The Express.
London, England, 1867-04-30 00:00:00

THE LONDON coNreanrcz.

Receiving with satisfaction Lord Stanley's state-
ment last night, and proceeding to notice the position
of the two rivals, the nails has no difficulty in apportion-
ing all the blame of the first pert of the business to
France. A bargain and sale behind the beck of the gar-
rison power, and, when all was done, a summons to march
out since Luxemburg had become, by the complaisance of
the Dutch King, a French department, was an offhand
way of doing things in which Prussia could not be
expected to acquiesce, and it is wonderful that
a man of the experience and tact of Napoleon
should have thought that a powerful state would allow
itself to be so treated. Prussian resistance has been suc-
cessful so far as to oblige France to recede from her claim
to incorporate Luxemburg. One ought not to be surprised
at the hesitation of Prussia in the matter, for the Germans
know that French statesmen have openly advocated a war
of conquest to obtain possession of the Rhine. They re-
member the demands of last year, they remember the
Auxerre speech, which preceded them. But in yielding
Luxemburg under the conditions proposed Germany does
not really suffer any loss. If the territory be neutralised
and the fortress rased, the new confederation will bo really
stronger than if it held the mightiest fortifications beyond
its own limits.

The Daily News remarks that its own confident belief
respecting the groundlesanesi of the reports that England
had condemned the conduct of Prussia, has been com-
pletely verified by Lord Stanley's statement. Sincerely
trusting his lordship's hopes as to the fruitfulness
of the labours of the conference may be realised,
it adds that neither France nor Germany desires
war. The French Emperor now finds he does not want
the fortress of Luxemburg, and Germany, it is hoped, is
uow strong enough to do without it. If this should be
the conviction of the German governments, the destruc-
tion of the fortress of Luxemburg would contribute more
to the peace of Germany than its maintenance has ever
done. It is quite another thing, however, to suggest that
the London Conference should repair the treaties of 1815,
with which it has no power to deal, and for which duty it
would be radically unfit. The new changes require no
ratification in London or Paris. This is no time for affec-
tation, diplom►tic or otherwise. The nations of the con-
tinent are seeking their natural basis and their natural
beads, and they will find them, any amount of polite
bebblement over green tables notwithstanding.
The Standard is sure that the humane and sagacious
exertions of the Foreign Secretary will be warmly and
" gratefully" appreciated in Germany.
The Mae remarks that Lord Stanley distinctly disclaimed
the measures which all the Paris and some of the London
papers attributed to him, and on which his well-meaning
but incautious followers founded their special panegyric.
But the journals which applauded Lord Stanley for doing
what he has so sensibly and properly repudiated on the first
opportunity, will doubtless have little difficulty in applaud-
ing him now for not having done it. The beet hope for the
future lies in the fact that France seems to have really
withdrawn all her claims upon Luxemburg. Prussia never
from the beginning had any wish for war.