The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-19 00:00:00

THE CHOLERA IN ALBANO.

ALBAYO, Sept. 11.—It is now 12 days since the
last case of cholera occurred, and the Albanese are
beginning to recover from the panic into which they
were at first thrown by the sudden and unexpected
outbreak of the epidemic. The mortality has been
fearful : it has exceeded decimation. In the summer
season, when the 'town is full of visitors, it may
count 8,000 inhabitants, but the ordinary popula-
tion is between 6,000 and 7,000. Now, the visitors
fled almost to a man upon the first alarm, so that
the disease committed its principal ravages on the
ordinary inhabitants of the town, of whom it carried
off, according to the municipal register, 775. There
is hardly a house but has lost an occupant, or a
family but has been bereft of one or more of its
members. In some cases whole families of six and
seven have perished. It is sad to see the number of
women in mourning who promenade the streets in
the evening. The Italians, as usual, attribute the
disease to the will of God, and seem not to have the
slightest suspicion that their own dirty habits might
possibly have something to do with it. Albano,
like most Italian towns, contains but two or three
streets,which are kept in anything like decent order,
and the rest consists of back-slum. The pure
mountain air and fresh sea breezes may long pre-
vent the atmospheric infection from entering the
town ; but once in, it will find a soil of putrefying,
festering filth in which to germinate and multiply
until a tenth of the population are thrown like
diseased carrion by cart loads into the lime pit, and
the others are left to mourn them.

Up to the present moment Gensano and the other
villages are shut against us. Whea anybody ap-
proaches the " cordoni," or barriers, he is asked
where he comes from. If he can prove that he
comes from any other place he is allowed to enter,
but if he comes from Albano he is fumigated, and
conducted by a man with a gun in his hand through
the principal street of the town and shown out at
the other side. Upon no pretence is an inhabitant
of Albano permitted to enter a house in any of the
surrounding villages. The Zouaves, who behaved
so handsomely in the thick of the epidemic, have
gained golden opinions among the Albanese, and
some golden medals froni his Holiness. There is,
however, a very general feeling that the Papal Go-
vernment has not behaved quite fairly in the matter.
The first detachment of 30 odd men who arrived
the day after the cholera broke out have alone re-
ceived the medals, while the rest of the company,
who entered the town two days afterwards, and
who worked, as I myself can bear witness, quite
as zealous in the cause of humanity as their more
fortunate comrades, have been left unrewarded.
The state of his Holiness's finances may have
something to do with the matter, but it is not
for the sake of the metal that the brave fellows
value such rewards, and 130 bronze medals would
have cost less and answered the purpose much
better than the 30 odd gold ones have done.

THE MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE

OF A USTIUA AND RUSSIA.

The following is the report by Mr. Bluer, her
Majesty's Secretary of Embassy, on the commerce
and finance of Austria :

