Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

Hide Articles List

2 articles on this Page

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

News
Cite
Share

TOPICS OF THE DAY. A DUEL AT VIENNA. The capital of Austria has the reputation of being one of the gayest cities of Europe; but it seldom was so gay as during the carnival just passed. For the period of mere than a month, all existence seemed drowned in one per- petual round of dancing, singing, eating, and drinking, the Whole population getting almost frantic in its thirst, after pleasure. Distinguished among the many rich and noble families who delighted in hospitality during this season, was the house of Baron Falkenstein, a gentUtnan of large pri- vate fortune, in the service of the Imperial Government. It formed the centre of attraction to the most brilliant mem- bers of the Hungarian and Bohemian aristocracy. and to numerous foreigners belonging to the elite of the diplomatic corps of the capital. Among the most assiduous visitors of the latter class were two young secretaries of legation, Don Emilio de Muruagav Vildosoh, of the Spanish Embassy, and Count Ilechteren van Rosande, of that of the Nether lands. Scarcely a night passed that these two diplomatists Were not seen at the Baron's mansion, and rumour as- serted, and it was generally believed, that both were in love With the mistress of the house-a young Hungarian lady of Surpassing beauty, only recently married to her somewhat older husband. The spectators watched with much curio- sity hidden under a due veil of courtly etiquette, the beha- viour of the two foreign noblemen. The contrast between them was strikillg, Count Rechteren, a tall, fair-haired, and blue-eyed young man, of about twenty-tix years of age, flitted around the beautiful baroness in unceasing move- ment, evidently loft in admiration, but scarcely daring to approach so far as to touch the hem of her garment. Less timid than the Count was his friend and rival, the Spanish Secretary of legation, Don Emilio de Muruagay, a hand- some dark-complexioned man of between thirty and forty. He entirely monopolized the society of the lady as far as consistent with propriety, whispering sweet speeches in the softest French accent. The customs and habits of Viennese society allow great latitude in this respect, which, however, did not tempt the baroness to encourage in the least degree the visible attentions of the foreign gentleman. The win- ning smiles of the young mistress of the house were distri- buted with fair impartiality among all her visitors, and the most careful of observers could detect nothing either in her speech or manners that tended in the least to show even her consciousness of the feelings she inspired in two of her guests. Only some more than usually sharp elderly ladies thought they could see a slight preference given to the pale and timid young Count from the Netherlands. At Vienna, as elsewhere, the climax of the carnival is the March Gras, the day before Ash Wednesday. On the even- ing of this day, a splendid bal masque finished the festivities of the season, as in many other houses of the Austrian capital, so in that of Falkenstein. The crowd here was immense, completely filling all the reception-rooms of the large mansion, and scarcely allowing free circulation in some apartments. As the chief pleasure in these carnival assemblies consists in making the disguise of the ball room as perfect as possible, and keeping it a strict secret, even to intimate frif nd, so nothing was known to tell the presence of the mistress of the house and her two supposed admirers of the diplomatic service, except the general supposition that the lady, as well as the two gentlemen, would not fail to appear. The company, however, were too much inte- rested in their own amusements to speculate much upon the matter, and would, probably, not have thought of it at all, had not a curious scene towards midnight arrested general attention. A black domino was seen following a lady dressed as a sheperdess in all directions, and with a perti- nacity greatly passing the licence of carnival diversions. It Was clear to all observers of the incident that the shepherd- ess was displeased by the attentions of the black domino, for she evidently tried to evade him as much as possible, and at times made some more or less unsuccessful attempts to elude his vigilance and to escape from him altogether. The spectacle became exciting, when at last, in a sudden movement of the crowd, the fair fugitive was pressed into a corner, and her hand thereupon was immediately seized by the pursuing fiaure in black. A faint shriek was heard, followed in an instant by a scene of extraordinary tumult. The black domino saw himself attacked from behind by a mask in steel armour, representing a Crusader of the eleventh century. There was a short struggle, and before the bystanders had time to interfere, the police hurried up to the spot, and the two gentlemen who had committed the grave breach of the peace were laid hold of and carried to prison. The masks were made to fall from the faces of the black domino and the knight in armour, and the assembled company beheld with astonishment the well known features of the two secretaries of legation, Don Emilio de Muruaga and Count Ilechteren. The shepherdess had vanished, ana was nowhere to be seen. Close to the banks of the Danube, a little beyond the southern suburb of Vienna, called the Leopold-town, lies the Brigittenau, one of the most lovelv spots in the environs of the Austrian capital. Beautiful walks interchange with wood and meadow, and the eye sweeps far over the expanse of the mighty rher, the waters of which connect Western Europe with the Orient. The Brigittenau is famous as a rendezvous for lovers more famous till as the place where the great German patriot, Rubert Blum, was executed, or rather assassinated, by order of General Windischgratz, on the 9th of November, 1848. It is a noted place also for the termination of affairs of honour," the feudal abridgment of the slow process of judge and jury. At the break of dawn on Sunday week, the 22nd ult., another of these tra gedies, likely to obtain lasting celebrity in the Viennese realms of romance, came off on the spot. The sun was still hidden behind the low range of hills north of the Danube, when some carriages drove up to the spot Halt a dozen gentlemen in black Is,u'd in an insant, and the Vehicles h"vinl{ been ent hack, tb,'} began to look over the ground. A piece of