The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-09 00:00:00

IHE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9,187 e.

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1870.

Somb: rather severe remarks have been made at the
expense of Mr. GLADSTONE for having contributed an
article to the Edinburgh Review on the Franco-
Gertnen war. It was perhaps not a very prudent act.
It may be said that there is no more reason why thw
First Minister should not express his opinions in
writing than why Mr. BRUCE and Mr. LOWE should
express theirs viva voce. This is true enough, and
it would hive been a suilleient answer if Mr.
GLADSTONE had maintained ministerial caution
in his capacity as a reviewer. It can
hardly be said that he has done this.
Remarks to the effect that " France does not know
and cannot discover how to constitute herself;" that
" the system 'of NAPOLEON 111., which worked
despotic power under the mask of universal suffrage,
aggravated the evil (loss of civic individuality and
the. consequent debasement of French politics to the
Mahometan and Oriental model) by concealing it
these and many other expressions equally decided
may pass ranger, though they border on the very
verge of indiscretion, and would have excited sur-
prise if the author of them had used them in a speech
to his constituents, still more in a speech in
the House of Commons. But there are other pas-
sages which certainly are exceedingly indiscreet, con-
sidering the place that Mr. GLADSTONE fills. The
Duc DE GRAMONT is " that infatuated Minister ;"
"The OLLIVIER Administration pursued its insane
career ;" "A. lying spirit had gone forth from the
Courts of Heaven to possess and misguide,
with rare and ineffectual exceptions, the prophets
of the land ;" "A spirit of perverse and constant
error seems to have governed from the first the
ruling powers of France ;" the dispute about the
Belgian railways in 1869 is described as a " trumpery
affair ;"—lt is in such wise that the Prime Minister of
England records in writing his opinion of French
Ministers and French policy. He is impartially
frank, however. It is not only France whom"
he visits with his criticism, Prussia comes in for
her share, " The foreign policy of Prussia if
it has been sans pear, has assuredly not been sans
reproche. "Between the piety of the King of
PRUSSlA—which we believe never failed him during
the Danish transactions—and the policy of the.
Chancellor of . the Confederation, which, what-
ever else it may have been, has not been Pharisaical,.
we are sore put to it to decide whether, in the .ad-
ministration of its great prerogative, Germany
will he.worthy of the confidence of Europe r —words
like these will scarcely be acceptable at Versailles,
will. hardly assist Lord GItANVILLE ill his efforts
to restore peace. For that reason ,we cannot but
regret that they have been published. Incontinence
of speech has always been rather a failing with Mr.
GLADSTONE, and it has sometimes worked him
serious harm. In the present case we fear that it
may work harm to Europe.
Ot course this article is deeply interesting, not
only from what it tells us of Mr. GLADSTONE'S esti-
mate of the actors in the present tragedy, but also
from the revelations which it affords of certain inci-
dents that had not come to the public knowledge,
and from the conclusions which the writer has fel reed
respecting the part England must play. The readers
of Mr GLADSTONE'S article will learn for the first
time that when this country proposed to
the two combatants that they should sign a treaty
binding themselves to respect the neutrality of Bel-
gium, Count BISMARCK found twenty-four hours
sufficient-for him to form his own judgment, obtain
the consent of his sovereign by telegraph, and bind
himself by a conclusive acceptance. The Due DE
GRAMONT, on tho other hand, "began to haggle."
"First one explanation was riece,ttry, and
then another. Nor was its principle left without
criticism. The treaty might be signed, • but
the French Minister could not seethe us of it." To
which Mr. GLADSTONE adds, " Now, surely, it re-
quired very little discernment to perceive the use of
it for France, whatever it might be for Belgium.
The I3ISMARCK-BENEDETTI treaty hal startled and
had shocked the world." The Belgian treaty gave
both parties an opportunity of purging them-
selves. Prussia embraced it eagerly, France
"haggled," and although the proposal was made
'to her several clays before it was made to Prussia,
it was not till many days after Prussia had
given her consent that " the lagging answer of the
French Minister, thus distanced in the race, was

given."
• Mr. GLADSTONE is 'Very sanguine about the
future. The " streak of silver sea " which
sepa ates England from the Continent delivers
her from the temptation to aggrandisement
which besets other European Powers, and
consequently makes them in their quarrels look to
England as arbitrator and counsellor. They cannot
suspect her, Mr. GLADSTONE thinks, " not because
she is believed to be exempt from infirmity, but
because she is known not to be exposed to tempta-
tion." It is for this reason that "in every quarrel,
in every difficulty, it is her aid that is most
courted ; it is by her agency that the parties,
if they seek a mediator, prefer to •come together;
it is under her leadership that neutrals most desire
to move." Mr. GLADSTONE might have added, it

