EUROPEAN QUESTION.

France and Sardinia and Austria are now formally at war. Austria and Prance have each published its declaration of war, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs on both sides have issued explanatory circulars, and the two Emperors have put forth manifestoes. The King of Sardinia has addressed his people and his soldiers. As these documents have an im- portant bearing on the question we print two of them entire and give full accounts of the others.

The Austrian Imperial manifesto bore date April 29. From this ver- bose document we extract the following passages.

"I have ordered my faithful and gallant army to put a stop to the inimical acts which for a series of years have been committed by the neighbouring State of Sardinia against the indisputable tights of my Crown, and against the integrity of the realm placed by God under my care, which acts have lately attained the very highest point. By so doing I have fulfilled the painful but unavoidable duty of a Sovereign. My conscience being at rest, I can look up to an omnipotent God, and patiently await His award. With confidence I leave my decision to the impartial judgment of contemporane- ous and future generations. Of the approbation of my.faithful subjects I am sure. More than ten years ago the same enemy—violating international law and the usages of war, and without any offence being given—entered the Lombardo-Venetian territory with the intention of acquiring possession of it. Although the enemy was twice totally defeated by my gallant army, and at the mercy of the victor, I behaved generously, and proposed a recon- ciliation. I did not appropriate to myself one inch of his territory, I en- croached on no right which belongs to the Crown of Sardinia, as one of the members of the European family of nations. I insisted on no guarantees against the recurrence of similar events. The hand of peace which I in all sincerity extended, and which was taken, appeared to me to be a sufficient guarantee. The blood which my army shed for the honour and right of Austria I sacrificed on the altar of peace. The reward for such unex- ampled forbearance was an immediate continuation of enmity, which in- creased from year to year, and perfidiousagitation'against the peaceand welfare of my Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom. Well knowing what a precious boon peace was for my people and for Europe, I patiently bore with these new hostilities. My patience was not exhausted when the more extensive mama- auras which I was forced to take, in consequence of the revolutionary agita- tion on the frontiers of my Italian provinces and within the same, were made an excuse for a higher degree ofhostility. Willingly accepting the well- meant mediation of friendly Powers for the maintenance of peace, I con- sented to become a party to a Congress of the five Great Powers. The four points proposed by the Royal Government of Great Britain as a basin for the deliberations of the Congress were forwarded to my Cabinet, and I accepted them, with the conditions which were calculated to bring about a true, sin- cere, and durable peace. In the consciousness that no step on the part of my Government could, even in the most remote degree, lead to a distur- bance of the peace, I demanded that the Power which was the cause of the complication and had brought about the danger of war should, as a prelimim- ary measure, disarm. Being pressed thereto by friendly Powers, I at length accepted the proposal for a general disarmament. The mediation failed in

consequence of the unacceptableneas of the conditions on which Sardinia made her consent dependent.' Only one means of mainta.Ming peace re- mained. I addressed myself directly to the Sardinian Government, and

summoned it to place its army on a peace footing and to die bend the free corps. As Sardinia did not accede to my demand the momen1 for deciding

the matter by an appeal to arms has arrived. I have orderer I my army to enter Sardinia. . . . On the frontiere is an armed enemy, who, in alliance with the revolutionary party, openly announces his intenti on to obtain possession of the dependencies of Austria in Italy. To supp ort him, the ruler over France,—who under futile pretexts interferes in the legally ester blished relations of the Italian Peninsula,—has set his troops in movement Detachments of them have already crossed the frontiers of Sardinia. The Crown which I received without spot or blemish from my forefathers has already seen trying times. The glorious history of our country gives evi- dence that Providence, when there is a foreshadowing that the greatest good of humanity is in danger of being overthrown in Europe, has frequently used the sword of Austria in order to dispel that shadow. We are again on the eve of such a period. The overthrow of the things that be is not only aimed at by factions, but by thrones. The sword which I have, been forced to draw is sanctified, inasmuch. as it is a defence for the honour and rights of all peoples and States, and for all that is held. most dear by humanity."

