One hundred years ago
Another town in Galicia, Lisko, has been burnt down, and three large vil- lages, one almost a town, have shared the same fate. It is no longer doubted that incendiarism is at work, and the fires are 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 gov- ernment has despatched fresh troops to the province, and the peasantry, it is said, are disposed to rely on the Emper- or; but the educated classes, remember- ing the terrible scenes of 1849, antici- pate 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.
Spectator, 1 May 1886
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