The Press. — London, England, 1855-06-02 00:00:00

516 arrangement which would accord to them only a momentary repose, troubled in advance by their own previsions? Finally, would the preponderance of Russia in the Black Sea be destroyed, if it were necessary, at the very moment of making peace, to agree on the means of one day putting an end to it? It would be superfluous to carry this reasoning further, and I believe that I have demonstrated that., starting from the principle of the opening or closing of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, the Cabinet of St. Petersburg did not keep the engagement it took in causing itself to be repre sented in the conferences at Vienna. To confirm this judgment I will content myself with calling to mind that Count lino], in the last meeting on the 20th April, declared that " the Russian project, in which he could see neither a solution nor a basis for a solution, indicated only the means of reacting against the naval preponderance of Russia, when it should have already assumed the proportions of an in tolerable danger, but in no respect tended to cause it to cease in a permanent manner, and in the ordinary state of things." The demands of the Western powers, in conformity with the wishes of the Porte, supported to the end by the Aus trian plenipotentiaries, as a complete and efficacious sys tem, were, on the contrary, as moderate in form as they were legitimate in their nature. We asked nothing from Russia which would have caused her dignity, and still less her honour, to suffer. We invited her, moved solely by the gene ral interest of Europe, to fix on a basis equitably calculated and accepted by the Porte the number of vessels which she means to keep for the future in a sea in which she has to dread no attack, and in which her navy, reduced to rea sonable proportions, amply sufficient fur the regular services for which she would have to provide, would in any case have been at least equal to the Ottoman navy. The Cabinet of St. Petersburg refused this accord, which would have restored peace to the world. It has declined the authority of the examples that were cited to it ; has forgotten that, in its last treaty of peace with Persia, it imposed itself on that power the obligation of abstaining from navigating the Caspian Sea, and of exclusively re serving that sea to the flotillas of Russia ; it has not con sented to admit what France, England, the United States, and the Netherlands, under different forms, and at different epochs, have accepted, either to terminate war, or to con solidate peace, or to suppress germs of rivalry or conflict between neighbouring States. I have now terminated this exposé ; and there will result from it, I hope, for all impartial minds, the conviction that the Western powers cannot be responsible for the continua tion of a war the effects of which they have desired to stop with as much sincerity and zeal as they employed to pre vent its breaking out. France and England do not enter tain the sentiments ascribed to them; their hostility is not, as has been said, implacable. They have never desired to impose on Russia a peace derogatory to her honour and her dignity ; but necessity has charged them with a duty which, with the aid of Divine Providence, they will know how to fulfil ' • and Europe, consolidated on her bases, will be thankful to them for having restrained within just bounds an influence which everywhere endeavoured to go beyond the circle of its legitimate action. WALEWSKI. The following circular despatch has been addressed by Count Buol to the Austrian plenipotentiaries at German Courts, relative to the Vienna Conferences:— Vienna, May 14. The decision of the British Government to present to Parliament the protocols of the Vienna Conference makes public the negotiations for peace at a moment when they cannot be regarded as terminated. At the end of the protocol of the twelfth sitting of the Conference, Austria declared that she did not regard every means exhausted to bring the negotiations upon the third point to a solution, and that she regarded it as her special mission to endeavour to discover the means for effecting a rapprochment. The plenipotentiaries of France and England on their part, it is true, declared that their instructions were ex hausted, but did not declare the negotiations terminated ; and when later, by protocol N 0.13, the rejection of a pro posal emanating from Russia was stated, Austria resolved to recommend confidentially to the serious consideration of the Courts of Paris and of London new propositions, in which she thought to find a loyal and complete fulfilment of the third point of guarantee, and which his blaiesty the Emperor, our august master, deems of a nature (fur yeeig net halt) to be presented to the St. Petersburg Cabinet as an ultimatum. The last protocols of the Conference left the negotiations still pending, and the Austrian Cabinet for its part would have hesitated at leaving that reserve which the case commanded, and which, in the interest of an object so importa,tt for all, it had imposed upon itself. The notification made in the British Parliament of the publication of the protocols made it incumbent upon us to have them published likewise, so ea to bring