The Express.
London, England, 1865-10-18 00:00:00

VIENNA, Oar. 14.
The journey of the Prussian minister to Biarritz,
and the reception he has met with there, occupy
both the press and the public in Vienna, as it is
natural they should do. Everyone is puzzled to
know what to think, and the tooling of uncertainty
that exist,' with regard to the true state of things,
and what the future may have in reserve, pro-
duns that discomfort and depression which every
living creature experiences under like cireum-
stances—an apprehension of something impending
which cannot be shaken off. It is true the
whole affair is enigmatical—the strongly worded
despatch of Drouyn de Lhuys, the cordial reception
of Count Bismarck at the French court, the expires,
sions of the Emperor about the affair of the
Duchies, and his Majesty's exceeding cheerfulness
and seemingly great satisfaction.
I de got ;teethed to hold the solution of the
enigma in my band, but I eau give you a pion of
information which, if true, would help to explain
what is now inexplicable. It is derived from a
source that possesses means of knowledge °peat° few,
• source which hitherto has always been fotind re-
liable. I therefore state it, but without holding
myself responsible for its truth. It is that
an arrangement exists between Napoleon and
Count Bismarck unknown to the King, and
unknown also to the Queen-widow, who, as
every one knows, plays no inconsiderable part in
Prussian politics. At first this supposition may
seem preposterous, and it would be so if the cha-
racters of the King and his minister were respec-
tively not what they are. The one is undecided,
irresolute, hesitating ; the other determined, bold,
and flinching at nothing. The present, like the
late King, start& back affrighted at the necessity of
coming at once to a resolve ; and it is only by
accustoming him long beforehand to certain views
that a minister has any chance of eventually
making them pasts into accomplishment. He must
be brought gradually into deep water like the child
who fears to take • bath. He first is let to play
with the limpid wavelets, and to paddle about and
get used to the element. This is the great point,
and when once it is gained, and what ones seemed
strange and unfamiliar is no longer so, an invita-
tion to advance a step or two will no longer be re-
pelled ; only slowly, cautiously. That this is no
] invention of the fancy the following anecdote will
prove. It serves, too, to show there is no impro-
bability at all in the assertion given above. The
presumed arrangement with Napoleon would only
be a repetition of the system already adopted with
perfect success by the bold minister towards his
weak vacillating master. The story is true, for I
hay* it from one who was present at the time.
The summer before last, when the King of
Prussia was at Carlsbad or Kiesingen—l forget
which—the conversation on a particular occasion
turned on the Sleswig-Holstein question. Suddenly
the King exclaimed, violently and angrily, " I will
not beer that word annexation' again ; I forbid
its use in my presence." One of those pre-
sent looked inquiringly and surprised at Bis-
marck, who made light of these words, and
and, " You must not attach any importance to
such expressions. His Majesty speaks in that way
now, but the thing is to bring him to accustom him-
self to a certain thought, and when once be has got
used to it he will gradually adopt and carry it out."
How correct this reasoning was the results show.
The man who would not hear of " annexation, " by
always haying it suggested and brought before him
has grown accustomed to the word, and is now no
longer shocked at its utterance. He has been
brought to do what at first he would have been
afraid to think of, and still more afraid to do. And
when I oonsider the character of the two men it
would not at all surprise me if Count Bismarck had
made an arrangement with Napoleon unknown to
his master. Knowing with whom he has to do, and
knowing also the power which his firm will and
resolve give him, he does not for a moment doubt
of being able to realise what he has undertaken
shall be done.
The Prase of this morning brings a letter from
Berlin, in which it is announced with certainty
that Bismarck is negotiating with France about the
possession of Belgium. France, so it is said, is
desirous of having the Venetian question settled,
and proposes to recompense Austria for the loss of
Venetia by letting her take the Danubian provinces.
] The Elbe Duchies are to fall to Prussia ; and Bel-
gium—either the half or the whole—to France. '
Every day, and almost every German newspaper,
gives evidesee of the want of political edueation
which makes itself felt in this coustry. Editors
quarrel with and abuse each other, just as so many
withered old maids pull their neighbours' repute-
tion to pieces over their bohes ; or they express
their " contempt " for the observations of the
foreign press on German policy or German pedan-
try. No faded beauty is so susceptible as the jour-
nalists of disunited Germany. Herein there is
unity—they are as touchy as Mrs. Caudle, and
quite as snappish ; and a leading article is an
English journal reflecting on their mistakes puts
them in a bad humour, and makes them sulk
fora week. Hardly a day passes in which the
papers do not exclaim against the endeavours
of those Englishmen who are striving to open up a
trade between England and Austria. They always
talk of our being egotistical, and say that our eadsa-
yours
are only made for our own interest. Me
State, to the beat of my knowledge, exists, except I
in the brain of a philosophically-speculative Ger-
man professor, which in its tariffs, treaties, or wars
acts only with reference to the welfare of a sister
nation, and irrespective of self. These whimsies
do not see that a country that hitherto had bum
shut up in its isolation benefits in a hundred ways,
indirect as well as direct, by being brought into
contact with other people. There are men here at
this moment who for months have been working
strenuously in the cause of Austria, hoping that
eventually, by turning bar product& to account, she
and others will be benefited. Yet no opportunity
is lost of referring to their endeavours in • way
which shows the jealousy which is felt towards
them. Instead of being grateful that such mac
come here, employing their brains and ready to em-
bark their capital for the welfare of Austria, maw',
if they could manage it, would puts stop to their
activity at once.
The party to which a greater intimacy with Eng-
land
is especially distasteful is the clerical ON. Is.
their eyes it is fraught with danger. They
MN in it a gradual undermining of their influence.
They fear the advent of more liberal Mess, of
freedom of thought and of conscience, for these are