The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-14 00:00:00

F
etirtitan

LONDON, WT.LDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 14,1849

Austria may be regarded as having separated itself
definitively from the movement of the forty inde-
pendent states in favour of a national union and a
Gern-lanic regeneration. The document addressed by
ita Government to the Central Executive, or to the
P russian Plenipotentiaries at Frankfort- on-the-Maine,
cannot searcely be regarded as other than a formal
withdrawalfetm the great effort at advancement. For
the National Assembly at St. Paul's Cathedral may
be said to have pledged itself to the policy sketched
out in the political programme of Herr Vox GAGERN,
and it is against that policy, against its origi-
nator, and against the fact of its acceptation, that
the Austrian note of the 4th instant is directed. The
reason for this sudden recoil on the part of the Mi-
nistry of SCHWARTZENBURG is by no means aston-
ishing, when it is considered that the inevitable ten-
denev of the arrangement proposed by Vox GAGERN
.wo,.ild be to dissever the bonds whfch connect the
Ivarnerous and heterogeneous masses together—speak-
Ing different languages, having different customs,
practising different religions, and wearing different
costumes—which constitute the vast, but very
perishable nationality of Austria. The system of
German Unity, as propounded by this statesman, as
adopted by the Central Diet, and as repudiated by
the Cabinet of Vienna, would lead rapidly and inevit-
ably to the dismemberment of the Austrian empire—
to its dismemberment, at least, in this respect, that
all the non-German provinces, all those provinces
which are peopled by members of the Sclavonic
family, would be loosened from the hold of the
'Austrian Administration, and would be transformed,
like Lombardy, into integral portions of those do-
minions of which they are geographically sections,
but, from which the brute force of conquest has for
the time being cut them asunder. That SCRI*ART.
ZEN.BUILG and his colleagues should have
an insuperable antipathy to any scheme that would
teminate in a manner so disastrous to Austrian
Absolutism, that would in fact change Austria from
"eta the greatest powers of Europe into one of the
omparatively subordinate states of Germany, is but
natural. Yet it must be confessed that the policy
incorporated in the political programme of VON.
GAGERN is the only one consonant with the real
interests of that large agglomeration of states,
and.
,that in . faeilitating the ulterior dis-
ruption of the pernicious empire of Aus-
tria that policy will be conferring an
inestimable boon upon the whole European continent.
It is a great question, moreover, whether the effect
produced by this very measure which her rulers re-
gard as so peculiarly baneful, would not be in the end
advantageous to herself.

Ultimately the incongruous fabric of the Austrian
empire must crumble into ruins. Its incongruities
afford the most incontrovertible assurances of this
fi.lal dismemberment. As well might we expect a
rope of sand hardened into a mass by some refrigerat-
ing influence to hold together permanently, as to ex-
Feet that the Hungarians, the Transylvanians,
the Loinbards, the Sclavonians, the Croatians, the
Carniolians, the Stirians, the Moravians, the Bohe-
mians, and the Tyrolese will remain for ever obedient
to the once dominant principality of the robber-
dynasty of Hapsburg. The day must come when
theie different peoples will rise and proclaim not
their independence exactly, but their junction with
the territories from which they have been unnaturally
partitioned... Lombardy, for example, must at last be
incorporated with- the other principalities of the
Italian peninsula. oust groitfite towArds

that Polish nationality which is not destroyed but
slumbers. Bohemia will assume again to herself her
ermined crown, and Hungary reclaim from the brows
of the usurper the golden diadem of King STEPHEN.
The Tyrol will, as the cant phrase goes, fraternize
with Switzerland, and the minor states situated to
the south and to the east will tend towards the realisa-
tion of the dream of KRISINSKI—the establishment
of a Panslavic confederation. Immeasur eably better
would it be for Austria to prepare itself gradually, for
this tremendous and inevitable dismemberment, by
its political absorption into the Germanic nationality,
rather than to estrange itself from the other German
powers, and by so doing await the moment of
its doom in a state of complete isolation.
Among the reasons advanced by the Cabinet of
Vienna for its disrelish for the project of VON GA-
GUM is the following :—" The continuance of Austria
in political unity [that is to aay the retention within
the grasp of the Imperial Government of the non-
German as well as of the German provinces consti-
tuting Austria] is a German as well as a European
necessity." Nothing anomalous can be a necessity.
The present unity, as it is called, of Austria is de-
cidedly anomalous ; therefore, the maintenance of this
so-called unity cannot be a necessity. The sophistry of
the assertion is consequently disclosed at once in the
vivid glare of a syllogism. Again, the Ministry of
SCHWARTZENBUIG observes :—" The Imperial Go-
vernment picture to themselves a firm and powerful
Germany, with reference to its foreign relations,
and with regard to its internal affairs a strong
and free one—e' Germany organically provided with
members, yet, one in itself." It requires a unity,
therefore, altogether incompatible with the retention
of those non-German provinces, which it insists
upon regarding, under all circumstances, as quite
as integral portions of itself as its Ger-
man provinces. The absurdity of which is
too obvious to demand any lengthened exposition.
Since that 30th of March, 1848, when the Germanic
Diet decreed the election of popular representatives
to deliberate at Frankfort on the future destinies and
final regeneration of the confederated states of
Fatherland, Austria has, on account of its incon-
gruous position, occupied a very dubious post among
the German powers. It has now complicated matters
more than ever by the intricate and impracticable
policy unfolded in the diplomatic note of its Govern-
ment. Some bold solution of the problem must be
arrived at by the Central Parliament, or other Wise
the accomplishment oftheir labours will be indefinitely
postponed.

