was accompanied by the slaughter of great numbers in battles and by shooting and hanging the leaders of the revolt who were captured. The congress organized by the revolutionists was dissolved and the emperor, of his own motion, promulgated a constitution. Many reforms and internal improvements were now undertaken, but the old tendency to relapse into military despotism soon asserted itself, and on Jan. 1, 1852, it was announced that the constitution was abolished. In 1859 the combined forces of France and Sardinia drove the Austrians from Italy, and in March 1860 the emperor promulgated a new constitution, by which he declared that the right to enact, alter and abolish laws should thereafter be exercised by himself and his successors only with the coöperation of the Reichsrath. This body was established. for the empire and to be composed of representatives of the several kingdoms included within it. On Feb. 27, 1861, it was decreed that their former constitutions should be restored to Hungary, Croatia, Slavonia and Transsylvania. At the same time a law was promulgated providing for the representation of the different portions of the empire in the Reichsrath, which was made up of two bodies, a house of peers and one of deputies. On May 1, 1861, the new Reichsrath was formally opened by the emperor in a speech in which he said, "that liberal institutions with the conscientious introduction and maintenance of the principles of equal rights to all the nationalities of his empire, of the equality of all his subjects in the eye of the law, and of the participation of the representatives of the people in the legislation, would lead to a salutary transformation of the whole monarchy." Hungary, Croatia, Slavonia and Transylvania declined to send representatives, claiming separate constitutions. After the humiliating defeat by the Prussians in 1866, the emperor turned his attention to the improvement of the affairs of his empire. The Hungarians were in passive rebellion, refusing to pay their taxes. In 1865, the emperor had recognized the necessity of self-government for Hungary in local affairs, and on Nov. 19, 1866, by an imperial rescript, he promised the appointment of a responsible ministry and the restoration of municipal self-government. Baron Beust, a Saxon and a Protestant, was made prime minister of the em

pire. In 1867 the Reichsrath assembled at Vienna, and many important measures of reform were adopted. On June 8, 1867 the emperor and empress were crowned king and queen of Hungary at Pesth, at which time pardon and amnesty for political offenses were granted. Religious toleration was accorded by the Reichsrath. In 1873 the power of choosing members of the Reichsrath was transferred from the provincial diets to the voters.

Under its present constitution Austria-Hungary recognizes the hereditary succession to the throne by primogeniture in the male line of the house of Hapsburg-Lothringen and, on the failure of male heirs, in the female line. Two distinct states are recognized as joined for common ends, each having its own ministers and legislative bodies. These are subordinate to a controlling body called the Delegations, consisting of sixty members of each state, two-thirds elected by the lower house and one-third by the upper house of each parliamentary body. They usually sit and vote in two chambers, one for Austria and the other for Hungary, but in case of disagreement they all sit together, and the decision of a majority is binding on both states when approved by the emperor. The administration of the empire is divided into three executive departments, Foreign Affairs, Ministry of War, Ministry of Finance. These ministers are accountable to the Delegations. The Reichsrath of Austria consists of an upper and lower house. The former is composed of: First, Princes of the Imperial House; Second, Heads of noble houses of high hereditary rank; Third, Archbishops and bishops with the rank of princes; Fourth, Life members, nominated by the emperor for distinguished services. The lower house is composed of three hundred and fifty-three members elected by all citizens possessing a small property qualification. The emperor convokes the Reichsrath annually and nominates the presiding officers of each house from among its members. It has general legislative powers on matters of trade, finance, railways, posts, telegraphs, customs, mints, military service, etc. Members of either house may propose new laws, which must receive the sanction of both houses and the emperor. The executive functions for Austria are vested in a Ministerial

Council presided over by the emperor or minister president and made up of ministers of the interior, of religion and education, finance, commerce, agriculture, national defense, and justice. There are also local diets in the seventeen provinces with powers over local concerns.

