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FRENCH PROGRESS AND AUSTRIAN DECADENCE. remark that few understand their
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PRUSSIA.
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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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IT is a common men own times , and as we live at a period remarkable beyond all precedent for the diffusion of knowledge , the rapid spread of ideas , and the amazing triumphs of applied science and industrial skill , it is not to be wondered at , that few of us , amid the din of business and the occupations of pleasure , realize the extent and importance of the changes which are hourly taking place . Halfa-dozen Roman Empires or Alexander conquests could not pi-oduce such important results for humanity as are involved in the peaceable march of free trade , clothing the naked and feeding
the hungry at every step , and creating those circumstances under which firm-and-lasting international friendships will ultimately gr 6 w . The triumph , of the industrial principle in England necessitated its adoption in France , which could tiot remain the head of continental states : while supporting a restrictive policy that had no affinities with progressive ideas . It may take some time before the new system can be put in full and complete operation , but the important letter from Napoleon TIT . to his Minister of "State opens a new era for his own country and for Europe , and may be taken as another proof of the desire to strengthen his alliance with ourselves . When Louis Napoleon boasted that he
was a parvenu , consistency and safety demanded that he should diverge very widely from the course of the absolutist sovereigns . His " Italian campaign Was a valuable protest against the futile efforts of the Holy Alliance party to stem the tide of time , and , by d , scarcely anticipated consequence , it effected a remarkable separation between the ruler of France and the semi-Austrian ¦ ultramontane Pope . These changes had their counterpart in the movement of the Fusionist Bourbons , and as the Emperor broke away from Jesuit meshes , Orleanist and Legitimate fingers became willingly entangled in their toils . The great organ for these intrigues was the rich andpdwerful society of St . Yiucent de Paul , and now , simultaneously with the initiation of a free-trade
policy , comes an attack upon this great priestly confederation . The ex . ister . ee of a wealthy society , which , under the cloak and using the inllu . cnce of charity , was hourly plotting the restoration of Bourbon misrule , was considered the . chief source of danger to the Imperial Government , in following out the . programme traced in the famous pamphlet of " The Pope and the Congress , ' " and it is probable that if the Emperor had flinched from the task of assailing it , the" chances of his' enemies would have been considerably increased . As matters now stand , we see that in the teeth of all the predictions of the quarrel-mongers , Napoleonic policy approximates more closely to that of England , and that
the Emperor feels strong enough to do battle at once against protectionist manufacturers and Jesuit priests . The course is a very bold one , but courage often . prompt's to safety when timidity waits the advent of ruin ; and it will probably appear that Louis Napoleon has taken the most sagacious steps to secure the stability of Ins throne . The Legitimists and Orleanists may intrigue with the Jesuits and fawn upon the Protectionists , ' but in his recent measures the French Emperor will liave the mind of the country on his side , and also the physical force of the agricultural population , who will be greatly benefited by -the changes he is about to introduce . While France is thus rising in wealth and moral influence ,
than ultramontane . It is credibly reported that the Emperor ' s confessor assures him of miraculous interposition if lie i-emains faithful to the Church ; and General Meyerhofer—who , when Consul at Belgrade in 1848-9 , was engaged in recruiting Serbs to act against the Hungarians—is now with the consent and connivance of Francis Joseph enlisting Austrian soldiers to serve in the army of the Pope , and forwarding them by Government steamers to a depot at Ancona . The Sardinian Government is highly indignant at these proceedings , which cannot be continued without leading to a breach of peace ; and we-may expect energetic remonstrances now that Cavour is restored . The more rational party at Vienna are paralyzedj and watch and wait with anxiety for the crisis they feel they have no power to avert . No one seems to expect that the young Emperor will , of : his own accord , retrace his foolish steps ; no man of integrity and intelligence seems to have the slightest . influence over him- his confidential advisers are bigoted fanatics and slimy priests . It is amazing that no firm hand should be stretched out to arrest this downward career ; that no party should be formed to insist upon a pomplete abandonment of a course which can have no issue but overwhelming disaster . It is as if the whole court were under the influence of fatalism , sitting upon powder-barrels * and watching the match burn which was to blow them up . One chance which the Jesuit party is said to reckon upon is the overthrow of Palmekston by the agency of the Pope ' s Irish Brigade ; but this again marks insanity , for what could make the present premier more powerful , than to send him before the country with , a Protestant rallying cry for civil and religious liberty ; and