The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-19 00:00:00

AUSTRIAN FINANCES.

"The Austrians," said the Emperor Napoleon at-
the Battle of Rivoli, " are not apt to compute the
"value of minutes." Indeed, we might extend•
the observation, and say that there is no modc,rn'
nation which, whether in peace or war, leaves time
so entirely out of calculation. If we could be re-
stored to the times before the flood, when a young
man never thought of marrying and settling him-
self till he was about seventy-five years of acre, the
Austrian system might do well enough ; but really
in these days, when people live fast, move fast,
and resolve rapidly, the system of the houso of
Hapsburg is unsupportably tardy and wearisome.
The Auatrian financial year terminates on the 31st
of October, and we are presented in the middle of
that month in 1839 with the account of the
revenue and expenditure for 1857 and 1858.
There may be many objections to representa-
tive institutions, but assuredly one advantage,
that Austria would derive from a House of Com-
mons would be that she would know what she had
spent while the knowledge was, of some practical
value, and get an insight into her affairs before
they had become matters of mere antiquarian curi-
e
ts a
tasioitnsealiy:ttesey;_.l
for
frtriTtif
stgfhBto dns
ss.
tiurt3rionlgao9nei
t,dosGb2isoal2uivl,
laiinBxre4enceeumt-fissse.ehonreftiTeo
balance-sheet
,etoehuxeailmisidl tardi-
ness,—that
c
ndi-
the
total revenue2B2
,540
florins, o
283.640,723 florins,
upwards o
, andtlere therefore the
mdeifillcioitnlsVa ands 36,481,861
a half sterling. This was thelx.tlpenele-
diture of a year of profound peace, undisturbed
either by wars or rumours of wars, for the first
threatening note was sounded on the Ist of January
in the present year. Such was the hopeless and
helpless state into which Austria had drifted before
her recent calamities, that with a population of
thirty-six millions she incurs a deficit of upwards
of three millions and a half upon a revenue of
twenty-eight millions. For this excess of expendi-
ture over income several reasons may be given.
In the first place, the Government, being utterly
unchecked by any
_popular control, is said to
indulge in the grossest extravagance. In the
next place, the dominions of Austria, with the
exception of the hereditary States, are 'held in
obedience by the sword, and hence the industry
of the country is. crippled and its finances ruined
by the employment of a fearfully large proportion
of the adult population in the profitless idleness
of a barrack life. There is, besides, the interest
on the national debt, amounting to more than nine
millions and a half sterling. Still, when we con-
sider that in these islands a population of some 30
millions raises with comparative ease an income of
some seventy millions annually, we cannot but be
struck with the apparent inability of Austria to
raise her income to a level with her expenditure,
and feel how imperfectly developed that civilisation
must be which, with a .larger population than our
own, sinks under a lyirden only half of that which
we actually bear. If we look at tie Ways and
Means we shall see that Austria has not been slow
to employ every species of direct taxation. the
has a land-tax, a house.tax, a trade-tax, an inhei-
tame and legacy-tax, and an income-tax ; octrois,
excise, salt duty, tobacco duty, stamp duty, State
lottery; and, among other things, she has made
about £150,000 by selling to young men drawn as
conscripts an exemption from military service.
The Austrian Chancellor of the Exchequer
cannot be said to have been negligent in the
imposition of duties, but the key to the whole
financial embarrassment seems to be found in a

