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Leader (1850-1860), 6th September 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 838

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      < : crew upon the great capitalists . " It is rumoured that the Conservative Opposition is preparing a Reform Bill to rival Lord John ' s , and the Globe is making difficulties to any Reform Bill at all ! Does not this foreshadow the Reform debates of 1852 ? Will Ministers have pluck enough to prosecute the Bishops ?—is still the Irish question / We only observe , at the present moment , that sort of lull in Irelandwhich is said to precede a storm .

      , Bright weather , gay company , gallant acclamation , and small ovations of all sorts , have attended Queen Victoria on her progress to Balmoral . &ne has been journeying in a drawing-room , to the eyes of reporters , unique in tastefulness and richness . At Doncaster we find the Mayor and Corporation hiding a row of very wretched cottages from the eyes of Majesty ! All the stations were gaily adorned , Everywhere attempts were made , like the celebrated parade of peasantry in bran-Stoweto let the

      new smocks and straw-hats at , Queen see only a brilliant outside " got up tor the occasion . But it is pleasant to remark the fewness of the military guards . British Queens do not now require attendant armies . Balmoral is only guarded by London policemen and rural imitations thereof . Meanwhile , Lord John Russell has taken a house in the neighbourhood , and Prince Albert has got an estate of his own called the Hut . " May he and his never be worse odgcd !

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      ABSOLUTISM RE-ESTABLISHED IN AUSTRIA , The following formal declaration , that Austria is henceforth to be g overned absolutely , has appeared in the o ' fficial Austrian Gazette , and may be regarded as the most significant fact in Europeaiueaction that we have had to signalize since the ebb of the revolution left the monarchies " high and dry . "

      JIOST HIGH CABINET I / ETTEE . TO THE M 1 NISTEHPKESIDENT . " Dear Prince Schwarzenberg , —As the responsibility of the Cabinet as it now stands is devoid of legal distinctness and exactitude , my duties as a Monarch induce me to relieve Ministers from the doubtful political position in which as my counsellors , and as the highest executive organs , they are now placed , by declaring that they are responsible to no other political authority than the Throne . " 1 The Cabinet has to swear in my hands unconditional fidelity , as also the engagement to fulfil all Imperial resolutions and ordinances .

      " 2 . The Cabinet will in this new position have punctually to carry out ray resolutions concerning all laws , ordinances , maxims of administration , &c , whether they have been considered necessary or judicious by Ministers , or the latter have been directed by me to consult on and propose them . " 3 . The Cabinet and each Minister in his department is responsible to me for the exact observance of the existing laws and Imperial ordinances , in their administration . To each Minister is intrusted the direction of that branch of the Administration with which he is charged . I , however , reserve to myself the right of issuing more exact regulations on this point .

      " 4 . The Ministerial counter-signature is in future confined to the publication of laws and Imperial ordinances , and will be that of the Minister-President , or of that special Minister with whose branch the matter in qucKtion is commoted . The Director of the Chancellery of the Cabinet will Hign under the closing formula of ' By most high command , ' which will stand towards the Hide . " Those counter-signatures are as a warranty that the appointed forms have been observed , and that the Imperial ordinanccK have been punctually and exactly carried out . " r > . In the publication of laws and Imperial ordinances the words , ' After having heard my Cabinet ,, ' will be substituted for , ' On the proportion of my Cabinet . ' " 1 '' uanz . Joauru ( M . P . ) . ' Schonbriimi , August 20 , 1861 . "

      MONT 11 IUII ( , 'AHINKT l . KTTKli . TO 'fill ! i'UKHI HUNT Ol ' Till ! KKHHNHATH ( l . 'OUNUIl . Ol' rilli liMJ'IKK ) . " Dear JSaron Jviibeck ,- -You will learn by the subjoined copy of my ordinance to theCabinet the resolutions which 1 have taken relative to the responsibility and to the future ponition of my Cabinet . Those resolutions induce me to introduce Home changes in the statutes of niy RtioliHrath : — " 1 . The Kcichsrath in from thin time forward to be considered as my Council and the Council of the Throne . " 2 . In consequence of this declaration , draughts of Iiiwh , ordiiianceH , or other Hitch mutters have not to be presented by the Cabinet to the Jteiclmrath for its opinion , but always to inc . Agreeably to par . 7 of itH statutes , 1 reserve to inynelf the right of demanding the opinion of the Jto . iclisrath , and of directing the discussion of matters under iny own immediate direction , or that of its President .