even if from declining vigour and weight of years , he should be compelled to hand over the power to- Lord John Russell , what would the Ultramontane party gain by that ? It is sheer madness to suppose that free Protestant England would allow any ministry to quarrel with France for the sake of Aiistria and the " Pope ; : —and in proportion as the two latter associate themselves with Bourbon intrigues , they will add to the . adherents of the Empire in England as well as in France . As the Congress becomes less and less a likely-way of- settling European affairs , it is advisable that Victor Emmanuel should be left to take his own course with Central . Italy , and tliat England and France should declare their recognition of the slate of things which the people have produced . It is also time for public opinion to regard the . probable eventualities m Hungary , , and be ready to protest against any intervention to coerce the inhabitants * of that country , if they should be forced into a collision with the illegal despotism of Austria . This is a point upon which Lord Paliierston and the whigs are known to lie unsound , although they may have leaint something from the events of 1848-9 , and Way be influenced by the clearly manifested wish , of Lours Napoleon that Hungary should be . free . It ought to be known that , since the . Villafranca Peace , the French Government has shown an honourable solicitude that the arrangement with Austria for the safety and protection of the Hungarian soldiers who formed the Legion in Italy intended for the liberation of their country , should be faithfully carried out ; and , although a French minister under the Empire has comparatively little power , it is a significant fact that M . Tiiouyjgnel is far more enlightened than Count Walewski upon questions of foreign policy , and is , moreover , well acquainted with the importance of Hungary in any permanent settlement of the affairs of . the East .
Austria presents a very different picture , and one which would be an object of pity , if the downfall of the Hapsburg Empire had not becoine an indispensable precursor to the elevation of its subjects . Without greatness , without dignity , without decency qven , in the conduct of the sovereign , there are still grand tragic elements in the headlong ride to perdition which Francts Joseph is madly taking , in spite of bitter experience and ample warning of the inevitable result . Dramatists have ¦ delighted to pourtray characters spell-bound by crime and infatuation , and who appeared as if resistlessly driven to destruction by . the evil powers with whom their compact had
been made . Such is the spectacle presented by the Austrian Emperor and his court . Heavily laden with debt , without money , and without credit , they will . concede nothing , reform nothing , learn nothing . By infatuation and crime they lost Lombavdy , and by infatuation and crime they seem determined to lose i ' lungary , and re-open the Italian wnr , Their reckless taxation , which is well explained in Kossuth's letter , » ofl'ers to the nobles and landowners no prospect but that of insolvency , if somo force cannot be found able to change the whole oharnotev of Hafsbukg rule ; and as if revolution could not
be brought , about quickly enough by driving the landed party to revolt , the Government , in the most gratuitous and vexatious 1 way , has provoked a religious quarrel with the Protestant Churches , ahd , for the first time in history j Calvlmst ministers are abetted and comforted in their resistance to arbitrary authority by Roman Catholic bishops and priests , many of whom are , fortunately for the country , more national
Untitled Article
THE part wlu . cn rrussia plays m tue great tragedy , or corneay , whichever it niay chance to be , of European politics , is an awkward and difficult one . Ranking us one of the five great Powers , and consequently entitled to a voice and'vote in the settlement of all the important questions wjiich that self-constituted tribunal takes upon itself to determine , her relative weakness makes her , at tho sama time , morbidly tenacious of her right ' to join in the decision , and ignobly afraid to take a side if serious differences exist amongst her coadjutors Hence , tho vacillating , undecided conduct of Prussia in tho Russian war , and in all similar controversies , when she ought naturally to
have token a part , and , at any cost , have adhered to it . With a population of but seventeen ' millions , brave and intelligent as it is , she cannot cope with either of her throe powerful neighbours , the more especially as her territory lies singularly open to the incursions of any one of them . To her , moreover , war presents itself in a more costly and embarrassing form thuntoany other nation , as tho army upon which she must rely for any great struggle would be composed of men suddenly withdrawn from industrial pursuits . Slip cannot even make those preparations for a contest which often suffice to prevent it , without inflicting tlio same severe blow upon commerce , and equal inconvenience upon her citwena ; and naturally , therefore , she tries to evade the risk and saennce
Untitled Article
Jan 21 , I 860 . ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 5 T
French Progress And Austrian Decadence. Remark That Few Understand Their
remark that few understand their FRENCH PROGRESS AND AUSTRIAN DECADENCE .
Prussia.
PRUSSIA .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 21, 1860, page 57, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2330/page/5/
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