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harvest, the country was in a state of profound tranquillity. In many districts there was only one-third of the ordinary crop of rye, and the Russians had to import articles which they usually grow in their own country for export, such as grain, tallow, and wool. In order to alleviate the distress of the agricultural population, and to supply the deficiency thereby caused in the revenue, the new Minister of Finance, M. Abasa, who in November succeeded General Greigh, took off the duty on salt, and added ten per cent. to the duties imposed on all other goods, at the same time raising the warehousing charges and the licence duties on trades.

In foreign affairs the history of the year in Russia was comparatively uneventful. When the Empress died on June 3, it was rumoured that the Emperor would marry the Princess Dolgorouky, who had for some time been an inmate of the Winter Palace at St. Petersburg, and that he would then abdicate and be succeeded by the Czarevitch, whose views on foreign policy are believed to differ in some important respects from those of his father. But though the Czar married the Princess Dolgorouky in July, he did not abdicate, and no change took place in the relations of Russia with the other European Powers. Some anxiety was caused at the beginning of the year by the refusal of the Chinese Government to ratify the Treaty of Livadia, on the plea that its ambassador had exceeded his powers in leaving the most fertile portion of the Kuldja valley and some of the important passes over the Tian-shan in the hands of the Russians, and in imposing on China the payment of a large sum by way of indemnity. Chung How, the ambassador referred to, was degraded, but the Chinese Government showed its readiness to arrive at a pacific solution of the difficulty by despatching another envoy, Marquis Tseng, to St. Petersburg, where he arrived on August 3 to resume the negotiations on the subject. Meanwhile Russian troops were despatched by land and water to Eastern Siberia: it was evident, however, that neither Power wished to fight, and that each merely aimed at obtaining as much as it could from the other by a demonstration of military force. Russia, too, was concerned in maintaining her prestige in Central Asia, which had been considerably shaken by the victories of the British troops in Afghanistan. She gained her point so far that Chung How, who was imprisoned and sentenced to death by the Chinese Government, was liberated at her demand; the negotiations with Marquis Tseng, too, were concluded at the end of the year, and it was hoped at St. Petersburg that China would ultimately accept the Russian terms. The attempts of the Russians to subdue the Turcomans had also as yet not produced any satisfactory result. There was no disaster such as that which occurred to the expedition of General Lomakin last year; but General Skobeleff, his successor, notwithstanding his high reputation as a dashing soldier, did not gain any important advantage over his adversaries. The active operations of the force under his command were at first confined

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that he would now look chiefly for support to the autonomist majority.

The line thus openly adopted by the Ministry gave great offence to the Hungarians as well as to the Austrian Germans. Threats were even uttered by the chief members of the old Déak party, which had been mainly instrumental in bringing about the dualist system, to the effect that if federalism were to gain ground as a principle of government in Cisleithania, they would begin an agitation in Hungary with the object of making that country entirely independent of Austria, the only link connecting them being that of a common sovereign and army. These utterances, which could hardly be seriously meant, at least testified to the profound dissatisfaction with which the Hungarians viewed the development of a policy of concession towards the Slavs. The Government, however, felt that the position of affairs abroad had become so critical that it could no longer afford to ignore the wants of its Slavonic subjects. The continued agitation in Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia, the pressure put by Europe upon the Porte and its obstinate resistance, and the war preparations of Montenegro and Greece, all portended a new convulsion in the Balkan peninsula, the result of which would probably be the disruption of the Turkish Empire-a result which concerned Austria-Hungary more nearly than any of the other Powers. The union in a single state of the Bulgarians would be a very dangerous precedent for similar claims on the part of Servia and Roumania, which could not be satisfied without depriving Austria-Hungary of large and important portions of her territory, Transylvania being inhabited by Roumanians, and Croatia and Dalmatia by peoples of a race akin to the Servian. Moreover, the encouragement and assistance which the Bulgarian agitators received from Russia showed that the Government of St. Petersburg, notwithstanding its anxieties at home, was steadily pursuing its old policy of intrigue among the Christian nationalities of Turkey, with a view to ultimately inheriting the throne of Constantinople. The success of such a policy would place Austria at the feet of Russia; or rather, as one might say with General Fadeyeff, the way to Constantinople for Russia lies through Vienna, and the break-up of the AustroHungarian monarchy would be a necessary preliminary to the subjugation by Russia of the Balkan peninsula. As a military power, Austria has not much to fear from Russia. Though her army is not so numerous as that of the Czar, she can bring into the field troops which would be quite equal in strength, and probably superior in efficiency, to any that she would have to encounter in the case of a Russian invasion; besides which she would certainly have the support of Germany, which consideration in itself renders the contingency of a direct Russian attack upon Austria very improbable. But Russia has at her command, as against Austria, weapons far more dangerous than those of war. Panslavism is latent in most of the Slavonic provinces of the

