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Oct 6 I860] The Saturday Analyst ami Lea...
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THE CURSE OF DIPLOMACY. PANDORA'S bo.x c...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Oct 6 I860] The Saturday Analyst Ami Lea...
Oct 6 I 860 ] The Saturday Analyst ami Leader . 843
The Curse Of Diplomacy. Pandora's Bo.X C...
THE CURSE OF DIPLOMACY . PANDORA'S bo . x contained no evil equal to the secret diplomacy of modern times , which seems alike incapable of wisdom or truth . Mystery and mischief seems to be indissolubJy united , and those statesmen who act tolerably well while the public gaze is upon them , offend seriously the moment their proceedings are cancelled . These facts are convincingly brought home to our minds by reading Lord John Russelx ' s despatch to our minister at Turin , dated the 31 st August , 1860 ; and if the fortunate discovery of this document , through the instrumentality of the Cologne Gazette , toes not open the eyes of the people , they may , before the . month is over , be committed to a course of conduct exceedingly likely to bring 1 about a rupture with France .
The despatch in question , although not nominally so , was really addressed to Count Cavouk , and is calculated to augment his difficulties , and leave him no other resource than to purchase fresh aid at whatever sacrifice it can be bought . Lord John Russell begins by protesting against any bargain for ceding the Island of Sardinia to France , and appears not to believe the assurances to the contrary given by Cavouk . Since the date of this document we have had more denials from the Sardinian government ; but nobody believes them , because the pressure of the diplomatists—Lord John Russell included—has rendered ¦ it / almost impossible for Count Cavouk
to act or speak truthfully ; and they are virtually handing Italy over to France , by leaving her no hope in any other quarter . We fully concur in the propriety of checking the aggressive tendencies of the French Empire , but that can only be honourably and successfully accomp lished by removing the evils of which Louis Napoleon takes advantage . If England had shown more sympathy for Italy at an earlier period , it is probable that there would have been no occasion to sacrifice Nice and Savoy ; but , as Count Cavoue explained , when help was needed it could only be had from France , and upon Imperial terms Now . Lord John Russell insults and bullies the
King of Sardinia to make him desert the cause of Venice . If he does so , he will cease to be " ilre galant uomo oi the Italians , and republican eraissiaries will once more be rife . In London , Paris , and Vienna , diplomatists are quite right ia imagining that the union of Naples with Sardinia , and the absorption of the extra-mural States of the Church , will be followed by an assault upon Venetia , and the declarations to the contrary extorted from Victor Emm an ukl will neither be believed / nor alter the course of events . To liberate Venice is a positive and primary duty , and no man deserves to be called that If
an Italian who consents to abandon great object . England had been unfortunately the prey of unprincipled diplomatists , as Italy was in 1815 , and had been handed . over to Russia to make her a better counterpoise to France , would any Englishman agree not to struggle for the freedom of his country ? or if all England except Kent had been rescued from the oppressor , would anyone but a criminal agree to desert the cause of the county still in cliains ? And yet this is , in spirit , what Lord John Russbjll , acting , not as an English gentlemen , but according to the baseness of Secret Diplomacy , is trying-tQ force Victor Emmanujei , to agree to . to the treatof urichand
Lord John Russell appeals y Z , tells the Sardinian monarch that " he is not at liberty to set his obligations a t defiance , or to make a wanton aggression oa a neighbouring Sovereign . " If English diplomacy had been more honest , it is probable that Victor Emmanuel would not have been forced to accept the Zurich treaty at all . The sudden pull-up of the French was connected with fears that a continuation of the wai would bring about a general coalition against Fiance ; and as English statesmen . \ Vhig as well as Tory , were determined not to allow Austria to perish , there was a probability of their dragging this country into the conflict , and en the wrong side .