On the same day Count Buol sent a long circular to the Austrian agents abroad. It represents Sardinia as for years engaged in combat- ing the sacred rights of Austria. As this hostility could not be broken down by Austrian longanimity, and as the evasive reply of Count Cavour gave another proof of that hostility, war. ensued. The- King of Sardinia is accused of bad faith, of dynastic ambition, of pursuing mad preten- sions with deplorable tenacity, of fomenting revolution by assuming the

part of liberator, of provoking by the press disturbance of neighbouring states, of taking part in a war [the Russian] in which she had no con- cern, of criticising with effrontery at Paris in 1856, governments which had never offended her. In this strain of heat and violence the diplo- matist continues. Sardinia permitted her journals to advocate regicide when the Emperor went to Milan. Sardinia misrepresented the bene- volent acts of the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian. Sardinia, on fri- volous pretexts, liberated herslf from obligations, sent emissaries every- where, and admitted desertersinto her army. Sardinia openly avowed her intentions when assured of foreign assistance. Austria is the re- verse of this. She is conservative, Sardinia. revolutionary. She puts forth utopian schemes of forming new states according to' the limit& of- nationalities. Austria stands firmly on the treaty of Vienna. The domination of Austria on the Po and the Adriatic is described as an unquestionable right.. Lombardo-Venetia is under a. benevolent govern. meat, and Piedmont, for from disquieting herself about an opt:mesas& people only seeks to interrupt their prosperity.

" But.France, which for a long time past, we repeat, has shared that terrible moral responsibility, France has hastened by acts to assume it alto- gether. The government of the Emperor of the French caused on the 26th of this month his chargé d'Affaires at Vienna to declare that he should con- sider the passage of the Ticino by the Austrian troops as a declaration. of" war against France. Whilst we were waiting at Vienna the reply of Pied- - mont to the summons to disarm, France caused her troops to enter Sardinia by the land sea frontiers, knowing well that by so doing she placed in the balance the weight which would bring down the last resolutions of the Court of Turin.

"And why, we ask, were the legitimate hopes of the Mends of peace:in Europe thus to be annihilated by a single blow ? Because the time had ar- rived at which projects long meditated in silencehave arrived at maturity— at which the second French Empire desires to give substance to iteideas-- at which the political state of Europe, based on right, is to be sacrificed to its illegetimate pretensions—at which the treaties which form the basis of public European power are to be replaced by the political wisdom which_ the power which rules at Paris has announced to the astonished world.

"The traditions of the first Napoleon' in as word, are resumed. And such is the signification of the conflict on the eve of which Europe is.. placed.

"May the world, undeceived, be penetrated with this conviction,, that now, as half a century ago, the question at stake is to defend the indepen- dence of States, and to protect the most precious possessions of nations against ambition and the spirit of domination." The circular of Count Walewski preceded by two days the Austrian manifesto. It was dated the 27th March, and sent to the French agents- abroad. We give this paper entire.

" Monsieur—The communication which was made by order of his Ma- jesty to the Senate and to the Legislative Body renders it unnecessary for me to revert to the incidents which have engaged the attention of the pubs lie for several weeks past, and which were the subjects of my led des- spatches. The gravity of the situation has become extreme, and the result welch has taken place will not, unfortunately, be that for the preparation. of which the most straightforward and persevering efforts have been made. In these serious conjectures it is a great satisfaction for the Emperor's Go- vernment to be able to submit without fear to the appreciation of Europe the question as to what Government the responsibility of events belongs. That- the state of things in Italy was abnormal, that the uneasiness and the secret agitation which constituted a danger for the whole world resulted from-. them, and that reason advised that an inevitable crisis should be warded off by a proper foresight, was the opinion of England, Prussia, and Russia, as well as of France. Unanimity of apprehensions soon created a conformity of feelings and of proceedings. The mission of Lord Cowley to Vienna, tha Proposition of a Congress emanating from Russia, the support giren_ by Prussia to those attempts at arrangement, the eagerness of France to adhere to the combinations which have succeeded each other up to the last hour— all these acts have been inspired by the same motive, a lively and sincere' desire to consolidate peace by no longer. shutting the eye to a difficulty- which so evidently threatened to disturb it. In this phase of the affair, Monsieur, the Emperor's Government had its part of initiative and of ac- tion ; but that part, I am anxious to state, has always been merge& in a collective work. France has simply offered her cooperation,-as a great Eu- ropean Power, to regulate in a spirit of good understanding and confidence„ with the other Cabinets a question which, I do not conceal, excited her sympathies, but in which she did notyet perceive either particularchities to- perform or pressing interests to defend. The day on which the Cabinet of `Vienna promised by solemn declarations not to commence hostilities, it had evidently foreseen the attitude which any aggression directed against Pied- mont would infallibly oblige the Emperor's Government to assume. Such an assurance, by giving time for the mediation of the Powers to act, allow- ed of a hope being, entertained of the speedy convocation of the Congress. In fact England, with the assent of France, Prussia, and Russia, had just determined on the last conditions of the meeting of that assembly, when the place which reason and justice assigned to the Italian States was ac corded to them. Sardinia, on her side, adhered to the principle of the el- multaneous and preliminary disarmament of all the Bowers which had, lately increased tieir military forces. To these omens of peace the Cabinet of Vienna suddeeily opposed an act which to characterize it as it ought to be, is equivalent to ft declaration of war. Thus Austria destroyed 'Belatedly and with a fixt;tdetermination the work which had been followed up with so' such

