mj^msmmm 
 
 i''£:y 
 
 t-:K 
 
 «r^-«-x 
 
 
 
 ''^^^^i.^:! 
 
 ^mm 
 
 
 ^^^'"'^^r 
 
 n^fk^riik»:^^^'^W 
 
 ;'^^>-^':3„.v 
 
 ^•-.^^^^^^iS^^S^ 
 
 ':?J 
 
 ^ 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 S^^.^.' 
 
 i^: 
 
 i 
 
 i7T» /_ -/.jJgjJJS 
 
 l.i*S)«'*fe->$ 
 
 ^^ 
 
M, 
 
 # LIBRARY OF (CONGRESS, i 
 
 
 # ^ 
 
 P 
 
 t UNITED 8TATKS OF AMERICA, i 
 
 w w 
 
^ ' ^ / 
 
 AUSTRIA AND ITS POLITY: 
 
 % "^tcinxt, 
 
 DELIVERED AT ASTORIA, NY. 
 
 O" «, XX ix a, r y 21ist^ 18S3 
 
 ROBERT ^DODGE 
 
 ^-^ — ^ 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 WM. C. BRYANT & CO., PRINTERS, 41 NASSAU ST., COR. LIBERTY. 
 
 1853. 
 

 ,^«m» \\ * y- • ^ v^* ««' 
 
 A'.. 
 
 
A LECTURE. 
 
 We have named, as the subject for our interview, some recollections of 
 Austria. And before proceeding to speak of the Imperial Royal Empire, 
 let me ask your judgment to reheve your minds from the cloud of prejudice 
 which numerous ill-considered censures have cast upon this Empire. Its 
 system of isolation has almost placed its internal policy in Chinese obscu- 
 rity ; but latterly, more intimate intercourse has shown us that though its 
 whole system is opposed to constitutional freedom and enhghtened liberty, 
 still, there are few despotisms with more contented and industrious subjects, 
 and no absolute governments in Europe more open to the wishes, and more 
 conducive to the material well-being of its subjects. A recent State paper 
 — memorable for many reasons, if not for diplomatic propriety, has asserted, 
 in comparing the extent of the Austrian Empire with that of the United 
 States, that the possessions of the House of Hapsburgh are " but a patch 
 on the earth's surface ;" — this might be hterally true, and still, ancient 
 populous Austria be no mean power on the earth. Without pursuing this 
 unnecessary boast, which in sound reason has but little force, let us reverse 
 the glass, and endeavor to look at this empire in its true extent. In 
 ■ conversing upon such a subject with brother freemen, born with recognized 
 rights and liberties, we feel a pleasure mingled with regret ; and we can 
 only by a strong effort, clear our minds from the influence of feeling and 
 tradition for dispassionate contemplation. Let us rejoice that we are not 
 born subjects of emperors and kings, whom, in their own language, " alone, 
 God has made responsible for power ;" and while we repose in security 
 under the folds of that meteor-flag of our fathers, let us not forget that 
 time, education, long custom, and prejudice, have made their yoke easy, 
 and their burthen light ; so that few people excel the Austrians in grate- 
 ful fidelity to their monarchs, and patriotic attachment to their country and 
 its institutions. 
 
 This empire, which in its grand proportions and teeming millions, rises 
 up as the eastern frontier of Europe, is a federation of kingdoms, whose 
 title is the Imperial and Royal States of Austria, under one common head — 
 the Royal Emperor — whose court is at his imperial and royal city of 
 Vienna, with a sway extending over a greater variety of people and lan- 
 guages, than, with the exception of the Czar of Russia, or the Chinese 
 
Emperor, that of any other monarch of the world. Its aggregate of " men 
 in nations," presents a population of about forty millions, over an area of 
 two hundred and fifty thousand square miles. Its name, Austria — has 
 sometimes been derived from tLe barbarous tribes of the Avars — who held 
 their ground on the Danube against the Roman legions, and were only 
 subdued by Charlemagne in the eighth century ; but it is equally probable 
 that the name is derived from the German " Oesterreich," or the Latin 
 " Auster," the kingdom of the East or South ; given to it on the conquest 
 by Charlemagne, and his successors ; and by which name it first appeared 
 in the world of kingdoms in the year 996, under the title of "Margraviate 
 of Austria ;" being the present hereditary archduchy of Austria, of which 
 Vienna is the capital and centre. " Suabian and Bavarian families who 
 " colonized the country, introduced the first germs of civiUzation, and the 
 " territory, though limited in extent, (scarce one hundred miles in length 
 " along the Danube,) formed the nucleus, around which, during the lapse 
 " of centuries, there have been gathered sixteen great states, besides nume- 
 " rous small principalities, inhabited by four of the seven different races 
 " of Europe, among whom are spoken twelve distinct languages, and count- 
 " less dialects, and between whom the only bond of union has been the 
 " sway of a common sovereign." What were the different countries that 
 formed this empire, the period, and manner of their acquisition, in the brief 
 hmits of a lecture, I can hardly be expected fully to describe. But in 
 order to afford a summary view it is convenient to divide its history 
 by that great modern era — the Congress of Vienna — that august gather- 
 ing of kings in 1814 and the following years ; whose influence upon Aus- 
 tria and upon Europe seems immortal. With a few words on its prior 
 history, we will turn to the conventions of those memorable congresses, as 
 its outline of modern history and the sources of the strength of many of its 
 institutions. 
 
