AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



49 



Croats, in Dalmatia, Slavonia, Istria, Carniola, 

 and Carinthia, with Croatia and the Military 

 Frontier, to form a Croatian kingdom under 

 the Austrian crown, to which Bosnia and 

 Herzegovina could be added, with the expec- 

 tation that the other Balkan lands inhabited 

 by the Serbic race would gravitate toward this 

 great state in the future permutations of the 

 Eastern question. The Servians of Croatia 

 and the Austrian provinces, who differ from 

 the Croats, not in language or race, but in 

 religion and political tendencies, were strong- 

 ly opposed to the occupation of Bosnia. They 

 sympathize with the idea of a Great ervia. 



In August began a series of violent Croatian 

 demonstrations in A gram and different parts 

 of the country. The first act was the tearing 

 down of the Hungarian arms from the door 

 of the Finance Office in the capital. These es- 

 cutcheons with bilingual inscriptions had re- 

 cently been put up an act which was sus- 

 pected of being the commencement of a policy 

 for the suppression of the Croatian language 

 and institutions. Magyar inscriptions and 

 signs were destroyed by rioters in all the towns. 

 The military were called into requisition, and, 

 in consequence, the disturbances became more 

 violent. Some districts were placed under 

 martial law. In Maria Bistrica, in a collision 

 between gendarmes and Croat peasants, sev- 

 eral rioters were killed. The Ban of Croatia, 

 Count Prejacsevich, who had not been a pop- 

 ular administrator, showed sympathy with the 

 movement and declined to replace the Hun- 

 garian arms with the obnoxious Magyar in- 

 scription on the front of the government 

 buildings. He was obliged to resign his office 

 in consequence, and now received popular ova- 

 tions as a great patriot. There were signs of 

 the Slavic ferment in the neighboring Austrian 

 provinces. In the beginning of the year Baron 

 Jovanovich created an uproar in Dalmatia by 

 ordering the official communications between 

 civil servants to be made in German. By an 

 act of the Reichsrath this order was subse- 

 quently rescinded. In Darenzo, where the 

 Istrian Provincial Diet meets, a Croat depu- 

 ty made an attempt to debate in his national 

 tongue instead of in Italian, which is the official 

 language. The Dalmatian deputies obtained 

 the enactment by the Reichsrath of a law di- 

 recting judicial proceedings in their province 

 to be held in the Servian or Croatian dialects, 

 instead of in Italian. The troubles in Croatia 

 attained the magnitude of an insurrection. The 

 Emperor did not nominate a Ban to succeed 

 Count Prejacsevich, but appointed a royal 

 commissioner with extraordinary' powers to 

 restore civil order. The Minister for Croatia, 

 Bedekovich, resigned his portfolio. Gen. Ram- 



VOL. XXIII. 4 A 



berg was selected for this service. In the Za- 

 gorien district, encounters took place between 

 the military and the rioters, and the troops were 

 repelled at Krapina, Toplitz, and Sopo. The 

 commissioner i<sued a proclamation stating 

 that the bilingual official notices would be con- 

 tinued, to demonstrate the fact that political 

 questions were not to be settled by street riots. 

 The escutcheons were replaced on the govern- 

 ment buildings at Agram on t!ie 7th of Sep- 

 tember, and on the following day occurred 

 another riot. The economic distress of the 

 people made them more susceptible to the en- 

 ticements of agitators, and complicated the 

 movement with socialistic and anti-Semitic 

 demonstrations. The men at the head of the 

 Imperial and Hungarian governments were not 

 inclined to proceed to extremes, and the troops 

 used great forbearance. The suspension of ex- 

 ecutions tor the collection of taxes caused a par- 

 tial subsidence of the agitation. 



After Agram was tranquillized, an insurrec- 

 tion broke out in the Military Frontier, which, 

 like the one in Zagorie, was of an agrarian na- 

 ture. At Farkasevinez an anti-Magyar riot 

 occurred on the 20th of September, and ten 

 peasants were killed by the soldiery. Persons 

 concerned in the riots at Agram were brought 

 to trial and, September 30th, sentenced to short 

 terms of imprisonment. At the meeting of the 

 Hungarian House of Deputies on the 1st of 

 October, the Croatian deputies refused to take 

 part in the proceedings pending the settlement 

 of the question of the escutcheons. They for- 

 mulated the national demands, which embraced 

 the restitution of the escutcheons with Croa- 

 tian legends only, the recall of the royal com- 

 missioner and the appointment of a Ban, the 

 establishment of constitutional government, 

 the convocation of the Croatian Diet, and the 

 immediate discussion of the compromise law 

 under which Croatia was attached to Hun- 

 gary. The Premier announced a policy of con- 

 ciliation and of willingness to discuss and rem- 

 edy any grievances. The complaints of unfair 

 taxation were shown to be groundless as far as 

 the Central Government was concerned, but not 

 as regards the local authorities. Peculations 

 of the magistrates of their own appointment 

 aggravate the burden of taxes. All intentions 

 of suppressing the language, nationality, or au- 

 tonomic rights of Croatia were disclaimed. 

 After a spirited debate, the Parliament ap- 

 proved the proposal of the ministry to replace 

 the demolished escutcheons without any in- 

 scriptions, letting those remain which bore 

 Croatian inscriptions. The royal arms were 

 accordingly erected on the 16th of October, 

 after the disturbances were over, without 

 either Magyar or Croatian legends. 



