STATE OF EUROPE.
[The subjoined paper is furnished to us by a correspondent who has had reculiar means of obtaining full and authentic information on the subjects of which he treats, and is well qualified to form a judgment.] The week has passed over at Paris with a calm that was scarcely to be expected after a Ministerial defeat in a period of excitement. But it is evident that the French have at length learnt their lesson. All political parties are so much loosened and exhausted by last year's efforts, that a false step on any side is regarded as entailing certain destruction. Cal- culations have therefore been made as to immediate and remote proba- bilities; and those who are not in possession console themselves with pro- spects, whose realization is estimated as more or less distant according to the degree of sanguineness which prevails at the moment.
To enumerate in order these expectations, we must begin with the Legiti- mists; who now content themselves with the hope least deferred. Their speculation is said to be founded on the chance that the Orleanist party, seeing no fear of issue from the marriage of the Count de Chambord, (Henri V.) may some day unite with them to bring back the throne to the Bourbon dynasty. The Orleanist, it is thought, will not scruple to aid the efforts of the Legitimists, which gives an ultimate prospect of the throne devolving to a successor of Louis Philippe as next heir to the last re- presentative of the direct line of Bourbon. These dynastic speculations have acquired strength from the tone apparent in the minds of the mass, which makes no secret of its wish to have the government constituted as little on a Republican footing as possible, and as little exposed to political internal crises as can be helped. Of these speculations some account may be taken; but of Socialists, or any other shape which the adherents of the Republique Rouge may assume, it is not worth while to say one word, SO utterly are the French people disgusted with the pretensions they put forward and with the men who assume leadership amongst them.
The most important fact for the moment is that, whether influenced by old remembrances, by jealousies of rival candidates or fear of further de- moralization, all parties are resolved for the present to support the exist- ing form of government. It will have a trial and a fair one. Even the little Parliamentary intrigue successfully played off in the debate on the Salt-tax has not been allowed to shake the adherence publicly manifested on all sides to the Presidency of Louis Napoleon; and this very week a new proof has been given of the expectancy which the country entertains of his founding a stable and liberal government, by the election of his cousin to be Colonel of the National Guards of one of the sections of Paris. On the other hand, there is strong reason to believe that the President is fully convinced of the fact, that the stability of his power will depend upon his promoting a revival of prosperity, by sound measures and judicious re- forms financial and economical.
Whatever share the Parliamentary usage of France may allow to the head of the Executive in originating legislative measures, is therefore likely to be well employed. His studies while a prisoner at Ham showed the bent of his mind towards inquiries into the condition of the people of France; and his long residence in Switzerland and England made him familiar both with the political institutions and the industrial arrange- ments of the two countries. Several anecdotes are current of the pains he has taken to possess himself of the views of leading economists, but es- pecially since M. Passy's untoward failure in the Assembly has shown that a Minister of the Finances is far from being on these points an author- ity without appeal. The information we have received assures us that the President will give his unreserved support to any Minister who will Propose searching but well-calculated financial reforms, and any measures calculated to restore vigour to the decayed trade of France. With these views, the call to intervene with an armed force in the affairs of Italy cannot but embarrass and disgust the French Government. Yet it is quite natural that they should think it necessary to assert a voice in the settlement of a country so near them; and which they can never allow to be trampled on and turned into a weapon against them by Governments who are closely allied with a powerful faction in France. Notwithstanding the old claim of France to a kind of leadership in matters involving Roman Catholic interests, we believe on this occasion the Pope would have been left to settle matters with his subjects, as far as the French were concerned, if the Austrian and Neapolitan Governments had observed a like absti- nence. But it seems to be the fate of the antiquated policy of despotic go- vernments to court collisions with the people; and the ruling influences both at Olmiitz and at Naples is slow to believe what Italians of all classes have for years loudly proclaimed, that no government was ever more heartily detested and despised than that of the Pope and his Cardinals. How the French are to interfere—whether in concert with, or as a check Upon Austria, Naples, and Spain—is perhaps not yet decided. It would as- suredly cause sincere joy throughout France not to be called upon to make a decision on the subject.
If the Cabinet of the President follow his inclinations, we may soon look to a revival of commercial intercourse with France on a scale that must
be mutually beneficial. An obvious opening is presented by the recent decree of the Constituent Assembly on the excise of salt- Were the French excise wholly abolished and a moderate import-duty on foreign salt substituted, it is likely that the revenue would be but slightly affected. The excise, as it was levied, oppressed more by restricting the manufacture of salt to certain localities, whence it had at great cost to be transported into all parts of the interior, than by its actual weight; although that also bore very heavily on the consumer. Once set free, the trade can choose the ports at which salt can be landed, while the railroads leading from the Northern coast can scatter this useful condiment at a low cost of carriage all over the East and centre of France. An import-duty, even if nomi- nally high, would still cheapen the price of salt to the people. But the largest amount of revenue will of course be obtained with a comparatively moderate duty. When a commencement is thus made of relaxations in the restrictions which now fetter French commerce, we may hope that some- thing more will follow, and that Bordeaux and Manchester will ultimately be allowed to exchange their products on fair terms. On this bead, too, there is reason to believe that the President of the Republic would support and encourage all that tended to such an approximation.
