certain disputed points of the frontier line 

 between Hungary and Roumania. One of the 

 occasional quarrels between the frontier guards 

 on both sides of the line created a sensation in 

 October, until it was known that the partici- 

 pants were alone responsible. The Hungarian 

 Government was intrusted with the duty of re- 

 moving the obstacles to navigation at the Iron 

 Gate in the Danube. 



Still more important to Austria than the ar- 

 rangement of the affairs of the Danube, was 

 the decision arrived at by the Conference d 

 quatre and arranged with the Turkish Gov- 

 ernment regarding the speedy completion of 

 the Turkish lines of railroad to connect with 

 the Austro- Hungarian system. 



The Danube and Turkish Railways. In the 

 eighteenth century, and down to the middle 

 of the nineteenth, Austria enjoyed a commer- 

 cial primacy in Turkey which was originally 

 won by her successful wars against the Otto- 

 mans, and which her geographical position 

 enabled her to maintain. The political ascend- 

 ency in the lands of the divided Ottoman Em- 

 pire has since been borne away by Russia and 

 the Western powers, and in the commercial 

 arrangements subsequently entered into Aus- 

 tria has seen her geographical advantages neu- 

 tralized and the trade pass into the hands of 

 the more enterprising merchants of England, 

 France, and Belgium. This Levantine trade 

 is, however, of vital importance to Austria and 

 Hungary, unfavorably situated as they are with 

 regard to the ocean commerce. By the Paris 

 Treaty of 1856, Austria was compelled to share 

 the control over the navigation of the Danube 

 with France, Great Britain, the German states, 

 Russia, Italy, and Turkey." The acte public 

 of 1865 took away the remaining privileges 

 which the Commission of Riverain States se- 

 cured to Austria, and the Pontus conference 

 of L871 confirmed the prolongation of the Eu- 

 ropean commission till April 24, 1883. The 

 Treaty of Berlin in 1878 extended the jurisdio- 



