The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-07 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

SATURDAY REVlEW.—England is so invariably
worsted, whenever she attempts a diplomatic con-
test, that few of us will be inclined to regret that
the Government have declined to fight with wea-
pons which, as a nation, we little understand. If,
indeed, upon our diplomatic list it had been possible
to find a representative capable of finessing against
the trained intriguers of Russia or France, the en-
terprise might not have been so hazardous. But
with no one to send except the amiable statesman
who was talked over into signing away an impor-
tant maritime right at the Conferences of Paris, or
the less amiable Foreign Secretary who contrived to
juggle so awkwardly at the Conferences of Vienna
that he drew down upon himself a direct disavowal
from the Austrian Minister, and was compelled to
resign in disgraee, our position at a tournament of
the sharpest wits in Europe would have been very
forlorn indeed. If our plenipotentiary had escaped
from the arena with any portion of our maritime
rights or any fragment of our foreign dependencies
unconceded, the nation would have had great cause
to congratulate itself on the result. Some such
possession as that of Malta, transferred possibly to
Italy as compensation for the cession of Sardinia to
France, would have been the very smallest penalty
that our Government would have paid for venturing
within the magic circle of the arch conjuror of
Paris. But though England individually has nothing
have to lament the depri-
taele. It would be plea-
s%)
oluolsde
fail,by ttheh efailured ofswp ietlehl the Emperor's scheme, if it
vation of an edifying
sant to witness the gambols of the happy family of
European nations, once fairly gathered within four
walls. There have been men, of great social emi-
nence, who have made their reputation in that line
by the practice of gathering all the most antago-
nistic elements of which a dinner party could be
possibly composep. No small zest would be lent to
such entertainments by the distrustful courtesy and
transparent irritation of the Tractarian and Re-
cordite, the Orthodox and Heretic, the Negro and
the American, who were suddenly brought into un-
wonted and unexpected neighbourhood. The Con.
gress, if it takes place, will present something of
the same sort of scene. The only difference will be
that the guests will come to the reunion each well
prepared with a hoard of acecumulated grudges
against his neighbours. It will be a kind of Loan-
of-Grievance Eshibition, to which every contribu-
ting Power will bring all the specimens, ancient and
modern, bran-new or half worn-out, that can be
hunted out of the archives of its Chancellerie. Every
Plenipotentiary will come fully armed with all the
points which will be most unpleasant to his neigh-
bour, but also, in his secret heart, knowing that his
neighbour is fully prepared to expatiate upon some
matter that is at least equally unpleasant to himself.
Each will appear at the Congress with the fullest
intention of treading upon his neighbour's toes, and
the fullest consciousness that his own are full of
p
corns. The habits of diplomacy are proverbially
is overcoming human infirmities of tem-
per ; but the office of President over such an assem-
blage of diplomatists, gathered together for no other
purpose than to bait each other, will he anything but
an enviable situation. It is a matter of curious specu-
lation what the order of proceedings at illsunprecedented gathering will be. The object
of the meeting is to reconstruct the map
of Europe according to
the exigencies of the
epocu, and re-write the treaties of 1815 accord-
ingly. Perhaps the most effective way of commenc-
ing business would be for every Plenipotentiary to
put in a map of Europe constructed according to his
own ideas of justice and expediency; and then,
havingi compared the various documents, to ascer-
tain t there was any one sing e point upon which
all, or even a majority of the Congress, were agreed.
There would be some cases, of course, of limited
agreement between two or three separate Powers.
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Pyrenees. Russia, as the molt powerful, would
probably combine the greatest number of enemies ;
but, even in her case, there would be a strong dif-
ference of opinion amongst her neighbours as to the
provinces she ought first to be compelled to dis-
gorge. Each would be moved by an irrepressible
impulse of compassion to vindicate the wrongs of
some victim of Russian oppression. Sweden would
feel that there were no wrongs like the wrongs of
Finland ; Austria would mourn over the guilty par-
tition of Poked Turkey would compose diploma-
tic eclogues upon the simple virtues of the inhabi-
tants of Crim-Tartary. But if any Dane talked of
Norwegianindependence,theSwedishplenipotentiary
would shrug his shoulders with contempt ; Austria
would fire up at the bare mention of Venetia; and
the Turk would begin to say his prayers if any In-
fidel dog were to allude to the present sufferings or
the old independence of Taesssly and Epirus.