Turning to the Government which has most severely and most deservedly been punished in the course of the fearful crisis which has passed over Eu- rope —deservedly, because repeated warnings make no impression on the authors of its miseries —we are astonished at finding the difficulties of the Austrian Court and Cabinet treated lightly, and the ultimate triumph or military and despotic rule regarded as certain, by a portion of our diurnal press. We have ourselves, through private sources, received accounts di- rectly from the seat of war in Hungary; and we regret to say that they offer little prospect of a speedy settlement of affairs by the decided supe- riority of one party over the other. According to these accounts, tl e early setting in of the frost, which made it easy to carry an army on the ice over the Danube and allowed artillery to traverse a country almost denuded of roads, deprived the Hungarians of the chief defence to which they trusted. Had the Danube not been frozen, Windischgratz could not have strength- ened himself by a junction with the corps operating on the left bank of that river; the timely assistance of which enabled him to occupy Raab and to gain the battle of Moor, which led to the capture of Peal]. Our letters further state, that from the unmeasured expressions of the Court Generals during these civil dissensions, and their avowed intention of destroying civic property where any pretext is afforded, a plan was formed from the com- mencement of the present invasion of Hungary, according to which no town is to be defended by the popular troops when seriously attacked. Hence Raab and Pesth have been abandoned without scruple, and the war is carried on into the open country, where less power of doing mischief is left to the invading army.
But documents of far greater importance than these accounts of the com- bating forces have also reached us-' and they throw a very different light upon the legality of the position taken up by the Hungarians, from that with which the advocates of Austria are desirous of impressing us. A statement published in French, and we believe already translated into Eng- lish, traces the proceedings of the Diet step by step from the beginning of last year; the proposals submitted to and discussed by the Diet, and which received the sanction of the King, who visited Hungary for that purpose specially; the manner in which these sacred constitutional acts were set at nought as soon as the Ban Jellachich held out a proposal of turning the jealousy of races between the Magyars and the Sclaves to the aid of des- potic power. The simple narrative of these facts is sufficiently convincing, but the publication of one document which has hitherto been carefully sup- pressed has produced a deep sensation at Paris, as well as in all parts where it is known. This is the address of the Church of Hungary, signed by the Archbishops, Bishops, and Prelates, praying the Emperor to preserve the constitution to which be had sworn on his coronation, and reminding him of the responsibility be incurred by overturning the only remaining politi- cal structure to which society could look for stability in Central Europe. These nobles by birth and position, men of commanding influence by rank and wealth, are naturally as little disposed as the Batthyany, Caroly, and Szapary, to sacrifice a constitution of a thousand years' standing to an assi- milation to the other provinces, such as is promised by Windischgratz and the Camarilla of Olmiitz. If anything were wanting to lend weight to SO grave a protest at such a moment, it is supplied by the consideration that the movement in Hungary which led to the appointment of a really instead of a nominally responsible Minister in March last, proceeded mainly from the Protestant portion of that nation, with whom these Roman Catholle dignitaries in this solemn manner proclaim their perfect accordance. While exhausting the military strength at their disposal in a contest with a nation thus appealing to legal forms and recognized rights, the friends of peace are entitled to express heartfelt disgust at the determination pro- claimed by the Austrian Cabinet, to impose by force of arms the reestablish- ment of the Pope on the Roman States. The excesses which led to the evasion of that Prelate are assuredly to be deplored by every friend of free- dom. But the occurrence of such excesses while the Pontiff maintained his seat on the throne, affords no promise that his restoration to the posi- tion he has abdicated will prove a guarantee against their renewal. That France panting for rest, Germany eager for organization, and Europe at large desirous of seeing some prospect of settlement after a protracted pe- riod of suffering, are all to be disappointed and plunged into new compli- cations by an ex parte decision of the advisers of the Austrian Emperor, is, we think, a strong demand upon the patience of all parties. Not the most singular feature in this remarkable state of things, is the public assumption that France by interfering goes hand in hand with England. Now, surely, if the position of England at sea, the maintenance of which is so strenu- ously advocated by our Ministers, is worth anything, it ought to suffice to repress an aggressive movement against a people whose opinion is unequivocally expressed against it, especially since France would un- doubtedly cooperate with us for the maintenance of tranquillity. The first step taken by Radetzky in the direction of the Papal States will be a challenge to all the turbulent spirits not only of Italy but of France and Germany, to strain every nerve to use the favourable opportu- nity presented by the engagement of the Austrian troops on so dangerous a service towards forwarding their own views. These troops, while tranquilly cantoned in Lombardy, appear able to enforce tranquility: whets moved into an enemy's country, what power are they likely to possess? Europe should really devise some effectual restraint upon such of her mem- bers as wantonly and wilfully endanger the fabric of her civilization.
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