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    half-wise , half-cracked Max until those of Francis Joseph , is eminently picturesque , and eminently edifying , too , if it be edifying to have abundant demonstration of Oxenstiern ' s rather musty observation to his son—" See with how little wisdom the world is governed . " For , to the list of governors , with little wisdom , the House of Hapsburg can furnish as handsome a contingent as any royal house in Europe : the greater number of its precious scions being , apparently , Nature ' s experiments in the production of the utmost amount of imbecility with the utmost amount of despotic , selfassertion , and obstinate bigotry . One redeeming point there was in the very

    were strictly forbidden to utter in his presence the -words "death" and "smallpox . " He had not Mmself been afflicted with this disorder ; but he liad loeen shocked by it in the case of the Empress . His readers received from him in writing an earnest injunction to eschew tte use of these two obnoxious worda The wags would have it that even the " inoculation" of trees was not to "be Bpoken of , because it reminded him of the inoculation of the small-pox . His birfchdaj also was never to be alluded to . When the referendary , Von Binder , for fiftj years his friend and confidant , died , Xaverius Raidt , the Prince's reader , expressed himself in this way : " Baron Binder is no longer to be found . " The prince , aftei some moments silence , replied : "Est il morfc ? II e " toifc cependant assez vieux . ' Binder was one year and a half younger than Kaunitz . To another of Ms readers

    Secretary Harrer , at that time a man of sixty , lie once said : " Mais conimenl est-il possible , que de jeunes gens , comme vous , oublient des ohoses pareilles ?' The news of the death of Frederic the Great reached him in this way : —his reader with apparent absence of mind , told him that a courier had just arrived from Berlin at the Prussian ambassador ' s with the notifications of Bang Frederic William . Kaunitz sat for some time stiff and motionless in his arm-chair , slowing no sign of having- understood the hint . At last he rose , walked slowly through the room , then sat down and Baid , raising Ms arms to heaven , " Alas ! when -will such a king again ennoble the diadem ? " When the Emperor Joseph died , the valet returned to Kaunitz a document , which the Emperor was to have signed , with the words : " The Emperor signs no more . "

    This kind of anecdotic sketching is abundant m the book , and , as it is connected with a continuous survey of the fortunes of the Austrian Empire , readers will be at once amused , and put in possession of a general conception of Austrian history , which is likely to be acceptable to the great majority .

    worst of them—the love of music and the arts , and the exceptions to the imbecility of the later Hapsburgs—Maria Theresa and her son Joseph—are among the most fascinating characters in history . The grandeur of the Austrian Empire and its importance in the scales of European power , lift the smallest details about the personnel of its court quite above that character of gossip which belongs to some of Dr . Vehse ' s volumes on the petty courts of Germany . A serni-idiot , who happens to be named of Hapsburg , has a passion for hunting , and the consequence is a series of the most important vicissitudes in the history of Europe ?

    One of the most striking facts made evident in Dr . Vehse ' s volumes is the wholesale apostacy of the Austrian aristocracy . In no country , affected by the Reformation , has te conversion" been so palpably an affair of selfish calculation as in Austria proper . First , the prospect of sharing the Church lands was an irresistible bait held out by Protestantism , and carried over the Austrian aristocracy in . shoals . In 1596 , says Dr . Vehse , when Ferdinand ( afterwards Emperor ) celebrated Easter in his capital of Gr ' , he was almost the only one who took the sacrament , according to the Romish rite , there being not more than three Papists besides him in the town . In the whole of the arch-duchy of Austria there were , of all the noble houses , only five , in Carinthia seven , and in . Styria not more than one that had remained Papists . When the tide turned , after the Thirty Years' War , the re-conversions were equally wholesale . One of the most interesting figures in Austrian history is Prince Eugene . Dr . Vehse , in his usual " promiscuous" , collects abundant traits of the generous hero : —