      " . . 1 reserve to myself the right of commanding the attendance of Ministers , or their deputies , at the councils of the Keichsrath , according to circumstances and necessity . " Tho alterations in the order of business and in other matters ariuing from the ordinance ?! , you have to lay before ; me without loss of time . If draughts of lawn which have been forwarded V > y the Cabinet to the lteioh-Bialh arciblill under diuouooion , due notice iu to bo given

      tome , and under all circumstances the results of the deliberations of the Council - ^ Joseph ( M . P . ) . " Schonbrunn , August 20 , 1851 . " MOST HIGH CABINET LETTER TO THE MINISTERPRESIDENT . " Dear Prince Schwarzenberg , —By the accompanying cop / youandthe Cabinet will see the alterations which iTave thought proper to make in the position and LtuTes of taf lUohsrath ; and the Cabinet , in as far as it is concerned , has to act * rg £ g ! jwm ( M . P . ) . " Schonbrunn , August 20 , 1851 . " MOST HIGH CABINET LETTER TO THE MINISTERPRESIDENT .

      " Dear Prince Schwarzenberg , —As an immediate consequence of the resolutions which I have taken relative to the political position of my Cabinet , I find it absolutely necessary that the question of the maintenance and of the possibility of carrying out the Constitution of the 4 th of March , 1849 , should be taken into ripe and serious consideration . " You have to consult with the President of my Reichsrath , and to give me as soon as possible your mutual opinions and propositions relative to the manner and extent of the question , as also as to the proceedings and forms to be observed during the examination .

      " During the examination of this question , and in all future discussions concerning it , you have to consider as principle and object , and as the irrefragable foundation of all your operations , the maintenance of all the conditions of monarchical government , and the unity of the states of my empire . Franz Joseph ( M . P . ) . " Schonbrunn , August 20 , 1851 . " These four Cabinet Letters , as they are called , of the young Emperor , are well worthy of the reputation of his tutor , that great master of Imperial callisthenics , Prince Schwarzenberg . The Ministry becomes supreme executive of the Emperor ' s will . Exclusivelyresponsible to the Throne , and relieved from any to other

      other kind or degree of responsibility any authority , it has simply to execute the Imperial decrees , and to swear absolute submission and fidelity to the Throne . The Ministry will propose , discuss , and execute measures of law , administration , and finance , whether proprio motn , or at the instance of the Emperor , who retains the power of an absolute veto . But the most edifying and amusing of the letters is the last which tells " Dear Prince Schwarzenberg , " that as an immediate consequence of this complete repudiation of his constitutional oath , and abjuration of all the guarantees pronounced to his subjects , the Emperor finds it absolutelynecessary , that the question of the maintenance and of the possibility of carrying out the Constitution of the 4 th of March , 1849 , should be taken

      into ripe and serious consideration ! There is Imperial irony with a vengeance ! " Putting the cart before the horse , " or " locking the stable when the steed has been stolen , " are far too weak and too vulgar proverbs to personify the intense fun of this declaration of downright absolutism , followed by a recommendation to Ministers to revise the Constitution ! Consider , too , the last and saving clause , insisting upon the " maintenance of all the conditions of monarchical government , " as , the irrefragable foundation of all your operations—in revising the Constitution ! How admirable an adept this gay young Emperor at constitution-tinkering ! What materials for a free Germany ! For our own part , we do not hesitate , in the name of the Democratic party , to record our sincere thanks to Franz Joseph ! His four letters aro worth all the circulars of all the

      Central Democratic committees of Europe . Nothing like a declaration of Absolutism to clear the path for Democracy . Wo register the decease of the Austrian Constitution not only without regret , but with joy and thanksgiving ! The apotheosis of Absolutism is the herald of the resurrection of liberty .

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      ORDER REIGNS IN GERMANY . NOTIiH ON THE 1 'ltKHKNT fll'ATK Of T 1 IH OHANI ) miCHY OF 1 IADISN . Mr . Gladstone ' s prison revelations , and the tales of Inquisition horrors related by Father Gavazzi , have for a time given preeminence ia rank of atrocity to hisIFoliiiusH the Pope and his dear brother of Naples . Thin is an injustice to the ltcd-monarchs of Germany . It in most unjust to them that their glorious deeds in the cause of order should be hid from tho eyes of sympathizing England . Why should Pius the Ninth , albeit Christ s vicar on eurth , and his Bourbon brother carry off the ; palm ? It in nothing new to say that the rose-water reports from Germany , in tho English journalH , convey a very faint notion of the blessed condition of forty millions of Germans , under the reign of order . Whatever may be ; the wish of "Own Correspondents" to act honestly at » observers of passing events , they have not the eyes of Argus . Suppose them willing to see , and able to record truthfully that which they havo seen , their rango of observation is limited . A gentleman living at homo at ease on a third floor of the Strand ( or for that matter in a Belgravian study ) , could hardly bo expected to enlighten the world us to tho doings of Dorsetshire or Manchester , when there wuh no prc « H to bring full , true , and particular intelligence : or what timouulu to tho same th >» 6 »