 The federative empire, is composed of the kingdoms of Bohemia, Mora- 
 via, Silesia, Galicia and Lodomeria, the Archduchy of Austria, the Tyrol, 
 Styria, Carniola and Carinthia, the Province of Trieste and Dalmatia ; the 
 kingdom of Lombardy and Venice, Hungary, Slavonia, Croatia and Tran- 
 sylvania, and the military frontier along the boundaries of Turkey ; whose 
 population are respectively Slavi, Germans, Jews, Zincali or Gipsey, Walla- 
 chians, Moldavians, Magyai-s, Greeks, Slovacks, Croats, Bulgarians and 
 Italians. This extraordinary combination of tongues, and people, is the re- 
 sult of a series of purchases by treaty, or conquest, and fortunate marriage 
 alliances, commencing with the acquisition of Styria in the twelfth century. 
 The emperors of the house of Hapsburg, the reigning dynasty, were em- 
 perors of Germany from the year 1438, the date of the election of Albert 
 the Fifth, Margrave of Austria to the German throne ; and so continued 
 
till 1806, wlien, upon the creation of the "Confederation of the Rhine" by 
 Napoleon, the German empire was dissolved, to revive for a brief period 
 within the last five years. Austria, then, laying aside the Germanic title, 
 assumed the Imperial Crown of Austria, and Francis the Second of Ger- 
 many became Francis the First, Emperor of Austria. The various nations 
 under its sway are the subsiding elements of the warlike tribes, who 
 assailed the majesty of Rome in the days of the later CiBsars. The Slavi 
 claim never to have been subdued ; the Wallachians call themselves and 
 their language Romani, claiming to be descendants of the Legionaries of 
 Trajan ; the Magyars are a Tartar tribe driven from their Asiatic homes 
 beyond the Ural mountains, who, under Arpad as their leader, conquered 
 the Huns, the native inhabitants of Hungary, in 889 ; and the Bohemians 
 or Czecks are also an Asiatic tribe. It would be tedious to repeat or con- 
 jecture the origins of all ; suffice it to say that the Slavi, whose name is 
 said to signify " the glorious," are the most numerous ; that though the 
 laws are in German, they are published in their respective governments in 
 each of their peculiar languages, and to whose list, we may add, that the 
 language of the Diet, the laws and courts of Hungary and Transylvania 
 was until very recently the Latin. There is no language common to all 
 the people ; and fellow subjects of Austria cannot comprehend one another's 
 speech, or the German language of the laws, or edicts of their common 
 sovereign ; whilst their respective tongues are each complete in themselves 
 and many of them, with their innumerable dialects, sound to the English 
 ear as remote from comprehension as the Chinese. Each of these several 
 kingdoms or governments of the empire has its own peculiar constitution 
 and crown, its representative Assembly and immemorial prescriptive rights, 
 its recognized frontiers, imposts, and custom houses ; all of which, with 
 some few exceptions were reserved, as each in turn became incorporated 
 into the empire ; and have ever since been to some extent maintained. 
 The sovereign of this united empire is crowned, and takes a coronation oath 
 in each of these kingdoms, to support its laws, customs, and constitutional 
 rights ; is thenceforth recognized as king of Bohemia, or of Huno-ary, 
 Galicia, Lombardy, &c. &c. ; and is represented in his respective kingdoms 
 and principalities, by governors ; in Hungary by the Prince Palatine, and 
 in Croatia by the Ban or Duke, who open the Diet with annual messages 
 or rescripts from the Emperor, and by whom all laws passed are transmitted 
 to Vienna, for approval before enactment, and who, in behalf of the sove- 
 reign, ask the deputies for supplies. These Diets are composed of two or 
 more Chambei-s, of the clergy, the commons, and the nobles ; have liberty 
 of debate and the exclusive power of taxation. Springing from the demo- 
 cratic assemblies of the barbarous tribes of their ancestors, which are 
 familiar to the readers of Tacitus, they have from that remote period, sub- 
 
6 
 
 sisted with little cliange until the present day. The power of the emperor 
 depends on his popularity ; which can only be preserved, by avoiding any 
 encroachments on the privileges of these Diets, or his subjects ; and the in- 
 tegrity of his mosaic work of an empire can only be maintained by consura. 
 mate skill in his ministers and governors. The policy usually adopted for 
 conducting this heterogeneous State, has been to "divide and conquer." 
 " Divide et impera,''^ or to excite and wield one nationality against another, 
 in war, and emulation in time of peace. But the chief concerns, the whole 
 business of the general Government, is centralized in Vienna ; and nothing 
 of moment transpires in the remotest province, but is at once communicated 
 and responded to, from the imperial bureaus at the capital, with the per- 
 sonal knowledge and sanction of the emperor. Although the crown holds 
 the initiative in all legislation, and the edicts and rescripts of the emperor 
 are universal in their power, still the form of its government cannot pro- 
 perly be called absolute, as compared with that of Russia. It is in form 
 a constitutional empire, whose administration, although strict, is benignant, 
 j^et fi'om the shadows of the sceptre, its vast standing army and police, its 
 secret bureau centralization, and the doctrines of the civil law, it has become 
 measurably despotic. Its right ami is the standing army ; which on a 
 peace establishment numbers five hundred and fifty thousand, and in 1848, 
 during the revolutionary period, was increased to seven hundred and fifty 
 thousand njen ; to which must be added the 30,000 men of the coast- 
 guard of the Danube, military tenants of the empire ; who hold their lands 
 by Adrtue of rendering military service every season by divisions, in main- 
 taining custom-house regulations on the frontier, a cordon sanitaire against 
 the introduction of the plague, or worse enemies from the East, and form a 
 highly trained and efficient militia reserve. The soldiers stationed through- 
 out the empire also perform the functions of police ; they are always 
 posted among a people of a different language, and are moved often to 
 prevent fraternization ; yet from the nature of the materials of the empire, 
 it can scarcely ever become formidable as a military aggressor, its force 
 being always required within its own limits. The valor of this army was 
 signalized in 1809, when, under the Archduke Charles, at Aspern, they 
 defeated Napoleon and his hitherto invincible hosts, and at Wagrara 
 yielded only after severe fighting to immense superiority of numbers. 
 
 Austria was at the summit of its power when, in 1814, it invited all 
 the allied sovereigns of Europe to confer at its beautiful capital ; which 
 then witnessed a display of imperial and regal splendor seldom equalled. 
 The self-styled " Man of Destiny," before this congress convened, had been 
 immured in rocky Elba ; the smoke of his battle-fields was rising, and roll- 
 ing away ; agitated empires, once struggling for existence, now united to 
 obliterate all trace of him, whom they called an usurper — to re-establish 
 
the ancient order of things — to hang their kingdoms in a delicate balance 
 of power, and by severe conventions to abolish forever the results of French 
 propagandisra, by sword or speech on their awakened subjects. The mon- 
 archs of the continent and the Enghsh sovereign with them, then felt the 
 thorny pressure of liberty from among* the people, and united boldly and 
 unanimously to forge new fetters for the hearts and minds of their subjects. 
 This Congress, at Vienna in October, 1814, continued with interruptions till 
 1815, and succeeded by those of Aix La Chapellc, Carlsbad, Troppau, 
 Laybach, and Verona, in 1822, were together productive of most enduring 
 political results. So far as they have moulded the progress and institu- 
 tions of the Austrian empire is our present concern. 
 
