The National Register.
London, England, 1815-10-08 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

No. 406.

POLITICAL DISQUISITION.

...".....-
VIEWS Or THE EUROPEAN POWERS IN TREATING

WITH FRANCE.

According to the repeated asseverations of the French
Papers. a rist•enty of Peace has at last been concluded, the
terms of which remain involved in considerable obscurity.
As far as we are concerned, however, all is light. Imme-
diately after the return of Louis XVIII. to his capital, and
the submission of the army and the country, the Ga-
zette Ojficirlle nnblished several notes from our Ministers,
announrinqs, that as the war had been waged against Boo-
naparte, and its objects had been attained by his abdica-
tion and surrender, they considered the Treaty of Paris
to have resumed its force, and consequently should act by
its Qtlnelations. England and France, therefore, stand
with regard to each other, in nearly the same situation as
at this period last year. Our troops, it is true, occupy
Montmartre, and in a few hours might reduce Paris to a
Leap of ashes, but we are the guardians, not the destroyers,
of French integrity and independence. The British co:-.1
"Mrs do not wave in triumph over the fallen metropolis,
but protect its helplessness. If there is any change, there-
fore, in our relations with France, she is the gainer ; for
our friend hip at this moment and the presence of our
troops, increase her importance in the eyes of the Allied
Powers, and cause her to be treated with greater forbear-
ance and respect. Russia, who has only felt the aggres-
sion of the French as a spur to noble efforts, and who,
whatever she may have suffered in the invasion of 1812,
considers her losses trifling, when compared with the
immense increase of glory and power which that very
campaign has been the cause of her obtaining, enter-
t tins no resentment against France, but rather dis-
plays a contrary feeling. She, therefore, is also dis-
posed to maintain the conditions of the Treaty of Paris,
in all their force ; and, if she deviates a little from
them, which is not 'yet certainly known, it is to pre-
vent a decided rupture with States whose sentiments are
far more hostile. In adopting this course, she not
Holy follows her own inclinations, but her favourite
system of policy. Her willingness to leave France
great and formidable, is not entirely disinterested.
With that country she has no point of couto**o,
VII. No, GCCCVL

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therefore of contention. The curtailment, or the par-
tition of France, would yield her no advantage, nay,
would materially injure her interests, as it would au,-
ment the power of those nations which she regards as bar-
riers to her ambition. It would be idle, if not dan-
gerous, to attempt to disguise the fact. Russia does
not act through motives of magnanitnity alone. Iles
object for many years has been to extend her sway
over the South of Europe, and the method which she has
taken is the most likely to accomplish her purpose. She
has seen the instability of possessions acquired by con-
quest. They are lost as they were gained, with violence
and rapidity. Their magnitude excites alarm in some,
their splendour jealousy in others, and all finish by join-
ing together against the State whose encroachments are at
once too large and too barefaced. Craft had revealed this
secret to her government, even before the downfall of Im-
perial France had blazoned it forth to the whole world.
Acting on the principle, her march is slow, but secure.
She exposes but little to chance, and obtains more through
negociations than by force of arms. It is thus that by de-
grees she has extended her empire beyond the Vistula
and nearly to the banks of the Oder. She is, in
fact, silently reconstructing in the East of Europe,
the gigantic domination which has been overthrown in
the West. The Emperor of France and King of Italy
has ceased, politically, to exist : but we now hp.‘
the Emperor of Russia and King of Poland, more mode-
rate in his tone, it is true, and clothing all his measures
in a garb of disinterestedness and public spirit, but exer-
cising all the influence of his now fallen predecessor on
the Continent. It is the wish of still augmenting this i:,-
luences, and paving the way for fresh advances towards the
west, that contributes to render the Emperor Alexander
a supporter, not to say, a restorer, of France. If she fail
from her eminence, and be no longer formidable amongst
nations, Germany must prove impenetrable, and the Qder
cannot be passed. Austria, Prussia, and the other German
States, awake to their real interests, bound by a common
tie, and diverted by no apprehension for the safety of their
western frontiers, could pour a flood of strength against
an Eastern invasion, that could not fail to repel its fury
and to roll it back. to its source. But Austria, Prussia,
and all Germany, kept in check hi their rear by a Posi ec