MANIFESTO OF THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XVIII, Issue 60, 27 July 1859, Page 3

MANIFESTO OF THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA.

The manifesto addressed by the Emperor of Austria to the entire population of his empire commences with these words : " I have given orders to my brave and faithful army to put an end to the attacks which a neighbouring State, Sardinia, has been for several years past in the habit of making upon the undoubted rights of my Crown and the integrity of the empire confided to me by Divine Providence." It goes on to say that in spite of the generosity and good intentions of which Austria has given so many proofs during the last ten year 3, the hostility of Piedmont has continually augmented, and has recently displayed itself in a most especial manner by extreme agitation and revolutionary propagandism. The manifesto alludes to the efforts of diplomacy to bring about an arrangement, adding that the refusal of Piedmont to agree to a disarmament had rendered an appeal to arms necessary. He speaks of the horrors of war, but says that the monarch must repress the impulses of his heart when honour and duty call upon him to march; when an armed enemy is upon his frontiers united with all those subversive parties whose object is to appropriate the Austrian States of Italy to themselves, and when' the Sovereign of France, meddling, under frivolous pretext, with the affairs of the Italian peninsula, is sending troops to the succour of our enemy, and when many detachments of his army have already crossed the Sardinian frontier. After an impassioned appeal to the patriotism of Austria, the manifesto concludes in these words : "We hope not to remain isolated in this contest. The soil on which we are about to fight is steeped in the blood of our brothers of Germany ; that country was conquered as a German rampart, and has been maintained as such jto this day. It is always upon that ground that the most dangerous enemies of Germany commence their attempts to destroy its internal power." The Emperor of Austria has addressed the following order of the day to the troops of the second army under the command of General Gyulai : " After useless efforts to preserve peace to my empire without compromising its dignity, I am obliged to have recourse to arms. I place with confidence the good right of Austria in the hands of my brave army. Your fidelity and your valour — your exemplary discipline — the justice of the cause you defend, and a glorious past, guarantee success. Soldiers of the second army, it is for you to carry to the victory unstained flags of Austria. March to the combat with the blessing of God and the confidence of your Emperor." THE FRENC3 DECLARATION OF WAR. The Emperor Napoleon has now formally declared war against Austria. The following communication was read on Tuesday by Count Walewski to the Legislative Corps : — Austria, in causing her army to enter tlio territories of the King of Sardinia, our ally, declares war against us. She thus violates treaties and justice, and menaces our frontiers. All the great Powers have protested against this aggression. Piedmont having accepted the conditions which ought to have insured peace, one asks what can bo the reason of this suddei invasion ? It is that Austria has brought matters to this extremity, that sho must either rule up to the Alps, or Italy must be free to the shores of the Adriatic ; for in this country every corner of territory which remains independent endangers her power. Hitherto moderation has been the rule of my conduct ; now energy becomes my first duty. Let France arm, and resolutely tell Europe : " I desire not conquest, but I desire fimly to maintain my national and traditional policy. I observe the treaties on condition that no one shall violate them against me. I respect the territories and the rights of neutral Powers, but I boldly avow my sympathies for a people whose history is mingled with our own, and who groan under foreign oppression." France has shown her hatred of anarchy. She has been pleased to give me a power strong enough to I reduce into nonentity the abettors of disorder and the I incorrigible members of those old factions whom one incessantly sees confederating with our enemies ; but she has not for all that abdicated her task of civiliza- ' tion. Her natural allies have always been those who ; desire the improvement of the human race, and when she draws the sword it is not to dominate, but to , liberate. The object of this war, then, is to restore ■ Italy to herself, not to impose upon her ft change of masters, and we shall then have upon our frontiers a ' friendly people, who will owe to us their independence. We do not go into Italy to foment disorder : or to disturb the power of the Holy Father, whom we have replaced upon his throne, but to remove from , this foreign pressure, which weighs upon the whole Peninsula, and to help to establish there, order based upon legitimate satisfied interests. We are going, ' then, to seek upon this classic ground, illustrated by so many victories, the footsteps of our fathers. God grant that we may be worthy of them ! lam going soon to place myself at the head of the army. I leave in France the Empress and my son. Seconded by the experience and the enlightenment of the last surviving brother of tho Emperor, she will understand how to show herself equal to the grandeur of her mission. I confide them to the valour of the army which remains in France to watch our frontiers and to protect our homes ; I confide them to the patriotism of the National Guard ; I confide them, in a word, to the entire people, who will encircle them with that affection and devotion of which I daily receivo bo many proofs. Courage, then, nnd union! Our country is again about to show tho world that she has I not degenerated. Providenco will bless our efforts, for that causo is holy in tlio eyes of God which rests on justice, humanity, love of country, and in- i dependence.

