The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-03-19
PoPulsr and Peaceful Revelation an
EurODe,

Populsr and Peaceful Revelation an
Europe.
| At length Austria, after all her vacillatiou,
hes decided upon political measures of great
importance nothing less, indeed, than the es-
Establishment of representative government at
Vienna for The whole empire. That the Con-
vention of last year should have resulted In
the adoption Of consttutionalism may surprise
mary, but the more farseeing have had that re
suit for some months in prospect Not Eng
lard herself has more constitutional gov
eminent than hitherto despotic Austria is to
have. There will be two Ctirien, or, in other
words, House of Lords and House of Com
mons, the sttings of which will be public The
members of the upper house are to consist of
the imperial family, of possessors of large en-
tailed property, and of ecclesiastical, military
and civil dignitaries, all of whom will be nomi-
mated by the Emperor for life; while the lower
house will consist of those elected in circles
and Districts by the members OF the Provincial
Diets. Perfect freedom of discussion upon any
subject will be allowed to both houses, and
nothing can become law till it has passed these
and received the Emperor's consent. The
lower house will have control Of taxation and
the national funds. including the national debt.
Now all this promises well for the future gov
eminent of the empire upon liberal basis,
and the only difficulty about it will be felt at
the outset; for there is no reason why constitu-
tionalism should not succeed in Austria as
we'll as in any other country of continental
Europe. The question u.s. how will Hungary re-
ceive it? We perceive that at the time of the
PRONUNCIATION of the constitution the Emperor
issued an address to the Hungarians Of very
conciliatory character, as if he meant to do his
best to induce them to give it fair trial. The
cause of doubt respecting the acceptability
of the new system in Hungary is that
its taxation, alike with that of the whole empire
will be decided by the Central Assembly at
Vienna, and not by the Hungarian Diet as the
Hungarians wish. The object, therefore, OF
Francis Joseph is 10 so far win over these, his
disaffected subjects, as to remove their preju-
dices against resigning this their pet privilege,
as well az to convince them that it will be to
! their own advantage to conform to this neces-
saIy step in constitutional government
After making respectful reference to the laws
of lS4S, he tells them in friendly language that
he is shortly to be crowned in Hungary "a their
King, and to take the oath which protects their
liberties that he will preside in person at the
Diet, aud in guiding its deliberations viii not
forget that he is King of Hungary as we'll az
Emperor of Austria He also intimates that
be will reside during certain portion
OF each year in Hungary. We see in this
remarkable change of policy he last
venture Of Austria. 1t is hopeful, but despe.
rate, and il is hard to say whether the hopeful
ness of the Emperor's language is fdgned or
real. One thing, however, is certain, and that
is that the establishment of o representative
government at Vienna will be a great and
lasting benefit, not only to Austria herself, but
to oil Europe.
This movement on the part of the leading
despotism of Germany will have a powerful
effect upon France, whose open contempt for
everything German is notorious, and will tend
more than any other line of policy that Francis
Joseph could have adopted, in the absence of
the cession of Venetia, TO preserve the existence
OF the Austrian empire. Even the concessions
Of Louis Napoleon towards constitutional
ism have been eclipsed by this sudden
light that has fallen upon the political horizon
Of Austria; and what can Louis Napoleon do
after this but travel as far along the to him
uninviting if not dangerous road of constitu-
tionalism as his imperial brother at Vienna
bias done? It's tendency to liberalize all the
institutions of every country Of Europe will be
immense. Prussia cannot but follow the
leader in Germany, although gnashing her
teeth at not being herself the leader; and 80
the work Of popular and peaceful revolution
will progress throughout the thirty-seven
soyereignties into which Germany is divided.
Even the liberal policy Of the new Italian king
dom will be strengthened and improved by the
liberalizing sentiments entertained by it's
ncighbors. Russia cannot we'll escape the con-
tagion; and SO what may be almost called new
era in European history viii be speedily in
augupated. Whatever the wrong doings of
Austria, let us give hey due credit for this
last step in the right direction, and express q
hope that she may profit by the political liber-
~ which, after calm consideration, she offers
with willing hand to her hitherto oppressed
subjects.
WALL. STREET TACTICS IN IRVING PLACE.-As
many of our readers may be aware, the des-
TIMES of the Academy of Music are controlled
by number of highly respectable gentlemen,
elected as directors by the shareholders in the
property. The Board Of Direction receive