12 JANUARY 1867, Page 2

. The Emperor of Austria, forgetting apparently that he had

just promised to respect the Hungarian Conslitution, has issued a patent establishing a new organic law of recruiting for the whole empire: Under its provisions every man throughout the empire becomes at the age of twenty liable to be drawn as a conscript, to serve in the Army for twelve years. Exemption by purchase is abolished, and virtually the only exemptions granted are an absolute one to priests and a conditional one to undergraduates, who, if they behave well, need only, as in Prussia, serve for a single year. The term of service is to be six years in the Line and six years in the Reserve, which, as in the French plan, is divided into the first and second ban, of which the first only will usually be called out. This law will give the Government, it is believed, control over about 200,000 men a year, and enable them, if they can find the money, to raise the Army to 1,300,000 men. It is said not to be very unpopular in Germany, where the poor have long been discontented with the exemptions of the rich ; but it is declared illegal in Hungary, where all parties have combined to present a protest so strong that it is thought the Government will give way.