The Sun.
London, England, 1837-02-07 00:00:00

The dense mist which hitherto so thickly enveloped the
political relations of the several petty German States
and the policy of the Great Northern Powers from the
view of the people of England, is fast disappearing before
the efforts which are now made for its dispersion. The
" British and Fore.gn Review," has shed, and continues to
shed, a rich flood of light upon all the heretofore undisco-
vered intricacies of the political labyrinth of which Prince
Metternich so long retained the clue. To the conductors
of this powerful organ of enlightened opinion are the people
of England mainly indebted for the facility with which they

can now inrorm themselves of the whole scheme of German

and Autocratical policy. Of the manner in which the
immense mass of valuable information contained in this pe-
riodical is conveyed to the public, we entirely approve.
The style of the articles is always vigorous—the matter im-
portant—and the length proportioned to the general, rather
than to the intrinsic interest of the subject discussed.
These are for the most part well chosen, whether Foreign
or Domestic. We ought likewise to observe that while this
periodical is second to none in the interest and importance of
its articles, the reduced price at which it is sold places it
within the reach of the middle classes, and even of the
more thriving race of tradesmen.

" Austria, in 1835" affords Europe a very different view
from that which it has been so long contemplating, of the
character and policy of the late Emperor Francis. The
halo which Dr. Gross•Hofinger would persuade the world
encircles the head of the deceased Monarch, disappears with
the first touch of the wand which the Reviewer applies to
it. We copy from this article the following condensed, but
very interesting account of the personal character and po-
licy of the late Sovereign of the Austrian empire :
" The late Emperor ascended the throne in 1792, after the
very short reign of his father, Leopold 11. ; the moment of
his accession was the most stirring in the history of modern
Europe. Abroad, the whirlwind of the French Revolution
was loose in its terrible course, and was breaking up the con-
tinent of Europe ; within the Austrian states, which had been
shaken by the changes and by the misfortunes of Joseph 11.,
danger and dismay prevailed. But the country had received
an impulsion from that prince, which had incredibly improved
its condition, and enabled it to maintain the struggle in which
it was about to engage. From that moment, Francis adopted
those principles of re-action and conservatism, to which he
clung through life, and from which neither peace nor war, ruin
nor triumph, pity nor persuasion, hope nor fear, ever after-
wards diverted him. In the midst of his conflict with the by-
di o of liberty in the plains of Italy and Germany, he pursued
the task of undoing the work of his predecessor at home. In
1803, during the short peace of Luneville, the censorship of
the press was re-organised with excessive severity, and no less
than 2,800 books, which had been tolerated before 1792, were
proscribed ; though in 1809, Napoleon cruelly introduced a
fresh infection, by tolerating and even spreading the works of
Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot, under the wings of his victo-
rious army.
" The centralised system which had been introduced by
Joseph, in order to enable the government to take a more
rapid and decisive part in the improvement of the provinces
and the enlightment of the people, was used by Francis to ex-
haust the one, and to obscure the other. The extraordinary
sacrifices of his people during the war, the enthusiasm of the
Tyrolese, the valour of the Ifungarians, and the fidelity of the
Bohemians, were rewarded by no concessions after the peace.
The chains which had been heaped upon Italy were prepared
for the other provinces, and the revolutions of Naples and
Piedmont, in 1821, gave the signal for fresh measures of pre-
caution throughout the Austrian empire. The decrees of
Carlsbad, and the acts of the Congresses of Aix•la-Chapelle,
Trappau, and Verona, extended the same miserable arts over
Europe. The whole policy of the Court lay in the debase-
ment of the population, by every means which superstition,
persecution, and an immense standity, army draining the last
resources of a ruined treasury, could furnish. These means of
oppression were again redoubled in severity after the revolution
of July, when age and experience bad increased the terrors
which Francis entertained of the changes originating in the
West of Europe. From that time forth he was wont to ex-
claim alles ist verloren' all is lost ;' and for the last three
years of his.life, he hesitated to sign a decree; he was panic-
struck by the signs of the times, and the ponderous machinery
of the empire of Austria maintained its place by its vis inertia
alone. Yet Francis was weak neither in head nor heart ; he
himself ruled, with the assistance, but entirely free from the
control, of his favourite minister ; his own personal attention
was directed to an incredible number of the smallest details of
the administration, and it was his own determination and his
own unrelenting will which supported the wooden framework, '
by which his tattered and impoverished states are held to-
gether. The reign of Prince Metternich began on the day
of his master's death.

