The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1856-11-06
-BArANCE OF POWER M EUROPE.

l.
In the debates of the British. Parliament
and the British, press, there is nothing moro
characteristic than the utter blindness Of the
nation to its own faults and its pruriency
of selfsuilicient intermeddling with the iul-
putcd faults of other nations.
England is full Of lamcutation over the
oppressed nationalities Of continental Europe
such rs the Poles in sul,jection to Russia
and the Hungarians or Italians 10 Austria
and yet one-half Of the inhabitants Of the
British islands consists Of one nationality
oppressed by the other half, which is dis.
tlnct nationality. The Saxons of England
Wales, Scotland and Ireland. conquered
the Cel,s of England, Wales, Scotland and
Ireland, and from that day to this have
ruled them at tho point Of the sword
There does not exist in Europe more fla
grant case of irreconcilaLle contrariety oil
race and of religion than that which is pre-.
scnted by the hostile Saxons and Colts. AS
between England and Ireland especially, in
their history the horrors Of foreign tyranny
are tenfoId greater than anything which,
has occurred in Poland, in Hungary, or in
Lombarly.
England is continually quarrelling with
the imputed misgovern,ncnt of this or the
other country of Europe. Her text at the
present time consists of the most extrava-
giant exaggcrations Of the alleged misrule of
King Ferdinand Of the Two Sicies. If it
had happened in Sicily, as it so recently
happened in Ireland, that Neapoli,an mis-
government had produced chronic famine
in Sicily as British misgovernmcnt has in
| Ireland, and driven one fourth part of its
| ,l,ts, t.~ al.
would l'c some little excuse for the system
attic calumniation which British orators and
writers apply to Ferdinand. II, indeed,
there be in the history of the human race
one long national tragedy, it is in the
wrongs inflicted by England upon Ireland.
We, in this country, throngcd rs it is with
millions of Irish exiles, have the evidence
continually before our eyes of the misgov-
crnment of England. But we do not suffi-
cicn,iy reflect upon the protracted period Of
time, and the immense extent, Of this de-
population Of Ireland 10y the tyranny Of
England. From the reign of William Ill
to the present day-from the Sarstield and
the Walls of the first half of the last century
TO the MacMalons and the O'Donncls of
the last half Of the present ccntury-thcrc
is not Il battle field of Europe which has
net dishonorcd England through the great
achievements of cxilcd lrshmcn. And will,
what face can the English prate Of Spanish
misrulc, in view of that series of nets of
laundering oppression which produced the
revolt and tie indept nlcncc Of the present
United States!
England has been uttering loud cries
these twenty years about tho alleged ambi-
ton and lust of dominion displayed by the
Russians, although the conquered subjects
of England count by thousands, while those
of Russia count only by hundreds; and at
;lse very time when Great Britain was ell
dcavorins i'y = war Of invasion to cure the
Russians OF the annexing spirit, she herself
WAS anuez;ng the kingdom Of Aoudh
And, certainly. !tshc.e ever was spectacle
OF unsurpassed decentralization and Of ex-
sre;.- ;uc'on Iusn>e, it was that Of the Eng
iIsu h2"ia t.yr sl,= demolition OF Sebasto-
POI. ~Ah= ..t-y themselves Ee!I by intrusion
and b! Sfeich 3t treaty the fortresscs Of
'fibrarar aai Malta. aud the Ion!an islands.
k-ng'an'l i1 c'sn;inaai!y reproacLinc the
L a1Ir'. Soatss b-s':aus-= OF the existence Of
..av. iah'7r in a portion of thern-forcettinr
that sh-. h=rs-!f has millions uJon millions
OF slaves in India, lanI!e>s but land bound
a=rt., whom she had stripped in the mass
OF property and Independence by the mere
right Of conquest and the force Of her ar
,n'ea-forsetting that the inequalities Of
condition in the Island of Great Britain,
the departures from the rule Of equal right
are far greater than they are in the United
States. The Duchess Of Sutherland, insane
with sentimental sympathy for the black In.
borers Of the United States, is utterly in
ns.Lic to the agonics of tile vassals of her
house, burnt out from their ancient homes
in Scotland, in order that she might tenant
her lands with cattle, instead OF men and
women. The ruthless prosecutors Of their
own vassals are fit patrons Of the libellous
romanccs of Mrs. Stowe.
England, for hundred and fifty years.
has been prating about the balance of DOW
or i'll Europe. She cannot tolerate stand
ing army, and to keep up this false prctence
She must needs pass new nutiny act an
nual'y' repeating in its preamble every year
The stale and silly excuse Of "tbe prescrva-
ton OF the balance of power in Europe"
In the reign of Ann, she pursued this
phantom through ten years of bloody war,
stupidity building up Austria ut the expense
OF France. How scornfulIy the great his
toran, Sismondi, points at the senselcss in
fatnation of England during all that period {.
80, tor another ten years, England cxl,austs
herself in the effort TO extinguish the DIV.
nasty OF tho Bonapartes in the person of
Napoleon [; and now, with the same fury
of unintelIigence, she has been deluciur
Europe with blood in order to renovate that
dynasty in the person of Napoleon III. In
word, England is pcrpeiGa'Iy intermed-
ding IN the affairs Of other European States.
even their domestic administration, in man
ner, which seems like the mere rccklcssness of
wlful Notwithstanding, but which is recon
clled 10 herself by some delusive imapina
ton OF her own exclusive virtue, and Of the
vices of all other people, under the influ-
ence of which she pursues philanthropy as
if it were the very demon of hate. and
nnsett!es everything periodically by way
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