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Leader (1850-1860), 6th December 1856, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1164

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      The professor of political economy maintains that the lending of money at interest is a legitimate transaction . That , again , must be suppressed , the councils of ZElvira and Tienna having ^ laid it down that the lender of money at interest is a heretic . But . churchmen , being sometimes in want of accommodation , have liought the money at a certain rate , and for a certain time , instead of iorroioiny it ; thereby remaining faithful to their code ! On these points the University and the Chureii have Come into collision .

      So , also in the department of civil law . The professor of this science taught that the judicial power in -Belgium emanates from the nation , but that in a former period there was an ecclesiastical tribunal , with jurisdiction in matrimonial and other causes . Such a tribunal the professor- condemned ; his opinion being an offence to the clergy . He declared , moreover , the superiority of the

      civil contract over the religious rite in marriage—a principle of the Belgian constitution ; but Pros IX , in . answer to the King of Sardinia , bad asserted the coiitrary maxim . In truth , the Catholic Ohitrch , professing to uphold a body of immutable doctrines lamifying through every department of human inquiry , demands that science shall be her slave ; and that the Belgian universities shall be transformed in centres

      of intrigue against the liberal constitution of the State . ITor several days the Legislative Chamber of Brussels debated this important topic , involving the question of confidence in the King ' s ministry ; but , though the Cabinet obtained a majority , the censure has been too powerful not to be needed . The violence of the Church and the hypocrisy of the Cabinet bad evoked a high spirit , which found its expression in oratory of a kind not common in Continental Chambers . The Liberal party throughout Europe is deeply interested in the final issue of this remarkable struggle .

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      THE ICING OF PRUSSIA'S QUESTION . If Frederick-William were the representative man of Prussia , or the Frankfort Diet . the representative assembly of Germany , no moxe would be heard of the Neufchatel difficulty . But the Prussian king , with sublime pedantry , pretends to judge for ' people , ' and , therefore , raises a European question about ' his principalitv . ' The great

      view of the case there are some points to be urged , which are , no doubt , well understood at Berne . The ultimate opposition of Austria to any active course of policy undertaken by Prussia may be calculated upon , almost to a certainty * The disturbance of Europe by Prussia is the event most likely of all that can be imagined to bring a French army upon the Rhine . The protocol of 1855 may not be accepted , in London , as the

      apology for a war in Central Europe , provoked by tlie King of Pbxtssia . in an interest which has never been more than a fiction . Nor is it to be allowed , for a moment , that the Swiss are incapable of self-defence . They send their soldiers abroad ; but they have others at home , and could arm two hundred thousand men against an invasion of their mountains . They prepared , in 183 $ , to resist the ¦ whole power of France , and it would not be more hazardous to undertake ia defensive

      struggle with Prussia . Those , however , were the days of magnanimous manifestations on the part of Louis Napoleon " . Prance had demanded liis extradition from the Swiss territory . The Swiss asserted their rights as an independent nation . But the refugee , now Napoleon III ., wouLd allow no sacrifices to be made for his sake by " the only country in

      Europe where he had met with support and protection , " and . which he called his " second fatherland . ''; ' Moreover , we must take into account the probable consequenees to the military governments of Europe of a democratic war begun in the Swiss Talleys , but which would create , perhaps , a rallying point for the disaffected in more States -than one .

      The political claims of Prussia will bear no examination . " We will recite , briefly , the historical circumstances of her relations with Neufchatel There being in the sight of Governments no statute of limitations— -though Polish , Hungarian , and Italian rights are supposed to lapse the moment possession ceases —the King of Buussta refers to an ancestral title-deed , bearing thedate of 1707 . In that year died the Duchess of Nbjiotjus , the last l ^ ir-yri 1 ¦»¦» ,- »¦» \ -mj-vc » , / V » - » 4- * % ' 4-i ~* ts \ yv ^* 4-I- * A TJT / ¦ * - !¦» ci / - * v \ -t Jl r > "T t : * * lVTCt _ legal representative of the House of ORLEANS

      - LoNauEviLLE , to which the sovereignty of Neufchatel belonged . Fifteen claimants to the succession appeared , among them Frederick I . of Prussia . To decide upon their rights , the Tiers JEtats of the Principality were convened , but on the day of trial , thirteen of the pretenders retired , leaving the Prince de Cabignaist and the King of Pjiussia . to carry on the struggle . The King prevailed over the prince , it being adjudged that he , as the son of the Princess LofiSe .

      aunt of William III . of England , was heir to the house of CiiA . LONs-OitA 2 faE-NA . ssAU " , and consequently entitled to Neufchatel . It may be taken for granted that the pedigree was proved , and that the verdict was judicial , though the election was one between the Catholic ascendancy , upheld by Louis XIV ., and the Protestant ascendancy , upheld by Louis XIV's . enemies . * But we only refer to these proceedings in order to insist that they have nothing to do with the point at issue , and that it is mere puerility to bring forward that ancient election by legal authority in support of the

