New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-06-27

from the New York World I


One of the most surprising and important events
Of modern times is the voluntary surrender by
Great Britain OF her position as one Of the great
powers Of Europe. The change has been SO
recent that its full significance Il as yet hardly
recognized in Europe while on this side Of the
results likely to follow from, the !loE-ntervention
peace policy which England has determined to
pursue hereafter. The best part Of the great
debt of England was created by the wars in which
she engaged to uphold her position as irst-cass
power in Europe; but since the close of the Crl-
mean war change OF policy has been determined
I upon at variance with oil the traditions of the
nation and which, if justified, condemns nearly al
the wars she has undertaken for the last two nun.
dred years, and stamps the national debt as being
| a costly folly.
| The following extract from long and able art
Gle id the London Saturday Review tells the story
of Englands willingness to give up first position
IN the deliberations Of the great powers OF Eu-
rope:
Ii war is to come. England may reckon conf
IDENTIFY on keeping out Of it. She will aot only be
neutral, but the war will be of kind that Is ex-
oeedlngly unlikely to raise any of the difficult
questions which sometimes involve neutrals in en-
barrassment. II is scarcely probable that there
should even be blockade and all the conlh atants
and will not come to create embarrassment to the
authorities of English ports. No result of the war
IL likely 70 affect us much, and can afford to let
the continental powers settle how the map of En-.
altered Thismakes livery easy for us to be calm and
impartial at this critical time when war may break
out any day and any suggestions we may offer
have the Recommendation of being disinterested
and Of not having been dictated BY hope or fear.
But on the other hand we cannot hope to have
much influence, and it is very much to be desired
that our diplomatists may net have been pretend.
ing to have an influence which every one know
they have really not got. That we should do VIII
we can for the main mace of peace is Yerv
right, and England has sufficient claims on the
attention Of all the eombatants to invite them to
consider with her whether their differences cannot
be adjusted. But this is the utmost that she can
ask or that she need wish to ask. She is rapidly
ceaslng to be European power In the sense ia
which she was European in the days of Yelling.
ton. She IS now an Asiatic power, maritime
power, an oceanic power, much more than Euro
pean enc. The affairs Of Burmah of afghan
Of Nepaul, are Of more Importance to her than the
affairs Of WurtembUrg and Hanover and Hesse.
Gassel: To keep the road to India open
through Egypt is far more necessary to her
than to insist that this OF that little Rhenisb
stronghold shall not belong to France Her chief
interest IN resisting the aggressons of Russia on
Sons1antnople is not to protect the mouth of the
Danube or TO nentraliZe the Euxine or to helm the
raIahs OF Turkey, but to impress on the Mahome
tan populations under her rule or adjacent to her
territories that her strength il unbroken and that
she can rule them With rod Of iron If necessary
II makes exceedingly little difference to us whether
we are lightly spoken Of, and our prestige II mo
nouneed to be at an end in the beer gardens If
Munich and the cafes of Florence butt ia Of VITA
moment to US that at Lucknow and Pershawur We
should still be thought quite sure to win if n
struggle Is forced on us. We are also nation of
traders and of carriers, and we are rich because
we trade with every nation, and carry the goods
Of oil the world. Some of the greatest nations Of
the continent are, in this respect, of the least m
portanee to US.
This isa concise statement of the feeling and
policy Of England, as expressed by the parlia.
mentary leaders and through the press. John
Bull gives notice that he has had enough of fight
ing and Is going to confine himself to trading ana
money making hereafter. IL IL difficult TO realize
that nation which in times past has been SO
plueky quarresome, aud dietatorial and which
has coveted power and glory, should Voluntarily
resign its position and turn its back upon thepasf.
but this sacrifice the people Of England certainly
determined to make, and the fact itself cannot but
current history.