' But 'the President expects that
_you_ will be diligent in obtaining not only information about political
events, but also commercial and even scientific facts, and in reporting
them to this department.'
Although the Austrian mantle was soon transferred to the classic
shoulders of Mr. Motley,--another honored Bay-state-ian,--the caustic
reference to predecessors, and the implied compliment of request, did
not at all lose their respective significance.
What a compact statement is contained in the following sentence of the
instructions to the representative of foreign affairs at Vienna!--'The
political affairs in Austria present to us the aspect of an ancient and
very influential power, oppressed with fiscal embarrassments,--the
legacy of long and exhausting wars,--putting forth at one and at the
same time efforts for material improvement and still mightier ones to
protect its imperfectly combined dominion from dismemberment and
disintegration, seriously menaced from without, aided by strong and
intense popular passions within.' A lyceum lecturer might consume an
evening over the present political condition of Austria, and yet not
convey a more perfect idea thereof than is comprehended by the preceding
paragraph!
Mr.
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