4 MAY 1867, Page 1
It appears certain that, should Conference meet, Prussia will demand
a European guarantee for Luxemburg, and that Lora Stanley will concede it. We have endeavoured in another place to show the danger of that course, and need only observe here that Lord Stanley, in quoting the existing " guarantee," gives too wide a meaning to the word. The clear meaning of the Treaty of 1839 is not to guarantee Luxemburg against the world, but against Belgium, whioh wanted to have it, and nearly secured it. The " signataries " Were rather witnesses to a deed of parti- tion than trustees of a deed of gift. 'Prussia wants a great-deal more than that,—a promise that the sudden seizure of Luxemburg by France shall be followed by a European declaration of war against France,—a very different thing.
