The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-11-19
The Inpcsdins Kuropsan Crush-Thc Treaty
Of Paris the Modern Paadora's Box.

me pen with which the peace treaty Oi
March 30, 1856, was signed at Paris, by tho
representatives Of the high contracting Powers
who had been directly or indirectly concerned
| in the Crimean war and afterward Joined in
| conference, was fashioned ont of quill
plucked from the wing of an imperial eagle in
the Jardin aes Plantes, as M. de Conches,
Chief of the French Protocol Office, testifies
under that same date and over his official sign
manual The Napoleonic empire, then in its
| glory, of which the noble bird was emble-
NAUTICAL, has gone down in blood, and the
| eagle himself, or his progeny, may ere
this have been grilled on revolutionary grid
irons to stay the stomach Of hungry republic
cans, hard set by the vigors of the siege; but
the work that they mutually did returns TO
plague the surviving States and dynasties that
concurred in the convention.
| On the 10th of April, 1856, just twenty days
after the signatures were completed, the
| HERALD, in an article entitled "Treaty of
Peace-What Is 1t Worth" took the position
that the new treaty was nothing more than
rehash of the old political arrangements of
Amiens and Tilsit; that while it was said to
be likely to secure the peace of Europe and
remove many disturbing questions, it would
do nothing Of the sort; but that, like the other
two conventions named, it lacked the main
element of political vitality, because it was
chiefly dictated by the selfish views of the
contracting parties, and had little or no refe-
renee to the general interests of humanity.
The concluding paragraph of the article
referred to is SO closely opposite to the case
Immediately before us to-day that we may
properly quote it, word for word -
The interests Of either Power may. at any
moment within the next dozen years. let loose upon
The European world the torrent of revolutionary
violence. The treaty OF Paris seems TO have been
70 s aea p u Ss
JOY Of this precious offspring Of their ingenuity. 1t
promises to DC as fruitful OF evil to them as was
Jupiter's gift to Pandora.
What foresight and sound sense there were
in these remarks the new agitation of the
Eastern question now convulsing the Cabinets
of Europe very strikingly proves. The
dozen years have simply extended to four
teen, and here We see the predicted trouble at
the door. Russia, long chatting under the
infracti0ns of an arrangement never intended
by the allies to be faithfully maintained, dis
covers her opportunity to obtain redress in
the confusion that has fallen upon the councils
OF her adversaries. Forced by her i'll fortune
in the Crimean war to yield an unwilling
assent to temporary settlement which partly
disarmed her, while it doubled the aggressive
facilities of Turkey and her hackers, she has,
time and again, demurred at violations of the
Paris treaty which, although trivial in them
selves, were important as precedents for SUBJ
sequent breaches Of faith on larger and more
menacing scale. Her complaints were I'M
Needed and the attractions continued until by
many statesmen the treaty was regarded as
| dead letter. One Of our special dispatches,
| published this morning, refers to this senti-
ment, and mentions the frankness with which
that wary diplomatist, Count Bismarck, ad-
mitted that the Paris treaty counted Tor moth
ing from the day when Napoleon III. openly
declared that the treaty Of 1915 no longer had
effect.
The uncertainty of Count Bismarck is the
certainty of Europe. The Powers of the
West have learned by their peculiar experience
to know that when the Prussian statesman
speaks he does SO by the book. His
contemplation Of the crisis is its explana-
ton. The treaties of the last fifty-fve
years must be revised. Prussia desires
unity and Russia desires security. Should
Russia at the present moment be com
PEELED to make war against the allies, her
action would evidently do more for German
unity than all that the Germans have done
for themselves, notwithstanding the aavan-
tages that they have gained in France. Why?
Because, should Austria move (and she is the
only ally that England could securely count
upon in the South of Europe) she would be
overwhelmed by the very first grand advance
that the Prusso-Russian armies would make
southwark. The consequence of such a defeat
would be the immediate accession OF
the German portions of the Austrian empire
to the sum total of Fatherand. Austria
would be ruined as an auton omic, independent
Power, and her shattered fragments would be
assembled and combined into United Germany.
Should Italy become involved. contingency
which all her truly enlightened statesmen and
all her people would greatly deprecate, the
Roman question on the one hand and the
league Of Garbald and Of Giuseppe Mazzini
on the other would render it extremely difficult
for her to muster any army for a service not
directly connected with her own national
status.
Turkey is Power respectable in position,
in numbers and in the fanaticai devotion of her
people to the precepts Of the Koran; but
Turkey is in the sere and yellow leaf Moham-
med represents order only, and order has been
greatly shaken in the Ottoman empire by the
introduction Of Christian and modern ideas.
In fine, there is no real strength in the fan
ced coalition The ties that would seem to
bind it together are ropes Of sand, and the