EUROPEAN NEWS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume I, Issue 1, 4 July 1861, Page 2 (Supplement)

EUROPEAN NEWS.

GENERAL SUMMARY. (From the Some Sews, April 26. J So far as it is possible to judge by present appearances, the prospects of a war, probably European in extent, in the course of the summer are thickening upon us. The darkest omens come from Denmark. We are by no means sure that we quite understand the actual state of tho situation in its minute phases, so confused and perplexing are the reports we get about it from Berlin, Paris, and Copenhagen ; but, without descending into details, it is certain that the quarrel, to quote Sir Lucius, is a mighty pretty one as it stands, and not at all unlikely to embroil more Powers in the long run than the two principals. The first flash of a cannon, it is expected, and reckoned upon, will bring France to the side of the Danes, an extremity for which Germany is said not only to be fully prepared, but to be rather desirous of bringing about, partly to afford an opportunity to Prussia of taking the field as the leading German Power, and thus, by her prestige, strengthening the progress of German unity, and chiefly to divert French ambition for the present from the banks of the Rhine. Of course, these are mere speculations but they indicate the direction in which wo are to look for the most serious movements, unless a pacific settlement shall be hit upon within a few days. Austria cannot afford to take a prominent part in this conflict, if, indeed, she should participate in it at all. She has her hands full at home. What with Hungary and Italy,—there is more than enough to occupy her physical resources, and drain her already deeply impoverished exchequer. The growing discontent in Hungary, and the resistance offered by the Crotians to the imperial scheme of a Parliament, in which the military colonies arc left unrepresented, open a vista of agitation which would in itself give Austria enough to do for the coining year, even were there not additional, and hardly less severe, demands made upon her by Yenetia and Italy. Turning to the Italian question, the difficulties of Austria are hardly less formidable. General Cialdini, the best of the Italian commanders, is rapidly concentrating a corps of observation at Ferrara, while Benedek, the ablest of the Austrian generals, is accumulating strength and throwing up fortifications at Peschiera, Pola, and other places. Cialdini is professedly .only watching the Quadrilateral, to intercept invasion ; while Benedek, professing nothing but defence, addresses his soldiers in language of aggression. Austria declares she will not assume the initiative ; but how is the initiative to be determined, when two combustible agencies arc brought so close together that it seems almost impossible to avert an explosion ?

Nor is it here alone that Austria is entangled in a net of troubles. An open insurrection has broken out in the Herzegovina, and a Christian insurrection is threatened in Bosnia. Wc do not place much confidence in the stories that reach us from these quarters ; but there is no doubt that an Italian-Slave movement has taken place against both Austria and Turkey, that the Sutorina is in the hands of the insurgents, and that the Great Powers have demanded of the Porte the appointment of a mixed commission to investigate the state of the Herzegovina. Austria’s misfortune is, of course, Italy’s opportunity. The Parliament at Turin has been turning the adage to account. Not only has Count Cavour announced the necessity of establishing the capital of the new kingdom in Rome, but the Chamber has unanimously and enthusiastically confirmed the ministerial programme. Before the close of the discussion, Count Cavour stated that the declaration of Rome as the capital of Italy would be immediate, and that the object would bo effected without disturbance. Strange enough that in the presence of these facts, the Pope should continue to deliver allocutions, and to sentence Roman citizens to exile for political demonstrations, as of yore, and just as if he still possessed the power of giving away sovereignties, while he cannot keep his own. Garibaldi’s appearance in Turin has occasioned much speculation and discussion ; and the energy with which he defended the volunteers who had served under him, and censured the neglect of them by the government, led to a scene of considerable agitation in the Chamber. So far as Cavour was concerned, notwithstanding the heat of the debate, no serious results have followed, the minister and tho patriot having since composed their differences. But General Cialdini, formerly a great friend of Garibaldi, has withdrawn his friendship from Inm in conscouence of the language ho employed, and declared that he regarded his conduct with “ disgust.” Garibaldi has replied with dignity, flinging off the accusations, and vindicating his right to deliver his opinions. His proposition for arming the whole country has been taken under consideration by the Parliament, even the Ministry oiiering no opposition. The discovery of a Bourbon conspiracy in the

