POLICY OF LOUIS NAPOLEON. [From the Times, February 28.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 733, 11 August 1852, Page 4

POLICY OF LOUIS NAPOLEON. [From the Times, February 28.]

- While Louis Napoleon is amusing his English guests with the most positive assurances of his pacific intentions towards this country, w.e receive information from various quarters which conveys a different impression of his designs on some of the minor States of Europe. Anxious he may be to avoid war, especially with a powerful nation, resolved with its allies to uphold the territorial arrangements of the Continent ; but meanwhile no means are neglected which can the ascendancy of France and oppress the independence of her neighbours without actually kindling a general conflagration. The complacent organs of the French Government assure us that, in selecting the Earl of Malraesbury for the important post of Foreign Minister, the choice' of the Queen of England was directed by the particular friendship and confidential intimacy known to have existed for many years between that noble person and the Prince-President of the French Republic. It is unfortunate for Lord ■ Mahnesbury, that this should be the first qualification he is stated to possess for his high office. He may have entertained an exile in the New j Forest, and he may have visited a prisoner at Ham, but we can hardly conceive a more bitter .accusation against an English nobleman and Mi- , nister than that, after the occurrences.of the last three months, he should still. rank M. Louis Napoleon among his personal friends. But while these lures are held out to public opinion, and the extinction of the French press enables the Government of that country to mask its real policy by uncontradicted assurances, the views of the French Cabinet may be more accurately traced by their conduct abroad ; - and it is in Switzerland, as has long been anticipated, that their measures are most prominently marked. Soon after the coup d'etat at Paris M. Salignac de Fenelon was despatched as French Ambassador to Berne, with instructions to disclaim to the Federal Government all intention of armed intervention in the affairs of Switzerland, but at the same time to make very positive requisitions on the subject of' the refugees, in the Cantons. , The Swiss Government, aware that the. independence and tranquillity of the Confederation were placed in jeopardy by the presence of aliens who had taken an active part in the late revolutionary movements of Germany, Italy, and France, had of its .own accord laboured to diminish the number of these persons, and large uumbers of them had been removed to "England or \o the. United States. It does not appear'that thev whole number of political fugitives now remaining in the Cantons exceeds 500 or 600.

Nevertheless, the- tone assumed by the French Ambassador was imperious and exacting, and on the 24th January a note was presented by M. Salignac to the Federal Council, in which he demanded for France the right of expelling from Switzerland such persons as she might think fit to designate, not being citizens of the Confederation. Such a power would have extended the arbitrary regulations of the French police over the .whole, territory of Switzerland, and might at any time have been converted into a means of intolerable interference in the affairs of a foreign nation. It would, moreover^ give rise to perpetual conflicts between the Federal and Cantonal authorities, and would have annihilated that liberal and independent hospitality which the Swiss people have exercised in the worst of times. To this note the Federal Council returned, on the 9th of February, a firm and 'dignified refusal. They expressed their readiness to take measures for preventing conspiracies or* political intrigues hostile to foreign Governments being carried on within their frontiers, but they declared they would never willingly submit to demands inconsistent with the liberty and independence they had so long enjoyed. The preparations which had already been commenced in France /or hosule operations upon the Swiss frontier were immediately conducted with greater vigour. The army collected in the departments round Lyons has been placed in readiness for action under the orders of- General Castella'ne. Fresh indications became perceptible that France and Austria were acting together in this matter, and it is now highly probable that the next move will be to suspend commercial intercourse wiih Switzerland on the French and Austrian frontiers, to be followed, ere long, by the occupation of Geneva and Vaud by the French, and of Ticino by Austrian troops. Prussia', we have leason to believe, has honourably refused to take any part in this projected invasion and oppression of a free people, and her influence will, doubtless, be employed in conjunction with that of England, to avert by remonstrance, if possible, so serious a calamity and so mischievous an injustice. The mere question of the refugees in Switzerland, whatever may be its importance, is rather the pretext than the cause of the hostility of these powers to the independence of the Confederation. They are well aware that the occupation of Geneva on one aide, and of. Ticino on the other, by the ar tries of the absolute powers, would be immediately followed by a counter-revo-lution in the little Cantons, in Friburg, and possibly in Berne, where, the Radical party has now again recovered the ascendancy it had almost lost by a former Conservative reaction. The fatal consequences of the Sonderbund war of 1847 are still deeply felt in the division of the Cantons, the resentment of parties, and the bitter intolerance of the rival confessions. The Catholic and Conservative Cantons, crushed by the Federal power in 1847, would instantly throw off the yoke of their adversaries, and probably hail their ' deliverance even by foreign arms. The Ultramontane, faction and the Jesuits, supported by Prince-Schwatzenberg and Louis Napoleon far more actively than they were ever supported by Prince Metternich and M. Guizot, would no longer be con ending for toleration in the Catholic Cantons, but for ascendancy, and their hostility would be most bitterly directed against the Protestant Cantons of Zurich, St. Gall, Vaud, and above all, Geneva. The destruction of the religious independence and moral importance of that city which has been for upwards of three centuries one of the firmest seats of Protestant learning, piety, and influeuce, is an object dear to the whole Romish party. The -Roman Catholics combined even with the Radicals to destroy her institutions ; they will combine with a foreign .enemy to complete the 'ruin of the Genevan Cburcb. These Cantons, with their free press, their political assylum, and their creed., are intolerable to the jealous eye of neighbouring despotism. The ray of civil and religious freedom which shoots from those small and simple communities was insignificant when Europe was possessed of equal freedom, but it is a beacon in these times to the nations that sit in darkness. For that reason the power that rules in France will seek to put it out, and to transform the Helvetic Confederation into what it was under the protectorate of the French Empire, if Austria be mad enough to lend herself to such a scheme wbicb will place the passes of the Alps in the hands of her most constant adversary. - These are no imaginary dangers to which Swizerland is exposed, And we should not have alluded to them thus fully if we were not convinced that they are serious and urgent — an opinion which we know is shared by several of the first statesmen of this and other countries. But we may still doubt the success, and even theactual commencement, of so rash and wicked a scheme. - The Swiss people, though divided by internal parties, are still that intrepid and independent race which has never yet submitted to a foreign yoke, and- they have recently shewn that their military organization is by no means contemptible. Their Government has proved its firmness as well as its prudence; and though the extent of the demands made upon it has been kept from the knowledge of the public, that precaution was employed to prevent an explosion of popular indignation. In case of' attack, we believe that every portion of the soil of the Con* federation would be defended with equal vigour, and that the French army would learn,' what they may have forgotten, that men fight best wben they armed by law and -contend for freedom. Lastly, the public opinion of Europe would be roused to the highest pitch by st> base and unprovoked an aggression ; and though the geographical position of Switzerland leaves her no actual means of defence but the rugged configuration of her territory and the dauntless courage of her citizens, her resistance to such an attack on her rights and independence would give her the strongest claims to the support of the other powers of Europe.