The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-04

ia The ye.v tbiDg TO give Mr.. Disraeli his
oppottupny. Mr.. Glldst0ne is certain now to be
Pftnfer OF Great Bitain as soon as forms will
pei NIT IT, II is not less certain, however, that
Mr.. Disraeh will end in tho nav Parliament
material TO work upon seriously inoonvenisnt
TO the Gladstone, Bright aud Russell party,
hut by no means inoonveoi-nt to him sslt aud
The more libei al OF the tories. Great Britain
will then know what We have not unfreq uently
experienced in this county when parties have
split and extremes have met. There Is bat
one lesson to DO drawn from the situation.
The people are in the ascend ant, aud the aris-
tocracy must make the best OF it. Aristocratic
England must become, will or nil, like aui
still more Ike demo ratio America. The people
must become sovereign.
The NatiOnalitips Question in Europe.
From Lhe ~. Y. Herald.
On no subject in modern times has there
been SO much sense aud so much nonsense
spoken and written as on what, for the sake
OF distinctness, We may call the nati0nalites
question in Europe. This question, though
hot exactly new, has been held so prominently
before the public mind of the world since 1852
that the presumption is that history will iden-
tify it with the name of Napoleon the Third
and with the Second French Empire. More
than any other it has been the European
question for the last sixteen years.
w udty butD3 10 Julo 4ucSllOu vi uablOuAtl-
ties 2 Briefly, in its popular and govern
mental acceptation, it amounts to this-th,t
peoples, identical III their origin and revealing
characteristics peculiar to race should be re-
gar ded in the light OF a nation and entitled to
a nations privileges. This doctrine in its
application has begotten, not illogcslly, re-
suits the most diverse and apparently contra
dictory. 1t has, for example, swept out of
existence all the petty Kingdoms and duchies
nfI Ital md wit no al no Ia W. iinr nff ha
domains OF the Pope, it has given the Italian
peninsula to the Italians. 1t has produced
similar fruit in Germany. For the first time
in many generations Germany, under the
lead Of Prussia has become unit in fact, not
in name merely. The unifcatiOn in Germany
has not as yet beoC M so complete as it is in
Italy; but the tendency towards complete uni
fcaton is, il possible, more decided in the
former than in the latter. These are the most
striking examples of the success of this doc
trine. But the principle is at work elsewhere.
1t is firing the hearts Ofevery Sclavic people in
the northeast of Europe, and it is now all but
universally believed that if Russia is not to
receive within her wide embrace the entire
SlavOnic family, new kingdom or empire
muet spring mp on the banks of the Danube.
To the south of the Balkan range the principle
is equally active. The Christians of that por-
tiOn of the Turkish empire, proud of their
Grecian origin and impatient of the domiua-
ton of foreign race, long aud labor and pray
for the reunion OF their entire people and the
establishment of State worthy of their num-
bers and their ancsnt renown. The principle
is at work in France, and encourages the an
nexation of Belgium as we'll as encroachments
on the Rhine. IL is not powerful, bat it is not
wholly inactive in Spain aud Portugal aud it
is not improbable that 1t may reveal its
strength at no distant day by giving unity to
the whole peninsula.
In all those cases the nationality principle
has led to the extinction of petty governments
and to the agglomeration OF States. The re-
suit has been unifcatiOn, and unihoation, il
not forced, must be accepted as gain to
humanity. Unifcaton, however, is not
always the fruit of this principle. In some
quarters it tears asunder with violence
even more fierce than that with which else
where it strives to unite. To the Govern
ment of Queen Victoria it has proved as
great an Inconvenience as it has been found
q convenience by Victor Emanuel of Italy and
William OF Prussia. The Irish people, claim
ing to be OF different race to their neig ghbors
across the channel, insist on their rights as a
natiOnality-whioh means, of course, the esta-
blshment of an Irish kingdom or of an Irish
republic. 1t has worked and it is still work
ing destruction in Austria. 1t has already rent
the empire of the Hapsburgs in twain. Hun
gary, although she calls Francis Joseph king,
pire. What Hungary has won Galica and
Bohemia seek to acquire. The result in
Austria has been, not unity aud autonomy, Y,
but dualism; and dualism threatens to be-
come pluralism, which means the dismember-
ment and destruction of the empire. The
fruit OF the nationality doctrine has thus not
been an unmixed good. II it has been the
occasion OF joy it has also been the occasion OF
sorrow. lit continues to work as actively in
the early future as IL has done in the imme-
diate past, it will completely transform the
map OF Europe; but it wall still be question
whether the tran stOTmation will be a gain ia
| civilization. Inasmuch as nationalities are
not all equally strong, there will still be weak
| governments, and time will be requisite to
| prove whether the weak will be more gently
! dealt with by the strong under the new con.
| dition of things than they were under the old
| Much as this doctrine has accomplished in
| Europe, and much as it may yet accomplish,
1t would not be difficult to show that it rests or
no solid foundation that community of reli
| gion and language has more to do with the
desire for autonomy than identity OF race, and
that the nationality doctrine has been anG
that it is likely to remain rather useful in,
stTument in the hands OF designing rulers thar
source of substantial good to the peoples. Il
| is well that Italians should have Italy. 1t i:
well that Germany should be a unit. 1t il
well that Hungary aud Ireland should be free
| But when we look TO the example of the
| United States, where all natOnalities, q;
almost all religions, live and thrive together
| we are tempted to ask the question whether
| there is not, after all, very nearly as muct
nonsense as sense in the nationality priuci
| pie, and whether there is not better and
nobler way of securing the peace aud prospe
| Iity OF mankind? In the United States o
/ 4