The civic government will bring these goods into its power, and considers itself entitled to divide them, and to diminish them to such an extent by the imposition of taxes that the miserable possession and enjoyment which will be left to the Church must be described not as an honor, but rather as a jest and as a cloak for injustice." What real foundation is there for such words? The Austrian government, which in reality is extremely moderate on this point, proposes nothing further than to impose taxes on superfluous benefices and the superfluous property of convents. All ecclesiastical persons are to retain the income suited to their rank without diminution, and it is only on superfluous property that a tax, beginning at 4 per cent. and rising with the wealth of the owner, is to be imposed. This tax, however, is not intended, like the ordinary property tax, for the coffers of the state, but the money so raised is to be devoted to the improvement of the incomes of the needy lower clergy, and to the payment of those expenses of public worship which have hitherto been defrayed by the state. The Pope does not appear to observe this application of the money for church purposes; to his economic wisdom it seems a squandering and plundering of the goods of the Church, and even a disgrace to the Church, when the government defrays the necessary Church expenses out of the superfluous property of the Church. This is all the gratitude the government gets for dealing so sparingly with the convents and their enormous pos sessions. The Austrian government would have adopted very different measures, if it had followed the example set by all other Catholic countries. Twenty years ago Cavour provided, in a similar way, for the starving lower elergy in Piedmont. He supported them with the superabundance of the convents, the number of which was so great that the whole country seemed to be a convent. He went further than is now done by the Austrian government, which at that time excited the Pope against him, and abolished some hundreds of those convents which were not engaged with education or any other useful occupation, and applied the proceeds partly in maintaining the lower clergy, who were at that time terribly numerous. Of course Plus IX protested against all this, as usual. He also protested against the abolition of the spiritual courts and against the abolition of the right of asylum and of tithes. Victor Emmanuel and all persons who co-operated in the new laws were excommunicated. But this did no injury to little Piedmont, although at that time courage was required to do battle with the Pope, who had great supporters behind him. Further proceedings of the same kind afterward took place in Piedmont; and in Austria, too, more will be done than is written in the bills now before the Reichstag. Cries from the Vatician will not prevent this, but the war which the Austrian bishops, at the command of the Pope, have begun against the state, will hasten it on. [Inclosure 2 in No. 721.-Translation.] LE MONDE, PARIS, March 24. The Journal des Débats regards as inopportune the intervention of the Pope in the religious affairs of Austria. In its opinion it would be better for the Pope not to trouble himself with such things. But that a lay assembly should decree laws on the Catholic religion, and should fix the boundaries between the two powers, appears quite proper to our contemporary. A concordat was annulled by only one of the contracting parties. Was any offer made to the sovereign pontiff to regulate religious affairs by another agreement? No; the secular power declares itself omnipotent. The Pope was, therefore, obliged to protest against such a claim, which, after all, is only the same claim as that raised by the Prussian Empire. To support its thesis the Débats must admit that, in principle, religion belongs to the domain of the state, and, especially, that it is for the state to rule the Catholic Church. That journal goes with the persecuting princes and assemblies. In Italy, Switzerland, and Germany men are banished, imprisoned, and robbed for the cause of Catholicism. The Débats will tell us that this is the fault of the Catholics; why do they not show themselves more obedient to the laws of the state? No doubt, if the Catholics obeyed the laws there would be no more persecutors; but neither would there be any more Catholics, as the object of the law is to destroy the Church. *** The Empire of Austria is undermined. The unfortunate Francis Joseph retains only a shadow of power. A few more reforms and the Austrian Empire will have its 1789. The idea of offending and irritating twenty-five millions of Catholics in a country with a population of only thirty-five millions is such an act of madness that we must go back to the France of 1793 to find its parallel. The battle of Sadowa was nothing in comparison with the efforts made by ministers and assemblies to demolish what remains of the Empire of Austria. No. 730.] No. 12. Mr. Jay to Mr. Fish. [Extract.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Vienna, April 14, 1874. (Received May 6.) SIR: On looking over the correspondence of the legation, I find that there have been several cases, only some of which have been hitherto reported to the Department, where the protection of the legation has been claimed by native-born Austrians, who had become naturalized citizens of the United States, and who had been cited to appear for military service, or had reason to believe that they were liable to arrest on that ground. I feel bound to say that my request to the imperial and royal minister for foreign affairs to direct an examination into the correctness of the statement of facts submitted to them in each case, has been met with prompt attention, that the examining officers appear to have been governed by a desire to interpret the treaty with perfect fairness, and that in two cases of concession made on petition to the Emperor, the parties were not entitled to the concession as a matter of right under the treaty. I have, &c., No. 13. JOHN JAY. No. 404.