" VIENNA, March 1, 1867.
" Commerce.—The commerce and trade of Aus-
tria have not progressed, but have sunk to the lowest
ebb, during the last year. whilst at the beginning
of 1866 trade had already been disturbed, the spirit
of speculation hushed, and the foreign commerce
reduced to a state almost of stagnation by the
menacing aspect of political events during the pre-
ceding periods, ruin has now come over almost every
branch of industry in consequence of the disasters
and misery entailed by the late unsuccessful war.
The years 1861 and 1862 belonged to the most
flourishing periods of Austrian commercial history.
The abolition in 1860 of the last fetters that had
hitherto restricted the freedom of inland trade
and intercourse had given a new impulse to
industry and emulation, and had placed the
Austrian empire on a footing of equality in the race
of competition with the busy and intelligent com.
mercial communities of Western Europe. But the
advantage was of short duration, and the outbreak
of the American war cast a dark shadow over reviv-
ing Austria. The cotton crisis, the closing of the
American ports to Austrian production, the fourfold
increase in price of the raw material had combined
to reduce, ere the close of 1861, the consumption of
cotton in Austria to a fifth part of its former amount,
and thrown a proportional number of industrial
establishments and their numerous workmen out of
employ. The year 1863 had already opened the list
of disasters. Unusually unfortunate harvests during
that period of grain and of most other field produce
in Hungary, inadequate crops of vine, together with
visitations of murrain and cattle plague, brought
many branches of industry to a dead lock, almost to
the verge of ruin. Whole districts were without
means of subsistence, and made dependent upon the
succour and subventions of the Government, so that
the commencement of 1865 found the whole Austrian
empire incapable of profiting by the termination of
the American struggle, and by the reopening of the
markets of that rich and active community, with its
eonstantdemands for Austrian grain and sugar. On
such a position dawned the eventful year of 1866.
Each week of that calamitous era increased the em-
barrassmen's of Austria ; the dire catastrophe of
July sealed her fate, and laid her momentarily pros-
trate. Not her brave armies alone had so unfortu-
nately failed, despondency for a time was every-
where—commerce, industry, and trade were as if
suspended. The official returns of the foreign com-
merce of Austria for the first three quarters, or from
Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, 1866, show a notable diminution
both in the imports and exports, observable espe-
cially for the months of June, July, August,
and Sept. In May and June it was the menace of
war ; in Sept. the disasters of the past campaigns ;
and during the whole period the disturbance on all
lines of communication, whether by rail or water;
the consequent stoppage of inland trade, and of all
industrial speculation ; lastly, the daily fluctuations
in the value of money—that produced the above un-
fortunate circumstances. But even in the earliest
part of the past year a serious disturbance of the
foreign commerce of Austria, especially towards
Germany, had been caused by the still recent modi-
fications of July, 1865, of the commercial treaty
with the Zollverein.

" Imports.—In the imports of Austria an increase
took place in 1866 in garden and field produce,
especially grain ; in medical and chemical sub-
stances ; in precious metals ; in woven stuffs, par-
ticularly of the coarser linen kinds; in leather and
leather wares. A decrease in the imports was ob-
servable in colonial produce—in tobacco and cigars;
in fats and oils; in the inferior metals; in fuel,
especially in coals (to the amount of 1,053,710
cwt.) ; in stuffs for wearing, and arms.
" Exports.--The exports, on the other hand,
showed an increase of grain and pulse ; on cattle for
the shambles ; fats and fat oils, and metals ; whilst
there was a decrease of exports in medical and che-
mical substances, perfumery, and colouring matters;
in stuffs for wearing and tissues (sheep's wool) ; in
yarns, and woven and worked goods.
" The total value of the foreign commerce of Aus-
tria for 1865 amounted to 601,300,000 florins ; or,
imports, 256,800,000 florins ; exports, 344,500,000
florins; showing an increase against 1864 of

23,100,000 florins ; or, imports, 2,000,000 florins ;
exports, 21,100,000 florins. The value of the tran-
sit trade during the same period amounted to
115,600,000 florins, against 122,800,000 florins
in 1864. The value of the foreign commerce
of Dalmatia (for which portion of the em-
pire the tables are always compiled separately)
amounted in 1865 to 19,200,000 florins ; or, im-
ports, 8,300,000 florins ; exports, 7,400,000 florins ;
transit, 3,500,000 florins. Comparing, however, the
results of 1865 with those of 10 years back, or 1865,
we find the total value of Austria's foreign com-
merce to have increased by 136,000,000 florins ; or,
imports, 10,000,000 florins; exports, 126,000,000
florins. It must be remembered, however, that in
1855 the rich province of Lombardy was still at-
tached to the Imperial Crown.
Mr. Bonar states that " it would be difficult in-
deed without interminable study, perhaps after all
of little value, to indicate precisely the proportion
belonging to each of the several countries with which
the very varied foreign commerce of Austria is car-
ried on," but says that "in a general way it may
be shown by stating the amount of traffic registered
at each particular frontier." He then appends an
official table which gives the information alluded to.
The report concludes as follows :—" The effect,
however, of the last commercial treaty with the
Zollverein, which came into force Ist July, 1865,
cannot yet be adequately determined, nor that which
must result from the falling away of the kingdom of
Venetia from the Austrian empire. Approximately
it is estimated that the latter circumstance will di-
minish by from 30,000,0001 to 40,000,000f1. annu-
ally the foreign commerce of Austria."
Detailed and authentic tables of the Austrian
imports and exports for the first nine months of
1866, compared also with the corresponding period
of the preceding year, are subjoined.

