struggle of 1849, it was decreed to be forfeited by the rebellion of the nation. This decree was repealed in 1860; and the present sovereign, on the 8th of June 1867, swore to maintain the Constitution, and was crowned King of Hungary.

The legislative power rests conjointly in the King and the Diet, or Reichstag. The latter consists of an Upper and a Lower House, the first known as the House of Magnates, and the second as the House of Representatives. The House of Magnates was composed, in the session of 1883, of 831 members, namely 2 Princes of the reigning house; 50 Archbishops, Bishops and other dignitaries of the Roman Catholic and Greek churches; 772 Peers and dignitaries of Hungary and Transylvania; 5 regalists from Transylvania; and 2 deputies of Croatia.

The Lower House, or House of Representatives of Hungary, is composed of representatives of the nation, elected by the vote of all male citizens, of 20 years of age, who pay a small direct tax on house property or land, or on an income varying with occupation; but in all cases very low (in the cases of merchants and others as low as 10l. 58.). Certain large classes-professional, scientific, learned, and others are entitled to vote without other qualifications. The number of the electorate, according to the last returns, was only 821,241, or 1 in 18 of the population. No distinction is made, either as regards electors or representatives, on account of race or religion. New elections must take place every three years. By the electoral law in force in the session of 1883, the House of Representatives consisted of 444 members, of whom 334 were deputies of Hungarian towns and districts, 75 from Transylvania, 34 delegates of Croatia and Slavonia, and 1 from Fiume.

The executive of the kingdom is in a responsible ministry, consisting of a president and nine departments, namely :

The Presidency of the Council.-Colomann Tisza de Boros-Yenö; appointed President of the Council of Ministers, February 25, 1877. 1. The Ministry of Finance.-Count Gyula Szapary, appointed December 6, 1878.

2. The Ministry of National Defence (Landesvertheidigung).— Baron Bela d'Orczy, appointed ad interim December 26, 1883.

3. The Ministry near the King's person (ad latus).—Baron Bela d'Orczy; appointed August 12, 1879.

4. The Ministry of the Interior.-Colomann Tisza de Boros-Yenö, President of the Council; appointed December 6, 1878.

5. The Ministry of Education and of Public Worship.-Dr. August de Trefort, appointed February 26, 1877.

6. The Ministry of Justice.-Dr. Theodor Pauler, Minister of Justice, 1872-75; re-appointed December 6, 1878.

7. The Ministry of Communications and Public Works.— Baron de Kemény, appointed October 14, 1882.

8. The Ministry of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce.-Count Szechenyi, appointed October 14, 1882.

9. The Ministry for Croatia and Slavonia.-Count de Bedekovich, appointed February 26, 1877.

The sovereign of Hungary, though acknowledged Emperor of Austria-Hungary, is styled 'King' in all public acts.

Croatia and Slavonia have a common diet of their own, and for internal affairs, religion, instruction, and justice, are autonomous, the governor or president being appointed by the Emperor.

Church and Education.

The State religion of Austria is the Roman Catholic, but there is complete toleration for all dissenters from it, of whatever form of belief. The following table shows the numbers, in thousands, of the various religious denominations, and the relative percentage of each, in Austria and in Hungary, as well as in the whole Empire.

In Austria proper the Roman Catholic Church has (1880) 7 archbishoprics-Vienna, Salzburg, Görz, Prag, Olmütz, Lemberg, Zara ; 23 bishoprics, and 2 vicar-generals; 36 theological seminaries, with 180 teachers, and 1,150 pupils; 461 monasteries with 6,896 monks, and 429 nunneries with 8,727 nuns. The Byzantine Greeks have 2 archimandrites and 1 bishop; the Greek Catholics 1 archbishop and 1 bishop; and the Armenian Catholics 1 archbishop, in Austria. In Hungary there are 3 Roman Catholic archbishoprics-Gran, Erlau, and Kalocsa; 1 archabbacy, 15 bishops, 26 theological seminaries, 133 teachers, and 653 pupils; 184 monasteries with 2,220 monks, 111 nunneries with 1,438 nuns. In Croatia-Slavonia there is 1 Roman Catholic archbishop and 2 bishops, 4 seminaries, 71

monasteries, and 16 nunneries. The Greek Catholics have 1 archbishop (Fogaras) and 5 bishops in Hungary, and 1 bishop in CroatiaSlavonia. The Byzantine Greeks have 1 patriarch (Carlowitz), 1 archbishop (Hermannstadt)), and 6 bishops in Hungary, and 2 bishops in Croatia-Slavonia. The ordinary income of the Austrian dioceses alone is over 1,300,000l., to which the State adds 200,0007. The value of the church property is over 19,000,000l. The various religious bodies have an income of 400,000l., to which the State adds 26,000l.; and the value of their property, landed and other, is estimated at about 9 millions sterling. Very extensive powers, secured by a special Concordat with the Pontifical government, were formerly possessed by the Roman Catholic clergy in Cisleithan Austria, but the whole of these were swept away in 1867 and 1868, by a series of laws enacted by the Reichsrath, the last and most important of whichpassed in April 1868-established civil marriage, and the perfect equality of all religious creeds.