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by Englandt seconded with so much good faith by Russia anitPrussia, an I facilitated with so much moderation by France. She not only closed then door of the Congress to Sardinia, but she summoned her, under pain of being constrained by force, to lay down her arms uncondition- ally and in the delay of three days. A formidable display of forces took place at the same time on the banks of the Ticino, and it was in the midst of an army ou the march that the Austrian General-in-chief waited for the reply of the pabinet of Twin. You are are aware, Monsieur, of the impres- sion caused in London, at Berlin, and St. Petersburg, by the inopportune and fatal resolution of the Cabinet of Vienna. The astonishment and the displeasure of the three Powers were shown by a protest of which public opinion has made itself the echo in every part of Europe. If England, Prussia, and Russia, by the step which they hastened to take, have been able to fully release their moral responsibilityand satisfy the exigencies of their offended dignity, the Emperor's Government, influenced by similar considerations, had moreover to mark its attitude more strongly, and felt that other obligations we imposed on it. Nothing has modified the solidarity which was established at the outset between us and the mediating Powers. The groundwork of the question remains the same, but we have too great confidence in the feelings of which those Powers have given us such strik- ing proofs, to doubt for a moment that they will deceive themselves as to the sense of the policy which old traditions and the imperious necessities of geographical position so naturally point out to us. France, during the last half century, has never pretended to exercise an interested influence in

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Italy ; and it assuredly is not France that can be accused of having endea- voured to awaken the remembrance of ancient struggles and historical ri- valries. All that she has hitherto demanded, and the treaties are in ac- cordance with her wishes, was that the States of the Italian peninsula should live their own lives, and both in their home and foreign affairs have only to give an account to themselves. I ant not aware that any different idea on this subject exists at London, Berlin, and St. Petersburg. However that may be, circumstances have invested Austria, with regard to the different Powers of Italy, with a situation unanimously considered to be preponder- ating. Sardinia alone has hitherto escaped an action which, as is generally avowed, has changed in an important part of Europe the system of balance of power, which it had been wished to there establish. This fact was very serious ; but whatever our private opinion might be, it would be sufficient for us, with the sentiments which we knew were -entertained by the other Cabinets to point out to them the evil which was to be corrected. Such a reserve, Monsieur, when Sardinia was in question, would have become a forgetfulness of our most essential interests. It is not the configuration of the soil, which on that side covers one of the frontiers of France ; the passages of the Alps are not in our hands ; and it is of the highest degree important to us that the key of them should remain at Turin, and only there. French considerations—but which are also Euro- pean, so long as respect for the rights and legitimate interests of Powers shall continue to serve as the rule of their reciprocal relations—do not allow the Emperor's Government to hesitate as to the conduct it has to adopt when a State so considerable as Austria assumes toward Piedmont the tone of menace, and openly prepares to dictate laws to her. This obligation be- comes still more serious from the refusalof Austria to discuss before she acts. We will not at any price find ourselves in presence of a fait accompli, and it is this fact which the Emperor's Government is resolved to prevent. It is not therefore, an offensive attitude, but a measure of defence, which we at this moment adopt. Old reminiscences, community of origin, and a recent alliance of the Sovereign houses, unite us to Sardinia. Those are serious reasons for our sympathy, which we appreciate at their just value, but which would not perhaps be sufficient to decide us. What has clearly and surely traced out our path is the permanent and hereditary interest of France, the absolute impossibility for the Emperor's Government to admit that an act of force should establish at the foot of the Alps, and contrary to the wishes of a friendly nation and the will of her Sovereign, a state of things which would deliver up the whole of Italy to foreign influence. His Imperial Majesty, strictly faithful to the words which he delivered when the-French people called him, the throne of the chief of his dynasty, is not animated by any personal ambition or any desire for conquest. The time is not far distant when the Emperor proved in a European crisis that modera- tion was the mainspring of his policy. That moderation at the present hour presides with the same force over his intentions, and while protecting the interests which Providence has confided to him, his Majesty, you may positively assure those around you, does not think of separating his views from those of his allies. Far from ihat, his Government, in referring to the incidents which have marked the negotiations of the last few weeks, nourished the firm hope that the Government of her Britannic Majesty will continue to persevere in an attitude which, in uniting by a moral bond the policy- of the two countries, allows the Cabinets of Paris and of London to explain themselves without reserve, and to combine, according to eventuali- ties, an understanding- destined to preserve the Continent from the effects of the struggle which may arise at one of its extremities. Russia, we are firmly convinced, will be always ready to direct her efforts towards the same object. As to Prussia, the feeling, at the same time conciliatory and im- partial, of which she fias given proof from the very outset of the crisis, is a sure guarantee of her intentions to neglect nothing which can tend to cir- cumscribe the explosion. We hope that the other Powers which compose tlai Germanie Confederation will not allow themselves to be led away by the remembrance of a different period. France cannot see without regret the agitation which prevails in some States of Germany. It cannot comprehend why that great country, generally so calm and so patriotically imbued with a feeling of its strength, should consider its security threatened by events, the theatre of which is at a distance from its territory. The Em- peror's Government are willing., therefore, to think that the statesmen of Germany will, soon admit that it depends in a great measure on themselves to contribute to limit the extent and the duration of a war which France, if compelled to maintain, will at least feel conscious of not having provoked. "I request you, Monsieur, to bear in mind the considerations developed in this despatch in your next conversation with M—, and to leave him a copy of it. With the clearness of the language which I make use of by order of the Emperor, and which, in the idea of his Majesty, implies a de- sire to offer to the other Cabinets every possible guarantee to lead them to a true appreciation of the situation of affairs, and to satisfy them, as far as they are concerned, on ire consequences, it is difficult for me to suppose that the' Government of — will not receive our explanations with the same confidence that has dictated them to me.