Irish Provisions. — We had long been cognizant of the almost unprecedented activity of" the French Government in preparing for war ; aud we have obtained, within the last few hours, at our own doors, fresh evidence of this activity. They had long since secured every pound of provisions that offered in their own markets — for French management is such that it always bestows its patronage at home before spending any of it abroad — and we now learn the significant fact that not only have they secured provisions very extensively in England, but in Ireland also, where large quantities have been secured on their account at what we believe are good terms for the curers. The French Government have made purchases of screw steamers in Liverpool, which have been sent off to Brest ; and they are looking for further supplies of provisions in the English and Irish markets. — Dublin Evening Post.

We long since drew attention to the obvious want of a central point of communication and

intercourse in London for colouists visiting England, aud for persons connected with our Colonies, socially, commercially, and politically. We are happy to perceive that this desideratum has been very successfully supplied by the Australian Association, who have established exactly what was required in the Australian and New Zealand Rooms, just opened in Change-alley. Here every sort of information respecting the colonies can be obtained, everybody connected with the colonies may be met, daily telegrams may be seen reporting arrivals and departures, and here committees of the various colonies hold their sittings for the transaction of special business. The importance of such a centre of news and operations cannot be over-rated. Mr. H. E. Watts, formerly of the Calcutta Englishman, and subsequently editor of the Sydney Englishman, has just returned to Australia under an engagement to edit the

Melbourne Argus. Babbage and Gregory's explorations are engraving on our best map of Australia ; and a large six-sheet map of New Zealand will shortly be published. By the Novara — Austrian scientific exploration ship — from Sydney, five boxes with mineralogical and geological collections have been despatched to Europe, destined for the Novara Museum. Dr. Hochstetter, who has been engaged by the Governor of New Zealand to stay behind for six months, in a letter to the Royal Academy of Science, declares (says the Athenteum) the remaius of the extinct primitive animals found in Australia astonishing. While Australia has always been considered the newest continent, he has met there with the most ancient and primitive forms in Flora and Fauna, proving Australia to be the oldest continent ot the earth. While Europe had to go through several earth revolutions, Australia's continent, since the primeval period, has not been covered with the sea, and has developed itself undisturbedly. The Court Journal says that the mission of the Baron de Beust, the Saxon premier, who is now at our Court, is one of a very important kind, having reference to a treaty between the Protestant part of England with the German Confederation, such as the engagement undertaken between Russia aud France, relative to the possible consequences of the struggle iv Italy. Iceland has suffered from all the severity of what they call there a " strong wiuter." A letter from that island, dated April 6, says : — " The last two months' frightful season, with the frost and enormous masses of snow, make the peasants in want of food for their horses, and I am afraid a very great number of them will die by famine, and the people themselves be badly off for food." All the vineyards in Champagne, according to a letter from Epernay, have been cut up by a sharp frost. There does not remain for the present one-eighth of a crop, and the result will be a great failure for the year.

Letters from Rome, in the Marseilles journals, state that the Pope is about to send a pastoral letter to all Catholic bishops, requesting them to order public prayers for peace to be offered up; and that Cardinal AntonelU has issued a diplomatic note which declares that ihe Roman Government will, in the existing war, maintain strict neutrality.