STATES THAT HAVE DISAPPEARED.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 13936, 19 December 1905, Page 4

STATES THAT HAVE DISAPPEARED.

(By “EX-ATT ACHE” in the New Orleans “ Times-Democrat.”) Although the Boer Republics in South Africa and the kingdom of Madagascar, as well as Bunnah, have disappeared from the map of the world, as independent States within the last twenty years or so, yet so long a time has elapsed since a European State was wiped out of existence that the fate which has just overtaken the tiny republic of Moresnet calls for more than mere passing notice. In fact, it is necessary to go baca to 1870, when the Papacy was deprived of its temporal sovereignty, and when its dominions, including the city of Rome, were absorbed by the kingdom of United Italy, to find a parallel for the annexation of Moresnet by Belgium. Moresnet as an independent State dated from the treaty of Aix-la-Cha-pelle, and is said to have been indebted for its existence to either faulty charts or else to ignorance and careless--ness in connection with the negotiation of the treaty, at the conclusion of which it was found that an area of territory bordering on the frontiers of Prussia had been overlooked. An additional agreement is therefore made, according to the terms of which Moresnet, which is considerably less than a thousand acres in extent, was declared .o bo neutral, and was later on placed under the joint protectorate of Prussia and Belgium, while the inhabitants were authorised to form a sort of republican Government. The very existence of the latter was ignored by the general public until two or three years ago, when Moresnet attracted a good deal of unenviable attention, to itself by taking advantage of its independence 'to offer a refuge to the various owners of public gambling establishments who had been driven out of Belgium, and, in particular, from thescene of their profitable operations at Ostend, Spa and Namur, by the drastic laws enacted by the national Legislature at Brussels, despite the opposition of King Leopold. All arrangements were made between the tiny republic and the gambling establishment ownera to convert Moresnet into a second Monte Carlo; hotels were erected, casinos constructed and gardens laid out in the most approved fashion, when, moved by public indignation, the Governments of Prussia and of Belgium as the two suzerain Powers, suddenly intervened and prohibited any further execution of these designs under the threat of driving out the gamblers by a force, not of troops, but of German and Belgium police, -and of abolishing the independence of Moresnet. THo latter had no alternative hut to yield, the anticipations of its people of the advent of a golden era of prosperity were rudely dispelled and the hotels and casinos which had. been constructed for the accommodation of gamblers from all parts of the world, remain to this day unoccupied, falling into decay, a sorry reminder to the people of the erstwhile republic of the futility of their dreams. MIGHT HAVE BEEN ANOTHER MONTE CARLO. The negotiations between the Prussian and Belgium Governments ne-. cessitated by this joint action to prevent Moresnet from developing into

