AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN MONARCHY. 



57 



vide temporarily for the necessities of the 

 State. To his great regret, war had broken 

 out between Eussia and Turkey. The efforts 

 of his Government had, therefore, been di- 

 rected toward localizing the war and preserv- 

 ing the peace of the monarchy. These efforts 

 had, happily, hitherto been successful ; friendly 

 relations had been preserved, and the interests 

 of the realm had in every respect been main- 

 tained intact. It had been possible, also, to 

 arrive at this result without asking his people 

 for any extraordinary sacrifice, and he hoped 

 that this would likewise be possible for the 

 future. But if the interests of the monarchy 

 required any -self- abnegation on the part of his 

 subjects, he expressed the fullest conviction 

 that they would all be ready to do whatever 

 was required of them. In conclusion, the 

 Emperor expressed a hope that the delegations 

 would support his Government in its arduous 

 task. 



On December llth, 

 in a discussion on the 

 Eastern question in the 

 Committee on Foreign 

 Affairs of the Hunga- 

 rian Delegation, Count 

 Andrassy stated, in re- 

 ply to the charge that 

 his policy showed a de- 

 viation from the sys- 

 tem which takes exist- 

 ing treaties as its only 

 basis, that the binding 

 power of treaties was 

 shaken, and some other 

 force must be substi- 

 tuted. Count Andrassy 

 then spoke of the triple 

 alliance as having been 

 the means of prevent- 

 ing a general Euro- 

 pean war. But, while 

 on friendly terms with 

 the two great neigh- 

 boring powers, not less 



than the others, the monarchy was free to act, 

 and no country in Europe could believe with 

 greater confidence that its just and equitable 

 interests would assert themselves. He pro- 

 tested against the charge that Austro-Hungary 

 had no sympathy with the populations of the 

 neighboring states, and that it was in the in- 

 terest, of Austria that Turkey should remain 

 unaltered, as before the present crisis. He also 

 denied the charge that Austria, in consequence 

 of her relations with Germany and Russia, was 

 under a restraint ; and said that, if necessary, 

 Austria would stand up alone for her interests. 



In the Committee of the Austrian Delega- 

 tion, on December 18th, it was asked what the 

 attitude of Austria would be with regard to 

 Servia ; and the answer was, that the fact alone 

 that the principality had gone to war could be 

 no reason for abandoning the attitude of re- 

 serve ; bat that, if Servia struck into a direction 



where Austrian interests were affected for in- 

 stance, by carrying the war into Bosnia or Her- 

 zegovina the Government would decidedly 

 protest against this, and, if not listened to, 

 would forcibly intervene to prevent it. 



On October 30th a Cabinet council was held 

 at Pesth, under the presidency of the Emperor, 

 which was attended by the ministers of both 

 halves of the Empire as well as by the common 

 ministers. At this meeting a full understand- 

 ing was reached about the tariff question. The 

 arrangement made was a compromise between 

 the views of the Austrian and Hungarian min- 

 istries. While the Hungarian ministry had 

 laid the greatest stress on a treaty with Ger- 

 many, their Austrian colleagues, though pre- 

 ferring this solution of the question, insisted, 

 in case of failure, on the introduction of the 

 autonomic tariff. The compromise between 

 these two views was that negotiations should 

 be at once begun with Germany about a re- 



PKESBUBG. 



ciprocity treaty on the " most-favored-nation " 

 basis, which would secure for Austro-Hungary 

 the export of her produce on the same con- 

 ditions as to others; and which, on the other 

 hand, would secure to Germany, under certain 

 restrictions, the same privileges in the export 

 and reimportation of half-finished goods as 

 she enjoyed before. But it was decided, like- 

 wise, that, without waiting for the result of 

 these negotiations, the tariff forming the basis 

 of negotiations with Germany should at the 

 same time be laid before the two legislatures 

 as an autonomic tariff. 



The Reichsrath met on January 22d. Its 

 business was of little importance before the 

 end of March, when it adjourned for the Easter 

 holidays. On reassembling, in the second week 

 of April, the Hungarian compromise was pre- 

 sented by the ministers, and referred by the 

 House to a special committee. On May 15th 