    Eugene was a small man , not at all handsome . His appearance by no means belied the country where he had received his education- —it was completely that of a Frenchman . His complexion was dark , but remarkably clear ; his face thin , long , and strongly marked by a large prominent nose , with nostrils like those of a horse . He wore his own black hair , with two small stiff curls : "between his fiftieth and sixtieth , year , when he began to turn grey , lie assumed a large flowing wig . The only fine point about his face was his eyes ; they -were dark and full of animation . His glance electrified his soldiers , and won the hearts of the women . It would , lowever , have been difficult at first sight to recognise in him the great inan ; he even looked remarkably silly , Itad a trick of gazing into the clouds , and , lik ^ Frederick II ., continually took Spanish snuff from Ms waistcoat pocket ; which suggested to Pope the saying , that Eugene took as many towns as snuff . In his movements he snowed an incessant restlessness , yet it was tempered by

    manly vigour and princely , dignified bearing ; and in the intercourse with the world he obsenved the most measured deportment , and even reserve . His impulses all came from , within , and he never allowed them to be overruled by any extraneous cause . At the first meeting lie was , in most instances , of chilly coldness , taciturn , and reserved . His temperament was tender and sanguine ; and he was full of plans and ideas , which , unceasingly occupied Ms mind . In the pr ime of life , he seldom slept more than about three hours . He possessed a remarkable instinct for reading the future . Whilst , in 1708 , he was encamped "before Lisle , he was , in the afternoon of the 14 th of October , suddenly seized with ' an irresistible drowsiness . In this Bleep he dreamed that he saw Ms mother dead in the trenches . The struggle to reach her awoke him . He told his dream to his adjutant ; and soon , afterwards news came from Brussels that , at that oame hour , Ms mother had died there . The courtiers at Vienna used to sneer at these fancies of Eugene . But he had an iron will , and a clear strong head ; in fact , an Italian intellect , but a German heart , full of gentleness and sympathy . He was

    called " fcke Noble Chevalier ; " and chivalrous be was to the heart ' s core , as a lover , a friend , or an enemy . He was always noble ,, generous , and forgiving , a foe to all flattery and fawning obsequiousness ; and he detested everything like untruth and falseness . He never made a promise which he could not keep . The winner of thirteen great battles , he was adorned by the most unaffected modesty . Moderation and disinterestedness , at that time the qualities rarest to be met with at Vienna , were prominent features of bis character . Never did Eugene show the least jealousy of his great friend Marlborough ; not even when the latter , after their joint victory of Hoehsfcadt-Blenheim , received for Ma reward the Imperial principality of Mindolheim . His honesty commanded the respect of every one . He used to Bay , " honesty is not an indispensable , but it is the best quality of a true statesman . " Villara , when ho negotiated with Eugene the Peace of Rastadfc wrote home to the Minister of State , Toroy , " Nothing in my life ever gave me bo muoh trouble as the necessity of not giving offence to the honeaty of Eugene ; for the character of the prince inspires every one with veneration . "

    Ivauuitz is another character whose points are very well marked by Dr-Velise : — Kftunitg , who presided over the dostinios of Austria , was tall , well made , muscular , of rather a lithe figure ; Mb complexion was milk-white , his hair blondo , his eyes bhio , very fine , and although ordinarily of a calm expression , yot now- and then flashing with tho koon glnnoo of the eaglo ; his brow was a little ai-olicd , his noso aquiline , his ohin aomowhat prominent , his mouth delicately tormed and rather email . Kaunite need to wear a remarkable tie-wig-with a prolusion of oiu-Ib , whioh , to cover every wrinkle on his forehead , ran across it in a Kigxng lme lle Beoms to have been tho inventor of the art of powderingrao

    , ptiBOcl also by tho famous Princo do Ligno ; who used to walk to and fro through a ( loublo lme of eoi-vantB , oaoli of whom had a different shade of hair-powder , whito . ° i •} , , ' P » to throvf at hi « vvig , which , nftev this oombinod operation , oxlubitod what was considered to bo tho perfection of ovohiiobb and colouring . Vvoxn tho very beginning of his being in power , " Baron Fttrst writes , « Kaunitz nlnoert luinsolf above the oom-t etiquette . With tho Spanish costume ho wore whito tuiHtond of rod ) stockings , and made his appearance with a bag to his wig , and with n largo nuiir , Although ho had boon told to oomply with existing ouHtoniB Ho would not HhvnvH do so . Ho was everywhere , except whou at court , aocom paniod by n lurgo bull-dog . " ....

