The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-01-12 00:00:00


ne ,Stoarbrittge ObserVer

iXTURDAY. JANUARY 121, 1884.
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'IIIP, POLITICAL, OUTLOOK.

When the late Emperor Napoleon was upon 1
the throne of France it was uncharitably as.
mimed that his developements of foreign policy I
were carried oat with the idea of diverting the
reinde of the nation from the sterility of reforms
at. home. The unkiod critits of his Imperial
Majesty pointed to the fact that many years
were not permitted to pass without either a war
on the part of France or a rumour of war. When
domestic questions pressed f, a. consideration
attention was drawn to some prominent topic in
foreign ainirs. The Emperor had not long
been on the throne before he joined England
and Turkey in the war against Russia; he next
went to war with Austria, he would have engaged
in hostilities against Austria and Prussia when
they attacked Denmark bad England consented
to join him, he made an unsticceisfal effort to
plant an empire in Mexico, and lastly declared
war against Prussia, with the result that the
German empire arose, Pfieenix-like from the
ashes of his own. But during the eighteen
years that the French empire lasted, it was said
of Louis Napoleon that his desire was to build
up a dynasty at whatever cost. Could France
be only freed from the incubus of Imperial
traditions, there would, so said the prophets, be
no farther foreign complications. France, in-
stead of being a disturbing influence in Europe,
would use her great powers on the side of pro-
moting peace amongst the nations, and would
beneficently fill that position on the Continent
to which she is entitled by her geographical
ituation, the fertility of her soil, the nature of
er climate, and the industry and enterprise

her people.
The Emperor Napoleon has been in the grave
more than ten years, his last resting-place being
in the land which raised a great Volunteer army
to resist that invasion of our shores which he
was believed to have planned. France has seen
more then one form of Government during the
rn,t dacatle, yeht it his not b een set n that the
absence of Imperialism has made France any
the less restless or ambitions. M. Thiers, the
biographer of the First. Napo.eon, succeeded the
Third as the Haler of France. The veteran
author and statesman, who was a great admirer
of Napoleonic ideas as represented by their
originator early in the present century, while
Chief of the Executive Power in France, had
',ands quite full during his rule in repairing
• hideous rnin which had fallen upon his
...wintry, as the result of the war with Germany.
When he had paid off the conqueror, and c'eared
the territory from the tread of the invader, his
services were dispensed with for those of a
Military Dictator, who, however, confined his
attention more to keeping in order contending
factions at home than to stirring up strife abroad
Marshal MacMahon resigned on seeing that it
was impossible to work with the great Repub-
lican majority in the Chamber of Deputies. It
is only since the Republic has had undisputed
sway over Franca that there has been a return
to that policy of interference with other nations
which its advocates so strongly condemned
whet the Emperor was alive. Thera was no
more fierce assailant or unrelenting critic of
Imperialism than M. Gambetta ; yet when he
was in power, whether personally or by his party
there was no more strenuous supporter of a
coarse of foreign conquest. Gambetta died ;
but his spirit remains, Tunis, Madagascar, and
Tonqnin testifying to the deeply-rooted love of
French nature for the glittor of enterprise
abroad.

It is this attitude of France which suggests to
many English politicians the surmise that
the ct;rzinff session will not be quite so fully oc-
cupied in the consideration of domestic reforms
as was supposed in the earlier part of the recess.
To say nothing of thickening complications in
Egypt, it must be clearthat if the commercial
interests of Great Britain are menaced by the
aggressive policy of France in the Celestial
Empire, our Foreign Minister will have to speak
tar more plainly to our nearest neighbour than
circumstances have yet demanded. The Mada-
gascar incident was not a pleasant one, and had
a subject of the German Emperor been treated
as was Mr. Shaw, France would not have escaped
with the payment of £l,OOO indemnity. No
doubt Englishmen feel indignant when they
hear of the battle-ships of a great nation
shelling the defenceless villages of nnoffending
tribes, as in Madagascar. But in French
foreign policy involves interference with the
commerce of British merchants, the matter will
assume far more importance than the imprison-
ment of a missionary, and it is this considera-
tion, combined with the threatening aspect of
affairs in Egypt, which leads to the idea that
the sessions of 1884 will be more of a foreign
ban a domestic one in the matters to come
under Parliamentary review.