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lance of his own police was disagreeable to him and assuredly there can be no greater degradation of a government than that it should sink down into a mere superintendance of bailiffs and police officers. The Director-general having brought him the usual police report, "In future" said he, "I will dispense with your presenting me such reports; I don't wish to know scandalous anecdotes, or to penetrate into family privacy. All I require of you is, carefully to watch over the maintenance of good order, and the safety of the citizens." Prodigality, arising from facility of disposition, had been the greatest defect of the late king; he had multiplied useless places for his friends at the expense of his subjects. Louis, on the other hand, instituted a severe scrutiny into every branch of expenditure, and carried into effect every possible reduction. This system of economy naturally injured many private interests; but it was rendered imperious by the state of the finances: and his only detractors were those who suffered because the nation gained. In replying to an address presented by the deputies of the town of Anspach he said; "In order to make savings, I have been obliged to make retrenchments; many branches of expenditure have been diminished half. Doubtless these measures have displeased many persons; but I could not do otherwise. People make an outcry, yet I have done only what is just. Many other changes would be necessary, but humanity restrains me. As for the persons in office, who are affected by these measures, they shall have sufficient to live upon. Even in the last assembly of the

States, many reductions should have been made, but it was proper to respect the will of my father. In the next session our budget will be very different from what it was; and if things had remained on their former footing we should have been bankrupts."

He introduced reform into his council of state, his court, the departments of his ministry, the administration of his hereditary domains, the number and pay of his troops, and, in short, into every part of the national charges. By these reforms, no less a sum than a million of florins annually was saved to the public. On the other hand, positive improvements were effected in the system of public education and the management of ecclesiastical affairs, while the rights of individuals were consulted, and the laws of the consti→ tution maintained and consolidated.

In the dominions of AUSTRIA, the Hungarian diet, which had been convoked in the autumn of the preceding year, still continued to sit in Presburgh. They had not yet agreed upon the final representation to be made to the emperor regarding the observance of the Hungarian constitution, and the losses which had been sustained from the authorized depreciation of the imperial paper-currency; they manifested a strong desire to enforce practically, what certainly is a rule of their constitution, that the important matters of recruiting and taxation should be regulated by themselves; they still shewed that the bad humours produced by the rather haughty tone of the emperor's answer to their first petition of grievances, had not yet dispersed; and the archduke Palatine still found it

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necessary to act as mediator be tween them and his brother. Those who could see in the conduct of the diet only the plain symptoms of incipient rebellion, visited them with unmeaning abuse as asserters of insurgent doctrines, and inveighed against the constitution which permitted such doings among any part of the subjects of his imperial majesty. These at

tacks may have been directed by a secret hand, to excite dislike for the constitution as a prelude to suppressing it, for the proceedings of the diet had been too serious to make it assailable by ridicule; but this was the only side on which the Hungarian constitution possessed any strength. It is only as a powerful oligarchy, perfectly able, and legitimately entitled, to control the crown, that it can ever be of any use to Hungary: in no other way can it be advantageous to the great mass of the popula tion, for they have no share in its constitution or deliberations, and it has its full quota of oligarchicab vices. The diet, however, is proud of its constitution, and waxed highly wrath that it should be abused and undervalued. In an address of congratulation which they presented to the emperor upon his birth-day, they said, "Your majesty cannot be ignorant in what unworthy colours the Hungarian nation, which is so faithful to you, has been represented by the calumniators of our name and our institutions. These enemies of all legitimate rule, of order, of tranquillity, and of all power established by God, dare to circulate in their journals, assertions, in which our ancient constitution, consecrated by so many centuries, is treated with infamous derision; not only is our fidelity to your