 The origin of these congresses, and their measures, is found in the cele- 
 brated agreement, called the " Holy AUiance," proposed in 1815, after 
 Napolean's defeat at Waterloo, by the Emperor Alexander of Russia, and 
 then signed and concluded by him, the Emperor Francis of Austria and 
 Frederick William, king of Prussia. Its language is most innocent 
 of political evil : consisting merely of a declaration that the subscribing 
 sovereigns bound themselves thereby together, to conduct their respective 
 governments, in their internal and foreign ajffairs, in accordance with the 
 precepts of the gospel, the principles of justice, charity and peace, and the 
 happiness and religious welfare of their subjects. Through this seemingly 
 harmless paper only considered binding on the subscribers personally, in 
 opening the way for closer alliances and interpreted by the theories of 
 divine right and legitimacy, " Sophistry lent her colors to the most extrava- 
 gant pretensions of tyranny." England, and France under the Bourbons, 
 united in this unholy alliance ; and this lying pretext for oppression, con- 
 vened monarchs in repeated conferences for eight successive years, to bind 
 their thrones together, in violation of its letter and spirit, and every right 
 of the subject. The chief results of this diplomacy were a rigorous censor- 
 ship of the press, increased surveillance of police, secret and public, the 
 right of armed intervention, by any member of this alliance to restore tran- 
 quillity in the dominions of another sovereign irrespective of the causes of 
 disturbance, a reorganization of the Austrian empire, on these principles 
 of absolutism, the acquisition by Austria of the Lombardo- Venetian king- 
 dom (thereby becoming mistress of the Adriatic,) in exchange for the 
 kingdom of the Netherlands — the subjugation of Poland — a political code 
 for the Germanic confederation, and a general settlement of the boundaries 
 of their respective territories which had been trampled down by the victo- 
 rious Corsican. Austria, in the person of Prince Metternich, always pre- 
 sided, and was the ruling spiiit of these congresses. The sovereigns of 
 Germany at the first of these conferences had promised that in all the 
 states of the confederation, there should be given a representative constitu- 
 
8 
 
 tion. This promise, which excited the wildest republican fervor among the 
 masses, was utterly violated by Austria, Prussia and Russia, and but slowly 
 and imperfectly fulfilled by some of the smaller powers of the Germanic 
 states. The result of this bad faith was the settled discontent of the peo- 
 ple, their secret political associations against tyranny, which, among the 
 Carbonarii, offered so many victims to the dungeon, or scaffold, and have 
 ever since kept the popular mind ready for sanguinary revolution at the 
 first stroke of the tocsin from either of the great European capitals. The 
 sovereigns claiming legitimate and absolute power by divine right, severed 
 their thrones from the affection of their subjects, and substituted mutual 
 fear and distrust, confiding their safety to standing armies; and their 
 deceived and o^Dpressed subjects in 1830 and 1848, reared the bloody 
 barricades, to avenge their wrongs and retrieve their natural rights. 
 England, during the ministry of Canning in 1822, withdrew from this 
 alliance of iniquity ; the Pope of Rome never acceded to it ; but the 
 other sovereigns have always recognized its obligations and acted 
 upon its principles; and when in 1825 Spain invoked the aid of con- 
 federate Europe to reconquer the revolted South American Colonies which 
 she was too weak to retain, all true-hearted Americans must rejoice in the 
 vigorous denunciation by the message of President Munroe, of their unholy 
 union, forbidding, by threat of the whole military power of this continent, 
 the first foot-fall of European intervention in America. The convention of 
 the Congress held at Laybach in 1821, attains the bad eminence of having 
 first published and authoritatively settled as a part of the continental law of 
 nations, the right and obligation , of armed intervention, by any one of 
 these allied powers at the request of another, to restore the internal tran- 
 quillity of their respective dominions, whether disturbed by prince or 
 people ; to suppress all popular tumult and outbreak without regard to the 
 rights of the people — those despised pawns of this political chess board — 
 and who, by the language and conduct of their autocrats, possess no rights 
 whatever save such as may be granted from the gracious favor of 
 monarchs who presumptuously invoke a mission from heaven to work their 
 own pleasure on the bodies and souls of their fellow-men. From this last 
 convention grew thewarof the Bourbons against Spain, and among other ini- 
 quities the recent intervention of Russia for the destruction of the indepen- 
 dence of Hungary, the French seige and armed occupation of Rome, the 
 wars of Greece, the subjugation of Poland, and the recent rumored conven- 
 tion between Austria, Russia and Prussia, to support the claim of legitimate 
 rio-ht to the French throne, of Count Chambord, against the French Emperoi". 
 From this epoch Austria became avowedly absolute in its government ; with 
 Metternich, who has devoted his long life of more than eighty years to these 
 
principles — and the ruling spirit of these Congresses, as its head, linked 
 closely with Prussia and Russia, it pursues the career of systematic despotism, 
 as stringently as either of its allies, although with a far different and perhaps 
 milder application, arising from the character of its subjects and its local 
 position and circumstances. The late Emperor Ferdinand suddenly broke 
 through this system in 1848, by granting a constitution of the most liberal 
 character ; perhaps from alarm at the universal revolutionary outbreak of 
 the nations of the continent ; but this change was but momentary. When 
 the revolution in Hungary was crushed, the Bohemian insurrection quelled, 
 and the military power of his throne once more established, his young 
 nephew and successor the present emperor, Franz Joseph, following the 
 old counsellors, and relying on the apparent tranquillity of the empire, by 
 a stroke of the pen abolished this specious frame work, and reserved to the 
 throne the supreme and entire control of the civil rights of Austrians. 
 Practically, government in Austria is notp a most elaborately detailed abso- 
 lutism, which without openly violating the ancient treaties and conventions 
 between the emperor and his confederate states, still, by a systematic 
 interpretation, skilful practical diplomacy, educational systems, spies, 
 police, armies and censorship, moulds and wields this heterogeneous mass, 
 in harmonious subjection to the single will of the emperor, expressed 
 through his bureaus at Vienna, in centralized supremacy ; — in complacent 
 theory, and to some extent, in practice, a modern representative of the 
 empire of the Roman Coesars. To gain a fuller view of the Austrian 
 government, it is essential that I should venture a few details on these va- 
 rious forms of application of its leading principle of centralized absolutism ; 
 without it, the imperfections of our otherwise inadequate sketch would be 
 more apparent, although this subject, like most others, cannot without much 
 abridgement be condensed into a single lecture. Of these branches of its 
 administration I have already mentioned its immense standing army, ever 
 ready to march against the foreign or domestic enemy ; the other leading 
 features are the censorship, the espionage and police, the examination of 
 letters deposited in the Post Office, the passport system of the strictest 
 character, the peculiar universal educational system, governmental trade 
 monopolies, p)Oioer of the Church, and last, as combining, governing, and 
 pervading all the rest, the bureaucratic system, centered at Vienna, to 
 which all else ministers employment, office, power and supply. The cen- 
 sorship, long recognized as a power of the Church of Rome, was, from an 
 early period in Austria, exercised by its prelates as an ecclesiastical 
 sanction, and by the Congress of Cailsbad in 1819 was made an essential 
 condition of the alHance of the confederating sovereigns. A Board of 
 Twelve Censors, is established at Vienna, to whom every book, newspaper 
 and printed page, either imported or printed in the empire, whether origi- 
 2 
 
