The Press.
London, England, 1855-03-24 00:00:00

SATURDAY,

Foreign Corrtspontana.

I'EANKFORT, March 18. •
AT the late audience granted to M. liwzot at the
Tuileries, the Emperor inquired of the Orleans ex-
Minister his opinion on the chances of peace. M.
Guizot was short, sharp, and decisive--,, May it
please your Majesty, peace or war entirely depends
upon the wiil of two emperors, and one of them is
dead." The reply was clever, but the matter con•
tamed in it must be taken with reservation. No one
is more thorougbly conversant with northern polity
than the councillor of the late Louis t'hilippe. The
citizen King, after fruitless attempts to conciliate the
Emperor of Russia, by way of counteraction, revived
discussion, "sourdem,ent," on the unauthorised divi-
sion of Poland. Any view of that nature could not
be tolerated by England, then advised by the Duke
of Wellington, and Lord Palmerston was never dis-
posed to disport himself in the frozen waters of the
Baltic. He is not in the habit of playing with edged
tools. The question is one exclusively French. By
a combination of probable, if not necessary, events
England may ultimately participate in a Polish
movement The directing policy, however, must
come from France, from imperial battalions march-
ing with a Napoleon at their head. Then let Prussia
look to herself.

Neither Prussia nor Austria are in any way nearer
to a settlement of the Germanic dispute. The mobi-
lisation of the contingent is still opposed by Prussia,
although the contingent itself has been unanimously
conceded. Germany will therefore be in a state to
repel invasion—and from whence does she apprehend
attack? Austria, in this instance, has been straight-
forward, and, directly and without equivocauon,
has accused Prussia of fomenting, at the Diet, ill-
will against France, with the intention of compro-
mising Germany in the Russian campaign. Even
had it been advised, the language of Id. de Bismarck
could not be more suitable than it is to fan the
smouldering flame and to counteract the conferences
of Vienna. Ihese conferences, treating of Russian
and Ottoman matters only, are confined to the four
points, without power of divergence, and cannot
reach the evil of Germany. By a separate and pri-
vate treaty betwixt France and Austria, minute and
precise, certain contingencies have peen provided
tor satisfactorily ; and as these two important States
become more intimate in their relations, so, pro tanto,
does the attitude of France and Prussia, by each
diplomatic failure of M. de Wedell, approximate to
a position less amicable than neutral. In very
truth, albeit the war be actually confined to the
Crimea and Sebastopol, the dispute betwixt nations
has become general. Settle tt.e one question as
they may, the other yet remains behind, more serious
than the first, because more general and immediate
in its territorial results.

There is a fresh complexion also added to the
more familiar history of Russian intrigue. The
Empress Mother, in her Germanic affection, is
naturally Prussian, whereas tile present Empress, a
princess of Hesse Grand Ducale, inclines to Austria,
and bears in memory the proposal to elevate the
Grand Duchy into a kingdom, At St. Peters-
burg the Germanic faction will probably pur-
sue a different course from heretofore—one by which
Austria may be a gainer without jeopardising her
engagements with Western Europe.
Italy is the real difficulty betwixt Austria and
France. Bitter is the temper of Austria at being
obliged to acknowledge and to admit a constitutional
kingdom of Italy in a congress of European nations,
and to be a party, as it were, to the prominent act
which Sardinia has performed. Without a particle
of papistic weakness, she yet countenances Jesuit
ultramontanism to serve her private purpose here-
after. J. E. L.

lortign anb goloniai 3nitilignut.

FRANCE.

The belief that the Emperor intends to visit the
Crimea still prevails in Paris, and the 10th of April
is now stated to have been fixed as the date of his
departure.
On Tuesday his Majesty reviewed, in the Court of
the Tuileries, several corps of the Imperial Guard,
to whom he presented colours, and addressed in the
following speech :

Soldiers,—The army is the real nobility of our country ;
it preserves intact from age to age the traditions of the
national glory and honour. Behold, then (pointing to the
colours), your genealogical tree! It marks a new victory
for each generation. Take, then, these colours. I intrust
them to your honour, to your courage, to your patriotism !
These words elicited the most enthusiastic applause.
The troops were all in marching order.