I transmit herewith a translation of the Emperor's speech at the closing of the Austrian Reichsrath. I have the honor to remain, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington. THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA'S SPEECH. Translation of the speech delivered by the Emperor of Austria at the closing of the Reichsrath on the 15th. Under the significant circumstances in which the Reichsrath closes, I feel the need, before your separation, of seeing you assembled around my person. It is with special satisfaction that I see among you the representatives of Transylvania, who fortunately entered upon the path of a common constitutional action at the very moment when the Tyrol celebrated with enthusiasm the anniversary of its union with Austria. I recognized with real delight in these facts the indication of a fruitful agreement with my intentions, and the guarantee of a happy future. While the general position of the empire was a subject of consolatory reflection, the famine which afflicted certain parts of Hungary filled me with profound grief. You have seconded with fraternal sympathy the efforts made by my government to assist these unfortunate populations. Several important legal dispositions for the internal organization of the monarchy and for the realization of governmental principles have been approved by you, and have received my sanction. Eastern Gallicia and the Bukowina have seen the period for the realization of their wishes respecting the railways which traverse them draw hear. The proposal which has been submitted to you on the subject of the Transylvania railway has not, it is true, met with the solution expected, but it is my wish, and it will be the care of the government, that this important line should be executed. The financial measure passed in the two Chambers has assured the constitutional basis of the financial department during the period of the administration. The vote which authorizes the collection of the taxes of the past year, and the increase of the state credit, have enabled the extraordinary expenses to be met. The preliminary labors have already been commenced for settling the great question of a reform of the taxes in the next session. I have neglected nothing for preserving to the nation the precious benefits of peace. It is the destiny of Austria, while holding herself prepared to resist every possible attack, to maintain a pacific language in the council of nations. The friendly character of the relations of my government with the great powers of Europe corresponds in a thoroughly satisfactory manner with this mission of Austria. A crisis which has lasted for years in the relations of Germany with Denmark has, however, come to a head, and, despite the most conciliatory efforts of my government, warlike events have resulted. As a German prince, I have participated in the military measures necessary for the federal execution in Holstein. In conformity with the resolutions of the Diet, and in accord with Prussia, I have deemed it necessary to take possession of the Duchy of Schleswig as a guarantee of the engagements constantly neglected by Denmark. The heroic bravery and the admirable conduct of the allied army in SchleswigHolstein have obtained a prompt and brilliant satisfaction of the rights and of the honor of Austria, Prussia, and all Germany. The glorious success I have obtained, in concert with my royal ally of Prussia-a success the object of which is not ambition or conquest, but justice, as all Europe knows-will, I hope, assure a happy future, without compromising the peace of the world and of our dear country to the countries whose rights have long been attacked, and for which we are fighting with Prussia. Surrounded by the representatives of my empire, I doubly rejoice at the success with which heaven has blessed the arms of Austria, and at the glorious victories to which it has conducted our flag, for I know that my faithful people are united with me in a sentiment of joy for the proper appreciation of the brave men who have shed their blood for our honor, united everywhere where the name of Austria has to be upheld. In the face of the world you have rendered out of your own mouths this testimony to our union, and that union we will preserve as a precious treasure, for impregnable power is based upon it. Austria has shown that in her reinvigorated form she has preserved the good old spirit, and carried with her into the new liberal paths of her governmental life the inheritance of her strength and her glory. No. 47.] Mr. Motley to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Vienna, March 7, 1864. SIR: I send you herewith a translation of the document by which Austrian Poland is declared to be in a state of siege. This measure has taken few people in these regions by surprise, although it would seem to have been unexpected in foreign countries. By a reference to many of my despatches, and especially to No. 39, of date November 24, 1863, with the accompanying documents, you will observe that something very like a state of siege has for a long time existed in Gallicia and Cracow. The formal proclamation of this condition is not generally thought here to be premature, nor is it connected, as I believe, with any secret political combinations with other powers. It has been notorious that the "national government," concerning whose doings I have often spoken in this correspondence, had extended its net-work almost as thoroughly over the Austrian as over the Russian portion of Poland. Taxes have been levied, troops enlisted, tribunals erected, capital punishment decreed and inflicted by secret and wonderfully constructed machinery, in defiance of the legal authorities, with a precision almost without a parallel in history. An organized assassination, directed by unseen authority, makes the whole population shudder. In brief, although the religious strife which is so envenomed in Russian Poland is absent in Gallicia-although the disaffected portion of the population is supposed to be a minority of the whole, and although the wrongs which have driven