The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-19 00:00:00

WARWICK RACES:

(THIS DAY.)

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
SCURRY HANDICAP.

Little Davie

I

REDUCTION 01" THE AUSTRIAN ARMY.

The same day's news has brought us two very
startling announcements. The Austrian army is
about to be reduced, the Spanish navy is about to
be augmented. What the Peace . Conference loSe
on one side they gain on the other; in point of fact,
if the intended operations are carried out, the gain
will far overbalance the loss. We wish we could.
place implicit credence in the first of these rumours
—fie second one is of a character merely ludi-
crous. The announcement of a reduction in t'ne
Austrian army is, indeed, Made with every circum-
stance of addition which should entitle it to weight.
If we hesitate in the presence of such authority,
it is because confidence has been too often
deceived on the same subject. The intelligence
amounts to this, that 40 men out of each company
of 100 are to be relieved from military. service. It
is not, of course, to be supposed that therefore -the
effective strength of the army is to be reduced by
2.sths, as if the retiring soldiers were entirely li be-
rated from the military obligation, orthat the Trea-
sury would be proportionably relieved. As far as.
we • understand the matter as yet, there is to
be a furlough upon an enormous scale, com-
bined with facilities to worn-out veterans to retire
altogether from active service. How far this
furlough will amount to an effective reduction .
remains to be seen, and we shall certainly suspeni
our judgment upon it until we have had an oppor -
tunity of examining the details of the plot. W. o
have so often heard of these contemplate
reductions in the continental armies, and hithert 0
they have so invariably ended in mere forms I
change, that we had rather lay ourselves ope a
to a charge of scepticism than to one of cri )-
dulity. It is not unlikely that this anuounci
ment is a mere bait to the unwary, as a fresh lea n
to ease the Austrian Exchequer is iu contemplatiox 1.
Nothing would be so "likely to conciliate the goo t-
will of capitalists to such a project as theprospe, A
of diminished expenditure on the part of the Ai A s-
trian Government. Every year since 1848 there l 1 as .
been an enormous deficit in the balance-sheet of
the Finance Minister at Vienna, and the reason of
this is no secret. The young Emperor has b 34 al
living too fast. He has been spending more moil( ly
than his income warranted upon cannons, bomb
Dragoons, Lancers, pontoon bridges, and so foil a. '
It is therefore obvious enough that, if it will b at
cut down its expenditure under these he& is
to the point which the necessities of its pal ;i-
-tion absolutely require, the old firm of Hap s-
burgh and Co. may yet how a clean balance-shee
pay all creditors 20s. in the pound, and contim to
to carry on business as heretofore. But this mob of
armed idlers won't do. The scheme of governix
the scattered. provinces of the Austrian empire 1
sheer brute force has already been proved to be a
mistake. It will no longer answer to send ain
armed Lombard to Hungary, and an armed Hi I a-
garian to Lombardy, an armed Moravian i nto
Styria, and an armed Styrian into Moravia, v r-ith
the most perfect confidence that each provi
. inc'J
will keep the other down„ however disaffe( !bad
all may be to the central Government. Then lost
daring Minister of any Continental Sovereign—a; ad
more especially of the youncr Emperor of Austri.a,
would now-a-days rather trust for the security of
his master's throne, and for the aggrandizement of
his nation, to the system of peaceful .developme: nt
than to the calamitous certainties of war. W; ar
has no longer any favourable chances for kings
Times.