The Express.
London, England, 1866-11-01 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 1, 18843:

How true, and yet how dangerows. Fr let us
acknowledge that in the life of Sttbete anlir
times comes a period when towhich we
neglected when they might have saves a people at.
a cause can only be proclaimed at the risk of
hastening an inevitable dissolution. If Herr
KOPP'S principles had prevailed in 1856, they
• might have proved the salvation of Austria. Now
they are revolutionary, for we fear that for that
Empire the day of reconstruction has for ever
passed away, and resolutions like these do but
serve to undermine what little authority there is
left. The Government cannot ignore the move-
ment which is going on at so many centres against
the Jesuits and the Concordat. Rut it does not
defer to the wishes of the people. Indeed, it cannot
do so without a breach of its convention with the
Church. At Vienna, as at Prague, the Jesuits
are quietly settling down, acquiring property and
collecting money. It is impossible to separate
them from the Concordat, which, while it protects
their privileges, bears on its every page the stamp
of their workmanship. For years before its date
they had been gradually gaining ground in
the Empire, and formed a party at Court,
as well under the Emperor Fa.arrets as
under FERDINAND H. They exercised an un-
disputed influence over the consort of FERDINAND,
and also over the mother of the reigning EMPEROR.
In the Concordat their principles openly triumphed.
It has been said—and we believe never contra-
dicted—that the present EMPEROR was himself the
most zealous promoter of the measure, which
would not have been carried without the exercise
of his decided personal authority. When he
signed away without any apparent motive large
rights of sovereignty, which his ancestors bad
vigorously defended, and which were established
by the laws of the realm, it could not have oc-
curred to him that he held those rights in trust
for the benefit of his people and the better se-
curity of their liberties, a fact of which he is now
unpleasantly reminded. The Concordat derives
its force from the plenary legislative power attri-
buted to the monarch in the days before the meet-
ing of the Reicharath had amused the people
with the semblance of constitutional govern-
ment, and it stands absolutely supreme
above all other civil laws, ordinances, and
arrangements. MARIA THERESA promulgated a
law which forbade the publication of any Papal
Bull in the Austrian dominions without the
Placa= Reginm ; the Concordat acknowledges
that the POPE has, by Divine right, the primacy
of jurisdiction in the whole Church wherever it
extends. It attributes to him the highest legis-
lative, judicial, and penal power in the Church
affairs of Austria, so that it is impossible for the
Government which acknowledges that instrument
to treat him as a foreign Power. The Concordat
consigns the whole course of instruction in public
and private schools intended fur Catholics to the
direct control of the Bishops, and renders the
whole system of education strictly ecclesiastical.
It recognises the authority of the Church over the
censorship of books, and the Fuer:aim is bound
not to permit the faith or institutions of the Church
to be slighted, either in word or writing. The Index
which was excluded by the Imperial Constitution
of 1781 was brought in again withthe Concordat, and
no sooner had the Government signed that capitula-
tion than one Austrian Bishop placed the works of
SCHILLER underthe ban of the Church, ivhile another
issued letters to all the booksellers and printers in
his diocese, warning them that by virtue of the
Concordat the clergy would call upon the Govern-
ment to suspend fromthe exercise of their trade all
persons neglecting to conform to the rules of the
Church, or violating the prohibitions of the
Index. Lastly, it was the Concordat that restored
the Regular Orders to a position which they had
not enjoyed in Austria for inure than eighty
years. We seek in vain for any statesmanlike
motive for so complete a surrender of the rights of
civil society on the part of the Austrian Govern-
ment. The position of the Empire in Germany
was not improved by it, for the conduct of the
Austrian Government immensely increased the
difficulties which the Grand Duke of BADEN
and the Kings of llavatiraandSazoNv encountered
in dealing with the Court of Rome. The EMPE-
ROR seems rather to have been betrayed into sign-
ing it by giving heed to the traditional pretensions
of the Jesuits to be the spiritual soldiers of order
in States where political and moral ideas have
been rudely shaken. In that character they have
been welcomed in country after country by uneasy
Governments, and have always disappointed those
who trusted them. They are not, as other Orders
have at times proved themselves, the proclairners
of vitalizing ideas : they have no message or gospel
but the arbitrary and sterile doctrine of passive
obedience, and the casuistry which shocked PASCAL
and BOSSUET ; while they require an amount of in-
dependent authority inconsistent with the position
which every civil Government must assert for
itself if it would be respected by its subjects.
Their Concordat ought to have been abolished in
the autumn of 1859, as the first step in the new
path upon which the EMPEROR professed to enter,
for it was impossible to reconcile the principles of
free constitutional government with the authority
which that instrument attributed to the priest-
hood.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

