were managed regularly by the Austro-Hungarian
minister of finance. The eventual absorption of the territories by the
dual monarchy was not unexpected, but it came in virtue of a _coup_ by
which the European world was thrown for a time into some agitation.
The revolution at Constantinople during the summer of 1908,
accompanied by the threatened dissolution of European Turkey, created
precisely the opportunity for which the authorities at Vienna had long
waited. October 5, Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria proclaimed the
complete separation of Bulgaria from the Sultan's dominions and
assumed the title of king. Two days later Emperor Francis Joseph
proclaimed to the inhabitants of Bosnia and Herzegovina the immediate
extension of Austro-Hungarian sovereignty over them, alleging that the
hour had arrived when they ought to be raised to a higher political
level and accorded the benefits of Austro-Hungarian constitutionalism.
Among the population of the annexed provinces the Roman Catholic (p. 515)
element approved the union, but the Greek Orthodox and Mohammedan
majority warmly opposed it. The people of the provinces are Servian in
race, and in the interest of the Servian union which it was hoped at
some time to bring about Servia and Montenegro protested loudly, and
even began preparations for war. The annexation constituted a flagrant
infraction of the Berlin Treaty, and during some weeks the danger of
international complications was grave. Eventually, however, on the
understanding that the new possessor should render to Turkey certain
financial compensation, the various powers more or less grudgingly
yielded their assent to the change of status.

*568. The Constitution of 1910: the Diet.* At the time of the annexation
it was promised that the provinces should be granted a constitution.
The pledge was fulfilled in the fundamental laws which were
promulgated by the Vienna Government February 22, 1910. The
constitution proper consists of a preamble and three sections, of
which the first relates to civil rights, the second to the composition
of the Diet, and the third to the competence of the Diet. Under the
terms of the preamble the pre-existing military and administrative
arrangements are perpetuated. The civil rights section extends to the
annexed provinces the principal provisions of the Austrian
constitution in respect to equality before the law, freedom of
personal movement, the protection of individual liberty, the
ind