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Leader (1850-1860), 21st January 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 5

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      Jan. 21, I860] The Leader And'saturday )...

      Jan . 21 , I 860 ] The Leader and ' Saturday ) Analyst . 57

      French Progress And Austrian Decadence. ...

      FRENCH PROGRESS AND AUSTRIAN DECADENCE . I T is a common remark tliat few men understand their own times , and as we live at a period ' - remarkable beyond all precedent for the diffusion of , knowledge , the rapid spread of Ideas , and the ' amazing triumphs of applied science-arid industrial skill , it is not to be wondered at , that few of us , amid the diii of business and the occupations of pleasure , realize the extent and importance of the changes which are hom * ly taking place . Halfa-dozen Roman Empires or Alexander conquests could not produce such important results for humanity as are involved in the peaceable march of free trade , clothing the naked and feeding

      • the hungry at every step , and creating those circumstances under which firm and lasting international friendships will ultimately grow . The triumph of the industrial principle in England necessitated its adoption in France , which could not remain the head of continental states while , supporting a restrictive policy that had no affinities with progressive ideas . It may take sonie time before the new system can be put in full and complete operation , but the important letter from Napoleox Til . to his Minister of State opens a new era for his own country and for Europe , and may be taken as another proof of the desire to strengthen his alliance with ourselves . When Louis . Napoleox boasted that he

      was a parvenu , consistency and safety demanded that he should diverge very widely from the course of the absolutist sovereigns . His Italian campaign was a -. valuable- protest against the futile efforts of the Holy Alliance party to stem the tide of time , arid , by a scarcely anticipated consequence , it effected a remarkable separation between the l-uler of France and the semi-Austrian ultramontane Pope . These changes , had their counterpart in the movement of the Fusionist Bourbons , and as the Emperor broke away from Jesuit riieshes , Orleanist and Legitimate fingers became willingly .-entangled in their toils . The great organ for

      these intrigues was the rich and powerful . society of St .. Vincentde Paul , and now , simultaneously with the initiation of a free-trade policy , edines an attack upon this great priestly confederation . The existence of a wealthy society , which , under the cloak and using the in slue-nee of charity , was hourly plotting the restoration of Bourbon . ¦ misrule , was considered the chief source of danger to the Imperial . Government , in following out the programme traced in thefamous pamphlet , of" The Pope and the Congress- " and it is probable that if the Emperor had flinched from the task of iisoailing-it , the chances of his enemies would have been conside ' rabiv increased . As matters now stand , we see that in the

      teeth of all the predictions of the quarrel-mongers , Napoleonic policy approximates more closely'to that of England , and that the Emperor feels strong enough to do battle at once against protectionist manufacturers and Jesuit priests . The course is a very bold one , but courage often prompts to safety when timidity waits the advent of ruin ; and it will probably appear that Loris Napoleon has taken the most sagacious steps to secure the stability of his throne . The Legitimists and Orleanists may intrigue with the Jesuits and fawn upon the Protectionists , but in his recent measures the French Emperor will have the mind of the country on his side , and also the physical force of the agricultural population , who will be greatly benefited by the changes he is about to introduce .

      than ultramontane . It ( is ci'edibly reported that the Emperor's confessor assures him of miraculous interposition if he remains faithful to the Church ; and General Meyerhofeu—^ -who , when Consul at Belgrade in 1848 t 9 , was engaged in recruiting Serbs to act against the Hungarians : —is now with the consent and connivance of Fran cis Joseph enlisting Austrian soldiers to serve in the army of the Pope , and forwarding them by Government steamers to a depot at Ancona . The Sardinian Government is highly indignant at these proceedings , which cannot be continued , without leading to a breach of peace ; and we may expect energetic remonstrances now that Cavour is restored . The more rational party at Vienna are paralyzed , and watch and wait with anxiety for the crisis they feel they have no power to avert .

      No one seems to expect that the young Emperor will , of his own accord , retrace his foolish steps ; no man of integrity and intelligence seems to have the slightest influence over him ; his confidential advisers are bigoted fanatics and slimy pr iests . It is amazing that no firm hand should be stretched out to arrest this downward career ; that no party should be formed to insist upon a complete abandonment of a course which can have no issue but overwhelming disaster . It is as if the whole court were under the influence of fatalism , sitting upon powder-barrels , and watching the match burn which was to blow them up . One chance which the Jesuit party is said to reckon upon is the overthrow of

      Palmerston by the agency of the Pope ' s Irish Brigade ; but this again marks insanity , for what could make the present premier more powerful , than to send him before the country with a Protestant rallying cry for civil and religious liberty ; and even if from declining vigour and weight of years , he should be compelled to hand over the power . to Lord Johx Russell , what would the Ultramontane party gain by that ? It is sheer madness to suppose that free Protestant England would allow any ministry to quarrel with France for the sake of Austria and the * Pope ;—and in proportion as the . two latter associate themselves with ' -Bourbon intrigues , they will add to the adherents of the Empire in England as well as in France .

