The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-09 00:00:00

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AUSTRIA A
The following is the com eytr.
4., sian
reply to the Austrian despatch the 6th.-M April,
relative to the armaments of both countries :
" BERLIN, April 30.
" Count Karolyi communicated to me on the 28th
inst. the reply, of which a copy is annexed, of his
Government to the despatch which I addressed to
your Excellency on the 21st inst. I cannot, I regret
to say, conceal from your Excellency the fact that
we had expected a manifestation of a different cha-
racter. As I then stated, by his Majesty's com-
mand, we had expected to receive more precise com-
munications as to the extent and the periods at
which the reduction of the Austrian army would be
carried out, in order that we might make corres-
ponding disarmaments with those of Austria ; and
we did so on the assumption that the Imperial
Cabinet, like ourselves, had in view a return to A
complete state of peace.
" The Imperial Cabinet seems to have satisfied
itself that the apprehensions of offensive measures on
the part of Prussia, which formed the motives of
the Austrian armaments, were unfounded. We are
therefore the more surprised when the Imperial
Cabinet does not now think itself able to fulfil the
proposals of disarmaments made upon the 18th inst.,
and readily accepted by his Majesty the King, but
materially modifies those proposals in many respects.
In his despatch of the 18th Count Mensdorff first
held out the prospect that Austria would take the
initiative in disarmament as she had done in arma-
ment. This concession seems to be called in ques-
tion again by the text of the despatch of the 26th,
which demands simultaneous disarmament. Sub-
sequently we acceded to the proposal of the Im-
perial Government that, to use its own words, the
Emperor would at once give orders ' to counter-
mand the movement required by, preparation for
war against Prussia, and to stop the measure con-
nected therewith.'

~~~

the's'eAms otvheenlmperial Government
tht see l ff
ramd mnift teda n
approachronti
e rof Austria
of bodies
ov
o f troopserh
t e greater t o the p
north-westernartof
the
Empire, and we were, therefore, justified in
assuming
f
according to the proposal of the Imperial Govern-
ment, that the intended restoration of the normal
status quo ante would extend to the whole of those
movements required by the war footing. Instead of
this the latest declaration of the Imperial Govern-
ment limits the disarmament, of which it holds out
a prospect, exclusively to the withdrawal of the
troops sent to Bohemia to reinforce the garrisons
there stationed, which, by the statement of the Im-
perial Government, amount to ten battalions of in-
fantry. As regards the remaining provinces, the
despatch does not even mention Silesia, Moravia'
and Western Galicia, which border Prussia, and in
which it is notorious that a large number of cavalry
regiments summoned from remote parts of the
country are stationed. While the Imperial Govern-
ment considers the measure affecting Bohemia alone
to present a full equivalent for the return of Prussia
to a peace footing, it further plainly expresses its
intention to undertake in the remaining parts of the
Empire such considerable movements of troops
and calling out of furlough men' as may be requisite
to place the Emperor's ' Italian army' upon a war
footing. It has been ascertained from the most re-
liable quarters that purchases of horses are taking
place for this latter purpose upon an extended scale
throughout the Monarchy. The strength the Im-
perial Government may accordingly intend to give
the army upon a war footing to be stationed in the
other parts of the Monarchy, and also perhaps in the
other provinces adjoining Prussia, except in Bohe-
mia, will, of course, depend solely upon the judg-
ment of the Imperial Government and upon the im-
portance it attaches to the danger of attack by
which it believes itself threatened.

The Austrian Government thus demands that
Prussia shall countermand her, in themselves, mo-
dest defensive armaments which have remained
unchanged since the 28th of March, while
Austria certainly withdraws her reinforce-
ments of garrisons from Bohemia, but extends and
hastens her armaments for the establishment of an
army on a war footing. I cannot conceal from your
Excellency that after the exchange of mutual de-
clarations upon the 18th and 21st, hailed by us and
by Europe as a guarantee of peace, we were not
prepared for this demand. In justification of the
altered attitude it takes up in the despatch of the
26th the Imperial Government adduces the intel-

ligence it has received from Italy. According to this
the army of King Victor Emmanuel is said to have
been placed upon a war footing to proceed to an
attack upon Venetia. The information which has
reached us direct -from Italy, and that we have
received through the medium of other Courts, coin-
cide in stating that armaments 'of a threatening
character against Austria have not taken place in
Italy, and confirm us in the conviction that an un-
provoked attack upon the Empire is far distant
from the intentions of the Cabinet of Florence. If
in the meantime and recently military preparations
may have commenced in Italy, these, as well as the
measures adopted by us upon the 28th of March,
may probably be regarded as the consequence of the
armaments begun by Austria. We are persuaded
that the Italian armaments would be as readily dis-
continued as our own, provided the causes through
which they have been occasioned ceased.
In the interest of the preservation of peace, and
the cessation of the pressure which at present weighs
upon the relations of politics and trade, we there-
fore again request the Imperial Government to ad-
here without wavering to the programme it laid
down itself in its despatch of the 18th, and which
his Majesty the King accepted without delay in the
most conciliatory sense, and as a mark of his per-
sonal confidence in his Majesty the Emperor. In
execution of the same we should expect—first, that
all the troops sent to Bohemia, Moravia, Cracow,
and Austrian Silesia since the middle of March
should not only return to their former garrisons,
but also that all bodies of troops stationed in those
provinces should be replaced upon the former peace
footing. We await a speedy authentic communi-
cation as to the execution of these measures—i.e., of
the restoration of the status quo ante, as the term of
of the 25th of April, fixed by the Imperial Govern-
ment itself, for the return to a peace footing of the
troops assembled against our frontiers has long since
expired. We hope that the Imperial Government
will at once by further inquiry arrive at the convic-
tion that its intelligence as to the aggressive inten-
tions of Italy was unfounded, that it wielletehfeonopung
pro-
ceed to the effective restoration of
d.
therebypa enable
',
throughout the Imperial
arm
tion. So long as this course
—in our opinion the
only correct
and which we bad imagined al-
ready accepted by
both parties—is not adopted, it
is impracticable
uso to y
tstke
the the
as same r
the King's Government to look
. for
future, in Which import-
ant and pregnant n
forward to
negotiations impend with the
Im-
perial one,
step to his Majesty's satisfac-
Government otherwise than with the esta-
blishment of equilibrium, in the preparations of both
Powers for war. The King's Government cannot
successful result from negotiationsexpect carried
on between one party armed, and the other in a
state of perfect disarmament.
In this sense it regrets exceedingly that the Im-
perial Government has not been willing to assent
to our proposal to request the other Federal Govern-
ments to suspend their mil
itary arrangements, the
actual existence of 1 wh. lc I cannot be denied even by
the respective Governments themselves. The King's
Government, for its part, has not shrunk from ad-
dressing the necessary summons to the Saxon Go-
vernment, whose armaments arc furthest advanced ;
but the success of this appeal, and therewith the in-
terests of peace, might be regarded as more certain
if the Imperial Austrian Government bad been able
to resolve upon a similar proceeding.rd this despatch
" I request your Excellency to
to the Austrian Minister, and to ea
leave with him a
6' VON BISMARK."
copy of the same.

S EAcE,A scullers' match came off
yesterdDavid Brown and John Mann, both
r betweenßS'
membersLa of the Vauxhsll Club. The stake was £lO aside
—distance from Mortlake to Putney, but the race turned
out to be rather a hollow.affair. Brown got the toss for
station, and took the Middlesex shore. He then went
with the lead, kept at, and won by 150 yards.