4 JUNE 1859, Page 11

AUSTRIA TO BLAME.

Belfast, June]. Sin—All the misfortunes of Europe during the past ten years have arisen from the infatuation of the Austrian Imperial family in bringing the Rus- sians into Hungary in 1849, and the folly of our Government and people in permitting it. By thus destroying not only the freedom of Hungary, but the independence of the Austrian Empire, Nicholas removed the first ob- stacle to the conquest of Turkey, and made the war of 1856 possible. Austria thus became powerless for good, and almost omnipotent at the same time for evil. The destruction of freedom in Hungary was appropriately followed in 1850 by the same in Germany. The Elector of Hesse employed Austria as Austria had employed Russia. The surrender of the military independence of the Empire to 'Russia was also appropriately followed by the surrender of its spiritual independence to Rome ; and the despotism founded on the ruins of Huugarian freedom has ever since been patronizing worse despotisms in Italy, and governing Lombardy as a conquered country, which it was not in 1815 any more than Scotland. This is the Government the Times has patronized from 1849 till now with what motives I feel at a loss to understand, but I have not the usual perfect faith in the pecuniary honesty of the London daily press. You see the Times alone has an own correspondent at Austrian head-quarters, evidently an exchange of business benefits on the one side for political support on the other. But all this is not worse than its advocacy of Russia, or rather of the undisguised baseness of our abondoning Turkey, before the Crimean war, and its advocacy some time about 1848 of the repeal of the Irish union. The advice to leave Turkey to its fate, (on the ground that we could not prevent the Russians from conquering Turkey,) was no doubt sincere. That to repeal the Irish union was not so, but was made in a tone of insult to Ireland that I cannot forgive. A similar proposal made on politico-strategical grounds was to

cut Canada adrift, retaining the Lower Provinces. J. M.