Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-04-30 00:00:00

ENGLAND AND THE BELLIGERENTS.

THERE has seldom, perhaps, been a war,—if war
it is to be,—in any part of Europe, in which two or
more of the Great Powers have been engaged, where
England was in so complete a position of neutrality
as she is, and as she can afford to be, on the present
occasion. Credit is certainly due to Her Majesty's
Ministers for this. They have not been inactive as
mediators—as peace promoters ; and although they
may not have succeeded, they have the merit of it,
notwithstanding. But they have, at the same time,
kept us, so far, out of the quarrel. We have nothing
to do with it. The cause is not one in which Eng-
lishmen can have any concern ; beyond that of deep
regret, of course, for such a calamity, and of natural
anxiety for the protection of its own interests.
England can have little sympathy with Austria—
since as respects her relations with the Italian States,
—those relations, or, at least, her conduct under
them, which have ostensibly given rise to the present
outbreak of war. As Lord JOHN RUSSELL has just
told the Electors of the City of London, that "it
appears to him that the Treaty of 1815 having
settled the territories which each Power was to pos-
sess, the Empire of Austria has not been satisfied
with the arrangement, but has endeavonred to extend
its influence, and not only its influence, but its mili-
tary power over the rest of Italy." This has cer-
tainly been the case ; and it is of this that France
and Sardinia have taken advantage. But then there
are treaties between Austria and the Duchies, which
have been a source of no slight mischief : and of these
treaties, Her Majesty's Ministers, it would seem, have
earnestly advised the revision. Lord CLARENDON
remarked very forcibly upon this, it will be remem-
bered, in the late discussion in the House of Lords,
and drew from Lord DERBY a very decided expres-
sion of acquiescence in his views. " I concur," the
Premier said, in the observations made by my noble
friend opposite as to the injurious character of these
treaties, not only to Italy but to Austria itself ; and
that, however unwise, however ill-advised, however
injurious to the interests of Austria, these treaties
giving her no right to enter as an independent
'governing power, I think moreover that —rather than
affording assurances of pacification and protection—
I think it would be wise if they were abandoned by
Austria ; and I believe that if Lord CowLEY's media-
tion had been permitted to have gone on these
treaties would to a great extent have been abrogated,
or some substitution for them found, and that in that
way one of the great difficulties of the Italian ques-
tion would have been safely and satisfactorily
settled." It was the proposal, on the part of Russia,
of the Congress, which arrested Lord COWLEY'S
mediation ; and the issue has already shown how
much it is to be regretted.

We refer to these past proceedings to show I
that there has been; in fact, no material difference of I
opinion .between her Majesty's Ministers and the
Parliamentary Opposition, as to tho whole case of •
this Continental quarrel. What may now arise to
create a difference of opinion,—what political or
party object there may be to serve by assuming an
attitude of hostility to, the Government upon this
question, we shall not pretend to define. But that
Lord CLARENDON in one House of Parliament, and
Lord PALMERSTON in the other, have, even so lately
as last week, expressed not only a general, but a'
decided concurrence in the foreign policy of her
Majesty's Ministers, is beyond all question.
As Lord DERBY stated of Lord CLARENDON—and the
same may be said, in substance, with regard to Lord
PALMERSTON also,—" He concurs (with the Govern-
ment) entirely in the expediency and. propriety of
stipulating for the evacuation of the Roman States.
by the French army—by the recommendation rather
than by the compulsion of the great moral authority
that attaches to a Congress of great States and
Powers. He agrees in the desirableness of effecting
reforms in the Central States of Italy ; in the doing
away with abuses that engender discontent, and that
are calculated to superinduce disorder ; and lastly, he
lays considerable stress on a supervision of the
treaties between Austria and. the Duchies, and the
confederacy of minor States in Italy." On all these
points there is an entire concurrence ; and this is a
circumstance which ought to have great influence
with the belligerents, as indicating very correctly
the sentiments of England in the case in dispute.
Still, it is not to be regarded as manifesting any
desire on the part of England to interfere further in
the quarrel. She has nothing more, and wishes to
have nothing more, to do with it, now
that her mediation has not prevailed. The time
is gone by for any further interference on her part.
The war that there appears to have been so much
eagerness on all sides to enter .upon, must not only
be a great calamity; but it is a great crime ; and
none of the parties to it can obtain any sympathy
here. What England has to do, therefore, is to
keep away from it altogether : she has no interest in
it, and can have no business now to do any thing
more than take up a neutral position, prepared to
defend her own interests, should they be in any way
touched upon. As the Saturday Review has well
observed, —" There has, perhaps, never been a con-
juncture when neutrality was so plainly the duty
and the interest of this country. -We have no
reason to desire the victory of either side. If
Austria should succeed in trampling down the one
constitutional State of Italy, and in riveting the
chains of her alien subjects, she would scarcely look
to England for congratulation. If French legions
should again overrun the plains. of Lombardy, we
cannot be expected to rejoice in the revi..-,11

THE RUSSO-FRENCH CONSPIRACY.

