The crisis in the Dual Empire has been happily tided
over, and the Austrian and Hungarian Prime Ministers signed the Customs and Commercial Treaty at Budapest on Tuesday. The precise terms on which Austria and Hungary have agreed to regularise their commercial relations once more have not yet been officially announced, but it seems that Hungary has con- sented to raise her share of the " Quota "—i.e., the sum jointly contributed to the expenses of the common Ministries of War, Finance, and Foreign Affairs—from 34'4 to 36 per cent., in consideration for being formally represented in all future commercial Treaties with foreign States, while the vexed question of the Joint State Bank has been provisionally settled by an arrangement empowering the Austrian Government to take steps for the liquidation or separation of the Bank in 1910, unless the Hungarian Govern- ment expresses a desire for its maintenance within the next six months. The settlement, which was arrived at on Saturday last at a moment when a rupture seemed inevitable, has already brought about an immediate improvement in the economic situation in Hungary—the dangers of which are emphasised by the great Socialist demonstration on Thursday at Budapest—and, what is even more important, has produced a most salutary detente in the strained relations between Vienna and Budapest, as well as a feeling of mutual respect between the Ministers engaged in the negotiations.