single item. The Customs of the Austrian Empire
yield only £247,000, while the Customs of the
British Isles, with a population of le:s by one-sixth,
yield upwards of £26,000,000, or very nearly ten
times as much. Austria has little or no foreign trade,
because, with climate and soil capable of the most
varied productions, she interdicts importation and
lives nearly in that hidebound i-tate of indepen-
dence of foreign nations which our Protectionist
squires used to commend as the greatest happiness
and highest prosperity to which a country can
attain. Of such a state of things we cannot hope
to say anything new. If an empire will insist
upon making its subjects its enemies, and govern-
ing them by the shallow and bar;eirous device of
plaj ing off their national jealousies against each
other, it must expect to reap as it has sown, and
be crushed under the military expenditure which
its own stolid disregard of its best interests has
rendered inevitable ; and if a Government will
conduct its finances and fetter the industry of its
people in defiance of the most clearly demonstrated
scientific truths, it must suffer under the present
poverty and ultimate insolvency which it wilfully
and obstinately promotes. It is a happy dispen-
sation of Providence that no Government can syste-
matically disregard its duties and obligations with.
' out accumulating destruction over its head, which
must in due process of time descend and over-
whelm it.
But, if such is the account Austria renders for
the year 1838, what, when in the fulness of time
she shall see fit to take the world into her confi-
dence, will be the statement she will have to lay
before it of the expenditure of the disastrous year
1859 ? Her military system has been crushed
to atoms ; her Generals have been outmanoeuvred ;
her armies have been discomfited ; she has lost
battles, provinces, and honour; but we are much
mistaken if she has not lost these at a price which
ought to have assured her victory and safety. No
one, we think, can deny that the campaicrn was
conducted on the part of Austria, at any rate,e on
very economical principles. Verona was stripped
of cannou, and left without provisons ; the fine
cavalry of Austria never sate the field of Solferino ;
her admirable artillery were held in reserve very
far indeed in the rear of battle. Austria hopes to
receive some eight or ten millions sterling as an
indemnity for her share of the Lombard debt ; but
still we arc much mistaken if he: balance-sheet for
the year which closes at the end of this month will
not startle even the admirers of paternal govern-
ment by the enormity of its deficiency. The revenue
of the rich provinces of Lombardy ie gone, and yet
the causes which render the maintenance of a large
army necessary arc as rife as ever. Venetia must
be coerced; the fortresses on the Mincio and the
Adige must be armed, supplied, and garrisoned
after a very different fashipn from that which an
overweening confidence had induced the Emperor
tinti3l;(ltl)ociith.leeet
rtmhsodeeittriahit:cei
empire,
reversesl.
y Austria
to suppose was sufficient. There is, besides, a fresh
danger to which Austria has hitherto been compa-
whi
ght
eery r
was aieciedtife..aesy.a.t deal to the people. For-
e
her el:cpf.irehraietelekaryeAlh".
iteiaeug;l,,gs,:,iiikt,tttrs‘tabviltala:uaaysyNtuu:
affectionful
the
me
Government
tf
Pro
is
and
disa
be sound.
rr h
eN
Austrians,oN-
a n
Italy might rebel, the Eastern provinces might be
re to
even
d
even the Tyrolese, begin to see that a system
of internal repression and external exclusion,
of obstinate adherence to traditional absurdities
and aristocractic punctilios, is hurrying the
empire into the gulf into which so many more
potent confederacies have descended before her.
In the past they see nothing but discredit ; in the
future nothing but ruin. Their confidence in the
ability of their Government has, and not without
good reason, been destroyed. Their confidence in
the good fortune of Austria exists no longer. In
the continuance of the present system they see
nothing hut ruin, and of its reform at the hands
of a feeble and incompetent Government they see
no hope. Their pride is humbled, their prudence
alarmed, their loyalty shaken, their confidence de-
stroyed. Evil as is the present, they arc filled with
still gloomier apprehensions for the future. They
earnestly desire change, and are coming gradually,
but surely, to the conclusion that the road to the
required reform lies through the portals of a radical
change.— Times.