meadow in the lower part of the Brigit- tenau was • hosen as the place of duel, and the pistol* haviu; been carefully examined, the combatants were placed in their allotted positions. By this time the sun had risen above the hills, lighting up in vivid colours the lugubrious scene Separated into se-itral groups, the actors sto d there, quiet and nlriiOht moiioiile's; on the one side tbe young D'ltch nobleman, visibly afte-ted, his face pale as death on the other, at a distance of fifty paces, 'he Spanish secretary of legation, as it is said, with his old smile, and almost an air of triuaiph. A little Hside were the seconds, and further in the bai kgr* und a surgeon, called up by the party on the road through the Leopoid-stadt, and still with slumber !n hi* e\es. I h.,re "as ft sll h' pau,t' all,idst def'p silence, interrui ted oiily the ungii-g '•> the Inrus it, t, e wood. Then rHiue the coniii.and "f the hading second: I oiit ts i,rut Count Kechterrn Hfied u,- his pistol his hand trenibkd it seemed as ifht had never fired a revol*ei in his lite A minute elapsed then a pall at the trigger, and the hall flew high 0 er it" head of the Spanish noble- man. The latter rai-ing bis pstol with tfle alf of a mai) confident in his own skill, and takii g steady aim at his op ponent, fired "t the end of a few seconds, and in the same instant the Count was seen falling down upon his face with- out uttering a sound. All the bystanders ;hurried forward. and the surgeon was call. d up to do his duty. The latter opened the waistcoat of the Count, laid his hand upon the h, art rf young man, and exclaimed, "Er ist todt!"— He is dead! li,, "ord bad no sooner been pronounced when the actors and partirip«t« rs of the drama lf'd in -ill directions, leavii g the corpse on the ground. The surgeon heoitated for a moment, but a vague fear of Austrian police, prison, ard scaffold, creeping over him, he, too, made off, never resting till he had reached his dwelling. Two hours later, one of the park-keepers, on making his accustomed round, came upon the body, lying on the gras- with the pistol aside. The man's cries soon brought assistance, the body was examined, an address found in a pocket-book, and a letter directed to Baron von Heeckeren, ambassador of the Ne- therlands. Not long after, a low cart, with a few bundles of straw at the bottom, stopped at the embassy, into the hall of which the corpse was carried without further ceremony by th- park-keepers. When Baron von Heecketen received the sudden announcement that his young friend and relative the only son of one of the richest families of Holland, was Ijing dead in the house, he sank down in a swoon, his life being despaired of for a while. There was mourning in all the salons of Vienna when the fatal news spread round specially in that large mansion in which the splendid bal mnsr/ur had taktn place on the eve of Ash Wednesday.— Spectator. THE COMMERCIAL PRINCIPLE INVOLVED IN OUR DISPUTE WITH BRAZIL. The discussion between our Government and that of Brazil really involves a principle,—half commercial, half Political,-of very great moment, and it is of the highest importance to prevent its being obscured by minor con- troversies and subordinate details. A very large part of the Voorld,-the whole of the Southern Continent of America without any exception,-is subject to a most incomplete and unsatisfactory sort of Government. The people are dishonest; the local magistrates and authorities are dis- honest; the central Government, even when itself honest, has little effectual supervision and no effectual control. If we had to concern ourselves simply with the interior of Buch countries, the case would be easy. Occasional tra- vellers of their own free choice may choose to visit an Dnse'tled and hazardous country, and we must, as a great nation, exercise over them a modorate and reasonable Watchfulness. Still they have chosen their lot they knew, or should have known, the dangers they were about to encounter; they must to some extent take the con- sequences. But we have a more difficut problem to solve We have to settle the questions which Lapprn to our subjects upon the coast of these iil-governed countries. A ship bound to a country with an excellent Government may be wrecked on the shores of an incompetent Govern- ment, and it is incumbent upon the Home Executive to Watch with scrutinising care over the welfare of those who are not willing adventurers, but involuntary sufferers. This is the duty of every nation, and it is especially the plain interest of England. We have ships on every sea, and every storm that blows endangers many of them and destroys some. If we impress upon the Governments of the world, and especially on the least sati-factory of them, that we will require a rigid account of English property and satisfactory protection of helpless Englishmen thrown Upon their shores, as a rule, the lives and the property of our fellow-subjects will be safe. But if we are dilatory,— if we are inert,-if we allow badly-governed States to i Protect their corrupt subordinates who have connived at the plunder and robbery of our shipwrecked vesse l,, '-if we easily receive well-written excuses, if we lose sight, as it ery easy to do. of plean facts in plausible exeutp.tions,- our wrecks will be plundered all over the world, and those of our sailors who escaped the sea will be murdered to destroy the evidence of the larceny which has been per- petrated. The recent conduct of the Brazilian G„ overnment is an excellent illustration of these remarks. lhe BriUhh ship Prince of Wales was wrecked at Albardao, on the coast of Brazil, on the 6th or 7'h of June, 1861, and by the ad ttiigsion of the Brazilian authorities the part of the t'argo that came on shore was plundered by the people of the place. It is much to be feared that some of the seamen Were murdered too the allegation of course is that they were all drowned, but the bodies of some of them were discovered under suspicious circumstances, and Jar beyond the reach of high water. For the acts of the people of the locality, the Government of Brazil is in no way respon- Bible. Depredators and wreckers are to be found in every country, and the State to which they belong is not liable for their acts. A Frenchman may have his pocket picked in Cheapside, but the English Government is under no obligation to compensate him for his loss. But a Govern- Ine i, under an obligation to perform the funttwn* Of Government. As soon as it hears of a robbery or a royrder having