The Sun.
London, England, 1849-10-08 00:00:00

THE SUN,

expended in the bottomless gulf of waste armaments
and useless standing armies. I will show the impolicy
on general principles of such a course, but I am not
going in the present instance to confine myself to the
general principle. I appeal to every individual who
thinks of lending money to the Austrian Govern-
ment to pause before he entrusts his money to
a power which has thrice committed an act
of bankruptcy.— (Loud cheers, and some interruption
caused by a person at the end of the room endeavouring
to speak, and to whom a general cry of " Turn him
out," was directed) Turn nobody out; if he has sub-
scribed to this loan, he could only have paid 101.
per cent. as a deposit, and if you keep him here,
before I have done I will show him it is not his
interest to pay the remainder.—(Laughter.) I will
satisfy him that it is to his interest to forfeit the 101. per
cent., and pay no more.—(Loud laughter—considerable
interruption owing to the crowded state of the room.)
I say the Austrian Government has three times
committed an act of bankruptcy, and done it under cir-
cumstances of great and scandalous injustice, the im-
perial interests being taken care of, but the general
public who subscribed to the loan being nearly sacri-
ficed. Well, Sir, what has been the progress of the
Austrian finances since the last war? When the Go-
vernment come before us to borrow money—at least they
do it through their agents, Messrs. Hope and Co., of
Amsterdam—they give us no bona fide detailed
kind of debtor and creditor statement of ae-
ceunts.—(Loud laughter.) We have no such
statement from the Austrian Government; but
in the absence of such a detailed and official statement
I am bound to have recourse to the best private autho-
rity I conld find. Well, I take the work of standard
reputation published in 1840, under the title of
" Austria and its Future." It is a work well
known, from the pen of Baron Andrian, who
last year filled 'the,' high and responsible post in
England of Ambassador to the central power of the
German States. In 1840 he says, after a detailed
statement of the various borrowings, loanings, lot-
teries, and every possible device by which the
Austrian Government had managed their finances,
for' 25 years,' from 1815 down to 1840, he sums up by
sating, that from 1815 down to :1840, a period of 25
years of profours• peace, the Austrian Government has
doubled the nes ,anal debt tenfold. The book was
reprinted in 1846 by the same author, with
the addition of another volume, which says not
one word :to disprove any statement of the; Austrian
finances, but he tells us in it that since the period
alluded to eight; millions more has been added to the
national debt; and therefore we come to
the conclusion that the Austrian Government,
from 1815 down to 1847, in a time of
profound peace have spent every year more than their
income, and have consequently added to their national
debt. In 1848, while they had 300,000 men under arms,
the produce of all this waste expenditure, came the re-
volutionary epidemic: which passed over the continent,
and, Austria' fell, like a pack of cards, with all its
royalty to support it—(Cheers)—fell like a house of
cards, and from that time the Austrian empire has been
in a state of perfect anarchy and disorder. Vienna,
Venice, Pestb, Milan, Prague, and every capi-
tal, I believe, except Inspruck, has been
bombarded by their own Governments, the
importation of precious metals prohibited, and the
foreign creditor prevented being paid his just
debts, and these prohibitions exist at the present moment,
and during all the anarchy and confusion, both political
and financial, by which the Austrian Government was
surrounded, they have increased their floating debt con-
siderably. I think I shall be within the mark if I say that
the debt has bees increased twenty millions sterling—
the result of the last eighteen months of social, political,
and financial anarchy—to enable Austria to re-
deem part of that enormous floating debt, and how
can they have the audacity for I cannot
call it by any other name —to come before
the people of Western Europe for another loan? I ask
the honest Dutchman, the honest Englishman, the pains-
taking and saving Swiss or Ti renchman—l don't care
who he is—l ask him if he will come with his hard
earnings and throw it into the bottomless pit of waste
and extravagance ?—(Cheers.) Now I ask you, if an
individual has committed an act of bankruptcy three
times, is it not likely that he will commit it again if it
answer his purpose.—(Laughter and cheers.) Well,
the Austrian Government had every motive in
ccmmitting an net of bankruptcy again, for
it is utterly impossible in any other way
to get the finances straight. But I warn every man
in this country and abroad that this is but the begin-
ning of borrowing by the Austrian Government.—
(Hear, and cheers.) This loan is :but a mere drop
in the ocean compared to what will be borrowed
afterwards ; and you must bear in mind that
those who lend money first will be swamped and sacri-
ficed by those who come afterwards. When I stale
these faces it is not for the information of Messrs. Hope
and Co., or any other large banking company, but they
will be known alike in London, Amsterdam, and Vienna
I wish the public to understand that the Austrian Go-
vernment will not redeem one farthing of the loan ; still
it will be profitable to those agents and banks who find
money for it through their connexion and customers.
Now I hold in my hand the advertisement put
forward by the Austrian Government, in our journals,
and that is my justification for coming here. It was put
in our papers no docalot at the as.pe.nae, L %u pose, of the
Austrian Government, and it invites everybody to sub-
scribe for the loan, and is so accommodating, that in
order that nobody should be excluded, says that
people may subscribe for as low a sum as 100 florins,
that is, 101— (Laughter.) But it is said that the
pith of n lady's letter is in the postscript. The
end of it says, any person, who collects subscrip•
tions to more than 2,.500., shall receive a com-
mission of a quarter per cent. on the
amonnt of the payment made.'—(Cheers.) The Hon.