city of Naples lias given a new turn to Neapolitan excitement, and carried off much popular rage in an explosion against the reactionary mi-tv. No less than five bishops are implicated in a plot for the restoration of the ex-King, and great was the indignation of the people thereat. The Duke of vuZuiiicllo, vrho had the lolly to outer into a respondence with his banished Majesty on the subject, has been arrested and committed to prison, on the evidence of two letters ho had received from Francis. The people (lid nothing violent when this plot was mode known, but they displayed their feelings to the Bourbon faction in unmistakeable manifestations of hostility. Of course Victor Emmanuel cannot expect to achieve the throne of Italy without having to encounter a variety of obstacles. The Grand Duke of ®gscany, for example, has served the European Cabinets with a protest against his Majesty’s assumption of the title of King ; and the example of this exiled potentate is about to be followed by the Duke of Modena, nor is it beyond the pale of possibility that even the Prince of Monaco will add his voice to the chorus of royal dissentients. But what of that ? Victor Emmanuel is King of Italy in spite of them all, and in a little while will occupy Rome as his Capital;—perhaps may even make an excursion to Venice, and drop a wedding ring into the Adriatic. Such a happy winding-up to this sanguinary Italian tragedy, that opened on the plains of Magenta, is clearly on the cards. The versatile French Emperor is said to be in treaty with the Austrian Government for the cession of Venetia, in consideration of a territorial compensation; and should this turn out to be true, and stranger things have happened, the annexation of Venetia may become a fait accompli before the summer is out. In the meanwhile, England and the Swiss Federation have recognised the new kingdom of Italy. The Emperor of Russia has not been so fortunate in liis course as Victor Emmanuel. While on the one hand he has won golden opinions from all manner of men by his grand measure for the emancipation of the serfs, he is rapidly losing his prestige by the unhappy excitements his government has provoked in Poland. The Poles are not satisfied with the proposed concessions, and their spokesman was bold enough to say so in an interview with Prince Gortschakoff. The answer was characteristic of the age of Ivan the Terrible ; is was to the effect that the concessions made by the Emperor were perfectly voluntary, that he need not have made any, and that the people, instead of picking holes in them, ought to accept t hem with gratitude. Might not the spokesman have effectively replied by simply pointing out of the window to the crowds in the street below, still attired in mourning, and waiting in ominous silence for the sequel of the negotiations ? The sequel was tragical enough, ending in a massacre. It appears that the popular gatherings in Warsaw which led to such melancholy results were produced by the arbitrary suppression of the Agricultural Society, and the dissolution of ihe force of special constables. Both measures took a direction hostile to the feelings and independence of the people, and the profoundest indignation ensued. There was no attempt, however, at menace or disturbance. On the Sunday, after the morning service, the people collected at the cemetery, where the victims of February are buried. In the afternoon they visited the house of the Agricultural Society, and, after decorating it with garlands, they went to the residence of the President, to testify their respect for him ; and in the evening they made' a peaceful demonstration in front of the Viceregal Castle, for the purpose of showing that they disapproved of the dissolution of the National Society. Troops appeared, but were afterwards withdrawn, and the people, faithful to their pacific aims, quietly dispersed. The next day was, unfortunately, a Roman Catholic holiday. All the people were out, with this one thought of the despotic action of thq government uppermost in their minds. They filled the streets, and towards evening the crowds took the direction of the castle, but being unarmed, no fatal results could have followed had the government observed the same prudent course they had adopted on the previous day. But the governor was resolved to perpetrate the bloodshed which he might easily have averted, and cannon booming amongst the unarmed multitude, the sabres of the cavalry, and the fire of the infantry, speedily did the work of destruction upon that vast congregation of men, women, and children. The effect is that, not Warsaw, but Poland, is in a state of insurrection. Similar demonstrations have been made in a hundred places. Even in the Ukraine discontent prevails, and collisions have taken place between the troops and the population. The spirit of revolution is abroad, and not all the cannon and swords that Russia can bring to bear upon the defenceless masses will sufilco to crush the movement. The appeal is from Russia to the civilised nations of Europe. The people are resolved to assert their demands in the face of aft obstacles, and to oppose with patient resolution the brute power of the government. “ They arc ready,” says an intelligent correspondent writing from Warsaw, immediately after the massacre, “to be shot down again tonight, or to-morrow, or whenever the time comes, unarmed, unresisting, as on Monday night. I have talked with numbers of workmen’s families, and in that class they are equally ready to be victims, and equally resolved not to resort to force. Still they will make their wishes known. ‘ Government must and shall hear us,’ they say, ‘or Europe shall.’ ”

The publication of a pamphlet by the Duke d’Aumale upon the present “ dynasty” of France, with reference to many curious and not Tory creditable antecedents, has occasioned great excitement in Paris. The moment the work was detected in the windows of the booksellers it was seized by the police, but not before many thousands of copies had got into circulation. The futility of ail such attempts to suppress printed statements is shown in the fact that the pamphlet, entire or in parts, has been reprinted in nearly every known European journal. The Duke d’Aumale naturally enough resents the attacks made upon his family by Prince Napoleon : but even with a great deal of truth on his side he is not likely to obtain much sympathy for the Orleans,

or any other, branch of the great Bourbon stock. It is creditable to Prince Louis Napoleon that he

has begged of the Emperor not. to allow any ministerial interference with the open sale of the pamphlet. The Prince says that “ H U piires><mn is i.ot refutation but fine sentiments are os common in France us moral apothegms on the lips of Joseph Surface, and as liltle reliance can be placed upon them. The French troops are at last coming home from Syria, and the transports for their conveyance are in coarse of preparation. Everybody is asking whether the Emperor is abandoiiing the spoils of tho disturbances which everybody says he fomented.

The government of Mr. Lincoln is quietly dropping into the secession abyss. We suppose, if the truth were known, it can’t help itself. The brave flutter at the beginning, and the ambiguous menaces about the imperative duty of the President to the constitution, hare already sunk into a whisper. He wouldn’t recognise the separation—not lie! There was no such possibility as the Disunited States of America. Talk of secession—talk of squaring the circle. Yet it is done under liis eyes. Is organising Senates, appointing Presidents of its own, and sending out ambassadors to form independent alliances with foreign countries. And Mr. Lincoln suffers all this to go on as quietly and securely as if he had no concern in the consequences, the magnitude of which no man of our generation can estimate. It wiQ be the marvel of all history in ages yet to come—how this great, loud, swaggering Federation fell to pieces in a night, and expired in a paroxysm of idle threats. If the last news may be credited, circumstances are not unlikely to precipitate hostilities in spite of all efforts to prevent a collision. The people of New York, and Washington, and the principal towns are thrown into a state of the greatest ex citement in consequence of the alarming and contradictory rumours that are suffered by the government to he generated every hour, and dispersed as fast as telegraphic wires can carry them. A civil war is clearly looked for by the people of the North ; but the Government makes no sign. It keeps its own council, and the mystery thickens as the danger increases. Every mail is waited for with impatience ; and all that can be said at present is that a straw may turn the balance either way—for peace or war.