10 
 
 nal or reprinted, with the maniiscrii^t of every article and advertisement 
 intended for the press, is required by law to be submitted. These 
 censors are guided by strict and minute regulations ; and politics, 
 even to the most obscure allusions, are rigorously expunged. One illus- 
 tration may be better than a description. At the Legation of the United 
 States at Vienna, then conducted with eminent courtesy and ability, 
 by our excellent Charge, the Hon. William H. Stiles, (whose recent 
 work on Austria in 1848 and 49 is altogether the ablest exposition of 
 the empire in our language, and for some of whose views I am indebted) — 
 I had tlie pleasure of meeting a fellow countryman, who had been some- 
 time a resident iu Vienna ; in the course of conversation, I naturally spoke 
 of that great rarity to us, after leaving Paris — an American newspaper — 
 fresh from home, teeming with its news of the whole world, and the poli- 
 tics and busy interests of our native land. He informed me, that before 
 leaving the United States, he had subscribed for the ^"ew York Herald to 
 be delivered to him at his address in Vienna : but that, like all other print- 
 ed matter, it passed into the Censor's hands, and at periods varying from 
 three to six months, after its arrival, all the numbers received, would be 
 enclosed to him, with every hne, paragraph, and even advertisement, 
 which alluded to republicanism, the progress of freedom, or any description 
 of Austria — diligently cut out, and the meager, harmless skeletons regu- 
 larly delivered to him. The results of such a system — in producing a 
 political desert — an extinction of all national literature, newspapers and 
 freedom of mind, — are too obvious to need remark. 
 
 The next element of this despotism Ave may name is the system 
 of espionage and police. The army we have said is the uniformed 
 and public police ; but the far more efficient engine of power is the 
 secret police — the spy — who for the bribes of government lurks in 
 darkness to stab the bosom that trusts its confidence ; who is ever 
 to be found in the social circle, the cafes, and public gatherings of every 
 nature ; records every whisper of disaffection — treasuring up every murmur 
 and unguarded expression, tracking Lis victim to the household hearth, 
 nay to the domestic sanctuaiy ; reports his every movement, and leads him 
 forward by pretended sympathy to some more open acts or words, until 
 the gend'armes seize him, and after a secret examination hurry him for 
 long years, or life, to the dungeons of some gloomy fortress, or the scaffold. 
 For this atrocious service, the wife, the child, the brother, the partner and 
 the domestic servant are often employed : the eye of the government is thus 
 upon the minutest actions of its subjects, and no place is sacred from its 
 intrusion. These secret agents of the police are instructed in every form 
 of disguise, of dress, manner and actions ; their inquisitors' craft hovers 
 about every circle, plying every avenue to confession, under every form of 
 
11 
 
 address ; aud what is remarkable, tliey pursue their infamous trade for 
 very small remuneration. In connection with this branch of the j^olice 
 censorship, and under this head, naturally comes the system of the exami- 
 nation of letters in the post-office. All letters received by the mails of 
 Austria, are opened, read and copied by the censors of the post-office ; and 
 if objectionable, are destroyed, and the intended recipient handed over to 
 the tender mercies of the police, or with passages obliterated by chemical 
 agents are re-sealed and delivered to their address. A waxen seal is perfectly 
 counterfeited by their art, and made capable of a renewed impression ; wafers 
 yield at once to a current of steam, and nothing prevents their vigilance. 
 Diplomatic correspondence, in sacred immunity elsewhere, is, if not sent by 
 courier, diligently opened and copied, and their ciphers unravelled. It is said 
 that the Emperor Francis regularly occupied his morning hours in the perusal 
 of the copies of diplomatic letters, furnished from his post-office in Vienna. 
 Their constant practice renders the employees skilful in counterfeiting 
 hand-writing ; and it is recorded, on the authority of a retired functionary 
 of the post-office of Vienna, that a correspondence in a disguised hand, and 
 counterfeited signature, was kept up for fourteen years, from Vienna, with 
 some suspected parties in Bohemia, until they fully disclosed their plans, 
 and were then seized and condemned for their intended offences. Is it 
 worth while to add here, as a counterbalance to our natural detestation of 
 such a system what we have none of us foi'gotten — the avowal by the min- 
 istry of Sir .James Graham when interrogated in the British House of Com- 
 mons for the seizure of Mazzini's letters in the London post-office ; that 
 such a seizure was a right of the British crown, a prerogative undisturbed 
 by its free constitutions, and rightfully exercised by its ministers in times 
 of pubHc danger ? Another engine of the government is its rigorous pass- 
 port system. No matter on what portion of the Austrian frontier the 
 traveller lands, he is at once met by the inevitable gend'armes, who takes 
 from him his passport, which must have been previously vized by an Aus- 
 trian Minister, and be in other respects in due form, or the unlucky visitor 
 must at once recross the frontier. The passport is immediately transmitted 
 to Vienna, to be copied and recorded, and never returned to the traveller 
 until he quit the empire. On his arrival at his dwelling or hotel, he is 
 handed a series of printed questions, of his name, age, birth-place, parent- 
 ao-e, religion, profession, object of visit to the particular city, and to Austria, 
 liis probable period of residence, the names of his acquaintances in the 
 place, and whether his visit has any political or religious object contrary to 
 law, to which questions, answers in writing must be given within twenty- 
 four hours under similar penalty of being forced to return ; and when 
 these answers are furnished to the police, who are required to send them 
 likewise to Vienna to be recorded, the traveller is supplied with a permis 
 