      . As the Congress becomes less and less a likely way of settling European affairs , it is advisable that Victor Emmanuel should be left to take his own course with Central Italy , " and that England and France should declare their recognition of the state of things which the people have produced . It is also time for public opinion to regard the probable eventualities in Hungary , and be ready to protest against any intervention tp coerce the inhabitants ' of that country , if they should be forced into , a collision with the illegal despotism of Austria . This is a point upon which . Lord Palmerston and the whigs are known to be unsound , although they may have learnt something from the events of 1848-9 , and " may be influenced by the clearly manifested wish

      of Louis Napoleon that Hungary should be free . It ought to be known that , since the Villafranca Peace , the French Government has shown an honourable solicitude that the arrangement with Austria for the safety and protection of the Hungarian soldiers who formed the Legion in Italy intended for the liberation of their country , should be faithfully carried out ; and , although a French minister under the Empire lias comparatively little power , it is a , significant fact that M . Tjiouvenel is far more enlightened than Count Walewski upon questions of foreign policy , and is , moreover , well acquainted with the importance of Hungary in any permanent settlement of the affairs of the East . ,

      While France is thus rising in wealth and moral influence , Austria presents a very diffei'ent piotnve , and one whiclf Would be an object of pity , if the downfall of the Hapsburg Empire had not become an indispensable precursor to the elevation of its subjects . Without greatness , without dignity , without decency even , in the conduct of the soyeveign , there are still grand tragic elements in the headlong ride to perdition which Franct-s Joseph is madly taking , in spite pf bitter experience and nniple warning of the inevitable result . Dramatists have delighted to pourtray characters spell-bound by crime and infatuation , and wko appeared as if resistlessjy driven to destruction by the evil powers with whom their compact had "been wade . Such is the spectacle presented by the Austrian Emperor and his oourt . Heavily laden with debt , without

      money , and without credit , they will concede nothing , reform nothing , learn nothing . By infatuation ' nnd crime they lost Lpmbnrdy , and by infatuation and crhne they seem determined to lose Hungary , and re-operi the Italian war . Their reckless taxation , which is well explained in Kossuth ' s letter , offers to the nobles and landowners no prospect but that of insolvency , if some force cannot be found able to change the whole charnotcr of Hapsruro rule ; and as if revolution ooulcl not be brought about quickly enough by driving the landed party to revolt , the Government , in the most gratuitous and vexatious way ,, has provoked n religious quarrel with the Protestant Churches , and , for the first time in history , Calyinist ministers are abetted and comforted in their resistance to arbitrary authority by Roman Catholic bishops and priests , many , of whom are , fortunately for the country , move national

      Prussia, I^He Part Which Prussia Plays I...

      PRUSSIA , I ^ HE part which Prussia plays in the groat tragedy , or comedy , - whichever it may chance to bo , of European . politics , is an awkward and ' difficult one . Ranking as one of the live , great Powers , and consequently entitled to u voice and ' vote in the settlement of all the important , questions which that self-constituted tribunal takes upon itself to determine , her relative weakness makes her , at the same time , morbidly tenacious of her right to join in the decision , and ignobly afraid , to taktt a side if serious differences exist amongst her coadjutors . Hence , the vacillating , undecided conduct of Prussia in the Russian war , and in all similar controversies , when she ought naturally to

      have taken a part , and , at any cost , have adhered to it . With a population of but seventeen millions , brave and intelligent as it is , she cannot copo with cither of her threo powerful neighbours , the more especially as her territory lies singularly open to the incursions of any one of them . To her , moreover , war presents itself in a more costly and embarrassing form than to any other nation , as the army upon which she must rely for any great struggle would bo composed of men suddenly withdrawn from industrial pursuits . She cannot oven make those prcpnratiohs for < i contest which ofton suffice to prevent it , without inflicting the same severs blow upon commerce , and equal inconvenience upon her citizens ; and naturally , therefore , she tries to evadw the risk mid sacrifice

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 21, 1860, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21011860/page/5/