Vienna has been greatly excited this week. The Austrian Government
recently applied the conscription to Crivoschie, a district of Dalmatia hitherto exempt. The demand is only for 300 men, but the people of Crivoschie resist, and the Government either believes, or professes to believe, that the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who have also been made liable, will rise in insurrection. As the country is thoroughly garrisoned, this is not probable ; but not only are large reinforcements being sent south, especially to Mostar, but the Delegations have been hurriedly summoned to vote an increase to the military budget. English corre- spondents, indeed, affirm that more troops are going than the Government admit, and that the preparations for supplying them are on the largest scale. As it is scarcely probable that the slow-moving Austrian Government would take such steps without adequate reason, the Viennese are inclined to be- lieve in a great expedition. Without affirming that, we state elsewhere reasons for supposing that the Austrian Government may not be displeased at the movement in Crivoschie, and may take advantage of it to accumulate a considerable and mobile force around Mostar. Whether the object of this force is to occupy Novi Bazar, or to overawe Servia, or to give efficacy to a proclamation annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina, is not clear, but Austria is striving hard for a still better position in the Balkan peninsula. She may have decided to act in the spring, and if so, is pushing on prepara- tions in good time, and under a pretext which will disarm Hungarian opposition.
Previous page