12 
 
 de sejour, or privilege of abode, for the number of days he names in his 
 ■written answers, which privilege must be renewed in time for a further 
 residence, and on leaving, is ultimately exchanged for his passport, with a 
 pe7'J7iis du voyage, or privilege to travel, in which the traveller and his route 
 out of the empire are particularly marked out and described. All these 
 Vienna records form a reflection of the movement of the empire ; they 
 guide the spies who detect all deceptions, and help to throw the strong 
 arm of this jealous government around every footstep of the traveller. 
 There is but one palliation of this system ; no oaths or fees are exacted from 
 the traveller, for the information furnished by him. 
 
 The educational system of Austria is one of the most peculiar features 
 of the empire. In common with the police system, it owes its completeness 
 of detail to the congress held at Carlsbad in 1819. Whether Prince 
 Metteriiicli or the assembled sovereigns were its author, certainly education 
 in Austria is made the strongest support of absolutism : the whole popu- 
 lation of every rank and class is at the expense of the State, skilfully 
 instructed for the support of the throne, and the institutions of the empire ; 
 whilst all minds are moulded into tame uniformity and habits of tranquil 
 submission and stedfast obedience to the central power. We are accus- 
 tomed to think and say that knowledge and civil liberty are inseparable in 
 the nature of things, but Austria furnishes a striking example to the con- 
 trary. All instruction in the empire is provided solely by the State ; no 
 private teaching is allowed, except on special authorization by the govern- 
 ment ; all instruction is gratuitous and compulsory ; and every parent 
 throughout the empire, prince or peasant, is compelled by law to send 
 their children, at a certain age, to the national school of their respective 
 parish. The studies, instructors, and every other subject connected with this 
 department, is in charge of the Hof-Studien Commission at Vienna, whose 
 duty is to furnish ample reports to the sovereign ; while all of its proceed- 
 ings down to the minutest details, are brought under the eye, and only 
 put in force by decree of the emperor in person. 
 
 It is curious to know that the sleepless vigilance of the central autocrat 
 of Vienna, carefully examines every school-book and teacher ; studious 
 that the infant minds of the empire may never be planted with seeds of 
 civil freedom or heresy. Although the State religion is Catholic, still pro- 
 pagandism is sacrificed for the cardinal object of imperial solicitude — to 
 make Austrians obedient subjects: and schools are opened by the State for 
 every form of religious faith among its people. Under the care of this 
 department, the places of instruction are classified, as the Elementary or 
 National Schools, Superior Primary, and Repetition Schools, and semina- 
 ries for teaching particular trades and useful arts, called Polytechnics and 
 Schools of Utihty ; gymnasiums ; academies ; normal schools ; universities, 
 
13 
 
 of "which there are nine, and the Diplomatic College or Theresanium. The 
 last named is the crowning feature : founded by the empress Maria Theresa, 
 for the gratuitous education of the children of the nobility, in those accom- 
 plishments of spoken languages, history, diplomacy, political economy, 
 statistics, and every form of political knowledge requisite to qualify thorn 
 for the service of the State in the highest official posts at home and abroad ; 
 its students are only members of the nobility who have successfully gradu- 
 ated from the universities. Besides these general schools, there are also 
 numerous State establishments for the thorough instruction of officers of 
 the army and navy in every branch of the service, and colleges for educa- 
 tion in each of the Faculties of Theology, Law and Medicine, on the 
 uniform system of the department. Instruction is everywhere elaborate 
 and thorough ; and although implicit obedience to the emperor and his 
 decrees, is taught from infancy, and pervades all their later learning, still, 
 with the vast librai'ies, and collections of the empire, and this munificent 
 system of education, no country in the world surpasses Austria in thorough 
 and universal education. No Austrian of competent intelligence lives who 
 cannot read, and has not received a systematic education for his calling in 
 life. It is a consummate system capable of immeasurable results of good; 
 although in its careful warping by the State, every mental reach for civil 
 liberty is checked, and the whole spirit steeped in blind political submis- 
 sion, its results on the material welfare of Austria, in every branch of 
 application, are incalculably beneficial. Although the government of the 
 emperor-king might in our view be considered a strange place to seek for 
 exemplars, still the College of Diplomacy, though hke all the rest, 
 perverted to the use of absolutism, might be a fruitful lesson for our own 
 government. 
 
 No ximerican has mingled much in European society, of the higher 
 order, but has felt the decided superiority and observed the mental train- 
 ing of those employed in the career of diplomacy : he remarks their facility 
 of languages, their intimate knowledge of the institutions and policy of the 
 governments and people, to whom they are accredited, and their practised 
 tact and sagacity of address and official conduct. If we desire to maintain 
 our own European embassies, why should intelligent Americans be fre- 
 quently mortified by seeing their high places of public trust and responsi- 
 bility occupied by mere political adventurers from the arenas of party at 
 home, usually ignorant of any foreign language, and equally uninformed of 
 the nature, institutions and policy of the government to which they are 
 sent, and deficient in every other solid qualification for a position in the 
 accomplished corps diplomatique of Europe. When the merely mihtary 
 officers of our government receive a systematic public education, is there 
 not a much greater necessity that they who are to make peace and war, 
 
14 
 
 and administer tbe migbtiest interests of government, both at home and 
 abroad, should also be tbus qualified ? A free government and popular 
 and frequent elections, instead of being an obstacle, would supply the 
 widest field for effort, and tbe keenest stimulus to preparation. I am 
 quite satisfied that the advancing intelligence of our country, will ere long 
 obtain a higher compensation for some branches of the public service 
 abroad, and a more elevated standard of qualification for its duties. 
 
 Another portion of this net-work whereby Austria is enthralle d, is the 
 system of Governmental monopolies and restrictions of trade. The products 
 of mines and tobacco are exclusively sold by the State; no one is permit- 
 ted to exercise his trade or calling in any portion of the empire without first 
 obtaining a grant of the freedom to trade in their respective municipality, 
 which grants are limited in number, and paid for by a heavy tax on his 
 future earnings. 
 