The Hungarian parliament also has an upper and a lower house, known as the House of Magnates and the House of Representatives. The former is made up of three princes of the reigning house having estates in Hungary, thirty-one Archbishops and bishops and 381 high officials and noblemen. The Lower House is made up of representatives chosen for three years by all citizens paying a certain amount of tax and contains about 450 members. There is a similar ministry in charge of the executive department for Hungary as in Austria. Great progress has been made during the last half century in the educational system, but it is still far behind that of Prussia, owing largely to the domination of the priesthood. All children from 6 to 12 are bound to attend the common schools. There is a fair system of secondary schools and there are seven universities at Vienna, Gratz, Innsbruck, Prague, Cracow, Lemberg and Pesth. There are also various technical schools. Austria-Hungary has made great progress in its railroads, owned by the state, which are a marked success and afford excellent service at exceptionally low rates. It also owns and operates the telegraphs. The judicial system for Hungary is independent of the administration. The supreme court sits at Buda-Pesth. There is a secondary court of appeals at MorosVacarhely in Transylvania. Under these is a system of what are termed royal courts and of circuit courts.

Authorities

Henderson: History of Germany.

Henry Hallam: History of Europe during the Middle Ages. R. N. Bain: Slavonic Europe.

James Fletcher: History of Poland.

W. R. Marfill: Poland.

Arminius Vambéry: Hungary.

Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Continental Legal History Series, vol. I.

CHAPTER XXI

HOLLAND AND BELGIUM

The low wood and marsh land near the lower Rhine were part of the Frankish Empire. In the time of Charlemagne, in accordance with his general policy, it was divided into landschafts and gaus ruled over by dukes and counts; each gau had its chief town, surrounded by a wall, wherein the count administered justice. The gaus were divided into marks or villages, in which a headman acted as judge in minor causes. The sovereignty over this territory alternated between French and German overlords. The northmen also invaded and desolated it. The piratical incursions of the vikings and the exposed situation of the country caused the people to gather into towns for mutual defense. These became sanctuaries, not merely for freemen, but serfs escaping from the estates of the nobles were also accorded freedom and protection. Trade, manufactures and other characteristics of town life developed, and the people soon built ships and profited from commerce and fisheries. From about A.D. 1000 the history of Holland begins to take definite form under its counts, whose allegiance shifted according to changing circumstances from the French kings to the German emperors, but with little real control from either.

William I, who died in 1224, granted charters to several of the towns, securing them in their liberties and providing for a regular administration of justice. Under Floris V the Hollanders took part in the strife between the French and English kings in aid of the latter, and in return gained valuable trading and fishing privileges by treaty. Marked characteristics of the early society were the independent and commercial spirit of the towns and the resistance of the claims of the nobility by the burghers. The counts from time to time were induced

to grant charters defining the rights of the towns. By about 1300 the imperial authority ceased to have any recognition, and Holland took its place as an independent state. Prior to this time for about 400 years the real power had been exercised by a vigorous line of counts, who appointed bailiffs over the country districts and schouts as judges in the towns. When matters of great interest to a city arose, the people were summoned into the public square by ringing the great town bell, and then they decided the question by vote. Justice was administered by a man's peers in accordance with the special customs of Franks, Saxons and Frisians. The supplies of the count were furnished by taxation, which fell mainly on the towns and early took the form of contributions in return for protection, not merely against foreign foes, but against the extortions of the lesser nobility, and in their corporate privileges against all. The counts usually sided with the burghers against the nobility. In the fourteenth century the towns joined the Hanseatic League, from which they were ejected in the fifteenth. During the last half of the fourtenth century civil strife over the succession to the countship and the struggle between the burghers and the nobles, who formed the parties of the Kabbeljaus and Hoeks, the "Cods" and "Hooks," produced a state of continued disorder and much fighting. In 1436 Holland passed under the rule of Philip of Burgundy. From this time the charters of the cities and the liberties of the burghers were treated with contempt. Trade continued to thrive under more arbitrary rule, and Holland developed her fisheries and her shipping. In the art of printing and the study of the learning and arts of the ancients the people of the cities of the Netherlands took an early and leading part. The dukes aided in the collection of manuscripts and the founding of libraries and encouraged painters and authors in their work, especially in Flanders and the Brabant, which in these particulars were in advance of Holland. In 1477 on her accession to power the cities secured from the Dutchess Mary her sanction of the "Great Privilege," which affirmed the right of the cities and provinces to hold diets, to approve her choice of a husband and to have a voice in any declaration