The Press.
London, England, 1856-08-09 00:00:00

746

fere still further in behalf of the Constitution.
The Foreign Enlistment Act was repealed, and
the Spanish Legion was embodied This was
a measure which caused great dissatisfaction
in this country, as directly opposed to the
sound principle of ticAl-interventlou. and.thost
maxims by which Lord PALMZRIMON hilTlßei,-
had always professed to regulate his forei
policy. But for tt}e time it appeared to
successful. The Qtieetee party Orevailed, tiig
in 1839 the war was practically conclUded.
During the years immediately succeeding
the termination of this struggle insurrections
against the established Government were of
frequent occurrence ; and had Lord PALMERS-
TON continued in power it is very probable
that this country might have been again em-
broiled with Spanish affairs. But dunng Sir
ROBERT PEEL'S Administration the Spaniards
were permitted to manage their own affairs as
they chose. No sooner, however, did Lord
PALMERSTON return to office than the old sys-
tem was revived. In 1848 he directed Sir
HENRY BULWER to deliver so insolent a mes-
sage to the Spanish Minister as led to the in-
terruption of diplomatic intercourse for more
than a twelvemonth, and placed this country
in a most embarrassing and humiliating
position.
Exactly two years age Lord PALMERSTON had
his revenge. An insurrection headed by the
Duke of VICTORY and O'DoNNELL broke out.
The Court, after innumerable successes, dis-
peised through Europe by telegraphic de-
spatches, gave way, and the allied generals
were placed at the head of the Government.
O'DONNELL, in his bulletin of the " Constitu-
tional Army," announced that his great objects
in taking up arms were to place the national
militia on a solid basis ; to enforce economy
and reduction of taxation ; to constitute
juntas; and to assemble the Cortes, that the
nation might itself work out its liberal re-
generation. Lord PALMERSTON was triumphant.
Now his Lordship is again militant. The
Liberal system, for the success of which he
has lavished so much English blood, and
money, and honour, and violated more than
one of the principles by which our foreign
policy has previously been governed, has col-
lapsed, and Spain is at the mercy of an adven-
turous soldier and a Court carnarilla. The
national militia is disarmed, and the Duke of
VICTORY is nowhere.

If it was right to interfere in the internal
politics of Spain at all, why does not Lord
PALMERSTON interfere now? Why does he not,
in the interest of Liberalism, make war against
the victorious O'DONNELL? Unless he was
prepared to carry his policy through, he should
not have assisted the Liberals at all. A nation
which rPquires foreign aid to assert its liber-
ties, will usually require foreign aid to maintain
them. Our interference during the late war
is no precedent to the contrary. When
Sir ARTHUR WELLESLEY landed in Portugal in
1808 it was not to establish a particular form
of government in that country, but to carry on
the war of England against France, as ho him-
self declared, upon a favorable theatre.

The actual results of Lord PALMERSTON'S
foreign policy speak little for its wisdom.
Italy, Poland, Hungary, and Spain, alike
testify to its failure. He has deserted the
Liberals, after aggravating all the evils of their
condition by irritating the minds of their
rulers. And he has prejudiced the latter
against measures of amelioration by affecting
to encourage the rebellious tendencies of their
subjects. He has now changed his tactics.
On Poland and Hungary he is discreetly
silent. After authorising Lord CLARENDON to
declare at the Paris Conferences that the case
of Naples was so exceptional as to call for
foreign intervention, he drops his voice, and
with bated breath is content to solicit the good
offices of Austria. The taunts he has directed
against that Court are forgotten in his hour of
need. The hope of continental Liberalism
unbosoms himself to the Cabinet of Vienna,
and confidingly places the interests of his
Italian clients in its hands. As for Spain, it
is his comfort that France, whose intervention
in the affairs of that country he has heretofore
invoked, will now reFrein from interference,
remembering how deeplY she has had to de-
plore interference on former occasions. Grey

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