with all
his genius he was unequal to the task of its accomplishment. Napoleon
entertained the same plan with his confederation of the Rhine; but all
such systems are ephemeral when power is centralized, and the minor
states are looked upon as instruments, and not as principals. Austria
is the only empire on record that has succeeded under those
circumstances. The cabinet of Austria, when it seeks the solution of
any internal question, invariably reverses the positions, and
hypothetically puts itself in the position of the provincial interest
under consideration. That is the secret of the prosperity of Austria."

_Author_. "I certainly have been often struck with the historical
fact, that 1830 produced revolutions then and subsequently in France,
Belgium, Poland, Spain, and innumerable smaller states; while in
Austria, with all its reputed combustible elements, not a single town
or village revolted."

_Mett_. "That tangible fact speaks for itself."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 26: This chapter was written in Vienna in the beginning of
1844; but I did not wish to break the current of my observations on
Servia by the record of my intervening journey to England.]

CHAPTER XXXV.

Concluding Observations on Austria and her Prospects.

The heterogeneousness of the inhabitants of London and Paris is from
the influx of foreigners; but the odd mixture of German, Italian,
Slaavic, and I know not how many other races in Vienna, is almost all
generated within the limits of the monarchy. Masses, rubbing against
each other, get their asperities smoothed in the contact; but the
characteristics of various nationalities remain in Vienna in
considerable strength, and do not seem likely soon to disappear by any
process of attrition. There goes the German--honest, good-natured, and
laborious; the Hungarian--proud, insolent, lazy, hospitable, generous,
and sincere; and the plausible Slaav--his eye, twinkling with the
prospect of seizing, by a knowledge of human nature, what others
attain by slower means.

How curious again, is the meeting of nations that labour and enjoy! In
Paris, the Germans and the English are more numerous than any other
foreigners. The former toil, drudge, save their littles to make a
meikle. The latter, whatever they may be at home, are, in Paris,
generally loungers and consumers of the fruits of the earth. The
Hungarian's errand in Vienna is to spend money: the Italian's to make
it. The Hungarian, A.B.,