 This privilege to trade is obtained with some diflflculty, but being exclu- 
 sive, is highly prized, and forms a strong link of interest between the Go- 
 vernment and its subjects. The power and patronage of the wealthiest 
 Catholic Hierarchy in the world, is pledged to the State, and the whole 
 internal administration of the empire, in its grand extent and smallest de- 
 tails, is brought into unity and harmony, by being entrusted to the care of 
 respective bureaus at Vienna, whose office is to submit copious and diligent 
 digested reports to the Emperor, on every department of the imperial go- 
 vernment, whose only motive power is the edict of the Sovereign. The im- 
 mense physical resources of the empire are like the minds of the people, 
 controlled by the government, which by its active patronage, stimulates to 
 earnest industry the educated intelligence of its subjects. Its material pro- 
 ducts are for this very reason, small returns for the government outlay, and 
 its position with but one sea-port in the south, Trieste, and the mouth of 
 the Danube on the east, restricts its foreign commerce. Recent official 
 statements show the value of the exports to be in round numbers forty -five 
 millions of dollars ; and of imports, sixty millions of dollars, and a sea ton- 
 nage of scarce two millions ; whilst the taxes average about two dollars per 
 head, and the total revenue of the emjiire from taxation approaches eighty 
 millions of dollars, with that ancient blessing of monarchy, the price of its 
 glory, a national debt of near four hundred millions of dollars, which may 
 have grown still larger by its recent revolutionary and increased military 
 expenses and frequent financial embarrassments. No nation except our 
 own surpasses them in the construction and conduct of ocean and river 
 steamers. Their railroads and bridges, although of recent origin, may M'ell 
 compare with similar works throughout the world ; whilst for articles of 
 taste and luxury, Vienna may be justly called the Paris of Eastern Europe. 
 The River Danube is the great artery of life to the empire ; with its broad 
 
15 
 
 width of rapid waters, it traverses the entire dominion of Austria, is the 
 mutual frontier of its confederate kingdoms, and on the side of Turkey ; 
 and with its six mouths, to the Euxine, bears upon its ample bosom the great 
 proportion of the commerce of the empire with the east. History, for ages 
 past, has been busy with this river, from the innumerable camps and battles 
 of the Roman Legions with the natives of Dacia and Pannonia ; the arri- 
 val of the turbulent hosts of the First Crusade under Peter the Hermit, 
 gathered from all Europe upon the rocky fortress heights of Peterwardein, 
 and thence descending the river to the Black Sea, to the attack of By- 
 zantium, the great commercial returns of these Crusader irruptions into 
 oriental seclusion, bringing up the Danube the whole trade of Asia, 
 until the passage of the stormy Cape by the adventurous Portuguese De 
 Gama opened the vast ocean as the natural pathway of its commerce. It 
 ^ was reserved for our age to renew this Danube intercourse, and to employ 
 this mighty river, the Mississipj)i of Europe, for a nobler purpose than to 
 float timber rafts and turn rude grain mills. Count Sczecheny, a mag- 
 nate or one of the highest rank of the nobility of Hungary, eminent for his 
 wealth and public virtues, in the year 1830, first introduced the present 
 admirably organized and efBcient steam navigation of the Danube. The 
 long neglected river, a mere highway for rude rafts of timber, had become 
 almost unknown to navigation, and its real difficulties so exaggerated as to 
 place its commercial employment by steam vessels beyond the reach of 
 imagination. Sczecheny built, at his own expense, a strong steamer of 
 light draft, in which he descended the river himself, all the way from Vi- 
 enna, and ascertained that the rocks, rapids, currents and other obstacles 
 were not so serious as to be invincible to enterprise. A company was at 
 once organized by him for removing the obstructions, and for a line of 
 steamboats on the route. The enterprize was regarded on all hands with 
 enthusiasm, and chiefly in Hungary, at its capital, Pesth. The Austrian Go- 
 vernment, and Prince Metternich contributed largely, and became its first 
 chief stockholders, and in less than one year from Sczccheny's experiment- 
 al voyage, the existing organized line of steamers began to ply regularly 
 between Vienna and Constantinople. The descent of about 1800 miles by 
 the frequent stoppages for freight and landing, occupies eleven days ; the 
 return voyage, in consequence of the very swift and powerful current, usually 
 takes fourteen days. 
 
 The steamers are large, averaging from 200 to 300 feet in length, of 
 sharp American model, constructed of iron, and are commodious and ele- 
 gant in their arrangements and furniture. The engines and hulls are built 
 at Pest, by Austrians ; their own mechanics being preferred to the English 
 who were first employed. Their speed averages about 12 English miles 
 the hour ; a large proportion of the officers are from Lombardy, and are 
 
16 
 
 accoinplislied men in tlieir profession. The company still remains a private 
 association, and when we conti'ast their beautiful, swift, and strong steamers 
 with the clumsy crafts that disfigure the inland waters of France or England, 
 and the inconvenient ferry boats of the Rhine or the Elbe, the superiority of 
 their enter2:)rise is beyond all question. At the start of such an undertak- 
 ing, what difficulties must have impended ! — the sleep of ages of the river 
 and its wilderness shores was to be broken,strong and dangerous rapids to be 
 crossed ; difficult and fluctuating channels to be discovered, and followed ; 
 and, still more, what vast expense was required in establishing coal and ma- 
 chinery depots for repairs throughout its great length, which then for more 
 than one thousand miles of shore beyond Hungary, scarcely contained a 
 habitable town. All these difficulties yielded to their energy, and the line 
 of numerous steamers has been ever since in complete and successful work- 
 ing order. By its great carrying facilities, Vienna has again, inrf»ae-day, ^ttflr 
 become a mart for oriental luxuries. Pesth has more than doubled in size, 
 and is now the most beautiful city on the Danube, with a population of 
 over 100,000 ; and several entirely new cities and villages have arisen on 
 its shores. The traveller embarking at Ratisbon, Linz, or Vienna, will pass 
 in succession the largest cities in the empire, and the strong fortresses, with 
 the whole frontier of Hungary, Transylvania, Bulgaria, Moldavia, Walla- 
 chia and Servia, and will move forward on a swift, dark, rolling river, vary- 
 ing from one to three miles in width, between banks of the most sublime 
 and jjicturesque scenery in Europe, and with a strange diversity of inhabi- 
 tants and costume, until at Soulinha he emerges on the stormy Euxine, and 
 after sto2">ping at Varna, holds on his course past the Symplegades into 
 the blue waters of the Bosphorus — that pathway of magnificence — till the 
 solemn domes, mosques, towers, minarets, palaces, and gardens of Stam- 
 boul rise upon his view, springing out of that beautiful sea, an Aladdin 
 creation — a realized enchantment. 
 