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The emperor, in his answer, assured them that he knew perfectly well what value was to be set upon the opinions of such ca lumniators, and that from him they received the contempt they deserv ed. But, remembering at the same time, that legislative bodies are convoked for doing business, that this Hungarian diet had been sit ting four months, and done no thing, and, above all, that it had done nothing for the doing of which he had convoked it," he was induced," he said, by his confidence in the sincerity of the wishes of the diet for the public weal, to add a few words" off advice. "The public good," said the emperor, "requires at all times, but particularly in our days, not only that the most perfect union and reciprocal confidence should exist between nations and their princes, but also that they should be openly evinced in the most unequivocal manner. With a heart full of joy! we assembled, last autumn, the estates of the kingdom around our royal throne; every word uttered by us on the presentation of the royal propositions, sufficiently shews with what confidence we^ opened this diet. We justly ~ hoped that the estates of the king dom would profit by this long desired opportunity to dedicate, under the protection of our thirtyfour years experience, their activity and ardent zeal to the objects judged necessary to the real good of the kingdom. Have their labours, their deliberations, and the result of them up to this time, attained the end of our wishes and

our hopes? We leave it to the estates themselves to decide; a father has a right to put this question to his children.

"We hope that these words, proceeding from the bottom of our heart, will attain, where they ought to have their full force, the object which our benevolent intentions proposed. We have spoken thus, because we wish to have no reproach to make either to ourself or our kingdom."

1.Austria could not have much upon her conscience in relation to the Slave-trade. She had neither colonies in which slaves might be employed, nor a commercial navy to seek gain by shipping them as aprofitable cargo. Her flag was scarcely known out of the Mediterranean her slavery was confined to the civilized nations of Europe; and in no country could the slave-trade be more safely denounced with a certainty of injuring no one existing interest. In August, an imperial decree was issued, which, after proudly proclaiming that "every slave becomes free from the moment he touches the soil of Austria, or even the deck of an Austrian ship, and the slave of a foreigner recovers his liberty the instant he is given up, on whatsoever account, to an Austrian subject," provided, that every Austrian subject, who should oppose any obstacle to the personal liberty of any slave conveyed to him, or alienate anew any slave so con veyed, whether in the territories of Austria, or elsewhere also every captain of any Austrian vessel, who should charge himself with the transporting of slaves, or directly or indirectly, interpose any obstacle to the enjoyment of per sonal freedom, acquired by such as might come on board his vessel

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should be held guilty of a breach

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of the public peace, and be punished with close imprisonment, from one to five years. If a captain of an Austrian vessel, or any other Aus trian subject, should engage in any continued commerce of slaves, or any thing relating thereto, the penalty was to be augmented to im prisonment for ten years, and where the circumstances were aggravated, for twenty years. Ill usage of a lighter character was to be punished with a fine, and an imprisonment varying from three days to three months, to which, in cases of re peated offences, were to be super added fasting and rigorous seclusion. These measures proved the exist ence of good dispositions, indulged without the sacrifice of any interest, or the conquering of any resistance. They were chiefly. directed to the war in the Levant between Greece and Turkey; they were expressly extended to prisoners of war who had fallen into the hands of an enemy that treated its prisoners as slaves; and going di rectly, therefore, to prevent Aus trian vessels from being employed to transport prisoners of war, they were the first symptoms which Austria had displayed of looking with one eye, at least, of mercy, upon the Greek cause. In the dispute between Spain and Por tugal, likewise, she shewed a wise.. and pacific disposition. France was unwilling to move in defence of rebellion against legitimacy Austria herself, Russia, and Prussia, were too distant from the scene to act with any effect: Don Pedro,, whose authority was attacked, was the emperor's son-in-law, and the 1 young queen, who was to be dethroned, was the emperor's granddaughter. The Austrian cabinet, therefore, very wisely kept Don Miguel quiet at Vienna, while the insurgents were running wild in

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his name on the frontiers of Portugal, and persuaded him to insure the crown by accepting it with a wife, rather than risk its loss, and his own destruction, in attempting to grasp it by rebellion against his brother and his niece.

