The Press.
London, England, 1856-04-05 00:00:00

Sortign Corrlsponbttut.

FRANKFORT, March 31.
THE telegraph has announced that peace is signed,
leaving the German and Italian questions open for
future chances. A general satisfaction prevails ; yet
even amidst the first impulses of gratulation it is
easy to perceive that the Germans look with mis-
giving to the future, and not without reason. Their
hour is not come, either for good or evil. War, that
is to say internecine destruction by sabre and by ball,
is thus at an end; whilst that other species of con-
tention which is carried on with doubtful meaning
aid in diplomatic word is about to commence.
Strictly speaking, the be'ligerents alone have con-
sented to a termination of hostilities upon specified
terms arranged betwixt them. The object of the
war, therefore, has been gained by England and
France. With the fall of Sebastopol the battle -oe-
twist the nations was decided.
France has been the greatest gainer by the war,
and the advantages that the peace has confirmed and
strengthened may be traced to the early recognition
of Imperialism by England. Bat the Imperial throne,
firm in the regard of the friends of order, and al-
though surrounded by the faithful eagles of old, had
its dynastic cares. Nicholas of Russia qualified his re-
cognition of the Napoleonic rigime; Austria yielded
to the "force majeure"; and Prussia obeyed the
mandate of St. Petersburg. The Minister of Eug•
land, Lord Aberdeen, with some of his colleagues,
bad spoken discourteously, and not as gentlemen, of
the person and throne of the Emperor ; but they
were overpowered by the Conservatives, and, together
with the Whigs, were coerced by the force of circum-
stance into an unwilling and ungracious submission.
" Lempire c'est la pail." This expression, coupled
with the fact of Lord Aberdeen being the Minister of
England, led to the Oriental war.

It was inferred by Russia that the " entente cor-
diale" between England and France was more
nominal than real ; that the Imperial arrangements
were not sufficiently established to permit the ab-
sence of so large a portion of the army as that which
would be required by a war in the East ; and that
Lord Aberdeen, certain of a majority in the House of
Commons, would successfully obstruct the path of
national honour. It is necessary to avoid circumlo-
cution and to use proper terms. That these Russian
calculations were withoui. foundation is a matter of
notoriety. England and France assumed their re..
spective positions on the battle-field, and Alma,
Inkermann, and Sebastopol have beco:ne historical
events. After the fall of Sebastopol dit ect negotia-
tions, under the guidance of the Emperor, took place
between the belligerents, and a peace has been con-
cluded by which the objects of the war have been ac-
complished, and general advantages secured to
Europe. But this is not all in regard to the French
empire. The distant cousin of emperors and kings
has become their dear brother, valued, courted,
feared, and, therefore, honoured and respected. One
appurtenance was wanting to perfect the course of
Napoleonic success ; and the birth of the Prince Im-
perial, guarded in his cradle by the legions of France,
has consolidated a dynasty now become in all its
branches Imperial by the voluntary approval of
Europe. France emerges from the war triumphant
i t every sense. The energy. the ability, and the very
hand of the great man of her choice has reversed the
attainder passed against the Imperialism of his
family by former antagonists, who are now applaud-
ing parties to the act of annulment.
The war now belongs to the past. With an army
in the most efficient state, with a navy unsurpassed
in power, and with pecuniary resources of untold
magnitude, England lays down her arms and seizes
in all honour the proffered hand of her former anta-
gonist. Those who are jealous of Russian influence,
and others who would cherish and encourage an ill-
will towards England, assert that a rancour exists
on the part of Russia difficult, if not impossible, of
erasure ; and that the evident desire to form the
closest relation with France presages future ill, and
will be destructive of the Anglo-Frank alliance. To
that statement it may be curtly replied that the con-
nections, be they what they may, which shall
strengthen the France of the Empire, will be imme-
diately advantageous to English interest; that the
bonds of union between the two great peoples are
too necessary for both to be impaired by flimsy vani-
ties ; and that the attempt to effect an Anglo-Frank
disunion will be fraught with more peril for the
plotters of the mischief than for those who are the
objects of the intended injury. Besides, in common
fairness, and in truth, it must be admitted that there
exists a cause for displeasure of a nature well calcu-
lated to disturb and to exacerbate the most forgiving
disposition. It is maintained by the Russians that
a deception was practised upon the Emperor
Nicholas, subsequent to his visit to England in
1844, and that his confidence, "as a gentleman," did
not meet with a treatment usual amongst persons of
honour. This lapse was verified and pub-
lished in THE PRESS, March 25th, 1851. With
this discreditable act of deception the Conservatives
have no connection ; yet it may account, and not
unreasonably, for a lingering displeasure in minds
indignant at having been insincerely treated, not to
say duped. But let Le Nord, the organ of the Rus-
sian war party, this very child born of the war, be
heard on the completion of the peace :
line ere nouvelle s'ouvre ; it y faut entrer l'esprit de.
gage de tonte preoccupation ancienne, it faut sourire
Pavenir souriant, et quand is main laisse tomber son epee,
iI faut que le eceur laisse tomber sa eolere; it fart que la
reconciliation ecrite dans le traits de Paris devienne le
sentiment commun, le sentiment vrai de tousles adver.
saires d'hier, devenus amis.

Dieu veuille que cette voix terrible des batailles n'eclate
plus, de longtempi du moins, que pour ceiebrer les paci-
tiques victoires de l'humanite et les splendeurs de la
civilisation triumpliante !
Dieu veuille, que desormais cette humanite et cette
civiheation ne suient invoquees pie pour IN plus grand
bien de tour, et que leurs bienfaits se repandent par les
seuls moyens dignes de la prupagande sincere et efficace
dune si noble cause, par la persuasion, par la raison, par
l'union intime des gouvernements et des peuples dans un
meine but de bien•etre gent:•ral.•

These expressions, breathing a high-principled
spirit, are hound to be accepted in the sense in which
they are offered. They are a stinging answer, albeit

• A new era commences; we must enter upon it in a spirit
entirely free from ancient prejudice, we must smile upon the
propitious future, and when the hand lets nil its sword the
heart must forget its anger. The reconciliation which is written
in the treaty of Paris must be the common sentiment ' • the true
sentiment of all the adversaries of yesterday, the friends of
to- lay.
Go I grant that the terrible voice of battles may not burst
forth again, at least for a long time, except to celebrate the peace-
fa victories of humanity, anti the splendours of triumphant
c ti i sation.
grant that henceforth this humanity and this civilisation
may be invoked only fur the greatest good of all, and that their
benefits may be diffused by the only means worthy of the sincere
and effectual propagation of so noble a cease; by persuasion,
by reason, by an intimate union between governments and
peoples in the same object of the general good.