id was to put down the Carnival, which had become in a manner
an institution, so long a time had elapsed since the Venetian
carnival was talked of. The rudest people of the monarchy were
selected to govern that gay city; no wonder therefore that the
nations of the south should almost prefer being pillaged by the
French to being governed by the Austrians.

The Poles love their country as an unfortunate friend: the country
is dull and monotonous, the people ignorant and lazy; they have
always wished for liberty; they have never known how to acquire it.
But the Poles think that they can and may govern Poland, and the
feeling is very natural. The education however of the people is so
much neglected, and all kind of industry is so foreign to them, that
the Jews have possessed themselves of the entire trade, and make the
peasants sell them for a quantity of brandy the whole harvest of the
approaching year. The distance between the nobility and the
peasantry is so immense, the contrast between the luxury of the one,
and the frightful misery of the other is so shocking, that it is
probable the Austrians have given them better laws than those which
previously existed. But a proud people, and the Poles are so even in
their misery, does not wish to be humbled, even when they are
benefited, and in that point the Austrians have never failed. They
have divided Gallicia into circles, each of which is commanded by a
German functionary; sometimes a person of distinction accepts this
employment, but it is much more frequently a kind of brute, taken
from the subaltern ranks, and who in virtue of his office commands
in the most despotic manner the greatest noblemen of Poland. The
police, which in the present times has replaced the secret tribunal,
authorizes the most oppressive measures. Now let us only imagine
what the police can be, namely, the most subtle and arbitrary power
in the government, entrusted to the rude hands of the captain of a
circle. At every post-house in Gallicia there are to be seen three
descriptions of persons who gather round travellers' carriages: the
Jew traders, the Polish beggars, and the German spies. The country
appears exclusively inhabited by these three classes of men. The
beggars, with their long beards and ancient Sarmatian costume,
excite deep commiseration; it is very true that if they would work
they need not be in that state; but I know not whether it is pride
or laziness which makes them disdain the