The care of the government for the material welfare of the people cannot be denied; it is, however, frustrated by two obstacles raised by its own system. The maintenance of the high aristocracy is, for instance, antipathetic to the welfare of the subject, and, although comfort and plenty abound in the immediate vicinity of Vienna, the population on the enormous estates of the magnates in the provinces often present a lamentable contrast. The Austrian government moreover prohibits all free intercourse with foreign parts, and the old- fashioned system of taxation, senseless as many other existing regulations, entirely puts a stop to all free trade between Hungary and Austria. Consequently, the new and grand modes of communication, the Franzen Canal, that unites the Danube and the Thiess, the Louisenstrasse, between Carlstadt and Fiume, the magnificent road to Trieste, the admirable road across the rocks of the Stilfser Jock, and, more than all, the steam navigation as far as the mouths of the Danube and the railroads, will be unavailing to scatter the blessings of commerce and industry so long as these wretched prohibitions continue to be enforced. Austria has, in regard to her foreign policy, left the increasing influence of Russia in Poland, Persia, and Turkey unopposed, and even allowed the mouths of the Danube to be guarded by Russian fortresses, while she has, on the other hand, energetically repelled the interference of France in the affairs of Italy. The July revolution induced a popular insurrection in the dominions of the Church, and the French threw a garrison into the citadel of Ancona; the Austrians, however, instantly entered the country and enforced the restoration of the _ançien régime_. In Lombardy, many ameliorations were introduced and the prosperity of the country promoted by the Austrian administration, notwithstanding the national jealousy of the inhabitants. Venice, with her choked-up harbor, could, it is true, no longer compete with Trieste. The German element has gained ground in Galicia by means of the public authorities and the immigration of agriculturists and artificers. The Hungarians endeavored to render their language the common medium throughout Hungary, and to expel the German element, but their apprehension of the numerous Slavonian population of Hungary, whom religious sympathy renders subject to Russian influence, has speedily reconciled them with the Germans. Slavonism has, on the other hand, also gained ground in Bohemia. The emperor, Francis I., expired in 1835, and was succeeded by his son, Ferdinand I., without a change taking place in the system of the government, of which Prince Metternich continued to be the directing principle.