The Express.
London, England, 1853-01-03 00:00:00

LORD WESTMORELAND IN VIENNA.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE REPRISE.

Sut,—,The truth of your remarks in this day's
paper on the danger of allowing British Ministers at
foreign courts, who happen to be personally or politi-
cally hostile to the home Cabinet, to remain at their
posts, is more completely confirmed by the conduct
of our Envoy Extraordinary at Vienna than the
public seem to be aware of. Although the political
opinions of a mere
.fanatico per la musien may seem
to be of little consequence, yet those of Lord West-
moreland have so far influenced his conduct as to be
of the utmost detriment to the power and influence
of the British name in Austria. His decided sym
pathy with the despotic court to which he is ac-
credited, has shown itself in the bland coolness
with which ho has received every application
for assistance from helpless and insulted English
subjects whom it is his special mission to protect;'
while his enmity to the principles of the Liberal Cabi-
net from which he received his appointment has been
evinced in a very marked manner. A specimen of
his gratitude, and of his notion of how a liberal mo-
narchy ought to be represented at the court of a
scarcely limited despotism will alone prove how un-
fitted Lord Westmoreland is for his position.
An extreme intimacy existed between his lordship
and the late Prince Schwarzenburg, England's bit-
terest enemy ; and so eminently the enemy of
England's once Foreign Secretary, that when the
news reached Vienna of Lord Palmerston's dismissal
from the councils of Lord John Russell's government
the Prince gave a grand reception in honour of the
glorious event ! No English private gentleman with
a grain of propriety or prudence in his character
would have appeared, even upon the most pressing
invitation, at a reunion thus ostentatiously given on
such an occasion. The British Envoy Extraordinary,
however—who ought in his public capacity to have
represented and enforced Lord Palinerston's policy,
and who, in his private capacity, owed to Lord Pal-
merston not only his own place, but that of his son
(just before promoted)—not only assisted at the
Schwarzenburg rejoicing, but gave an entertainment
in return. Lord Westmoreland's regard for the
prince was so intense that even the gra‘c could not
quench it, for, as you pointed out at the time, his
lordship thought It not undignified or improper to
leave his post at Vienna—that of a Protestant ambas-
sador—in
order to conduct in person a mass (said to
be of his own composing) for the repose of Prince
Schwarsenburg's soul in a Catholic church at Prague.
Judging from this dangerous intimacy and from
the acts and omissions of Lord Westmoreland during
his short career in Vienna, it is nut at all a strained
inference to surmise that he has derived his rule for
conducting the affairs of his mission less from his
own government than from that of Austria. He
has bowed to nearly every outrage against the
liberty of the British subject which has been perpe-
trated in the Austrian dominions. Since his lord-
ship's musical abilities have been transferred from
Berlin to Vienna more than a dozen cases of wrong
perpetrated by the Austrian government upon
British subjects have remained unrequited.
A nobleman in the diplomatic service of this
country must nevertheless not always be judged of
by his politics, by his notorious friendships, or by
his private tastes and foibles. An envoy might pos-
sibly serve his Queen and country faithfully and
well, and yet be hand and glove with his Queen
and country's deadliest enemy (especially. if he
belong to the Machiavellian school) ; or rejoice over
the fall of his patron, or pass the greater part of his
time in bowing and fiddling. All these peculiarities
might, by a clever scheming diplomatist, be indulged
in, and still not prevent him from producing good
diplomatic results. Nowhere in the world is the
scriptural axiom, " by their works shall ye know
them," more thoroughly relied on than in England.
We always judge men by results.
Let then our new Foreign Secretary—hardly re-
garding the charges of neglect and incapacity which
have been brought against the Envoy in Austria—
judge of him by this test. Let hint see how the
British name stands at the Court of Vienna. Let
him find out what degree of respect is paid to the
personal liberty of British subjects in Austria. Let
him investigate these important points—no very dif-
ficult task—and I have no doubt, as an impartial
looker on, that the end will be a change in our diplo-
matic representative in Vienna.—Yours,
Birmingham, Jan. 1, 1853. I. K.

EXHIBITION OF POULTRY.—The entries which
have already been made to the Poultry Exhibition at the
Portman-square Bazaar next week are stated to amount to
nearly 2,000 pens of specimens. The show of poultry will
be "divided into 61 classes, consisting of Spanish fowls,
Cochin China fowls (cinnamon, buff, brown and partridge
feathered, brown or white), Dorking fowls (single combed,
double or rose combed or white) Malay fowls, game fowl
(white and piles, black-breasted, and other reds, blacks and
brassy-winged, except greys, duckwings, and other greys
and blues), gold-pencilled Hantburgh specimens, golden-
spaagled Hamburgh, silver-spangled Hainburgh, Poland
fowl (black with white crests, golden with ruffs or beards,
golden without ruffs or beards, silver with and without
ruffs or beards), bantams and any other distant breeds,
geese and ganders, ducks (Aylesbury drakes and ducks,
Rouen drakes and ducks, rituscovy drakes and ducks),
turkeys and guinea fowl. The pigeon classes are thus di-
vidcd—Pouters and croppers, carriers, dragons, almond
tumblers, short-faced mottles ;short-faced bald heads, shorts
faced beards, short-faced tumblers, Jacobines, owls, nuns,
(orbits, fantails, bathes, magpies, small pouters, good
feathered flying bald heads, good feathered flying beards,
good feathered flying mottles, good feathered flying tams
biers and foreign birds. There are to be nine classes el
rabbits, viz., long ears, black and white, yellow and white,
tortoiseshell, blue and white, grey and white, best self
colour and foreign rabbits.—The prizes to be awarded con-
sist of medals, and sums of money. The object of the club
is to improve tie various breeds of poultry, &c., and to
render this branch of English farm-yard produce a more
important and valuable feature than it has hitherto been in
this country. The regulations of the club state " that
high condition, beauty of plumage, and purity of race,
will be preferred above mere weight, which latter quality
is to be considered as a point of merit in those breeds only
that are remarkable for their size, as the Spanish, Dorking,
Malay, and Cochin China."
TUB STORK AND THE TZLEGRAIII.—The recent
storm appears has done great injury to the telegraph,
some hundreds of the supporting posts in different parts of
the country having been blown down, and the communica-
tion temporarily stopped.
Mt:IIDM AT CARDIFF.—A shocking murder has
been committed at this part. Asa policeman was going his
rounds he heard a cry of " Murder," and discovered a man
named Harrington weltering in his blood near the dock.
Ito had been conveyed to the infirmary, when it was found
that he had been stabbed in the abdomen and adjacent'
parts, the bowels having been penetrated. The man died
next morning, and made a dying statement to the effect
that the stabs had been inflicted by two Greek sailors.
About the time the man was picked up two sailors, a Swede
and an Irishman, named Gabriel Gilaorn and Richard
Keenan, went on board their vessel, the Madomae, of
Boston, and must have passed the spot where the deceased
was attacked. These men have been apprehended, and
have undergone an examination before the magistrates,who
have remanded thorn for the present. The coroner's in-
quest has also been opened, and stands adjourned fur a
week.