The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP TEE PURLIO JOURNALS,

SATURDAY REVlEW.—Englishmen have no right
to censure thus far the policy of the Emperor of the
French with respect to Poland. It is not altogether
improbable that he may be more willing than his
allies to engage in the dangerous enterprise of a
Russian war. It may also be assumed that, in a
general readjustment of Europe, he would desire to
gratify his own ambition and the vanity of his sub-
jects by annexing to France the portion of Germany
which lies on the left bank of the Rhine; and the
territorial aggrandisement of a great military Power
and the dismemberment of an inoffensive Federa-
tion are projects which English politicians justly
regard as iniquitous and inadmissible. But a de-
sign which is not avowed, and possibly not con-
templated, can furnish no ground of remonstrance.
The disposition to make sacrifices for the benefit of
Poland would be generous and laudable; and if the
Emperor Napoleon shrinks from the risk of a general
war, a nation which shares the sympathies of France,
while it nevertheless declines to act on the impulse
of mere feeling, is not in a position to upbraid a
more excitable neighbour with the charge of either
turbulence or timidity. It must be confessed that
Lord Russell's Russian correspondence and its re-
sults are not gratifying to national pride. A great
preponderance of opinion sanctions the inaction of
the Government, but prudent acquiescence in wrong
is rather excusable than glorious. It will, on the
whole, be satisfactory to find that France is checked
either by the same obstacles which prevent English
interference, or by the refusal of her allies to pledge
themselves to a joint course of proceeding. The
Governments which look passively on the extermi-
nation of the Poles perform the mutual service of
keeping each other in countenance; and if
England has been baffled and defied by
Russia, it is something that France and
Austria have been similarly affronted. There
must be strong reasons for the general suppression
of resentment, and if the attempt at negotiation was
a mistake, the blunder is common to the three
Powers. It is true that France was ready for war,
if England and Austria would have shared the un-
dertaking ; but Lord Russell had, from the com-
mencement of the negotiation, repeatedly disclaimed
all intention of appealing to arms, Any implied
menace which was conditional on the co-operation
of England was nugatory and abortive. It is not
yet certain whether France may determine on se-
parate interference. The Emperor probably con-
structed the ambiguous portion of his speech for the
express purpose of retaining to himself liberty of
decision. He propounds the alternatives of war and
silence only to reject their. in favour of his own
proposal of a Congress; and it might be reasonably
inferred that, if Europe declines to enter on a peace-
able discussion, it only remains for France to fall
back on her military resources. It is argued with
much force that Russia will refuse to discuss the
question of Poland, and that Austria will be equally
unwilling to submit her Italian title to controversy.
A Congress is, in truth, only a contrivance for
ascertaining in a more formal manner the conse-
quences either of a war or of measures which have
been previously determined. Nothing can be more
dissimilar than a representative Assembly, which is
supposed to have common interests, and a confer-
ence of Plenipotentiaries engaged in defending the
conflicting claims of their respective Courts. At
present, the Congress, if it meets, will be ham-
pered by peremptory instructions, framed for the
express object of limiting its competence to se-
condary arrangements. In general, it may be
assumed that no Power is prepared to surrender
any portion of its territory for the sake of pro-
viding compensation to its neighbours. The map
of Europe will only be altered by war; and if the
Treaties of Vienna are obsolete, the various Sove-
reigns must rely, not on any new system of conven-
tions, but on simple possession. Lord Russell has
cenfieed himself, in his last Russian despatch, to a
hint that the Crown and Constitution of Poland were
created by the same instrument. It would have been
inexpedient to dispute more explicitly the legitimacy
of a tenure which is at present only disturbed by the
insurgents. On the whole, a Congress seems to be
almost useless, but until the answers of the Govern-
ments to the French invitation are published, and
some faint notion can be formed of the subjects to be
discussed, it is impossible to say whether the scheme
offers aso ution of existing difficulties. Some de-
voted partisans in France assert that the proposal of
a c'ong,ress is an illustration of the axiom in which
the Empire was , once identified with. peace. But
the most insatiate conqueror might be satisfied to
attain his otajecas without the risk and anxiety of
war. Even the first Napoleon seldom invaded a
neighbouring country until its Government had re-
fused compliance with some extravagant demand.
His successor is more prudent and moderate, nor can
it be doubted that he would prefer the peaceful
triumph of his policy.
