the first ten months of the year showed a net increase of over 12,500,000 florins over those of the same period of the previous year, and there was every prospect that this increase would be maintained. The excess of exports over imports, too, for the same period showed an increase of 25,000,000 florins. The reform of the currency was still not completed, and the purchase by the Government of gold for that purpose to the value of 40,000,000 florins raised the premium on that metal, but there was no reason to believe that the resumption of specie payments would be thereby retarded. The 4 per cent. gold stock, which was issued in 1876 at 57, was now subscribed for at 98)—a striking proof of the improvement of the credit of the country. In the occupied provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina trade was flourishing, and they were so peaceful that it was decided further to reduce the number of troops in them by three battalions, leaving thirty-two battalions of infantry, two squadrons of cavalry, and eleven batteries of mountain artillery.

The anarchists have this year been busy in Austria as in other continental countries. In December, a house belonging to a well-known lawyer, Dr. Karl Wolff, of Rakonitz, was destroyed by a dynamite bomb, and a member of the "Omladina" (rejuvenescence), a secret society at Prague, was assassinated. It appeared from inquiries made by the police that the object of this society was to bring about a social and political revolution in Austria, for the purpose of overthrowing the dynasty, and making attempts on the lives of great nobles and capitalists. Among the statutes of the society is one declaring that "traitors to the cause shall die by the dagger."

In Hungary the question of the introduction of civil marriage, which the new Premier, Dr. Wekerle, had placed at the head of his programme (see "Annual Register," 1892, p. 250), caused much difficulty to the Ministry. Three of its supporters -two Roman Catholics and a Protestant-left the Government Party in January, on the ground that they could not reconcile it with their consciences to vote for compulsory civil marriage, and the thirty-eight young aristocrats, led by Baron Atzel, who had obtained seats at the last general election, also showed signs of a refractory disposition on this question. This was followed by a further secession of seventeen deputies of the Kossuth Party who were opposed to the bill. At the same time the Hungarian bishops began a crusade against the proposed measure. Two decrees, issued in 1890 by Cardinal Rampolla, Pontifical Secretary of State, directed against the compromise arrived at between the Government and the bishops on the baptismal question, and disavowing the action of the bishops friendly to the Government, were now officially published for the first time; and one of the bishops issued a pastoral letter directly condemning the bill, and calling upon his flock to appeal a rege male informato ad melius informandum. As about 52 per cent.

of the population of Hungary are Roman Catholics and 20 per cent. Protestants, while the remaining 28 per cent. consist of Greek Catholics, orthodox Greeks, and Jews, this declaration of war by the Roman Catholic Church in Hungary against the bill was a very serious incident, which almost reduced the prospects of its passing to a nullity. Notwithstanding this Dr. Wekerle, whose great knowledge of finance was peculiarly valuable now that Austria-Hungary was making important changes in the currency, induced the Emperor-King in November to consent to the introduction of the Civil Marriage Bill in the forthcoming session of the Hungarian Parliament. This, of course, did not imply his approval of the bill; on the contrary, he was known to be strongly opposed to it; it simply showed that under the circumstances he considered that the question had better be left for the decision of the country. The bill was introduced on December 3, together with another about the religion of children of mixed marriages. The former was to apply equally to all creeds, without distinction. Clause 66 makes invalid any contract of marriage not concluded before the civil registrar, while clause 145 imposes a fine of 1,000 kronen, or about 50l., on a priest of whatever creed who solemnises a marriage in church before the contract has been signed at the civil registry office. The civil ceremony, therefore, is not only compulsory, but must precede the religious ceremony, which is, of course, left to the choice of the contracting parties.

The causes of invalidity under the bill go beyond those established by canon law in many important particulars and coincide with those of the French civil code, with the exception of one or two points taken from the Austrian law. The cases in which a marriage can be contested are also mainly taken from the French model. Persons under twelve years of age cannot contract a legal marriage, while if the contracting parties are under twenty the consent of the parents or guardians is required. Marriage with a deceased wife's sister is allowed, and damages can be claimed for breach of promise. Persons found guilty of adultery can be debarred by the decree dissolving the union from marriage with the co-respondent, and persons found guilty of connivance at the murder or attempted murder of a husband or wife are equally debarred from legal union with the survivor, in the case of death.

The grounds for the dissolution of a marriage by legal process are also more numerous than under the canon law, and civil jurisdiction is exclusively recognised in all marriage cases, the jurisdiction of the Church being thus set aside, or, at least, not recognised by law. Divorce can be pronounced on ten distinct grounds, of which cruelty and desertion are two, while another is the sentence of either party to five years' imprisonment, or in cases of crime "from mercenary motives" to a term of less than five years-a wide discretion being given to the

judge, without necessitating a jury. Should one party accuse the other of deliberate neglect of matrimonial duties, a divorce can be decreed if the judge gathers from the circumstances of the case that the union is marred by lack of harmony, and the relief to both parties would serve a moral end. Besides a dissolution of marriage, the judge can also order a separation for six or twelve months, during which attempts at reconciliation are to be made in the prescribed form. He can also make the divorce absolute, without the intermediary stage, according to the nature of the case.

Compensation for the breaking off of engagements is to be allowed, but only if claimed within a year of its occurrence. The amount claimed must not exceed the actual expenses incurred for the purposes of the intended union, and only the innocent party can claim the return of presents and other gifts made during courtship. In the various cases of prohibited degrees of affinity, dispensation can be granted by the King, in other cases by the Minister, and only in case of a Roman Catholic in holy orders, or belonging to a monastic order, wishing to contract marriage, can all dispensations whatever be refused.

Another interesting detail is that a judge, in pronouncing a divorce, can permit or prohibit the retention by the wife of her husband's name, according to the circumstances of the case as shown at the trial.

