The Commonwealth. — 1866-04-28 (London, England)

THE CONTINENT.  Decorum compels us to give precedence once again to the Czar. The Conservative papers throughout Europe seem to have taken the news of the narrow escape of their great chief with remarkable and almost cynical and unfeeling coolness; but this conduct may have been prompted by the evident desire of the Muscovite Government to hush the affsir up. The question having been settled that the criminal is a genuine Muscovite, several new mysteries have been set afloat. Some have the cue to vow he is a peasant, others that he is an artisan, others again that he is a gentleman. Then, as to his motives, diametrically opposite theories are given out. The first theory is that as an impoverished gentleman he wished to take vengeance for the loss of his serfs and his land. The second theory is that he is a peasant bent on avenging his class for having been "cheated of their rightful inheritance by the act of emancipation, and allowed too little land to support themselves and families." A third theory is that he was subject to hypochondria! Hypochondria is a malady very likely to seize possession of the mind after a short residence in that land of sighs, the Muscovite Empire. Nevertheless one must not take this explanation in too strict a sense, for the political pathology of the Russian Government is in a very involved, not to say a very rude, state. When the news reached Paris that the Czar Paul, who it is now known had his braina dashed out by his mother's latest paramour, had died of apoplexy, Talleyrand, who was not " green " in these matters, observed, "It's always apoplexy—they ought to vary it a little." The subject from a pathological point of view is not made clearer by the fact that the hypochondriac had other hypochondriacs in league with him, which raises the query whether hypochondria in Russia is contagious, like the Steppe murrain among cattle of which we have heard too much of late. One other fact in connection with this horrible event is noteworthy— the conduct of the saviour of the Czar,.which seems to have savoured of hypochondria too. We quote from the Berlin correspondent of the Times, who is certainly not tainted with Polonism or Urquhartisru :—" At the same moment the crowd, overcome with fear and horror, dispersed. Kommissaroff, the preserver of the Emperor's life, ran away with the rest, and had to be caught and forcibly brought back by the Imperial suite. Poor fellow! Being a poor, uneducated Moujik, he had an innate dread of the authorities, and did not seem to be at all certain how his loyal and resolute conduct might be regarded by those august personages the police commissaries of the district. A Russian peasant always prefers to escape contact with the powers that be, if possible." Yes, poor fellow ! he doubtless suspected that " those august personages the police commissaries" were also infected with the epidemic of hypochondria, and naturally desired to "escape contact" with them.  In the evening journals the ,Russian Government gives us another driblet of news. Demetrius Karakasow—we have got his name at last—is neither peasant, artisan, nor gentleman, but a student. He was "remarkable for his Socialistic opinions." Very well; but this is quite inconsistent with the original statement that he struck at the Czar as the liberator of the serfs. "He once attempted to commit suicide." As Russian subjects are not allowed to emigrate without permission, "suicide" is only the Russian equivalent for "emigration." The aforesaid correspondent says :—" The Russian troops disposed along the Russian frontiers of Poland have been recently reinforced, and are estimated at above 50,000 men. Their officers vauntingly declare they hope to be speedily employed against the Kaiser, whe tiler he go to war with Prussia or not. TLe Polish Provincial Parliament now sitting at Lemberg is certainly treated with a consideration on the part of the Austrian authorities, in itse If implying a marked antagonism to Russia."  That Parliament has had some important business on hand. The Government brought in a Bill for dividing Galicia administratively into two parts. To this Bill the Ruthenian party proposed an amendment, asking that the division might be made a political•as well as an administrative one, so that each part might have its Governor and Diet. The object of the amendat nt was to secure to the Ruthenian leaders the predominance in Elstern Galici, where their party is most numerous, while in the Diet at Lemberg it forms only a factious minority. The strength of the national feeling, and of the desire for unity in the Diet, was strikingly shown in the debate, which ended in the rejection of both the Government motion and the Ruthenian amendment._ . _  In the Hungarian Diet the increase in the numbers of the National party has become so great that the Government cannot now boast of a majority, even in the Upper House, where the address of the Lower House has been adopted in opposition of the Government party. The most remarkable speech of the debate was that of the Tavernicus Baron Seenyey, who is also President of the House. He declared that the Government had no wish to pursue a reactionist policy ; that its only object was to come to an arrangement with the Hungarians that should be fair and just to both parties ; that the Emperor, the Ministry, and the Diet were all agreed as to the necessity for restoring the Hungarian Constitution ; and that his Majesty would at once accede to the demands of the Hungarians if be were reassured on the point of the proposed separation in the affairs of the two portions of the monarchy. Austria, pressed by Russia and Prussia on the North, and by Italy on the South, is obliged to take a lower tone than formerly to its Polish and Hungarian subjects. There is a little less tension in the retations between Austria and Prussia and a little more tension in those between Austria and Italy.  In Roumania the people are waiting for the decision of the Prince of Hohenzollern, who is waiting for that of Count Bismark, who again is waiting for that of the Paris Conference.