them to the knowledge of the Governments of Germany, and you are requested to present the accompanying documents, with a copy of this letter, to the Government to which you arc accredited. As we make this communication before the result of the still-pending negotiations can be stated, we can only do so with that reserve which the attainment of the object commands. As yet we do not express any opinion upon the situation of affairs. Shortly, however, we may be in a condition to explain our views fully to the Diet—views upon which the reply of the Cabinets of Paris and of London to the proposals alluded to above cannot fail to exercise some influence. Count BnoL. THE CzAn ALEXANDER has caused the pamphlet entitled " The Last Hours and Dying Words of the Emperor Nicholas," to be translated into several Oriental languages, and printed at . ,the Government per• THE PRESS. preign 6orrtspouttiut. FRANKFORT, MAY 30. It must be borne in mind that the present war is a war for the balance of power, and that end will not be obtained if Russia be weakened whilst the power of England is increased. . . . . Austria has no interest in raising England to the same predominance by laud as she now enjoys by sea. Prase of Vienna. THEEETORE she must not be allowed, if possible, to be successful together with France in the Crimea. The conclusion is inevitable, and the spirit of Austria in the late conferences admits of no equivocal con struction. It is well that such sentiments be under stood at last. Better far a grim and overt foe than a treacherous and treasonable ally with a smile on the countenance and a false word on the lip. Lord John Russell, early in the session, stated his conviction that the treaty with Austria was not worth the paper on which it was written. The house of Hapsburg was faithless—ever faithless—now faith less. Thus spake the Whig. He subsequently accepted the mission to 'Vienna, and abandoning the straight route from Paris passed by Brussels, where he privately left the impression that peace was certain of accomplishment. Arrived at Vienna he participated in the ceremony of admitting within the pale of Christianity the eldest born of Hapsburg. He dipped his fingers in the holy water, and gave the young prince a Whig blessing. Did the water remain holy "ex post facto" ? He then panegyrised Russia, and assured Prince Gortschakoff that Mus covite honour should be carefully preserved as a European necessity. In fulfilment of his pledge he demanded " dishonouring" terms of Russia, yet on leaving Vienna he declared to Count Buol his willingness to support propositions that were in reality " dishonourable" to England. At last pinned by Mr. Disraeli, this Whig diplomatist vented his mortification in a war speech, so superabundant of contumely towards Russia that if it be true surety for his opinion, it would make his conduct at Vienna irreconcileable with the commonly accepted attributes of integrity. Again, not satisfied with this, and finding that he had offended the peace party, his radical supporters, Lord John Russell on Cie follow ing day announced his readiness to recant his war speech in favour of the ancient allies of Chesham place. The circular of M. Walewski is a cruel rebuff •r him. In Germany, and at the Diet, the effect of Lord John Russell's conduct has been to an nihilate any reliance upon the English Ministry, and to create a determination to act independently of the Western powers. Prussia and Germany were led to believe that the mission of Lord J. Russell would be one of peace, the intelligence being very positively conveyed from Brussels. "Le mot d'ordre, c'est la paix." It reached the Diet and Germany through separate channels, each proceeding from the capital of Belgium. M. (le Bismarck on the failure of the conferences repaired, by order, to Berlin, where, with M. de Manteuffel and M. de Esterhazy, frequent meetings have been held ; and Prussia and Austria are now arranging their differences in order conjointly to guard against a common enemy. There is much to alarm them. In the meantime Austria has again addressed herself by circular to the princes to petition "ad misericordiam" for their neutrality. The ambiguous expressions of Lord Palmerston OD Poland, and the reception of the Polish congra tulations by the Emperor Napoleon, have led to an immediate explanation at Vienna. But the direst cause of offence yet remains to be narrated. The reception given by the Queen and Prince Albert to the Emperor Napoleon and the Empress Eugenie has wrenched Germany from England. Teuton race, Saxon consanguinity, German relationship, are forgotten and obliterated by the heinous offence of receiving the Imperial guests with cordiality, and, above all, for having conferred the Garter on Napo leon 111. The trespass of the Queen and Prince Albert against Germany consists in having been courteous, loyal, and well-bred; and the exercise of these social virtues towards the Emperor and Em press is in German jadgment unpardonable and warranting a withdrawal from all but the coldest intercourse. None of the German papers gave other than a crude relation of the Imperial visit, and the remarkable speech of the Emperor at Guildhall was generally omitted. This was by command. The immaculate Independance