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    MINISTERIAL TALK

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    Ministerial Talk

    Cabinet merely as the representative of his own folly ; but it is believed that other members of the Whig party have similar Austrian leanings , and , like this most incompetent gentleman , are ready to make our participation in the war entirely contingent upon the caprice or miscalculation of tlie German Powers * Lord Palmerston Las just assured the country , in reply to an address on the subject , that he could foresee no probable events that -would justify our appealing to arms in this quarrel , and Ids declaration in Parliament on Thursday "was

    equally explicit . If the Premier is sincere , there must be an important difference between his views and those of Sir C . Wood ; and it is not likely that Mr . Lowe , sitting by favour of the Marquis of Lansdowhe for the rotten boroug h , of Calne , would utter sentiments which his political patron would feel inclined to disavow . Mr . Mibner Gibson spoke in a far wiser strain , and we trast Mr . Cobden will accept office and assist hiia in

    defeating the machinations of the Sir C . Wood kind of whigs . —Mr . Gibson said , " Above all , I am desirous that it should be no fault of ours that there is not a cordial and friendly understanding with our nearest neig hbour , France . " Sir C . Wood must be aware that no treaty exists which binds this country to place life and treasure at the disposal of the German princes , and it will be well if they take heed to the words of Mr . Milner Gibson , and

    cease to calculate upon receiving assistance from British folly or British gold . If , as we hope , Lords Palmerston and J . ltussell are anxious to preserve the French alliance intact , whatever course the German princes may take , they deserve , and will need , the strongest aid public opinion can give to bear them up against the intrigues and pressure to which they will be subjected by the Austro-Gerruan partv in this country . : It is clear that the Cabinet is not united upon this great question , and we learn from the speeches of Lord John Russell and Mr . Gibson that , practically speaking , nothing is vet settled about parliamentary reform . We

    " independence and liberty of Italy . " This , with a doclaration of a desire to preserve neutrality , and offer j ^ ood advi ce all round , was perhaps as much as we " could expect the new Foreign Minister to say , without a wider departure from diplomatic secrecy than a statesman of the old school would be likely to indulge in . Sir C . Wood added a bit more to our slender stock of knowledge , and expressed a hope that the Germans would , with the " aid of the advice ? re have-given them since tee came into power , abstain from hostilities . the great ** ? re , " of which Sir C . Wood forms so important a portion , are justified in expecting the German Powers to act in a rational and peaceable

    MINISTERIAL TALK . Electioneering business has given several members of the new Cabinet an opportunity of expressing their sentiments upon public affairs , and on the whole the result is not unfavourable to the reputation of the yet untried administration ; but there are important exceptions . Lord John Russell has done good service by honestly declaring the cause Of the war to be , " not the ambition of one man , of two men , or of three men , but the grievous misgovernment of Italy , which has now lasted forty years , and which the Italian people have at various times endeavoured to throw off . " He also expressed a hope that the contest would terminate in a manner favourable to the

    way , the Right Hon . R . Lowe would appear not to be allowed to pick up many crumbs that fall from the Cabinet table , for he alarmed the pocketborough of . Calne by affirming that without a miraculous interposition of " One who ruled the hearts of kings , it was impossible that another month should . clap . se without war being declared between France and Germany . " The honourable gentleman appears to have had his prophetic soul on , for he declared , contrary to existing fact , that Ivossutli and Klapka were already sent to Hungary to stir up a revolt , and pictured a state of things in which our participation in a European war would be unavoidable . We hope with Sir C . Wood that the German Powers will net upon the advice ho tells us Lord Pahncrs , ton ' s Cabinet have , given , and that ho is justified in expressing an anticipation to this eiFect ; but what can we think of him as a statesman , and of LordPalmorston ' s conduct in accepting him as a colleague , when wo read other passages of his extraordinary speech . After reiterating assurances that no eflorts should be spared to keep those nations out , of the war who have not vet engaged in it , Sir Charles astonished his hearers by declaring , " Wecannot slmt our eyos to the possibility that if Germany should engage in war this country may also bo drawn into thevortex in defence of those intercuts which our

    national treaties bind us to uphold" In reply to an exclamation of dissatisfaction with this statement , Sir Charles continued to maintain his assortion that our duty would bo to light for some " treaties" whoso nature ho did not condoscond to explain . It would bo of no earthly consequence what views Sir C . Wood hold about these alleged treaties , if wo could bo suro that ho sat in the

    entirely repudiate Mr . Gibson ' s theory , that " " a Government cannot t # expected to be in advance of the people , and that we shall never see an administration prepared to do more than public opinion requires , " but we certainly do not expect the existing Cabinet to occupy so noble a position . For tlie present , the order of the day must be for the people to lead and the Government to follow ; but the * , time will come -when . Englishmen will he sick of the rule of mediocrity , and desire to "be led in affairs of state—as they are now in matters

    of medicine or engineering—by men capable of doing far more than public opinion has learnt to require . It is not long since Sir Richard Bethel rightly declared his conviction that no reform bill could be final , until the progress of society demanded complete enfranchisement ; but it would be impossible to look upon the inevitable growth of democracy with otlier feelings than those of aversion and alarm , ware it not for the belief tUat it is possible for national aspiration to dignify popular power , and for a people to recognise the'legitimate authority and appreciate the true functions of ite > greatest men .

