AUSTRIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 657, 2 July 1864, Page 2

AUSTRIA.

> According to intelligence from Dresden, AustriSiapDears decided to place Venetia in a state of- 'siege. Precautionary measures continue to be taken in Southern Tyrol. The fortified places, especially Kufstin, are receiving strong garrisons. Mountain denies and gorges are carefully watched.

News from the Rouman frontier gives reason to apprehend a rising in that quarter. The military governor of Transylvania, in accordance with orders from Vienna, is taking precautions in order to protect the province against any coup de main. Strong bodies of troops are being concentrated on the Wallachian frontier.

The Dalmatian Diet was dissolved on April Btb, by an Imperial resolution, on account of party intrigue and attacks on the government which have occurred.

Letters from Vienna state that the parting of the emperor from his brother the Archduke Maximilian was rather cool. The idea of a Mexican empire with an Austrian prince as sovereign met with decided resistance up to the very last moment in the official circles of the Austrian capital. The firmness of character of the archduke alone was able to triumph over that opposition, and now that the uselessness of all those efforts has been proved, the watchword in the regions of Vienna is "Mexico and its emperor are strangers to Austria and her interests."

THE POLISH INSURRECTION.

Telegrams from •Breslau report that a strong detachment of insurgents recently, crossed the frontier from GaUicia, and,after a protracted engagement with; the Russians, succeeded h\ penetrating* Jntp^ the Government of Lublin.*''Anotherengagement, described as still 'TnaoH'W? portant, is represented as having "taken place near Woochack, in the palatinate of Radom, and the result is stated to have been favourable to the insurgents. It is affirmed that the Austrian authorities are expelling from Gallicia all the Polish refugee families ; and, in fact, only allow 48 hours'to ; leave -the province. / All orac^['haSj;been thrown into excitemeillj^^e^arrest.pf two ladies, whose salons w^r,e o amongsj; ( 'jbhe moat'elegant and, frequen^.p^hsCfUy!,; One of them, the Ckmntes^^rowj^.ty^s a, lady;, who had taken %Jsspj*ns fijefuge'in^ Cracow from the excesses jpr tl tneß'u9sian soldiery, and the other,^ a' Cpuj^ess fflodzicka. , The house o^lJi^fYOuntess^Qstrbyska was ;en-, tered fttf'^^.a^mV/.tiy, // f 'the ., jpolice, and jninutelv^^e^he^/ frpm garret to ,cel-. lar. A|Jitie? expiration^ of, eight hours a 1 papejJ^Tv^s;' found, from which it i appear^ ihaf', 'the; Countess Ostrowska belongemto^if^ciety ; formed , among the ladies oFyWojar^fqr^^urfing the sick trad Tvoundedjj'jpe., .J^ronij^hiß^ipaper it also appeareA^tAlje.^ouii^qss^pdzickaj^as presiden^^fMe^ame society, ..Both ladies were aj^ajle^ojji, ffie.^not.ajid carried off, at 10 p.nv,9> tfiejqpk'jup in the Gastle, % , The fcOttjcjial p^jenuik;' announces the appearanic^ of a^ew insurgent .band of 4<)6j men on.j;hj&2^!|v9f,Maj:clj,>9pp.os;te Rypjn, in the^^atinate^^f Pljjck; • and also a small detachnien't m the' village" of Zabia, in the palatinate of Ostrolenka. On the

10th of March an engagement, it adds, took place near Radom with the insurgents under Filipowski. --A despatch from-Breslau states that an insurgent detachment of 500 infantry and 40 cavalry had crossed from Eastern Prnssia into the kingdom of Poland, near Koschlau. It subsequently had a sanguinary engagement with the Russians ai Lapinozka. Another band of Polish insurgents raised in the district of Neulenburg, in the province of East Prussia, and consisting of sharpshooters and cavalry, had crossed the river Wehle, on the Polish frontier, and penetrated into the kingdom. Letters from Warsaw state, that in order to persuade the Czar ,of the|:loyalty of the Polish peasants, deputations of the latter are being got up by the Russian authorities in the following manner: — Two peasants are selected from each of the military districts (uczastku) into which the kingdom of Poland has been divided, and the commandants of the districts send them to the principal towns, whence most of them are sent on to St Petersburg. At St Petersburg they are clothed in the Russian costume, and presented to the Emperor as the elders of the Polish communes, who have arrived in deputation to render to the Czar, in the name of all the communes, their thanks for the ukase of the 2nd March. These proceeding? are kept as secret as possible by the military authorities. On the 28th of March two peasants were taken from each district of the palatinate of Cracow and sent to the district chiefs.

On April 13, the official seal was affixed to the offices of the Warsaw Credit Institution of the landed proprietors. Three of the higher officials were arrested. A special commission, under the presidency of General Getzewitsch, had been appointed to examine the assets, accounts, and management oi the institution, as well as the payments due from the landed proproprietors. On the following day the commission declared the books and assets to be perfectly in order.

A Warsaw letter says :— " A terrible but authentic piece of news has come to hand. In the western portion of the government of Warsaw are three villages almost exclusively inhabited by Russian peasants, only a few families of Poles remaining here. An official report states that all these latter have been massacred without exception by the Russian peasants, who also set fire to the houses of their victims. The cure of the Catholic church, the only one remaining in the three villages, shared the fate of his parishioners, having been thrown into the flames by the Russians."