been oomoiitted within its dominions, it is bound to use instant care to investigate the circumstances, to restore the property, and punish the murderer. If, unhappily, any of its own officials should have been voluntarily dilatory and purposely conniving, if they should have permitted the robbery to be perpetrated, if they should have allowed the stolen goods to be removed out of reach, if they should have let the robbers or, still worse, the murderers escape, by international law and by common sense the Government is liable, for it has been an accomplice in the wrong. What, then, was the conduct of the Brazilian authorities at the spot where the Prince of Wales was wrecked ? The magistrate of that district, a man called Senhor Bento Venancio Soares, did nothing of himself It is proved by his own admission that. he knew of some bodies having come on shore, but he took no steps in consequence. He says he knew of no wreck, but property from it uninjured bv water, and evidently plundered, was found in his own house. Of their own motion the Brazilian authorities took no steps at all. The English Consul at Rio Grande do Sul very properly bestirred himself and required an investiga- tion but he did not hear of the matter till a whole week from the probable day of the wreck, and when he reached the spot, Senbor Bento, the magistrate, had absented himself, and his daughter threw every obstacle in the way of the investigation. Inquests were subsequently held before a Sub-delegate, who has since been disgraced, and a brother-in-law of the conniving magistrate, a man called Pereira de Sousa, who is said to have headed the wreckers. Of course the inquests with these Presidents decided that there had been no murder, and that the unfortunate crew were all drowned. The gist of the whole controversy lies here. The Bra- zilian Government admit that a ship was wrecked, and that the wreck was robbed. They hope that no one was mur- dered, but are not sure. Their own local officials connive at the robbery, and profit by it. No after investigation in such a case can be satisfactory. Promptitude is essential. After a few days suspicious circumstances occur, "bodies" are found concealed or decomposed, culprits have fled, stolen goods are removed. Unless a Government can show that its local officials acted at once and uncorruptly, it must take the consequence. It becomes liable for a spoliation which its subordinates perhaps aided, and which assuredly they did not try to prevent. The absolute necessity for promptitude is shown by the subsequent conduct of the Brazilian Government. "After repeated and earnest applications," says Lord Russell, from Mr. Vereker for a searching inquiry, he at length heard, on the 18th of September, that one man had been convicted of being in possession of property stolen from the wreck. The President of the Province stated at the same time that the chief culprits had fled, and he pleaded the great difficulty of inducing the inhabitants to give any evidence at all in the case. Later on, in December, the same reasons were pleaded for the unsuccessful result of a further inquiry, and although it has been admitted from the first that the wreck was plundered, it was not until August of this year, fourteen months after the wreck occurred, that the Brazilian Government stated that upon further inquiry two of their officials, whose conduct they had previously praised, had been dismissed, and that eleven persons were being prosecuted for plundering the wreck." We are willing to assume that the Central Government of Brazil has along been anxious to do us justice, and that the guilt is chargeable on the local authorities, and on them only. But a Government is liable for the acts of all its servants. It can make no distinction between them. If the servant at place A means ill and connives at wrong and robbery, in that case it is immaterial that another servant, or set of servants, at place B, a hundred miles off, means well and does not connive. The wrong has been done by the people at A, and the virtues of the people at B are excellent, but immaterial. For this wrong our Government required a pecuniary compensation, and they were clearly right in so doing and as the Brazilian Government would not pay or promise to pay without compulsion, our Government compelled them to agree to pay what might be found upon investigation to be a fair sum. Of course there has been an accumulation of diplomatic correspondence. Mr. Christie on our side has writ'en some bad despatches, and the Marquis of Abrantes has written some good despatches. Whoever has had a lawsuit, knows how soon the lawyers' letters multiply, At the trial the Judge blows all this froth aside. He looks to the cause of action. He only asks is that good or not good ? So here we must not permit ingenious politicians to divert our attention from the sole significant point. Was there at the first possible moment a proper investigation as to the circumstances attending the wrecic of the Prince of Wales on the coast of Brazil, or was there not ? If not, the Brazilian Government are liable to pay compensation, and must pay compensation. It is argued that we have not treated Brazil, which is a weak power, as we should have treated France, which is a strong power. But these difficulties only arise with weak powers they arise because of their weakness. A Govern- ment like that of Brazil has no effective control over its local subordinates; the Central Government of Brazil did not wish Senhor Bento to connive at the plunder of the wreck of the Prince of Wales, but it had no control. Louis Napoleon has control, and, therefore, difficulties arise with Brazil which do not arise with France. Although, however, we are happy to find that our own Government has been entirely right in the fundamental matter at issue, we should be departing from our plain duty if we did not call attention to the gross ignorance of com- m n commercial law which our Foreign Office has shown. They had, as we have explained, a case for compensation, but for what is there to be compenstion ? Clearly for that of which orr subjects had been deprived by the remissness a ml corruption of the Brazilian officials Certain goods out of the cargo of the Prince of Wales floated asnore on the beach at Albardao, and they were then and there plundered. The value of these is due to us. We claimed zCI,025 191 for freight. Our Foreign Office ought to know that no freight is ever paj'able, a' the lawyers say, pro rata itineris