The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-25 00:00:00

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AUSTRIA A ND THE CONCORDAT.
a
If the Continental Sovereigns are not taught
' wisdom by.the events which are now passing in
Europe, neither would they be persuaded, though
one rose from the dead. On every side ancient
thrones are tottering, and regal mantles are being
draggled in the dust. So far from the legitimacy
of a Sovereign's rights being a safeguard to them,
it is perhaps a positive disadvantage. The people
of Continental Europe seem to be ir.spired with the
belief that nothing good is to be expected from one
of the old families. Tho'igh Republicanism is for
a time in abeyance, though the principle of Mon-
archy was never more generally accepted than now,
yet it appears to be felt that a new dynasty, or at
any rate an old dynasty under newly-conferred
powers, is necessary for the good government of a
country. The Emperor Napoleon, the Queen of
Spain, King Victor Emmanuel, and the King of
the Belgians derive positive strength from the fact
that they are at feud with the Legitimist party
throughout_ Europe. It will soon be necessary
every where for a monarch to graduate in his sub-
jects' esteem by affecting a revolutionary origin.
Even a Pope might expect to reconcile himself to
the Italians if he owed his elevation to the expul-
sion of his predecessor, and if his election were de-
nounced by the majority of the Sacred College and
the Court of Naples.
Ttiis being the state of things all over the Con-
tinent, we would advise those who have thrones to
lose to be wise in time. They have a difficult part
to play; they labour under the curse of unbroken
descent; the blue blood in their veins is as much
an obstacle to their endeavours as a dark skin is in
New York. Their people are prejudiced against
them, and they suspect their relatives and surround-

ings—all the Archdukes and Duchesses, the Princes
and Archbishops, who enjoy the credit of pouring
poisonous counsels into Imperial or Royal ears.
But they must make up their minds to act, or the
revolutionary car, to use the slang of their own
partisans, will roll forward and crush them, the
tempest of democracy will sweep them away, to be
succeeded cither by some dear friend and brother
from a neighbouring State, or by a cadet of their
own family, who will have been suddenly converted
to Liberalism by the prospect of a crown. Though
we might speak with justice to most of the poten-
tates between the North Sea and the Adriatic, it is
Austria that more particularly demands attention.
That State is avowedly in a most wretched plight.
Caesar might envy a third-rate prince; the. Holy
Roman Empire is hardly more formidable than a
Spanish-American Republic. Spiritual and mili-
tary tyranny have done their worst, and the result
is the degradation of a first-rate Power and the
peril of the peace of Europe. It is needless to go
through the history of the last 40 years to describe
the overthrow of that edifice of misrule which is
associated with the name of Metternich The
Bureau has had its share in undoing Austria,
and so has the barrack, but the most deadly
enemy of Francis Joseph has been his own reli-
.

gious bigotry, increased to inordinate dimensions
by the interested counsels of the Papacy. Austria,
according to the old distich, left war to others
and gained realms by marriage ; but the contract
. _

she has entered into with the successor of St. Peter

is too unholy to bring any such advantages. The
ruin of her finances, the loss of her richest pro-
vinces, and of all influence in Italy are to be traced
directly to the Concordat—a measure which has
given new life to the revolutionary party, by con-
vincing all men that nothing is to be hoped from
the justice of the Government, and that any alle-
viation of ',the public grievances must be obtained
by force.
With an intolerance which amounts almost to
madness the Catholic Church, even at-this terrible
crisis in the Empire's fortunes, has been urging on
the work of persecution. By this word we do not

mean to imply that men are hanged or burnt, for
even in a remote Austrian province the Romish
Church is somewhat curtailed in its dearly loved
privileges. But there is a prosecution, worrying,
insulting, and provoking, which makes life miser-
able, and deprives men of all that belongs to them
as members of the human family, and which yet
does not go the length of actual violence. So far
as civil disabilities—interference with household
arrangements, with marriage, with the education
of children, with free movement from place to
place, constitute persecution, the Protestant and
Jewish subjects of the Austrian Empire are per-
secuted.

To such an extent is this now car-

ried, and such power have the priests obtained,
that it would seem even the Emperor is unable
to carry out his good intentions and make those
changes which the teachings of experience
and misfortune have prompted. There is no

doubt that within the last few months the most

enlightened men of the empire have seen the ne-
cessity of' making some concessions to the claims
of religious freedom. In Hungary the Protestants
have been promised a cessation of the chief restric-
tions under which their creed is placed. How far
the people will be contented with such concessions,‘
even if the Romish Church allow them to be accom•

plished, is more than we can yet say ; but similar
number more than a minion wa tuu emplie vi
Austria. The political state of these people seems
to be as deplorable as that of their brethren in the
Roman Ghetto. Galicia is, of course, the principal
seat of the Jewish population, and here they are
subjected to wrongs which hardly have a parallel
even in Italy. The higher dignitaries of the Church
are the instigators of every outrage, the supporters
of every abuse. Tne Civil Government is so far an
accomplice that it does not restrain the zeal of
_
th

ese reverend persecutors. In the Austrian do
minions, as in Prussia, the Jews form a consider-
able body, and are subjected to much ill-usage
from the fanaticism of the lower orders. This
fanaticism the priests do their best to inflame. A
recent pastoral letter has roused the peasantry of
Galicia against the Jews to such an extent that
their lives are not safe. Outrages of various kinds
have been perpetrated, the mob has risen against
Jews who ventured to live in the Christian quarter of
towns, and the police has been unable or unwilling
to oppose its fury. The priests, improving the
Mortara case, have denounced from the altar all
Christian servants employed in Jewish families,
commanding them to leave immediately, and
threatening them with eternal perdition in case of
refusal. The Government officials affect to regret
the existence of these prejudices, but do nothing
to prevent them expressing themselves in open per-
secution. In fact, the temporal authority quails
before the power of the priesthood. These doings
of the priests are against both the letter and spirit
of the Imperial edicts. Strong in their numbers,
their union, and the steady support of personages
high in rank at Vienna, the Romish priesthood dis-
regard the orders of the Imperial. Chancery ; but
to this extent they would not venture unless they
were supported by the Concordat, which gives to
every Prelate a position outside and above the law.
The limits of the Imperial and the clerical autho-
rity have not been laid down ; but it is understood
that there are limits, and that the Emperor's edicts
may be disregarded in certain cases by the Church,
the Pope, an independent Sovereign, being allowed
a share in determining what those cases are. But,
if the Jews are subjected to ill-treatment, the Pro-
testants are not better Off. Indeed, Rome seems to
prefer a Jew to a heretid, and, though the mob can-
not be raised against Protestants, yet their vexa-
tions are serious enough, the interference with
education being one of the chief.
In short, Francis Joseph has allowed a power
to come into existence in his dominions which
he now finds it difficult to control. Alone of
the great Sovereigns of Europe he has, with in-
conceivable folly, permitted the Church to grasp
all that a medic al Pope could desire. He has fair
natural abilities ; there are many men of energy
and patriotism whom he might summon to his
assistance, and, with the great undeveloped re-
sources of the Empire and the unwavering loyalty
of a large portion of her people, Austria might, as
she has so often done, emerge once more from the
difficulties which threaten to crush her; but to give
her even a prospect of success—to secure for her
service honest and capable Ministers, and to enable
them to administer efficiently the great depart-
ments of the State—it is essential that the power
of the priestly element should be curtailed ; that
there should he no secret influence between the
Emperor and his advisers, and that Francis Joseph,
and not some emissary from Rome, should be
supreme.—Times