the Poles into revolt against the Russian government have not been committed by the Austrian authorities, yet the difference, after all, is only in the comparative intensity and extent of the revolutionary fever in the one and the other territory. With so much of danger and of disaffection in its own domains, it may well be supposed that the imperial royal government has not been proceeding very cheerfully in the crusade against Denmark. To rescue one nationality in the northwest of Europe from oppression by its sovereign does not seem the most logical or congenial of tasks for an empire which is itself compounded of a dozen different nationalities, many of them in a state of chronic discontent, and one of them in a state of rebellion, so far advanced as to require the application of martial law. These reflections are so obvious as to suggest themselves to every mind, and hardly require to be dwelt upon. Nevertheless, Austria seems to be wading every day, but against its will, into deeper and deeper water. the military process now on foot, which is expressly declared not to be war, although some thousands have already been killed and wounded, foreign terri If tory invaded, great fortresses taken, and others besieged during its continuance, really be not war, but a sensible series of measures taken to avert war, then a most hazardous experiment will have been crowned with success. I hardly anticipate such a result. What really lies at the bottom of the great German movement against Denmark is, strange to say, the democratic element as it is understood in Germany; and it is for the sake of apparently assimilating, but in reality neutralizing, this dreaded ingredient in every European organization that Prussia and Austria are now sending their troops to the North sea. The delay in the military operations since the retirement of the Danish armies behind the forts of Duppel and the fortress Frederica will have engaged your attention. I do not dwell on the military events as they succeed each other, but it is well understood now that Jutland is to be occupied by the allied armies. It is asserted, however, that this province is occupied not as a permanent conquest, but for strategical reasons, with a view to operations against the remaining portion of Schleswig. It Thus Holstein was taken in "execution," Schleswig was seized "as a pledge," and now Jutland is occupied "as a military basis," but all without war. remains to be seen whether, if no foreign power interferes, Denmark, after being entirely reduced to subjection, at an enormous expenditure of blood and treasure, will be handed back again, in whole or in part, to the Danish govern ment. If so, an example of moderation after success will be afforded which will be a refreshing phenomenon in European history. The object still avowed by the great German powers is the enforcement of the stipulations of 1851, as they understand them-a united Schleswig-Holstein, that is to say, dissevered from Denmark, but placed in "personal union" under the present King of Denmark. On the other hand, the Danish government considers the term "personal union" as a mere euphuism for national dismemberment, and refuses to hear of such an arrangement. It has recently informed the British government, as is generally believed, that it will go into no conference unless England will guarantee that Denmark shall be called upon to concede nothing beyond the stipulations of 1851-'52, which, as she declares, forbid a united Schleswig-Holstein, and any separation of Schleswig from the Danish kingdom. In case this guarantee should be given, Denmark would be willing to go into a conference on the ground of the status quo before the invasion of Jutland and of an armistice, pending negotiations for the revision and interpretation of those stipulations. She declares that what England has hitherto urged upon her is equivalent to that which her victorious antagonist could impose after her complete subjugation. Under these circumstances she would prefer to die with honor, sword in hand, to becoming a party to her own destruction. As it is perfectly obvious that these terms would not be listened to by Austria and Prussia, to say nothing of the more violent portion of Germany, it is believed that the English government has declined to come to the rescue, and will permit the invasion of Jutland or any other portion of Denmark. I am not aware that there is any organized party in England ready to go to war with Germany in defence of Denmark, although the politicians out of office are eloquent in their denunciations of the perfidy and the imbecility manifested on this question by those who are in. Whether the sympathy of the governing classes in that country, which has been exuberantly manifested for Denmark, as it was for the insurgent slaveholders of America, will be more fruitful of armed intervention in behalf of the Danes than it has hitherto been for the confederates, remains to be seen. The prevailing opinion, but one which I do not share, is that England will look on while Denmark is dismembered. In this case I do not see how the victorious powers could resist the pressure upon them from the more advanced part of Germany in favor of the Augustenburger. At present, however, the chances of the pretender to the duchies seem to have diminished. At any rate his claims are ostentatiously thrust into the background by Austria and Prussia. But popular opinion in England is, after all, an important factor in the problem; and there is a conviction spreading that England has been talking too long and too loud against Germany, and in behalf of Denmark, to allow her to wash her hands and fold her arms. The ridicule which is manifested towards the English policy on continental questions may end in piercing the national stoicism; a feeling of shame and generous indignation may break forth in action, and I almost expect to find England taking the field for her slight but valorous ally at the last moment. Meantime the delay in the military operations is thought, on the whole, to have been rather beneficial than otherwise to