West Coast Times. SATURDAY, SEPT. 22, 1866.

West Coast Times, Issue 312, 22 September 1866, Page 2

West Coast Times. SATURDAY, SEPT. 22, 1866.

It is scarcely possible at once to realise the momentous character of the intelligence brought us by the July mail. Home incidents may be disposed of in very few words. Pai'liament has been pro- 1 rouged, and the Derby ministry remain for the present firmly seated in office. But proof conclusive is afforded that the defeat of the Gladstone reform measuies, has whetted the appetite of the people for an enlargement of the electoral system, so as to bring a larger number within the p~.le of the Constitution. The political demonstrations in London, and the riots in Hyde Park, are indications of a public determination to obtain reform ; now that the cry has again been raised; that will probably only be met by a much more comprehensive and radical measure than the moderate and nicely adjusted scheme proposed by Mr Gladstone, and supported as ;'; ' an instalment" by Mr Bright. The force of circumstances appears likely to drive Mr Gladstone to further lengths in democracy than he wouldhave ventured upon, but for his utter and relentless excommunication by the Tory party, of which he was once the ornament, with the fair prospect of becoming its chief. No doubt the trammels of old traditions have thus fur modified, not his actual views on the Refqrm question, but his practical measures for giving effect to them. Nothing could well be more broadly radical in it< doctrine, than thei celebrated speech on lleform delivered! by the then member for the Oxford University, which excited . the bitter ! and undying animosity of his countryrector constituents, and even bulf-terri-fied his Whig allies. It was scarcely to have been expected that, left in a great measure free to give effect to the principles he had enunciated, by the death of Lord Palmerstou, he r would have introduced measures partaking so much of the character of a conservative compromise as those lipon which the late Ministry sustained, their defeat in the House of Commons. When he again me*»ts the House as a Minister- of the Crown — and that can scarcely be at' any long distance o£ time — we may assume that he will attempt to give much wider effect to the new doctrines he has adopted, and that he will form a much closer alliance with the school of democratic reformers of which John Bright is the recognised head. Both his own proclivities, and the developments that have followed the removal of Lord Palmerstou from the scene of action, point to the probability of his becoming the great chief of the popular party. His career has been on extraordinary one, and ho has only yet in effect begun it. The public demonstrations of anger that have taken place at the defeat of the Reform measures, can readily be understood as the expression, not of a disorderly, but of a determined, people. ' 4 Apart from these domestic topics, is the great European question. The war has ended in great results; .but the temporary settlement effected affords no guarantee against the renewal of strife on evoiv a still more gigantic scale. 1t..1y has obtained Venetia, and the complete unifaction of the - new monarchy now awaits only the adjustment of the Roman question. That in the very centre of the great kingdom that has been added to the powers of Europe, a small independent sovereignty like that of the Papal States, should long maintain its separate existence, is simply a political impossibility. That a people who -have shown so lively a recollection of their old traditions, should consent to dispense with their ancient capital — the once mistress of empire, and the great city of history — is an assumption* that can hold no place amongst the data upon which the pr«* bflbilitjei'of $c fcture are to bo oalou*

lat^d. Italy is, however, essentially Oatholic, and whilst demanding Ihe relinquishment by the Supreme Pun tin" ol' i his temporal sovereignty over any part J of the Italian territory, would probably j be as earnest as any other division of Catholic Christendom to guarantee his spiritual supremacy. ; The unconditional surrender of Vcnc- j tia by Austria was the consequence of the signal defeat of the Imperial forces by the armies of Prussia. Hitherto', Austria has been regarded as, next to France, the first military power of Europe. In no other country 'has the same attention been systematically paid, and the same money spent, in maintaining on a permanent footing a vast armed force. The Prussian armies have consisted to a great extent of soldiers to whom the art of war has not been the one great business of life. Men trained by a certain apprenticeship to niilitary service, and afterwards dismissed to follow their ordinary occupations until the exigencies of their country called upon them — and equally matched with their enemies in point of numbers — have conquered the veteran forces of Austria. Much of the success of Prussia is attributed to the superiority of its weapons, but much also to the superior physique and martial ardor of its soldiers.

These, however, are .matters for military critics to discuss. -A\ r o have to deal with results ; and the grand result is that Prussia has established its supre-. inacy over Austria as a European power, and taken the place which it has long coveted, as the leader of the German nation. Henceforth, Prussia and Germany are equivalent terms. Austria i 3 left to the task •of building up d new empire by the consolidation of the provinces left to her. A slice of the territory of which she was but recently wrongfully despoiled, is restored to Denmark. The cmestiou now remaining for solution is, what will be the action of France ?• That she will end by acquiring the Rhine Provinces can* hardly be doubted, by any who have learnt to appreciate the far-sighted ness with which Louis Napoleon lays his plans, and the dogged pertinacity and astuteness with which he plays his game. Put will he be allowed to push on his frontiers to tho llhine, without a

new war r