The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-10-21


wIlIiam Of Prussia to Victoria Adelaide OF
England.
The view we presented few days ago of
the designs of Louis Napoleon, and the scope
of his policy in connection with the re-estab-
lishmeAt of the Bcnaparte dynasty is being
more rapidly verified than we had anticipated
The ostentatious announcement OF the Court
of Berlin, some weeks since of the intended
betrethel of its presumptive Crown Prince to
Victoria Adelaide. has stirred up all the fire
ofour transatlantic neighhors.
Perhaps in the present complications of En-
rcpean politics it would he impossible to con-
oeive of a measure more utterly at war with
the settled policy Of the Western alliance, and
more dangerous to its 'stability and its future
harmonious operations than the projected ALI
ance of the young Prince of Prussia with the
eldest'daughter of the reigning Queen Of Eng
land. We give place, in another column, to
an article on the subject from the London
Times, which evinces bitterness and an utter
hostility to the measure-a fixed determination
to preyent it's contamination, and good faith
to France which clearly enough show that it
will not be effected without a violent struggle.
The truth is that the alliance of England
and France was absolute and complete in it's
terms and conditions. 1t was more than an
alliance it was cordial union of the two
Powers-a marriage--not merely a political
oonjugal, but political conjugial compact It
RESTS upon the bases of the establishment of
the Napoleonic dynasty; and the union of the
heir to the throne of England to the heir pre-
sumptive Of the throne of Prussia would be a
violation of its covenants and utterly subver.
sive of its purposes.
1t is manifest that it cannot take place; and
to prevent it, the power thatput Napoleon upon
the throne, and that which sustains the present
system in Great Britain, will be brought to bear
against 1.-THE popular Judgment
1t must not be forgotten that in Germany,
more than anywhere else in Europe, the people
have come to regard themselves as the right
full governors of their States They have built
up a dynasty of their own, in the expansion Of
the human mind, in the diffusion Of knowledge,
and they exercise to-day more power than their
king. The Prussian government is tenant,
and not landlord-it occupies the estates of
the kingdom by sufferance. 1t derives its sole
authority from the sympathy and the interest
of its powerful imperial neighbors, and it will
topple and fall when they withdraw their aid
as they will the moment it is for their benefit
to do so. There is, then, but one point to be
gained by an alliancewith Prussia, and that is
the certain enmity of France, and the almost
certain contempt. of both the British and
,Prussian people. The popular mind Of that
kingdom, with the endorsement which the
Western alliance has made of revolutionary
action in France, gives assurance of greater
,permanence as governing power than is
found in the estates Of the young Prince, who
seems to be seeking in advance an asylum
under the British constitution and as q men,
Der of its royal family. There would be just
as much propriety in q union between the Co
burgs and son of the President of the United
States, as in the marriage Of the Princess Royal
with the decaying house Of Hohenzollern.
The integrity of the friendship between the
Paris and London Cabinets will now be put to
the severest test. We entertain no doubt of
the triumph of Napoleon in this matter, as in
Others. He is the very heart and lungs-the
soul and the body--the centre and circum-
ference of government in Western Europe.
His armies have conquered, and his edicts
have rewarded. His voice is potential-his
will is law. England not less than Russia has
surrendered to him. AT Sebastopol he avenged
the downfall and imprisonment of the great
founder OF his dynasty at a single blow He
has won rcnown by the sagacity of his move
ments, and above all, he has won the heart of
the British nation. Whatever we may think
OF his government, of his ambitious purposes.
of the effects Of his rule upon the condition of
the human family it would be folly to deny
either his ability or his power. In the rear
rangement OF Europe, beyond all question be is
the moving spirit; and in this view, he is
practically the director of the British govern
ment and people Now the projected betrothal
OF Frederick William, of Prussia with the
Coburg family, is measure looking to the
paciGcation of the British people with both
Prussia and Russia; it is projected family
alliance, in fact, between England, Prussia,
Austria and Russian alliance utterly an
tagonistic to the Napoleonic dynasty-at war
with the present policy of Western Europe.
and which, when consummated, must inevita-
bly, drive the French Emperor into an attitude
OF hostility TO the London Cabinet, while it
will leave him on terms Of cordial friendship
with the British nation. Such a movement.
then, regarded with reference to its effects
upon the present state of political relations
between France and England, is wholly i'm
possible Perhaps the people of the latter
kingdom have the least cause, and the least
disposition, to disturb their reigning family;
but il is questionable if the consummation of
the marriage between the Prussan Prince and
and the Princess Royal would not end in the
expulsion of the Coburge from England.
Let us return for a moment from these re-
pulsive reflections to the actual condition Of
things-to the alliance between the two great
states CT the West, TO their glorious victories
10 ia fha.K