Beige did not dare to shock its Orleanist readers at St. Petersburg. And this Germanic condemnation of the Queen of Eng land and Prince Albert shall have a ready illus tration. At the dinner of the English Embassy in Berlin, in celebration of her Majest3's birthday, it was prominently set forth in the Court Journal, that "Baron de Manteuffel proposed the health of the Queen of England, and Lord BloniSeld that of the SATURDAY= King of Prussia." The intrinsic value of the com pliment to the Queen shall be tested. At Kreuznach, a small watering-place on the Nahe in the Prussian Rhineland, there happened to be staying, during the past week, a nobleman belonging to the " Maisons Comtales," of Prussia proper. He was a field officer, and well acquainted with the go g lish lan guage, which now forms everywhere a part of German education. After supper, and over has cigar, in the saloon of the hostelry, he read in the Times the description of the departure of the Emperor Napoleon and the Empress Eugenie from Dover harbour. It was there related that the delay in getting under weigh being longer than had been expected, Prince Albert returned three several times to shake hands and bid farewell to the Empress. On perusing this passage the Prussian courtier started to his feet, drew himself up to his full height, and, pale from passion, poured out in Prussian (that is to say bad German) every abuse that words could convey upon the head of I'rince Albert. No curse dredged from the deep wells of jesuistic anathema was sufficiently potent to slake the hissing rage of the Prussian count. In this wild, incautious, and impolitic dis charge of temper, it may easily be imagined that many secrets of the prison-house freely escaped, and that the private sentiment of the Court to which he was commissioned came forth without let or hindrance. A beautiful and imperial lady pays a visit to the Queen of England, and having won the sympathy at.d admiration of all, not less from the graces of mind than those of nature, the Consort—let it be more familiarly said the husband—of our beloved Sovereign, loyally and courteously takes the hand of his lady guest at parting, and expresses gratification at having made her acquaintance. This is the crime of Prince Albert in the eyes of Prussia. Prince Albert may differ with many in England on questions of policy,. Every one has a full right to the liberty of thought and speech ; but there is not a gentleman in England, not a man in the empire, be he Tory, Conservative, Whig, Radical, Quaker, or Papist, who, if his Royal Highness be treated with disrespect by Germans for performing gallantly the courtesies of royal hospitality, or be lectured to shape his social intercourse to suit con tinental views, would not rally round him as one man to resist an insult so personal and natural. Let this fact be well understood—let the case be truthfully stated—and it can be supported by ready evidence teeming on every side—that Germany ries sworn enmity to England, and Prussia in a more especial and royal manner, for the offence of the Queen of England in having welcomed to her palace the Emperor and Empress of the French. J. E. L. SIENA, May 24. There is a suspicious move throughout Italy. The Pope, it is reported, declines to trust himself in Rome, where he was to return this week, and pur poses to remain for the present at Castel Gaudclfo. Beacon fires, as in 1820 and 1848, have been seen occasionally at night on the mountain near Radico fani, communicating with others near Monte Fiascone and Viterbo, on the Roman side, and again with Volterra, and on by the Apennines above Lucca and Massa, northward. The withdrawal of the Austrian troops from Tuscany, the junction of the Sardinian army with the allies, and the sight of the Italian tri-colour on the Mediterranean waters, in honoured alliance with the two great nations, France and England, have assuredly given an im pulse to those who honestly desire to follow the example of constitutional Sardinia. The Neapolitan Bombs blurts out Gene Mimics mibi Tyrrhenum navigat gequor," and fills the oubliettes with a few more persons whom he may suspect of carbonarism. Mazza and Antonelli, the two most depraved Ministers of Italy, are on the alert, but have no means of arresting the discontent of aa classes. The Austrians are exe crated in the north ; the King of Naples is loathed for his personal acts of cruelty ; and Cardinal Anto nelli, the son of the brieand,is more feared than any; but the greatest and acknowledged evil of Italy is the priesthood. The entire country, from one end to the other, begins to feel and to recognise the nature of its incubus. The Italians have at last discovered the " cause mali"—they are unanimous in their anti pathy to Rome, are convinced that the blow must be struck in that quarter; and the power of the Vatican is so far gone that it can only be maintained by force, fraud, and cruelty. Were it not from the dread of Red Republicans Italy would not be in her present state. " Maledetto it prete" is the household shibboleth. The greatest anxiety prevails on the subject of the Sardinian convents. Every temptation has been offered, every artifice and menace has been resorted to by the Pope and his camarilla, in order to deter