THE NEW HOLY ALLIANCE.
Jr we suffered ourselves to judge entirely from present appearance,the Conference at Paris has been successful, not only in securing the terms of a peace reasonably favourable to the Allied Powers yet not disastrous to Russia, but it has also obtained a rearrange- ment of the European relations calculated to prevent any speedy renewal of hostilities and to secure a continuance of the peace. It has indeed effected a very material change in the relative position of the European Powers, and it has introduced a new principle which ought to be very satisfactory to the Peace party of this coun- try. It happens that the greatest gain has been obtained by those parties who entered into the Conference most heartily ; and, consi- dering Russia as the party destined by the fortune of war to sub- mit to loss, we may say that she is among those who have profited most by the apparent frankness and cordiality of her diplomatic representatives. This was conspicuously illustrated at the sit- ting of the Conference on the 4th of April, when Count Or- loll did not scruple to throw the Sea of Azoff into the ar- rangements made for speedily opening the Black Sea to com- merce, although it might have been considered more strictly a mare clausum entirely within the Russian territory, as it is. It became apparent from the debates on Italy that Austria did not possess the weight in the Conference which she might have ex- pected,. and to Prussia was assigned a position distinctly second- ary, which her representatives scarcely attempted to transgress. A thorough understanding appeared to be the spirit which pro- cured the strongest influence in the Council. The provision of the eighth article of the treaty, that on any difference occurring between Turkey and one of the Powers it should be referred to the rest before any hostile proceedings be taken, is the sharp point of the wedge for applying the principle of arbitration to the govern- ment of Europe—arbitration as the substitute for war. All these considerations imply that the parties to the Conference must feel the value of friendly arrangements ; that they must appreciate the strength which they gain by cooperation; that they are pre- pared, and will find each other willing, to arrange little differ- ences, instead of having wars ; and that any serious disorder in one part of Europe will most probably be settled by the combined authority and action of the governments belonging to the rest,—in short, that the Conference is the germ of a European Council of Government ; leaving internal affairs to the separate Sovereigns and their Ministers, but constituting a court of appeal for inter- national questions—a court of reference for any separate state which may find itself in difficulties even before its own subjects. This last consideration suggests a feeling akin to mistrust as well as hope. Perceiving the power and influence that may be concentrated in this Council of Europe, we ask ourselves of what members is it composed ? The answer is not entirely satisfactory. The members actually present at the late Conference were Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia Sardinia, and Turkey ; and they fairly represent the real strength and authority of the Continent. Of these seven, three are Austria, Prussia' and Rus- sia. We are inclined to indulge the hope that Russia has really seen the wisdom of exchanging her old policy for a policy more suited to the present age. in many respects Russia is more com- pletely divested of any semblance of constitutional machinery, such as might once be found, for instance in the local govern- ment of Hungary. or the local Councils of Lombardy, and in the system, however imperfect, of Prussia. But the Russian Emperor comes more directly in contact with the great body of the no- bles and people in his own country. The concentrated authority involves concentrated responsibility ; and, supposing that there has been the striking improvement of Russian councils which ap- pears on the face of recent declarations, it is almost the first in- stance in which the Russian nobles and people have been able to obtain a change of policy without a sudden change of Czars. But, unable to trust too entirely to Russia as she may be, we must re- gard Russia as she has been, with the character that she has earned by her consistent conduct ; and we must set her down as the head of the Absolutist party. Prussia is almost avowedly her dependent, Austria her rival and accomplice. Two out of the seven Powers are—England, a constitutional country, and Sar- dinia, a constitutional country of seven years' standing, whose ex- istence gives great umbrage to autocratic Europe. The other two countries are France and 'Turkey, which may be briefly described as autocracies resting upon a military democracy ; countries both of them which happen to be in alliance with England and Sar- dinia for present purposes, but which, through their military ge- nius, have more evident sympathies with the Imperial command- ers-in-chief that rule Russia and Austria. In the Council of Europe, therefore, as at present advised, we appear to discern a great preponderance of authority on the side of those Powers that preserve the traditions of the Holy Alliance of 1815. If we include the Powers not directly represented at Paris lately,—Bavaria, Saxony, and Naples, Denmark, Sweden, and Holland, Spain, Portugal, and Belgium,—we find a precarious Constitutionalism overbalanced by a Bureaucracy, in some places rising to rampaneAbsolutism. The secondary Powers represented in an European Council would not very materially affect the ba- lance; while the new spirit and the new principle tend to give that Council practically an increased jurisdiction in the govern- ment of Europe.
Nevertheless, although less formally recorded, two other im- portant principles were insinuated in the late Conference. In the first place various concessions to commerce tended, with the pre- sent natural influence of the civilized world, to give greater free- dom to the intercourse of trade' and therefore to the intercourse of persons, and therefore also to the moral stakes by which nations will be pledged at once to peace and to justice. The new statute for maritime law during war gives to commerce an immunity that it has never known before. The whole effect of the changed policy in Russia is to secure enlarged fields and freer transit for commerce ; commercial considerations are rising in the European Councils. But England, Sardinia, Turkey, and to some extent even France, if not Russia, have felt how important is a certain degree of liberty for the extension of commerce. Again, Count Cavour on the invitation of the Emperor Napoleon introduced the question of constitutional reform as the true die against revolutionary en- croachments in Italy ; and although no distinct step was taken as a consequence, it was evident from the crestfallen demeanour of Austria, and the degree of countenance given by both France and England to the Cavour policy, that it had considerable weight Is that vital idea of constitutional government fairly insinuated into the Council of Europe ? And if it is, and if the Council is governed also by commercial considerations, then its arbitration in case of difficulty, its authority and influence may have a most happy as well as important effect upon the farm of Europe. Here, however, we are passing from history and present polities to conjecture or prophecy.
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