From The Economist, 25 April. THE CONTINENTAL POSITION. THERE is little to surprise us in the shudder of excitement which is just now passing through Europe. The power of France is so great and so ready for use, her activity for the moment so morbid, her resources so completely at the disposal of one very competent man, that any disturbance in which she is known to be keenly interested is sure to assume huge proportions. It is certain that France is greatly interested in the Polish revolt, and equally so that her ruler meditates with absorbing interest on the policy which events may compel him to adopt. At the same time the direction of that policy is an obscure and much-debated question, and all the interest of a great riddle is therefore added to all the excitement of great political events. Just at present the doubtful force seems to tend in the direction of war, or rather the rumors about its direction are tinged with warlike hue. Consequently, and very rightly, the Bourses are becoming excited. There may be nothing in all the stories so busily circulated, but then also there may be much, and if there is, the approaching danger is one of a kind and magnitude which makes all men who understand either politics or finance pale with hope or anxiety. It is nothing less that a grand European war for a redistribution of the map, and it is hard to conceive an event which would more permanently influence the position and fortunes and hopes of this generation of men. It is the fashion of the hour, which affects even mercantile men, to underrate everything; but France in arms and in motion is a portent which concerns every human being,―a figure whose action the keenest observer will watch with the most alarm. This is the truth which gives to the Polish question all its European interest. In itself it is but a struggle of immense importance to the actors, but not very vital to the world,-not half so vital, for example, as the American civil war. If Russia wins, the world is, politically speaking, much where it was, except that one military monarchy will be a trifle weaker; while if Poland should win, Europe will have one more free nation, and therefore, one more security for the peace this generation finds it so hard to attain. Still the very magnitude of the stake very often disturbs the judgment, and it is well to examine occasionally the forces at work on both sides. It is the misfortune of the world that the conservative forces in politics, the reasons which make rulers unwilling to do very striking or very dangerous things, are usually so little apparent. Everybody can count the ships of war in a port, and estimate the result of their attack, but the facts that they cannot sail without biscuit and that the biscuit is not yet baked, do not strike the popular eye. Of all the stories now alarming the Continent, one-half are stories merely, with no better guarantee than the word of the half-informed persons who prepare "news of interest" for MM. Ruter and Scharf 's correspondence. The remainder are probably facts, but their value strictly considered is not perhaps very great. It seems clear that some negotiation of some kind has been going on between France and Sweden, the power which, in the event of war, could most readily assist the Poles, and that the Swedes are enthusiastic anti-Russians. It is also clear that the Polish insurgents, so far from faltering, are becoming bolder, and have succeeded in placing an income tax, varying from two to ten per cent., upon most of the propertyholders in Poland. The French emperor, moreover, does not discourage the strong Polish feeling in his capital; indeed, rather lends it weight by gentle recommendations to caution and patience. All these things, and particularly the sudden talk about Sweden, are in their degree ominous, and so is the language of the note addressed by M. Drouyn de Lhuys to St. Petersburg, and analyzed in the Pays. It is not a pleasant letter at all for the Russian Government to receive, is unusually harsh in meaning, and abounds in those expressions which diplomat tists, justly or otherwise, are apt to consider "6 grave. The Russian Government is by no means accustomed to be told that its acts may produce "regrettable consequences,' 99 or that the causes of a rebellion must be "definitively removed." M. Drouyn de Lhuys is himself a moderate writer, not by any means given to menace, and there may be ground for the belief that the emperor wrote the despatch, and that he will not tamely endure a negative or evasive reply. It is more than probable also that the Emperor of Russia, unaccustomed to yield, relying on the complicity of his copartners in the partition, and aware that to grant anything short of independence would be merely to place new weapons in the hands of the Poles, may stand upon his rights as King of