New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-03-31
GERMANY.
The Present fmpsssiSilisy OF War.
,yr,rnond ence NJ Tn. = Tn mar


II is peculiar to organic and peaceful times
that the harmony betwixt pubic institutions and
the principles all believe in, gives opportunity
for the uncertainty of fear. aud rem eTs needless
the suspense of hope. Bu. where the old is un-
satisfactory and the future undecided, these two
passions hold men in restless oscillation.
The fire which the collision of fear and hope
inRames in the soul of individuals, and which
springs from the friction OF opposing parties, be.
gets that ardeRt atmosphere in which old insti-
tutions are consumed. And it gives birth to the
illusions without which are impossible those far
reaching exertions of power requisite TO the
achievement of the destined end. But that end
forever lies this side OF these illusions.
The devastation which the excessive collision
of fear and hope produces in the souls of ind,-
viduals and OF masses-the exhaustion VIII hfot
lows the vanishing of illusions, at last result
in passive state of the public. Then it Is like
disciplined and docile horse, and with it, those
in whom the active force of the revolution is
finally concentrated, do just what they designed
at the beginning, but hitherto had failed Of.
Fear before the might of old authorities and
institutions, which, in the movement of l6is,
attended and rendered uncertain the hope OF a
new organization In all spheres OF human affairs
has been changed. since the usurpation Of De
cember 2, into shame at a fate, for which, in so
gross form, the popular parties were not pre-
pared. And that hope has been changed into the
passive consolation that this result of the revo-
lutionary movement cannot be its definite con-
clusion.
hot
caused all the rulers Of Europe to hail the
stroke Of December g. as the most favorable
event of the last four years, and as the defnitvc
conclusion of the revolution. But the naked
recklessness, which the Government of France
has since then developed, presently filled them
with alarm again, and with anxiety lest the true
secret of their own power should be revealed. In
the Medusas head of that Government they be-
held with terror the exaggerated type OF their
own authority-a type which they felt them
selves incapable of reaching.
All the rulers Of the Continent would fam act
with the same recklessness as in France, against
the press and against all political parties but
they lack the force and the GOODNESS of calcula-
tion--reason enough for regarding the French
event with suspicion-reason enough for the ap-
prehenson that it must embody energies they
have not yet perceived, which may at last di.
rect themselves against the security and the
possessions Of these royal spectators.
And the hero of the usurpation Does he
clearly understand his destination and his own
aims? Does he share the lot of revolutionary
heroes! Is he subject to the necessity by which
they are always ovenuledl Does he, too, draw
from mere illusions his only power of reaching
an end far inferior to those illusions
He aims at the Imperial throne This is in
disputable.
As to side Of Imperialism he is perfectly
clear. Just as his uncle closed one revolution
by leveling all parties and subjecting them to
dictatorship, so he reduces France to blank
monotony which no difference of parties inter
rupts. Himself, the revolutionary source and
representative OF the usurpation, he makes the
sole authority in France.
But the other side of his uncle's imperialism,
war against Europe, the revolutionary propo
ganda against patriarchal rnonarchy,-does not
that also lie in his intentions
Certainly He even takes care that his pur-
pose shall be no secret, though at the same time,
in official declarations, he assures the other pow
srs that he intends po.hiug more than the pacf
cation of France and the suppression Of its
parties
But he too-this cold, passionless calculator
-cherishes and industriously maintains an illu.
sion. The universal European srmaments,-
from Russia to England, the immense military
apparatus which all Europe now keeps ready,
and which is a. great as at the time Of Napo-
lecn's wars, is called into existence by an illu.
sion, since the powers regard it as necessary on
account Of the present imminent danger Of war.
In short, Europe still lives in revolution, because
it is borne hither and thther by illusions which
compel extraordinary sacrifices of it's material
means, and distract its attention from oil the
arts and researches of peace.
In future letters will expose and explain
these illusions. For the present let me state
few reasons against the idea of an approaching
war.
At the present hour the revolutionary move
ment is spread far and wide through all Western
Europe. In some countries it appears as the
strife Of classes with classes; in others as the
strife Of nations with nations. In the presence
of this movement Governments can have but
one obect-ths preservation of tranquility, the
maintenance Oh lepOce. Even snis tnsy cdn ouiy |
accomplish in precarious way. They can keep
but a provisional peace Thus their own exis-
tence is proporionally precarious and provision
al, and 80 much the less can they venture upon |
great enterprises abroad.
The French revolution of 1889 was aggressive |
1t had night to be such, because it contendsd |
for ideas that FIVE centuries had elaborated. The
Girondist party, which especially cherished this |
tendency of the revolution, had right to call |
France to arms against feudal Europe because
Il Has in France that those ideas had eceixad |