The second bill provides that people wanting to marry may, before the Act of Union, freely agree between themselves, by contract and notice to the public registrar, as to the religion of their offspring, but in the absence of such prenuptial agreement all children must follow the religion of the father at the time of the marriage. Illegitimate children are to follow the religion of the mother, and reservations and obligations as demanded by the Roman Catholic Church as a condition of the ceremony will be null and void. Young persons are only allowed to change their religion if over the age of eighteen.

Much opposition to both these bills was expressed immediately after their introduction, and the debate upon them was postponed until after the New Year. In other respects the Parliamentary history of the year in Hungary was a singularly peaceful one as compared with that of previous years. The question of the Honved Memorial, which in 1892 had produced a storm of political passion that precipitated the downfall of the Szapary Ministry (see "Annual Register," 1892, pp. 248, 249), was peaceably settled by the abandonment of any demonstration in honour of General Hentzi, the opponent of the Hungarian insurgents at the storming of Buda-Pesth in 1848; and in March the Lower House passed a bill granting to its members a fixed salary of 2,400 florins a year, with 800 florins for hotel expenses, and providing that this salary shall not be liable to be seized by creditors.

A remarkable figure in recent Austrian history, Herr von Schmerling, died on May 23 at the age of eighty-eight. As a statesman, Herr von Schmerling's career extended from the time of the German Parliament in Frankfort-on-the-Main, of which he was one of the Austrian members, down to the transformation of the Austrian empire into the dual monarchy of AustriaHungary. The deceased statesman was a typical representative of that particular school of German politicians who could not conceive that Germany could possibly exist without Austria at her head. He was, of course, an enemy of Prussia, and of her pretensions to take the leading place in Germany. In 1848 he for several months occupied the post of Minister of the Interior, and afterwards of Foreign Minister of the German Confederation. Undiscouraged by his want of success in that year, he suggested to the Emperor Francis Joseph the idea of summoning the Fürstentag, or Congress of Princes, which met at Frankfort in 1863. The King of Prussia declined, however, to appear, and the project consequently proved abortive. It was this failure that contributed to bring about the war of 1866 which finally decided the German question against Austria.

Herr von Schmerling was not more fortunate in his domestic than in his German policy. He was an Austrian Minister during one of the most critical periods the empire has ever gone through, when the Hungarian question was pressing for a solution. His famous saying, "We can wait," turned out to be a phrase most damaging to his reputation for statesmanship. Moreover, the way in which he undertook to solve the problem of the day, after he found it impossible to wait any longer, proved equally disastrous to his claims to foresight and judgment. It was Herr von Schmerling who invented the "in and out" Parliamentary scheme suggested in England as a solution of the Home Rule question, and Deak's subsequent application of the system to the Hungarian Legislature, for the benefit of the Croatians, was only an imitation of it. Herr von Schmerling created an "in and out" Reichsrath, the one with the Hungarians, the other without them, but he had the mortification of seeing that the Hungarians put in no appearance at either, and consequently his system was dead from the first. With the introduction of dualism the career of Herr von Schmerling as a statesman was over. He was thenceforward only able to serve his country in a judicial capacity. He was appointed President of the Supreme Court of Justice in 1865, a post he held till 1891, when, owing to advanced age, he retired into private life. His unblemished character, and his warm patriotic feelings for the empire, which he wanted to see undivided, are generally recognised even by the Hungarians, who at the time of his activity saw in him their greatest enemy.

In foreign affairs, notwithstanding occasional alarms, the year in Austria was very peaceful. Preparations were made for winter manoeuvres, as in the event of a war between Russia

and Austria it would probably take place in winter, as that is the only season when the marshy country, situated between the fortresses in Russian Poland, is available for military operations. In January there was a diplomatic difference with France, on account of a charge made by the organs of the French Government in Paris against the Austrian ambassador there of intriguing against French interests, but the usual explanations were given, and the incident had no consequences. The relations with Italy, which had become somewhat chilled by the prolonged delay in returning the visit of the King and Queen of Italy to Austria, were to some extent restored to their former cordial footing by the visit of the Archduke Regnier to Rome on the occasion of the celebration of the King of Italy's silver wedding, but this caused much dissatisfaction at the Vatican, which had already been greatly alienated by the proposal of the Hungarian Government to introduce obligatory civil marriage. Another incident which caused some sensation in the political world was the reception by the Emperor Francis Joseph in April of the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, M. Stambouloff. This, however, does not seem to have affected the relations with Russia. In the speech from the throne, addressed on May 27 to the Austrian and Hungarian delegations, the Emperor declared that the relations with all the Powers were "very friendly," thus no longer making the former distinction between the "friendly" relations of the Courts of Austria and Russia, and the "normal" relations of their Governments. Count Kalnoky, in his speech to the Austrian delegation, added some interesting remarks on the question of disarmament. The immediate object, he said, of the policy of every country in the civilised world could only be to ensure peace, and Austria-Hungary, therefore, must labour for the attainment of this end, which was requisite for the internal development of the empire as a nation, as well as for the prosperity and culture of its people. Still it would be a delusion to believe that the so-called "universal disarmament" was likely to be shortly brought about, or, in fact, could be carried out under the present conditions. He believed that great progress would have been made were the existing process of increasing armaments gradually brought to a standstill. Universal disarmament was, in face of the present military organisation, which in nearly all States was based upon the system of conscription and general mobilisation, not so conceivable now as it once had been. So long as the possibility remained of certain circumstances arising calculated to imperil the existence of the State, it was the duty of the Government to continue with all possible energy the work of improving and developing its military organisation and communications, so that the nation might preserve its sense of security against any possible emergency. So long as the other Powers persisted in their military preparations, Austria-Hungary and her allies