is England which gets the most roundly abused by
both sides, and yet not have contradicted himself,
for it is because so Much is expected of England
that the disappointment is so keen when she
does not answer all. those expectations. At
the same time we fear that the Premier
has taken too favourable a view of England's influ-
ence. England counselled, at the outset of the
quarrel, the resort to international arbitration, which.
both France and Prussia had recommended at
the Paris Congress in 1856 ; but neither
of them would adopt the suggestion ; both
of them were resolved to fight. • At the present mo-
ment English mediation has failed to obtain even a
temporary cessation of hostilities. The truth is that
while England has of late years accepted, partly from
choice, partly from necessity, her position as that of a
neutral in continental quarrels, and though her sur-
render of the lonian Islands and her victorious march
in Abyssinia and her march back without retaining
a foot of ground, have to a certain extent proved her
sincerity, it cannot be forgotten that this policy of
renunciation and abstinence is of very recent adop-
tion. We cannot expect other nations to imitate our
example immediately. Fifteen years ago we were still
making-wars of conquestin Asia, and it does not follow
that "because we are now sated with territory and have
more, than we know what to do with, all the rest of
the world is to remain .content. Mr. GLADSTONE'S
arguthent reminds one rather too much of the gour-
mand who said "I have dined; let every ono say
grace." If the -elephantine BISMARCK, for
.whoso
trunk no object is too large or too small, shOuld read
our Premier's article, he will probably quote against
him England's greatest poet :

" Dost thou think because thou art virtuous there shall
be no more cakes and ale !—"Yes, by St. Anne ; and
ginger shall be hot i' the mouth too,"

ONE of the most unsatisfactory features of Amari-
can diplomacy is its want of straightforwardness.
English diplomatists often bungle, but at least what
they say and do is above board; they are single-
eyed, have one object in view, and they
set it forth and follow it without arriere pensee.
It is far otherwise with the diplomatists
of the United States. They are accustomed to con-
si,:er, not oaly what is best for the nation, but also
what is best for themselves and their party. Not
unfrequently the two ends are incompatible, and
oven opposed. There can be no question, for
instance, that it would have been highly advan-
tageous to the States if General GRANT and the Senate
had accepted and ratified the CLARENDON-JO HNSON
convention for the settlement of the Alabama claims.
The concessions made by this country were very
great, greater probably than England will be prepared
to make again. „Nevertheless the treaty was ignomi-
nously torn in half, and Mr. REVERDY JOHNSON was
recalled. We . now have another chapter in
the history of this wearisome negotiation. The
able Philadelphia correspondent of the Times
states that the persons who had suffered loss by the
Alabama lately asked Mr. JOHNSON if he thought
the British Government would be disposed to ack-
nowledge their claims- and compensate them for their
losses individually, and with Out waiting for a settle-
Ment of the whole dispute. The ex-Minister, who
had formed a decided opinion as to the readiness
of this country to act justly in the matter, replied
that he had no doubt those claims would be met.
They were then laid before Lord CLARENDON, about
a month previously to his death. That statesman at
once very properly asked, If we consent to pay
these claims to the holders of ihein; how will the
United States Government view it—favourably or un-
favourably?—and will they not add this to the already
long list of sins charged against England ?" He added
" If you can get a word of consent from th6United
States Government, so that England shall not fear a
misconstruction of what she does, I can get your
money as fast as you can count it." Application
was thereupon made to the Washington Govern-
ment by the representatives of the claimants so long
ago as last July. - But up to the time that the
Philadelphia correspondent's letter, was written,
(Oct. 24) no answer to this application, except a
bare acknowledgment of its receipt, had been made,
by Mr. Fisu. Thus, the Washington Government
having made itself legally liable for the claims, will
neither itself pursue the matter nor authorise the
claimants to do so. We fear that this inaction is
part of a designed policy. It is intended by
General GRANT to reserve this Alabama question as
a trump card to Play when the political exigencies of
his party shall kr.quire it to influence • the elections.
More than this, we sadly fear that General GRANT
has no. intention of settling this dispute amicably—
that he prefers to keep it ,open againet the time
w:. en he thinks he can safely make it
a easus belli. The condition of Europe
is so critical, the prolongation of the Franco-
German war is so dangerous even to neutrals, and it
it is so probable that some of them may be drawn
into it, that the American President and his Cabinet
may well think it worth while to refuse a friendly ar-
rangement in which there must be giving and taking
on either side, in the hope of being enabled to enforce
a settlement by which the United States will get all
that she wants, and a great deal more than she.
deserves. Such policy would be completely in
accordance, with that which has been revealed by
the recently published letters of Mr. DALLAS. It is
not an honest policy, and it is an exceedingly perilous
policy. We trust that there are in the United States
sufficient statesmen, as distinct from mere politicians,
to prevent the continuance of a course so detrimental
to the welfare of two great nations and the peace of
the world.

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