THE CONGRESS.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 42, 12 February 1864, Page 5

THE CONGRESS.

V (* ">m, the Londdn Eoonortiiat.) 4. ht Emperor has: followed, lip th§ speech on whidhwe last week'comv ■mended ttUemgth by ajetsto? accessed to tTio-Soyeveigm of Europe, asking : thenvtp:t^©..pa# in Me pQngvessof whioh ho then; spake, ose letter is &{$ the MmUm of igifi, '.Kn4 # mwpb ym\th #i&y wsm* to ?egubte, ttve crumbling awqy ; vijhst -i |h& fistaiilifilijsd la-sy <$ '35m-ope is^' k al* iyjqslj all pQint.fi} destroyed, -moMed, mlsimao^aad, bi 1 inenao'ecl $"•&*,■ in OimsQcinenoo; "duties jim without ftiloi 1 iWifclMt title, p?csemicms without MBitart i—iM eivilisftiioft h mm -.delibftWr' ttovir war 1r : «c O6»tly.} thttt, i>Minei&i t)*e social of adve^it^ He^tfie 3frenesi fcpei'or^ is jteouiiariy boi^d to-' ncognk® " the ifijifitiittAte.AspltjftitidiiH of nations' i that ho luis nojiuiwd the ■spirit) of modsm* iiou and justice,; the '(usual portion of tlioss who have 'endured .many trinls ; that— and this is the most naiw-re^ remark of all—" as he is the Sovereign to whom the moist .ambitious projects : are attributed, " he wishes to secure the peace of Europe by a Congress at Paris, which ho would, in: fact, regulate, and over which he would, in all European opinion, preside. Practical English statesmen must undoubtedly have had some difficulty in framing a suitable reply to a proposition so repugnant to their habits and so alien to their tastes. There is a theatrical semblance about it which the best Englishmen dislike more than in general they can explain. A grave capitalist in the city lately laid down the prospectus of a new company, and said very gently, " Too many millions for me." And the feeling of the most considerate Englishmen in politics is of the same sort. Instructed by our popular Constitution in the complexity of life, — for, where all classes speak, much which is discordant must be heard, — an English Cabinet does not I easily accept vast plans and vague ideas. A responsible statesman knows that definite-ness of aim is essential to j the acceptance of his policy by Parliament, and by practice it has become instinctive to, and inseparable from, I himself. As the programme reads, the Congress suggested is a Congress to manufacture a cause for war. Europe is quiet. The treaties of 1815, though, like all treaties fifty years old, they have been broken in some isolated points, and are likely to be broken soon in others, constitute, nevertheless, a definite, tolei\able. admissible public law for Europe. They confer on us the incalculable advantage which any precise system of positive enactment confers on those who live under it. They settle the number of infinite grave objections which may be raised against eveiy existing state of affairs ; they answer somehow a million questions Avhieh it is infinitely important to have answered somehow, but which are susceptible of a hundred answers without real evil. The treaties of 1815 are the Code Napoleon, so to speak, of Europe : if you examine in special Congress every objectionable clause and weak point, you popularise the grounds for possible hostility. We do not believe, however, that the French Emperor has a precise plan for using the present Congress to produce a European war. We do not think he has a very precise plan of any sort. On many grounds we believe he would dislike a European Avar more than he would dislike any other great event. He never will, probably, again lead his troops himself at the cost of the i terrible anxiety and pain which he felt at Magenta and Solferino, and he would not like that any other but himself should lead them to conspicuous victory. "We do not believe i he has a fixed intention of creating a European war. But, as we last week said- at length, and as we need not repeat, he has a momentarjr difficulty. His Mexican policy is unpopular for doing too much : his Polish is unpoj pular for doing too little : the opposition in his Chambers is more powerful ! than ever before. His, metier, too is. that of a revolutionary despot ; he is at once the agent of democracy and the companion of Kings ; he cannot, i almost he dare not, permit a democratic insurrection such as that of the Poles to be crushed out, without aiding it, or seeming and professing to aid it. We, therefore, believe, that he Avishes to keep all courses open before him. To retain the possibility of war if the Congress would accede to it; the possibility of retreating with dignity, and saying, if Congress Would not consent, "It is the fault of Europe, not of France, or of me that Poland is oppressed ; I proposed Avhat. would have benefited her,- -but Europe would not consent. The united Congress of Paris rejected it." There is yet a third course which he Avishes to keep open. EA^en if the Congress reject his Polish policy, he may say, ""I will intervene alone ; France only shall ■gain glory ; Europe .-shall, inherit the shame." All these courses-he has at command, if there be a Congress • he has also the well-grounded consciousness of a great manipulator; he knows J that he can suggest to them what he will ; that he - can raise difficulties which no one can answer, arid put problems which none can solve ; that an indefinite Congress is an opportunity for diffused, manifold, indefinite mii fluence to himself. He loioavs, too, ■ that Paris will be amused and that , France will be gratified by the 1 spectacle of a Congress at Paris re- [ vising the treaty of 1815.., One of the ' articles of that treaty is that none of the family of Bonaparte should be 1 Sovereign of France ; ■. that.treaty was J imposed on> France ,by the armies i which conquered the first and greatest I Bonaparte. It avouM be - a pziceless

