The Express.
London, England, 1868-08-11 00:00:00

"Hoch BeCot." This reception, although very flat-
tering, must have been somewhat embarrassing to
the minister. If such affection was manifested
towards, and so much confidence repotted in, him,
surely something would be expected from him iu
the way of return ; some assurance that Austria
responded to the wishes of her guests; some indi-
cation that she was prepared to take steps for
their fulfilment. No such assurance was Herr von
Beast prepared to give—no such hope was he in
a position to hold out. Consequently his speech
was necessarily couched in vague and general
language; so vague and general, indeed, that
people here lay that no meaning can be extracted
from it —preeisely the result I imagine at which
the orator was aiming while he delivered it. The
first expression which greatly aroused the interest
of the audience was the declaration of the speaker
that although he had become a good Austrian,
he had remained a good German. Afterwards
he referred somewhat mournfully to the small re-
sults which had followed previous great national
feats, reminding his audience that with the music,
the singing, and the drinking, their effects had
passed away, and that they had speedily been
followed by ware. The reason he assigned for this
was that, although the German people were united,
their princes and governments were not. Such a
state of things he denounced as a monstrous
anomaly, and proclaimed, to the delight of hie
hearers, that in our days there would be no more
wars made by cabinets. With reference to the
position of the country of which he is the minister,
Herr von Bengt admitted that at present Austrian
policy had nothing to do with the affairs of Ger-
many ; but, while insuring his audience that her
ministers would find occupation enough in meet-
ing the wants of the empire, he did not
forget to assert that no treaty pre-
vented Austria from endeavouring to obtain
the respect, esteem, and goodwill of her
neighbours. To secure the union and combination
of her people under the sceptre of their august
Emperor was, he declared in conclusion, the future
mission of the government of Austria, and as the
accomplishment of this object was a matter of
German as well as of Austrian interest, he called
upon his hearers to join him in the wish that it
might be attained with complete respect for the
rights of the subject, and with a due regard to the
maintenance of order. When Herr von Beust de-
scended from the tribune—l ought to mention that
all these speeches are delivered from a sort of pulpit
in the middle of the hall—there was quite a storm
of applause. Hata were waving in every direction,
and the shouting and clapping of hands continued
for some time. His speech seemed to give
great satisfaction to theme who heard it, but when
it comes to be read people find that, as might
naturally be expected, it contains no promises, and
scarcely any indication of policy whatever.
At the close of the banquet the various shooting
clubs or societies that have attended the meeting
began to take formal leave of their entertainers
in Vienna; and all through the afternoon the pro-
cess of departure went on. The order of proceed-
ings followed in most cases appeared to be this:
—Such members of the club or society as are still
in town mustered round their flag or flags in the
Peat Halle, where they were met by some of the
general committee of the festival, and where
health' were drank and many protestations
ocitriendahip and goodwill were exchanged. After
a certain amount of hand-shaking and
embracing here, they then marched, preceded by a
band of music, and accompanied by the members
of the committee, across the ground to the gates of
the enclosure, where a last speech was delivered,
and final adieux were exchanged. So frequent
were these little processions that the duty of play-
ing them out was found too arduous for one
military band, and two had to be engaged in the
service. Of the parties that I saw leave the
ground that which attracted the most notice, and
in whose honour moat enthusiasm was exhibited
by the public, was a band of sturdy Tyrolese rifle-
men, who were preceded by a worn and tattered
flag of green silk, which had no doubt been borne
into the thick of many a stubborn contest in the
old war with France. This gallant band
was accompanied to the gates by a very
considerable crowd, and when it reached the
limit of the enclosure, Dr. Kopp, the president of
the association, delivered in its honour a very
elaborate oration, in which he dwelt with
emphasis upon the loyalty and affection always
exhibited by the Tyrolese towards the Kaiser ; and
bespoke from them • similar devotion to the in-
_ _

tenets of the Fatherland. Then came the final
parting; and a carious meat it was. Stout men
dancing and capering like goats ; big burly

fellows—hugging and kissing one another like
school girls. After this there was more shouting,

the tattered banner passed through the gates, the
Tyrolese tore themselves from the arms of their
Austrian hosts, and the little band of mountaineers
marched out into the Prater. This may be taken
as a sample of what occurred as each group of
riflemen left the ground ; but it must not be sup-
posed that in all cases there was se warm a mani-
festation of interest on the part of the public, or
that in every instance the leave-taking was accom-
panied by so unrestrained an exhibition of feeling
on the part of hosts and guests.
A distribution of prizes is, to my mind, always
rather a tedious ceremony; and that of yesterday
afternoon proved no exoiption to the general
rale. Many of the principal winners were absent
—as generally seems to be the ease on these °eta-
sions—and therefore .an that occurred was
that their names were read out by
the chairman of the prise committee, and the
trophies which they had won were displayed on
the balcony of the %ben Halle. The hour ap-
pointed for the commencement of the presentation
was five o'clock; but a good deal of time was
wasted in waiting for the Burgomaster of Vienna,
who bad undertaken to give away the prizes. At
length his worship arrived; and then the proceed-
ings were opened by Dr. Kopp, the president of
the central committee, in a short speech.
The worthy doctor seems to be a sort of
cratcrical rift silvan charrd and at fall 994,