another IMoute Carlo, had the effect of leading to a discussion by these two Powers as to the policy of the elimination of the little Republic from among the independent States of Europe- Offering as it did a refuge to offenders against the civil and criminal laws of both countries, as well as a point of vantage for smugglers, it had become a source of much annoyance and trouble to its big neighbours, and its action in placing its territory at the disposal of the public gambling house owners, after the latter had been driven Put of Germany and of Belgium, was the finishing touch, and the last straw. It was ultimately determined that Moresnet had forfeited its right to independence, and accordingly an arrangement was made between Belgium and Prussia, whereby the Republic has been incorporated into the dominions of King Leopold, who' in return has ceded to Emperor William a small strip of Belgium territory, adjacent to the Prussian frontier town of Eupen. The consent of the Government and people of Moresnet -to this transaction was neither asked nor given, and their fate ' should be taken to heart by the people of Menace, who, through their Prince, have bonverted their picturesque country into sugh a plague spot of Europe that the question has frequently been raised as to whether France should not be. asked to annex the principality, with the object of abolishing once and for all time that public gambling establishment, which has furnished the dominions of the ruler known as “the Prince Rouge et Noir,” with a bigger population of alien dead, self-destroy-ed as the result of ruin at his gambling tables, than of living citizens. THE BLANCS AT WIESBADEN. Curiously enough, the Blancs, who are associated with the Prince_ of -Monaco, Prince Constantine Radziwill and. Roland Bonaparte in the ownership and management of the great gambling establishment at Monte Carlo, were formerly identified with the public gambling tables at Wiesbaden, in the Duchy of Nassau: The latter was wiped out of existence by Prussia in 1866, and although a good deal oi sympathy was manifested for the blind King and people of Hanover, and even,; for the population of Hesse-Cassel, who lost their independence in the same war between Austria and Prussia, little or none was entertained for Nassau, owing to the manner in which it had bartered away the good name of. its people and of its reigning house by farming out gambling house rights in the capital at Wiesbaden and elsewhere in the duchy,’ to. individuals of the stripe of Blanc and of his titled associates. The first thing that Prussia did after annexing Nassau was tc abolish all the public gambling in the duchy, and to drive Blanc and his partners out of the country. For a time, of course, Wiesbaden, which until then had been the rendezvous of all the gamblers in Europe, suffered a species of eclipse as regards its wealth and popularity as a resort for foreign visitors. But to-day it. has recovered most of its old-time prosperity, along with a respectability and good name which it cannot be said to have enjoyed in olden times. The Duke of Nassau spent more than a quarter of a century in exile until the death of his cousin, King William of Holland, brought him to the latter’s ‘throne as sovereign Grand Duke of Luxemburg., He is like his sister, the Queen of Sweden, enormously rich, their private fortunes being derived from the share of their family in the receipts and profits of the public tables in the former Duchy of Nassau." It may be added that if Nassau, Hanover and HesseCassel were annexed by Prussia in 1866 , and disappeared as independent States from the map of Europe, it was because they had sided with Austria against her in the struggle that Avas brought to a close by the battle of Sadowa and by the Treaty of Nioolsburg. Six years previously the kingdom of Naples and of the Tavo Sicilies had been put out of existence by its incorporation into the kingdom of Italy, after - the victorious march of Garibaldi from Sicily up all Southern Italy, the surrender of Naples and that siege of the fortress of Gaeta, of which the now widoAved ex-Queen Marie of Naples was the heroine. Less than a year previously the Duchies of Parma and of Modena, and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany Avere added in much the same way to the kingdom of Italy, after the close of the war of 1839, in Avhich France and Sardinia took part against Austria, allied to the Grand Duchy and Duchies in question. The throne of the Duchy of Parma had been occupied by _ a branch of the House of Bourbon, . Avhile those of Modena and ; Tuscany were oAvned by princes of the Austrian 1 " House of Hapeburg. It cannot be denied that the change was for the better. For Avhereas Italy until that lime had, by reason of its being partitioned up into, a number of petty States, occupied no weight or position of any importance in the concert of Europe, it has now as a united kingdom developed, into one of the great PoAvers-from T a political as Avell as from an economic point of, view, while the dethronement of the Bourbons of Parma and Naples and of the Hapsburgs of Tusoany and Modena, who were identified with. everything most reactionary that it .is possible to conceive, has undoubtedly paved the Avay for progress and enlightenment. Of course, Austria, and in a lesser degree Russia, took exception to thh extinction of the sovereign States, but everywhere else the unification .of Italy Avae welcomed Avith manifestations of approval. KINGDOM OF WESTPHALIA. During the near half-century which elapsed between 1859-60, and that Congress of Vienna which signalised the overthrew of the first Napoleon, no soA'ereign States passed out of existence in Europe. But the Congress not .only did aAvay Avith the kingdom of Westphalia Avhich the great Corsican had created” for his youngest brother, Jerome, grandfather of the present secretary of the United States Navy, but it also placed its stamp of approval on the extinction of nearly 100 petty States of Germany that had been wiped out of existence by Napoleon during the Avars, by means of Avhich he had remodelled the map of Europe according to hie OAvn ideas. It was generally admitted that, by doing away with them, 1 he had rendered a service to the cause, not only of Germany, but also' of Europe, and ' although the sovereigns whom he had dispossessed Avere conceded certain rights, and prerogatives by the Congress in the way of compensation, yet neither their dominions nor their thrones Avere restored to them. For then, as hoav, petty States are regarded as more or less of a nuisance, and they oavb their existence merely to tolerance dependent on their good behaviour. a fact which Monaco Avould do Avell to take to hearts