New-York tribune., 1870-12-05

the surrender of Alsace and Lorraine, he does
| il in the name of the German nation of whose
will he pretends to be merely the m0uthplecc
and if il could be established that the inhabit-
ants of Asace and Lorraine wanted to be
| transferred from France to Germany, nobody
in these days could logically object to his de-
| mand Great Britain surrendered the lonlan
| Islands 10 Greece because the islanders wished
10 unite with those who were really their
countrymen, and we are not without hope that
as the world grows more reasonable she will
see the Justice of letting Ireland choose her
own rulers. Even the autOcrat of all the Rus
sias assigns as q reason for abrogating part
of the Treaty of Paris that " the national SEN
timent protests" against its further 0bsery-
| ance; and this appeal to the people, coming
from such source, is one of the most signit-
cant passages in Prince GOrtschakof7s remarka-
bic dispatch.
IL follows from this general acknowledge
ment of the validity of popular aspirations
that wars to maintain :" the balance of power y
must be abandoned in theory rs they have
already been abandoned in practice. A nation
which contains the elements of growth must
no longer be checked with the iron bands OF
lItdly -SllpuldllOHS vi lIlIHHtu anu uh"ii"'
with the sharp tools of war. The old idea
that great and vigorous States should be con-
fined within certain arbitrary limitations OF
strength for fear lest they should oyershadow
their neighbors, is like the ancient fashion OF
landscape gardening, whose highest triumph
was turning a stately yew into fantastic
shrub, or crOwding a tree into flOwer-pOt.
All these absurd attempts to distort and fetter
nature ought to be abandoned together. Ger
many, Russia, and Italy, are, so far as we can
discern, the great growing Powers of Europe,
and any efforts TO dwarf them by European
Congresses will be vain and prepOSterOus.
What is there then for the Conference at London
to do, except to remove the restrictions which
were placed upon the Gar after the Crimean
war, and which he has declared that he will
no longer observe, Congress or no Congress
If Prussia, by peaceable measures, can attract
to the rcviyng German Empire the separated
German subjects of Austria, no Congress can
logically interfere to prevent her. If Italy has
combined in one monarchy populations which
have long been kept apart against their VIII,
it is not in the province of a Congress to say
that the new national union shall be broken up.
If Austria has possibilities of development in
her Eastern provinces what business have the
representatives of England, France, Spain, and
Prussia to say thus far shalt thou set thy foot,
and no fartherF IL a Congress indeed could
guarantee to the people of the weaker Powers
an immunity from lawless conquest it would
do a noble and humane work; but guaran-
tees of this sort have little meaning now
that wars for supporting the balance OF power
have fallen into disrepute. The plcnipoten-
tiarcs in London may facilitate the rcsurrec-
ton of France by intervening between the
conquered and the conqucror, and may quiet
uneasy minds by demanding pledges of mod
Grafton from the Gar; but its real work will
only be to ratify established facts, and no
agreement which it may make for the future
is likely to impede the inevitable march of
events, to save the totterng empire OF Turkey,
or to embarIass for single decade the two
great Powers whose progress now alarms the
whole of Europe. COmpacts like the Paris
Treaty OF 1856 are only made to be broken.