TOPICS OF THE DAY.
FRANCE AND PORTUGAL.
Enswex is rapidly taking an attitude in international affairs which is far too grave for any discussion, except;that serious and deliberative sort which men naturally adopt, when in the pre-. sow or on the threshold of great events. When the time for action is approaching, all declamation is discarded as unsuited to the solemnity of the moment. And when a state under the mask of alliance outrages every principle dear to the heart of England, and is perpetually placing this country in the ridiculous and Rash dilemma, which is the chronic malady of our relations vita France, we all know that the state of peace is provisional way, unless a total change come over the spirit of the dream of the offender. We write under the restraint which we impose upon ourselves, not without difficulty, in these international questions, but a re- straint which is due to the absence of that sort of information which can alone be called authoritative' of the very words and acts and deeds of the Governments engaged. But the salient features of. this case of the Charles at Georges' and of the action of the French Government, are such as do not admit of doubt or hesi- tation in the verdict, which the soberest person must pass upon these transactions. Besides, after waiting a long time, the Moni- tear has broken silence and stated so much of the case as the French Government vouchsafes to state to the surprised and in- dignant nations. The whole affair is of the simplest. An un- doubted slave-ship is taken, in ilagrante della°, in forbidden Portuguese waters by Portuguese authorities. After condem- nation by the local Portuguese tribunal, appeal is made to the superior court of Lisbon, and pending this appeal, the vessel is demanded out of the hands of the Portuguese Go- vernment, and an indemnity for her detention, with threats of force for non-compliance. No ingenuity of man can imagine any rea- son for disallowing the course of international law in this case, except the deliberate pretension of the French Government to set itself above all law. This pretension coming as a sequel to many things which are deeply graven upon the heart of Europe, seems scarcely to leave any alternative but the expectation of serious events at no distant date. A remarkable expression which was made use of by the Emperor Nicholas at the time of his aggres- sion on Turkey, is applicable with the greatest force to France at this moment. He said that it was not possible to "live with" Turkey. Certainly if all the rules which constitute the ties the very hinges, joists, and beams of civilization and Christendom are broken down in this way, it is not possible to live with France.
Our Government may rely on it that the most searching inves- tigation will be given to all that they have been doing when Parliament meets. We will not for a moment venture to suppose that any set of persons calling themselves English gentlemen, have deliberatelyconnivZd at these proceedings of France, or turned a deaf ear to any appeal that may have been made by Portugal. The claim of that State for our help in this ease presents such an accumulation of legal and moral obligations, so far as the particular facts are known, that any persons occupying office who should have ventured to disregard them, will have in- curred the reproach of an infamy absolutely without precedent in the annals of this free English nation. So deeply do we feel on this subject, and so deep-dyed is the political crime of such an abandon- ment, that whatever misgivings we may entertain as to the course of our Government we are inclined far more to reproach ourselves for, than to take as a ground for argument. Was there ever so plain a duty ? A small state which has been our friend, our ward, our pupil for many generations, which has an abso- lute right to our active protection and armed assistance, is out- rageously assailed and insulted for its energetic measures in the repression of what is virtual slave trade. If Portugal be not just the nation, and this not the case in which the hand of England should at once be raised to the hilt of the sword, no man can say when it should ; the doctrines of the peace party are solemnly adopted as our standard, and there is an end of all the honour of England. A duty of that kind once meanly shirked would be almost Us a recorded sentence of death against the nation which had been guilty of its breach. Whatever be the rumours in Portugal, whatever the in' salting articles in Russo-Belgian papers, we will not admit into the remotest corner of our imagination the suppo- sition that the same moment in our history which is witnessing a social science association, has been burdened with a political sin 60 heavy. But the circumstances are equivocal, and the assertions of French papers strong, and we are being praised in these hireling journals which are the ugliest badge of the French slavery of the hour, for a " loyalty " to the bad cause of France, the very supposition of which brings the blood to the cheek ; such loyalty as that for which the Fourteenth Louis of a draasty that perished for its sins, might have praised the second Paarles of a dynasty which perished as justly. But the total si-
i lence of the moment oppressive. It is scarcely possible to look without impatience to the delay that must take place before we know authentically what is the part that England has been play-
in the late affair: why English vessels of war were sent to 14aben : what the Channel fleet has been ordered to do, whether we have been acting as fools or rogues, or both.
It may perhaps be proper to notice the plea advanced by the
Moniteur, in support of the French proceedings, miserable as it is. We are told that the capture of the Charles et Georges could not be justifiable because the superior Portuguese authorities in Africa had intimated to inferior officers of ports, that they were to dis- criminate between French vessels engaged in shipping emigrants, and those engaged in the Slave-trade. At any rate, whatever be the effect of such a plea, it was one which should have been left to the court of Lisbon to determine its weight. At the utmost it appears to allege no more than that the Portuguese authorities in Africa had imagined that practical distinctions could be drawn between two classes of vessels, which are shown by experience to belong to one and the same. It is not stated by the Moniteur that the supreme Government of Portugal had authorized their subordinates in Africa in drawing such distinctions. And obviously without such an allegation the plea is perfectly value- less, as against the Government of Portugal. But in truth the gravamen of the charge against France is that it has interfered with the operation of law. For the statement made by the lio- niteur that the Charles et Georges was captured out of Portuguese waters, which, if true, would dispose of the whole case, and render all other arguments superfluous, is not supported by a tittle of proof, and appears to be made in pure recklessness. It will be a subject of sincere rejoicing on our part if any further explanations can put a better face upon this extremely ugly business. But we do not well see how that is possible. The Moniteur has spoken, and leaves the matter in just the plight that it was before. It is impossible that serious consequences should not flow from these events. In a case where the national honour, and the national abhorrence of the slave-trade are equally involved, the line which England must, sooner or later, take can- not be doubted. We feel bound to repeat what has been said so frequently during the past week, and to repeat it most emphati- cally. The French alliance must from this moment be considered at an end.
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