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I inclose herewith a copy of a letter of the 27th instant, from Judge Wm. T. Otto, arbitrator on the part of the United States before the American and Spanish Claims Commission, and of its accompanying letter addressed by Baron Lederer to the arbitrators of the two governments, resigning the position of umpire to the said commission. You are requested to express the regret with which the President learns of the retirement of Baron Lederer from duties for which he has shown such qualification, and the sense of the President of the ability and learning with which the baron has devoted himself to their performance, You will also request the minister for foreign affairs to be pleased to convey to Baron Lederer the thanks of the President for the valuable services rendered by him in the interest of the two governments represented in the commission. I am, &c., {Inclosure in No. 404.] HAMILTON FISH. Mr. Otto to Mr. Fish. AMERICAN AND SPANISH COMMISSION, SIR: I have the honor to inclose a copy of a letter received from Baron Lederer, resiguing his position as umpire to the commission. Sam, &c., W. T. OTTO. [Inclosure to inclosure in No. 404.-Translation.] Baron Lederer to Messrs. Otto and Potestad, arbitrators. WASHINGTON, April 24, 1874. GENTLEMEN: By your communication of May 31, 1871, you were pleased to inform me that the international commission, appointed in pursuance of the stipulations between Spain and the United States of February 11, 1871, had just selected me as an umpire for the settlement of all questions concerning which the members of said commission should fail to agree. I had the honor to accept this appointment, with the consent of the imperial and royal government, as a proof of confidence on the part of the high contracting parties, and at the same time to refuse the compensation provided for by Article VI of the said convention. For three years I have devoted myself to the conscientious decision of all the cases which have been presented to me. I now have the honor to inform you, gentlemen, that I have just been notified by my government that I am shortly to be recalled from my post as minister at Washington, and being on the point of delivering my letters of recall, intending to sail for Europe very soon afterward, it will, in future, be out of my power to continue to hold the appointment with which you have been pleased to honor me. I therefore deem it my duty to resign my position as umpire in the aforesaid international commission, in order that you may be enabled to proceed, in time, to the choice of my successor, according to Article I of the convention in question. Returning to you my thanks for the kind support which you have been pleased to give me in the performance of my duties, I avail myself, &c. No. 14. LEDERER. No. 741.] Mr. Delaplaine to Mr. Fish. AMERICAN LEGATION, Vienna, May 8, 1874. (Received May 28.) SIR: The Austrian Reichsrath was yesterday prorogued, and will probably not again meet before the middle of October next. The session now terminated seems to deserve a memorable place in the parliamentary history of the country, from the important acts passed during its continuance, among which are, since the adoption of the electoral reform, the passage of three of the four confessional bills. With regard to these bills, not only a powerful and determined opposition was successfully overcome, but with unexpected majorities in both houses. These laws have since received the sanction of the Emperor, and thereby any hope or illusion entertained by the ultramontane party as to his possible adverse action has been extinguished and dispelled. During a reign of twenty-five years' duration, in which heavy and almost crushing trials have been experienced, the Emperor has learned the wishes and the wants of his people, and knows that the measures of the present liberal ministry are imperatively demanded in order to assure the existence of constitutional freedom in his empire, and thereby to advance the general improvement and welfare of his subjects. Accordingly the latest note of the Vatican, the threats of certain ecclesiastical members of the lower house, and the lamentations of the bishops in the upper house, were powerless in influencing his decision. The new confessional laws invade no personal right; they mingle in no dogmatical dispute, and allow to the Catholic Church full freedom of control over its domestic and actual concerns, while they simply exact from the ecclesiastics obedience and subjection to the laws of the realm. Herein appears also a laudable distinction in favor of these bills as compared with the latest confessional laws of Prussia, since the former do not invoke or allow civil or police interference upon every slight oc easion of complaint, but are founded upon the broad basis of universal and unexceptional toleration, with security of equal rights to all. In another important measure, which has been under consideration by the Reichsrath, some disappointment has, however, been felt by the community, and more especially with the conduct of the lower house. I refer to the measures for relieving the financial crisis which culminated on the 9th of May last, and which has continued almost unabated during the year since elapsed. It is complained that the plans proposed by the government were well meant, but ineffective, and that even these were received with timidity and hesitation, and not treated with the energy and promptitude which the crisis demanded. It must be, however, satisfactory to acknowledge that in the midst of private detriment and discredit, the public credit has been preserved intact, and by means of a wise economy a near approach has been made to that aim of all sound financial policy, namely, an accordance between the revenues and the expenditures