Denmark. She has had time to strengthen the fortifications of Duppel and Frederica. The advancing season enables her to make use of her fleets. The blockade of the German ports, and the capture of German trading vesssels, will inflict much damage on her enemy before the Austrian squadron, which, as I understand, has just been ordered into the North sea, comes to their protection; and, moreover, the confusion in the councils of the German confederation has been growing almost hopeless. In the Diet at Frankfort everybody seems to be in a minority on every question. Every motion is negatived, every party is conquered without any conquerors, while puzzle and perplexity reign supreme. One would think that the measures taken for shortening and localizing the war really contemplated its perpetration and expansion; and I for one am not yet a convert to the theory of preventing a great war by making a little one. "Has it come to this," exclaims a leading journal of Vienna this morning, "that no German merchant vessel can venture into the North sea; that the insignificant Denmark is again blockading the mouth of the Elbe; that Germany is in a state of bewilderment; that the Diet, reflecting the universal helplessness, is bringing on itself the scorn and contempt of foreign nations; that, in fine, while we are avoiding the Scylla of a general crisis, we are in danger of being sucked into the Napoleon-Congress Charybdis?" We had a telegraphic report this morning that a Danish cruiser is lying in wait off the mouth of the Elbe for the Hamburg New York steam-packet Germania. I have been informed, however, I know not with what accuracy, that these vessels have been sold to a Russian company. At any rate the river's mouth is considered to be effectually blockaded. To resume in a single phrase what I have been dilating upon in this despatch, there is a growing popular indignation in England that Austria and Prussia should be allowed to crush little Denmark. There is a growing popular indignation in Germany that they are not crushing her fast enough or thoroughly enough. Whether such a widespread and antagonistic excitement between two such mighty peoples as the English and the Germans is likely to be suppressed without blood-letting, you can judge as well as I can. The prospects of peace in Europe do not seem to be very promising this year. I have the honor to remain, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington. Manifesto of the Emperor of Austria, of March 1, 1864, addressed to the Provinces of Gallicia and Cracow. [Document accompanying despatch No. 47.] For many months the kingdom of Poland has been the scene of disastrous occurrences. Gallicia is powerfully moved by sympathy for its neighbor, and that province, generally so peaceful, and moving in the paths of law and order, is agitated to its centre. My government has conscientiously performed its international duties in the face of this condition of things, put in force the existing laws, and given that leniency and forbearance full sway which was thought fitted to calm the excited minds and turn the misguided from their unhappy enterprises. The results have not met expectation. Treasonable associations have been organized within the limits of my empire; enlistments and extortions for the support of the insurrection are uninterruptedly continued; the personal safety and property of the inhabitants of the land and the common weal are endangered, and the legal order seriously threatened. A revolutionary power, secret in its action, the end and aim of which are directed against the safety and integrity of Austria, usurps a formal sovereignty in my realms; demands taxes and other contributions; puts its organs under oath and allegiance; and seeks to secure obedience to, and execution of, its decrees through terror and every other means, not recoiling even from assassination. Numerous facts indicate that the revolutionary parties are now preparing to make very soon my kingdom of Gallicia and Cracow the scene of open hostilities. Such a condition of things cannot be allowed. Conscious of my duty as ruler towards a land which forms an integral part of my empire, the inhabitants of which in the most decisive majority are among my most faithful subjects, I have found myself, after the fruitless employment of all the means offered by the existing laws, forced to decree such extraordinary measures for Gallicia as may secure internal peace and increased protection to person and property. People of Gallicia: That these measures may very soon be dispensed with is my lively wish. Its gratification depends essentially upon your concurrence. I cherish the firm faith that the efforts of my government to secure obedience to the laws and calm the disturbed condition of the land will not fail of your aid. My care is ever for your weal; and I am determined to spare no effort again at the earliest possible moment to secure to your land the blessings of legal order, and thereby the pledge of the general welfare. Given at my capital, Vienna, February 24, 1864. FRANCIS JOSEPH, M. P., Archduke Rainer, Rechberg, Mecsery, Schmerling, Lasser Plener, Forgach, Esterhazy, Burger, Hein-Mertens. No. 59.] Mr. Motley to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: It is not from negligence that I have written but little of late concerning the German-Danish war. All that occurred to me to say in regard to the causes and probable issue of the conflict I have already said. The events both at the seat of war and at the seat of the conferences reach you regularly, almost as soon as they are made known here; and I suppose that you have not much leisure for any academic disquisitions which it might occur to me to make on the subject. The government of Austria is very moderate, for it went into the war with reluctance, in obedience to German popular pressure, and to its instinctive rivalry with Prussia, and will be glad to conclude peace now that its share in the military events has been so satisfactory to its military pride. Prussia, on the other hand, whose troops have also fought with unquestionable |