    Jso ono has ovor understood bettor than Kuunitss did , tho art of making life pleasant to luinsolf and to other * It must nluo bo said , that no ono has ovor taken such auxiouw oiu-o of his life as ho . Whatever could remind liira of dying ¦ WftH to bo carefully kopt iu tho background . All the persona usually about Mm

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    COLONIAL CONSTITUTIONS . Colonial Constitutions : An Outline of the Constitutional History and existing Government of the British Dependencies . By Arthur Mills . Murray . The English nation has been conquering and colonising for nearly three hundred years , and though some of its colonies have been lost , and others ruined , the result is , that it possesses more thau a seventh of the habitable globe . Considering these circumstances , it is remarkable that we have had no Colonial History . The gradual acquisition of India has been ^ frequently described upon an elaborate plan ; attention has been bestowed , also , on . the North American Colonies and on separate territories in the East , West , and South ; but the great historical series , with its fascinating episodes of discovery , settlement , conflict ,, has been completely and unaccountably neglected .

    For a summary we still depend on Heeren , for Martin ' s unweildy compilations are neither readable nor trustworthy , Mr . Arthur Mills , studying this undeveloped subject , presents a dry , but systematic epitome of the Constitutional History of the British Dependencies , and of the political relations actually existing between them . and the Imperial executive in London . This volume , thotigh in no sense supplying the place of a Colonial History , is a wellaw-anged manual , clear , concise , and authentic . In an introductory chapter the open questions of policy connected with our Colonial system are recapitulated , with comparative notes , from ancient and modern annals in illustration of certain parallels which Mr . Mills undertakes to justify or destroy . He next

    reviews historically the relations between the Home and Colonial Governments , as affected by original charters , by conquests , cessions , or discoveries , separates those dependencies possessing Constitutions from those under the control of councils , companies , or military governors , and analyses the power of the local assemblies , the remnants of prerogative , and other details connected with Colonial policy and administration . Upon this well-prepared basis , Mr . Mills proceeds to examine in several groups , the political condition of the European , Asiatic , African , American , and Australian dependencies of Great Britain , regarding Mauritius and St . Helena as African , and the Antilles and the Falldand Isles as American dependencies .

    Six reasons have been given why a State should retain its colonies ; that it may levy tribute from them ; that they may contribute to its defence in time of war ; that tliey may increase its agricultural and , mineral riches ; that they may furnish it with markets ; that they may nurse a school of seamen engaged in the carrying trade ; that they may draw off its redundant or criminal transportation . Which of these advantages , asks Mr . Mills , does Great Britain derive from her present colonial policy ? When she once attempted to tax her colonies , she lost them . Even her Eastern con qnests yield nothing to the imperial revenue . In time of war , she has invariably had to defend her transmarine settlements , and it was a new phase in her history , that during the Russian conflict , Canada and Australia offered to strengthen her arms by contributions of men and money . The territorial revenues have been , for the most part , surrendered to the control of the Local Legislatures .

    The advantages of exclusive commerce with the Colonies arc being gradually given up in favour of the more generous and far-sighted policy of free trade . Differential duties , one by one , are abolished , so that Brazil and the United States will , in process of time , stand to Great Britain exactly in the same relation , commercially , as Canada or Jamaica . In the sumo way , the repeal of the Navigation Laws has destroyed the privilege of an exclusive carrying trade . As fields of emigration , notwithstanding the happy situation and unsurpassed resources of Canada , and the golden perspective of Australia , these colonies do not compete successfully with the United States . The majority of emigrants , instead of becoming colonists , carrying few English rights beyond the seas , have preferred to become citizens of America . The results of a more liberal policy in the British Colonies have yet to be ascertained . As to the transportation of convicts , it is a plan violently in dispute , being by

    some regarded as tlie propagation of a curso , by others as tho legitimate use of a colony . Tho British dependencies , then , involve , on tho whole , an expenditure of imperial revenues , amounting to three millions sterling annually , will confer , in future , no patents of exclusive commerce , have not attracted ao many emigrants as the United States of North America , and cannot , long form receptacles of our criminal population . in what , then , consists their value ? Whatever mav bo said , their progress has been sinaultnncous with that of the political and commercial prosperity of the Empire , while other nations , "losing their colonies , have lost . ait tho same time their , rank , their influence , all that made them flourish in peace or war . As long as Portugual held hey chain of forts and factories along the coast of India and Africa , and in tho Malayan Archipelago , bUc rivalled in power and opulence tho foremost states of the world , and it was not the extravagant expansion ;

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    Apri ! 12 , 1856 J THE LEADER . 353

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 12, 1856, page 353, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2136/page/17/