The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-03-22 00:00:00

their faith too strong

What, then, is the great aim and under-plot of
this Conference ? Many clear-headed and ex-
perienced politicians, who admire LOUIS NAPOLEON
more than any ruler on the Continent, have
trembled for the fate of the Bonapartist dynasty
in this war. They saw that if the most perfect
success did not attend any military exploits, in
which the name of NAPOLEON was engaged, a
thousand uses would be made of it by his national
and political enemies. And as it would take a
long list of great triumphs, and national gains, to
make up what would be considered a moderately
satisfactory statistic, in this era of figures,
they shuddered at the thought of any
thing bordering on short-comings. Now if
we take the catalogue of this deadly struggle,
what shall we find ? Battles and sieges which was
brilliant because they were bloody—glorious
because they were victorious—ever memorable
because they have left debt behind which will never
be wiped away ! This is the credit side of the war
ledger. The debits stand pretty nearly in this
condition :—To compensation for the expenditure
of 100,000,000/., and the loss of 60,000 to 70,000
heroic soldiers—nil. To material guarantees for
the future observance, by Russia, of the foregoing
conditions of peace : about 10, and not more than
15 ounces of waste foolscap paper. To money in
hand to meet future contingencies, and to
keep Russia out of Bessarabia, Asia Minor,
Georgia, &c., and Austria out of the Principali-
ties—nil.

Verily tho friends of the Emperor NAPOLEON

may well tremble and shudder at such a winding
up of the affairs of one of the most frightful wars
ever witnessed. They will say, "there was des-
" peration in entering upon war, desperation in
" continuing any longer"—but we fear there will
be fatal desperation in abandoning it, except
on conditions which will render its recur-
rence within the number of years required
to establish, consolidate, and render a European
dynasty habitual to a people. The Emperor
NAPOLEON may have seen accumulating dangers in
the continuance of the contest, and may have
decided on its abandonment, nolens volens. Can
Russia, in that case, have borrowed the peculiar
faculty of the boa constrictor, and having licked
his Majesty over, is only waiting for an opportu-
nity to gratify her Bourbonist or Legitimist appe-
tite? Have the Russian conferees used the saliva,
while the imp infatuation was " holding up the
mirror to nature" ? Is the Russo-Turkish struggle
to be abandoned for a war of succession, in which
the Bonapartists are to fight in the ranks of the
open enemies to the throne of a NAPOLEON? If
a BONAPARTE becomes the ally of Russia it must
be as a slave, and not as the Emperor of the
French ; when, if he should not find his way to a
veritable Siberia, he would be banished to a political
Kamstchatka. Such degradation cannot be reserved
for immortal France ! An alliance with, or a snivel-
ling friendship for, Russia cannot be at the root of

what is said to be going on in the circle of intrigue

Can it then be a real and hearty desire for peace-
at-any-price which pervades the Congress ? Should
it be so, we shall soon discover it in the
liberality of the concessions actually made,
But the Conference is not to bring the entire

negotiations to a close. The representatives are
to settle the "general terms." A committee is to be
left to arrange the " details." Another armistice
will, therefore, be acceded to, 'or else peace must
be proclaimed before the details which are to give
full effect to its conditions are finally, or half
adjusted ! Here is another complexity—how to
escape a monstrous folly, or not go on with a great
and dreaded war ! Poor diplomacy !it was for thee
that " Triptolemus strewed plenty from his cart
divine." Thy disciples are to be pitied, and
sorrow awaits those who do not look for woe in
the failure of thy little machinations, or in the
success of
.thy great designs. As for ourselves,
we measure diplomatic asservations by the most
arbitrary rules of contrariety and incredulity. It
may be a weakness, but it is one of the failures
which time and experience strengthen ; and we
may be pardoned if we say, should the Conference
arrive at a pacific solution, and tell us the condi-
tions now before the world will secure peace on
an enduring basis, that we believe nothing of the
kind. A treaty patched up for personal, party, and
other equally contemptible purposes, will not give
peace to nations, each seeking great material
ends, and political ascendancy. It is a paltry
hushing of the waves which will rush on until they
find their level, and are made to yield to some
superior and unmistakeable force !

EPOCHS will occur in which a multitude of con_
ditions conspire to alter the current of events, fill
men with new ideas, and give
_birth to purer and
warmer desires. These changes show themselves
in the political atmosphere first, and in their
st incipiency. Novelties, if they come
clothed in the white and unspotted mantle of
popular virtue, are, however, viewed as gliosts,and
an hobgoblin catcher is presently found to go
forth to slay the unwelcome spirit. How repeat-
edly the present generation have witnessed these
things. They have seen such farces re-enacted
once in every five or six years, but without sue'

cess at the finale—the laying of the spirit.
Nature will rule—will admit no human dictation
nearer tilrone—no penaJnt near tier
slave to her own laws, she makes vassals of the
human race. The earth can find no pleasure in
incessant motion—the tides in endless hurrying
to and fro—the star in keeping interminable watch

over this planet and the heavens. No ! They are the
slaves of conditions over which they have no power,
and they yield obedience to the law that rules.
The pigmy man alone rebels. Fortunately for our
race they are only a few who refuse submission,
and pooh ! pooh ! at inevitability ! The multitude
adapt themselves to the changed circumstances
which surround them, The few never ! The one
see war, pestilence, and famine before they reach
the homestead. The latter must be dragged out,
and have the sad realities of those scourges
brought under their noses before they believe in
their existence, much less think of providing
against their inflictions. Who will say that all this
has not been most painfully and undeniably exem-
plified within the last ten years ?
The multitude saw famine coming on the land.
The few believed not. The million saw pestilence
approaching. The few remained inert—motion.
less. The peoples of Europe saw war advancing
with gigantic strides. The few were blind, deaf,
and dumb, until the sword was drawn, and thou-
sands were slain. Who were the few ? We leave
history to answer the question. It is enough for
our purpose to know that that party—the few who
will not bend must break. That they who will not
now bend must be rent asunder, and scattered to
the political winds and waves, appears inevitable.
They must either submit to the changes which take
place in the conditions of nations, or they must
disappear from that stage on which their altered
circumstances have to be met. But then the
specious politician says, " While we admit all this
" to be true, be good enough to tell us how it is to
"be done ?" In answer to this numerous ways
have been suggested. Some have said this pro-
gression of the age must be arrested. Others
apparently delighted at the nation's growth in
wealth and enlightenment have replied, lot me
and my supporters into office, to promote them.
A third have declared for a medium course, and
asked to be allowed to assume the reins of govern-
ment, in order to show us a reformed Utopia. Lastly,
the constitutionalist, full of patriotism, fired with
a true love of moral progression, despising clap-
traps, loathing that nepotism which plants whole
generations and pedigrees down to the hundredth
cousins, thrice removed, upon the public purse,
asking nothing for himself, and reminds all his
opponents, that their country has a Constitu-
tion, and a constituency which ought to be
respected !

Men of the latter stamp are not often
to be met with in these days. But,
there is a strong feeling growing up in this
country, in favour of the creation of a stanch
Constitutional party, who will tell Mr. RENEGADE
and Master TWADDLE that the empire is in a much
worse condition than she looks, and that it is time
to deal with realities, and lay aside all fears of
phantoms. If such a party should be formed, it looks
very much as if Lord STANLEY of Alderley would
be one of its foremost members. There is a highly
national and moral tone in the noble Lord's recent
speeches. But there can be no lack of men equal
to the work of protecting our civil liberties, social
welfare, and Constitutional institutions from the
immolating hands of professional Ref 0 rmers
Whigs, and Tories. There is something more for