AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



45 



alternative is the Pristina route, by which the 

 continuation already constructed to Mitrovitza 

 would be utilized. The Austrians were desir- 

 ous that the conuection with the Salonica 

 road should be taken in hand first, instead of 

 the extension of the Yamboli branch into 

 Bulgaria, which latter would serve Roumanian 

 and Russian interests and promote British 

 rather than Austrian commerce. The passage 

 of the railroads through Hungary, Servia, and 

 Bulgaria, instead of directly from Austria 

 proper into Turkey, deprived them of many 

 of the expected advantages to Austrian com- 

 merce and industry, while favoring the rival 

 Hungarian interests. Th protracted discus- 

 sions of the Conference d quatre led at last to 

 the adoption of a railroad convention which 

 was signed May 9, 1883. The route agreed 

 upon for the line which will connect Vienna 

 with Constantinople, passes through Semlin, 

 Belgrade, Nish, Pirot, Caribrod, Sophia, Ba- 

 kerel, and Bellova., to Sarembey, the present 

 terminus of the railroad from Constantinople. 

 The road from Salonica is to join the Servian 

 railroad from Belgrade to Vranja, by means 

 of a railroad to be constructed from the latter 

 place to a point on the Salonica railroad in 

 the neighborhood of Pristina, or wherever the 

 surveys indicate the most favorable route, the 

 point of junction to be settled upon by the 

 Porte within a year. The 15th of October, 

 1886, is set as the term at which both lines 

 must be completed. The gauge is to be the 

 same as that of the Austrian railroads, the 

 signal system and other modes of operation 

 are to follow those of Austria, and in the 

 customs arrangements every facility is given 

 to commerce -and travel. The tariffs per kilo- 

 metre are to be identical in the countries 

 through which the roads pass. At least one 

 express daily is to run in each direction be- 

 tween Vienna and Pesth and Constantinople, 

 and Vienna and Pesth and Salonica, at a speed 

 of at least 35 kilometres (22 miles) an hour. 



Austria. Austria proper, or Cisleithania, has 

 been governed since the recognition of Hun- 

 garian independence by a twofold Legislature, 

 a central body, called the Reichsrath, and local 

 assemblies, or Provincial Diets, for the indi- 

 vidual provinces. Tue Reichsrath consists of 

 an upper house, or House of Lords, and a low- 

 er houso, or House of Deputies. The House 

 of Lords is composed of the princes of the 

 blood royal, 14 in number in 1882 ; the terri- 

 torial nobility, numbering 53 ; the archbishops 

 (10) and bishops of princely rank (7) ; and life- 

 members appointed by the Emperor for distin- 

 guished merit and ability, in number 105. The 

 Abgeordnetenhaus, or House of Deputies, con- 

 sists, under the electoral law of 1873, of 353 

 members elected by four different constitu- 

 encies: 1, the people of the rural districts ; 2, 

 the people of the towns ; 3, the chambers of 

 commerce in the large towns; 4, the large 

 landed proprietors. The franchise in the popu- 

 lar urban constituencies was extended by a 



law enacted in 1882 to all male persons paying 

 five florins in direct taxes. The Provincial 

 Diets are composed as follows : 1. the archbish- 

 ops and bishops of the Roman Catholic and 

 Oriental Greek Churches and the chancellors 

 of the universities ; 2, representatives of the 

 landed aristocracy, elected by all proprietors 

 paying taxes to the amount of 100 florins; 3, 

 representatives of towns, elected by all the 

 burgesses ; 4, representatives of chambers of 

 commerce and trade-guilds; 5, representatives 

 of rural communes elected indirectly through 

 electoral colleges. The provinces are seven- 

 teen in number: Lower Austria, Upper Aus- 

 tria, Salzburg, Styria, Tyrol, Vorarlberg, Bohe- 

 mia, Dalmatia, Galicia, Carinthia, Carniola, 

 Bukovina, Moravia, Silesia, Gorizia, Istria, and 

 Trieste. 



The Reichsrath has power to legislate on 

 matters of customs, trade and commerce, bank- 

 ing, posts, telegraphs, and railroads, subject to 

 royal approval, to scrutinize the public accounts 

 and discuss all bills of taxation and expendi- 

 ture, and to ratify all legislation relating to 

 military service. Members of both houses 

 have the right of initiative. The presiding 

 officers in both bodies are nominated by the 

 Emperor. The Reichsrath must be convened 

 annually, and, in case of dissolution, new elec- 

 tions must take place within six months. The 

 Provincial Diets legislate on matters of local 

 administration and taxation, particularly agra- 

 rian regulations, public works, the church, 

 schools, and public charity. 



The Cabinet is composed as follows : Presi- 

 dent of th Council and Minister of the Inte- 

 rior, Count Eduard Taafe, born in 1833, who 

 held the same portfolio in a former ministry, 

 1867-'70, and was appointed chief of the pres- 

 ent Cabinet Aug. 19, 1879 ; Minister of Public 

 Instruction and Ecclesiastical Affairs, Baron S. 

 Conrad D'Eybesfeld, appointed Feb. 17, 1880; 

 Minister of Finance, Dr. J. Dunajewski, ap- 

 pointed June 26, 1880 ; Minister of Agricul- 

 ture, Count Julius Falkenhayn, appointed Aug. 

 19, 1879 ; Minister of Commerce and National 

 Economy, Baron F. Pino von Friedenthal, ap- 

 pointed .Jan. 14, 1881; Minister of National 

 Defense, Maj.-Gen. Count S. von Welsersheimb, 

 appointed June 25, 1880 ; Minister of Justice, 

 A. Prazak, appointed Jan. 14. 1881; Minister 

 without Portfolio, F. Ziemialkowski, appointed 

 Aug. 12, 1879. 



Political Chronicle. The Czechs, whose posi- 

 tion was strengthened by the Bohemian elec- 

 tions of 1883, continued to press their victory 

 over the German party, which showed a still 

 more bitter and irreconcilable spirit. Pro- 

 vision was made for the establishment of a 

 Czechish medical faculty in the University of 

 Prague. Although the Czechs and Slovenes 

 elected representatives to the Reichsrath who 

 for four years have dictated radical changes 

 in the laws of the empire for the benefit of 

 their races, yet the provincial legislation 

 has remained in the hands of the old German 



