The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-05 00:00:00

two shillings and sixpence, by applying to Mr. E.
STANFORD, Charing Cross, they may know as much

as we do. For that sum they may purchase a pam-

phlet whose title reads thus—" Austria, her position

and prospects—by JOHN ORRELL LEVER, M.P."

It must be of use to nearly all Englishmen, for its
first chapter is headed " Erroneous Impressions
Respecting the Government and People of the
Austrian Empire ;" and we need not say how much
we owe to those who undertake kindly to efface
erroneous impressions. We have looked through
the chapter, however, and we cannot discover what

3 impressions" are erroneous. We are told, indeed

that " our usually keen and far-seeing merchants
and manufacturers, who hunt up buyers in every
part of the world, seem to have been totally blind
to the capabilities of this near neighbour, and to
the advantages to be derived from the extensive
use of the productions and commodities which she
possesses in. such quantities." But we were not
aware before that blindness was an "srnprestion."
We are told in like manner of "misconceptions,"
but not what they are; and of profound" igno-
rance," but ignorance of what, is not mentioned.
We have indeed a rehearsal of the productions of
Austria, including the kingdom of Hungary, and
of its capabilities for indefinite increase of these
productions, but we were most certainly not igno-
rant of all this. Our conception, however, was

that the tyranny and sluggishness combined of the
Austrian Government was the chief reason why
the Empire was so miserably unproductive with
every natural facility for becoming the reverse, and
the pamphlet does not show this to be a " miscon-
ception," indeed it almost directly justifies it. The
writer says :—" Hitherto Austria has not made the
best of her opportunities for advancement and pro-
sperity. Her people have not derived from the
various elements of wealth, civilisation, and
power, with which the Empire abounds, the
results they are capable of producing, They
have buried their treasure instead of using it,
and to this many of the inconveniences from
which they have long suffered must be attributed."
Just so. We have only understood Austriabut too
well. Further on he remarks—" We shall find that
no modern State has advanced so slowly as Austria I"
True again. True as the Gospel, against which the
HAPSBURGS fought so long under Jesuit leadership,
But the fifth chapter tells us that Austria is now
a penitent, and amending her ways. " She has
undergone a great change." Our author is as
smitten as Mr. ROEBUCK was, with the paper Con-
stitutions shown him at Vienna. Here are the
fruits of Austrian penitence—
" The diploma of the 20th of Oct., followed as the natural
result of the investigations and deliberations of the Reichs-
rath. Taxation, the making of laws, and all questions of
imperial policy are placed under the control of the imperial
Legislature, whilst to the provincial diets the regulation of
subjects that relate exclusively to the provinces are en-
trusted. Thus Constitutional Government, on a broad and
liberal basis, is established. This is not a mere juggling
with freedom, not the shadow without the substance, not a
solemn mockery, but a real reform; and the manner in
which it bas been received by the people of Austria proves
that its advantages are clearly appreciated. Keeping in
view the imperative necessity of preserving the unity of the
empire, the Government have laboured zealously at the
good work of restoration. They have not suffered them-
selves to be deluded by senseless cries for changes that lead
to revolution, but have endeavoured to obtain practical re-
sults from a thoroughly sound and practical reform."
On this we have only to remark that this
diploma was, in regard to the Kingdom of Hun-
gary, whatever it might be in reference to the
other nationalities, as arbitrary, illegal, and revo-
lutionary an act as any for which our STUARTS
brought on themselves decapitation or exile. In
regard to that kingdom—that is, in regard to the
most important part of the domains over which
FRANCIS JOSEPH has a hereditary title of sove-
reignty—the diploma was "a mere juggling with
freedom," " shadow without substance," " a solemn
mockery," instead of "real reform." It attempted
to create "a Unity of the Empire" in the case of
Hungary as flagrantly illegal and insolent as the
incorporation of Poland by Russia—indeed, more
so. Instead of the Hungarian being guilty of
" senseless cries for changes that lead to revolu-
tion," it is precisely the authors of the diploma of
the 20th of October who are amenable to that
charge. By an arbitrary stroke of his pen, the
revolutionary tyrant and his abettors coolly and
complacently think they are authorised to subvert
a real national constitution which has lasted a thou-
sand years, and to offer as a substitute the paper
thing of yesterday, which Messrs. ROEBUCK and
LEVER could put in their pockets.
We are told of the people's interest in the Royal .
family, and the sympathy and feeling evinced for
the young QUEEN. Why, yes; we in England
felt for the poor young female; we lent her
our Royal yacht ; and we may suppose the
Viennese would show more sympathy than stran-
gers ; but when we read that " the Emperor of
AUSTRIA is regarded as the father of his people," we
should like to know of which of his peoples ? Is he
so regarded at Presburg, Pesth, and Arad ? Is he
so regarded at Hermanstadt, or even at Agram?
Have even the Tyrolese shown themselves quite
satisfied with his paternal tenderness ? or did our
author pass through Venetia, and find the inhabi-
tants but too happy in the kindness which sent
them the gentle BENEDEK, and a couple of hun-
dred thousand soldiers, to ward off the liberty for
which they so ungratefully sigh ?

It is time, however, that we should just mention
the main object of the pamphlet. The writer has
found in regard to Austria what ARCHIMEDES dis-
covered for the world. He has a standing-place
and a fulcrum. English capital, English alliance
with Austria gives him a footing, and the fulcrum
Is, what the reader would of course expect from the
writer, a
Line Steam-packet company—This time " A
of Steamships from Trieste to England !!
The writer fears that Austrian Financiers may want
boldness, but he tells them that by " Liberal sub-
' sales (of course) they ought to encourage the for-
mati• n of steamshiplines and telegraph companies,"
and, he should have added—to be very particular
in respect to paying the subsidy, but not meanly
exacting in regard to the fulfilment of the terms of
the contract. Such of our readers as may wish to
take shares in an Austrian Steamship Company we
must refer to the pamphlet itself. For ourselves we
would rather throw our money into the Adriatic
at once, than into an Austrian company. A State
which the writer shows to be utterly insolvent ; a
State which cannot bring itself to renounce its
despotic determination to make constitutions in,
of abiding by those which age and treaties
have consecrated; a State which aims to crush
Hungarian liberties on one side, and Italian liber-
ties on the other; a State which ignores both con-
ditions of commercial and industrial science—free
trade and freedom—such a State we would not
trust with a single sovereign. Let her make her-
self trustworthy first.

Alarming accounts come to us this forenoon by
telegram from St. Petersburg. They evidence a
very critical condition of affairs, both financial
and commercial, in the Russian autocracy.
According to the Borsen Zeitung of yesterday—
" The proprietors of the principal mining esta-
blishments and cotton mills are greatly embar-
rassed. Sugar-houses ask for subsidies amount-
ing to several millions of roubles. The great
manufacturers are beginning to close their works;