The Express.
London, England, 1866-07-16 00:00:00

HOWL POLITICS.

The Times disputes the opinion of Lord Crenborne as to I,
the prospects of political fusion, and believes contrary to
him that there are in parliament and in the country two
schools of thought differing as widely as possible from !
each other, the one building its faith on property, the
other on numbers ; the one anxious to retain and even
strengthen traditionary and exceptional principles in the
hands of orders and corporations, the other desirous to
see nothing but a sovereign multitude with a strong
executive to represent and perform its wilL More super-
ficial,
but equally unsound, is the view of Mr. Disraeli
that Reform is a matter of no difficulty at all. Equally
strange is his idea that it is the extraordinary strength of
England which renders her unable to interfere in the
politics of Europe, and it was a deplorable error on his
part to affirm that emigration from Ireland was a great
calamity which it was the duty of a statesman to arrest.
Looking back from today, when Mr. Disraeli assumes
the leadership of the House of Commons, to the date at
which Mr. Gladstone first appeared in the same position,
the Dilly News proceeds to review the various reasons
which are given for the change which the fortunes of the
liberal party have undergone in the interval. According
to the school of politicians whose theory is that England
wants a governor who will keep things as they are,
except when a little judicious change may help
those who are already rich to become richer, Mr. Glad-
stone has done it all, wasting the inheritance which
Lora Palmerston had left. For ourselves, we prefer to ac-
cept the advent of a conservative administration as the
natural and unavoidable consequence of a long-delayed
return to liberal principles. Lord Palmerston kept, it is
true, the liberal party in power, but he did so by the ab-
negation of some of the most important ends for which
it is really desirable that they 'timid be in power.
So far as regards the practical assertion of a liberal policy,
it is not too much to say that the last five months, stormy
and chequered as they have been, have born more fruit
than the seven years which went before them. They have
once again made reform a parliamentary question in good
I earnest ; they have at last given us an Oaths Bill and put

IiONPAY ' filiTElfrott

J.
LATEST TELLIGENCE.
• E WAR.

The hope of an immediate peace, to which the
cession of Venetia and the offered mediation of
France gave rise, has failed. The proposed armistice
did not arrest for a single hour the onward march of
the Prussian generals, who have been success-
ful in every encounter with their enemies from
the Oder to the Rhine. At Vienna pre-
parations are being made to defend the line
of the Danube. By the last accounts, 25,000 men
were said to have arrived at the entrenched camp
of Floresderf, under the command of Von Gablenz,
and it is also stated that 25,000 men—the first
contingent of the Italian-Austrian army—arrived
there from the south. It is also said that
there are 160,000 men concentrated at Olmutz.
But simultaneously with these appearances
of resistance there are symptoms of want of con&
deuce in the success of the final effort that is to be
made before Vienna. The Emperor, in obedience
to the express wish of the municipality, has de-
clared that Vienna was to be an open town ; that
is to say, if the line of the Dar.ube was forced
no attempt would be made to dispute with the
Prussians the occupation of the capital by them.
The Empress has already gone to Pesth, the capital
of Hungary, and it was reported that the seat of
the Austrian monarchy would be transferred to that
place. The Prussians have, in tho meantime, been
advancing rapidly on Vienna, apparently regardless
of the Austrians collected at Olmutz, and as confi-
dent of defeating their adversaries on the Danube
as they have done on the Elbe and the Main.
It was stated in the Express of Saturday that
their advanced guard had reached Znaim.
They are now reported to be considerably
further south, and to have reached Hollabrunn and
Retz, at which latter place they are stated to
have had a cavalry engagement with the Austrians
_ .

under General Ed Hollabrunn and Retz
are both in the Duchy of Austria, the former 30
miles north of Vienna. Other Prussian corps are
advancing by Brilnn, and by a road between Briinn
and Olmiitz. The Archduke Albrecht arrived at
Vienna, and at a council of war held in that city,
a plan of defence proposed by the conqueror of
Custozza was discussed.
In Western Germany the Bth Federal army corps
has been defeated, and by the last accounts the

Prussians were on the march south to Darmstadt.

The Bavarians who, after the defeat at Kiasingen,
fell back on Schweinfurt have retreated still fur-
ther towards Wurtzbourg, the seat of the Diet
being transferred even still further south—namely,
to Augsburg, the great arsenal of Bavaria.
Cialdini, with the Italian army, has not only
crossed the Po, but the Adige, and reached Padua,
a town of 50,000 inhabitants, about a day's march
from Venice and behind the famous Quadrilateral,
which is now cut off on the south-eastern side
from Vienna. According to the Memorial'
Diplontalique, a journal in the Austrian interest,
only 80,000 men belonging to the Austrian army
of Italy were recalled to defend Vienna, leaving
still 170,000 troops in the Quadrilateral, the Tyrol,
and the Istrian passes. At Padua, the railway
runs east to Meatre, from which place, after
sending on a short branch to Venice, it runs
due north by Treviso to Conegliano, at which
latter place the Austrian troops are said to be
assembled in great numbers, with a view of
contesting with the Italians the passage of the
Piave. It is further stated that a corps of the regu-
lar army will co-operate with Garibaldi in the Italian
Tyrol with a view of isolating the Quadrilateral on the
north-east from Vienna, as Cialdini has isolated it
on the south-east. In this situation the Austrian
garrisons could not receive supplies either by way
of Innapruck on the north, or by way of Trieste on
the east. Attacked north, south, and west, and
with the reported beginning of insurrectionary
movements in Hungary, the old house of the
Hapsburgs and the representative of the Holy
Roman empire are threatened with almost anni-
hilation.

(ELIITEIVIS TILEORMIE.)

PARIS, JULY 16.

The Moniteur of this morning states that in the
engagement at Aschaffenburg the troops of Hesse
Darmstadt were compelled to retreat.
The Prussians are marching upon Darmstadt.
The Grand Duke has left for Munich.

The Conetitutionnel publishes an article blaming
certain journals for seeking to induce the French
government to acquire territorial enlargement in
order to balance the increase of territory obtained
by Prussia. " What," adds the Conatitutitmnei,
"do these journals know of the future state of
Germany or of the intentions of Prussia? Instead
of endeavouring to comprehend the lofty character
of the mediation undertaken by the Emperor, they
only seek to throw obstacles in the way of its ac-
ceptance, and to cause the character of this media-
tion to be suspected by the public. These are the
tactics of a party which intrigues to drag France
into war ; but the lofty mediation of the Emperor
which has been accepted by the belligerents, and is
the greatest possible proof of the Emperor Napo-
leon's spirit of justice, will follow a course, happen
what may, befitting the dignity, the honour, and
the interests of France."

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