New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-01-27

(Sccoad Notice.
The fifth volume of the Memoirs OF Prince Met'oi
Mich like the earlier numbers of the SERIES Is Oo'
,ncntarv on European diploma Y rather thah
treatise on political government As "ie ""
designer of the State system when was rc'U"-
.tructed after the Napoleonic wars, he "ccuIl'u"
,p;oue noSitiou on the Continent. The pubhc Ia"
of Furopc had been enacted by the great NohEt'SS
Of Vienna. and, having been the most HuloI'in'
nersonape of that historic council he made II his
special duty IL interpret and enforce 'n"'
law Setting his face sternly against ne"
ideas and disturbing tendencies every
ouorter he stroVe, through ms trained
Ambassador in the capitals to KEEP Europe pre-
oiselv as il was eft in 1915. The supreme effort %
his diplomacy was to promote inactlon everywhere.
Dvnastics. frontiers. constitutions, Parliamentary
institutions and habits of administration were to re-
main unchanged. Every innovation was lo"he"
upon as a revolutionary germ Every departure
from the established order of pnbh' lie was con-
demned as a breach of European faith ACTIVITY
must he reprcssed; impulses must he deadened'
There must be stamation compression and UNI
formty everywhere.
Prince Metteuicl's political god was y STEM; al
home the bureaucratic system of Administrations
abroad the State system as revised by the 'o'lEIr
of Vienna acting a final court Of appeal Inc
yolminous correspondence from which These N"'-
nues of memoirs are largely derived contains few
references
Austrian Empire. The Chancellor salways ready
10 read his Ambassadors lectures on the political
crises and diplomatic blundcIs Of other courts, but
he seldom had any information to impdrt regarding
homo nolitics This was because he had
brought Hungary under the compression OF syS-
tenn of inaction and uniformity, which would nave
squeezed the political vitality ont Of less ROBUST
nation while in the hereditary states the emperor
Cabinet had become the centre of bureaucratic
I. ov,I Al
officials There was no real national life in PnDee
uettcrnich's own country Ab~olUtlsn, red tape,
,,utine--ihcre was nothing else. The dcafeh'hg
effects Of this system OF compression we're ieit LOT
n whole generation. After the Revolution "i lNi''
this complex mechanism which had been gradually
getting out of gear. was clumSlly Repaired ana
Hungary as well rs Austria was governed oY inc
German clerks of The Ministers Bureau AieAahu'I
Won Bach the master spirit II tins Iatef
period of sterile naction. believed that
fbe Germans as a superior race, had the exclusive
right To direct the administration OF the whole En-
pire and that useful government ami good m'Ia'S
would be promoted by closer alllanre between
Vienna and Rome and by l-ld adherence TO bureau
cratic methods. He an humble disciple OF
Prince Metternich, usler whom the system hai
reached its highest development As a mechanical
contrvance for paralyzns the energies 81 the races
of the Empire The same principles of restraint ana
stapnation the same policy OF mastery inactivity
the same deadly paralysis OF the natua! functions
Of governments and nations, were involved IN the
Fnropean system to which the Chancellor rgidly
adhered III shaping the diplomacy of his time.
Princess Melanie in one OF the most inter
estinr passages of her diaries, quoted the En-
peror Francs as saying that he was only simple
straipbtforward man. who would never have risen
into notice if lrincc Mcttcruch had not imputed
tobim everything that was particularly good or
clever in IN, OWL policy. lie III peculiar sense
Metternich's Emperor for his dominant ideas OF
statecraft and administration were derived from
one source. The tutor recognized the force OF ms
own instructions when he read this passage III the
Emperors last letter of counsel TO hls son; " OlS-
turb nothing in the foundations Of the edihce OF the
State. Govern and change nothing. Respect all
lawful rights and then you may justly claim the
reverence due to your own rights as a sovereign"
This was what the Chancellor III his circular dis
match 10 the Austrian Ambassadors after the death
of the Emperor termed "a complete code OF govern
mental legislation" II was an epitome OF his own
policv at home and abroad. Disturb nothing"
that is do as little possible, and never allow any
thing new to be done Govern ; but always IN
the old mechanical way. Change nothing" ~: for
change implies concession and concession summaries
restlessness and revolution. Respect all lawiul
RIGHTS: that IS the established principles OF
absoute monarchy and the ancient privileges OF
princes and arisocracy but pay no heed to popular
clamors for legislative reforms and the fundamental
rights of citizenship Do nothing; change nothing
Weld nothing; but keep OIL governing, not through
the representatives of the various estates OF the
realm but through your own corps OF bureaucratic
officials, This was Prince MetterncEs domestic
code and the public Laws of Europe he Interpreted
with equal Rightly canon of absolute pa'slVlty.
These general principles str!knglv illustrated
by the state papers grouped IN this volume me
translator assuming that the internal affairs
of Austria would have no interest outside
of that Empire. has excluded almost too
ripidlv the scanty references which the
Chancellor made to home AFFAIRS for while the
political history of the Dual Empire is universally
neglected by the Enghsl-Speakng world, II can he
studied TO better purpose than the parliamentary
records of any other country on the continent with
the single exception Of France. Such illustrations
of Prince Mctternichs statecrat as we may nave
reason to cite will refer to European rather than
national aiiars-to the elaborate State system de-
yised at Vienna and ito the bureaucratic deSpo-
ism Organized in Austria and Hungary. The first of
these may throw side light upon the Chancellors
ideas of internal administration. II is passage
from his opening speech at the conference OF Ger
man Ministers at Vienna IN 1884:
In 1918, the German Princes. inc uding also the
Free States. combined themselves into permanent
Confederation, the aim OF which is TO MAINTAIN the
security of Germany at home and abroad ana az
the same time the independence and integrity OF
The several German States. This Association forms
internally community OF mutually independently
States, with equal reciprocal treaty-rlgNs ana
legations in its external relations III Is
collective body forming single political whole.
In the same solemn Act, when constitutes the yer
E manic Confederation, and which all the members
J alike lOund themselves to h0ld lnNl0laOle Inc
German Princes have declared that there should be
representative constitutions IN all the States oil the
l1rr IN fT1l