half- freight, in plain English, is not payable for half the voyage. (-otitriiet by the shipowner is to carry certain goods to a certain place, and if he does not carry them the whole way be teis nettling. The good sense of this is evident. An intermediate place may be a very convenient place,— the very place where the owners of the cargo did not want the cargo. In the present case, what advantage was it to the owner of the cargo to have his goods scattered on the beach of Albardao ? They would have fetched more in a London warehouse than when strewn at that desolate place. [ lhe claim lot freighi has been abandoned. Economist. ZAMOISKI AND WIELOPOLSKI. The history of modern Poland is typified by two extra- ordinary men, the career of both of whom expresses the life ot the last generation. In the height of the struggle of the great insurrection, on the 30th of April, 1861, the N. iotial Government of the kingdom issued a circular to all the European Powers requesting aid and sympathy. Some of the most distinguished men whom the country poss ssed were chosen to carry the dooument, and to assist b their personal efforts in its success. To Vienna were sent Count Andre Zamoiski; to London, the Marquis Alex- ander VVielopolski Myszkowski. Count Andre, born April 2nd, 1800, one of the seven sons of the great patriot, Count S'ilnislas Zamoiski, who in the Napoleonic wars against Russia formed a regime nt at his own cost, placing all his children on the lists, was already favourably known as statesman and diplomatist. Having studied at Paris, Geneva, and Edinburgh, he entered the Polish eivil service, and, in 1826, was placed at the head of the department of agriculture and industry. The National Government nominated him Minister of the Interior in 1831, which did not prevent him from taking part in the sanguinary battle of Grochow, on the termination of which he set out on his mission to the Court of Vienna. Stealing his way through a double line of Russian troops, and through a still more argus-eye d Austrian sanitary guard, which was defending the empire against the dreaded approach of the Asiatic cholera; wandering for whole days through swamps and morasses, without food or drink, and swimming in the dead of night across the swollen Vistula, with his papers tied in his hair, Count Andre at last reached Vienna, and at once made his way to Prince Metternich. The wily old premier was astounded on seeing the Polish envoy before him marvelling how he could have got thus far unknown to those master minds of Austria, the police. Respecting so much course joined to so much patriotism, he received the young envoy with great kindness, though in strictest secrecy. He even introduced him to the Russian Ambassador, Baron Tatischef, trying to bring about an understanding between the young "rebel" and the ancient diplomatist. The military old baron himself was led away by the marvelous eloquence and earnestness of purpose of Connt Zarooiski, and when the news came that Marshal Paskiewitch was besieging Warsaw, committing unheard of cruelties, he went so far as to write a letter to the Com- mander-in-chief, entreating him to suspend hostilities. Count Andre undertook to carry the letter but when he arrived at the Russian Camp Warsaw had fallen He was led before the Marshal, who assailed him in his wonted brutal manner, threatening to have him shot. You dare not do it," calmly answered Zamoiski. Paskiewith looked in the young man's face, and said nothing more. Meanwhile the Marquis Wielopolski had set out for and reached Great Britain. The Marquis, born Marcii 15, 1803, was somewhat younger and not quite so well known as C"unt Zamoiski. His father died at an early age, leaving him nothing but the title of Marquls-tbe only one ill Poland, bestowed by Pope Clement VILI. on a Myszkowski -and a large estate heavily encumbered by debts and chau- cery suits. To regain his patrimony from the clutches of the Uw and fraudulent guardians, his mother lot him study jurisprudence at an early age. The education suited his stern nature, and when a boy of fifteen he pleaded his own cause at the tribunal of Warsaw, and at twentv was held to be one of the most accomplished lawyers of Poland. For more than ten years he lived in cc-urts of justice, in the atmosphere of attorneys, Jews, and swindlers, till he had defeated the whole of his opponents, and regained his paternal estates. He then devoted himself to politics, and, in 1831, accepted the mlsion to the Court of t. JaUJe", accompanied by Count Walewski. He arrived in London at the beginning of May, 1831, and at once sought, but did n' t obtain, an audience with the British Ministei of Foreign Affairs. After immense diiffculties but aIded by influential members of Parliament, Lord Palmrrst,n at length con- sented to receive him as a private individual, with the Btrict understanding that he was not to be recognized as the envoy If the National Government of Poland. The interview, however, bore no fruits; and to several petitions and memorials in favour of Poland, the noble lord returrud no reply. At last, on the 8th of August, Mr Hunt presented a monster petition from the electors of Westminsters, com- plaining of the silence of the Government, which complaint was echoed by Mr. Hume, Sir Francis Burdett, Col. Evans, and Mr. O'Conuell. Then Lord Palmerston, replying to the remarks about the Trinity of Vienna, turned round and, said The existing treaties may give the:British Government the right, but they do not confer the obligation to interfere." It is a singular instance of our great Foreign Minister s Conservative policy that he repeated nearly the same words, in a debate on the same subject, yesterday week, after an interval of thirty-two yeiirs. lii turned from their missions to London and Vienna, both W ielopolski and Zamoiski settled down on their Polish estates, unmolested by the Russian Government, which had then victims enough not to yearn for superfluous martyrs. The past experience had taught a different lesson to each of the two patiiots. Count Andre, seeing the hopelessness of Poland becoming politically free as long as there existed social bondage, set to work on a grand course of industrial and agricultural improvement, neglecting apparently all other national aspirations. lie (hut tunmelf up entirely within his own estates, devoting the whole of his time to what many of his former friends denominated gross mate- rialism." First of all, he emancipated hIS serfs, givim each family a suitable amount of land in