Another town in Galicia, Lisko, has been burnt down, and
three large villages, one almost a town, have shared the same fate. It is no longer doubted that incendiarism is at work, and the fires aro attributed to the peasants, who all over Galicia are in a state of wild excitement. The depression of prices has made it difficult to pay their quit - rents ; reports have spread among them that the nobles intend to re-establish the feudal system, abolished in 1849 ; and they attack the castles, whence.the great families have fled. Their distress is said to be deep, but produced by economic causes, aggravated by the teaching of agitators, who are preaching a kind of coming millennium. The Austrian Government has despatched fresh troops to the province, and the peasantry, it is said, are disposed to rely on the Emperor; but the educated classes, remembering the terrible scenes of 1849, anticipate a Jacquerie. It may be averted by a grant of time to pay debts ; but the suffering of producers all through Europe is a singular phenomenon, the more so as it is still so imper- fectly explained. We suppose that the grain-growers of Russia and Hungary, beaten out of the Western market by America and India, are selling their surplus nearer home at ruinous rates ; but an over-production of food carried to such an extent is a most unusual occurrence. There must be some other cause, and the only one wide enough to cover the facts is the suggested appreciation of gold, which, nevertheless, is not yet proved conclusively.
Previous page
