The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-21 00:00:00

THE MAP OP EUROPE.

A political pamphlet with the above title, which
has just been suppressed at Paris, continues to
occupy the attention of political circles at the French
capital. This brochure was published by M. Plon,
and copies of it were actually sent to some of the
leading journals of Europe, and even to some of
the Paris journals. The Sieele, seeing its impor-
tance, intended publishing it in extenso. At a late
hour of the night, orders were sent by the Minister
of the Interior to the different newspaper offices,
forbidding the editors tc publish or even to allude
to the pamphlet. All tha copies at M. Plon's were
seized, who himself appeared taken quite by sur-
prise at such a mease. The following is a copy
"I.
"As neither the moderation, nor the patience of the
great Cabinets, nor the efforts of diplomacy, nor the suf-
ferings of industry and commerce, have sufficed to disarm
an ambition which threatens the whole of Europe, it is
necessary that the war which has become inevitable should
be, at least, energetic and decisive.
" A power whose foreign trade is very restricted, which
possesses an extent of coast relatively very small, which has
no colonies to protect, has been for half a century accu-
mulating formidable naval forces. Constantinople first,
and then the Mediterranean countries are the object of all
its att 3mpts, and the present Sovereign of Russia is prepar-
ing to act as executor of the will of the founder of his race.
Doubtless the resources of Russia are great, but it is
from her annexed provinces rather than from the body of
the monarchy that she draws her forces. The possession of
Finland gives her the domination of the Baltic; the pos-
session of the Crimea makes her mistress of the Black Sea.
By these means in the north, as in the south, she has be-
come a naval power of the first rank. Since the partition
of Poland, the largest and richest portion of which she
seized, she weighs upon Germany, which she hates and de-
spises. The Russian saying, when they speak of a German,
is known :—' God has used him ill enough ; he has made
him a German.' Lately again, in the Hungarian war, the
pride of Russia deeply wounded the military spirit of Aus-
tria, and the armies of the Czar committed the error of
rendering the memory of their services humiliating.
" Thus, Russia advances westward, driving back European
civilisation at each step. Is it by her borrowed elegance and
bastard Christianity that she intends to impose upon civi-
lised nations? How has she made them forget the impudence
and violence which stain most of her titles to possession ?
Spoliation and despotism govern her conquered provinces.
The fair daughters of Poland are periodically carried off
and sent in tears to a far exile, to renew the blood of their
conquerors. Those conquerors themselves, who are they ?
Some thousand corrupted patricians, bending fifty-three
millions of men under the knout. A fanatical and servile
clergy lives at the expense of this ignorant population,
which is regularly exploited in every degree of the social
hierarchy by the administrators and judges. Reforms are
not possible, for in Russia despotism is strong in evil, and
is powerless only to do good. The principle of authority,
so salutary when restricted within proper limits, is even
vitiated there by this adulterous mixture of the sacred and
the profane, which troubled, even to madness, the spirit of
the Cxsars of Rome.

" In the life of nations, prescription for injustice is never
acquired. If the weaknesses of the French Cabinet under
Louis XV. permitted the first dismemberment o: the Turk-
ish empire and the first partition of Poland to the profit of
the Czars, if the revolutionary agitations of 1792 pre-
vented France from opposing the second dismemberment
of the Turkish Empire, and the last partitions of Poland,
it is for France of 1854, tranquil under a strong Govern
ment, to repair as much as is in her power the faults com-
mitted in the preceding century.
" France, in drawing the sword, demands nothing for
herself ; she wishes nothing, she stands in need of nothing.
The greatness of a country is not measured by the extent
of its territory, but by the influence of its policy and the
expansive force of its ideas. England, our cordial and
powerful ally, does not expect anything either as the
reward of her concurrence. Like us she acts in the sense
of her national tradition, but also in the sense of the
liberty of the world.
" This disinterested attitude, supported by reiterated
and solemn declarations; leaves no doubt upon the mind of
any man. The Western Powers would only therefore be
the more authorised to raise the question of remodelling
the map of Europe.
" Has not the moment come for openly declaring what
all think and whisper below their breath ? What illusion
does there still exist on the nature of the conditions upon
which Europe must dictate a desirable and solemn peace,
which will indemnify her for the sacrifices she is preparing
to make?

" To-day all eyes aro opened. It is by the extent of the
danger that the means of preventing its return must be
measured. Thus, in taking arms, do peoples and Govern-
ments appear animated by one sentiment—inspired by one
common strength, to put an end to that perpetual menace
suspended over all the progress of the past—over all the
interests of the future. It is quite clearly understood that
it will not suffice to demolish the ships and the ports of
Russia, but that it is still more necessary to drive her back
especially towards Asia, far beyond her actual boundaries.
" 11.

