ENGLAND AND EUROPE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XII, Issue 734, 19 November 1859, Page 3

ENGLAND AND EUROPE.

The following very able and well-judged article is translated from the ' Journal dcs Debats,' and bears the name of Prevost-Paradol, one of the very greatest of the French journalists:—

" England has just caused a strange surprise, not to Europe only, but to those statesmen who fancied they knew her best, to those among her great citizens who thought they were perfectly certain to lead her. For tbe first time perhaps in her history she has allowed a great war to commence and continue, a re-arrangement of territory to be announced and accomplished,not only without taking part in it, but with the firm resolution of having nothing to do with it. She has imposed this resolution on her statesmen ; she has watched them with jealous attention, lest they might be tempted to disobey her; she has forbidden them to entertain the slightest intention of mixing up with this conflict the name and arms of the English people ; and so well has she succeeded in this difficult design, that the war was brought to' a close, and peace re-estab-lished in Europe, without England's taking any greater part in it than Portugal or Denmark.

"The Ministers who, true to the tradition of their country, formed a different idea of her interests and duties, no more succeeded in moving her than Don Quixote did in carrying off that celebrated horse on which he fancied he could travel through the vast fields of air. It was in vain they let off crackers near the ears of the peaceful animal, and put squibs under his tail; nothing stirred his inflexible immobility, and after all this alarm he found himself in the same place as at first. But the question is, whether England finds herself, at the end of this episode, in the same place as at the beginning, and whether she comes out of this trial as intact as Don Quixote's steed.

" First of all, let us enquire what were the chief |' causes of England's, taking'so new and decided an attitude in the great crisis we have just passed : through. Above all, it was that increasing disgust for war, which in the nineteenth century is both the glory and the weakness of civilised communities. It must be admitted that England never manifested greater repugnance to war, or greater attachment to peace, than during the first months of this year. It is not only—as people are too fond of saying— the immense development of material interests that makes nations, when they have the control of their own destinies, so slow to have recourse to arms;' it is a general sentiment of humanity; it is a greater respect for hupnan life, a livelier consciousness of the manifold' evils brought about by war, and of the responsibility attaching to those who let loose such a scourge upon the world without absolute necessity. If these ideas exerciseat the present day a great influence upon the Continent itself^ if the most warlike nationfin the. world has felt their constraining power, what action must they not have upon England, laden as she indeed is, with the most genial blessings of modern civilization, accustomed more and more to internal peace, to labor, order, and liberty, and the peaceful enjoyment of the greatest blessings that nations can desire ? "Not only are the English inclined in these days to consider war barbarous, but a considerable part of the English public, deeply imbued with Christian ideas?, regard it as a sin. Tbey hesitate long, they weigh all the circumstances before admitting this right of drawing the sword, which a short time back gave such little troubleto the conscience of nations or sovereigns. This tolerably numerous portion of the public have come by degrees to apply to the conduct of nations those absolute maxims that constitute the ideal of the Christian life. They do not go so far as to say that the duty of a people, like that of a martyr, is to suffer itself to be immolated, nor even to turn the cheek to the smiter; but they concede to_ a people nothing beyond the right of defending its existence, and they deny its right of raising itself as formerly, or maintaining itself by arms amidst the recurring conflicts that agitate the world. They have thus invented a sort of catechism for the use of nations that was utterly unknown to Elizabeth, Cromwell, and Pitt, and which Louis : XIV. and Napoleon, if they take an interest about such things in the other world, must bitterly regret .lot to have seen disseminated and put in practice earlier among the English people. " It would be wrong, however, to attribute solely to the progress of civilisation, and to the influence of Christian sentiments, this attachment of England to peace —this altogether novel passion for a strict neutrality. Pride and contempt, self-esteem and the disdain of others, have a large share in it. Puight or wrong, the English public has accustomed itself to regard the greater part of the continental nations as irrevocably devoted to anarchy or slavery, and consequently it takes less interest in thoir trials or quarrels so long as England's security does not appear to it to bo directly threatened. Elated, moreovor, by the progress of her race over every part of the globo, by the wonderful development of her new colonies, by the foundation of

