The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-01-31
EUROPE AGAINST RUSSIA AND THE
UNITED STATES.


The whole secret of the large and well pre-
pared ornaments maintained in Western
Europe is not to be explained by characteriz-
ing the fact as a condition of peace which is
instinct with the war of all against all. The
policy of Bismarck has, indeed, been well
calculated to confirm this view of the situa-
ton. After Sadowa and the Schleswig-Hol-
stein campaign, no country, arguing from the
example of Prussia, could deem its integrity
secure in the presence of powerful neighbor
better prepared for war than itself French
craftsmanship has not yet quite recovered
from the tremor of nneasiness which came
over it at the discovery that the same
admirable military organization which brought
Austria and Southern Germany to its feet
at Sadowa, was ready to solve the
Luxembourg difficulty by precipitating an
amy into the heart OF France and upon Paris
itself But if there is about the policy of Bis
marck much that is daringly practical, there is
also about it something that is contrived for
mere dramatic effect. Having carried his
point by being fully prepared and apparently
eager for war, he is by no means disposed to
break the peace with France, well aware as he
is that the shock of collision with that coun-
try might profoundly derange his scheme of
German unifcation. 1t may be assumed,
then, that the dispositions of France and
Prussia towards each other at this moment
are sincerely pacific. Yet, if these two coun-
tries, in addition to having no present argu-
ment for arming the one against the other, were
without reason Of a domestic nature for main
tanning great military establishments, they
would still realize in common a powerful con-
sideration tending to dissuade from disarma-
ment. And other nations of Western Europe
more especially England, would be impelled
by a like motive to deprecate the dissolution
of the compact and momentarily available
military organizations of France and Prussia.
An English writer indicates the cause and the
nature of this community of interest and
sentiment when he says: "Were both armies
annihilated tomorrow, car would reign
from Behring Strait to the English Channel,
and England would hardly preserve her in
dependence by decupling her forces. We
have reason to regard the troops of Prussia,
and even of France, as police who protect us
unpaid" While the armies of both these
powers serve as unpaid police, the army of
each must render like service to the other in
respect to the far-reaching instincts of con-
quest which inspire the policy of Russia.
But it is not only to opposing the advance
of the great Europo-Asiatic empire that this
idea Of a combination of European powers is
limited. The effect of Mr.. Stewards success
in diplomatizing France out of Mexico and
Of his indefatigable efforts to obtain strategic
positions in all quarters for maritime opera
tons, has been to profoundly impress states
men in Europe with the vastness of the con-
templated strides Of the United States in
direction the opposite of the non-intervention
and stay-at-home policy inculcated in the
farewell address of George Washington. And
it must be said that, if there is something
grotesque to the point of absurdity on the
surface of Mr.. Stewards enterprise in the
real estate line, there is also matter for
serious note in the fullness of serene and
indomitable confidence in the future which
he manifests while negotiating for distant
acquisitions, notwithstanding the gloom and
luC pOliAOuo SOLllA4CHIlOuS VI Inc domestic
situation.
This, at all events, is the conviction of
such Europeans as NJ. Chevalier, of the French
Senate, who, as the cable telegraph states, has
in recent debate expressed the sentiment,
"that Europe should unite to resist Russia
and America, whose rapid growth of power
threatened to overshadow the world" Thus
it is the serious aspect of Mr.. Stewards diplo-
macy that strikes European observation most
forcibly, while even many in America who APP
prove the general drift of that diplomacy can
hardly see more than its comic side. He as
sumes the certain evanescence Of domestic
troubles that now shake the foundations of
the government, in all his calculations of the
future. And if this assumption is not ground
less, his policy is not extravaganza, and the
apprehension Of M. Chevalier is abundantly
called for