the empire in the following proportions: Bohemia, 54; Dalmatia, 5; Galicia, 38; Upper Austria, 10; Lower Austria, 18; Salzburg, 3; Styria, 13; Carinthia, 5; Carniola, 6; Bukowina, 5; Moravia, 22; Silesia, 6; Tyrol and Vorarlberg, 12; and Istria and Trieste, 6. The election for the Lower House of the Reichsrath is made in the assembled Provincial Diets, and the elected deputies must be members of such Diets. The emperor has the right, however, to order the elections to take place directly by the various constituencies of the provincial representatives, should the Diets refuse or neglect to send members to the Reichsrath. The emperor nominates the presidents and vice-presidents of both Chambers of the Reichsrath, the remaining functionaries being chosen by the members of the two Houses. It is incumbent upon the head of the State to assemble the Reichsrath annually. The rights which, in consequence of the diploma of Oct. 20, 1860, and the 'Patent' of Feb. 26, 1861, are conferred upon the Reichsrath, are as follows: — 1st, Consent to all laws relating to military duty; 2nd, Co-operation in the legislature on trade and commerce, customs, banking, posting, telegraph, and railway matters; 3rd, Examination of the estimates of the income and expenditure of the State; of the bills on taxation, public loans, and conversion of the funds; and general control of the public debt. To give validity to bills passed by the Reichsrath, the consent of both Chambers is required, as well as the sanction of the head of the State. The members of both the Upper and the Lower House have the right to propose new laws on subjects within the competence of the Reichsrath; but in all other matters the initiative belongs solely to the Government.
The executive of Austria Proper consists of the following nine departments: —
1. The Presidency of the Council. — Count Alfred Potocki, born in Galicia, 1825; Member of the Upper House of the Reichsrath, 1861-65. Minister of Agriculture 1867-70.
2. The Ministry of the Interior and National Defence (Landesvertheidigung). — Count Eduard von Taaffe, born at Prague, 1833, the grandson of Rudolf, 7th Viscount Taaffe in the peerage of Ireland; educated as companion of the Emperor Franz Joseph I.; Governor of the Province of Salzburg, 1863-67; Minister of the Interior of the Cisleithan monarchy, January to December, 1867; President of the Cisleithan Council of Ministers, 1869-70; appointed Minister of the Interior National Defence, Dec. 30, 1867.
3. The Ministry of Public Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs. — Carl von Stremayer, appointed July 1870.
4. The Ministry of Finance.— Baron Ludwig von Holzgethan, appointed Sept. 1870.
5. The Ministry of Commerce and Agriculture. — Baron A. von Petrinó, appointed June 1870.