Poland, and decline any and every offer of mediation between himself and unsubdued rebels. That, at all events, would be his natural attitude, only to be abandoned under intense pressure, to which he can at any time yield. These few facts, crusted over as they are with verbiage and inventions, are ominous, but they are much more discussed than the huge facts on the other side. In the first place, it is always assumed that the French nation as a whole desires war. That is no doubt true of the educated classes, who have a deep if sentimental regard for Poland,—of 66 the army, which at once thirsts for "glory " date all those elements of opposition, which and desires to avoid Mexico,-and of the are only kept down by his unbroken success. priests, who hope to inflict a great blow on a He knows, too, how difficult the task itself rival and hated Church. But it is not equally will be even if he can induce Sweden to run clear that it is desired by the bourgeoisie who the tremendous risk of a war with a power will have to pay in money for the idea, or whose regular army is nearly equal to the the peasants who must provide the extra Swedish levee en masse. Empires are not impôt du sang." On the contrary, every conquered in a day, and a winter campaign warlike rumor sends the funds down sharply, in Poland is a contingency which would and the peasants are murmuring that their cause a shudder in the bravest soldier in children are superseded by volunteers. Now France. Then his habit is to fight with alit has been the emperor's policy ever since lies, and they are not in this instance forth1848 to foster material wealth, and the coming. If Austria could be induced to join, classes who produce it, and to represent the then indeed he might advance freely; but opinion of the silent millions of France. Austria is slow to move, and the paragraphs Consequently, despite all the gossip, it is not so frequently circulated in the papers about quite so certain that he feels himself under compensation are often the feeblest dreams. pressure from French opinion. That he re- Austria is usually to have the Principalities, laxes the usual restraints on discussion in two States which belong to Turkey, which favor of intervention is true, but he is always cannot be alienated without English consent, slow to restrain any opinion favored by Ul- and which have a very peculiarly bitter feeltramontanes, and knows well that till he de- ing towards the Austrian soldiery. Then cides, loud talk on foreign affairs is a good there are reports about Italy, and no doubt safety-valve for much surplus steam. His Italy would free Poland or anything else if character, too, forbids him ever to close the in so doing she could free Rome. But what door on a chance, and as long as the insurrec- can Italy do, if Austria is not to be attacked, tion lasts there is always a chance that some beyond lending a contingent-valuable inGerman bêtise may open his path to the deed, but a long way from the shores of the Rhine. Then the enterprise, vast in the Baltic? Sweden, no doubt, can afford most eyes of any politician, must to him appear important assistance, assistance so valuaspecially large. English observers perceive ble, that with her, Poland, and Italy, France that it will cost a great deal of money, which might defy Russia and Germany united; but M. Fould will be very unwilling to raise,- Sweden will run great risk, and will demand that the Mexican expedition, however onerous, an equally great compensation. Finally, cannot be lightly abandoned,-and that the neutrality of Austria is a very doubtful assumption. Austria does not want to fight, and does not regard Gallicia as she does some other of her many alien provinces; but Austria gives up nothing for nothing, and. the Hapsburgs, with all their failures, have a tenacity not pleasant to those who intend to coerce them. But Napoleon sees, besides all these things, and remember, he fears coalitions, other dangers more personal to himself. He learnt in Italy that, though a good strategist, he must avoid command in the field, and he is keenly aware that the general who should conduct the armies of France to great and successful fields, who should redeem Borodino and efface the disaster of the Beresina, would be a more formidable rival than the Count de Chambord, or any prince of the house of Orleans. Yet he cannot afford to fail, for failure would at once consoli France does not war for ideas alone, and what proof have the alarmists that when she asks her compensation, England will consent either to its amount or its form? The emperor up to a point is the most cautious of human beings, and has weighed well all the jealousies, interests and risks which he must face, if for the third time in eight years he plunges into that dangerous sea-a great European war. There are reasons for