The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-08 00:00:00

A Piench View of the Debate,

The Journal des Debuts contains the following
article on the first two nights of the debate :—" The
good joke of Charles XII. at the close of one of the
rash adventures of hie life is well known. He had
rashly visited, alone and without attention, his
enemy, the Elector of Saxony, in the city of Dres-
den ; and the day after he had thus put his head
into the mouth of the lion, which neglected to close
his jaws upon him, he learned that the Elector was
assembling his council to discuss with great SON
lemnity the unprecedented aet of the King of
Sweden. You see,' said Charles to ono of his in-
timate Mende, they deliberate toaday on what
they ought to have done yesterday.' That pre-
cisely is the useful labour to which the English
Parliament is devoting itself. Opened by a motion
and a speech from Mr. Disraeli, to which Mr.
Gladstone replied, the discussion has been
continued by a speech from Mr. Cobden, of
which, at the tim© we write, we have only a
telegraphic summary, and it will by no means
terminate there. The more it is prolonged the
more Goes the English public persuade itself (and we
share ourselves in this respect the general impression
in London) that a debate conducted in this fashion
will hardly shake the Cabinet of Lord Palmerston.
What Mr. Disraeli and his friends turn into a crime
in Lord Palmerston are events, rather than acts of
his own ; the very things which they more especially
select to condemn his policy are the only things
whose happening or not happening absolutely did
not depend on him. Mr. Disraeli states witu trium-
phant air that the Cabinet of the Tuileries refused
to act with England. He then points out how Earl
Russell addressed to the German Powers extremely
violent despatches, and that that had not at all
frightened the Germans. Such, with all exactness,
is the substance of hie speech. There is nothing
more indisputable than those two propositions of Mr.
Disraeli. The misfortune for him is that Lord Pal-
merston disputes them less than any person. He has
put himselt in an attitude to admit their exactitude
with tile most admirable serenity. Lord Palmer-
ston, no more than Mr. Disraeli, disposes of the
Cabinet of the Tuileries, and Mr. Disraeli, no more
than Lord Palmerston, could possess himself of the
secret of setting in motion any Power whatever allied
with England unless by accepting certain conditions
rigorously determined beforehand. The practical
point in the matter of offensive and defensive matter a
is to know well what price the one contracting party
wishes to give, and what price the other exacts.
That, however, is the only point with which Mr.
Disraeli has not concerned himself in discussing
the philosophic question of the maintenance, the
rupture, and the re-establishment of the Anglo-
French entente. It is very evident also that the
threats of Lord Palmerston have not terrified Ger-
many. Upon that point Lord Palmerston has been
amply instructed. Yes, he has threatened the Ger-
mans with the utmost violence, and the Germans
have not been afraid. Only was it in his power to
cause terror with words P And was ke not
bound, notwithstanding, according to all the usages
of policy, to try at first the might of words in order
to cause fear ? He has tried then what would be
the effect of terrible words; Mr. Disraeli would have
tried it like him. He has experienced, and, it is
admitted, very deeply, that in the actual conditio❑
of the Germanic temperament circulars destined to
produce a shivering fit are wasted like a dull re.
active on the hard and et abbed subject whom it is
wished to treat by this process ; Mr. Disraeli would
have had the same experience. The question which
❑ow presents itself is no more than that of seeking
what must be added to the thunder of those crush-
ing words when that thunder has died away power-
less in the echoes which it caused. "It is not
necessary to add anything to them at 611, " ingeni-
ously exclaims Mr. Disraeli. Indeed, then, Mr.
Disraeli ought to be content, for Lord Palmerston
does not lend himself to add anything important to
the circulars of his colleague, Earl Russell. If the
debate does not take another turn in the sitting of
the House of Commons next Thursday, what a fine
-result the adversaries of Lord Palmerston will have
achieved ! They will have displayed their eloquence
in demonstrating that the English Cabinet could
only do what it has done, and certainly before they
took the trouble there were many people to whom
that proposition did not appear evident.