Gentleman then went on to say it was as despicable as
a hater publishing in his window that every person
who brought her a customer that purchased five shil-
lings' worth of goods should receive twopence for his
pains.—(Laughter.) He had asked the opinion of
the best authority in the City, and who was consulted
always by the Government with respect to the
rumour about the loan being taken up already,
and he said he did not believe that a shilling had yet
been subscribed. The press had not made any straight-
forward statement that the loan was a good investment,
but had confined themselves to traducing by inuendoes
and secret influences the men who came forward to speak
the truth on the subject.—(Loud cheers.) But when
he found that instead of answering his arguments
they attacked him personally, he considered they
were near the period of triumph.—(Loud cheers.)
Having had means of ascertaining the state of Russian
finances superior to those of most menthe was justified in
saying that the statements put forth on the subject were
nothing but a piece of gigantic imposture. The Hon.
Gentleman concluded amidst the loudest applause by
dissuading all capitalists from subscribing their money
to a loan, which, as he had already shown, was not
only unsafe, but would lead to rapine and bloodshed.
Lord DUDLEY STUART, (who was well received)
then rose to second the resolution. He said he did so
with great pleasure, which was enhanced by having to
raise his voice in support of the arguments of such a
man as the one who had moved the resolution.—
(Hear, hear.) And the more so, because they
had not always agreed as they now did on
foreign politics. Such was sure to be case when ques-
tions were sifted by men whose principles were placed
upon the same basis.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. Cobden had
so well illustrated the subject in its commercial and reli-
gious grounds, that it would not bo requisite that ha
should address many observations to them upon
it. Commercially speaking, and on the ground of
self-interest upon that low ground it behoved
them to consider the subject. They should be snre that
the loan would not be "a mockery, a delusion, and a
snare "—to be sure that the Emperor of Austria was
coming here to put his hand into the pockets of British
merchants, who might ultimately be reduced with their
families to ruin. No doubt Mr. Cobden had told them
that the loan was illegal.
Mr. COBDEN—No, I did not. That is a good point.
Lord D. STUART—WeII, then, he would tell them the
it was illegal and an imposture. It was not sanctioned
by the Diet and was only signed by a Minister. And
the time might come when Austria, finding it
inconvenient to pay even the interest upon the loan,
might turn round and say it was not authorised by the
constituted authorities of the State.—(Hear.) And such
extraordinary things were done by Sovereigns of the
present day, that worse things had been done and would
be done ; indeed it almost seemed that some of the
nations of Europe had retrograded to the dark
ages.—(Hear, hear.) Much had been said of the
lawlessness of the people ; but what was the lawless-
ness of those placed at the head of States. The people
in Vienna, Rome, and Paris had not committed out-
rages upon property—(Hear)— they had respected
its rights.—(Hear, hear.) Talk of red republics. Are
there no red monarchies ?—(Loud cheers.) What should
be said of Governments that employed monsters like
Haynau, who hanged his prisoners, shot men, women,
and children—who insulted his soldiers, flogged
women, and in order to show his impartiality,
hung the Ministers of the Catholic and Protestant Faiths
on the same gibbet? 4 And would: they lend money to
Governments to help them to do the same.—(Cries
of "Never.") As Mr. Cobden had said, this was merely
a loan to Russia, the monster of Russia, for Austria had
sunk so low that she could not raise a loan without the
Czar.—(Hear, hear.) The brutal conduct of the: Czar
with respect to the vanquished Hungarians and Polish
exiles who had sought the protection of Turkey, showed
that no nation that respected liberty could conscien-
tiously lend money to such a Power. Turkey had been
driven to give these exiles, in pursuance of an
old treaty, one of but two alternatives—apostacy
to their religion—to become Mussalman, or to be
given up for slaughter.—(Hear.) To such an extremity
had Turkey been reduced by this great Power. The offer
was one which would digust every religious mind, and
raise up a voice of denunciation throughout the whole
country. These noble patriots had spurned this offer.
Some men, not however the great body of them, had
embraced I‘laniism and entered the army of Turkey in
the hope of
saving their lives, and to meet their
G
enemy in the field. oSh uld any Government
support such a power as
that possessed by Russia of demanding these
unfortunate persons in order
to put them to death.
Surely not. Rather support the Porte,--
tffne
(He
irs
Lw were
(Hear, hear.)
And surely the Government, whose foreign ao
in the hands of such a man as Lord Palmerston—(Loud
cheers)—would protest against such a course.—
(Cries of " Hear, hear.") Would the capitalists
lend their money to promote the nefarious
practices of such powers as Austria and Russia.—(hear.)
The Jews has been oppressed by Austria in Hungary,
and would any of the race lend money for such a pur-
pose ?—(No, no.) One of their representatives was a Jew—
(A voice—where is he?)—and on the last occasion he was
in that ball, which was a meeting to sympathise with
Hungary, a Jew (Mrs Alderman olomons) was in the