Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1859-09-16
The NapOleOnfc Problem and the zurich


NAPOLEON, the New York Journal of Commerce
thinks it is plain be has difficult part to play in
directing, on the part of France, the negotiations
at Zurich. What those plans are, is question
which all Europe is pulling itself; but it is
generally confessed by the English press, which
watches and studies him as closely aod anxiously
the astronomer does the heavens, that this brill
liant and errstic comet in the political armament
does net go wandering and tumbling about among
the Great Powers at hap hazard, merely to be STAR
ed at and TO create sensation. 1t is indeed gen.
ersl impression, not confined to the timid press
and politicians of Great Britain, that great plan
series of plans, long since were mstured in the
brilliant and secretve brain of the Emperor, and
that every step he has taken, from the war in the
Crmea to the peace of Vilafrsncs, has tended, III
recty or indirectly, to their development and COL
Submission.
The boldsst and mot selfsssured solution Of this
NspOleOnic problem which we have yet epcounterei,
is contained in the last number Of BlGekUOods Nag
azins The paper is deliberately and shreWdly writ
ten but the gst of it is that short wars and subtle
diplomacy are the game of Napoleon III, and that
he intends to aggrandizs France by an attack upon
the rival Powers separately and in she detail, hsv
ing previously eslranged their allies. In other
words, he enters like wedge into Europe, and splits
up its States as he desires. Having brought the
Russian to 9 conclusion by a secret and friend
y ire ty with the Gar, he eIPpes Austria BY local
ling the Italian campaign and inducing Russia to
keep eff Northern Germany and to SOW dIssensions
in the Danubian provinces. By the Peace of vi
afrauca, he slienales Austria from the rest of Ger
ma1y, and both from England, thus leading the
way to a union between Austria Russia and France,
having for its edects the dismemberment of Turkey
and its division between the first two Of these pew
ers and the extension of France to the Rhine at the
expense of Germany, and looking forward to the
Wrestling of Gibraltar from EOgsnd sud its FestOra-
ton Span allied to France by marriage and inter
est and also to prospective brief but spirited rush
at Great Britain, sufficiently severe to aVeDge Water
loo, bat not sufficiently prolonged to bring out the
la,ent strength Of that nation.
Such is very brief outline of the Napole mic
plot which this Tory writer has discovered, and
which he fOrti6es with on array of facts and sug-
ges.ions which nc are not disposed to discuss. This
theory, or its reverse, which interprets NAPOLEON
as the true hiand of order, constitutional govern
ment and the peaceful progress of justice civili
ration, religion and philosophy" las he himself
claims) rests only in the brain aud conscience of
one man; and any attenpt to gain from them a
foresight of European events during the next FIVE
years, is at present mere weighing of probabil-
ties But it may plausibly be urged against such
broad prophecies as those Of BLaekVoOd, denoune-
ing NAPOLEON IS a mar-plOt and unscrupulOUs dis
turbsr OF the peace of Europe, that these gigantic
schemes scarcely accord with his well known pru-
deuce and that he has probably read too attentvely
the lessons Of the first Empire to be entrspped into
those visionary schemes which led TO its downfall,
or to trust that any skill in dplCmscy could
save him from the fatal consequences Of any such
crusade against the peace and security of Europe
We have grown half century older in ideas and
in civilization since the OF NAPOLEON l. and the
wild schemes of conquest and empire which de-
stroyed him would be cert lin to overWhem his sue
cessor, should he stiempt to repeat them. If we do
not mistake him entirely, ne will make no move
ment which will array against him war of Opin-
ions, or plunge Europe into general conflict; and
the plots which are attributed to him could have
other issue than an eventual and anti NapoleOnio
alliance, and the jeopardy, if not the destruction,
of his Empire.
But whatever may be the true solution of the Ma
poleOnic problem, which the refscting minds of Eu-
rope fad so hard nut to crack, it seems as il
events in the Italian Peninsula now taking such
as shortly to compel the Emperor to declare
himself either for against the Central Sta es in
the firm manly and united position they have taken
If he sides against the Duchess aBd with the conni-
vance of Aust ria res ores the eXiled Princes by
threats or force of arms, the world will naiura ly
sumo that he has secret understanding with FRAN
CHS JosEPH, and that the basis Of the peace OF Villa
frsnca was probably plan for the cOmmenc msnt o
future hOsiIities If there is any foundation for th'
fliousterng designs attributed to hrN. 4 seems al
most impossible that he shoul5 eses5e from theil
partial exposure at least, BY the most skilfu ma
neuvres avoid the arrangements of the pending TIA
lien question nov being settled al Zurich.