monarchy, and if a chain of Slavonic states were established on the Balkan, it would probably not be difficult to seduce discontented Slavs from their allegiance to the House of Hapsburg; and a successful Panslavist insurrection in Austria-Hungary would mean the disruption of the monarchy, for it would deprive her of her richest provinces, and the majority of her population.

Such considerations, notwithstanding the great value justly attached by the Emperor Francis Joseph to the German and Hungarian elements in his empire, naturally led him and his Government to give more attention than had hitherto been the case to the demands of his Slavonic subjects; and the favourable impression produced by the concessions made in this respect by the Ministry was heightened by a series of visits made by the sovereign to the Slavonic provinces. In Bohemia, notwithstanding the feud between the German and Czechish inhabitants, his reception was most enthusiastic, and the two nationalities vied with each other in demonstrations of loyalty. The Emperor, on his side, did all in his power to reconcile and promote peace between them, and was scrupulously impartial in the marks of distinction he conferred upon their leaders and their chief public institutions. After visiting Bohemia and Moravia in June, the Emperor proceeded in the beginning of September to Galicia. That province is inhabited by two branches of the Slavonic race: the Ruthenian, which is the more numerous, and is chiefly prevalent in Eastern Galicia, and the Polish, which is predominant in Western Galicia. Until some twenty years ago the Ruthenians had no distinct political individuality, having for three centuries been part of the Polish kingdom much in the same way as Scotland is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and, after the destruction of Polish independence, having continued to act with the Poles in all political questions. Their history and literature are Polish, but they have a distinct religion, the United Greek, which, after a union of nearly four hundred years, has divided the Polish and Ruthenian nationalities in Galicia* into two antagonistic elements. In the days when German centralism was predominant in the Austrian Empire, Herr von Schmerling, who was then Prime Minister, attempted to break the resistance of the non-German nationalities by playing them off against each other, and he accordingly encouraged the Ruthenians to send their own deputies to the central Parliament, and to demand similar privileges for their own nationality to those which were enjoyed by the Poles. In a word, Herr von Schmerling, as was wittily said at the time, "invented" the Ruthenian nationality in order to worry the Poles; and what this so-called nationality was composed of was shown by the fact that all the deputies sent by the Ruthenians to Vienna were either peasants or priests-the Ruthenian nobles, professional men, journalists, &c., who abound in Galicia, all

* In Russian Poland no differences exist between the Poles and the Ruthenians, as they are united against their common enemy, the Russian Government.

were committed by the so-called "gymnastic societies,” which were really companies and battalions of volunteers under another name, their exercises being limited almost entirely to the use of the rifle and military drill. These societies marched about in military squadrons, firing their rifles, and often displaying the Russian flag. As for the Mahomedan population, it was persecuted by the Bulgarians even more than the Greek. The Turkish mosques and. schools were destroyed, and the East Roumelian Government seemed powerless to restrain even its own soldiers: in the Kirdjali district, where a Mahomedan rising took place in February, the movement was suppressed by the Bulgarian militia, led by Russian officers, with a savage cruelty which recalled the horrible details of the massacre of Batak. Twenty-four Turkish villages were plundered and partly destroyed, and of their inhabitants many men were killed and women outraged.

