; THIRD LETTER ON THE FOREIGN POLICY OF ENGLAND. TO

THE EDITOR. OF THE SPECTATOR.

London. 24 December 1836.

Sra—In my last letter I showed why the Quadruple Alliance failed : it was Without object from the moment Lours PHILIP ceased to be the representative of the Revolution of July—of the ideas of freedom. All the defeats of Lord Ratans atITON date from the instalment of the Guizot Ministry. The Tories, however, should moderate a little their shouts of triumph; for it is to them that we owe the complications of our foreign policy.

Is Russia now a dangerous rival to England ? Who has rendered her so?

Before the French Revolution, we see both of and Austria combined, without being able to bring down the King of l'russia, who, then, had only three millions of subjects. Russia has become a great power in consequence of the fanatic war waged by our Tories on France and her Revolution. For the great beauty of the theory of the balance of power lies in adding to one power what we clip from another. France was laid low, and Russia uplifted in her place. Is England now to go to war in order to lay low Russia, and uplift Austria or some other state? And who will be our ally ?—Probably the gigantic Debt, which the foreign policy of the Tories has bequeathed to the nation. Who has created the bungling diplomats who so well represent England on the Continent, and who send such efficient reports to our foreign office ? Who wanted to send Lord LONDON DERRY to Petersburg?—The Tories. Why has Lord PALMERSTON ruined his reputation as a statesman ?— Because he listened to the adv ices which our Tory Ambassador at Lisbon sent to him. And that same Ambassador, not being able to put together an advice of his own, listened to his present interpreter, an Italian adventurer, who edited a Miguelite paper under Don Minis EL, and who, it is very _probable, may have written the counter-revolutionary letters from Lisbon to the Morning Chronicle. Lord PALMERSTON listening to a Tory, and the Tory to a Miguelite, that is quite in order. The Reform Bill has changed the character of our foreign policy too. Al- liances based upon the balance of power are only possible between Absolute Governments : a Reform Ministry of England can hope for no other alliance but that with freedom. I illustrated this assertion, in my last letter, by the example of France: I shall illustrate it, in my present letter, by another ex- ample, that of Austria. Austria contains a mixed population of thirty millions; fourteen millions of whom are of Sclavonic race, speaking languages either similar or nearly allied to the Russian. All the Sclavonic tribes living in Austria have a national antipathy to the Germans, and to the German Court of Vienna, which oppresses them. Nearly three millions of them in Hungary, and the Military Colonies on the Turkish frontiers, profess, moreover, the Greek religion; that is to say, the Emperor of Russia is their Dope, and they say public prayers for him in all their churches.

The hopes which Russia builds upon this circumstance are apparent enough from the " Memoir on the Political State and Prospects of Germany, confiden- tially communicated to several of the German Governments by Russia," which is to be found in the Second Number of the Portfolio. In this Memoir, the Russian diplomate who is the author of it speaks thus of Austria—" Any op- position (offered by Austria to the ambitious views of Russia) might hasten that moment when the Sclavonic and Latin portions of the Austrian mo- narchy would so far reassert their national existence, that their German cha- racter would be entirely absorbed." In plain English—" If Austria offer the least resistance to us, we have the means of causing an insurrection amongst all its Sclavonic states, (Bohemia, Moravia, the Military Colonies, and Dalmatia,) and in Hungaria, (the Latin portions of the Austrian monarchy.) which will deprive Austria of more than half of its territory, and reduce it to the posses- sion of a few German provinces and Upper Italy." It is a fact of public notoriety, that M. DE METTERNICH did not take great care to hide the ill-will he has for Russia, during the last Turkish war ; and the Portfolio contains many diplomatical documents which prove to demon- stration that Austria looks with fear and jealousy upon the rapid growth of Russia. Austria and Russia, according to all the adherents to the theory of the balance of Europe, are natural enemies. Well, the Quadruple Alliance was conceived, by our Ministry, against Russia : did Austria accede to it? It was hoped for by our Ministerial papers; it was sought for by France; but in A certain Major ne PROEF.SCII, who is a great favourite of M. DE MET- TERNICH, and was charged with a diplomatical mission of importance in the East durin gthe Greek war of independence, got acquainted with M. DE Sr. AULAIRE in Italy. In consequence of this acquaintance M. DE Sr. A ULAIRE became French Ambassador at Vienna ; and, from that moment, a certain intimacy seemed to prevail between the French and Austrian Cabinets. What was the consequence of this intimacy? Lours Primie drove away the foreign refugees, gagged the press, and when he had destroyed all the public freedom of France, assisted Austria to bring on the same result in Switzerland. What was the recompense he received for his industry ? He did not ask for much— be only wanted to obtain the hand of a princess for his eldest son. Did he get one ? Not even the poorest of the German petty courts was allowed to give him a princess. His services were accepted, but his popular or revolutionary origin secludes him for ever from any alliance, not alone with a Legitimate Court, but even with a Legitimate l'rincess.