THE GREA7 POWER OF THE WESTERN
HEMISPHERE.

The second article of the Round Table on " The
Two Great Powers of the Future" is more just than
the first, because the writer thoroughly understands
the subject. When writing of Russia he was dis-
cussing a country of whose progress beyond its
boundaries few men know anything. In discussing
America he writes of the people among whom he
dwells, whose destiny is marked so broadly, so
clearly and indelibly, that it cannot be mistaken.
The future of the Anglo-Saxon race in America
may be prognosticated from the history of the
Anglo-Saxon race elsewhere. Wherever that race
has firmly planted its foot the tendency has been
to grow. It matters not whether the position has
been taken on a lonely waste or in the centre of
teeming life. The records of British India furnish
an ample illustration of the latter ; the story of
British colonisation in Australia and New Zealand
of the former. But of all the marvels of wonderful
growth—of a mighty empire taking the place of the
primeval forest--of the desolate prairie blooming
into cultivation, intersected by highways and spotted
with cities--of chains of the wildest mountains,
pierced by rail and yielding up their hidden trea-
sures—the Northern Continent of America tells the
most astonishing tale. It is a well-ascertained fact
that the Anglo-Saxon adapts himself to circum-
stances of nature with a facility possessed by no
other people. In the scorching heats of India among
the myriads of subjected natives he is a warrior and
a ruler, ready in case of necessity to take the field,
in a season when every living thing shrinks from
the fiery ordeal. In Australia, with his flocks and
herds, he penetrates into unknown wastes, a shep-
herd and a patriarch. In New Zealand, with
axe in hand, the greenwood rings as he clears
away the mighty forest. Everywhere the tendency
is onward ; the progress from straggling huts to
centres of civilization, from trading factories to the
throne of the Mogul. If then, when tried under
such widely dissimilar circumstances, our race strides
from settlement to empire, adapting themselves to
each phase of the march, what is likely to be their
future where circumstances all combine to favour
the rapidity of the progress, where a continent con-
taining every element of greatness in climate, in
soil, in natural features, has passed into their hands.
In writing of the Future of America it is almost
impossible to avoid a charge of "bunkum," and the
Albion, remarking on this article of the Round Table,
declares the reviewer, notwithstanding his declara-
tion to avoid the imputation, falls before reaching the
concluding paragraphs into the most ultra spread-
eaglism of the day. The truth is that no one can
faithfully pourtray the almost certain future of
America without laying himself open to this. Suc-
cessive writers, from the days of the Puritan fathers,
might every successive decade have made their pre-
dictions, and have heard these predictions denounced
as "bunkum," yet have seen realised at the end of each
epoch a progress greater than that they prophesied.
The advance of the nation, comparatively slow at
first, has increased till the speed has become
prodigious. Nor is there any reason to doubt
that what appears to us so wonderful a pace is
still capable of much acceleration. As yet it
is but the foundation that has been laid, the
great difficulties of nature subjugated, and the
road opened to the enterprise of mankind. The
population, now over 35,000,000, will have increased
before the end of the cep tury to 100,000,000,
equalling, as the writer says, the present popula-
tions united, of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Hol-
land, Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom.
It is well known to political economists that the
nation most powerful, is that which best economises
its material resources. The nations of Europe would
have vastly increased their strength had they gene-
rally disarmed on the conclusion of the wars of Na-
poleon, and used the labour frittered away in
military preparations in well-directed industry.
One of the main reasons of England's strength is
that being insular she was enabled to work in com-
parative security without keeping on foot armies of
professional soldiers. This advantage the United
States possesses in the highest degree. She receives
au ever-flowing tide of immigration,
which, added
to the natural increase, gives an extraordinary im-
petus to her population. Every individual is left a
free agent to work out his own future, while the
boundless resources of the land are freely open to
his grasp. The prosperity of each makes the aggre-
gate wealth of the country, and as prosperity is
more the reward of industry in America than else-
where, at the same time the spur is applied to en-
terprise the entire nation in common with the in-
dividual reaps the beneficial results. There is a
large party in America—as there is in every country
where the people are not sunk in apathy.and ego tism
everready to predict ruin. The Albion speaks of "the
national bounce and vain-gloriousness in the bom-
bastic and reckless Republic ;" adding, " we have our
own peculiar views as to where the two great Powers
of the Future will be found." Such views are natural
enough among those mixed up with the corruption,
the turmoil, and incendiarism of the present. But
although we freely admit the difficulties and dangers
surrounding the Republic, we regard them as the
natural obstacles in every path to greatness. There
is more point, in Mr. Seward's remark in his de-
spatches on the Alabama Claims, wherein he terms
the great civil war a domestic trouble, than people
choose now to see. These events, however large in
proportion, however lasting in influence, are mere
episodes in the mighty march of the nation. It
would be almost impossible to do more than tempo-
rarily to delay the eventful arrival of the United
States at the pinnacle of power. Constitutions may
be swept away, customs may change, but nothing
will materially retard the growth of the American
people into the mightiest of nations. It may be
called " spread-eagleism, bunkum, and vulgar
twaddle," but in sober earnest no man can look into
the future of the Republic without seein,; a power
rising before him which almost surpasses his com-
prehension. The Round gable alludes to the Cana-
dian dominion as certain to be absorbed in the Re-
public, even without action on the part of the
United States, merely obeying a law of attraction,
by which the greater surely draws to itself the
lesser. Indeed Canada, whether as an indepen-
dent power or as States of the Union, must
partake of the destiny of the Rs eiptus lawsblic.
and The
policy of the dominion, as well as
literature, cannot but be materially influenced by its
gigantic neighbour. In semblance, independence
may be retained, but the tendency must be to move

