in Council, united her arms with those of France against CHAP. this country. * XIV. 1815. 97. same prin If the subsequent history of Europe since Lord Castlereagh's death is considered, still more ample proof will be Confirmafound of the truth of his principle, that every revolutionary tion of the movement on the Continent, if successful, is an addition to ciples from subsequent the power of France; if unsuccessful, of Russia; and that experience. it is difficult to say by which the independence of Great Britain is most seriously menaced. The Grand Alliance, which he with so much labour constructed, overthrew the revolutionary principle in the person of its chosen champion, and gave Europe forty years of peace, unbroken save by the democratic outbreaks and triumphs of 1830 and 1848. But both of these convulsions signally advanced the power of France, and the last so effectually that we have ever since been constantly engaged in, or under preparation for, serious war. The Revolution of 1830 partitioned the kingdom of the Netherlands; restored Antwerp, erected at so vast a cost for our subjugation, virtually to the rule of France; and established revolutionary dynasties, of course in the French interest, in Spain and Portugal. That of 1848 re-established in a few years the proscribed Napoleonic dynasty on the throne of France; and that speedily led to the Crimean war, which irrecoverably broke up the alliance of Russia, Austria, and England, and resulted in the Italian contest, which ended in the annexation of Savoy and Nice to the French empire, and the extension of French influence through the intervention of revolutionary movements over the whole Italian peninsula. France has regained the prestige and power which she had lost during the years 1814 and 1815 from the efforts of the Grand Alliance, by two subsequent successful revolutions. It would be hard to say what England has gained by these convulsions excepting the growth of a Power on the other side of the Channel which * It need hardly be said that the alliance of France and England in 1854 against Russia was a war of policy on the part of Napoleon III., intended to dissever the Grand Alliance, which had proved fatal to his uncle, and was any. thing rather than a measure of support to Great Britain. СНАР. XIV. 1815. 98. the territo Congress of Vienna. now seriously threatens its independence, and the necessity of maintaining during peace armaments on the scale of the most costly war. Experience, therefore, has now decisively demonstrated Reason of the justice of Lord Castlereagh's and Sir Charles Stewart's rial arrange- principle, that every successful revolution on the Continent ments of the is a direct addition to the power of revolutionary France, and that it is only by a cordial union between the Conservative states that the dangers with which they are all threatened by its aggression can be obviated. It is often said by the Continental writers that the treaties of Vienna were dictated by hatred to France, and that there was no reasonable ground for this feeling. That, however, was not the real motive which led to that celebrated series of diplomatic acts. Terror-well-founded terror-founded on dear-bought experience, was the ruling principle. Europe had had too much reason to know that France, even as she stood in 1789, was more than a match for any single Power within her bounds, probably than for any two Powers of Continental Europe. When to this natural strength, arising from its great population, compact territory, and the martial spirit of its inhabitants, was added the extraordinary fervour of a revolution, it became irresistible save by a sincere alliance of all the other monarchies. It was for this reason that Lord Castlereagh supported the annexation of Genoa to Piedmont, of Holland to Belgium, of great part of Saxony, of the duchy of Posen, and of the Rhenish Provinces to Prussia, of Lombardy to Austria, and of Norway to Sweden. It was to form efficient barriers against France in Italy and the Low Countries, and against Russia in the Baltic, that all this was done. 99. proof of its Nationalities indeed are not to be forgotten, and if Additional still more momentous considerations do not intervene, Justice fur- they should ever be respected. But though national subsequent feelings are respectable, national independence is still more important; and if the obvious consequence of sacrificing the general safety to the separate attachments of little nished by events. XIV. 1815. states, or the desire to