Europe, the China of the Christian world. The utmost vigilance is practiced by the government to seclude its subjects, as far as possible, from all intercourse with more free and enlightened nations. The government is in continual dread lest the kingdom should be invaded by those liberal opinions which are circulating in other parts of Europe. The young men are prohibited, by an imperial decree, from leaving Austria to prosecute their studies in foreign universities. "Be careful," said Francis II. to the professors in the university at Labach, "not to teach too much. I do not want learned men in my kingdom; I want good subjects, who will do as I bid them." Some of the wealthy families, anxious to give their children an elevated education, and prohibited from sending them abroad, engaged private tutors from France and England. The government took the alarm, and forbade the employment of any but native teachers. The Bible, the great chart of human liberty, all despots fear and hate. In 1822 a decree was issued by the emperor prohibiting the distribution of the Bible in any part of the Austrian dominions. The censorship of the press is rigorous in the extreme. No printer in Austria would dare to issue the sheet we now write, and no traveler would be permitted to take this book across the frontier. Twelve public censors are established at Vienna, to whom every book published within the empire, whether original or reprinted, must be referred. No newspaper or magazine is tolerated which does not advocate despotism. Only those items of foreign intelligence are admitted into those papers which the emperor is willing his subjects should know. The freedom of republican America is carefully excluded. The slavery which disgraces our land is ostentatiously exhibited in harrowing descriptions and appalling engravings, as a specimen of the degradation to which republican institutions doom the laboring class. A few years ago, an English gentleman dined with Prince Metternich, the illustrious prime minister of Austria, in hi beautiful castle upon the Rhine. As they stood after dinner at one of the windows of the palace, looking out upon the peasants laboring in the vineyards, Metternich, in the following words, developed his theory of social order: "Our policy is to extend all possible material happiness to the whole population; to administer the laws patriarchaly ; to prevent their tranquility from being disturbed. Is it not delightful to see those people looking so contented, so much in the possession of what makes them comfortable, so well fed, so well clad, so quiet, and so religiously observant of order? If they are injured in persons or property, they have immediate and unexpensive redress before our tribunals, and in that respect, neither I, nor any nobleman in the land, has the smallest advantage over a peasant." But volcanic fires are heaving beneath the foundations of the Austrian empire, and dreadful will be the day when the eruption shall burst forth. INDEX. ANHALT (Prince of) (continued), address ban of the empire declared against, ANN (Princess of Hungary and Bohemia), of Charles V., 144. bold speech of the diet at, 102. Confession of, 118. AUGUSTUS II. loses and regains his empire, accession of Ladislaus over, 81. the house of invested with new becomes a part of Spain, 108. the leading power in Europe, 814. treaty between Spain and, 378. deplorable state of at that time, defeat of by Frederic, 420. the proposed division of, 422. important territory wrested from, 453. BADEN, peace of, 859. B. BAJAZET, Victory achieved by, 64. BARBARIA, wife of Sigismond, 60. demands of the Bishop of upon impious remark of the Bishop of, aid of the Bishop of to Rhodolph, 29. marriage of Hedwige to Otho of, 25. agrees to carry the edict of Worms his hatred of Wallenstein, 275. dishonorable despair of, 488. BAVARIA (Charles of), death of, 451. BAYARD (Chevalier De), the knight without fear or reproach, 90. BELGRADE, relief of, 69. siege of, 860. capture of by Eugene, 863. surrendered to the Turks, 408. BELLEISLE (General), heroic retreat of, 441. BLENHEIM, massacre at, 334. BLOODY diet, the, 158. theater of Eperies, 825. BOHEMIA, triumphal march of Rhodolph into, 80. the crown of demanded by Al- BOHEMIA (continued), son of Ferdinand rise of the Protestants in, 286. the Prussians driven from, 450. BRANDENBURG, reply of the Marquis of to BRITISH MINISTER, letter of the in regard to Maria Theresa, 295. to the affairs in Hun- BRUNAU, the Protestant church of, 235. BRUSSELS, diet at, 139. BUDA taken by the Turks, 147. BURGHERS prevented from attending Prot- BURGUNDY (Duke of), ambition of the, 77. 79. C. CESAR BORGIA, plans for, 89. 241. abduction of, 242. CARINTHIA, dukedom of, 48. CASSAU captured by Botskol, 198. (Oeltingen), the dowry of Gertrude CATHARINE II. ascends the throne of Rus- cooperates with Austria, 481. desire of to acquire Constan- grand excursion of, 496. places Count Poniatowski on the throne of Poland, 484. CATHERINE BORA, marriage of to Luther, 114. kingdom of Aus- CHARLES EMANUEL (King of Sardinia) char- acter of, 886. CHARLES GUSTAVUS succeeds Christina, Queen of Sweden, his invasion of Po- land, 303. 113. determination of to suppress call of for the diet at Augsburg, intolerance of, 119. appeal of to the Protestants for in violation of his pledge, turns treaty of with the Turks, 123. aların of at the preparations of conquers the Elector of Sax- revenge of towards the Elector attempts of to settle the relig CHARLES V. (of Spain) (continued) con- abdication of in favor of Philip, enters the convent of St. Jus- convent life of, 141. death of, 143. anecdotes of, 144. attempt of to abdicate the CHARLES VI. (see also Charles III. for pre- vious information), limita- desertion of by his allies, 357. marriage of, 364. his alteration of the compact involved in duplicity, 877. insult to, 850. attempt of to establish the in- CHARLES XII. joins the Austrian party, 338. quisition in Burgundy, 129. death of, 868. |