The Express.
London, England, 1855-06-15 00:00:00

IOIOUS PERSECUTION IN
AUSTRIA.

THE •

[We have received from &correspondent the follow-
ing additional particulars of the sufferings of the
converted Priest Borziusky, and also of those of an-
other victim of 'niftily tyranny. We invite atten-
tion to this second case. Jezule has been rendered
a lunatic by his prolonged incarceration and tortures,
and his fate may soon be that of Borzinsky.]

PRAGUE, Jose 8.
The following extraordinary history of the perse-
cutions to which a convert from the church of Rome

to the Lutheran religion was lately—and indeed still
is—exposed, sounds so strange and unnatural in the
present day, that I should not venture to communi-
[ cat, it to your readers, had I not good reason to
believe it perfectly well authenticated and free from
all exaggeration.
Johannes Evangelista Borzinlry was for seven-
teen years a monk belonging to the convent of the
order of the Brothers of Mercy in this city, and
having in his youth studied medicine and anatomy,
was the acting physician of his convent. During
that long period he had abundant opportunities of
[becoming intimately acquainted with the abuses
carried on under the cloak of religion. He was,
moreover, so inwardly convinced of the error of the
doctrine of Justification by Works contained in his
breviary, that he felt disgusted with the catholic
shurch, and resolved to abjure his religion from
purely conscientious motives, and without any im-
pulse from without.
It is important to remark that. in the Austrian
dominions, there is no law to prevent any person
from changing his religion. On the contrary, it is
still legally permitted, the only conditions required
being, first, that he gives notice of his intentions to
the eseiesisetical authorities of his parish, is the
promise of two witnesses ; and, secondly, that he
obtains a certificate from the protestant clergyman
of whose flock he becomes a member. I may here
observe that this legal permission to change one's
religion has never been modified or abolished even
for the conventual or secular clergy. Borzinsky was
therefore in no way acting contrary to law, or even
the rules of his order, in becoming a protestant. I
Not-
withstanding this, he could not find in Bohemia any
protestant clergyman who had a sufficiently iodepen-
lent spirit to receive him into his flock, for fear of
incurring the displeasure of the authorities and the
dread of punishment for "illegal proselytism," which
subjects the offender to four years' imprisonment.
Borziosky was therefore induced to go to Prussia in
order to accomplish the great wish of his heart. To
fulfil to the letter the conditions imposed, be there-
[ fore took the opportunity of his being sent to the
convent of his order at Teschen, to make known his
intentions to the superior of his convent at Prague,
Ise well as to the provincial of the order at Vienna,
and then entered the dominions of Prussia.
On the 17th of January, 1855, he was admitted a
member of the protestant religion by his countryman,
the Rev. J. Rowotny, in the parish church of St. Peter,
at Petershain, near Niesky, gave proof of his conver-
sion by partaking of the Holy Sacrament in both
forms, according to the Lutheran rites, and obtained
the legally prescribed certificate of the act. Borzineky
had beeu warned by well-inclined friends not to re-
turn to the Austrian dominions, but unfortunately
disregarded these warnings in his singleheartednese
and confidence in the sense of justice of the Austrian
government. But from the moment that he had given
notice of his intention to quit the catholic church, his
doom was sealed, nod secret orders were given to keep
a watch on his movements. The ecclesiastical autho-
rities demanded the assistance of the civil power, and
after having remained for some time secreted in
Moravia, he was arrested by gendarmes and agents of
the police and brought back to his former convent in
this city, where he is now confined without any chance
of ever regaining his liberty unless he abjures his new
religion.
In the same convent is another unfortunate, of the
name of Joachim Jezule, also formerly a catholic
priest, who was converted to the protestant religion,
and who has now been confined there for twenty
years, and is treated as a lunatic, bemuse he will not
recant.
The severe treatment that Borziosky has to suffer
is no secret in this city, for his former brethren pro-
claim it in triumph as a just retribution for his sin
and as a salutary warning to others. As soon as he
was delivered up to the convent, he was placed in
solitary confinement in a cell adjacent to those of the
lunatics, and underwent a rigorous examination from
Canonicas Dittrich, the co-visitator of the Order, who
did all in his power, bat ineffectually, to induce him
to recant, and represented to him that his sin was
much more heinous than if he had stolen from the
convent 10,000 florins' worth of plate. He was then
locked up alone, not permitted the use of bo kit or
writing materials, fed upon bread and water, and
the case reported to the Primate of Hungary, Car-
dinal Seitowsky, at Oran, as apostolical viaitator.
But before the decision of his Eminence arrived,
poor Borxinsky's situation was greatly altered for the
worse. At Easter he had begged permission of the
abbot to take the communion administered by a pro-
testant clergyman, in consequence of which demand
he was transferred to a perfectly dark subterraneous
cell adjoining those of two raving maniacs, and put
on half rations of bread and water. The cardinal's
reply arrived in course of time, and was as follows :1
"'The most severe solitary confinement, with days
of penitence and fasting. Mondays, Wednesdays,
and Fridays, bread and water; and the application
of an ascetic priest. The result to be reported to the
cardinal."
Thus the poor man languishes in a deep dark cell
for oonscience sake. Those who are acquainted with
him represent him as an inoffensive conscientious
man, and an excellent physician but he has for a 1
Iloog time been an object of suspicion and fear to the I
other monks of his order, from his benevolence to
the poor, and the courage with which he was
loin
to cry out against the flagrant abuses prevalent in
1 the convent.

AMERICA.

SOUTHAMPTON, FAIDLT Mown:ca.
The United States new mail steamer, Arago, has
arrived at Cowes on her way to Havre. She left
New York on the 2nd inst.
Amongst her cargo is specie to the value of five
hundred thousand dollars, of which one hundred and
five thousand dollen are for England. She has
brought over two hundred and twenty passengers.
The Legislature in Virginia will be democratic by
• large majority.
The Governor of Kansas will, it is thought, be
dismissed.
It was rumoured that the Nicaraguan colonisation
scheme was abandoned.
The house of Page, Bacon, and Co., had again
failed at San Francisco.
A disturbance had taken place at the Great Salt
. Lake.
Robberies and executions were prevalent in Mexico.
The cotton market was excited, and had advanced
a quarter of a cent per pound. The price of flour
had declined.
Large fires had taken place at Worcester, Mawr
chusette.
The Gulf squadron has been reinforced.
The Erie Railroad Company had lost 20,000 dollars
by a fire.