split up great ones for the sake CHAP. of nationalities, is to subject them all to the ruthless conquest of a powerful united aggressor, it is the part of patriotism, not less than wisdom, to accept the lesser evil in order to shun the greater. To withstand an aggression in future, similar to that from which they had just escaped, and which the aspiring and military genius of the French gave them too much reason to apprehend at no distant period, it was indispensable, not merely that the great Powers should be united, but the lesser Powers so strengthened as to be of some weight in the political scale, and capable of preventing their territories from becoming, as heretofore, mere battle-fields for the greater Powers to adjust their differences on. If we would appreciate the wisdom of this view, and the necessity on which it was founded, we have only to consider what have been the consequences of these arrangements being overturned. What is the security for the balance of power in Europe when Belgium has been severed from Holland, Lombardy from Austria when Savoy and Nice have been reannexed to France, and the Emperor Napoleon, at the head of 600,000 men, scarcely disguises his intention of resuming Belgium and the frontier of the Rhine, as part of the territory of the Great Nation, and is making preparations which clearly show his intention of ultimately resuming the maritime crusade of his great predecessor against the independence of Great Britain ?* * In proof that these statements in regard to the danger which this country has incurred by the restoration of the revolutionary regime and the Napoleonic dynasty in France are not overcharged, we subjoin the following extracts from a very able pamphlet recently published in Paris, evidently under the secret auspices of Louis Napoleon, entitled La Coalition : "Non seulement l'empire a été reconnu partout, mais il a repris en Europe un ascendant considérable, que nous attribuons autant à la vigueur du principe qu'à la haute intelligence de Napoleon III. D'où vient en effet que tous les regards des peuples sont fixés sur nous? Les oppressés nous regardent, et les oppresseurs aussi-les uns parcequ'ils nous aiment, les autres parcequ'ils nous craignent. L'empire à peine a délivré la Turquie que l'Italie du Nord a tendu vers lui ses bras chargés de chaines. "Il a sauvé l'Italie du Nord. En même temps un violent souffle d'indépendance a passé par toute la Peninsule. On a vu des populations entières sacrifier leur antonomie pour échapper au joug de l'étranger, et se placer 1815. CHAP. The reason why revolutionary states invariably look to XIV. revolutionary France as their head, and in the end, or on any serious crisis, must ever unite their arms with those 100. of that Power against this country, is sufficiently evident, why revolu- and, being founded in the lasting interests of the two states, Powers ever may be expected to be of permanent endurance. Essen Reasons tionary incline to France. tially industrial and commercial, the interests of Great Britain are inseparably wound up with the preservation of d'elles-mêmes avec une resolution trois fois exprimée dans des votes solennelles sous l'autorité d'un gouvernement plus national. Où serait l'autorité temporelle des Papes elle-même, si on avait laissé les sujets Romains libres de se prononcer? Le désordre est encore dans les Deux Siciles; Palerme et Messine ont vu couler le sang du peuple. La Venetie proteste, gémit, et implore sa délivrance. Des elans nationaux agitent profondement la Hongrie. Partout une nationalité est en souffrance, un cri de douleur et de vengeance s'éleve. De tous côtés l'histoire contemporaine est pleine de la voix des peuples, des actions des peuples: c'est pour en maintenir que les guerres se font. Le principe des nationalités a vaincu le principe du droit divin, et l'âme des anciennes coalitions s'est envolé. .. "Ah! nous sommes loin de Waterloo. Nous ne sommes plus fatigués, epuisés, ruinés par vingt ans de guerres heroïques. Nous avons profités des quarante-cinq ans de paix que la Providence nous a donné pour refaire nos forces, pour retromper notre patriotisme. Nos guerres d'Afrique ont occupé les loisirs de la plus vaillante armée de l'Europe et l'ont disciplinée à la victoire. Nous avons de fort bonnes carabines qui portent loin et juste, et des canons qui peuvent tuer les hommes à trois et quatre kilometres de distance. Notre armée a six cent mille hommes; et si nos frontières étaient menacées il y aurait en France autant de soldats que de