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UOTICKS TO CORRESPONDENTS , JZo notice can he taken of anonymous communications . Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer ; riot necessarily for publication l > ut as a guarantee of bis good faith . It is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive . Th if insertion is often delayed , owtng to a press of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently from reasons quite independent of tbe merits of the communication . Communication- ' should always be legibly written , and on . one side of the paper only . If long , it increases the diffi-, |» « ulty of flnding opacc for them . - " We cannot undertake to return rejected communications . Durinpr the Session of Parliament it is often impossible to find room for correspondence , even tbe briefest .
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able firmness and . dexterity as the Foreign Minister of the Emperor Francis-Joseph . Baron Hubneb , who is associated with him , is an average diplomatist , not likely to exert much , influence in the approaching
discus-. It was not to be expected that the French representatives should be men of superior weight or capacity . Both Count Walewsky and Baron de Bourqueney are Imperial dummies , —the former showy and mediocre , the latter experienced and bland . They will echo the inspirations of the Tuileries ; their parts have been rehearsed . France has a distinct policy , to which we may infer the policy of Russia has been already
relopment in politics , and implies a general or partial re-settlement of the map of Europe . The effect of the Congress would be to supersede the treaty of Vienna , and the religious woxk of the Holy Alliance , —sanctioned and sealed tinder the most solemn protestations , but already obsolete and impracticable . The occasion for such a Congress has not yet come . The great landmarks have not been disturbed ; no territories have been detached from the dominions of the negotiating Powers ; no
institutions have beeai obliterated ; no authority has been eclipsed . Hungary , Poland , and Italy await a deliverance "that no diplomacy can bring . A , revolutionary treaty of peace is not the natural result of a diplomatic war , firmly guided by statesmen in the " political" groove . It might flatter the present ruler of France that a Congress should assemble in his capital , and under his influence , unparalleled as it is , and magnified as it has 'been by the selfabxising policy of Great Britain . But , without an European Coup d ' Etat , is it possible ?
Is Austria -willing , or Prussia , or Russia , or England ? Is England prepared to have her maritime supremacy questioned , or Austria her Italian territory , or Prussia her artificial frontier , or Russia her Polish Borodino ? * An European Coup d'Etat might amaze the world ; but can we look for any good results to freedom from a Congress at the Tuileries , with ( Lesak ' s purple rustling in an inner-chamber ? Axe the rights and liberties of nations to be disposed of at the instigation of such a will ? Or must they not rather bide a ^ better time , and trust to their own vitality ?
Limiting the subjects of the Paris negotiations to the original objects of the war , there are grave and delicate questions to be settled . The external security and internal reform of the Ottoman Empire—the erection of the Principalities into a separate State , under European guarantees—the definition of the Bessarabian frontier so as to benefit Turkey , and not Austria only- —the neutralisation of the Eastern and Western Coasts of the Black Sea—the
total withdrawal of the Allied armies from the Crimea , from Bulgaria , and from Constantinople , and of the Austrians from Wailachia ; the status qud post bellum of the Aland Isles , and the assent of Russia to the recent Swedish treaty ; these are the salient points , and others are in reserve . I ^ ot the least difficulty is that which relates , to the eastern coast of the Black Sea , for Great Britain may be supported in this demand by Turkey alone . As for the "farther conditions , " if pressed , they may contain the seeds of a new war . The Journal des Debate
complacently supposes that they have been already intimated to Russia and accepted by her ; if this be true , their importance may be easily appreciated . The Debate rejoices that the atmosphere of Paris is charged with peace , and that this serener air must affect the temper of the negotiations . We believe that Russia , Austria , and France are anxious for a settlement , and that Great Britain is prepared for it . But , from a conference held under such auspices , we cannot hope for the positive and durable pacification of Europe . The struggle has been interrupted—not concluded ; it has been
partial , and leads but to a partial settlement . Wo do not pretend to have faith in a war continued by the English aristocracy , in complicity with the French Emperor . Still less could we predict , from a roal Congress , a just revision of tho msip of Europe , or an arbitration of national and political claims . Europo lms nothing to hope from the presiding powers , from Emperors by tho Grac < of God , or by thy will of a Coup ( TEt&t Let us , then , have a Conference , for the re siilts of tho war do not justify a Congress . A Congress is tho legitimate result of i
conciled . Lord Clarendon is a decorous representative of British aristocratic politics . As Foreign Minister he has displayed resources not expected of him , and he will sit at the Conferences with Lord Cowtjey , the intimate of the Tuileries , attended by the public opinion of England , almost under the eye of Parliament , and with the example of Lord John Russell in his memory . On him will devolve the serious business of negotiation , while the select Nobodies who