.France would join vehemently with the Spaniards
in the suggestion that Gibraltar ought to return
to
.Spain; and she would quite understand that a
legitimate sentiment of nationality prompted the
Italians to join themselves to the Maltese.
For, she would justly observe, the inhabitants of
Gibraltar were once Spaniards, and the inhabitants
of Malta are in the main Italians. But if any im-
pertinent ally were to suggest that Strasburg was
once, and is still, German, that Dunkirk is unmis-
takeably Fleming, and that Algeria is obstinately
Arab, she would only remark that he did not com-
prehend the demands of his epoch. Perhaps the
most amusing arrangement would be to require
each Power to vote for some principle upon which
the map of Europe should be reconstructed. For
we live in an age of principles ; and everybody who
desires to help himself at his neighbour's expense
has always some eternal truth or inalienable right
to cite in his own justification. It would be in-
structive to observe how many Powers could vote
for any one principle consistently in respect of all
their claims. Nationality, as the most modern fancy
of the kind, would first be put to the vote. Russia
would vote aye in respect to the Sclaves of Servia
and Bosnia; no, in respect of Poland. Sweden
would vote aye for Finland; no, as regards
Norway. Denmark would vote aye for
Norway ; no as respects Schleswig-Holstein ;
Germany would vote aye for Schles-wig-Hol-
stein and Alsace.; no, for Posen, Hungary,
and Venetia. France would vote aye as respects
Geneva ; no, as regards Alsace and Algeria. And
so it would go on through the States of Europe.
We will not be unpatriotic enough to inquire how
England might vote, if her plenipotentiary were
present at such a division. A similar doubleness
of sentiment would be elicited if the older, and
almost antiquated, doctrine of a respect for treaties
were brought up for judgment. With Cracow
in her mind, Austria would vote that treaties
were not worth much ; but the mention
of the word " Venetia" would revive her
reverence for them in all its force. Spain
might be inclined to pooh-pooh them when Oliveuca
or the Slave-trade were under discussion; but the
introduction of the topic of Mexico would lead her
back to more orthodox views. Germany would
idolise the sanctity of treaties on her Polish frontier_
Italy would manifest that semi-developed reverence
for them which would indicate that she remembered
her origin, which would hardly consist with them,
and her future, which would scarcely be secure
without them. France would be almost the only
power that could afford to set treaties at defiance ;
for they have done their worst upon her, and she
has flourished in spite of them. Whether Napo-
leon 111. has sufficient sense of fun to have con-
ceived this project merely for the sake of the amuse-
ment it would cause, is a question which future
historians must decide. Undoubtedly a great por-
tion of the joke would be at the expense of the
country over which he rules. But if he could get
over his aversion to that result, there is no doubt
that considerable diversion might be taken out of
the awkward contortions of the various Euro-
pean Governments as their various weak points
were touched on. Their policy upon any ethical
ground is so completely purposeless and inconsis-
tent, the principles which they sometimes profess
to revere are so absolutely hollow, that any meeting
at which they were compelled to justify their re-
spective policies by an appeal to any abstract doc-
trine could not fail to be rich in matter for amuse-
ment. Such disclosures, however, are not for the
benefit of mankind. It is not good men should
see through the fictions by which they are ha-
bitually led. It is illegal to go
physically naked;
but the motel nudity which throws off those de-
corous clothes of principle and virtue under which
politicians and States habitually conceal the natur.
ll
to the mental well-being of the community. al
shape and hue of their policy, is more injurious
is
good that mankind should believe in the principles
which are preached to them by those whom ttley
play too palpably the hollowness and impractica
i-
. respect ; and therefore any trial which
.should dis-
bility of such doctrines as that of nationality s
much to be deprecated.
THE SPECTAToR.—In selecting Sir John Law-
rence as Lord Elgin's successor the Government has
broken, and wisely broken, the soundest rule of
Indian administration. It is from no caprice and
no jealousy of the Cornia.ny's servants, that the
highest Inaian offices, political, military, legal, and