The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-07-23 00:00:00

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Lhe opinion of eligible princes. Marshal Prim,
however, nothing daunted, seized upon another
" idea ;" an idea which has turned out a very
_

unhappy thought indeed. He fixed upon a cer-
taM Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern Sigmarin-
).ten, a gentleman, no doubt, in every way eligible
to rule the Spanish people to their satisfaction,
and, it may he presumed (so long as they paid
him well for so doing) to his own. But, unfor-
tunately, this prince with the unpronounceable
name labours under the common disadvantage

of having unpleasant people for his ancestors;
at least his ancestors are, or were, not at all ac-
corling to the taste of His Imperial Highness,
the "Nephew of his Uncle," and his Secretary for
Fereign Affairs. France, i.e.. Napoleon
demands from Frusaia the assurance that the
said descendant of Murat shall )1,4 ascend the

throne of Span. William of Prosaia declines

to guarantee anything of the sort, and, although
Prince Leopold, perhaps with a sensible fear of
probable consequenc,,s,,v.ithdraws suddenly from

the scene, the "honour " of France having been
wounded, the gauntlet has been thrown down.
The fact is, and it is patent to all thinking
people, that when 'Napoleon 111 appointed the
Due de Gramont to the Foreign Sectetarysliip
it was an ominous sign of the views held by the

Emperor with regard to Prussia. The deilara-
tion of war, now coming as it does from France
is clearly and unmistakeably the result of per-
. , .

..
_ ..., .
sonal government. Notoriously neutral in all
concerning home politics, but always a thorough
diplomatist in foreign affairs, the Due has car-
ried matters, in obedience to his Imperial was-
. . . .....

...,... , .
ter, to the present crisis. The Emperor knew
only too well that his Secretary was one to whom
he had but to say " Do this ' —and it would be
done; and though we are bound to assume that
1 the French Government has been impelled to its
. ..

present course of action by reasons which to it
appear mast urgent, we are convinced that this
war, which one prominent journalist stigmatizes
as the greatest national crime rem ded since the
days of the First Empire, is the act of one man

in France.
On the other hand, it is plain that Prussia.
nothing loth to measure lances with her imperi-
ous neighbour, took precisely the steps most
calculated—not to preserve peaceful relations—
but to further stir up the incipient quarrel. fo
our minds there is an entire absence of any rca-

•
sonable or adequate motive for plunffin. harop
- • • .

Tt- is irnpoAsible to conjecture its
ern recessarily b,
In his admiraltle

into a war,
cud, and the eousininenc
notbiug less than trightin

speech before the llouse on Fri.:ay last, M
Disraeli said that he cannot uniertake to belie
That in the nineteenth century, with its ex.
tended sympathies and its elevating tendencies
anything so degrading or so barbarous as a war
of succession could occur."
It is true that as the matter at present stands
there is at least a possibility that the war will be
localized and confined to the two powers who ,
have fomented it between theta ; but these con-
, tinental wars have invariably had the effect of
draggine, nations that have really no interest in
the question at issue, into the very thick of the
contest. Everyone is anxious that we should
keep entirely out of the affray, but although
everybody answers his own question immediately
in the affirmative, it is by no means certain that
everybody is right. It is not enough that our
present Government will do all in its power to
prevent any possibility of our being involved iu
any difficulty whatever, for the present state of
Europe renders it extremely doubtful whether
it is possible to confine the struggle to France
and Prussia. Austria has not forgotten Sadowa,
and will be only too ready to throw in her influ-
ence with France; and Italy may probably join
her old ally, Prussia. As for ourselves, we are
under plain treaty engagements to maintain the
independence of Belgium, and France has
openly declared that if a single Prussian soldier
enters Belgium, she too will cross the frontier.
Now Belgium has before been the battle-field
of Europe; if she can keep France and Prussia
out, if for purpose of strategy either of them
choose to occupy that ground, well and good;
but, supposing her neutrality is not observed,
there will immediately arise a casus 1411 i, and we
shall be compelled by the terms ef our treaty to
keep our engagements with Belgium. There
are, however, other causes which makes the con-
sideration of the different phases of this unfor-
tunate affair ominously serious. There is the
dlockade, the right of search, she fitting out of
French or Prussian vessels in English ports.
and the danger—not by any means to be lightly
spoken of—that a picas, wbiei, is beyond all
question the freest in the world, and the most
outspoken, with the single exception of that in
America, may not overstepthe line of prudential
and calm criticism in dealing with the subject.
, The belligerents are busily massing great
numbers of troops on both sides of the threat-
ened frontier, but there are, as yet, no reliable
news of any actual engagement. Rumoursare,
and of course will be, rife, but the information
as to the operations of the hostile era :ice will
necessarily be very meagre owing to the prohi-
biou of foreign correspondents, or, as they are
irreverently termed, newspaper men.
There are, at all events signs that the war will
be conducted as humanely as possible. Both
parties seem to be vieiug with each other in their
strict regard for the rights of neutral vessels at
sea; the merchant service will, therefore, not
suffer, at least in all probability, as in former
wars. It is impossible to say where or when the I
first blow will be struck; it is, however, more
than probable that the party taking initiative
will deal a severe blow on its antagonist.
Already we have been deluged with "Incidents
of the Mr ar,- which has not begun. Some are
interesting—some simply absurd. Among the
former there is none so affecting as that of the
German youths, having left their homes peace-
ful—arriving in New lork to be told cii the com-
ing war, and returning home by the earliest
steamer to join the ranks in defence of their
ueloved. Fatherland. Devotion and heroism will
doubtless be shown on both sides; let us hope
that mercy also will not be neglected. lithe
precautions that the belligerents themselves
have instituted are faithfully carried out, much
of the usual teiror of " alarming win. vil Ibe
averted.

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