Lord John Russkli , is not justified in appealing- to a treaty , in opposition to a moral obligation . It may be that the Sardinian Government haa made promises it did not mean to keep ; but casuists have long 1 decided that engagements to counnit crimes are not binding ; and no engagement could be more criminal than that of sanctioning the slavery of the Venetians , as Lord J . Ruhsei-l desireB . Moreover , his lordship should not lecture Victou Ewmanukl . upon the necessity or good
faith , until he bus , mudu up his miud to practice it himself . The despatch just discovered , is in flagrant opposition to the declarations he has made in Purliument about the rightB of the Italians to manage their own uftUirs ; und it is a downright fraud upon the JGnglish people to write such despatches jn secret , and openly px- « tend to be pursuing a widely different and much more liberal course . We make these comments with profgund regret , for it , is a most melancholy and
humiliating thing to find one statesman after another breaking down that trust and confidence which ought to attach to public men . Lord . John Russell is the more dangerous from his " respectability " -T-that most convenient cloak for . a multitude of sins . Having insulted Sardinia , he goes on to threaten France ; tor , speaking of the approaching contest between Italy and Austria , he says : — " The only chance which Sardinia could have in such a contest , \ vould be the hope of 1
bringingFrance into the field , and kindling a general war in Europe . But let not Count Cavour indulge in so pernicious a delusion . The Great Powers of Europe are bent on maintaining peace ; and G-reat Britain has interests in the Adriatic which Her Majesty ' s Government must watch with careful attention . " It would be well if England and France would continue to insist upon the non-intervention principle beingapplied to Italy and to Hungary ; and thus leave the people of those countries to settle their accounts witli the House of
Hapsbuhg in their own way . If this were done , no general war could arise out of the Italian question , nor could one occur without the sanction of England , if the French again gave the Italians aid . : . When the Sardinian Monarch speaks of an effort to liberate Venice bringing about a coalition against Italy , we demand explanations from our Government as to whether any such criminal combination would meet with its condemnation or support . It looks as if Lord John Russell ,-was a party to the design , and that he will try to save Austria at the expense of an intervention of the Russian or German Powers in Italy and Hungary , if a fresh war of liberation should
occur . The gist of the -whole difficulty lies in the fact that the English 2 ) eople have no adequate control over the conduct of their Government in Foreign affairs , and that the oligarchy desire objects . / which the people condemn . The Whigs are firm supporters of Austria as part of their balance of power system , and to this diplomatic crotchet they would sacrifice the happiness-of the . inhabitants of Italy and Hungary , and incur very serious risk of plunging I' nghuid 'into a quarrel with Franco . At Warsaw the despots will lay their' heads together to prevent the French from effecting any more chan ges in the old institutions and arrangements uf' Europe ,
and it is to be feared they will have Lord John Russkll ' s support , and that England will be placed in the dangerous and ridiculous position of guaranteeing what remains of the system of 1815 . On one side will be ranged the despotic Powers , backed by Great Britain , and on the other the Nationalities , > -supported by France . By this means a 'just ground of quarrel / will be placed in the hands of Louis Napoleon , and one with which , despite our Court and aristocracy , nine-tenths of the people of England will sympathise . A more insane way of promoting French supremacy and enabling the astute Emperor to carry out his designs of rectifying boundaries could not be conceived .
If the Empire does cherish the ambitious schemes ascribed to it , what can be more foolish than to for 6 e it into the position of the apparently chivalrous redressor of European wrongs . If England would act with reasonable honour and judgment , the French occupation of Rome , which is one of the most dangerous things fox the future peace of Europe , would appear what it is , a most indefensible aggression on the rights of the Italian people ; but if Lord John Russeli sanctions a movement of the despotic powers in . favour of Austria , the French army of occupation may be made to appear beneficial to the Italians , and uiay assist Imperial bargain for the cession of more territory . _
Lord J . Russell ilmst sec that tlio ultimate tendency oi his policy is to estrange Englaixd from Franco , and to treat the happiness of nations as subservient to silly schemes ot balancing powers , by maintaining in iho House of LIai » sduuo a despotism opposed to every principle which an Englishman cherishew . Ho caunot bo so infatuated as to believe in the sincerity of Fuanois Joseph ' s liberal protestations—an oath , moro or Jubs , is nothing to a profcHsed perjurer , und tho Austrian . ' uiisor i » too deeply atocpeel in criminally to 1 im \ c I'omnuucti his qualms . Our oli : ; iUThv nhould ponder deeply on vlieir position , » w > d
consider v- ' luil it would t > e utter an unpopular war . It would not be tlu peaoe-ut-auy-priee party uioim tliiii would deulimi to Jiii'ht for the C / . ah , t \» u Uerimm 1 'ri-nri" . AuMriu , mid Uiu 1 > Uj , k--tho friendship of France U worth more to ImikIumcI than all oi them pui together , and if tin ; < mii | juv lnw it * black properties and wuuulttacuue * , every wmiu Unit »* c « t » « 1 )(> " it can be found elsewhere . Perjury and wholesale murder supported the Hafsbviiq throne ajW the disaster of 1848 , an < f at no time ei » oo December , 1852 , has perBOftalhberty
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 6, 1860, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06101860/page/3/
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