There are 8 universities in the empire, at Vienna, Prague, Pesth, Gratz, Cracow, Innspruck, Lemberg, and Padua. The number of students attending these universities amounted, in 1860, to 8,256, about one-fourth of which number were at Vienna. Next in rank to the universities stand the theological seminaries, 129 in number, with 4,051 pupils; and the Polytechnic schools, 7 in number, with 2,672 pupils. The German-speaking population of the empire is most advanced in general education; and least the people of the provinces of Slavonia, Croatia, and Dalmatia. At the conscription of 1857, it was found that of 2,649 recruits in the archduchy of Austria, 2,323 were able to read and write; while in Bohemia there were among 11,213 recruits only 6,597 able to read and write; and, finally, in Dalmatia, among 928 conscripts, only 9 were possessed of the rudiments of education. Revenue and Expenditure. The total revenue of the empire in each of the thirteen years from 1850 to 1862 was as follows: 238,383,665 23,838,366 1860 301,589,455 28,650,998 1854 250,094,220 1855 25,009,422 1861 342,349,714 32,523,222 282,722,005 28,272,200 1862 321,969,584 30,587,110 1856 290,189,337 29,018,933 During the same fifteen years, the annual expenditure and the accompanying deficit were as follows: The Austrian budget for 1863 fixes the total expenditure of the year at 367,087,748 florins, or 37,473,4751., and estimates the total revenue at 304,585,094 florins, or 31,093,050l., leaving a deficit of 62,502,654 florins, or 6,380,4257. To cover this deficit, partly taxes are to be raised, partly a lottery loan issued; and over and above this a loan of 12,000,000 florins is authorised. The following is an analysis of expenditure and revenue :— The proposed total expenditure from November 1, 1863, until December 31, 1864 (a period of 14 months), is 614,613,417 florins. The total revenue is estimated at 564,958,371 florins, so that there will be a deficit of 49,655,046 florins, which the Minister of Finances proposes to cover by means of new taxes, by which he expects to raise 16,000,000 florins, and a new loan of 33,500,000 florins. The new imposts will be a poll-tax and duties on various objects of luxury-such as carriages, horses, dogs, and armorial bearings. The expenditure of the Court will be 7,454,800 florins; the outlay for the Imperial Cabinet, 63,482 florins; for the Staatsrath or Council of State, 152,971 florins; for the Council of Ministers, 65,407 florins; for the Foreign Department, 2,198,830 florins; for the Ministry of State, 29,031,902 florins; for the Hungarian Chancellery, 11,967,713 florins; for the Croatian Chancellery, 1,994,814 florins; for the Transylvanian Chancellery, 3,326,561 florins; for the Ministry of Finances, 11,762,871 florins; for the Ministry of Justice, 7,859,772 florins; for the Ministry of Police, 3,013,840 florius; Boards of Control, 3,918,816 florins; Ministry of War, 106,683,000 florins, or 6,117,000 florins less than during the year 1863; and for the Naval Department, 12,000,146 florins. To the revenue of the empire the German-Slavonic population contributes about 65 per cent., the kingdom of Hungary 25 per cent., and Lombardy-Venice about 6 per cent.* The monopoly of the Government for the sale of tobacco, one of the principal items of revenue, has existed since the year 1670. This source of income has been continually increasing of late years. In 1862 the average consumption of the population consisted in 21 cigars and 1 pounds of tobacco per head.† The largest item of expenditure, as will be seen from the above statement, is the interest on the public debt. This debt has grown up gradually since the middle of the last century. At the end of the Seven Years' War, in 1763, Austria had a debt of 150,000,000 of florins, which grew to 283,000,000 in 1781, and at the commencement of the French Revolution, in 1789, had risen to 349,000,000. From this period the debt grew in extraordinary proportions. From 1789 until 1863, there was not a single year in which the revenue of the State came up to the expenditure.‡ The following was the amount of the Austrian public debt, of each description, at the end of the 1860: year Obligations (to be repaid) not bearing interest 934,271 853,292 87,317,368 £8,295,150 1,621,502,725 32,769 194,065,162 24,166,451 6 Total new debt or Lombardo-Venetian debt 1,839,767,107 Total debt or The Vienna Gazette' of November 15, 1862, published a report of * Baron von Schmerling in a speech before the Reichsrath.-Vienna Gazette, Nov. 15, 1862. Kolb, Handbuch der Statistik, Leipzig, 1862. Czörnig, Statist. Handbuch der Oesterreichischen Monarchie. the Commission on the Public Debt, showing its situation on October 31, 1862. At that date the capital of the debt, both consolidated and floating, amounted to 2,364,316,761 florins, of which the floating debt consisted of 396,972,206 florins. The sum of 2,237,932 florins, which at that moment was contained in the deposit bank, being deducted from that amount, there remained 2,362,078,829 florins as the net amount of the general debt. In addition, the debt of the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom amounted to 66,419,385 florins; lastly, the debt of the land-redemption fund was 522,586,239 florins. A new loan of 80,000,000 florins was contracted in November 1863. Army and Navy. The total strength of the Austrian army has never been accurately known. There is a very great difference between the official reports laid before the Reichsrath in November 1862, and the statements published in newspapers and statistical works. According to the official list, Austria possessed, on the peace-footing, at the end of October 1862, an army of 269,103 men, rank and file, with 42,201 horses. It is generally surmised, however, that this statement is much below the truth. * Trustworthy private reports give the total strength of the army at 476,299 men, with 66,365 horses, and 1,652 other beasts of burden. The papers furnished by the War Office to the Reichsrath describe the troops of the empire as constituted in the following manner : War Peace footing footing 80 regiments of infantry of the line, each of 3 battalions, with 6 companies 1 regiment Kaiserjäger, of 8 battalions, with 4 companies 32 battalions of Feldjäger, of 6 companies each 14 regiments of frontier infantry 10 companies of 'sanitary troops' companies Total of cavalry 12 regiments of field-artillery, of 10 batteries, with 1 regiment of coast-artillery, of 3 batteries, with 4 companies 1 regiment of raketeurs, of 12 batteries, with 3 companies 2 regiments of engineers, of 4 battalions 6 battalions of pioneers * Vienna correspondent of the Times, letter of Nov. 18, 1862. |