hesitation no doubt, but the balance of probabilities is always in favor of things remaining as they are, and in this case that balance is most unusually weighted. Only one chance, the emperor's determination, can produce the war; while the suppression of the revolt, a refusal from Sweden, a caprice on the part of Austria, or the death of any one of six or seven individuals, may all avail to prevent it. From The Economist, 25 April. HERR VON BISMARK'S LAST ESCAPADE. Virchow remarked that the debate was intended to instruct the minister-president, and was useless in his absence, whereupon Herr Von Bismark, who had been in a room at the side of the House, sneeringly asserted that "the speaker was perfectly intelligible in the next room. A deputy complained of this insolence only to elicit a repetition, the premier not seeing why, if a speaker had a loud voice, he should not while the speeches went on transact business in the next room. And then the sitting terminated, the vice-president declaring that Herr Von Bismark had said nothing for which he could be called to order! HERR VON BISMARK, First Minister under the Prussian Government, is becoming a public nuisance. At a moment when "red,' i.e. anarchical, ideas were slowly dying away, and constitutional government was regaining the public esteem of which dreamers and doctrinaires had tried to deprive it, he is teaching the people of Germany that this form of Government is impossible, that kings cannot be taught except by dethronement, or parliaments made respectable except by the assumption of irresponsible power. His object during the past three months has been to There can be but one meaning attached to discredit the Prussian Chamber by exhibiting utterances such as these. Herr Von Bismark it to the nation as powerless, and by repeated is very possibly an impulsive man, given to bursts of calculated and unpunished insolence. bursts of insolence and apt to say a great deal His first declaration, that the Cabinet would more than he intends, but he has had the edcarry on the Government without a Budget, ucation of a gentleman and the training of a struck at the very root of Parliamentary diplomatist, and knows perfectly well when power, and announced the determination of he intends to insult. His object palpably is the king to reign alone. His second, the to treat the Chamber as if it were a noisy deblank refusal to explain the situation in re- bating club, tolerated out of good-nature, but gard to Russia and Poland, taught the depu- possessing and deserving no influence whatties that they had no hold over the monarchy ever on the course of public affairs. His even when menaced from abroad; and his frankness is the frankness of assumed conthird, made on the 17th instant, showed the tempt, embittered by a lurking consciousness Chamber that it could not depend even on that for all this there may one day come a outward offieial courtesy from the executive. terrible retribution. He cannot make in Herr Twesten had proposed that the Prussian this instance any blunder as to the constituParliament should advise the king to menace tionality of his course,-for though the king Denmark with war, and then refuse the nec-asserts that he is not bound to take the adessary supplies,-a stupid, though legal proposal. Herr Von Bismark jumped up in a rage, and, after a short and impudent speech, told the Chamber, "In foreign countries people are not quite so credulous as here. If we find it necessary to go to war, we shall do so with or without your approbation." The speech, besides its impudent denial of the existence of any constitutional check whatever, hit a point upon which the Chamber is specially sensitive. Its leaders have always hoped that on the first menace of war the Government would yield from the impossibility of moving armies without a loan, and the extreme difficulty of raising one without a vote of the Chamber. The assurance, therefore, that the king would try to carry on war by the prerogative, chilled the one hope which had restrained the majority within the bounds of an excessive, not to say pusillanimous, moderation. The Chamber felt after the declaration that it had nothing to hope from the throne,-that absolutism was proclaimed as a permanent system of rule. This was well expressed by Dr. Löwe, who, with the wit of a professor rather than a statesman, accused the premier of talking "the Russian dialect." This was, however, a trifle compared with what followed. Dr. vice of his Parliament, he has admitted all through that he is bound to ask it, and the Constitution distinctly provides for the minister's presence at the debates. He means to degrade the House, and succeeds in producing that and one other effect. Prussians who read the debates cannot help feeling the king is triumphant, that he has destroyed Parliamentary authority without coup d'etat, and that, as his majesty said, "the pivot of power is the throne." All the courtiers, therefore, and most of the place-hunters-and who in Prussia is not a place-hunter?