Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-08-22
European Politics.

eA4s European Politics.
The fact that the Emperor Ofthe French
after having made a formal demand upon
Prussia for the extension of the eastern
boundary Of France to the Rhine, should
have promptly and quietly Withdrawn the
demand upon the refusal of the Prussian
Government to comply, is either a symp-
tom of growing weakness in Napoleon
himself, q loss Of his e~onfdencein ais peo-
pie, or it points to some deeper and as
yet ~undeyeloped game being played
against the operations Of the ~sagacious
Prussian statesman, Bismark. We are
not prepared to believe that Napoleon,
after having for the past ten years held
the commanding voice in European pol
itics, VIII now consent to be shorn of
his power and his influence without max.
ing q single effort to maintain the pres
tige of his name and the weight of France
in the councils Of Europe, and we are
therefore the more readily disposed to ac-
cert the conclusion that the willy En-
psror is eoasummating some plan by
which he hopes and expects to check
mate his no less shreWd Antagonist
of Prussia in the contest for the balance of
power. Napoleon cannot fail to realize,
what is certainly apparent to the rest Of
the world, that in his present position he
is secondary to Prussia and he cannot
fail to understand from the terms and re-
ouirements Of Prussia that still greater
difference is to be made between the rela-
tive power Of the two nations, II these
terms are allowed. The great first pur-
pose of Prussian craftsmanship is the en-
largement and strengthening Of the king
dom, ostensibly to SECURE German unity,
but in reality to give to the crown of
Prussia additional power, and to elevate
that power to the leading place in the
management Of European politics in the
future. The entering wedge for the dis
memberment of the German ~confederaey
has already been driven, and all lndica-
tons point to the presumption that all
Germany must sooner or later follow, by
the law Of political gravitation, those pet
ty p~rincipalities which sre now integral
parts of Prussia. There will be nc effort
needed on the part of Prussia to secure
this result, if left undisturbed to deal with
Germany, further han to satisfy the Ger
man people that such union under a
common head is necessary TO secure GER
tain protection to German nationality.
This task viii become the more easy with
everynew acquisition to Prussian author
ity, and q few years would find the king
of Prussia the head of a consolidated ma
ton of not less than sixty -mir;HT$ pop
u%lation, equal in intelligeuc' saa sl4ar-
prise to any other people of Euro pc Thst
Napoleon viii quietly permit this TO
take place can hardly be believed by
those who know anything Of the charae-
ter of the man, though for the present he
may believe it good policy, if it is not a
necessity with him, to seem to submit.
The latest adviees leave no doubt that
peace is to be concluded without further
hostilities. The terms of the settlement
have not yet publicly t~ranspired, but
those who claim to know indicate a pro-
gramme of the following character: The
Germanic Union is finally dissolved; a
new confederation is established, un-
der the auspices of Prussia, consisting
of all the States north of the Main; the
States south of the Main are allowed to
form a Bund of their own, but from which
Austria must be excluded. In other re-
speets the empire Of Austria remains in
tact, with the exception of Venice, which
she has already coded to the Emperor Ma
polean, and ofsuch @rectifeationsn as may
be necessary to secure s good military
frontier for Italy. The King Of SaxOny,
too, viii be reinststed in his dominions,
provided he consents to become a mem
Der of the Northern Confederation. OF
Hanover and Hesse those districts viii be
annexed to Prussia which border on her
eastern and western provinces and form
the connecting link between them. II is
likely, too, that Hanover will lose East
Frleslsnd, the hsrbors Of which have long
been coveted by Prussia as stations for
hor navy, and that another slice of King
Georges possessions will DO assigned to
oldenburg in exchange for the principal
tiles of Lubbock and Birltenfeld, which are
also required to round off the Prussian
territory. With such conditions granted,
the future of Prussia promises, under lib
eral rule, to be a grand one.