The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1848-04-16
TIE GREAT EVENTS OF THE AGE.
THE EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS,
IN AN
LISN POINT OF VIEW.
NEWS AND OPINIONS,
&c. &c. &c.
From the Manchester Examiner, March as ]


He who bad predicted, WHEN the February
revolution first announced itself in England,
that the genera shaking ofthe nations, by which
it was sure TO be followed, was but the prelude
laughed st mailman, If not secuted as n.y.
pocrte. To the politician and to the CONNER
cial man-to the thoughtful and the thoughtless
to those who exulted, AS to those who mourn
Frapce--there was visible but one Immediate
result-the transmutation of our peaceful and
civilized Europe into an enormous battle field,
GA which liberty and despo'ismn were to fight
while trade and traffic fled, terrified, into the
distance. Yet, now that month has elapsed
since those February days, and our outlook into
the future has become UNNECESSARILY surer and
clearer, it is evident that the propheser of peace
would have been more trustworthy than the pro-
phesier of war The fate OF Cassandra, who, in
the midst of joyful security, predicted impending
calamity, has become aby-word. Here the case
would have been exactly reversed The fore.
teller of peace and prosperity, in the midst OF
actual conlagration and destruction, would,
ike her, have been soorniuly gainsaid; and. as
events now prove, quite as wrongiutly: The
great European revolution. Uhich has established
its Obstructive ensrgies at Berlin and at Pienna,
not less than at Paris is fast aboiishng the causes
tchich haze hitherto produced tcar among men;
and not only the causes of toar but its instruments
To our own mi0ds, This conviction rests on SUCH
sure and impregnable grounds, that we have Int
tie doubt of being able TO convert 1t into per-
suasion for our readers also
What, prs v,ously TO the February of this re-
mafkable 1913, were the circumstances which
periiled the continuance of peace in Europe?
They were three. First-the antagonism be-
tween continental liberalism and absolutism.
which ranged kings and their standing armies
on one side, against thinkers and nations on the
other; and which might at any time, have made,
for instance, Austria march her troops into
S,uthern Italy, Prussia into radical Switzerland,
France into rebellious Portugal, and thereby
ha.Yn dad fhA fnno ut AYanv UnIf
S-coud-That strange abstraction called the
balance Of power, which made Lord Palmerston
protest against the annexation Of Cracow; a
protest which, if Cracow had been as accessible
as Lisbon or Acre, might have plunged us into a
war. Thrd-and, perhaps, most Important OF
all-the existence in every cOuatry Ofa standing
army, directly subordinated to the sovereign or
the executives weapon OF the most tremendous
potency, yet one which can be set in motion by
WHISPER from an idiot or a child. Were not
these the three things WI h which the advocates
Of peace and retrsnchment used to be tainted!
II we said that the English people had no quar-.
rel with any other nation, were we not told OF
the hostile attitude assumed hy the French 60
vernment, for example. and of the powerful army
which any whim or sudden jealousy might en-
bark against us from beyond the channel! Or,
on other occasions, when that statement grew
threadbare, were we not menaced with argu-
ments drawn from tho alarming state Of Con-
tinental Europe" and the probable lnfraction
of those treaties of Vienna, to which England
u
possibility of mutual self-disarmament, we were
laughed at as well-meanlng enthusiasts, and
asked, gWho will disarm aloug with us!" LIE.
US see how matters stand now
the prospect Of general war, spriuging out Of
the antagonism between continental liberalism
and abselutism, is entirely dlssIpated by the
events Of the last fortnight. In 1892 the despofs
tion in 1913 the French revolution has revenged
ifsef by rushing unarmed upon them and see,
at Berlin, Frederick William himself, the sol
dier-king, has granted every iota Of concession
and at Vienna, Prince Metternich, the willy con
oueror of Napoleon, 10 flung from his seat Of au-
thority his influence, which pressed like q
nightmare on the life and thought of continental
which now triumphs in Austria, no profered
"Archduchess'' can, as In Napoleon's case,
tempt into apostacy. BY lucky chance, these
two movements have been simultaneous; Aus
help Austria. From Konigsberg TO Palermo de.
n,eeracy hds, at single stride, taken possession
at central Europe and the lone, bloody war that
was to have arisen from its slow and painful
progress, belongs now TO the contingencies OF
the past.
Ia the second place, the doctrine of the balance
of power, and all that belonged to 1t, has disap-
pcared, or is disappearin", and will never more
cause bloodshed among them. The territorial
divisions OF Europe are no longer to depend on
treaties of Vienna, liable to be interpreted In
any way, but on those much surer foundations,
which nature herself indicates Nationality is
Nature has sundersd men into different nations,
united by blood and Language, and It is these In
destructible pccuiaritiee, and not the chance
agglomerations of conquest. that are henceforth
to determine the political boundaries Of States.
France is distinctly marked out; there can be
no doubt rs to her political boundaries as little
can there be any with respect to those of Spain,
Portugal, Switzerland, and Italy. The cry In
~ H.
which the severed Teutonic kingdoms, and prin-
cIpilites, and duchies, may remain as at present,
but combined into noble unity. II is not entire
independence that the Msgyars of Hungary, the
vnces, have claimed but these distinctions Of
race will enttle them to selfgovernment and
institutions, founded on their sever ii pecullari
ties, and mildly directed from Vienna. While
each nationality has sefgovernment, It little
matters what its nominal head may be and if
the absolute authority of the nominal head is
utterly destroyed, 1t will no longer be ambitious
of adding territory to territory, since over these
it is to possess a merely constitutional sway.
But in the third place, and most important and
cheering of all-in the recent revolutions OF
France, Prussia, and Austris--he tDho runs may
read that the doom of standing armies az in
sfrun,ent for the maintenance of despotisni, 10
sealed Everywhere the functions of the stand
ing army are being usurped by a national guard !;
in Paris alone this counts 1870 900 men, and 1t Is
but yesterday gone week since 200 900 work
men demanded from inc ffoVisionei govern
ment the withdrawal of the troops from Paris.
AT Berlin, at Vienna, the soldiery of the line
fred upon the people, and from both places have
been ignomu iousy dismissed. Every where
those two great realities. the people and the
army, have come into collision, and the former
has been left victorious But to make the veto.
ry a lasting one, standing armies must be dis
banded how else eau there be security for popu.
lar institutions Even before the outbreak at
Berlin. the cry had been raised OF :" No standing
army" Will that cry be lowered, now that the
party which raised it is in power1 In Austria
the army has ever been the plant tool OF desPoo-
tsm will it not be broken aAd thrown aside
with the authority that welded it! Already in
n theme TOR discussion among speculative men.
Perhaps 1t is in that country that the question
w II fret be settled, and the old conflict between
mind and matter be terminated, In that French