Français. Nous pouvons aussi lutter sur mer. Nous avons fait construire des vaisseaux gigantiques, blindés de fer, hérissés d'un triple rang de canons; nous avons de solides chaloupes canonnières, enfin une marine puissante et des marins: ce qui nous manquait d'autrefois. "L'Angleterre ne domine que par sa marine. Il y a en Europe trois ou quatre Puissances maritimes qui si elles savent s'unir peuvent tenir en échec toutes les flottes Anglaises. Que la France s'allie à la Russie, au Danemark, et la Mer du Nord est fermée aux Anglais, et ils sont exclus de la Mer Noire. Qu'elle appelle dans cette alliance l'Espagne, le Portugal, il n'y a plus d'ocean, plus de Mediterranée pour les Anglais. Leur île de Malte, leur Gibraltar, ne seront plus que des rêves d'ambition, des souvenirs d'une superbe domination détruits. Que la Russie prend Constantinople, et que par les défilés d'Oural elle se repande en Asie, où elle a déjà atteint les rives du fleuve Amour; que la France s'etablisse à Alexandrie, et qu'elle etend généreusement à travers l'Isthme de Suez, le chemin des Indes à toute l'Europe; que l'Autriche, avide de domination, et dont le vieil edifice chancele, se retire lentement de l'Italic, où sa position n'est plus tenable, et qu'elle descende, en suivant le basin du Danube, dans les principautés qui cherchent leur soutien, et sur lesquelles les souverains actuels n'exerçaient qu'une autorité temporaire. Ce jour là l'Angleterre sera vaincu, et les forces des nations equilibrées en Europe. "Il y a donc une coalition à organiser à présent. Elle doit avoir pour but de renverser de fond en comble ce qui la première coalition a édifié. Elle se fera, et rien au monde ne peut empêcher qu'elle arrive à ses fins. Il y a tendances peace, and the maintenance of an undisturbed mercantile intercourse with other nations. Essentially warlike and aggressive, and passionately fond of glory, the interests and passions of France are as inseparably wound up with the prosecution of war, and the advance of their victorious standards into foreign states. The first, from its insular situation, vast colonies, and limited military force at home, is as incapable of lending any effective aid to an infant revolutionary state on the Continent, as the last, from its central position, warlike spirit, and immense army, is of rendering it the most efficacious assistance. Hence, in troubled times, the former becomes discredited, even in the eyes of its insurrectionary allies, by its sympathy in general resulting only in empty words; the latter acquires the moral influence arising from its obvious capability of making good its assurances in weighty deeds. It is not surprising that in such circumstances all revolutionary Powers should look up to France as their head, and make common cause with its fortunes. The feelings of England, indeed, are in general in favour of all nations struggling for their liberties; but its material interests derive no support from their efforts, and are entirely dependent on the prosperous slumber of unshaken government. The feelings, equally with the interests of revolutionary France, are alike in favour of external revolution, because in the success of the movement party in other states, they are irresistibles qui précipitent l'Europe vers une organisation nouvelle : les guerres qui éclatent maintenant proviennent de ce que l'on essaie de résister à ce tendances. Mais il faut remarquer que le triomphe reste partout à la cause des peuples: nous venons d'en voir un exemple éclatant en Italie. Ce qui nous console et ce qui nous rejouit, ce qui nous donne bon espoir, c'est de voir la France Imperiale prendre l'initiative de ce brave mouvement, dont les phases et les péripéties fourniront l'histoire de la seconde moitié du neuvième siècle. Ce rôle appartient de droit à la France et à l'empire; à la France, parcequ'elle a soutenu la première seule contre tous le droit du peuple, et qu'elle a succombée glorieusement dans cette lutte en 1814: à l'empire parceque l'empire Français est la seule monarchie actuellement existante qui soit issue de la volonté nationale et qui la représente sincèrement."-La Coalition, 13, 32. Such are the dangers from which the policy of Lord Castlereagh delivered this country, and gave it instead forty years of unbroken peace. Will the new system inaugurated by his successors, of encouraging revolution wherever it breaks out, save at home, give us similar security, or confer upon the world, for a tenth of the time, as great a blessing? CHAP. XIV. 1815. |