return for a smal annual rent. His next step was to build schools in even one of his villages, and when educational ambition came t be spreading, reading-rooms, with teachers and lecturers were added for the grown-up members of the community Gradually the Count extended his operations over a larger basis, establishing commercial and industrial societies, and launching a small fleet of steamers on the Vistula, to con- nect the populations of Poland, of the Grand Duchy of Posen, and of Galicia. For a few years some of these commercial undertakings were not remunerative, who Count Andre, not to discourage his associates, paid th, dividends out of his own pocket, unknown to the other shareholders. In 1815, Count Zamoyski ventured to esta- blish a monthly periodical—the Agricultural Reporter. The Russian Government looked on suspiciously, but found it impossible to interfere-the dreaded sheet of printed matter speaking of nothing but potatoes, pigs, turnips, and man- guldwurzel. However, before another ten years were past, an agricultural society had sprung out of the Agricultural Reporter-an association, counting more than 5,000 mem- bers, with an annual revenue of £ 15,000. The Society held its regular sittings at Warsaw, under the presidency of Count Zamoiski; and it was during one of these meetings that the short insurrection of February 25-27 took place. Prince Gortchakoff lost his head; but the Agricultural Society, acting as Parliament to the nation, kept order at Warsaw, and, in recompense, was suppressed by Imperial ukase, on the 6th of April. Count Andre neither opposod nor protested against the suppression; and when, on the 15th of October following, a large deputation of former members of the society waited upon him to ask his advice his only words were, Keep quiet." Nevertheless, the Russian Government now began to be afraid of the Count, and he was summoned to St. Petersburg. What passed in the interview between the Czar and Count Zamoiski has never become known but it is said the latter handed His Majesty the sketch of a statue just erected by him in the church of the Holy Cross at Warsaw-a Christ bending under the cross, but lifting up His head in desperate effort, His right hand pointing to Heaven, with the inscription beneath 44 Sursum cor." Great is the contrast between this Count Andre Zamoiski and his friend and colleague of 1831, the Marquis Alexander Wielopolski. When a mere boy at college the latter re- marked to a schoolfellow who had to write an exercise upon pride, "I hope you will maintain that pride is a great virtue." This much-worshipped pride constitutes the very essence of Wielopolski's character. His mission to Great Britain had shown him the indifference of the governing classes of Western Europe for the fate of Poland, and his mind revolted at the idea of remaining a humble supplicant at the feet of Powers possessing so little real love for hisoountry So he threw himself into the arms of Russia. His train of reasoning was that it would be less humiliating to bear the yoke, however severe, of a kindred race, than to crouch before the self-sufficient na- tions of the Occident. The Marquis made no secret of his political creed, but unfolded it to his countrymen at once openly & without fear. His Letter of a Polisblgclltlernan to Prince Metternich," distributed in tens of thousands of copies, contained the whole of his new political faith, while expressing boundless hatred of the non-Slavonic nations, above all the detested Teutonic raoe. With a strange and mournful eloquence he tried to persuade Poland to throw herself at the feet of the Czar, as the ouly helper in her sad condition, the only friend in need. But this he wish- ed to be done openly and unconditionally, leaving aside all considerations of immediate gain or loss. Conspiracy, false and secret, my soul anliorreth," he exolaimed," for there has been no greater mislortune to Poland than the doings of these conspirators, the refuse of all classes bad priests, bastard M&?M6, fraudulent stewards, ruined pro- prietors, stupid officers, vain damagogues, bankrupt far- mers, and a pack of footmen and communists." It was but natural that vituperation of this sort should bring forth violent protests, and create the Marquis enemies without number, in the ranks of the aristocracy as well as among the lower classes. His invitation to become Muscovite did not find many admirers in spite of the eloquent language of the I- Letter to Prinse Metternich." The Marquis exclaimed, The Polish nobility "ill no doubt preter to march, in concert with Russia, at the Head of a young, bold, and vigorous Slavonic race, full of hope in the future, than accept the fate of being dragged like a theif, hated, disliked, and depised, in the rear of yeur decrepid, captions, and presumptuous old Western civilization." The wounfls inflicted by Russian despotism were too deep to allow much sympathy with these Panslavistic preachings, and the Mar- quis soon discovered that, with all his energy and enthu- siasm, he stood very nearly alone among his countrymen. But what seemed more strange was, for a long whiie the Russian Government mistrusted Wielopoleki, no less than the Polish people. The advisers of the Czar had no faith in him. simply because they did not understand him. They took offence, too, at several of his little acts, as his not addressing the Emperor otherwise than by the title of King his refusals to accept orders from Russian generals, and his boundless pride in all intercourse with the military rulers of Poland. This pride rose into arrogance after Wielopolski's appointment to the head of the civil ad- nunistration of the kingdom, in June last year. One day soon after his nomination, the Governor of the provinee of Lublin came to make his report to the Grand Duke Con- stantine, and His Highness being engaged, was directed to the Marquis. The latter listened quietly tor half an hour to the speech of the Imperial dignitary, and then said calm- ly, I do not understand Rus-si.ui." Such traits of the Marquis are numerous; but they do not lessen the immense hatred with which the Poles regard him at the present hour. The hatred, indeed, is well deserved, if by noth- ing else, by the cruel deed of the late conscription, which originated almost entirely with him. His idea was to lay j hold and get rid of "these conspirators, the refuse of all classes," and he secretly hoped that this act would be the very force to stir the slumbering hatred of Russia into open insurrection. It is now left to the fate of arms to decide the position of the two representative men," — whether Wielopolski shall remain supreme in Warsaw, and Zamoiski continue an exile.