THE NORTHERN TIMES, SATURDAY, APRIL 30 1859

of the aggressive policy by which the
first NAPOLEON compelled us to sacrifice
so much blood and treasure in resisting his encroach-
ments and accomplishing his downfall. All the
belligerents may rest assured that England has no
sympathy for any of them. The part of this
country is clearly to stand aloof, and not to throw
the weight'of her sword into either scale until it
can be seen from which side the equilibrium of
Europe is most seriously threatened. The para-
mount duty of our Government is to put the forces
of this country in a position to intervene with
decisive effect, if events should unfortunately force
us to take part in the quarrel ; and Lord DERBY
must be prepared to meet the new Parliament with
a good account of what he has done during the
interregnum to forward the warlike preparations
which not even a position of neutrality will enable
us safely to postpone." • a

WE have never, in these columns, disguised our
deep distrust of the Emperor LOUIS NAPOLEON. It.
has always appeared to us, that he was not only an
unsafe, but a dangerous ally for England ; and we
have ever observed with real regret the intimacy
into which even a Liberal Ministry could draw our
own Sovereign with one presenting so many charac-'
teristics, personal and political, which could not
possibly be calculated. to give any confidence in
his integrity and sincerity. He was but " biding his
time," it has all along been our persuasion, for
assuming an attitude towards this country which
could not but be hostile, and might not improbably
be disastrous. And that time would now appear to
have arrived. His alliance with Russia is a pro-
cedure too obviously directed against English inte-
rests in Europe, to be for a moment mistaken. How
long the deep-laid scheme may have been planned,
it would be difficult, perhaps, to say. But our own
idea is, that there has been an understanding
between the Russian and French autocrats all the
while, that this agitation about Italy has been
going on,--that Russia's thwarting of Lord COWLEY'S
mediation, by the proposal of a Congress, was done in,
pursuance of this ulterior object, and that the
crisis which has since arisen was purposely waited.
for to proclaim to the world an alliance which had
been devised long ago, and the real objects of which
look far, far beyond even the apportionment of Italy.
Russia and France evidently design to make them-
selves masters, conjointly, of all the Italian States.
And should they succeed, what more can possibly be
expected of it, but that they will consolidate and
perpetuate a system of despotism closely akin to
that which they maintain in their own empires
respectively P
It was the remark of Lord CLARENDON, in the
recent discussion upon the state of Europe, in the
House of Lords, with referenco to the interposition
of Russia as it presented itself at that time,—before
anything was understood, if even suspected, of this
alliance with France,'—" all we know at present—
all, in fact, that can be known—is that one despotic
Power has proposed to another despotic Power that,
by means of a Congress, a third despotic Power
should pave the way for the establishment of liberal
institutions in Italy." And well might the ex-
Foreign Secretary add,—" I doubt very much whether
there is sufficient sincerity in the Powers concerned
to carry this arrangement to a successful issue."
But how much greater doubt is there not now of
such sincerity, when two of those despotic Powers
have bound themselves together, to take the matter
into their own hands, that they may have it all their

own way P
Of course, in such a confederacy as this, they will
care little for treaties. Its designs, indeed, are
evidently based upon the assumption of an arbitrary
power that sets itself above all obligations of treaties,
—treaties of which Lord CLARENDON so truly said,
that "it cannot upon the whole be denied that they
have served their purpose by maintaining the peace
of Europe, and the best proof of the confidence
attached to the arrangements which they effected
was the universal satisfaction with which all
Europe hailed the declaration of the Emperor of the
French that he would respect the faith of treaties.
But," he well added, " if these treaties are now to
be torn up, and if Europe is to be scrambled for, I
say that nothing but endless strife and universal
confusiort can arise." The noble lord—and he is .no
mean authority, all must acknowledge, upon this
subject,—argued, therefore, that it was not only for
the interest of Austria, but for the general security
of Europe, that the rights conferred by the treaties
which now form a portion of the international law
of Europe. should be respected ; and, although in
some cases these treaties may be repugnant to that
spirit of liberty and desire of progress which are
inherent in Englishmen, we are clearly bound in
honour and in good faith to maintain them. He
illustrated this very forcibly, with reference to the
engagement of France and England in the late war
with Russia ; and when we contrast the present
conduct of the French Emperor with what he so
palpably committed himself to by that engagement,
it is impossible not, to be struck with the incon-
sistency, if not the perfidy, of his present position.
France and England submitted to the many sacrifices
it entailed, not certainly from any desire of
strengthening the_Mahomedan power, and checking
the progress of civilisation in some of the fairest
provinces of Europe, but for the purpose of main-
taining the integrity_ of treaties on which the balance
of power in, and therefore the peace of Europe, most
materially depended,—a purpose precisely similar to
that which France has now allied itself with that
self-same Russia to oppose and to upset ! Well did
the noble lord, the late Foreign Secretary, remind
the House of Lords of the object of the Powers by
whom.the Treaty of Vienna was concluded. " Their
objects," he declared, " were mainly directed against
France—to create a barrier against France, and more
especially in the north of Italy ; and therefore it
was by the unanimous wish of all the Great Powers
of Europe that Austria resumed her position in
Lombardy, and it was for precisely the same reason
that Genoa was added to Piedmont. All the terri-
torial possessions maintained or secured to Austria
are to be found set forth in detail in the Treaty of
Vienna, and the possessions of Austria in Italy have
been most correctly described by my noble friend
when he said that they are the consequences of
conquest or inheritance, or long tenure, or contracts
which for upwards of 100 years have become part of
the international law of Europe. Upon those
treaties Austria has a right to take her stand ; upon
those treaties, so taking her stand, she should be
upheld by the other Powers of Europe-" Yet now
we have Russia allied with France to upset the
whole arrangement ; and as to the consequences that
may hence arise, it can fill one with nothing but
alarm and dismay to think of them.
These results may or may not have been seen by
her Majesty's Ministers. But certainly they justify,
in no slight degree, the recent language of Lord