NEWS OF THE WEEK.
NEW YEAR'S DAY has come and gone' yet Europe is neither re- lieved of its load nor informed of its future. The Emperor Na- poleon has addressed the Corps Diplomatique, as he was bound in courtesy to do, and has said what amounts to nothing, as he was bound by prudence to do. Those only who deemed that the precedent of 1859 would be followed, have been disappointed. They are very few. We all desire peace ; the Emperor desires peace, and we agree with him that if a friendly understanding is maintained, peace will be maintained, and that if a friendly understanding is not maintained, peace will not be maintained. The words spoken at the Tuileries do not affect the question at issue, and do not remove one iota of uncertainty. The policy of France in Italy and Syria still gives rise to suspicions, and it is simply impossible' with the best intentions, to place any reliance on a power which aids King Francis with a fleet at Gaeta, and thus refuses to acknowledge the force and validity of the prin- ciple—universal suffrage—which is always loudly declared to be the basis of the Imperial throne ; a power which props up the tem- poral power of the Pope against the known wishes of the Roman people.
The debt of Italy to France was cancelled on the 24th of March, 1859, when Savoy and Nice were claimed and yielded up. If any remained, it has been sponged off by the conduct of Admiral Le Barbier de Tinan. Victor Emmanuel, hu- miliated by non-success, has returned to Turin, and the army of Italy is allowed to waste away in the muddy trenches be- fore Gaeta. In return for the affection of Italy, the Emperor re- ceives the thanks and gratitude of a Bourbon ; and, taking ad- vantage.of a situation he has created, urges upek the Italians that deadly scheme of a Confederation which they have rejected. Well might Garibaldi seek the rocks of Caprera ; well may Ca- your grow sick in body and mind. The New Year's demon- stration at the Tuileries, taken in connexion with facts, strengthens, instead of weakening those views which we formed in surveying the future from the basis of the past, and we can never be sure, from day to day, that some scheme will not ripen which will overset all calculations. Even the poor Pope feels the terrible effects of Imperial friendship and Imperial inscrutability ; and, knowing not which way to turn, simply vents his impotent wrath upon pamphleteers and the sons of darkness.
So far as Austria is concerned in the great quarrel now rush- ing on to a definite issue, she seems determined to lose as fast as rehe gains. It was a base thing to demand the extradition of °rat*. Teleki ; it was a baser thing to suggest his arrest. The grace 01 the pardon accorded to the kidnapped refugee is en- tirely destroyed by the measures adopted to kidnap him. How shortsighted is Austria ! At a moment when she has yielded to the dictates of wisdom or policy, and is making unheard-of and, for her, gigantic efforts to recover the support of her Hungarian, Tyrolean, Bohemian subjects, she demonstrates her inherent bad faith by imposing on a minor power the duty of spy and policeman, and then expects credit for granting s. pardon to the man she had waylaid and arrested. Is this the work of the Rechberg element ? If so, what trust can be reposed in the promises Baron von Schmerling is allowed to make in the name of a perfidious Court. Nor is this all. Before the new Minister can organize his central Parliament, the Court, of its own will, unjustly imposes its paper money upon the Venetians ; and this
is properly regarded as a second instance of bad faith. Hungary, in the mean time, grows strong ; the question is, will she be permitted to grow strong enough, and, if a check be interposed, will she flame out into war ?
Prussia has lost a King, who, for some years, has been inca- pable of attending to any business. A good man, and a weak King, Frederick William ever found himself unequal to the work in hand. That leader which Germany thirsts for is not yet pro- vided by the house of Hohenzollern, and perhaps she will have to wait for her chief until the cannon on the frontier calls him from his obscurity.
Previous page