      when there was a press which dare not publish one line of news without the especial permission of a despotic Government . For , we presume , few Ene lishmen now lie under the delusion that there is anv freedom of the press in Germany . Takin g into account these and other things which it is not necessary to detail more specifically , is it surprising that " if we exoept the recollection of a few broken oaths

      and wholesale murders , the English public should so quickly have forgotten the preeminent merits of the German princes ? Had our daily press Argus-contributors from the Continent , one might have read without surprise the statement in the recently published circular of the " German Agitation Union of London , " that the lawful rights of the German people have been overthrown by a despotism " as barbarous in its crueltv thrown by a despotism - as Daroarous in its cruelty

      and more lawless , than that of Naples . " ' We were indebted to Johannes Ronge , the founder of the German Catholic Church , for his touching statement of the persecutions of the free congregations , now numbering about one million of souls . Perjury is of no account in the ethics of German Kings . Why should we wonder at a little religious persecution destroying the most sacred bonds of society ?

      We subjoin some notes from Baden , which will give the reader a lively notion of the blessings which the Germans owe to the reign of red-monarchy . Our facts are derived from the most trustworthy sources of information ; and it need hardly be remarked that they are not facts to be found in the supervised press of Germany . No comment is necessary . Parts of the Rhineland have recently been visited by a dreadful inundation . The great federal fortress of Rastadt was inundated by the overflowing of the Murg . The fortress contained a number of political prisoners , who were confined in Fort C . Private accounts which have reached us , and a brief statement

      of the calamity published in a Swiss journal , the National Zeitung , of Basle , vary as to the number of prisoners . The lowest account is from 50 to 60 . When the fortress was surrounded by water , a number of boats put off and took away the garrison of federal troops , chiefly , we are informed , Austrian soldiers . They were taken off with ease , and every man escaped in safety . The unhappy prisoners were left to their fate , and every soul perished . The cries of the drowning men for succour are described as heart-rending . A slight attempt has been made by the authorities to attribute this dreadful event to accident . They say it was impossible to save the

      prisoners . Is this a story to be credited by reason , able men ? All the accounts we have received , concur in saying that no effort whatever was made to save these unfortunate men . Public opinion in the neighbourhood , so far as it could be expressed , was unanimous on this point . But such is the state of terrorism throughout the whole of the Grand Duchy , that people hardly dare whisper their thoughts to eacii Bayonet rule is so rigid and lawless that the country could not be worse off under the oce «« pat' ° of a conquering army . The plundering legions of Napoleon wero not more mercile * . tnan i defenders of a native prince . Executions under martial law , by Prussian troops wider the oraeiB iweuij

      the Prince of Prussia , have numberea -- — victims . All persons convicted of political ofUclb by the courts martial have had their property ^ conns cited , and many of them sentenced tom . ^ for life ; the others to imprisonments for P "» ° ^ varying ' from two to twenty years . / % ™ ^ ° these victims cannot now be stated . I "*' " ¦ been doubled , and , in addition to this , the commun ties are compelled to pay all the costs of the . war an the Prussian troops and the troops of tlifc o States which have occupied the Grand Duchy , damage done during the war is charged to tfte ™\ addition to all these exactions , the citizens have btt compelled to lodge and entertain the Prussian tro ? r and other soldiers of the confederates for a w vflnr . without iinv recompense or reimburse

      Ho troops of Baden itself are quartered thro" ^ tho Duchy , and compulaorily supported i > y in ^ munities . Military patrols incessantly trave ^ country , and surprise and imprison people vy ty und on mere suspicion . A respectable man , « k years of uge , who had in his possession » n ai . ft of 1848 , which contained a portrait ol lie - ^ member of the National Parliament , was i sole reason , apprehended and thrown into pris ^ There is now no such thing as an mdep ^^ court of justice . A fearful tribunti ™» " % > nm isblished , under the name Die Ausachetdung ^ . ^ ¦ „ sum—literally , the sifting comr ™ ~* l in a «« " " intrusted the power of deciding whet »«* ti , H . shall be tried by the civil or . mlht . J * piotely Tiiis tribunal , or rather inquisition , is ™\ e { oIO tli « tho bidding of tho Government . »«» haIlC o o civil courttho accused might ™™ Wo u ( ., d

      , acquittal ; from the military ¦*? llu 8 " ° " £ - by thi « not say , then , which <•— " i » patroiu / td uy Bftdish Inquisition , „ pOli ticH . No man » flowed to speak a wordL on P ^ The -. rtkeepers and publicans ot all tne low ' hy Seen made reimoneiile for every word » P <* VJ

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      838 SfK ft * aliet * ' ^ [ Saturday

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 6, 1851, page 838, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1899/page/2/