FRANCE.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 714, 5 June 1852, Page 3

FRANCE.

j The Dtbats has the following remarks on the retirement of Lord Palmerston :—: — j " The fall of Lord Palmerston changes the aspect and the diplomatic changes of Europe. It | was on him — on the English patron of all the 1 European revolutionists — that the just resentment ,and mistrust of the great continental |;PoA-ers fell. It was on accjuut of him that j Austria, Prussia, and* Russia lately addressed to the English Cabinet! very strong notes on the subject of the revolutionary refugees in London, and that Austria -gave notice oJ police rei gulations which were very annoying to English subjects travelling in her States. All the I foreign policy of the regular Governments of the continent bore the imprint of the well merited feelings with which Lord Palmerston inspired them. He more and more isolated England in Europe. He has fallen. Neither his successor, Lord Granville, nor the head of the English Cabinet, Lord John Russell, inspires European Governments with similar sentiments. ; As;mcn, they have not the same intermeddling and irritating character ; as Ministers, they have not the same antecedents. They are, it is well known, as -we a"nSd~6 ; tfr friends are, Consfitiitionalists and Liberals; but they have not undertaken and contracted the habit of everywhere encouraging ami supporting revolutions. The Governments of the continent, while thinking and governing differently from them, may still live in good, tranquil, and even intimate relation with them, and they may themselves, while remaining constitutional and liberal" ministers, withdraw England from the isolation and from the bad position abroad into which Lord Palmerston his thrown her. Will they do so ? The qu stion may appear stiange, but it ie,i c , nevertheless, one that must really be true. The policy pursued towards Europe by Lord Palmerston has not been the only cause of his fall ; there is evid ntly a second, a more immediate, and perhaps more decisive one — his policy towards F.an*. In declaring himself the admirer of the coup d'&at of December 2, Loid Palmers ton placed himself in open cpntradiction with the more reserved attitude of his colleaguesj with the constitutional sentiments of his country, and also in hidden contradiction with himself. It is difficult to support at the same Jime revolutionists in Europe and in France a Government which announces its resolution to oppose the Socialists and the demagogues — to support M. Kossuth in the morning, and Louis Napoleon in the evening. He could not be permitted to compromise and embroil his own Cabinet on the Continent with the Conservatives, and in England with the L : berals. The feelings of the great continental Powers towards Lou's Napoleon, and what is now passing in France, appear to be favourable ; whether they explain themselves or not on the coup d'&at itself, they show themselves, it is said disposed to encourage the President in his struggle against Socialism and demagogy. They will benefit by his triumph, having themselves tb/3 same struggle to sapport. -~What"'wi:l Lordtfohn Russell do-? -Jle has- separated himself from Lord Palmerston,' whom he consi lered too favourable in Europe to the revolutionists, in France to a Government struggling with demagogy. Which of these two lines of policy will he himself adopt ? Will he be more anti-revolutionary t'.ai liberal, or more liberal than anti-revolutionary ? Will he return to more intimate relations with the great Powers of the continent, in order that E tgland may not remain isoluteJ, or will he separate hi nself from, these Powers because he finds them better disposed than he is himself towards vha" is taking place in France, and towarJs the preß nt policy of the President ? We by no means pretend to know hi>w the Engli h Cabin t will solve this question, we confine ourselves to mooting it. The solution is very important for France. When the present French Government had in. Lord Pdlmerston an approver and a support, it might assume between England and the great continental Powers an intermediate and balanced position, inclining towards one or the other, aq« cording as it met with feelings more or less favourable, or as its cwn interest might die ate. Now, if Lord John Ru^seli a^ain places England on good terms wilh the continental Powers, and remains jt theea-ne time less welldisposed for the n w rggimt in France than Lord Palmerston was, will not the French Government have less latitude for its pul".cy, and will it not find itself u;i c the necessity of

taking, either in common with all the great European Powers, or singly and on its own account, a more determined and fixed line of conduct ? Will this he a mischief or will it be an advantage ? We shall not discuss the pomt — we merely state facts and situations. To see things as* they are is; in politics as in everything else, the first rule o f f good sense, and the best chance of good conduct and of success.*' The priucipal journals are becoming a little more animated. Several of them give one or two leaders daily, and occasionally the shadow of something like an independent opinion is faintly delineated. The announcement that M. Emile de Girardin intends to resume the editorship of La Presse, so soon as the *' rigime existant " shall have been accomplished, has been read with satisfaction. M. Armand Bertin has resumed his pen on the Journal dcs Debats, and, though he writes very guardedly, no expression has escaped him which can give any colour to the report of his " adhesion " to the present Government, which report, I may venture to add, is wholly unfounded. The article of the new constitution which is to regulate the limits of the freedom of the press is anticipated with painful curiosity by all whom that important question most immediately interests. General expectation is not raised very high, however, and the celebrated passage of Beaumarchais, in the speech of -Figaro, is quoted continually as a motto likely to be applicable to the condition of the " independent journalist," under the military despotism which M. Troplong is attempting to mould into a consitution : — " Pourvu que je ne parle en mes ecrits ni de rautorite", nidu culte, ni de la politique, ni de la morale, ni dcs gens en place, ni dcs corps en credit, ni de l'Opera, ni dcs autres spectacles, rii de personne gui tienne a quelque chose, je puia tout imprimer librement, sous V inspection, de deux ou trois censeurs." — Times, Jan. 1.