Mr. Charles Buxton made a speech at Maidstone, on our
foreign policy, on Wednesday last, in which he took high ground on the principle of non-intervention, but by no means too high ground if he could only guarantee first, Europe's assent to his second prin- ciple, that "it is a crime for any nation to hold any other under its dominion by force of arms." Non-intervention as between peoples and rulers of their own nations who hold their rule by armies of the same nation, is a principle of a very high order, for every such people really holds the remedy in its own hand. But the principle breaks down when applied to Poland, where an alien force keeps the nation down. Mr. Buxton suggested that we should follow in the case of Gibraltar the noble example we have set in the case of the Ionian islands, taking Ceuta on the African coast from Spain in return, and conditioning that Spain should retire from her invasion of St. Domingo. He thought this might be made the inducement to Austria to abandon Venice, and to France to evacuate Rome. Certainly this is, at least, a wise and generous dream.
Previous page
