On this page
-
Text (3)
-
Jan 14, 1860. | The Leader and Saturday ...
-
SHALL WE MAKE FRIENDS WITH FRANCE ? THE ...
-
THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. npHE patience o...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Jan 14, 1860. | The Leader And Saturday ...
Jan 14 , 1860 . | The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 31
Shall We Make Friends With France ? The ...
SHALL WE MAKE FRIENDS WITH FRANCE ? THE object of Lord Cow-ley ' s . recent mission to England is no longer unknown . Although closely wrapped in diplo-, ' ttiatic mystery , the . ' unmistakable form of preferred friendship has been recognised as one well-remembered arid . much-prized . A . cordial intimacy and good understanding between France and England has been professedly the aim of every erriinent statesman in this country time out . .. mind . For sake of it Walpole was content to bear the ill-humour of the Court , and the calumnies of opposition For sake of it Pitt made his celebrated Commercial Treaty in 1785 , which anticipated , by half a century , the policy of Free Trade , Avhieh earned for him at the time abuse
in Parliament , and unpopularity out of doors among certain classes , but which the wisdom of the nation gratefully ratified , and which we now know that he sacrificed with , deep reluctance and regret at the breaking out of the anti-Revolutionary War . For sake of it Mr . Canning , when Foreign Minister , consented to endure . the reproaches of Lord Gtcey , on the score of inconsistency regarding Spain ; and for sake of it the Duke of Wellington , who sympathised with Prince Polignac , and wished well to the success of his arbitrary measures , hesitated not , upon his fall and the overthrow of Charles X ., to salute the King of the Barricades as the ally of England . For sake of nV Peel and Lyndhurst , Palmerst on arid Russell , concurred in forgiving and trying to forget the perfidy of M . Guizot . and his master regai'cling the Spanish Marriages ; and subsequently concurred in recognising frankly the changes in the Government and policy in France caused by * the events of 1848 . And whatever may be said to the contrary , in the organs or by the confederates of dynastic plotters against the Empire , the good feeling and good sense of the Eriglish people continue to be as . inuch ^ as ever in favour of friendship with France . Our national self-respect is in ho way compromised by the admission that amity with France is worth more to us than all the other alliances in the world . And what is true with regard to us isequally true reciprocally as . regards ; the Fraieh -people . ^ The enmity of England is the only enmity which Franca has never been able to frown down . Under the First Napoleon her victorious eagles were planted on the summits of every other capital in Europe : —not a feather from their airibitions wing dropped here . We feel that we can afford , therefore , to acknowledge the high value we set upon alliance with France ; and we do acknowledge ^—all the more unreservedly just now , because it is impossible that the least informed of our neighbours can any lono-er mistake the enthusiastic resolve of . the wealthiest to meet
nation in the world , whatever it costs , to be prepared allcomers , by land or sea—the deliberate resolve of the most laborious people in the world to devote any amount of time and labour that may be requisite to the defensive toil of rifle drill . We repeat it , therefore , that we can afford to own , without reserve , how much we should regret alienation from France , and how heartily we should despise those public men , who , when the right hand of conciliation and confidence was held out to the Government of this country , should reject it . Lord Cowley has returned to Paris ; of what answer to the Emperor ' s proposals has he been the bearer ? Of none , perhaps , in a categorical sense or final form . After many months , we will not say of estrangement between the two nations , but of mutually irritating mistrusts and altercations , it is riot possible perhaps to expect that a Government like our o \ yn , amenable in all its actions to the judgment of l ^ arliament and of the Press , should suddenly , or without-pareful consideration of all details and consequences , commit itself to the adoption of any policy , however coincident withits own thoughts and wishes , which comes at the suggestion of a foreign Power . The mere imputation of precipitancy in such a case would do much to disquiet the minds of the circumspect , mul to chill the faith of the confiding .