—Spectator. THE SAFEST METHOD FOR REFORM OF THE CHURCH. No statesman who watches attentively the various phenomena of the present day can doubt tor a moment that Church questions ot the greatest urgency are impending over us, on the solution of which the sate development of both our ecclesiastical and political institutions in large measure depend. The close intermixture of educational with religious organisations in England renders it quite imposlaitole, even if it were de>ir.»oie, for the most secular of politicians to evade ecclesiastical questions. The con- stitution of Oxford and Cambridge and Dublin Universities, and the methods of popular education, are as much in- volved with religious questions as the constitution of the Church itself, and the real bund of the lory party at the present moment is far more ecclesiastical than political. Even Mr. Disraeli, who looks upon these matters with external impartiality, is instinctively aware of tne necessity of girding himself up for a contest with the spirit of ecclesiastical innovation; nor .an any politician with an ordinary amount of sagacity mistake the nature of the signs of change which tiave been so long multiplying around us, or doubt that some great ecclesiastical movement wiij in all probability precede any further poii t'cal change. In our home politics this is the only agitated region. the Church can stay mucii longer absolutely as tilie is, and htill retain her influence o;,r the English people, is scarcely credible to any sagaciou* observer. Nor is our reason for judging thus the number and vehemence of the attacks now made upon the Church,— but their specific and so to say discriminating character. In other times the violence and insolence, we may say the blasphemy of her assailants, were ttieir main characteristics. But our's is not oil the whole at all an unbelieving a^e! As Mr. Gladstone said on Wednesday night, the assaults no longer come from outside, the divisionti are all frotn within The objections made are no longer sweeping and funda- mental ;—they are miuute and critical and occupy a very limited circle of ideas. The demand is for more fre, doru within the Church, not for the abolition of ttle Church The onset of the Dissenters is a thing of the past,—and in its place we hear scholars of the first Ciass, clergymen of the nighest calibre, men who have risked much to preach Christian truth, men of enthusiaskic faith who have no sympathy with any other Church, all alike demanding that the intellectual limits of the Church should be enlarged,— not in order that the Church may oe destroyed, but in order that it may be preserved. .Now this, any sagacious politician would say, looks like business. It is not while the whole value and significance of a great institution like our National Church is blankly denied, that we need think the crisis of change near. The nation knows its value,—knows that it does both express and regulate a faith essentially belonging to the people of England,—and knows, therefore, that any attempt to as- sault it is only likely to strengthen its position. But the signs of the present time are entirely different, -a much more widely diffused faith, and doubt closely mingling with the deepest faith ;—discriminating laith, discriminating doubt;—the sort of criticism which always begins when the reality of a general class of facts i, really admitted and dis- oerned, and-yet other less certain facts are seen to be falsely identified with them which require a separate treatment and distinct consideration. When we find the Bishops, for in- stance, basing their appeal to Dr. Colenso to withdraw from the episcopate mainly on his admission that he can no longer honestly use the clause in the baptismal service which asserts that Noah and his family were preserved in the Ark from perishing by water," we may be quite sure that the dispute as to the intellectual limits of the Church of England has reached a business phase, and that if those limits are retained which we fixed three hundred years ago, the Church will soon be in the greatest daeger of losing the service of men who val Je the independence of their own intellects and the freedom of religious study. However mu, h the politician may differ from such men as Dr. Co-j lenso or Mr. Jowett, he will see that it is a question of urgency whether or not we are to discourage all such exer- cise of individual thought and judgment, and to drive the men who will not sacrifice their right to think and judge for | themselves outside the pale, The special form which the Colenso controversy has taken, suggests we think the simplest and the mildest way of enlaiging the liberty of the elergy without justly offending the Conservaiivts, that is, without sudden or violent chauge. The Bishop of Natal puts his difficulties as a divine in a very simple shape. There are, he says, several passages in the liturgy which, with his present views, he could not honestly use part:, of the ordination service, a clause in the bapt:suial senice, and one or two other sen. tences. Now, why should not Parliament authorise clergy men who conscientiously object to make certain statements either in the articles, in subscribing and reading themselves in, or in the liturgy afterwards,—formally to record and specify their objections, and thenceforward to omit such statements, so long as these omissions do not touch certain central beliefs which might be laid down as essential to the Church's faith. Suppose, for instance, that the Nicene Creed,— of course we only specify this for the sake of example,—were recognised as comprehending the funda- mental faith of the Church of England,—no statement in which any clergyman should be at liberty to omit or qualify, but that any formula of belief, or any formula which iu any clergyman's opinion might involve a belief outside the limits of that creed, might on formal specification of his sciuple in using it, be omitted by him both on entering the Church and in subsequently using its liturgy,—should we not at once open the way to many men of nigh enaraoter and zeal to enter the Church who are now shut out, and at the same time avoid any mutilation of those ancient forms >nd ordinances which are naturally enough so dear to a arge body, both lay and clerical, in the Church ? A purely oermissive power to omit confessions of