 The merited fame of the Count Sczecheny, through this achievement 
 and his political history, introduces that much-talked of, but little studied 
 or comprehended subject — the history of the recent reforms and revolution 
 in Hungary. Another detail on the subject cannot now be expected or 
 attempted ; our literature teems with its histories ; but it is right to 
 say, in quitting this topic for some others of more immediate relation to the 
 general empire, that the smoke of battle and of controversy has not yet 
 sufficiently cleared away from this field to unveil clearly the motives of 
 many of its chief actors, and to furnish complete and unbiassed fact, as the 
 material for impartial history. 
 
 The cordial interest that we naturally feel in the struggles of other na- 
 tions for freedom, and the great distance of space and time, education, 
 and superior circumstances have often prevented us from duly examining 
 
17 
 
 the actual facts which lay behind the attractive statements of the revolu- 
 tionists of Europe. Our hearts glow with quick sympathy at the first 
 report, and we are ready to believe their constant failure to be the effect of 
 superior brute force. My own personal observation of the events of 1848> 
 which is corroborated by many other eye-witnesses, and much better quali- 
 fied judges, is that the cause of the failure of these grand attempts lies in 
 the character of the revolutionists themselves. We are at no loss ourselves, 
 nor is an intelligent world, to discover the reason of the success of our own 
 patriotic struggle. Our forefathers were calm-minded, discreet, upright, 
 patriotic and resolute men, who stood every trial of integrity ; who having 
 devoted a whole age to steadfast and peaceable remonstrance, never drew 
 the sword until the British soldiery brought slaughter and havoc into our 
 midst; and then, with Hancock, Adams, Jefferson and the prophetic 
 Franklin in their councils appealing to the Great Judge of all the Earth, 
 who could turn their weakness into strength, in immortal language, they 
 set forth their oppressions and breaches of their common constitutional 
 rights, their unavailing life-long remonstrance, the recent advance of ar; 
 mies, and called a listening world to witness, that, not for the lust of con- 
 quest, ambition and pride of place, but for the defence of their humble 
 homes, and invaluable rights, they declared themselves independent, and 
 resolved to maintain their freedom with their lives : and who but the 
 bigoted and unenlightened masses of the old world do not know how that 
 more than Roman Fabius or Cincinnatus, our own AVashington, led the 
 feeble army of the thirteen colonies through clouds of disaster and defeat, 
 enough to have crushed many Napoleons, to a glorious triumph. In strong 
 contrast with all this are most of the recent revolutionary movements on 
 the continent of Europe. The discontent excited by the broken faith of 
 sovereigns, at the period of the re-organization of Europe, after the battle of 
 Waterloo, by the congresses of Vienna, produced the race of the Carbonarii 
 who will answer as types of their successors. They were chiefly men of 
 the higher order of rank, property or intelligence — scholars many of them 
 — men of the closet — not of the world — the cabinet or the camp ; and 
 their plans and those of their successors and imitators from that era to 
 the present, of the most visionary and Utopian character, are directed 
 mainly for the personal aggrandizement of the leaders. The active agents of 
 their enterprises have too often been the idle and dissolute multitudes 
 hovering in dark corners in the over-peopled capitals, ripe for any deed of 
 license under the popular cloak of liberty, whilst the great masses of the 
 lower orders of the industrious population, by the policy of their rulers left 
 in political darkness, are readily excited to join in any tumultuous rising 
 for the destruction and plunder of the wealth and power of the existing 
 government. They i-ear the barricade and their dreamy fabrics of demo- 
 3 
 
18 ' 
 
 cratic anarchy, and crown with bloody laurels their artful leaders, who soon 
 become in turn their victims — and are immolated on the same altar of fero- 
 cious passion with their late enthroned tyrants. The popular fury exhausts 
 itself in license ; and slowly discovering that mere destraction and Utopias 
 do not give them bread, work, and regular subsistence, yields to the influ- 
 ence of self-interest, from the commercial and middle classes, their old 
 employers ; returns rapidly to order under the sceptre, and the old system 
 of steady absolute government. They find out that they were deceived 
 by their leaders : and after this volcanic social eruption has subsided, are 
 in no degree more enlightened or advanced in the knowledge of true law- 
 abiding constitutional freedom. They cheerfully embrace the old system 
 again, to be anew beguiled to resume this cycle of revolutions ; whose con- 
 stant failures are as we well know due to their own want of true political 
 knowledge, integrity, morality and patriotism. The hearts of the nations 
 are beclouded and impure — and until they be redeemed, there is little hope 
 for the regeneration of Europe. In these general remarks I cannot be un- 
 derstood as making personal comments on individuals : such an inference 
 jj deprecate as unjust, and from recent visits to our shores, unnecessary. 
 
 But to resume the more immediate subject of our present interview : . 
 
 The Austrian empire, is traversed in all its grand divisions by rail roads 
 which, introduced in 1826, are perhaps some of the best examples for 
 strength, durability, finish and splendid accommodations in the world. 
 The medium guage is adopted for the tracks : the carriages are superb 
 improvements of the American model ; locomotives, cars, and road, now 
 constructed by themselves, are strongly built, and well managed, and their 
 speed, though not equal to that usual in England, surpasses our own ; while 
 their stations and depots are rarely excelled for elegance and completeness. 
 By its railways the empire is linked with north and west Europe at Berlin, 
 and Dresden ; with Russia at Warsaw ; with the Mediterranean shore at 
 Trieste ; and when the line from Donauworth shall be completed the wa- 
 ters of the Rhine and Danube will be united. These railroads are or were 
 at the outset, (as some companies have since sold to the government,) 
 private associations supported by large stock subscriptions, j^rivate and 
 public. 
 