SPECTATOR.—On the brightest of autumn days
the King of Prussia met his new Parliament in the
White Hall of the Royal Palace, and addressed it in
words which Europe weighs and scrutinises in vain.
The art of composing a King's speech, the art of
combining words into vague sentences which leave
the speaker's purpose in ansoaite doubt, seems to be
the only art of constitutional government which
German Ministers are capable of learning or willing
to adopt. Even the hasty summons which called the
Crown Prince from England to Berlin, in order that
he might stand at his father's right hand while the
cabalistic words were spoken, is susceptible of a
double interpretation. Well-wishers of the Prus-
sian Monarchy will hope that it is a proof that the
King has so altered his policy as to conciliate that
one of his subjects who has most to fear from the
vagaries of Herr von Bismark; while they who put
not trust in princes will see in it only an unscru-
pulous attempt to make the King's eldest son seem
to approve what he most condemns, and involve him
in the consequences of a policy of which he is not
the accomplice. Amid such uncertainties, even the
utterance of the royal orator has been carefully
noted, and we learn that the speech was delivered
'6 without much emphasis," except that he raised his
voice " considerably" in reading the paragraphs
which related to the re-organisation of the army.
This incident, trifling as it may seem, is so entirely
in harmony with the character and opinions of King
William, that it may be taken as conclusive upon
one point. He is determined to have his own way
About the number of his soldiers. If the Lower
House cannot make up its mind to give way upon
this, no reconciliation between the King and his
faithful Commons is possible. Without expressing
any very firm belief in the conciliatory intentions
of the King, or at least in his being willing to
make such concessions as could alone be considered
satisfactory by the nation, we confess to being very
much less sanguine as to the manageableness of the
Chamber. The Government has used its utmost
influence, and it has achieved the return of twenty-
six additional supporters. It has now a party of
thirty-seven, and the most despised of all the Minis-
ters, Von Roan, the chief of the War Department,
has a seat in the Chamber. But this splendid vic-
tory has been gained at the expense of the moderate
section of the Deputies. This party has well nigh
disappeared, and the extreme Radicals have gained
far more of the seats which it has left vacant than
the Crown. A. clear majority of 260 stands face
to face with M. Von Bismark, and the larger
number of these gentlemen may not improbably
consider themselves pledged to take up an attitude
of firm resistance. If so, the King's pride will be
very likely to take fire, and then all hopes of a
compromise are at an end. Another dissolution,
more royal ordinances must inevitably follow, and
though, we think, there is no immediate prospect of
absolute resistance to the power of the Crown, the
whole mass of the middle classes will be silently
leavened by that distrust of the royal family, the
first mutterings of which may already be heard in
private society. Even the sincerity of the Crown
Prince is suspected. "The Hohenzollerns," people
are beginning to say, " are always liberal till they
mount the throne. We shall never have constitu-
tional government till we make a clean sweep of
the reigning dynasty, as they did in England and
in France. if this feeling once becomes general,
revolution, sooner or later, is inevitable. That it
may be averted is our earnest wish, if only because
the Prussian royal family is so closely allied to our
own. But it cannot be denied that, when the hopes
of those who desire peace rest principally on the
chance that, on the one hand, an obstinate
monarch in the hands of a Minister with whom
arrogance is a disease, and, on the other, a Chamber
exasperated by the denial of their rights, may re-
spectively obey the voice of reason rather than of
passion. and be guided by a calm consideration of
their own interests and that of the country, the
prospect is at best but a gloomy one ; and one hopes
rather than expects that they may be spared those
calamities which have ordinarily been the result of
such a situation of affairs.
LONDON REVIEW.—The selection of Dr. Trench
to fill the archiepiscopal throne of Dublin is an
event which seems to give unfeigned satisfaction to
the clergy of the Church in Ireland. It has rescued
them from the alarm into which they were thrown
by the rumoured nomination of Canon S 1
snot de-
and the present jubilation may no doubt
gree be owing to a relief felt at the e.scaP_ the
Irish Church from the sway of a possible
would have
cal metropolitan. It is true thaitiothire Neologi-
preferred that an alumnus of tbraaahi
of the Este
-
and clergyman of their ownb
art a they
University
appointed to the
blished Church should have e
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, cobble
contingency, thpe
orthodoxy pl fb.4..ktbe'l h
le
that
uist :all an Irishman as a very good
archbishop. But Dean Trench is really more than
half a Hibernian
'though the national blood in
.
hits veins has not been directly elaborated from Irish