Austria is improperly regarded as a despotic monarchy : it
is in Tact an oligarchy—the real power is in the hands of a few over- grown families, such as the LICHTENSTEINS and the ESTERHAZYS. The movements of such a power are slow, for the heads to be consulted are many ; but they are not the less certain and resolute. Like other corporate bodies, an oligarchical government has in it no principle of reform—it is only to be mended by being destroyed. Single robbers often concede the property they have ravished, but bodies of plunderers never. The Oligarchy of Austria are now rousing themselves to vindicate their recently-acquired title to the plains of Lombardy. The Bolognese, the people of Parma, and of Modena, are dangerous to Austrian domination, not by their arms, but by their pens and their tongues. The force which the Austrians have to repress, is the force of opinion, not of bayonets —it is battalions against principles. The right to put down the Italian insurrection, or any other, is only to be decided by the might of the meddler. If left to herself, Austria will reduce the Italians to quietude in a few weeks. The only question is, will France allow her to pursue this scheme, not so much of making as of confirming conquest ? The feeling in France now, as it was in 179, and as it must always be among free men, is to succour those who are desirous of emulating their example, without very nicely considering the means, where the end is considered to be so holy. It may, however, admit of a question, whether even France, pressed as she would be by too early a display of the spirit of interference, could bear up against her powerful neighbours. Austria is said to have in arms little short of 500,000 men,—in Italy 90,000, in the German provinces 100,000, in Gallicia 80,000, exclusive of the Hungarian troops. With Warsaw in his hands and Poland at his feet, the Czar is not unlikely to take advantage of any excuse for attacking France on the one flank, while the Emperor attacks her on the other. The letters from Paris give us speculations rather than facts. The Ministers, notwithstanding their desire to cultivate popu- larity, cannot, it would seem, hold their places. The dissolution of the Chambers will, however, do something for them, as the recess will extend to three or four months ; the Chamber of Peers cannot be legally reassembled previous to July. The Parisians have been differently moved within these few days, by two very different events—the disasters in Poland, and the introduction of the Reform Bill in England. The latter measure seems to have excited as much pleasure as the fall of Warsaw excited commiseration. France, but more especially Paris, is, if truly represented, in a state of feverish and fretful anxiety. The Go- vernment are engaged in seeking out plots ; the shopkeepers and merchants cry out for lack of business ; the mechanics for want of employment. A strange story, the origin of which has not been very clearly traced, prevailed during the early part of the week—that the French Government was not prepared with the funds for the next half-yearly payments of the .dividends. It seems quite incredible that any difficulty should haire been felt by the French Government in making provision for a payment which is, comparatively speaking, trifling, and where the delay of an hour or the hesitation of a day, must have been so fatal to their credit. The only possible object of retaining the dividends must have been to prepare against some overwhelming and unforeseen demand which concerned the existence of the monarchy. None such exists, and the sum to be retained is too small to provide for it if it did.
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