Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-05-09 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES, MONDAY, MAY 9, 18i9

AUSTRIA AND GERMANY

ALTHOUGH Austria proper is a portion of Ger-
many, she is likely, it would seem,- to find- some
difficulty in enlisting Germany on her side in the
war in which she has just embarked. We would
here observe, that the geographical, as well as the
political position of Austria, deserves to be carefully
considered at the present moment, in forming an
opinion upon that threatening state of affairs in which
she occupies so prominent a place. Austria, a country
of Germany, is an archduchy, conferring the title of
Emperor on its sovereign. Strictly speaking, there-
fore, Austria is a German State ; and it has been
brought into its present situation, and within its
present limits, mainly by those transfers and changes
of territories which arose from the disastrous conse-
quences of the former wars with France. The pre-
sent government of Germany, as settled at the
Congress of Vienna, in 1815, is by a per-
petual confederation, bearing the name of the
Germanic Confederation ; and its affairs were' con-
fided to a Federative Diet, consisting of seventeen
individual and collective Stafes, of which a majority
has the rule by its votes in the Diet. Austria is.tlle
most important of the German States, and therefore
has the presidency. Now it is before this Diet that
Austria has formally notified to the Prussian

Government her intention to lay a proposition
requiring that the Federal forces shall be employed
for the defence of her .empire, in the present emer-
gency. "It is not known," we read, " what reasons •
Austria will adduce in support of that demand. She
will probably allege that Germany has an interest
in her holding Lombardy, that she defends the
Rhine on the Po," &c. BUt we understand that the
Prussian Minister for Foreign Affairs has answered
the communication of the Austrian Ambassador, by
declaring that Prussia will meet this proposition
with a decided negative, and, if necessary, will take
up a position apart, because she cannot allow her •
liberty of action to be restricted by a majority of
the smaller States. And a recent letter from
Berlin 'states, that the Prussian Cabinet has
resolved to do nothing merely for the defence of
the Austrian possessions in Italy, and to take no part
whatever in the struggle, unless the interests of
Prussia and Germany require it. " The separate
treaties," it is added, " which Austria has concluded
with several small German States are regarded as
directed againSt Prussia, and conceived in a spirit of.
hostility towards the country." The fact is, that
a strong feeling of jealousy prevails in Prussia, if
not generally throughout Northern Germany, against
Austria, and which partly arises from her position
with regard to Italy, which is not Germany. Her.
Lombardo-Venetian territory is a part of Italy,.
including all the States between the Ticino, the Po,
and the Gulf of Venice ; and they are not only not
German, geographically, but nationally and tra-
ditionally they are anti-German.
'Austria is not unreasonably anxious to call forth
the sympathies of the German people. The Emperor.
FRANCIS JOSEPH, in his recent Imperial Manifesto,
appeals earnestly to their common nationalty and.
brotherhood. " Our struggle," he says, "is a just
one, and we begin it with courage and confidence.
We hope, however, that we shall not stand alone in,
it. The soil on which we have' to do battle, was
made fruitful by the blood lost by our German
brethren when they won those bulwarks which
they have maintained up to the present day. There •
the crafty enemies of Germany have generally begun
their game when they have wished to break her
internal power. The feeling that such a danger is
now imminent prevails in all parts of Germany, from:
the hut to the throne, from one frontier to the
other. I speak as a Sovereign member of the
German Confederation when I call attention to the
common danger,. and recall to memory the glorious
times in which Europe had to thank the general
and fervent, enthusiasm of Germany for its
liberation."

Such is Austria's anxious appeal for German
sympathy and succour, in the fearful struggle on
which she is now entering. No doubt there is
truth in what is stated, as to the former association
of Germany with the same battle-field as that on
which she is now about to fight in her own behalf.
Nor is it to be disputed, perhaps, that there is a
common danger in the game which the " crafty
enemies," not of Germany, but of Europe, have begun
by this outbreak which they have provoked. But it
does not, so far, appear that Germany is at all
sensible of it. The Austrian Emperor says, that
" the feeling that such danger is now imminent
prevails in all parts of Germany, from the hut to
the throne, from one frontier to the other." But
Prussia gives a flat contradiction to this, both
officially and popularly. The Prussian idea appar-
ently is, that Germany is not bound to support
Austria in Italy ; on the contrary, that Austria ought
to be left to carry on alone, as her own affair, the
conflict in which she has engaged. " Austria has
taken a bold step," observes a Berlin journal which
is believed to echo public opinion, and she alone
must bear all the consequences of it. No
doubt France may desire to attack Austria,
not only in Italy, but on German territory. In that
case, certainly, the situation would be different ; and
to be prepared for it the Confederation and Prussia
ought to place her armies on the war footing. But
for the present to rush into war for the honour
and dignity of Austria, because she' cannot
live quietly with Sardinia, is a course which
only writers paid by Austria, or exaggerated
prudence can demand." But there is an
implication here in which German, and probably
Prussian interests are, or may be, rather deeply
involved. The probable, desire of France to attack
Austria on German territory is certainly an evil
omen for German security and tranquillity, and fully
warrants the Austrian Emperor in calling attention
to the "common danger." One way of meeting it,
undoubtedly, is for " the Confederation and Prussia
to put their armies on a war footing." And, in this
case, Austria would, as respects her German empire,
not stand alone in the conflict. Should France and
Sardinia drive her armies back across the Adige, they
will then begin to attack her on German territory ;
and then, we suppose, the time will have come, when
the armies of the Confederation must go forth to
the rescue. Then, too, will it be begun to be felt,
that it was knot true of Austria, in the struggle into
which she has been drawn, that " she alone must bear
all the consequences of it," Germany will assuredly

share them with her, if once the belligerents enter
upon German territory.

There is another consideration which Austria,
in a circular despatch issued by her Foreign
Secretary, has incidentally mentioned,—namely,
that of Lombardy having been " far centuries back
a fief of the German Empire ;" that is to say,
Lombardy has, for so long a period, belonged to
Germany. The inference to be drawn from this
is, we suppose, that Germany ought to be in-
terested in it as such ; and that, although France
may not be attacking Austria on the German
territory exactly, yet is she doing so on a soil that is
a sort of German possession. Still, Lombardy is a
part of Italy. Forawrly, it represented almost all
the ancient Cisalphine Gaul. Since it became " a
fief of the German empire," its political position has,
of course, been in same respects different. • But
it is yet much more Italian than German ; and there
is nothing in the circumstance of Austria holding it
in possession to excite German sympathy. It is not
"fatherland." This is the great point. In German
Austria there may probably be German help, should
the necessity for it arise ; but far Italian Austria,
FRANCIS JOSEPH, it is evident, must look for aid
elsewhere.