" The pievailing features in tho character of Francis, wore
his extreme craft and narrow-mindedness ; he trusted no one ;
yet there was nothing gloomy in his disposition, and his con-
versation was enlivened by frequent sparks of good natured
sarcasm. He was not a cruel man, indeed the immediate cir-
cle about him bears witness to his benevolence; but no con-
temporary prince inflicted a greater mass of moral and physical
sufferings upon his subjects ; none ever understood better how
to 'give n gloss unto his violence.' He had adopted for his
motto, Justitia regnorum fundamentum,' but he was a relent-
less persecutor, and the men whom he believed to entertain
liberal sentiments in politics, or to harbour a feeling of nation-
ality, were his personal foes. He never desisted from a pur-
suit, and the keys of his state prisons were in no hands but his
own. His fondness of popularity was extreme, and he retained
an extraordinary degree of it, particularly in the hereditary
Austrian states, to the day of his death. He was wont to shift
all the odium of offensive measures upon his ministers, and a
complete system of secret orders was organised in every de-
partment of tho administration, which enabled him to grant
requests and issue commands publicly, with the certainty that
they would not be obeyed.
" On one occasion, at one of the public audiences which he
gave once a week in Vienna, he was much pressed by a sup-
plicant to grant an order which be could not refuse without an

ill grace. -1 Write your order,' said the Emperor, and 1 will
sign it;—the delighted suitor wrote as he was bid, and the
sign manual was given; but on presenting the paper at
the proper office, the matter was received very coldly ; pre-
vious instructions had been given, that no extraordinary order
should be acted upon in that office, unless it was wholly written
in the Emperor's hand.
" lie was so jealous of the popularity which he frequently
obtained by the meanest artifices, that he treated the most
distinguished members of his own family with harshness, when-
ever he suspected them of standing too well with the public.
Even his sons and successors were not allowed to take any
part in public affairs, or to strengthen their weak characters
by princely pursuits or princely graces, lest they should eclipse
the old actor ere he left the stage. The gallant and accom-
plished Arch-Duke Charles, who is titular Viceroy of Bohe-
mia, resided for some time in
.Prague, and kept a court suited
to the importance of that province. The Bohemians, proud
of their Viceroy and satisfied with the excellent administration
of the Prince, expressed their satisfaction too warmly for-the
Emperor's ear ; his brother was recalled, and the government
of Bohemia has been ever since confided to an Oberst-burg-
graf, or Lord-Lieutenant, chosen from the native nobility.
The other provinces of Hungary, Gallicia, Lombardy, and
Upper Austria, are all governed by Archdukes, of whose popu-
larity, neither the late, nor the present, Emperor have the
smallest reason to be jealous.
" Lastly, Francis of Austria was a religious Prince ; but the
religion of Francis not only served to support him in his hours
of trial, and to purchase for him golden opinions from all sort
of men ; it became in his hands one of the most powerful in-
struments of state-policy—a use which Machiavelli would not
have omitted to point out had he lived in more recent times."

" The German Confederation ; its political character
and influence," is replete with facts of absorbing interest.
To be appreciated as it ought, it must be perused with the
greatest attention. The article on the Report of the Select
Committee on Record Commissions, will,. we trust, have the
effect of arresting the further consideration of his Majesty's
Government to the monstrous abuses therein detailed. It
is really lamentable that nothing can be effected without a
system of gross jobbing, disgraceful to the morals of a free
people. How Sir Francis Palgrave can sanction proceed-
ings so unworthy of his reputation, we are at a loss to de-
termine. We request him to read this article, and in it to
discover the sentiments, not of the Reviewer, but of the
British people, respecting his conduct with regard to the
Public Records.

The article on the necessity of a Poor-law for Ireland
accords, in every point of view, with our opinions upon this
subject. We quite agree wills the reviewer that a Poor-
law has become necessary, and that without some such
measure the country cannot be rendered tranquil or the
population contented. In the arguments of those who op-
pose that measure we see only proofs of an utter ignorance
of the facts which form the basis of its necessity.
" Saavedra's Moorish Poetry," " Statistics of Customs,"
and " Revolution teaching by Example," are articles of
considerable though of different degrees of merit. The
" Russian System of Education" contains a most heart-
rending Account of the crimes committed'by the Russian
authorities in Poland. Such a system of education is cal-
culated to produce monsters, not men.

Thu Number, taken altogether, is inferior to none yet