"Accept, &c., WALEWSIET." It was not until the 3d May that the French Emperor communicated to his Chambers and his people the following striking and condensed

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"Austria, in causing her army to enter the territories of the King of Sar- dinia, our ally, declares war against us. Sha thus violates treaties and justice, and menaces our frontiers. All the great Powers have protested against this aggression. Piedmont having accepted the conditions which ought to have insured peace, one asks what can be the reason of this sudden invasion ? It is that Austria has brought matters to this extremity, that she must either rule up to the Alps, or Italy must be free to the shores of the Adriatic ; for in that country every corner of territory which remains independent endangers her power. " Hitherto moderation has been the rule of my conduct ; now energy be- comes my first duty. Let France arm, and resolutely tell Europe= I de- sire not conquest, but I desire firmly to maintain my national and tradi- tional policy. I observe the treaties on condition that no one shall violate them against me. I respect the territories and the rights of neutral Powers, but I boldly avow my sympathies for a people whose history is mingled with our own, and who groan under foreign oppression.' "France has shown her hatred of anarchy. She has been pleased to give me a power strong enough to reduce into impotence the abettors of disorder and the incorrigible members of those old factions whom one incessantly sees confederating with our enemies ; but she has not for all that abandoned her task of civilization. Her natural allies have always been those who de- sire the improvement of the human race, and when she draws the sword it is not to dominate, but to liberate. The object of this war, then, is to re- store Italy to herself, not to impose upon her a change of masters, and we shall then have upon our frontiers a friendly people, who will owe to us their independence. We do not go into Italy to foment disorder or to dis- turb the power of the Holy Father, whom we have replaced upon his throne, but to remove from him this foreign pressure, which weighs upon the whole Peninsula, and to help to establish there order based upon the satis- faction of legitimate interests. We are going, then, to retrace upon this classic ground, illustrated by so many victories the footsteps of our fathers. God

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grant that we may be worthy of them ! am going soon to place myself at the head of the army. I leave in France the Empress and my son. Se- conded by the experience and the enlightenment of the last surviving brother of the Emperor, she will understand how to show herself equal to her mission. I confide them to the valour of the army which remains in France to watch our frontiers and to protect our homes ; I confide them to the patriotism of the National Guard ; I confide them, in a word, to the entire people, who will encircle them with that affection and devotion of which I :daily receive so many proofs. Courage, then, and union! Our country is again about to show the world that she has not degenerated. Providence will bless our efforts, for that cause is holy in the eyes of God which rests on justice, humanity, love of country, and of independence."