faith within certain "rictly defined limits, while it would be an inexpressible .onn to many, could hurt the consciences of none. It seems to us clear that the purpose of a National Church s to cover as far as possible the spiritual wants of the nation. We say as far as possible, because we are quite iware that some defined bond of faith is requisite for any iving Church. Still the object is to include, not to ex- clude,—to press as many earnest and thoughtful intellectf nto the service as is consistent with the great work to be ione. This is, in fact, a question of the due economy of the hizhest kind of moral and spiritual labour. If we insist on retaining in the present century the same limita- ÎJn, which were thought liberal and catholic in the six tpenth, the effect will be visible, in fact is already abun- dantly visible, in two distinct results. One of these results is the exclusion of a large number of competent and earnest ind bf" h-minded men from the ministry. Another of these results is still worse,—the degradation of the intellect of those who do stay in the Church, and the confusion of all lines which separate belief from unbelief. It is not doubt- ful that both these effects are already tangible and very in- jurious to the Church. The returns of the .candidates for holy orders show the marked and rapid decrease in the num- ber of University men t e., of men whose love of intellectual independence has been thoroughly cultivated. And the publications of various holy men but too sufficiently attest to laymen of discriminating thought the second of our asser- tions that the clergy are beginning to lose the sense of the distinction between what they firmly believe and what they do not actually disbelieve. Both these trains of consequence are already most disastrous, and may ultimately prove fatal to the healthy influence of our National Church. And we do not see how their rapid increase and multiplication is to be avoided unless some such wise relaxation of the intel- lectual bonds of the Church, as we have indicated above, be speedily sanctioned. Economist. THE PRUSSIAN TYRCONNEL. If William the First of Prussia escape the fate of Charles the First it will not be for want of a Strafford. Herr von I Bismark Schonhausen wants apparently none of the qualities of that ill-fated renegade, except his courage and his capacity. Strafford played the despotic game in Ireland successfully, reducing the island to an obedience better Ministers must often have envied, and he risked in England, without an army, the wrath of men who showed that they had his life in their hands. The Prussian Premier has only succeeded in exciting the most patient people in Europe into a mental revolt, and, after every high-handed outrage, quotes his master's authority, and hints at the tried devotion of a numerous disciplined army. All, however, that his lower grade among statesmen enables him to do towards deserving the fate of Strafford he does with unwearied zeal. English- men are not apt to be very solicitous for the freedom of a people who seem to think a kick inflicts no suffering, pro- vided the kicker be but a Hohenzollern or for the honour of a Chamber which meets menace by" explanation," and insults by a vote to adjourn. Yet few Englishmen, we sus- pect, read Herr Bismark's last speech without a strong emo- tion of rage, and a thought of the sudden extinction such a speech in the House of Commons would have insured to the speaker. The Chamber was considering a matter of the gravest importance, nothing less than a permission granted to foreigners to invade the national territory. The Governor- General of Posen himself affirmed that such a permission had been given, and that the frontier was in fact, though not in name, under a state of siege. It was known in the House that foreign Governments were about to intervene, and rumoured that the Administration entertained some vast and dangerous plans. The Vice President of the House, a man of high character, was rumoured to have affirmed, on the authority of Herr Bismark, that the Premier hoped and expected to annex all Poland to Prussia, and only an hour afterwards gravely confirmed the rumour from his place in the House The Germans inhabiting the threatened province had protested against the convention said to have been signed. An immense majority of the Chamber stood prepared to resolve any such agreement impolitic, and two Ministers had already been censured for over-candid avowals when von Bismark Schonhausen rose. He had a magnificent game to play. No one will ever understand the altitude of Europe to Poland who does not remember that German feeling for Poles is ne<er quite sincere. It is qualified even in Liberals by a rooted im- pression that Poles are not civilized men; that Germans are civilised men, aad that Poles, on the whole, would do much better to yield to their superiors, and be currycombed into p3lish, with wiiat they may of grace. The long strug- gle in Posen itself between the settlers and the indigenes has greatly increased this sentiment, the industrious, thrifty German eating out, not without noise, the more generous. but less capable Pole. A good deal, therefore, of the sym- pathy for Poland expressed in Prussia proceeds from distrust of the Court, and that sort of abstract Liberalism which yields so easily alike to prejudice and to interest. A popu- lar king might do what be would with the Poles, except free them, with hearty Prussian assent, and Von Vincke gave voice to a permanent fear when he said an united Poland meant a dismembered Prussia. The Premier had only, therefore, to conciliate the House, to promise tull informa- tion at firtin» time, to excite the sleeping jealousy of the Poles, and to appeal to the unsleeping distaste to any form of foreign dictation, to render the vote more tian doubtful. Prussians dislike forced gifts, like all the rest of mankind, and the Court might have got its coercion bill as easily as a Britiih Minister used to obtain one for Ireland, and for very much the same reasons. The opportunity was a great one for a statesman, but M Bismark is only a junker. He did not want to conciliate the Chamber, or t,) securc an), new support,or to repel ling- hud and France, or to conquer Poland, or tt) do any one thing which capable statesmen desire. All he cared for, was to prove to ttie House how slight was the reverence in which both he and his master held the Constitution they had sworn to protect. In a tone of impatient insult he told the majority—good