(THIS DAY.)

premien made bs perhapsrour greatest living master of
'll•Slish eloquence, but from whose speeches the splendid
vices of Irish rhetoric are absent. Aware, perhaps, of
,4160 somewhat isiammable character of the material with
wrhich be had to deal, Mr. Bright tamed down his natunil
fire, and, with the exception of a single suggestion,
which does not seem to paeans the one recommendation
which could justify it—necessity--appears to have spoken
under reserve and a strong sense of responsibility. It is
obvious that if the landlords are willing to sell, they can
do so without the aid of a parliamentary commission, and
then if the farms are to be 1011 in the open market,
where prices might be pushed up to an extravagant
height. the present occupants may not get them
indeed, in many instances they would be little qua-
lified to exercise the duties of proprietorship, and
the process of eviction would go on as before. Artificially
to favour or artificially to obstruct the acquisition of large
estates seem to us courses equally adverse to sound political
economy. The abstract right of the state, as the ultimate
owner of the soil, is one which, even if it be theoretically
tenable, should be kept in the background for the gravest
emergencies. To use it without absolute necessity is to
cause more inconvenience from the sense of precarious
possession than the advantages to be hoped for from any
specific change, if it were a thousand times more promising
1 than that which Mr. Bright recommends. The remainder
of his speech was as just and generous in sentiment and as
sagacious in statesmanship as it was eloquent in ex-

pression.
In the opinion of the Post the tendency of the speech
was to aggravate the difficulties in the way of the progress
of Ireland, and the disclosures which Mr. Bright made, if
of a nature to elicit some Irish support, will at the same
time serve to intensify the misgiving he has to overcome
in England.
To the Herald Mr. Bright b still a mere demagogue—
the Rochdale Quaker—the head-centre of the revolutionary
agitation now being carried on within our island. The
Roman clergy in Ireland, it says, regard him as the un-
official mouthpiece of the late government, as the man
who can terrorise the whigs into granting anything he
chooses to demand in their own behalf. But if they bad
been able to project their vision out of the narrow insular
view which they take of the question, they might have
found something gravely sobering in the reflection that
the man who was propounding the scheme for plundering
the Irish establishment is the type of a school of politicians
who are the deadliest enemies of catholicism, and have
plundered it of its revenues whenever and wherever they
had the power to do so.
While fully agreeing with Mr. Bright in his denunciation
of the protestant establishment, the Tdoraph cannot so
clearly see its way as to his proposition regarding the land.
What be proposes would be a very alight and palliative
measure unless you pass as absurd law prohibiting our
countrymen from becoming owners of Irish estates.
The Star lavishes praise upon the speech in all ha parts
and adds that the hon. gentleman's visit to Ireland has an
immediate and direct political significance, the full force of
which will probably before long be realised by all parties
in this country.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

THE POLICY OF PRUSSIA:

The Temps of to-day contains the following re-
marks on this subject :
The North German Confederation is completed ; but that
is merely the commencement of the task which the policy of
Prussia has proposed as its object. The programme of Count
Bismarck is known, viz., to found German unity, and con-
sequently to attract within the circle of the uew confedera-
tion those countries of Germany which at present
do not forth part of it. All, sooner or later,
are destined to come into the new Confedera-
tion—some of their own accord, some by compulsion.
As for the secondary states of the South, Count
Bismarck reckons on their isolation and the sense of their
own weakness. As to Austria, she has been beaten for
the purpose of forcing her out of Germany
she will be ruffled when the time has come for taking
from her her German provinces. With regard to the States
of the south a debate which has taken place in the Baden
Chamber shows how accurate have been the anticipations
of Count Bismarck. Wurtemberg and Bavaria cannot fail
to follow the example of Baden, which appears to b°
anxious for an unconditional alliance with the Northern
Confederation, and the King of Holland most likely
is not under the illusion that the Prussian garrison
will ever evacuate the fortress of Luxemburg.
Sweden and Denmark are said to be competing
for the alliance of Prussia. Finally, information
to which we are disposed to attach some importance,
directs attention to the relations between Prussia and
Russia. There is a rumour of an alliance between
these two powers, for the purpose of completing
the dismemberment of Austria, and sharing the spoilt
between them. In order to obtain its end of a new
and united Germou empire Prussia has but one struggle
more to make—a struggle that is singularly unequal, be-
cause it will bring face to face the conquerors and the con-
quered—a country aggrandised by large annexations, and
an Austria trying to make head against the disorganise-
tion, disaffection, and disagreement of her provinces. No
state has ever had before it such a formidable task. Austria
represents great European interests, but it maims as be
left to itself and destined to pass, under the pressure of
events and as it ware under fire, through a social, moral,
and political regeneration, which it would require many long
years of peace to effect. Austria, however, does not seem to
despair of herself. The appointment of H. von Bengt
has a twofold signification, for it points to an abandon.
ment of the traditions of the concordat, and to a resist-
ance of the requirements of Prussia. M. von Bruit against
DI. von Bismarck, this is the match, and the stake played
for is nothing short of the fate of the whole of Europe.

THE RECENT ATTEMPT ON THE
EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA'S LIFE.
The Viennese journals contain the following
communicated paragraph respecting the recent
alleged attempt on the life of the Emperor of
Austria :
As his Apostolic Majesty was leaving the Czech
Theatre of Prague, about half-past eight on the night of the
27th of October, and was proceeding to ascend his
carriage, an English Captain, Palmer, who was among the
crowd of spectators, saw a man near him raise his
right hand, in which he held a small pistol. Captain
Palmer struck ,'own his arm, and seized him by
the collar. The man immediately slipped the pistol
into the side pocket of his palctot. On inquiring it was
found tLat he was A. L'--•, a journeyman tailor. When
arrested ho dropped a piece of black silk, in which were
found powder, three caps, and two large pieces of lead.
The pistol was loaded and cocked, but it had no cap on.
This was, however, found opposite the principal entrance
of the theatre by two young men, after the Emperor had
left. A. B— is mulled, and the father of two children.
He has been handed over to the proper authorities.

'EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

A tREATY BETNARN RUSSIA AND
PIKOSIA.

Yee •Ir
(mom ore owe 0011818PONDEN4.)
PARIS, WEDNESDAY EvaNINO.
In calling attention to the important leader in
the Presee of this evening, I must state that it
signifies even more than it says. Before its publi-
cation I had already learned that an alliance offen-
sive and defensive has been concluded between
Russia and Prussia. In fact, from the accounts
which reach us by private letters, it would seem
that Prussia is bent upon renewing at the shortest
notice the war with Austria, and that it is only M•
de Biamarck's illness which prevents it breaking
out at once. The Austrian frontiers are every day
I violated by incursions of Prussian cavalry, who
sometimes advance to considerable distances. 20
and 25 miles, pillaging the villages and levying

contributions. In fact, the accounts given repre-
sent a state of border warfare such as hundreds of
years ago existed in our island, only that the
attacks all come from the Prussian side•

--
The Temps of this evening contains a few lines
very much to the effect of the article in the Presse,
in which the reasons of the alliance just concluded
are so admirably laid down. The Temps pretends
even that there is a treaty for the partition of
Austria, but this is not probable—for the present.
Galicia and Bohemia, with the Danubian provinces,

will be the first step.
The Roumanian Loan has been taken by the
Bank of Saxe-Meinburen and MM. Oppenheim
and Plunat—the latter is a deputy, I think, for the
Loire Inferieure.

