The Express.
London, England, 1868-01-22 00:00:00

AN AUSTRIAN RETROSPECT.

The 11 cu' Free Press of Vienna has the follow-
ing :
For the 19 years that have passed by since the great
commotion of March, the nobles and the clergy have
governed Austria without interruption. They and their
creatures have occupied the highest offices of state ; their
conservative principles reigned without control ; nobles and
priests were the masters of our persona and of our souls—
they directed the mind and commanded the army ; all was
in their hands, administration, education, and tisanes.
When we look back on these 19 years of political martyr-
dom, such as a people never endured ; when we examine
with impartiality what these conservative elements have
really done for Austrian society ; and what misuse they
have made of the treasury which was in their bands, the
picture before us is a complete absence of ideas, an
imbecility in our statesmen, a terrible incapacity
and an utter misconception of the wants of civilised
society. If Austria has lost her Italian provinces and her
position in Germany ; if her strength has been broken on
the field of battle by a succession of military disasters;
if she has been driven to the verge of the abyss—we owe it
to conservative elements, for they absorbed all the vital
force of the country ; for, blind and obstinate, they opposed
all constitutional efforts ; for even defeat itself and
the abasement of the empire failed to teach them time
had come and that their skill in government had ended in
lamentable bankruptcy. Even now, after all till'
humiliation, disaster, and ruin, they believe themselves
—such is their incredible political blindness—to be alone
worthy and capable of ruling this Empire, which
they have brought low, and because a bone-
! Kois element bee been introduced into the government
they keep aloof. They speak as though the changes intro-
duced into Austria were not the natural sequence
of their faults and their want of skill, but
merely and at most a freak of fortune which, to the
injury of the empire, has deprived them of the power they
possessed. They imagined they are only for a short time
debarred from power ; they nurse the notion that they will
soon return to office, and will be enabled to try upon us
once more their deplorable experiments.

POLAND.
The committee of the Polish emigration publish
the following protest:

PARIS, Jam. 1G

The Russian government, in its unrelenting persecution
of Polish nationality, issued • decree ordering all the
landed proprietors of Volhynia, the Ukraine, and Lithu-
ania to sell their estates before the lOth of December,
1867. And, moreover, acting against all the principles of
justice and equity, it prohibited any individual of Polish
origin to acquire such property, so that, in order to be-
come possessor of a strip of Polish soil, one should be
either a Russian or • foreigner. The disposal of this
property by private contract having completely failed,
the Russian government proposes to organise sales
by auction on an extensive scale, and invites
foreign capitalists to present themselves as purchasers. At
the moment of this project being carried into execution,
we, members of the committee of the Polish emigration,
elected by our exiled fellow-countrymen to represent
abroad the interests of our country, believe our duty re-
quires us to remind all persona interested that the Polish
national government, in provision of the present eventua-
lity, published in April, 1863, a decree forbidding any one
whatever to acquire the estates confiscated and offered for
sale by the Russian government. That decree still oon•
tinues in vigour ; and we draw attention to it at this
moment, warning those who may become possessors of the
above-mentioned estates that their purchases will be con-
sidered se null sadvoid—ilsirOarra DOmliguwBXl, STAMM-
' LAS Jmuulinz, VALnues WRouswsu.

(arum's =mums.)
ITALY.

FLORENCE, JAR. 21, EVICIING.

A meeting was held this evening of the party of
the Right. General Menabrea and the Ministers
of Finance and Maxine were present. The Minis-
ters of the Interior and of Finance spoke at some
length, and the meeting resolved energetically to
urge forward the discussion of the ministerial
budget for 1868, in order that the parliament
might be at liberty to discuss bills relative to
finance and the interior reorganisation of the
country.
The committee of the Chamber have approved
of the budget of the interior for 1868. The ordi-
nary expenses are estimated at 43,120,238 lire, and
the extraordinary at 2,408,785 lire, thereby effect-
ing a reduction of 4,050,289 on the budget of
on, 1867.

At the ball given last week at the Hotel de Ville,
Paris, 7,000 white and rose camellia trees were employed
to decorate the apartments, which trees ware sent from the
city gardens. There are now 2,000,000 camellia plants in
the camellia houses, which over a superiades of 48,000
metres, which space being found insuffieient for the supply
required, underground houses are being constructed, the
excavations for that purpose extending over 30,000 square
metres of ground. Four bead primers superintend this
vast flower manufactory.
Some months ago an account was given of an
outrageous attack made by some Ronan catholic', incited
by eat& priests, on a protestant community established
' at Barletta, • small town is Italy, in which two perms*
were killed and seveeal others wounded. A great amiss,
of perms were arrested, and the °cart of Bails "*"
Trani has just bees engaged in trying ifty•two of them.
Of them lit were esgalited, 10 sentenced to 18 rare
head labeler ; 14 to 10 years • 8 to 8 ; 6 to 7 ; the des
Adhere were eoadisweed to 16 1 fee 7 years;
Itos ; a woman to 3 ; and a man to one Amesast
I those sentenced to 18 years ere Father Vito Her* who
I by his preaching smutted the entrap, and the amass
Bagger* Per*;lioact who orgaalesd It.