with the Republic. The puzzle is not on the
Northern boundary, but on the Southern ; it ig
Mexico that furnishes the American problem. The
writer in the Round Table evidently holds views
similar to those some time since expressed by us
that the United States will have to deal with Mexico
as the Viceroy of India deals with independent
native powers ; the writer, scouting the idea of
admitting such a horde of half-domesticated wild
beasts to a share in governing the Union, which
would presuppose, he says, a measure of de-
generacy, or a depth of folly hardly reached as yet'
The experiment of Republican institutions among
such a race has had a long and most disastrous
trial, and as it is clearly shown that they cannot
govern themselves it is necessary that they shoal be governed, unless a country that tn,ty be termed
the garden of the world is to be barred to mankind'
The writer predicts that an American army
march to Mexico, and establish there a governnien
of power to make the guilty tremble, of law t°
give the inoffensive peace, of progress to give the
enlightened, if there be such, hope. In a century
or two the Mexicans may be fit for self-govern-
ment, but till then it will become the duty of the,
United States to enforce a system of law au,u,
order. It cannot be expected that the Unite',
States will pause in their progress southwaru
till they reach that highway of the world, the
Isthmus of Panama. But although the Round Table
passes into South America, we believe that the con-
fines of the great Republic will be attained when
its dominion extends from the North Pole to where
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans so near:y join. Their
territory will then be the most extensive, and at the
.
some time the most compact, and their race all but
homogeneous. Whatever may be the destiny of
Russia, about America we believe there can be uo
mistake, and it has even now arrived at such
stage of colossal greatness as to be fitly described, in
the words of the writer, the great Power of the
Western Hemisphere.—Anglo-American Times.