The calm persistency of the Hapsburgs has beaten the procrastinating
skill of the Turks, and the Convention about Bosnia has been signed. The final arrangement is a cession, with a nominal sovereignty reserved to the Sultan. The province, including Herzegovina, is to be occupied by Austrians ; no time is fixed for the occupa- tion, and all resources are left at the disposal of the occupying Government. This is sovereignty, of course, in all but name, and the want of the name will not increase the diffi- culty of governing the country, especially as the fiercer Mussulmans are departing. Spizza has this week also been declared an Austrian port, and the district of Novi-Bazar assigned to Austrians and Turks in joint occupation. The Hapsburgs, therefore, are in full possession of the point d'appui for the extension to Salonica on which Count Andrassy's heart is set. The Powers have, moreover, agreed on joint and peremptory " mediation " as to the Greek claims, so that the Sultan's authority is visibly becoming " concentrated,"—which Lord Beaconsfield says is the secret of strength.
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