achievement to say that Napoleon 111. ha4-removes tJ^-feers m& restraints impqsed at the fall of ISTapolecin I. < 3vit this Qfthe, dbngress ;ma|?eg . ;t- eviderj^ that /two j^overn- : are_ sure, v qr sure, tq ■v^m to join in. it, ' . One of these is oiuvown. ; I| U ; bißyond"the power of : &n In'glish 44mini$ra#Qn to Qpei^ in» ■deiinit/8 questions in time' pf peace. ;Wg cqul4 not join in a cengness to' be 'manipulated at pleasure by Louis Ka^ oleon swe have founded our past Polish, policy^orv the treaties of IBio, whioli the Iliiiperor now de« oJaj-aa to b© obselete ana out of date, It- is impossible. ;;tbat ' & Cabinet with/ ghMish t^ditiSns, racociuQtable to jan "inglißh people and should "ommte&anee ar join in a secerns m vftgue/ and d^©)?ou^ We cannot indorse fa hlmtiJkQ dvarea of the l^snok Impe^or } we imist- confine $\xs to oortain 8?il8 M . igrievftness* „ .. ; " , ,, ■■-, :In ftiot, we understand that our G-bVerriment has asked to have .a definite basis assigned to the proposed ! Gbngresa,in order that we may see whether it will. suitus, to join in it or not. Such is the tenour, as we believe, of the answer which has been sent. And it is not thought by some of the best informed persons that the basis will be defined— certainly that it will not be defined satisfactorily. As soon as you endeavor to define the' objects of such a Congress, its meeting beeoines either mischievous or useless. A quiet Committee for minor purposes would not answer the end .of the Emperor, and nothing else is possible or. practicable. "We have asked for something definite, and sooner or later it is likely he will refuse, to explain himself definitely. Ambiguity is his pow, and intelligibility is his bane. Still less is it likely that Bussia will take part in a Congress sitting at Paris. She thinks that her Polish insurrection was caused by Erance ; that it was promoted by France ; that it is kept alive by the hope of French, aid ; that if Louis Napoleon would keep quiet, Poland would be still. There can be nothing more alien to Russia's inclination than a Congress with, a French President and in a French atmosphere. The only practical object of a Congress is to impose terms upon Russia as to Poland. Is it likely that Russia would voluntarily |take part in a gratuitous Congress which was suggested by the most influential auxiliary of her rebel subjects, and which can only result in stringent limitation on her own policy ? She is free now, and she will not likely tie herself by the indefinite consequences of a protracted discussion. As neither Engiand nor Russia cau enter such a Congress as has been proposed, we may be well assured that it will never meet.