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    sequence of . " a " was perfectly manifested in the battle of Solferino . There was an exhibition of its power to ncymld and crush masses into the forms of a system with which the component parts have no natural affinity . Inreligion , in politics , and in war , the Austrian idea seeks to make society into a machine that shal l grind out in an ignorant mechanical way the i-esults pre-ordained by its masters . The Austrian army just defeated came thoroughly * up to the pattern ordered by its Imperial proprietor . Men wheeled this -way or that way precisel y as they -were told . They shot and were shot at with admirable precision ; and when the time came for retreat they moved back as accurately as a railway train when the engine-driver reverses his wheels . The

    perfection of the Austrian idea consists in the absence of spontaneity , the French idea abounds in it ; the French army is full of it , and it is remarkably exhibited in the Zouaves , every one of whom fights as if the skill , the daring , and the final glory were exclusively his own . Thus contemplated , and leaving out for a moment the Italian element engaged in it , the struggle will not seem one between Louis Napoleon and Francis Joseph , but between two ideas ^ one which the world wants * another of which it desires to be quit . Let jealousy doits worst in cowardly depreciation , and envy its most malignant powers of detraction against France , still it will he impossible to deny that the French idea is far above the Austrian ; and when the two came into collision , civilization rejoiced because the

    lesser was depressed . In a strategical point of view , Solferino is a battle of little consequence . If the French had lost it , their plans might have been seriously deranged ; but in gaining it ttey obtained possession of no territory , won no strong position , but simple the opportunity of fighting another battle a few miles further " , on . Morally , however , Sblferino will take a high rank , because the relative value of the two ideas , or systems , was tested on a gigantic scale and under equal conditions . A space about as far as from Primrose-hill to Croydon , was occupied by each part ; for sixteen hours the

    conflict raged ; ponderous artillery swept away opposing ranks ; muskets and rifles kept up a hailstorm of death , and sabre and bayonet proved sanguinary ministers of wroth and ferocity excited to tlie highest pitch . The very elements seemed to share the frenzy , and a terrific thunderstorm made its voice heard and its light seen among-the smoke and uproar of the crimson field . For a little while we shall seem to hear the shrieks , and see the ghastly wounds of this grim contest , and humanitarian arithmeticians will compute how large a town the killed and injured would have filled ; but in a few days we shall be able to talk as coolly of Solferino as of Salamis , and estimate the battle , not by the physical suffering it probehind

    duced , but by the results it will leave . The friends of Italy will rejoice that the Italians and their patriot king nobly and fairly divided the dangers and the honors with their gallant allies and those -who have blamed them for seeking foreign aid may learn from the immense dimensions and perfect mechanical order of the Austrian army , how vain would have been the hope that an unprepared people , assisted by a single small State , could have wrenched their own country from the grasp of suoli a gigantic foe . In 1848-9 the Austrian army was in a very inferior position to what it now pcoupies . ; and popular movements then practicable in Italy would now have bean insane attempts . Solferino proves that oyen tlio great military empire of Franco has mot an oppotins is

    SOLFERINO . In one of his brilliant lectures on the History of Modern Philosophy , Victor Cousin describes war " as nothing else than a bloody exchange of ideas j a battle , nothing else than the combat of error with truth , " He also tells us , " When the idea of a nation has served its tune , this nation disappears ; but it docs not easily give up its place , it is neces-Bftry that another nation should dispute with it its p lace and wrest its place from it ; hence war . The defeat of a nation that has served its time , the victory of a nation that has its time to servo , and is called to . empire—bohold the certain and

    inevitable oifyct of w « r . " There may bo in this and other passages in which the same celebrated writer has expressed the almost universal sentiments of his countrymen , too much worship of success and too ready a belief in tho doctrine that right ia always coincident with might , but tho philosophy is surely applicable to tho defeats wliioh . Austria has unstained . Substitute for 11 motion" the word " empire , " and wo at once perceive that tho Austrian idea " has served its tiiuo , " and its disappearance would soouro an m- ^ oyitable consequence of that providential logio of facts which tho philosophic historian traces in tlio

    nent that tasks his utmost might ; . and moc an answer to those who thought the Italians should have acted alone . , , . ,, Another change of opinion which this battlo should produeo is a diminution of those fears of oonquest by which tho German people have been mielecl . The first Napoleon won some of his most important victories with from half to a quarter of the army now opposed to tho Austnans , and it bis successor hail attempted to carry on the present campaign with tho fbrood engaged at Marongo lie would have encountered instantaneous and thorough ilofoat . In Italy the French have the advantage of a friendly population , and they fight against an army destitute of nationality and without a single BUUUUWUl lf •««» j ¦

    OnnODUlljJ , » . " «* wv » »^ UW « w « »»«»—• Wore they to mako an unjust invasion of Germany , feelings of patriotism , nationality , and personal interest ought to bo suffloiont to raise the

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    * Jfct » i > & x .

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    SATURDAY , JULY 2 , 1859 .

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    . -- There is nothing : so revolutionary , because there is nothing so nnnatnrul and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Dr . Arnold . ¦ ' ' - ?¦ : '

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    SUBSCRIPTION TO " THE LEADER . " ONE GUINEA PER YEAR , UNSTAMPED , PREPAID . ( Delivered Gratis . )

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    OFFICE , NO . , CATHERINE-STREET , STRAND , W . C .

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    human affairsThe Austrian ide No . 484 . July 2 , 1859 . ] THELEAPEX , , 793

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 2, 1859, page 793, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2301/page/13/