The Courier (Hobart, Tas. : 1840 - 1859)(about) |
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Friday 6 April 1849
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BRITISH NEWS.
(From the Times, December 9.)
The extraordinary intelligence of the abdication of the Emperor of Austria in favour of his nephew Arcbduke Francis Joseph is the most powerful corroboration of the opinion ve have always con- fidently expressed, that the Austrian and Prussian Government have engaged with perfect good faith in the arduous duties of constitutional monarchy, and that in their recent succestful determination to restore order in their respective capitals by military power they were not animated by a blind spirit of reaction, but by a firm reso-
lution to establish those conditions without which neither government nor liberty are possible. In Austria the personal infirmities of the late Emperor wholly disqualified him for the per- formance of the duties he owed to his crown.
Every act ef the Court was stigmatised as the écheme of a Camarilla, because it was known that theEmperor was a passive instrument in the hands -of his family or of his Ministers. That extreme weakness which in calmer times had inspired the people of Austria with indulgent compassion, in ihe midst of revolutions gave rise to constant -suspicions and undisguised contempt. It had long heen foreseen that whenever the reign of Fer- dinand was terminated, either by his decease or by abdication, his brother and immediate heir, the Archduke Franz Carl (who had exercised con- siderable power during the late reign) would probably be induced to renounce the Imperial Crown in favour of his son, and when that young Trince first appeared on the stage of politics, «bout 4i year ago, as Viceroy of Bohemia, we pointed out .the interest which henceforth attached to his .person. His age, his talents, and his position had -marked out from his childhood the Archduke, .now Emperor, francis Joseph I. of Austria, as the Prince who was destined to preside over the ?renovation of the empire of his fathers. With this view the young Sovereign has been carefully .trained under the eye of his mother, the Arch- duchess Sophia, a woman of great spirit and intelligence, and if report speaks true, his natural abilities, which are not inconsiderable, have been improved by all the accomplishments of his age. Io the Italian campaign of last summer he served with gallantry under the command of Marshal ¡Radetzky, and shared the triumphs of the 'Imperial army.
Jt is certainly a Providential circumstance that at this crisis in the affairs of Europe, and in ?the condition of the Austrian Empire, when men are everywhere wanted to fill the great parts which history has assigned to them, a young Prince of so much promise, and surrounded by so roany favourable accessaries, should ascend «ne of the ifirst thrones of Europe. The monarchy of the House of Austria-the Crown of the two Rodolphs
-of the Ferdinands-of Maria Theresa and of Joseph II., had degenerated in the last years of Prince Metternich's administration, and during the whole -reign of a fainéant Emperor, into a mere tradition of etiquette and routine. Its .power had gone out from it. The army alone retained a trace of vigour. The civil institutions of the empire were sapless and effete. At the first touch of the revolution they crumbled into dust. But, although the nation when roused by the sudden shock of last March ceased to venerate and to obey the mummies which occupied its high places, the delusive promises of anarchy and the foreign emissaries of revolution have done nothing to supply what is demanded by a great and free people. A young Emperor surrounded by the preelige of his race and served by Ministers who are now unquestionably the first men in the realm, affords to the nation a far greater chance of the fulfilment of their best expectations than the groping of a blind and factious Assembly, or the convulsive efforts of mere democratic power. The Crown, on the other hand, is relieved from great embarrassments by this seasonable change. Instead of starting in a new and untried career with the heaviness of a feeble and undistinguished reign, it calls to it the influence of youth and the confidence of novelty ; and we presume that the very incompetent Assembly which was summoned under the late Emperor tu perform duties it has wholly failed to discharge will, according to strict constitutional principles, be held to expire with the reign of the sovereign who convoked it. The Austrian Government possesses so unquestionable an ascendancy in the country by the fidelity and strength of the army, that it has the power of determining what the institutions are to be which are most likely to conduce to the well-being and freedom of the Empire ,* and we are satisfied that infinitely more would be done for the cuuse of true progress by the establishment of moderate con- stitutional forms of government, than by aban- doning the whole structure of the State to be torn asunder by the contention of demagogues or the menaces of insurgents. Hitherto the revolution in Austria has only encumbered the soil with ruins : the whole work of reconstruction has to be begun under the new reign, and that work will be more effectually promoted by the wishes of a patriotic Sovereign and the counsels of enlightened statesmen than by an usurpation of absolute con- stitutive power by a democracy, in a form which extinguishes the primary conditions of a limited monarchy and a mixed constitution.
To «n expedient of a similar kind the Prussian Government has at last also resorted; but in Prussia public opinion is more concentrated, democratic agitation more diffuse, and aristocratic elements far weaker, than in Austria. The King's Government, therefore, in spite of the reactionary tendencies of which they are accused, have submitted to the conditions imposed on them by the excited state of the. nation, and in pro- mulgating a Constitution they have at once adopted a basis of the broadest democracy. In their anxiety to bid high enough for popular support, and to ruin the speculations of anarchy by con- cessions which leave nothing to be exacted here- after, they have gone considerably beyond the limits of prudence, and if this Constitution be accepted by the people, as it ought in reason to be, we foresee that it will give rise to the greatest difficulties ¡n carrying on the King's Government. Unhappy is the state of a nation ia which no legislative experiments are even tolerated, except those which are doomed by their extravagance to inevitable fallare ! Such a constitution would have appeared impracticable and dangerous if it had been framed by a popular Assembly ; it may prove disastrous since the Crown itself has lowered its prerogatives to this level. We are the more surprised at the unbounded extent of these con- cessions to the democratic party, inasmuch as they proceed from a Ministry which has already some expérience of what may be done by temperate authority, and who might have learned that the Germans.are a people which it is easier to rule by firmness than to satisfy by concessions. Although, therefore, no one will regret the dissolution of an Assembly which literally played at bo-peep with authority, and made "a house" or .. no house" as the majority f uetuated from one tide to the other, wé can rook forward with little confidence to the toliameoUiyrbpdy/ which is to succeed it, if the contest Iwtvmp, the Monarchy and the Opposition I» to be fought oat by «It but universal suffrage.
In some .respects, however, this Constitution is an improvement on the eiisting state of things in Prussia. It establishes two legislative assemblies instead of one constituent convention, and it maintains the principle of indirect voting in the
.lectora! districts.
In our judgment, however, the intelligence of yesterday is far more full of promise to the Austrian empire than to the Prussian kingdom, and though we do not underrate the difficulties to be surmounted by the Cabinet of Olmutz in dealing with so many jealous tribes and conflicting provinces, yet in recovering the energetic influence of a competent Sovereign the principle of their union and their prosperity is strengthened and restored. Whatever lends to the progress and well-being of Austria is of primary interest to the continental relations of this country, and we hope the British Government will at once avail itself of the accession of a new Emperor under cir- cumstances of such peculiar interest to remove that coolness and distrust which originated a few months back from our conduct in the affairs of Italy, and to cause the Queen of England to be
suitably and efficiently represented at the Court of ! so faithful and powerful an ally. |