260 



AUSTRIAN EMPIRE. 



out the empire. Although numerous arrests take 

 place annually in the different provinces, and the 

 state prisons are full in all directions, yet, as the 

 capital continues tranquil, the most self-complacent 

 comparisons witli other lands are constantly pub- 

 lished, and strangers are 1'orml, at length, to be- 

 lieve what they hear on all sides repeated. It is 

 true, that Vienna bears to the eye of the stranger 

 a most smiling appearance. The city, although 

 MM, ill and narrowly built, is kept remarkably clean; 

 and, no paupers being tolerated in the streets, and, 

 indeed, all signs of pauperism being removed by 

 the municipal and police measures alluded to above, 

 the very absence of all the inevitable casualties of 

 humanity has something awful in it to the consid- 

 erate observer, even though he may never have 

 heard of the artificial means used to sift its inha- 

 bitants. 



The following anecdote will, however, serve to 

 show that in Austria the same means produce the 

 same results that they do in other countries, and 

 that the government has found no spell to charm 

 useful effects from measures which we should think 

 tended to the destruction of the social state. The 

 number of the butchers in the capital being limited, 

 nothing was more natural than that they should 

 conspire against the public. They were therefore 

 compelled to submit to a monthly assize, fixed by 

 the magistrates, according to the reports of sales 

 furnished by commissaries, from the different cattle 

 fairs. These magistrates, together with the com- 

 missaries, it is publicly asserted, are taken into the 

 pay of the guild, which can afford to deal more 

 liberally towards them than even the state itself; 

 and the manner in which this arrangement came to 

 light was as follows : On the first approach of the 

 cholera morbus to the metropolis in 1831, the court, 

 fearing scenes of disturbance on its appearance, 

 took measures, among other devices, for improving 

 the state of the poor, to ensure a sufficient supply 

 of provisions and to prevent any advance in price 

 in the most necessary articles. Among the rest, 

 the butchers received an advance of 1,000,000 

 florins of silver to buy up beasts, and to secure 

 them an indemnity for not raising the price of meat 

 in case of an advance in that of live stock. When 

 the danger had passed over (no advance in the price 

 of cattle having taken place) they were called upon 

 to account for the sum which they had naturally 

 not neglected to draw, and a commission was ap- 

 pointed to audit the accounts. It seems, however, 

 that, after an exercise of no common ingenuity, a 

 considerable sum remained for which no one could 

 account, when on a sudden the sittings of the com- 

 mission were broken off, and the papers disappeared. 

 The public, however, having heard of the circum- 

 stance, some murmurs arose, and an inquiry was set 

 on foot, at the desire of some influential officials 

 who were not interested directly in the matter. 

 The first sittings of the commission of inquiry led 

 to the discovery of the enormous conspiracy exist- 

 ing to defraud the public and the state, in which 

 many men holding elevated situations were more or 

 less implicated. ^ A panic struck the guilty, and the 

 price of butcher's meat was reduced in the ensuing 

 month from ten kreutzers to six kreutzers per 

 pound. As the commission proceeded, however, 

 the ground was found to be more and more delicate 

 the further they pursued their researches ; their case 

 became difficult, and their steps irresolute. This 

 was no sooner remarked by the tradesmen than, 

 assuming an air of confidence, they threatened to 



shut up their shops with one accord and starve the 

 capital, well knowing the fear entertained in ctr- 

 tain quarters of discontent among the mob. No 

 preparations having l>ecn made to prevent such a 

 measure, the government was obliged to submit ; 

 the inquiry was suppressed, and butelier'- meat is 

 at the present day sold at Vienna, a city situated 

 in one of the most fertile districts of Europe, alter 

 a succession of favourable seasons, at ten kreut/ers, 

 or 5d. per pound the bones and fat being appor- 

 tioned at the same price to the purchaser in propor- 

 tion to the weight of consumable meat that he 

 demands. This, then, is the true state of the 

 capital, which boasts of its tranquillity, \\liile all 

 the other countries of Europe are disturbed by 

 liberal factions. Let us only conceive the imi 

 tax levied daily on the inhabitants by tradesmen oi 

 all kinds, who are joined to a greater or less ex- 

 tent in similar combinations, and who thus absorb 

 sums which ought to form a continually inert :asiiig 

 capital, capable of being most usefully einphmd ; 

 let us add to this the tact that, while new inven- 

 tions and the improved state of agriculture are in- 

 creasing the productive power of the country, the 

 price of the necessaries of life in Vienna rises 

 annually, while it is in the power of a few trades- 

 men to rouse the populace to rebellion at any mo- 

 ment they please, and we shall be able to judge of 

 the degree of praise to which such a tranquillizing 

 policy is entitled. 



Another rich resource of influence for the go- 

 vernment arises from the extensive patronage of 

 the church. The superior dignities are stated in 

 the Austrian Encyclopaedia to consist, including 

 those in Hungary, of eleven Catholic archbishoprics ; 

 fifty-nine Catholic bishoprics; 151 abbots and probsts 

 with domains and revenues; 156 titular abbots and 

 probsts (deans); besides an innumerable host of 

 canons, deacons, archdeacons, and heads of con- 

 vents. The monasteries have been reduced to the 

 number sufficient for the service of the churches 

 and the care of education, but still the number of 

 the clergy is immense, as may be inferred from the 

 above enumeration of the hierarchy ; in addition to 

 which, the united Greek church has five bishoprics ; 

 the Armenian Catholics, one archbishopric; the 

 schismatic Greeks, one archbishopric and ten 

 bishoprics ; besides inferior dignities, all of which, 

 together with the nomination to all parish cures, 

 are either presented by the crown or under its in- 

 fluence. These charges are also well provided for. 

 The Austrian Encyclopaedia states the revenue of 

 the archbishop of Gran, primate of Hungary, at 

 360,000 florins (36,000), but common report 

 values the see at three times that sum. The arch- 

 bishoprics of Prague, Olmiitz, and Vienna, are 

 proportionately well endowed, and, indeed, the 

 revenues of the church, including the tithes, when 

 compared with the price of necessaries in so pro- 

 ductive a land, may be said to exceed in amount 

 those of the clergy in any of the great states ot 

 Europe. Independently of the effect which the 

 prospect of this golden harvest may have upon the 

 members of the clergy, it is certain that they look 

 upon the mutual support of church and court as 

 equally indispensable to both parties; and, while 

 the authorities protect and put them forward upon 

 all occasions, they are not remiss in faithfully 

 preaching and teaching the enjoined doctrines of 

 non-resistance and passive obedience. They have 

 of late been considered so powerful an arm towards 

 resisting the innovations of the age, that it has 