The external relations of the new Bulgarian principality were almost as unsatisfactory as its condition at home. Repeated complaints having been made by the Roumanian residents at Rustchuk of the treatment to which they were subjected by the Bulgarian authorities there, the Roumanian consul complained to the governor, who replied in an insulting letter, which was shown by M. Stourdza, the political agent of Roumania at Sofia, to Prince Alexander. The latter sharply reprimanded the governor, but no redress was given to the Roumanians at Rustchuk. This created a bitter feeling between the two peoples, which was still further increased by another incident. In May some armed Turkish bands appeared in Bulgaria, and it was alleged that they had come from the Dobrudja, and had been formed with the connivance of the Roumanian authorities. This produced so violent a display of hostility to Roumania, both in the Assembly and the press of Bulgaria, that the Roumanian agent threatened to break off diplomatic relations between the two countries. He was dissuaded, however, from taking this step by the Bulgarian Government; but seeing that the attacks upon Roumania continued, he left Bucharest, and the Roumanian Foreign Minister notified to the Bulgarian Government that the reason of M. Stourdza's recall "on leave" was "the continued hostility shown by the Government towards Roumania, which had necessarily created in that principality a feeling of very great dissatisfaction." A commission of inquiry was then appointed by the Bulgarian Government to investigate the matter, and it reported that the allegations of Roumanian complicity in the formation of the Turkish bands referred to were completely false. Soon after a third cause of quarrel arose through the Bulgarian Government having brought in a bill for the naturalisation as Bulgarian subjects of persons of the Bulgarian nationality residing in Roumania and Servia. The Roumanian Government having strongly protested against this bill, it was withdrawn by the Prince's order. M. Stourdza then returned, but the antagonism between the two principalities continued to manifest itself, and

of an amateur. In the Eastern Question Baron Haymerle's policy, as explained by himself to the delegations in November, was sensible and practical. He was opposed from the beginning to the coercion of Turkey, but fearing that if Austria did not participate in the naval demonstration, she might not be in a position to check further proceedings of some of the Powers that might be injurious to her interests, he accepted England's proposals on the understanding that no troops should be landed, and no hostile action. taken towards the Turks. At the same time he reserved for Austria similar rights of maritime and sanitary police at Dulcigno to those which she already possessed in the Montenegrin harbour of Antivari, under the Treaty of Berlin. As to the general aims of his policy in the East, they would be "the maintenance of the balance of power among the populations of the Balkan peninsula, and the preservation of the balance of influence among the great European Powers." He would always endeavour to maintain friendly relations with neighbouring States; but if any such State were to take up a position of antagonism, Austria "would have to make her influence. as a nation felt." He added, with regard to Greece, that he had always looked upon the Greek nationality as a civilising and reforming element in the Balkan peninsula. The new Turco-Greek frontier, which had been agreed to at Berlin, must not, however, be considered as unchangeable, and the Powers were under no definite obligation to enforce its acceptance by the Porte. Nevertheless, the Government of Austria-Hungary "thought it right, in the interest of the monarchy, to have recourse to such moderate measures as would, when the occasion offered, and without injury to Austrian interests, ensure the due recognition of the importance of the Hellenic element."

The Power whose alliance would be of the greatest value to Austria, in view of the dangers with which she is threatened by the Panslavists and the Italian Irridentists, is Germany, and the friendly understanding established between the two countries after the war of 1866, was maintained in all important respects during the year 1880. In the delicate negotiations relative to the naval demonstration, the accord between Prince Bismarck and Baron Haymerle was complete; and Germany gave valuable support to Austria in the question of the Danubian Commission, to which we shall refer later. The jealousy with which the enterprising German element is viewed by the other nationalities in Austria, gave rise to some violent anti-German demonstrations at Prague and at Pesth, but these were rather directed against the Austrian Germans than against the German Empire. Most politicians in both halves of the monarchy are now agreed in approving the policy of an alliance with Germany; and it is only a few rigid Conservatives of the old school, like Baron Hübner, who still look upon Austria as the natural ally of the despotic States of Europe, and advocate cooperation with Russia. The sovereigns of the two empires, both exercising immense influence through the devoted attachment with

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