We shall not be sorry then to lenrrl that the wcll-trnmcd Cowley , having dropped his message at the feet of those lie was told to give it to , hns returned wagging his tail without any immediate answer , But we should be sorry indeed to infer from this any 'thing unfavourable to the ultimate issue . Unless thwe bo involved in the proposals for a renewed alliance some condition other thnn those which arc generally rumoured and believed , we ¦ should regard the ministers as the greatest enemies of the happiness and welfare of their country who should reject them . Nm > oleon HI- desires the pacific settlement of Italy on the "basis of the present atatm quo ; and he asks us to co-oporato with him in securing so' desirable nn end . Assuredly lie has made snerificos enough to entitle him to do so , His sacrifices ' linvo not beou in Italy nlone . To win the . attachment of Italy lie has lavished blood and treasure ; to disarm the , distrust of England ho lias 'flung from him irrevocably the admiration and sympathy of Catholio millions , nlrondy not particularly
well affected to our Government . Had he been indifferent to the sufferings of Italy , he would never have spent ¦ £ 30 , 000 , 000 , and 50 , 000 lives in Lombardy without exacting a province or a fortress in return ; and had he harboured the designs , of piracy arid brigandage against this country sometimes > imputed to him , he would never have thrown away the power of distraction wh ' icli he possessed in the passionate partisanship of Catholic Ireland , Haying , given these unanswerable proofs of magnanimity arid good intentions , as far as -the Italian and . the British nation is concerned , he fairly asks both now if they really value the friendship of France , to show it by renewing the triple , league of interest and honour that bound them together as allies
five years ago . As regards all real or supposed projects of aggrandisement in the Mediterranean , Napoleon III . professes himself ready to give proof that he has put away ambition . The project of the Suez Canal should be suffered to excite our apprehensions no more ; and his arbitration could hardly be refused if offered for the immediate settlement of the dispute bet wen Spain and Morocco , the continuance of which our Government regards with unconcealed dissatisfaction . Entire free trade it is not in his power to ordain ; but rnodifications of the French and English tariff he is not unwilling to make in that direction . If Naples will retain her Bourbon jailors , if Austria will not sell Venetia , and if Rome and the Vicariate of St . Peter's have not been able or willing to
follow the example of the Ttomagua , —let all of these remain as they are ; let Italy be satisfied with the great things already done towards her unification and liberty ; and for the sake of conso- . lidatirig the great work which has been accomplished , let England and France unitedly abjure all thoughts of further encouragement to Italian schemes * of revolution ^ and , in common with the other great Powers of the Continent , guarantee the integrity of the residuary States of the Church ; and if , to have something to show to France , less in consideration for what lie has done for Italy than as a generous acknowledgment on the part of Piedmont , that Power shall agree to restore its only trans-montane
appanage to France , let the re-annexation of Savoy form a part . of the general arrangement . When all this shall have been clone the tax-payers ofboth ' countries may be once ntore allowed to keep their ' hard-enrned money . their pockets , instead of squan- - dering it upon extra means of mutual bullying and bombardment . Can any one conceive a consummation more desirable '? Claremont and Stafford House , and the utterly selfish cliques that circle round them , iaay relish nothing that ' holds out a promise of good understanding and confidence between the two Governments while in France a Buonaparte reigns . But the people of this country need only to have it made clear to them that the real spirit that actuutes our courtier oligarchs in their affected , fear of timist t
French designs is Bourbonist , not British ,- ^ -Legi , no . Liberal , —and they will turn indignantly from those who would deceive them , and * deal with them as they did not long ago in the case 6 f the Conspiracy Bill . We , rejoice to think that Lord PALMEitsToiN' is no loriger liable to be misled by the malign influence he then suffered to prevail too far in the administration of foreign affairs . That influence is active and busy still , and , the instrument it then used is eager and restless to be ngfUn employed , No effectual reform at home , and no cordial friendship with' Fraace under an elected Sovereign , —these are the watchwords of the faction ,- —we should rather say of the Cabalagainst whose machinations we have need to be upon our guard .
The President's Message. Nphe Patience O...
THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE . npHE patience of Mr . Buchanan has at last been exhausted . - He has delivered his message , although the House of Heprescntatives has not yet managed to elect a Speaker . We do not wonder at it ; there is something both jfcritating and ludicrous in the position of a President waiting , whilst that House i * engaged in the peculiar process which it somewhat facetiously styles " organisation . " He lias had his message quite ready some days before the session commences ; it is duly printed j copies are p laced in the hands of the postmasters , for delivery to the newspapers immediately the telegraph onnounces its prcseutotion to Congress ; ami , apart altogether from the natural impatience of ti man to whom this is the only legitimate opportunity of defending his post conduct , and expounding his . views for the future , to give to the world the elaborate document in which he has set / forth his whole policy , it must be galling in tho extreme to him to bo tho object of violent attack and misrepresentation , in that very assembly for whose convenience ho is waiting , ami incur tho risk of u publication , by ono of the ^ , many persons acquainted with -its . contents ; of ( t-premature and impc ' rlVot summary . Jf , indeed , there wore any limit of tune wit Urn _ which tho House ¦ must organise , it might bo fitting- that . tho Chief of tho State should bear . with such fortitude as ho can
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 14, 1860, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14011860/page/3/
-