The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-28 00:00:00

COFY OF A DESPATCH FROM EARL RUSSELL TO EARL

COWLEY.

Foreign-office, Nov. 25.

My Lord,—Her Majesty's Government have received
from the Marquis of Cadore, the copy of a despatch ad-
dressed to him by Monsieur Drouyn de L'Huys, in answer
to my despatch to your Excellency of the 12th inst. Her
Majesty's Government having obtained an answer to the
inquiries they made, will not any longer delay giving a
definitive reply to the invitation addressed by the Emperor
of the French to her Majesty the Queen, to take part in a
Congress of the European Powers to be assembled in Paris.
I enclose a copy of the Emperor's letter of invitation to
the Queen, which is similar to ono which has already ap-
peared in the liloniteur, addressed to the German Confede-
ration.

Her Majesty's Government fully recognise in this step
the desire of the Emperor of the French to put an end to the
disquietude which affects several parts of Europe, and to
establish the general peace on foundations more solid than
those on which, in his opinion, it now rests.
The Emperor declares that France is disinterested in this
question; that he, let his pat, seeks no aggrandisement,
and that the interests to be secured are those, not of France,
but of Europe.

Her Majesty's Government may also declare that Great
Britain is disinterested in this matter, and-she seeks no
aggrandisement, and that she has only to counsel modera-
tion and peace.
But France and Great Britain being thus disinterested
themselves, are bound to consider what is the position, and
what, in a Congress, will be the probable conduct of Powers
who may be called upon to make sacrifices of territory or of
pre-eminence and moral strength.
It would be little to the purpose to say on this occasion
anything more of the Treaties of 1815.
Practically, the Emperor of the French admits the bind-
ing force of many portions of those treaties; and her Ma-
jesty's Government as readily allow that some portions of
them have been modified or disregarded, and that other
portions are now menaced or called in question.
Her Majesty's Government understand from the expla-
nations given by Monsieur Drouyn de L'Huys, that, in the
opinion of the Government of the Emperor, it is obvious to
every one that there are several questions, not hitherto
solved, which may disturb Europe. Of this nature are the
following :

Must the conflict in Poland be still further prolonged?
Is Denmark to be at war with Germany, and have the
Powers which formerly took a part in the discussion of this
question become indifferent to it ?

Must anarchy continue in the Danubian Principalities,
and thus at any moment tend to reopen the question of the
East ?

Must Italy and Austria always remain in presence of
each other in a hostile attitude

Must the occupation of Rome by French troops be pro-
longed for an indefinite time ?

The Emperor's Government put a further question :
Must we, without having made new attempts at conci-
liation, renounce the hope of lightening the burthens im-
posed upon the nations of Europe by excessive armaments,
kept up by the feeling of mutual distrust ?
These, no doubt, are the principal questions which either
disturb or threaten the peace of Europe ; but there is a
further question which her Majesty's Government con-
sider to lie at the bottom of the whole matter, and that is
the following :
Is a General Congress of European States likely to fur-
nish a peaceful solution of the various matters in dispute ?
This, indeed, is the question which it behoves the Go-
vernments of the different States to consider seriously and
attentively.
There appears to her Majesty's Government to be one
main consideration which must lead them to their conclusion.
A tter the war which desolated Germany from 1619 to
1649, and a!ter the successive wars which afflicted the Con-
tinent of Europe from 1793 to 1815, it was possible to dis-
tribute territories and to define rights by a Congress, be-
cause the nations of Europe were tired of the slaughter, and
exhausted by the burthens of war, and because the Powers
who met in Congress had by the circumstances of the time
the means of carrying their decisions and arrangements
into effect.
But at the present moment, after a continuance of long
peace, no Power is willing to give up any territory to which
it has a title by treaty, or a claim by possession.
For example, of the questions mentioned as disturbing
or threatening Europe, two of the most disquieting are
those regarding Poland and Italy.
Let us examine the present state of these questions, and
see whether it is probable that a Congress would tend to a
peaceful settlement of them.
In the first place, with regard to Poland, the question is
not new to France, to Austria, or to Great Britain.
For several months these Powers, while carefully ab-
staining from any threat, have attempted to obtain from
Russia by friendly representations the adoption of mea-
sures of a healing nature, but have only succeeded in pro-
L curing promises, often repeated, that when the insurrection