A revolution broke out in Poland, which threatened Russia, the natural enemy of Austria, with complete ruin. The Polish Aristocracy sent envoys to M. DE METTERNICH, offering the throne of Poland to an Austrian Prince. M. DR METTERNICH listened kindly to their representations, kindly advised them to be moderate. The serfs were not set free, the Jews were not emancipated, the establishment of free institutions was postponed to a future period ; and finally, Poland was betrayed, by M. PE METTERNICH, to his natural enemy, the Emperor of Russia. The humiliation of a political rival, a throne for an Aus- trian Prince, were offered to him ; and he did not accept them—for in doing so, he would have sanctioned the right of insurrection in the people; and that right sanctioned, the rightof legitimacy, by which he oppresses thirty millions, is de- clared annulled.

The interests of self-preservation are superior to those of mere ambition;; and it is the interests of self-preservation, which bind the Kings of the Holy Al- liance together. There is no compromise for the first, but there are many ways of compromising the second. Suppose, for instance, Russia saying to Austria, " Our differences would only profit to the enemies of order and mo- narchy—leave to me the East, and I shall leave to you the West." Before the conclusion of the Quadruple Alliance, Austria possessed already a Idngdom in Italy ; and several other Italian countries were governed by Princes of the house of Austria: since the existence of the Quadruple Alliance, the King of Sardinia has become the most faithful ally of Austria and Don CAR- Us. There was one country which was doubtful—Naples; and the King of Naples now marries an Austrian Princess. The whole of Italy is iocontestibly acquired to Austria. Mig r not one see in this fact the forerunner of a friendly division of Turkey between Russia and Austria ? And might not Austria easily be induced to cede her part in it again to Russia, for Bavaria, whose King performs already the functions of a King of Greece? Austria is the ally of Russia ; Austria is the ally of Don CARLOS and Don Merin.; Austria is the ally of the Duke DE BORDEAUX—What is wanted more to make of Austria an enemy to all the members of the Quadruple Al- liance? The Quadruple Alliance has not had any success in Spain or Portu- gal : and during its unhappy existence, Austria gains the ascendancy in Italy —Austria, the faithful ally of Russia!

The Absolute Princes will never forget that the Whig Ministry owes its existence to the revolutionary Reform Bill : if England cannot alone check Russia, she must seek for alliances not amongst princes, but amongst nations who wish to be as free as we are. A reform in our system of foreign policy is indispensable: and Lord PALMERSTON, whose only merit is to have become a clever Red- tapist in the school of the Tories, is not the man fit for the new task. Should our Ministers, who look so anxiously to Russia, never have descried that man who has a better vocation to be the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Reformed England, than Lord PA L ME RSTON ?

I am, Sir, your obedient servant, P.

POSTSCRIPT.

9th December.

Allow nie, Sir, to extract a passage from a very ably-written article in the Morning Chronicle of to-day, on which I have to offer a few observations.

" Between the warring principles which divide Europe there ia no truce, no repose. Liberalism may slumber, but Absolutism cannot. For many, many year:, Russia can- not fold her arms ; the Colossus is doomed to eternal activity. Those who govern it know well the law and the doom under which they exist. Pacify and conciliate the absolutist principle, so represented, you cannot. If you give up Turkey, it will demand Delia; give it up Spain, and it will demand France itself. it is tor this reason, there- fore, we have ever insisted on the policy of resistiug this antagonist principle, by all and every means short of actual and general war. Frank and efficient cooperation in Spain would have done this—would have kept the foe from the gates and from the capital of France. and would have consolidated the liberal alliance of t he West by the adherence or the Peninsula. As it is. the pusillanimity. or the bad faith, or the racilla- ties of French councils: has dissolved or neutralized the league of Western Europe, and disappointed the hopes of its partisans throughout the world. Each country seems to be now left separate and isolated, either to offer ineffectual resistance alone, or to pur- chase tranquillity at the price of honour and independence."

The league between France and England, then, is dissolved ! And what is the reason of it ? It was intended to be a league of " Liberalism" against the " antagonist principle." If the league was based upon the principle of Libe- ralism, it is evident that it was dissolved, as I say in the beginning of my letter, " from the moment Louis PHILIP ceased to be the representative of the ideas of freedom." And to seek for any other reason of the rupture, though I will not deny that " pusillanimity, bail faith, and vacillation " are the attributes of Lours PHILIP'S policy, is a glaring instance of that confusion in the ideas of the partisans of the Quadruple Alliance which I endeavoured to expose in my Second Letter. An alliance between liberal England and despolized France is impossible. " Each country is left separate and isolated "—and, therefore, we are doomed "to purchase tranquillity at the price of honour and independence.' I answer with what SHAKSPEARE could say two centuries ago, when England was a child in comparison to what she is to-day- . Come the three corners of the world in arms,

And we shall shock them : nought shall make us rue, If England to itself do rest but true."