JA . CONFERENCE OR A CONGRESS ? The hair-developed war has been arrested . The Plenipotentiaries are alighting in Paris . The Princess Lieven ; , that Mother Carey of diplomacy , an Egeria in partibus , has arrived as an avant courrier . In twos and threes the negotiators enter the capital of Europe . While they assemble , and while formalities are debated , we have an opportunity for a personal analysis of this Council of Pacificators , and for an examination of the political basis upon which they wall deliberate . Count Orlopp , the most intimate friend and
confidential adviser of the Emperor Nicholas , is , perhaps , the man . who represents better than any other the spirit of Russian policy . The chief of the secret police , by instinct the enemy of liberalism , and by interest devoted to the family of the Romanoffs , he is , at the same time , well known to diplomatists and statesmen throughout Europe . He negotiated the treaty of Adrianople , and the treaty of Unkiaa' Skelessi . He was sent to the
Conferences concerning Belgium and the Netherlands ; he invariably accompanied the Czar Nicholas on his visits to foreign Courts , —to London , Olinutz , and Berlin ; he combated the propositions of Lord John Russell at Vienna , where he had previously sought to bind Austria to her neutrality . No Russian diplomatist , therefore , could come to Paris more fully possessed of his master ' s confidence—^ -more familiar with the policy of the Empire , or better qualified to meet the other plenipotentiaries on equal terms .
The eminence of Baron Brunow is due , not to accident or to favour , but to his consummate diplomatic abilities . To London he was known during fourteen years for his rare capacities and perfect manners . A German by birth , he is less identified than Count Ohlqff with the traditions of the Russian empire . Indeed , it was not until the Congress At Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818 that he formed his official connexion with the Court of the Czars . From that period , however , ho was incessantly engaged either at the
Foreign Office at St . Petersburg , or on political missions . Initiated into English diplomacy in 1839 , he corresponded , officially , with five successive administrations , and earned from each a tribute to his disdain of trick , the suavity and simplicity of his bearing , his ever ready knowledge ) and the art with which he conciliated our statesmen , without compromising the interests of his own Government . The Austrian plenipotentiary , Count Buojl some time Ambassador to our Court , baa sinoe the outbreak of war , exhibited
considerform his retinue will flutter around Lord Cowley , parade their Britannic French , and illustrate in Paris those winning qualities of simplicity and cordiality so characteristic of their order . The day will belong to the negotiators ; the evening to the attaches , to the waltzing corps , manoeuvring in the blaze of tlie diamonds of Paris , and the stars of the Plenipotentiaries : We may anticipate , therefore , some real discussion : five of the represented powers have definite and
permanent objects in view . Russia , which desires to gain peace , to preserve her influence , to reduce the terms of the Allies , and leave a byway open for future projects ; Austria , which only aims at keeping what she has acquired on the Danube ; France , which pretends to the lead of Europe ; England , which has interests to maintain in the East and North ; and Turkey , which may protest against the general decision , but will protest in vain . Sardinia alone finds herself represented at Paris without a claim
to uphold . Of all the powers , she occupies the position most difficult to appreciate . Nominally , she will be on an equal footing with the other Governments , aud , represented by Count Cavour , as well as by her ambassador at Paris , her European views will be enforced with temper and discretion . But , face to face with Austria , what interest does she defend ? Having participated in the war , how will she participate in the peace ? There is reason , indeed , for the bitter pleasantries of the liberal salons of Paris on the presence of Sardinia
at discussions which , to her , can result only in sacriiices , without compensations . Her lights , as an independent power , have been axjcognised , it is true , but when the partnership of interests is dissolved , when Austria , relieved from the danger of a general conflict , concentrates her pressure on Italy 5 when French intrigues are resumed , how Avill England redeem the pledges of her diplomacy ? But the political public has not yet inquired —Is this meeting of Plenipotentiaries to be a Conference or a Congress ? ' There is a broad distinction between the terms . A Conference
implies a strict limitation of tho discussion to the terms of a peace between Russia and the Western Allies ; it its a spooial and positive negotiation , not extending boyond the political and diplomatic limits of the war , as it has hitherto booa developed . But a Congress , ais this confluence of diplomacy has been affectedly entitled by the semi-official French press , moans , if we aro to interpret the tertn oorxeotly and ' by precedent , a now dove-
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February- 16 , 18 . 56 . ] THE LEADEI . 155
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SATURDAY , FEBRUARY 16 , 1856 .
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There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so iimmtxrral and convulsive , aa the strain to keep thing 3 Axed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . — Db . Aknols .
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 16, 1856, page 155, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2128/page/11/
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