The Austrian Observer und...
'I'he Austrian Observ'er undertakes a defence of the cri- minal law of Austria against the attacks of Mr. CAxNXNCs on the first day of the present session of Parliament. The force of the defence is confi.ned to this single affirmation- " that thelaw of Austria, humnaneas the Government, de- " sires the confession of a criminal, as such a confession "leaves no doubt of the guilt ; but does in no case extort it"-and why ? " because torture was abolished by "MARIA THERESA ." It is not necessary to go into a spew culation as to what means are at the disposal of an arbitrary Government, for persuading a prisoner to confess, even though the instrumenits and visible signs of torture may have been formally abolished ? Is solitary confinemenit no torture ? Is starvation th- gentlest figure of rhetoric in the world? An;l may not these, witlh a thousand(I other modes of iirportunity, be applied by a gaoler not amenable to county MJagistrates-not liable to be questioned by a Com- mnittee of the House of Commons, for the purpose of ex- tracting fromn a heartbroken captive that acknowledgment which a dlespotic Sovereign so humanely " lesires," though he is too conscientious to " extort?" The truth is, that where concealmetnt of the trial itself forms a leading fea- ture of the jSudicial system, there is no security for any thing like faith, or honour, or rectitude, in the adlninis- tration of the laws. The principle of an English states- man is, that without responsibility there must be abuse ; andi where is the responsibility of an Aus- trian or Russian gaoler, judIge, or executioner? To wvhom is he responsible ? To the Crown ; that is, to the Minis- ter. And the Minister-to whom ? Why to the Autocrat. And the Autocrat? To his own caprices. In Austrian Italy, therefore, there may be promulgated things called " laws;" but being edicts of the Court, and the Court alone coghtizant of the manner in which they are. really executed by its owtn ministels, it is, to the mtiud of an Englishman, quit6 the same, whether, under a military despotism, one mlode of torture has been abolished and another practised, or whether mercy or severity is the professed rule of action. 'The predominating passion of the hour is the only law; the bayonet-no matter how disguisedl-must exercise 'the functions of judge and jury: hypocrisy and vengeance are without an effective control; for by the very principle of Goyernment, the opinions and feelings of the nation whomn it coerces ate excluded from all influence over it.