circular can be depended upon as an expression of its
sentiments, is all for peace, we can see no opening for that renewal of
warfare in Europe which the defeated party is said to desire, as an ally
of France, in the expectation that she might recover the place she so
lately lost. The reopening of the Eastern Question, of which much is
said, might afford some hope to Austria, but not to the extent that is
supposed; for she is not strong enough at this time to be a powerful
ally of Russia as against Turkey, or of England in support of Turkey.
She has parted with her old importance; for there is no further hiding
from the world that her system is vicious, and that nothing could be
gained from an alliance with her, while any country with which she
should be associated would have to extend to her much support. She may
rise again, but how, or in what manner, it is not in any man's power to
say.

FOOTNOTES:

[25] The following is the epigram of Matthias Corvinus:--

"Bella gerant alii; tu felix nube!
Nam quae Mars aliis dat tibi regna Venus."

Which Mr. Sterling thus renders:--

"Fight those who will; let well-starred Austria wed,
And conquer kingdoms in the marriage-bed."

Some other hand has given the following translation, or rather
amplification, of the epigram:--

"Glad Austria wins by Hymen's silken chain
What other states in doubtful battles gain,
And while fierce Mars enriches meaner lands,
Receives possessions from fair Venus' hands."

There would seem to be an end of these fortunate marriages, no member of
the Austrian imperial family being now in condition to wed to much
profit. The Emperor Francis Joseph, who is yet a young man, took to wife
a Bavarian lady, said to be of extraordinary beauty, in 1854; and he has
a daughter, who was born in 1856, the same year with the French Prince
Imperial, whom she might marry, but that the two are children. Besides,
marriages between French princes and Austrian princesses have turned out
so badly on two memorable occasions, within less than a century, that
even the statesmen of Vienna and Paris might well be excused if they
were to think a third alliance quite impossible. The heir apparent to
the Austrian throne is but eight years old. The Emperor's next brother,
Ferdinand Maximilian,--well known in this country as Emperor of the
Mexicans,--made a good marriage, his wife being a daughter of the late
Leopold I., King of the Belgians. S