those distant empires where her customs, freedom, industry, and all the germs of her own peculiar greatness, live again together with her language, Jijiigland has insensibly been led to give continental nations a less considerable share in her affairs, and to attach less importance to the events that change the face of Europe. She boasted, not long since, of being the first Mussulman power in the world; she is also a great oceanic power, and she is a great American power, and, anticipating the future in this part of the globe, she refuses to consider .Europo any longer as the sole arena where, at all costs, she must acquire or preserve the first rank. Less concerned about the progress of her ancient rivals, she is also less jealous of upholding the balance of their power, and of watching their mutual encroachments ; and this turn of mind is the more advantageous to her,since she finds a pretext therein for sparing herself great sacrifices and vigorous resolutions

" From all these sentiments, good or bad, exalted or selfish, has resulted the conduct of England in the present crisis. The future done will show whether she has not erred in her instincts and calculations, and whether, in adopting a policy similar to America's, she has not forgotten that it is not the ocean, but merely the channel, that separates her from a continent filled with soldiers. If the peace party (which in England is the dominant party, as the war party is with us) —if the peace party has been right—if it has actually revealed to England the admirable secret of preserving her influence over Europe without taking part in its quarrels, this party has rendered its country an immense service; if, on the contrary, it has been mistaken—if.in prematurely disengaging England from her continental ties, it has deprived her at the same time too soon of her supports—it has placed in extreme jeopardy not only the greatness of its country but its very existence.

" In fact, the aspect of Europe must awaken now verydifferent feelings in the breast of a Frenchman •and in that of an Englishman, and may give to the former as many hopes as to the latter just sources :of uneasiness. England can say to herself, ' I have ■never been much liked on the continent; but I was feared there ; now they fear me much less, and do not like me more on that account. I had not long since before me a nation powerful and jealous, but isolated and surrounded as it were by my natural allies; now I see in Europe only old enemies, who have not pardoned my successes, only old friends who attribute to me their reverses. I was accustomed to fight against one alone, with the help of several; I may have to fight several, and can no longer depend upon the aid of one. Those whom I have left to defend themselves alone would see me without displeasure undergo the same trial, and would calmly represent to me that it is for the 'general interest to localise the war. What boots it to me if, sheltered by my ships, I can defy the whole universe ? But it is very expensive to'have for the future to guard one's self against the whole universe, and incessantly to be in expectation of a great day when all will be saved or lost. Perhaps I was not wrong to have had formerly allies in the world, and to have accustomed them to depend on me, in order that I myself might depend on them. I have changed my system; the event will teach me if I have done right.' On her side, France can consider Europe with some security, and even some hope; she may say to herself;—' Formerly I could not raise my arm against any one without being immediately forced to parry the blow of another; now, if I have any quarrel of this kind to settle, they will willingly see me at it, and there will be some to applaud me who formerly would have fought with me. Parcere subjectis is really a great maxim, and I have derived great advantages from it. If I see an occasion or necessity for it, I shall willingly apply the second half of the verse, and shall thereby please everybody. But whatever may happen here, I am surrounded with old adversaries, to whom I have proved that I possessed rather the power than the wish to injure them, and that I desired less their defeat than their friendship. Let us wait and hope.' " Such is pietty nearly for us and our neighbours the moral of the fable that has just been recited to Europe. This fable is instructive for every one, especially for the philosopher and historian, who love to account for the progress of human affairs; it has a certain grandeur from the extent of the scene and the importance of the interests at stake there; but it has also a comic side, through the ridicule produced by certain actors. We must not seek to criticise the mysterious Ordainer of our destinies, if being a good prince and liking sometimes to make us laugh it pleases him to bestow a part on Messrs. Bright, Cobden, and some other persons of similar genius, in the events that change the face of the world."