      Prussian pretensions . The Treaty of Yienna , quashing one privilege , affirming another , aud creating a third , abrogated the j > reexisting political settlements of EuTope , so that Neufchatel was assigned to Prussia upon grounds no better and no worse than those upon which "Venice , Salzburg , and the Tyrol were assigned to Austria , Norway to Sweden , Lauonburg to Denmark . That is to say , the treaty restored some ancient titles , aud treated others with contempt . The only question is , whether Prussia has a right to insist upon the literal execution of

      the arrangements of 1815 . It would be ^ mere platitude to say that if she has this right , Holland may claim the restoration of Belgium , Turkey of Greece , and Cracow of her independence , and that the great Powers are bound to assist the French nation in expelling Louis Napokeon from the throne The French nation does not solicit such interference and would not tolerate it . 3 JY the same moral law , then , that France h suffered to effect the virtual abrogation of

      the Treaty of Vienna by maintaining a Bonaparte upon the throne , the inhabitants of Neufchatel may demand to he released from the domination of a German power ¦ whose territories are separate from their own , and to be allowed , to rejoin that free confederation to which they naturally belong . The Principal ^ was torn from Prussia during- the wars of Napoieon , but was

      restored to her in 1815 j under the guarantee of all the high contracting parties , and admitted as a member of the Germanic Confederation- In 1848 this compact was destroyed , the Principality detached itself from the Prussiau monarchy , and Fbederick-Wiiliam : contented himself with obtaining a protocol signed in London seven years later by the representatives of France , liussia , and

      Austria . The assent of England was one of the acts winch proved Lord Malmesbuey an incompetent diplomatist . But the will of the Neufehatel people had been clearly ascertained , the recent outbreak of the small royalist faction being an immediate and ridiculous failure . To infer from the mo . theateu title-deeds of 1704 , from the obsolete

      guarantees of 1815 , or from the vague protocol of 1 S 55 , that Prussia has a right to j > roduce a conflagration in the heart of Europe by invading the Swiss cantons , ia indeed an ironical commentary on the value of political engagements . The Neufchatelese owe no more allegiance totheHoiiENZOLLiEitNs than they owe to the Tlantagenets . They constituted themselves iu 1848 members

      of the Swiss Confederation ; the King of Prussia was unable to reclaim them as Denmark reclaimed Schleswig , and AustriaHungary ; and there the question rests . Eight years elapse and the new Eikon of Salmasius still mouths at Berlin about ' principality . '

      Powers are expected , in due course , to take part iu tins discussion ;— -not that it concerns them in the least , but that it may form the pivot of a new diplomatic combination . The king ' s advocates , indeed , affect to anticipate a pressure from all quarters upon the Swiss Federal Government , assuming that England , no less than the Powers of the Continent , is solicitous to conserve , as far as possible , the political settlements of 1815 . Such an

      assumption is purely gratuitous . Whatever may he the considerations that might incline France to act in unanimity with Prussia and Kussia , and whatever may have been the vote of the Germanic Diet , it could nob be the policy of Austria to encourage the march of a Prussian army across the territories of the Federation to the Swiss frontier . Ten Germanic resolutions would not weigh against the obvious interests and the hereditary jealousy of tho Austrian Government . CLfiTfLlfl - IT . 1 ( 1 Y « AYM 1 <\ CIAM 4- /^ r 1 J-rt . 4-K . sV /~* 1 r * 1 ^ 2 .. A ^ . ^ 2

      o 1 - •* ~ w iupjujDUUUCJH U \ J UI 1 U ^ t&UlUOb lib Berlin by the abettors of the Prussian claim , thatthe refusal of the Federal Council to liberate th 6 Hoyalistprisonors has deprived iti ot French sympathy , that England will not , and Sardinia dare not , interfere ; that Prussia , armed with the moral co-operatiou of Europe , may safely persist , and tha . t Switzerland , thus isolated must succumb , or suffer for the contumacy of her statesmen . Againat this

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      AN ENGLISH ' INTERIOR . ' A PEEP into the domestic doings of au English family has teen afforded this week by a trial in the Exchequer . Some attorney , duly instructed , acts as Asmotleus , unroofs the house , penetrates to the parlour , then upstairs and into " lady ' s chamber , " showing Us a i ^ retty little girl of seventeen soVbing on the bed , while piles of her lover ' s letters arc being returned , and . " the cart" stands at the door to bear away—not her own nretty self to the scaffold as a frightened feminine reader might anticipate—but all the gifts which her young lover had profusely

      showered Upon her . " Bich gifts wax poor when givers provo unkind , " as poor Ophelia , says , and in this case the giver was " unkind . " Ho talked ot " embarrassments ; " delayed answering letters , and did not call to see pretty little Susan as frequently as usual . Hamlet , by the way , acted with like unkindneas , but strangely

      enough , Ophexta , " poor wretch , " never thought of an action for breach of pro ; mise . She went to her " melodious death without consulting an attornoy . MiflS Susan Cbippen was not of the samo suumissive mind . Her brother GisoituK , thQ Laehtes of this English . play , had been treated badly by young I ^ abebbotheb , » cr lover . Pabebhothdh had given Gjeohge a situation in his place of business at SfcocK-

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      1164 THE LEADER , [ No . 350 , Saturday

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 6, 1856, page 1164, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2170/page/12/