A Select Committee was last night granted, on the
motion of the 'Hon. ,Member for Youghal, " to in-
quire into the present state of the inland fisheries and
navigation of Ireland, and the obstructions which
hinder the enjoyment of the same, and the best means
of removing such obstructions, and to report their
opinion thereon to the House. ".Among the many
questions deeply affecting the future welfare and
prosperity of Ireland, there are few of greater practical
importance than those relating to, its fisheries, as well
the inland" as the deep sea, and the coast.
Hitherto the natural resources of the country have
been neglected. The mines of wealth that existed in
the neighbouring seas, in the bays and inlets by which
its coast is indented, have been, if not wholly disre-
garded, at least so carelessly and negligently worked,
as to afford but a precarious and scanty subsistence to
some thousands of quasi fishermen who ;waste their
time in idleness, and —are wholly unprepared
to take advantage of the periodical ar-
rival of shoals of fish on their shores.
We have already pointed out the causes that have
produced this lamentable waste of the gifts of Pito-
VIDZNCE, and shown how, by a comparatively trifling
expenditure, fish, to the value of many hundred
thousand pounds, might be cured and made available
for the nation's food.

We most sincerely trust that the present session
may not be suffered to elapse without some practical
measures being introduced for the purpose of averting
this enormous evil from the country, and directing its
unemployed labour into a channel so beneficial.
The causes that have led to the comparative
failure of the inland fisheries are of a totally diffe-
rent character, and very different remedies will be
necessary for their removal. The sea and coast
fisheries have languished from neglect and apathy,
from a deficiency of capital for their due prosecution,
and a consequent deficiency of the means and ap-
pliances for capturing the fish—such as proper boats,
nets, &c., and also of saving and curing them when
obtained. There is ample room for all, and it is not
possible to abuse the opportunities afforded by
fishing at improper seasons, or intercepting the
fish on their journey to the spawning ground, and
thus preventing them from increasing and multiply-
ing in due season. In the inland fisheries it is other-
wise. Vast monopolies have sprung up. The mouths
and entrances of the various rivers are crowded with

weirs which prevent the access of the fish up the
rivers while those that escape are destroyed by thou-
sands by poachers, with nets, lights, spears, gaffs,
&c., while the neighbouring proprietors view the
wholesale slaughter with indifference—having under
the present system no motive for preserving the fish for
the sole benefit of the weir owners, who monopolize,
the fish in the spawn season. Hence the gradual de-
terioration of the fisheries, the diminution of the
salmon tribe in the Irish rivers. So that, ere long,
if the same course be persevered in, there will be no
fish to legislate about, or to be worth the trouble of
preserving. Thirty or forty years ago the rivers
were abundantly stocked with salmon, which pro-
vided cheap and wholesome food for the people, and
afforded amusement and profit to the inland
proprietors; but that is now altogether changed,
and the scarcity and failure of the supply
is becOming every day more perceptible. An Act
was passed last session which effected some improve--
ment in the laws for regulating the salmon fishery,
but they were clearly inadequate to the exigency
of the case, and were admitted to be but of a tem-
porary character. until more comprehensive enactments
could be matured.
We are rejoiced to find that a strict investigation

is at length about to take place respecting the ob-
structions that ruin the fishery, many of which are,
we believe, of an illegal character.; but few persons
are willing to incur the expense and annoyance
of vindicating the public rights by abolish-
ing injurious monopolies. Mr. ArisTar, in the
speech in which he introduced the motion, exhibited
much information, and deservedly obtained the ap-

probation of all parties in the House. If the Learned

Gentleman would abandon the various crotchets
which he has from time to time brought forward,
until his rising to address the chair became a signal
for the departure of three-fourths of the Members
present, and too often for the counting out of the
House. If he would restrict himself to topics of un-
doubted practical utility, such as that which he last night
brought under the notice of the House and country,
he would no longer be regarded as a bore of the first
magnitude, and would speedily attain that Influence
to which his unquestionable talents and sound infor-
mation entitle him.
Before concluding the subject, we would recom-
mend to the notice of the Committee that may be ap-
pointed, and to the public generally, a short pamphlet
from the pen of Mr. Joant DILLON CROILEIt,* a gen-
tleman who has evinced a thorough-knowledge of the
case, and who last year pointed out the amendments
principally required in the present salmon fishery
laws.

The directors of the York, Newcastle, and Berwick
Railway Company have just issued statements of the
capital and revenue accounts of the company for the
half-year ending the 31st of December last, and also
of the receipts and payments in respect of the capital
created for the purchase of the Great North of England
Railway. The fullest information is afforded to the
shareholders on every point, nothing is withheld that
could have been desired. It is manifest that there is
to be no concealment or mystery practised in the ma-
nagement of the York, Newcastle, and Berwick
Company. The good effects of open and unreserved
statements of the position and prospects of the several
companies is now fully apparent. The unfounded
fears of the shareholders have been appeased, the
panic has been completely dissipated, and, although
the market prices of the shares have not yet reached
their full value, there has been a gradual and pro
* Le

Ater on the Past and Present State of the Salmon
Fisheries of Ireland, by J. Dillon Oroker, of Quarter-
town, Esq., reps, esentative of the inland ,proprietors and
E niers of that p trt, of the United liingdoni.