patient Germans, who, probably, will not esi/iiu'e even bim— that they were partizans of insurrection, taunted the Chamber with its small resemblance to an Eng- lish House of Commons a dissimilarity for which the speaker, had he known history, would have been as grateful as the condemned for a respite-an(i reminded one speaker that he (Von Unruh) had, in 1848, tried to refuse payment of taxes. Think of that iniquity, gentlemen who follow the Earl who nee did that very same thing, and has ever since, because he did it, been forgiven for quitting all his old frienl,, I'he Vice-Speaker, von Behrcnd, could not quite bear this insolence, and calling Her Von Bismark to order, brought down a burst almost without a parallel even in the history of Napleonic France. All restraint was forgotten, and the true feeling of the higher Prussian olfi- cial, insolent by ri^htof blood and traditions of office, blazed out on the a»tounde.i Vice-President. Was he, a von Bis- mark an office-bearer, to be rebuked by a House of j Commons ? He was no. member, he told them, and was not I subject to their regulations; he did not sit hy election, but by ( ooun uid of the King, and they had no tight even to interrufthin. So saying, he repeated the offensive sentence, when called to order, repeated his claim to exemption, and when threatened with an adjournment, sneeringly told the House he knew they had understood his twice-repeated re- i marK and closed his speech with the asseveration that the Chamber protected treason. The House was thrilling with indignation-an indignation which showed ifself in iferce applause, when Dr. Virchow called this beha- viotir th-f of a'staggering student;" -but it was appa- i rentlv powerless. It was weak not merely beyond the ex- ampl l e of f h ifn Scrllaannd J» where a Minister would be given into custody rather s O;¡fr than anybody else, bit beyond ?to.iyr?her so'  member., patient of d;libprate in?.t. It is Jut con- ceivable that the House doubted its o?ntega) authority to ar. eat a tavouri'te of  but even Herr BIsmark did n ,td»ny tuat it had tne P power to adjourn, and to keep ad ar.e ? a   ??c?d g sort .?. The ?,rn:?..r it had extracte.l s,)I)e  of amende. The tru h -s, individual meMbersare?rrus?so acc?tomed to ¡"ok 'up, to regard high officials as beings invested with the odour of power emanating from the throne that they cannot rid themselves all at once of the impression th It they are ccllectively children to be seoldfd at will by the delegate of the paternal authority. Houses must sit a long while before they are fully aware of the ab~olir„e necessity of enforcing outward respect, or recognize that parliaments, like kings, fall when they resign eti- que te. The Chamber, however, did its duty on the point Involving the nation, and not merely its self- respect, and, undeterred by Herr von Bismark, condemned the contention by a vote of 246 to Oi. It is difficult for an Englisnan even to imagine the rea- sons which may have induced the pfussian ^Iiuist;ir to break out in this vein of bombastic insult. Thrde expl ma- t10, are however, "\l2;ted in the country itseif, and it i, hard to decide which is the worst of the three. According to one accjunt Herr vi n Bismark only gave way to an emo- tion he is always repressing—an utter loathing for men who claim to have rights, yet hold thes1 rights avowedly from the people. He spoke as a noble of France, but that he was usually a gentleman, would have spoken under the ancient re'iime. Ile si:nply let his real feeling appear, and it is that of an irredeemable aristocrat of the bad (jerman type. A: De Rohan would have said things as scornful, but then his scorn would have been epigrammatic. Lord Palmerston might be as bitter to individuals, but the last thing be would deride is the House which has the honour to hnld himseif. This suggestion is the nvst creditable of the three to I-lori- von Bis nirk's heart, insolence ot this kind springing rather from mental disease than wickedness; but tnen what be comes of his c lairn to rank among the statesmen of Europe ? M-mi tr"ined in diplomacy keep their tempi rs, and he must have wilfully let go the reins for the poor satisfaction of showing the people how cordially he can despise their wishes and repreMntativps, The second theory is that bespoke with an eye only to his employer's approval, and insulted the Commons in order to seem courageous in the eyes of the King. The overseer threatened the si ivi s that their owner might think him zealous. There is a depth of baseness in such a course—a happy mingling of arrogance and servility -of contempt for the ntion, and cringing fear of the Court, which might render it peculiarly acceptable to a junker, a member of the worst and most imbecile faction now exist- ing in Europe. The Russian nobles are as oppressive, but at least they have ideas and a future. The loungers of the Faubourg are as useless, but they keep up the tradition ot l manners. An English aristocrat can be as proud, but his pride leads him to unpaid zeal in the service of the very race he contemns. A Prussian aristocrat is a peasant en- j feebled by faith in pedigree, and demoralised by the state of 1dependence on the King which his contempt for honest ex-j ertion ensures. There remains a third explanation, which. as the worst, is also, we fear, tne truest of all. iierr voti Bismark spoke with design, hoping by taunts to arouse the resistance which oppression has not provoked, and so per- suade the poor King that the only course remaining is to lean openly on the sword. That is the darhng wish of his faction, the openly expressed desire of the martinets who surround the Kinu, and who, never having witnessed real strife, think that in politics, as in an army, the end of or- ganization is mechanical order. They are capable of pipe- claying a nation, and calling the whiteness civilization; of turning Prussia into a barrack, and bidding the world ad- mire their architectural skill. With a nation of privates below them, and a Serjeant major above, with a country turned into a camp, and a State revenue treated as if it were a Canteen Fund they might succeed in their wretched design, but that an army eannot be made of the non-com- missioned alone, and for officers they have only themselves, and for general on;y Herr von Bismark. Strafford did we lay ? the man's true prototype in the Diok Talbot, the brag- gadocio Earl Tyrconnel, who made for James II. an Irish I army, and lost him the British throne. -Spectator.

I LITERATURE.I