113,713„:.:74R.r
OF ALDERIII
4• ; • ;4
',.rnert
17-7;*t.17:44e7 1
,P-77:
was held L,Y.
446 4,
Guildhall, the Lord
.71Lyor in the ehai
LIE NEW ALDERXIAN.
Mr. TowsE, vetry clerk for the ward of Advil S
presented a return ratifying the election of Mr.
.Tarries Abbiss, citizen and: blacksmith, to be alder-
man of that ward, inAlle; room of Sir C. Marshall,
The Alderman elect was introduced by Mr.
:oxen mid Mr. Low, his mover and seconder, and
NV::S accompanied to the bar by a numerous and in-
fluential body of his constituents.
Mr. WiLooxoN, in presenting Mr. Abbiss, said
there were many who held the office of alderman in
light esteem ; hut he, on the contrary, believed the
office to he one of honour and dignity, and that a
gentlema4 upon being elected to fill it had opened
before him a career of usefulness, social and religi-
ous, which was not restricted to his own ward
merely, but extended to the whole city of London
and all his fellow-citizens. Mr. Abbiss had lived
in the ward for about '2O years, and by adhering to
principles of honour, uprightness, integrity, in-
dustry, combined with perseverance and zeal in the
discharge of his general duties, he had My justified
the choice of his ward in placing him in his present
position.
Mr. Low said that Mr. Abbiss was no:; a stranger
to the city of London, as he for some time past acted
as chairman of a board of guardians: and had
there gained considerable experience in public
business. Altogether he was well qualified for the
office to which he had been elected, and, altheugh
the inhabitants felt sincere regret that the retire- •
ment of Sir C. Marshall, who had served them
faithfully for 2S years, had been rendered neces-
sary by age And infirmities, that regret was quali-
fied by the reflection that he had. a worthy suc-
cessor. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. ABBISS then took the usual oaths, and sub-
scribed the usual declaration, after which he was
received with warm greetings/by his brother alder-
men, among whom he took his scat.

SUPERVISION OF BROKERS.
Mr. Alderman ROSE moved, " That it be re-
ferred to a committee to take into consideration the
laws relating to the sworn brokers of this city, and
to report thereon." The subject generally was, he
said, a very important one, and, as he believed that
the new Corporation lieform Bill might propose to
deal with it, he thought an inquiry ought to take
place in order that if the Government should call
upon them for information they might he prepared
to show that they had exercised a proper super-
vision over that class of gentlemen, who acted
between parties as brokers in sale and purchase.
Mr. Alderman HALE, in seconding the motion,
expressed his belief that the supervision of the
Court over brokers was attended with very great
advan tape.
Alderman Sir P. LAURIE reminded the Court
that the Court of Common Council had decided to
agree with nothing that injured the rights of the
Livery. He did not know whether the motion
would have that effect, but with regard to the Cor-
poration Reform Bill it was, in his opinion a hoax
altogether. •
Mr. Alderman ROSE said the motion could not
interfere wits the rights of the Livery in any way.
it was only a question of jurisdiction as exercised
by that Court for many years past.
Mr. Alderman SIDNEY thought that before such
a motion was made the mover ought, to have been
prepared to show at least a prima facie reason for
the amendment of the present ro;lulations. But
Mr. Alderman Rose had done nothing of the kind ;
and as ithe Government in their Bill would no
doubt deal with the question, and very likely de-
prive that Court of its jurisdiction over brokers
altogether, he held that the labours of a committee
would be thrown away. He therefore, as an amend
men t., moved the previous question.
Sir P. LAURIE seconded the amendment.
Mr. Alderman LAWRENCE said the mere proba-
bility that the Government would deal with the
supervision of brokers in their bill was in itself a
sufficient reason for the appointment of a committee
of inquiry.

Mr. Alderman COPELAND said he did not intend
to oppose the motion, but at the same time he felt
bound to express his opinion that the Court could
never exercise its supervision in an effective manner,
unless the Legislature armed them with ampler
powers. What had been their experience in cases
where they had interfered to proceed against
brokers who had been guilty of breaches of the re-
gulations? Within the last year or so there had
been two such cases, and both the petitioning parties
ultimately withdrew because the matter had been
compromised ; and so that Court had been merely
made the medium of effecting compromises where
something further ought to have been done, since
one of the cases, more especially, was of the most
flagrant description. And then there were the ship-
brokers, who advertised emigration vessels to sail
on a certain day, and who, by detaining their ves-
sels beyond that day, often inflicted the greatest
hardship and suffering upon the poor emigrants.
Ile should like to see something done to compel
these men to keep faith with the emigrants.
The LORD MAYOR said the law as it stood was
strong cnoul;l► to deal with this evil, and it was
their own fault that it was not more often put into
operation.

Mr. Alderman Roar; said that in the two eases
referred to by Mr. Alderman Copeland, in which
proceedings had been stayed, the supervision of tho
Court, so far even as it went, exercised a most salu-
tary and stringent influence, since the petitioners
obtained full and substantial redress.
The amendment was then negatived, and the mo-
tion was agreed to.
Adjourned.