" It is not in her centre that Russia is vulnerable : it is at
her extremities. But if the blood is driven back towards
her heart, she will choke. The head of the colossus is at
Helsingfors, its right arm at Warsaw, its feet at Sebastopol.
It is, then, Finland, Poland, and the Crimea that it is
necessary to drag out of the clutches of the double-headed
eagle.
The loss of Finland is an ever-bleeding wound in the
flank of Sweden, for she beheld that fine province torn away
from her piecemeal, from whence Russia draws nearly the
whole of her maritime population, and her timber. It is in
Finland that the reprisals of aroused Europe must com-
mence, and the restitution of that country to its ancient
owners would be an act of policy the prudence and justice
of which none dare gainsay. A line drawn from Viborg to
the gulf of Onega would become on that side, in the north,
the extreme limit of Russia. The country of Gustavus
Adolphus and of Charles XII. would resume the rank so
long and so worthily occupied in the councils of Europe.
" If it were possible to restore the ancient Polish nation-
ality, so great an act of reparation would make all generous
hearts beat with pulsations of joy. But in the actual state
of affairs such an attempt would assuredly give rise to
complications and difficulties more serious still than those
before which Napoleon I. himself hesitated. At least,
Poland turned against her mortal enemy, would she not
serve to guarantee the independence of Germany??
"The e.easure of precaution which gave to Prussia the
Duchy of Posen will only be good when completed. Even
reduced to its present limits, what strength would not
Poland bring to Europe, if, united for the future to
Prussia, she were to drive back beyond the Niemen and
the Bug her ancient oppressors, and become again on that
side the advanced guard of civilisation.
"Besides that a new maiming of this noble body, already
so cruelly mutilated, would wound public feeling in France
and in Europe, it appears that the idea of annexing to
Prussia all that remains of Poland is justified not only by
geographical position, but also by relationship of race,
language, and religion, which approximates the Poles to
the inhabitants of Posen and of Silesia. Condemned at
present to the silence of the slave and to a political death,
Poland would then have a place and a deliberative voice in
the assemblies of a State which has given so many proofs
of religious toleration and of a wise spirit of progress.
" In the south, Austria would add Moldavia and Bes-
sarabia to her empire, and extend her frontiers to the
Dniester. She would gain fertile provinces, and on the
Black Sea coasts and ports, which would wonderfully tend
to the development of her marine, whilst, by the posses-
sion of Galatz, and of the mouths of the Danube,
she would profit by the transit of the produce of
Central Europe. A s. eparate convention would regulate,
as just, the commercialinterests of all the European
States, and be put in harmony with the principle for
the future acquired for the free navigation of the
Black Sea. It is superfluous to demonstrate how, in con-
sequence of this addition to Austria beyond the Danube,
Constantinople would acquire a more sure barrier than the
Balkan range.
" If it is objected that the Ottoman Empire would thus
lose its right of sovereignty over
,Moldavia, the magnifi-
cent indemnity offered to it must be considered. In
Europe, the Crimea, the object of its constant regrets, with
the oriental shores of the Euxino. In Asia, the trans-
Caucasian countries where the Russians have established
themselves, to take Constantinople in the rear. The effect
of this double restitution would be to assure the indepen-
dence of the brave mountaineers of the Caucasus, who,
with their own resources alone, have competed for twenty
years against the Muscovite forces.
" Thus would be closed to Russia that road towards
Persia and India which she has tracked out for herself with
so much perseverance and zeal. On the Black Sea her only ,
remaining possession would be the coast comprised be
tween the mouths of the Dniester and the Dnieper. But
she would still retain Odessa, Nicolaief, Kherson—that is
to say, sufficient marts for her export trade, and arsenals
for her navy, reduced to proportions still worthy of a great
people, but no longer threatening to the peace of the
world.
" Would it be presuming too much upon the wisdom of
Austria, to think that in exchange for the aggrandisement
of her territory, and the extension of her commerce
and of her marine, she would relinquish Lombardy ?
Milan united to Piedmont would strengthen, without
peril to any one, a second rate State, the prosperity
of which is important to France. Is it nothing to
avoid conflicts with Switzerland, to give satisfaction to
the national sentiment of Italy, and thereby to deprive
the revolutionary element of one of its pretexts, and
perhaps of the most apparent of its grievances ? The
Venetian State, moreover, which covers Friouli and Elyria,
would remain to Austria, under the conditions of the treaty
of Campo Formio. Her empire would extend unbroken
from Venice to Ackerman, from the mouths of the Adige
to those of the Dniester. At her two extreme points she
would touch two sea', one of which, the most necessary to
ner, is now closed to her.
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