 Time and statistical details are both inadequate properly to describe its 
 grand mihtary roads, its numerous suspension bridges, and other great pub- 
 lic works, which by their elegance and utility adorn the empire. Nor can 
 we here speak of the vast libraries of Vienna, Prague, and Milan ; its gal- 
 leries, palaces, the sublime and beautiful natural scenery and the historic 
 memories of its soil. We should be, however, happy to dwell awhile at 
 Vienna — that imperial capital — a spider-web of tortuous streets spun from 
 the Cathedral Square of St. Stephen — with its stern double walls, moats 
 
19 
 
 and drawbridge, green belt of glacis, and surrounding circle of palatial 
 suburbs : of oft-beleagured orient-looking Prague — spanning the swift dark 
 Moldau with its many stone and wire bridges — and crowding its medise- 
 val streets and towers under the gloomy heights of the Hradschin — of 
 modern level white-walled and beautiful Pesth — magnificent Milan and 
 Venice, had they not all been too often depicted, viewed and described for 
 us to venture the essay. Our concern this evening, has been with more 
 general matters of the policy of the empire. If our sketch of the elaborate 
 educational system be correct, we shall be at no loss to infer the national char- 
 acteristics of the Austrians of every nation : that from infancy their minds, 
 hearts and bodies, are moulded into political subjection to their hereditary 
 rulers ; that politics, as we understand the term, do not exist in the empire, 
 and that discussion is disturbance of order — Revolution : but though that 
 subject be banished, still the Austrian mind is but thrown back on other 
 fields of activity ; in the civil and military service of the government, and 
 every form of private and associated industry, to whose results we have 
 made a passing allusion. But the physical constitution of the Austrian, 
 besides presenting a congress of various nations, has its German element 
 relieved by the warm blood of the south, and thus while he is a pattern of 
 faithful industry during his hours of labor, he turns naturally and gaily to 
 music and the dance as his diversion. 
 
 It is not necessary here to speak of the musical renown of Vienna ; and 
 the true love and practice of the art, pervading all ranks and education of 
 Austrians from childhood. The music of the orchestras of Strauss and 
 Gungl playing every afternoon in the public gardens and cafes of Vienna, 
 and the compositions of De Meyer and Liszt, and many others, are of uni- 
 versal fame. The superb military bards of the palace are constantly heard 
 in the Volks Garten, the beautiful promenade back of the palace conferred 
 upon the public by Kaiser Francis. This classic and refined music is ofi'ered 
 for the gratuitous enjoyment of all, and on a fine evening, Vienna and the 
 other capitals resound with exquisite music and the graceful and happy 
 dance, which is re-echoed from the mountains of Tyrol, the banks of the 
 Elbe and Danube, through distant Galicia and from the gondoliers of 
 Venice. 
 
 The happy Austrian, undisturbed by the clamors of politicians, and 
 theories of partisans, cheerfully resigns the whole care of government to 
 hereditary chiefs, and seeks his own interests and amusements. Without 
 the fickleness of Frenchmen, or their sanguinary spirit, they resemble in 
 the political result of governmental changes, in vivacity, in their eager 
 pursuit of fashion, display and amusement. They are contented in their 
 selfishness, if you will, but still the traveller can nowhere out of Paris, find 
 a gayer and more brilliant capital than Vienna, or Milan, and in no conti- 
 
20 
 
 nental kingdom, see the ordinary comforts or enjoyments of life more gen- 
 erally diffused. 
 
 Mendicity is prohibited, and never seen in Austria : the state takes care 
 of the poor, employing the able-bodied in the army and the pubhc works, 
 and providing ample hospitals for the imbecile and the invalid. 
 
 The state likewise provides for the amusement of its subjects ; most of 
 the Italian opera singers of the world come under the care, instruction and 
 inspection of the imperial director at La Scala, Milan, who with his assist- 
 ants, subject opera houses and companies, are chiefly supported from the 
 imperial treasury. All recognised Italian opera singers become members 
 of this Milan academy, and are then allowed to sing on the classic stage 
 of La Scala, annually report their professional engagements, and on com- 
 pliance with its rules, become entitled to its retiring pension. The perfor- 
 mances of the most accomplished musicians in the most magnificent thea- 
 tres, are thus brought within the humblest pecuniary means. The military 
 servants of the empire receiving but small pay, the government provides 
 for them a much I'educed price of admission to amusements, and also sepa- 
 rate and cheaper markets, cafes and shops. The court of Vienna, although 
 the most magnificent in display of the continent, is yet the most remarka- 
 bly accessible. Our own president in his republican simplicity scarcely, in 
 this respect, surpasses the Austrian emperor. From the time of the Em- 
 peror Joseph, of whom some have said he was a better mechanic than 
 sovereign, it has been the custom of the emperors, on every Wednesday, 
 without ceremonious presentation, to receive all his subjects who have 
 business personally with the sovereign. The only formalities observed are 
 requiring the name and business, to be previously mentioned through a 
 minister, and compliance Avith certain easy prescribed hours of audience; 
 and nothing is more frequent at Vienna than to see the emperor in a plain 
 uniform, alone, or attended by a single aid-de-caijfip, walking the streets or 
 ramparts. All vivats on such occasions are prohibited : the soldiery will 
 present arms as to any other officer, and whoever raises his hat to the 
 sovereign, will be sure to have his salutation courteously returned. The 
 people love him, strange as we may think, as their benevolent father, and 
 he needs no body guard, or cumbrous ceremony, for his protection or their 
 respect — a dignified security, in striking contrast with the armed cavalcades 
 that watch around the movements of French emperors, British queens or 
 European sovereigns. 
 
 The limits of these remarks are already too extended to allow of further 
 details which might encroach on the province of guide books. Our pur- 
 pose is fulfilled, if we shall have shown enough to justify cur views at the 
 outset, that although its system of government is wholly opposed to con- 
 stitutional freedom, still few despotisms in Europe have more contented 
 and industrious subjects, and are more open to the wishes and more con- 
 ducive to the material well being of its people. 
 
'.■-V^'Sk^Vx. 
 
 :^^i:m: 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 021 375 986 3 
 
 ^m^U 
 
 \l^A 
 
 ^'•'C^*^^ 
 
 J^f'" 
 
 — < -pi"*^ 
 
 C^f^^^ 
 
 •m 
 
 
 ■-'0^^'-