In PRUSSIA, part of the inquiries which it had been found necessary to institute into the practices and constitution of certain secret associations of fanatical friends of liberty, were brought to a conclusion. Almost from the very conclusion of the war, the notice of the German courts had been directed to these mischievous societies, composed of men, or rather of raw youths, whose only striking qualities were hot-headedness, an utter ignorance of the world and its affairs, an unconquerable attachment to chimerical schemes for establishing what they called liberty, and deemed an amelioration of the condition of mankind, and no small disregard for the ordinary rules of morality in the pursuit of their projects. For a long time, the more liberal, but still rational thinkers of Europe, had believed these plots to be imaginary, or that they were at most merely the pranks of a set of madcaps, exaggerated into formidable conspiracies by the fears of despotic governments who felt public opinion tottering beneath them, or wilfully misrepresented, to furnish a pretext for crushing every spark of manly freedom; but the discoveries effected by the police, year after year, the investigations now instituted in Prussia, and still more those of the commission appointed to inquire into the conspiracy which broke out in St. Petersburgh on the death of the emperor of Russia, rendered scepticism either as to the existence, the objects, or the rami

fications of these confederacies, any longer impossible, and freed the governments from much of the odium which had been cast upon them, except, perhaps, the odium of having contributed to the continuance and the growth of this dangerous spirit by their pertinacious refusal to admit into their political institutions, any sprinkling of public opinion, or popular forms. In the month of May, the inquiries regarding a society named "The Association of the Youths," were terminated; and, of twentyeight members of it who had been seized, eleven were condemned to imprisonment and hard labour for fifteen years, two to the same punishment for thirteen years, two for twelve years, and twelve for various terms, from eleven down to two years; all of them were deprived of the national cockade, and honorary distinctions; and those, who held any office, were cashiered, and declared incapable of being employed in future. At the head of these intrigues, so far as could be known from authentic sources, was the Association of Men, whose ramifications were said to extend beyond Germany, and to be connected with factions in other countries. Immediately subject to it, and bound by an oath of unlimited obedience, even to the assassination of enemies of the Association, was the Association of the Youths, the members of which were scattered throughout Germany. This Association divided Germany into twelve circles, and appointed a chief in each. There was a supreme chief, by whom, and some others, the general affairs were directed, and the connexion with the Association of the Men was conducted. Its object was, to overthrow existing institutions, and excite discontent and rebel

hon. The members were trained to arms, and were subject to the control of unknown superiors. Immediately under this were the Secret Associations, over which members of the Association of Youth presided; but the mass of their members were ignorant of the existence of the Association. These met several times in a year, and Germany was divided by them into three main divisions. Under them was the Burschenschaft, and under that, the reading societies and clubs. It is surprising that the young men who entered into these criminal associations, should, after all they had seen, have been so deaf to experience. The precautions which had so long saved their university-clubs from discovery and destruction, seemed to lose their virtue when applied to these more dangerous unions. It was plain from their history, either that they could not so contrive their arrange ments as to exclude spies from their very bosom, or that amongst their members some were always to be found, willing, when imprisoned on suspicion, to make their peace with government by revealing whatever was known to them. This was no doubt perfectly natural in associations so widely extended, and including so many varieties of head and heart, especially when the vo◄ `latility and rashness of youth and enthusiasm combined are taken into account; but the almost absolute certainty of detection was unable to crush the flame; and the young men still continued to train themselves, by unruly and seditious conduct at the universities, for founding new confederacies, and planning new rebellions. At Halle the behaviour of the students was so bad, that, at the end of the first session of the year, an ordonnance was

issued, directing, that every one of them who should make himself liable to punishment, should be expelled; that a list of them should be returned every six months, to the royal commissioner over the University, to be by him communicated to the Consistories, provincial colleges, and other public bodies, with orders to admit no person contained in it to any public employment, or to the examinations which it might be necessary to undergo, before commencing the practice of a profession. The departments of justice and finance were likewise to be shut against them.

The unexpected events which had occurred at St. Petersburgh in the end of 1825, left behind them, within a few days, scarcely any trace of their existence, except what was to be found in the trials and punishment of the conspirators. Although it was the army, the most formidable foe when disaffected, and when faithful the only trustworthy support of absolute power, which had excited the revolt, and dipped its hands in loyal blood, the rebellious movement did not extend beyond the daring attempt made at St. Petersburgh in the north, and the more abortive one at Kiev in the southern part of the empire. The rest of the troops submitted peacefully and willingly to the new emperor; the resignation of Constantine, from whatever cause it might have originally proceeded, whether from an improbable disinclination to the cares of imperial power, or a reluctant assent to the will of another, was now certain and final; and, if he possessed the power, he shewed by the frankness and sincerity of his conduct, that he had not the

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