—will commence courting a power so palpably independent, while the people, despairing of a Chamber so treated, will once more turn their thoughts to private affairs. That result for the moment M. Von Bismark will secure, and also this. Leading Prussians, however averse to revolution, will perceive that between the people and the throne there is no compromise possible,-that if Prussia is to be free, it will not be through or with Hohenzollerns,—that they have not only to cripple the junkers, but to change the dynasty. That feeling spreads fast and wide. The Prussians, though patient, are an armed race, and the next movement will be in search not of a new charter, but of a new king. In other words, Herr Von Bismark is doing his utmost to add Prus- of James the Second, grieve over rather than sia to the list of revolutionary States, to break resent a rating at the hands of the king. up that European order which alone allows No boy feels insulted by his father's rough men like him to subsist. What with the tongue, and very few get irritated because proscription ordered in Poland, the sergeant- scolded by his delegate, the schoolmaster. major-like peremptoriness of Frederick Wil- The Prussian members are children in politiliam, and the morganatic marriage of Victor cal life, only just growing up to the stature Emmanuel, the kings of the earth seem sud- when flogging becomes unendurable, and the denly to have been struck with foolishness, sense of honor is stronger than the fear of that foolishness which inevitably sooner or physical pain. The quarrel, however, is edlater ends in blood. ucating them fast. On the other hand, they But is not the Prussian Chamber to blame? are anxious not to give an excuse for a purely Imagine the scene in the House of Commons military government, or to compel the people which would follow such treatment,—the in- to choose between an avowed despotism and stant expulsion of the offender, not only from descending into the streets. It will take power, but from the social pale. Unfor- months of outrage yet to destroy their lingertunately the Prussian Chamber is not even ing hope of securing freedom without revoby law a House of Commons, and it is possi-lution, Parliamentary Government without ble, if not to excuse, at least to explain its that plunge into the unknown involved in a quiescence. It has two motives for bearing change of dynasty; and it is because Herr what to Englishmen appears shameful. One Von Bismark supplies the precise stimulus and the best is that the people do not feel the required, and advances steadily on the course wrong done quite so much as Englishmen which has but one outlet, that we pronounce would. The paternal theory has not been him a public enemy to the general peace of maintained so long without producing its ef- Europe. fect, and the members, like our own in time SONG OF THE COPPERHEAD. THERE was glorious news, for our arms were victorious "Twas sometime ago-and 'twas somewhere out West; The big guns were booming-the boys getting glorious; But one man was gloomy, and glad all the rest! Intending emotions delightful to damp, He hummed and he hawed, and he sneered and he sighed A snake in the grass, and a spy in the camp, While the honest were laughing, the Copperhead cried! There was news of a battle, and sad souls were aching The fate of their brave and beloved ones to learn; Pale wives stood all tearless, their tender hearts breaking For the gallant, good man who would never return! We prefer that others should censure our particular faults rather than criticise our general characters. It is not pleasant to be philosophized upon. On the other hand, in our own confessions and our autobiographies, we greatly prefer He had groans for our dead-but the Copper-giving a general sketch of our minds to particu We had lost all but honor-so ran the sad story,- head laughed ! larizing our misdemeanors. THE SAVIOUR'S KNOWLEDGE. "We are sure Thou knowest all things."-JOHN 16. THOU knowest, Lord, the weariness and sorrow Of the sad heart that comes to thee for rest; Cares of to-day, and burdens for to-morrow, Blessings implored, and sins to be confessed. I come before thee at thy gracious word, And lay them at thy feet; thou knowest, Lord. Thou knowest all the past; how long and blindly On the dark mountains the lost sheep had strayed; How the good shepherd followed, and how kindly And brought back life and hope and strength again. Thou knowest all the present; each temptation, Each toilsome duty, each foreboding fear; All to myself assigned of tribulation, Or to beloved ones, than self more dear; Thou knowest all the future; gleams of gladness, |