Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-05-17 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES, TUESDAY, MAY 17, 1859

tided opposition to England's having anything
whatever to do with it. There is every reason to I
believe that this will be the unanimous determina-
tion of the new Parliament. And we have had
the assurance more than once given, within the
last two or three weeks, that the Government are
of precisely the same mind. The Premier's last
declaration on the subject, was at the dinner of the
Royal Academy, in London, when he said, "Of
this I am satisfied, that the conduct which England
ought to adopt is, as far as may be possible, to main-
tain an impartial, a dignified, and a neutral attitude,
to seize every opportunity that may present itself
of reconciling conflicting nations, and what is even
more difficult—of reconciling conflicting principles ;
but on no account, to engage in the war that has
unhappily broken out." Nothing, one would think,
could well be more explicit than this. Lord DERBY
is not a man to say what he does not mean, espe-

daily on so serious a question as this. They who
are politically opposed to the noble lord, yet most
assuredly acknowledge hi; high and honourable
character, can have no Misgiving, therefore, as
to his sincerity in using such language a's this.
His Administration, whatever faults and imper-
fections it may have, has certainly, it cannot be
denied, the merit of promoting and of maintaining
peace. It has undoubtedly already taken true pains
to try and reconcile the differing nations —or, rather,
the conflicting Princes. Had its influence been
allowed to prevail, had its counsels been adopted and
followed, the Continent of Europe would not have
been doomed to witness the horrors of that warfare
which is now beginning to spread its desolations
around. So that there would seem to be but one
mind upon this subject, in every quarter. And
when we see public meetings convened to express
their sentiments on the present war, and record
their opinions as to the conduct which this country
ought to pursue, in such a conjuncture, declaring,
unanimously and emphatically, that the British
people have no sympathy with any of the belligerent
Powers, —that they do not believe the present war is
calculated to promote either the liberty or civilisa-
tion of Europe ; and that, therefore, while desiring
that Great Britain should scrupulously abstain from
interfering in foreign quarrels, she should be fully
prepared to defend her own shores from aggression,
—when such, we say, are the deliberately expressed
resolutions of the public meetings that are now
taking place all over the country, the conclusion is
irresistible, that the country and the Government
are quite agreed upon the important question. We
verily believe that, neither with her Majesty, nor
her Majesty's Ministers, any more than with the
great body of the people, is there any sympathy
with either of the belligerent Powers ; or that they,
or any of them, can have any hope, that the war
is in anywise calculated to promote either liberty or
civilisation in Europe.
One of the advantages of the public meetings we
allude to, as well as their manifesting the nation's
abhorrence of war, is the opportunity they afford of
exposing the hollowness of the pretences of such an
one as Louis NAPOLEON of France, in favour of
Italian liberty and independence. As was well
observed at one of the recent meetings in the
metropolis, " When the Emperor of the French
called a free Parliament of his own country, when
he removed the restrictions he had put on the
French press—when he did not make men's heads
hang upon the liberty of their tongues, then they
might think that the Emperor or the French
wished to promote human liberty and civilisation."
England, if even she could be reconciled to the
war, on account of its professed object, could not
be hoodwinked by the hypocritical pretexts of one,
who, going forth pretending to free a people from
one despot, leaves his people at home under a
despotism of his own. As another speaker on the
same subject remarked,—" at this moment there are
4,000 Frenchmen expatriated, and for what ? For
doing what we are doing here at this meeting,
giving utterance to their honest and independent
opinions." Freedom of the press there is none in
France, under Louis NAPOLEON—or freedom of
speech either. We see it stated in one of the latest
communications from Paris, that the new Minister
of the Interior has inaugurated his accession to office
by giving warning to a newspaper extensively read
in the provinces, for an article setting forth that the
object of the interference of France in Italy was not
so disinterested as the Moniteur would make it out.
And this most audacious interference with the liberty
of the press is not only tolerated, but reverenced.
For " the journal in question," says the account,
"receives the lesson in all humility, and kisses the
rod, in a short article crying peccavi, and making
profuse protestations."

It is all the more necessary, therefore, that
England should show, as she is now doing, what is
her national and popular feeling upon the whole case,
—upon the war itself ; and also upon the character
of those whom the great abettor of, and actor in it,
is leading by the nose, and deluding with appeals to
their national vanity. The popular demonstrations
in Paris last week, on the occasion of the Emperor's
departure for the seat of war, may well be reflected
upon, as undoubtedly they are, by such expressions
of reprobation as we have just quoted. "We are not
disposed to overrate," said one of our London con-
temporaries, with reference to the occasion,—" we
are not disposed to overrate the enthusiasm of the
Parisian populace. The fickleness of the mob of the
French capital is almost proverbial. But there is a
deep and terrible lesson read to Europe in the recep-
tion given by the masses to the Emperor. Louis
NAPOLEON himself is described as having been utterly
overcome by the fervour of the demonstations. " The
men of the faubourg St. Antoine crowded round the
carriage in which sat the- Emperor and his wife.
That very class amongst which a few months back he
might have counted his enemies by thousands
greeted him with acclamations which would have
seemed extravagant had they been poured forth to
welcome some great benefactor of the human
race. He was no longer in their eyes the despotic
ruler, but the champion of freedom, the deliverer of
Italy, the head of the army, the worthy heir of
the great NAPOLEON." A deep and terrible lesson
indeed does it read—to England in particular, as
well as to Europe at large. It is a lesson that ought
to instruct the people of England as to the vital
importance of being prepared for anything which
such fickle neighbours, with such a despotic ruler
over them, might happen to contemplate against us.
As the same able contemporary, whose words we
have just given, so forcibly and so seasonably says,
" At present the cry of the Parisian mob is
Mort aux Austrichiens,' but 7'no can tell what

would have been the cry twelve months ago had

the Emperor listened to the advice of some
of his councillors P Who would ♦enture to say
that, in the excitement of the moment, a contest
with England would not have been quite as
enthusiastically entered into by the French nation
as a struggle with Austria." And who knows how
soon he may seek and provoke a contest with
England--after his "Army of Italy" has done his
work for him there ? Let us not, however, antici-
pate anything so calamitous. But of this let us take
care,—that with all our most commendable abhor-
rence of war, we neglect not to be able to assume, at
a moment's warning, a warlike attitude that may be
adapted to any emergency that may arise.