There is at present pending before the courts
bele a lawsuit of a novel description, which so far
as can be judged from the terms of the report,
threatens to be more efficacious than any other
means that could be found in putting a stop to
gambling on the Bourse. After the settlement of
July last a stockbroker handed a client his ac-
count, showing that there was a considerable dif-
ference in favour of the client. But the agent de
clutnge refused to pay the balance due. A judg-
ment by default was pronounced against him,
he was arrested, and then, paying under
protest, he appealed from the judgment
which condemned him, demanding repay-
ment of the sum thus squeezed out of him on
the grounds that it is a gambling debt. It is the
first time that a stock broker in Paris has attempted
this plea, although it has been often used to the
detriment of the members of the corporation. It
is very like a croupier at Wiesbaden refusing to
hand over the money won.
The Cardinal Prince Archbishop of Grann,
Primate of Hungary, was the wealthiest prelate in
the world. Although ho had not the expenses of
a wife and family to provide for, he has only left
the comparatively modest sum of 48,0001., cf
which two-thirds are left to his family, and
the remainder to the secretaries, chaplains, and
other officers of his household. The revenues of
the sec of Grann are said to equal the whole sum
that he has left. The son of a peasant, he owed
his elevation entirely to himself, and they tell the
same story of his mother being brought to him
dressed up in finery as is related of Sixtus V. when
his sister, the washerwoman, was brought to him
in satin and laces :—" Take that woman away ; my
sister is an honest woman, who never had such
gewgaws as these." Mother and sister were
honourably received when they returned in their
ordinary attire. Sixtus V. made his sister
a princes& ; Cardinal Scitowaky's mother, in her
peasant's dress, was the first personage in his
palace.
The agents de change have not only re-elected the
old committee ; they have voted the funds necessary
to meet the engagements of the members who failed,
and whose places are now for sale without finding
buyers. The market is heavy, although in general
there is a considerable movement after the rtlimuse
de primes, occasioned by forced salts§ or purchases.
To-day there is no animation arising from this
cause. The prices are near]) the same as yesterday.
Route was quoted 68fr. 90c. for cash, and fififr. 85e.
for account ; Credit Foncier, 1,370 fr. (a fall of
Mr.). Paris and Lyons has recovered for cash the
7fr. 50c. lost yesterday. Credit Mobilier is now
G2ofr. for cash, and 621 fr. 25c. for account.
There are grotesque rumours of two new
loans, one of 10,000,000 fr. for St. Domingo, the
other, more improbable still, for Japan, no sum
named.

WEATHER REPORT. -(THIS DAY.)

TIICRSDAY, NuVEMI3IB 1, 8 LW

B.
1,T.1 W.
_1

Nairn !t9.48 60 8.3. E.
Aberdeen VSS 50 W.S.W.
Leith 29.61 54 S.
Ardrossan V.66 573 W.
Oreeneastle • ,-1
Valenti*......
Cape Clear
Liverpool 29.88 56 S.S.W.
Holyhead 22.50 66 S.W.
Penzance 30.03 54 S.W.
Brest 30.04 54 S.S.W.
Lorient 30.01 65 S.
Rochefort . 30.1 a Si' Z.
Plymouth
Weymouth
Portsmouth 30.02 54 8.8. W.
Loudon
Yarmouth 29.92 48, S.W.
Scarborough. 29.81 611 S.W.
Shields 122.73 56. S.W.