The Protestants have no churches endowed by the state, the clergy being chosen and supported by their congregations.

Education until very recently was in a very backward state in Austria, the bulk of the agricultural population, constituting twothirds of the inhabitants of the Empire, being almost entirely illiterate. Even in 1880 43.2 per cent. of males and 45.84 per cent. of females in Austria could neither read nor write. In Galicia it rose to 78.79 per cent. of male illiterates, and 83.43 of female; Bukowina, 86.99 males and 92:41 females; Dalmatia, 81-81 males and 93.77 females. In the Hungarian lands 44 per cent. of men and 53.5 per cent. of women could neither read nor write. During the last twenty years, however, vigorous efforts have been made to bring about an improvement, by founding schools, and appointing teachers, partly at the expense of communes, and partly, but less, at that of the state. It was enacted by a series of decrees issued in the years 1848 and 1849, that education should be general and compulsory (between the ages of 6 and 14), and the principle, though not adhered to in Transleithan Austria, nor in those parts of Cisleithan Austria inhabited by people belonging to the Slav race, was fully carried out among the Teutonic population of the Empire. The cost of public education mainly falls on the communes, but of late years the state has come forward to assist in the establishment of schools for primary education. The total sum allotted to education in the budget of 1883 is 1,846,144l., of which 180,7541. was for the Volks-schulen.' There are eight universities in Austria, at Vienna, Prague (two, one Bohemian and one German), Graz, Innsbruck, Cracow, Czernowitz, and Lemberg, two in Hungary, Buda Pesth and Klausenburg, and one in Croatia, Agram.

The following table exhibits the statistics of the entire educa

tional machinery of Austria for 1883 for the universities, and 1881 for the schools:

Of the elementary schools in Austria (Volks-and Bürgerschulen) in 1881, 15,567 were public and 925 private; 330 were Bürgerschulen. In 7,228 of these schools the language used was German; in 3,933, Czech (mainly in Bohemia and Moravia); and'in 3,093 other Slav dialects; 952, Italian; and in 1,251 more than one language. According to official statistics, 86 per cent. of the children of school age were attending school in Austria in 1881.

In Hungary proper 75 per cent. of the children were at school. Most of the Hungarian schools are confessional, only 318 belonging to the State and 1,686 to the Communes. The school age is limited to 12 in Hungary. In Croatia-Slavonia are (1880) 595 elementary schools, with 1,250 teachers and 55,360 pupils. In Austria-Hungary are 7 technical high schools, with 273 teachers and 3,497 pupils in 1883, besides numerous special schools.

Revenue and Expenditure.

In accordance with the political constitution of the Austrian Empire, which recognises three distinct parliaments, there are also three distinct budgets: the first, that of the Delegations, for the whole Empire; the second, that of the Reichsrath, for Austria; and the third, that of the Hungarian diet, for the kingdom of Hungary. By an agreement, or so-called 'Compromise,' entered into, in February 1868, between the governments and legislatures of Austria and Hungary, the former has to pay seventy and the latter thirty per cent. towards the common expenditure of the Empire,' not including the interest of the national debt. By the subsequent incorporation of the military frontier with Hungary the latter pays 2 per cent. additional of the total, so that the actual proportions are Austria, 686; Hungary, 314 per cent.

The Whole Empire.

The expenditure for 1878 was 21,583,671.; for 1879 was 13,703,4531.; and for 1880, 11,575,9997; the estimate for 1881 was 12,218,4017.; for 1882, 11,714,9547.; and for 1883, 117,830,7681. The budget estimates for the common affairs of the Empire' were as follows for the year 1884 :-1

Sources of Direct Revenue

Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ministry of War.

Ministry of Finance

Florins 584,400 2,548.886

2,681

77

17,063,070

98,107,799

For the administration of Bosnia and Herzegovinia for 1883, the expenditure was estimated at 898,8007., divided between Austria and Hungary in the above proportions; for 1884 the estimate was 730,7007. Austria Proper.

The accounts of actual revenue and expenditure of Austria Proper are only published after the lapse of a number of years, and are very intricate. They show generally large deficits, and, in recent years, a growing expenditure. The budget estimates of revenue and expenditure were as follows in the ten years from 1874 to 1883 :

In the following statements the florin is taken at its nominal value of 2s.,

its real value being, however, only about 1s. 8d.