of the government. It is unquestionably a meritorious result of the constitutional government, that under its rule the financial system of Austria has been consolidated. Various laws have, moreover, been passed favorable in their operation toward increase of the productive labor and resources of the country, and thus materially aiding its financial ability, wherefore a well-assured confidence may be entertained that hereby the losses and detriment sustained so generally in the community through a spirit of excessive speculation will be repaired. As a further basis to this confidence, may be stated the firm conviction that the period of changes and experiments in the system of gov ernment is now forever passed, and that the action and voices of the monarch and of the people have definitely and irrevocably decided in favor of the maintenance of constitutional rights and of national progress as its consequence. I have, &c., No. 15. J. F. DELAPLAINE. No. 743.] Mr. Delaplaine to Mr. Fish. AMERICAN LEGATION, Vienna, May 11, 1874. (Received May 28.) SIR: Certain declarations of the minister of foreign affairs of Austria-Hungary, in regard to the foreign policy of the empire on the 9th instant before the finance committee of the delegations now in session at Buda-Pest, seem to possess sufficient interest and importance as to recommend my communicating them to you. In the discussion of the budget of the ministry, upon the interpellation of Dr. Schaup, as to the position assumed in view of the provocatory expressions of the Vatican, by reason of the recently confessional laws passed in Austria, Count Andrássy replied, that in the matter of the encyclica but a single note had been sent by the ministry for foreigu affairs. He regretted that he could not communicate the full text of it. He especially regretted this because he did not believe that any Red Book could give even an approximate, much less a perfectly illustrative picture of the activity of the ministry for foreign affairs, and he therefore considered it the more necessary that the delegation should possess the fullest right to receive the most ample explanations in all questions affecting the foreign policy, and, indeed, whenever it could in the least manner consistently be done, even to examine the respective documents. In the present case, however, this could not take place for the special reason that the note formed simply the completion of a private letter which His Majesty had addressed to the Pope.. The note was intended to complete the representation of the personal motives which had influenced His Majesty in his decision. A communication of the full text of the note could therefore not take place; but not on account of its contents, which in no respect need to shun daylight, but exclusively on account of its form. The minister sketched thereupon the contents of the note in the following form: The note has, above all, expressed the view that those persons who had inspired the encyclica were, perhaps, not so much induced by the endeavor to prevent a collision between church and state as rather by the wish to provoke the same. The note had absolutely not brought into question, as was maintained by some, the right of the Pope to communicate his opinion on ecclesiastical matters to the bishops, but it had openly expressed regret that the encyclica, beyond this limit, had declared a condemnatory judgment in matters which were not of a dogmatical nature, but founded in the sovereign legislative right of the state. The government further declares in the note that it, in this, to its regret, so difficult situation, would endeavor to do nothing that could provoke a collision between church and state, but that this would only then be possible, when in contradiction to decisively and absolutely condemnatory judgment of the encyclica, the bishops should be counselled to obey the laws of the state. In conclusion the note declares that in the event that, contrary to all anticipation, the domestic peace should be so imperilled that the clergy should refuse obedience to the established laws, then the government would consider itself both as well justified as obligated to maintain the right of the state; yet that it further entertained the conviction that it would succeed in fully enforcing the laws. Upon a further inquiry of the interpellator, whether his excellency was disposed to make communications as to the result of this action on his part, the minister replied that the note was not intended to provoke a response, and that such had not followed; that he possessed no certain basis on which to report the actual results of this action, but that he could not complain, on the contrary, inasmuch as now the matter seemed in a measure to have rested. A further inquiry of the interpellator, relative to the recent declaration in the English Parliament, and the communications of the Times with respect to the presence of Victor Emmanuel in Berlin, furnished occasion to the minister for certain significant remarks as to the present situation of Europe, in which he discovered nothing that would appear in the least to threaten peace. To a demand of the delegate, Dr. Gross, that the minister would be pleased to characterize generally the relations of the empire with foreign powers, as also the situation of Europe, Count Andrássy declared that when the inquiry should be so pointed as to ask whether he saw any danger of war probable, then his answer must be absolutely "no;" still for how long a time peace may be considered as certain, on that point he could give no positive assurance, and he, moreover, believed that no man in all Europe now living could say that; yet, this much he might assert, that he knew of no government which to-day intended to disturb the peace; however, there exist undeniably great antagonisms between certain nations; sentiments and interests, which do not permit the consideration of peace as being perfectly assured for a |