New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-07-05
NAPOLEON AND THE COURT OF SICILY.

NAPOLEON AND THE COURT OF SICILY
=, anita ~ Il. triviality this unpleasant social
,rorro, occunied politicians then almost as much
= I. hos tho hiographers Of Nelson ever since
ror,arS u WAS n blessing. 1t helped In Its way
a. diver, IN. nubl,c mind from the fact that, IN
aztec - tho ,ictories of the English navy. things
were going the French way IN every court Vi
r-rrona The Sicllies found themselves mere coun-
.o-s IN the game the Powers were playing. Paget
IMAGINED that ~ his advice about Malta mad been
.o,,ou,ed IN 1900 Russia would have had at least
ORC LOGS excusa for her conduct. But after IL was
all over and the fear began to be felt that, IN
s+ead NJ fighting France. Austria and Prussia
u,ou,J soon be Mt war with each other. while Rus-
s,a would be seeking entrance to india. MS only
comfor. WIGS expressed in a single sentence 10
lord Uawkesbury then the English Foreign Sec
ro,,rv ~ sincerely trust that Your Lordship VIII
feel that II has not been In my power 10 STOP 'he
mischief which has happened here Perhaps
there was additional! comfort in the fact tna' the
lack Of Hrmness on the part Of the Siciliah Court
won the contempt OF Napoleon. There are TWO
letters from him In the Vienna chapters OF Inc
Paget Papers" one 10 the Queen or Naples anu
the other to her husband. The former, AT Ieast'
has been printed before. "You have been the
c,use If two wars" wrote Napoleon to the Queen
in 1905; "do you want to be the cause " tnira
She was determined, he minated. to rum her
family IN spite Of Providence and his moderation.
He wished to live in peace, he continued, with
Naples with all Europe, even with England. put
he was in a position to make war with any tnat
desired /. ana to punish the Court OF Naples in
particular His advice bor frer. vas to call
off the militia from the Gala bran coast. give up
the plans Of arning the Neapolitan nation all OF
which were encouraged by an English subsidy Of
100000 send back the French who We're stirring
against his Empire. recall the Neapotan Minis
ter Duke Serraca priola from ST. Petersburg. dis
miss the English Minister Mr.. Elliott. whom he
charged with plotting assassination. and So on,
adding 1T is only to a person Of strong charac-
ter that should take the trouble to write thus
To the King he wrote: Permit me 10 tell you
that YOU are ill-advised. You have adopted sys
TEN merely passionate and contrary to the inter
ests of your house Your Majesty is interested in
peace more than any other Prince" He depre-
Gated the periiious counsels of England and init
mated that the King had saved his rea I'm from de-
structon in the midst OF a general revolution only
70 risk the loss Of 1t at the moment when peace
seemed assured. If Napoleon had been writing
10 children he could not have been more impe-
rious.
: But by the time these letters were written
the Queen Of Naples was sending little letters
daily to Sir Arthur Paget. fully recOnced with
him and with English diplomacy in general
The task of that diplomacy at Vienna in
termediary. Paget organized system Of news
gathering by which all his colleagues at the
various European courts were kept we'll in
formed. His bulletins" were a subject OF In
cessant comment among them, though they are
/ 1S04-O5 Austria had ceased to be the backward
member OF the coalition. Pagcts duty to
see that the subsidy agreed upon was paid by
/ England and. finally. to complain OF the failure
of the Austrian armies The editor Of these
volumes LAYS all the blame OF the subsequent
! disasters upon the Prussian King, who relapsed
into neutrality when Napoleon promised (" guar
antee the integrity Of all parts OF Italy not al
ready in his possession. the Independence Of
Switzerland Of Holland and the integrity OF
Genoan territory, fixed by the treaty Of
Iuneville. He points out that the only effectual
/ guaranty in all this was that which Prussia
was to give to the French in Italy. The manner
| in which this real obligation was concealed I'M
der the rest is a specimen of the French diplo-
! matte skill that is so often a matter Of comment
in these papers The diplomatiss Of the Coali-
! ton were not deceived. yet they all yielded in
| turn to devices which they knew to be iilusory.
The world was approaching the moment
when II seemed as II all its forces were In Ma
poleon's hand. Austria was going to the wall,
Russia was wavering. and the successive Eng
fish Ministries were at their wits end Perhaps
Sir Arthur Paget-he was by this time Right
| Honorable Privy Councillor and a Knight Com
| panion of the Bath-was a trihe positive In the
| EXPRESSION of his views. At all events. Lord
Mulgrave. when on the point Of quitting the
Foreign Office in 1906. put an end to Sir Arthur's
usefulness at Vienna by publishing his criticism
on the disastrous campaign OF General Mack.
Everybody in London agreed that II was an I'M
tustifable act on the part Of Lord Mugrave.
but Sir Arthur's recall followed. as matter OF
course.
i VI