The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-10 00:00:00

" THE BALANCE OF POWER."

The balance of power (or, as the French term it, the
equilibrium) is the bugbear of Europe. To maintain this
phantom, senseless and cruel wars have been waged, vast
standing armies and navies have been maintained in times
of profound peace, and the free development of nations
has been retarded, and in some cases crushed out. And
yet, although all this mass of crime and folly has been
in oontinual process of perpetration for three hundred
years, the real object of it remains unaccomplished ; the
equilibrium has not been preserved, nort have ambitious
Powers been checked in the indulgence of their pro-
clivities. It was the overwhelming power of Spain.in
the 16th century which called into being the doctrine of
the balance of power. The very existence of France
and England was threatened, and hence it was natural
that they should seek alliances with such other nations
as were able to aid them against the common enemy. It,
is curious, now, to look back to that time and note what
nations there were in Europe ; and by comparing the
condition of that continent then with its present state we
shall perceive what wonderful changes have taken place,
and how little the balance of power has influenced them.
Spain was the predominant power, and Charles the Fifth
was sovereign, not only of that country, but of Ger-
many, - Flanders, a large portion of Italy, North and
South America, and the West and East Indies.
To oppose him the only powers of any conse-
quence were England and France ' • for Prussia was
not then in existence, and Poland was too far off.
As for Russia, just recovering from the horrors of Tartar
domination, she was not considered anything more than a
nation of savages, of no account in the affairs of Europe.
But the Turks were the terror of Hungary and Germany,
and almost as powerful in the East as Spain was in the
West. In those days Austria was a duchy, Hungary an
independent kingdom, and Italy was parcelled out into
a variety of small States. Contrast all this with the
reality of 1870. Both Spain and Turkey, the terror of
1570, have sunk into third rate Powers. Prussia, which
had no existence then, is now one of the greatest military
empires of the world. So is Russia while Poland, which
formerly looked down with disdain on her barborous
neighbour, and had subjugated a large portion .of her
territory, is now the abject victim of the latter. The
Empire of Germany having fallen to pieces through
the exhaustion occasioned by the Thirty Years War, has
given place to that of Austria and of Prussia, while Italy,
the prize for which the rival monarchs of France, Spain,
and Germany had during so many ages contended, is now
free " from the Alps to the Adriatic," a united and
powerful nation. Now the theory of the balancd of
power did not prevent the partition of Poland, nor did it
hinder Austria from tyrannising over Italy; neither did
it refuse its sanction to the " Holy Alliance," nor con-
demn it for saturating Italy, Hungary, and Spain with
the blood of patriots. In spite of the " equilibrium "
England possessed herself of a vast empire on this Conti-
nent and in India and Russia has been steadily aggran-
dising herself in Europe and Asia. It wars as much
as all Europe could do to check the progress of
France under the First Napoleon, and it is
possible that some such difficulty may occur under the
Second. The balance of power has been fruitful of trea-
ties, the greater number of which have been torn up, and
more of them will yet have to be. It has involved the
great Powers in false promises to maintain the neutrality
of the little ones, and these obligations, never faithfully
lived up to, will again in all probability be broken during
the present war. Belgium and Switzerland are two of
these guaranteed States ; but they lie temptingly in the
way of the two great belligerents, both of whom are
parties to the guaranteeing treaties. How long will they
respect these pieces of parchment ? How long was
the independence of Cracow respected, when it
interfered with the schemes of Austria and
Russia? All Europe has been in a transition state since
it had a history, and no Pragmatic Sanction, or wars
of Spanish or Austrian succession, or Councils of Vienna,
or Paris, or London have been able to secure anything
like performance to the map of that Continent. Coun-
tries which once were " geographical expressions " are
now living realities, and those which once ruled the
.earth have become things of the past. All which proves
the futility of these " balance of power " combinations
to direct the course of events. If a more signal instancb
of the worthlessness of " the balance of power " doctrine
be needed, it can be found in the rise of our Republic,
which, within less than a century after its birth, has
become one of the leading Powers of
_the world.—Phila-
,..7.-7-2

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EVENING EDITION.

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1870,