THE FUTURE OF EUROPE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1235, 30 October 1885, Page 3

THE FUTURE OF EUROPE.

The following letter has been addressed by Mr John Bright to M Frederick Passe;, a m eraser of the French Chamber of Deputies;— I have read with great interest the speeches you delivered in the Chamber of Deputies on the new corn. laws. For them to have tailed to convince the Chamber nothing less was required than the too prevalent ignorance of your fellow-countrymen on the question under discussion. Some attempts have also been made, in England to bring the question ot Protection to the fore under the name of Fairtrade, but those attempts have failed miserably. If the nations of Europe would accept the liberty ot commerce—that is to say, low customs taiiffs, or even the suppression of custom-houses—Europe might advance ranidly towards an era of perpetual peace. At the present time all nations see their resources devoured by the inastiable requirement of militarism and of those who live by it- You add to your enormous public debt every year, and we add to our military expenses. The faults we have committed have placed us in E ypt in presence of all sorts of difficulties aud responsibilities. You are in the same situation in Madagascar and Tonquiu. The interests of nature are sacrificed to the most miserable and culpable fancies of foreign policy, and, unfortunately, neither your fellow-country-men nor mine are ob'e to understand the folly of that policy We possess in England, as you do iu France, a broad suffrage and democratic institutions, but our policy remains exactly what it was formerly, and the veritable interests of the masses are trodden under foot and disregarded for the false notions of glory and national honor. I cmnothelp thinking that Europe is rapidly marching towards a great catastrophe. The crushing weight of its military system cannot be borne with patience during an hide finitely long period, and the wrath o: people driven to despair may not tarry long before it sweeps away the per sonages who occupy thrones and pre tended statesmen who govern iu tliei: name Y our nation his not lost al moral sense, and it is to that ] cling in order not to feel discouraged When moral sense is wanting I sei nothing but darkness and perils, trust that your country and mine ma;

remain not only at peace, but on terms of friendship. I fear our newspapers in Paris and London are too prone to excite ill-will between us. But since 1 1860, the date of our dear triend Cobden’s treaty, the jealousies and reciprocal fears which existed have happily to a great extent given place to better sentiments.