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" Liberals , " as they fcaJPtheinselves ; Lad riot turned traitor and helped \ the Opposition to baulk the English people . - It [ reminds tis of the moral of certain facts related in our jieyra this ¦ week . . , "W fuklive ! repeatedly . called attention to the -sturdin ^ ss of the Cape Colonists in insisting upon their rightsr-theii right to be free of convicts ,
SUKd then * right ; to have self-government , xhe present Secretary- of State for the Colonies fulfilled the ^ wishes of tn € colonists bj accomplishing the ** English constitution" which had been long proi&faett by'Lord J ~ 6 hnr Russell , and long hindered $ y ^ festidlotis Jerversities of L ord Grey ; and a colony ' . left III a state , verging on rebellion is now / quietiy going through its elections , and ringing < with praase of " IJewcasUe , ' as the best statesman of the day . ; How pleasing and loyal the English people would become rf . the , Duke , of Newcastle were
free' 4 & ^ place them , on a ^ level with the colonusts at -H ^ eClapef Btit then tiie colonists themselves rebelled , anoVtK ^ hglishliieoiple ^ ave-not f or many ^ enera ^ nB ^^ efirfyjfl ^ ffl : so . 8 triHng to deserve ttlie cpfiisi ^ Lc ^^ ii Qi £$ jjx&wb statesmen . ! " ~ Close , by & ^^ WM ^ 9 ^^ i ? Pf ) vrtLa ^ wsttiLe-^ e ^ t- "< ws % e ^^^ whdse history we have repeatectty revived . They were ill-used fby the Cape Government ,, especially in having their - ; hands tied l against ; chastising the Kaffir
marauders t they became ^ discontented ; they emigrated , and . ^ English ' sdldieis ' were sent after them to terMg them Vsic > : tp ^ Biatisn territory ; they were conquered , in '; a' nnlitat-y' sehs " e ; but "they held oiitt , in a rebel sensey * and would not come home ; and they , established the settlement beyond the ^ Ta al , . they continued . to he contumacious ,, but peaceable . The ? T £ anir war ^ broke out , and : jihey abstained fooii , the base policy of siding with , the savages . against the British . Qovernmenfctpok a " more- favourable view of their . pretensions ;> they
> werejall 6 wedi ta remain' out . on sufferance ; they 'wfere ^^ bjgnisijd } - Pretorius , ^ theI rebel leader , was ^ cimpwl ^ dgCd its the ath f 0 the British ; and now ~ w& see ' . Mr ; IPotgeiter ' quietly- succeedTretorius as ' - ' * ? President ** V The Sorxtja . African Kepublic " ^ TheEnglMh reader ^ illpercwve that these Anglp-^ putch ^ cpionists had ; tlie courage and the obstinacy to assert and to maintain their rights , in the teeth of the powerful British empire , and also that they had the generositqTnbt to disgrace themselves by a'bfise complicity with savages . In short , they "fav ^ e earned tbe independence which they have ' takerij and which the English Government has ; recognised , by feeing independent . i - - ¦ English statesmen give to rebels what they let : English " Liberals" intercept from the English people .
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HOW THE WAR IS TO BEGIN . According to the explanations which have been given of the last communication made to Russia , it is not an appeal which can give her any opening for new delay , but it is really a summons to surrender . It was necessary to make that summons formally before resorting to . final measures . The very nature of the position on the part of Turkey ' s foremost allies hitherto , the desire to preserve , an opening for peaceful accommodation , has prevented the Western Powers from taking up so peremptory a tone as would have rendered this formal summons
fall back upon Austrian territory . Austria already has a numerous army on the frontier , to observe and to maintain at least the neutrality of Austria ; but it is well understood that Austria intends to do more than to be neutral , and to assist in suppressing any internal disorder in Servia , Bosnia , or the Sclavonian provinces of Turkey—in other words , to keep down the domestic allies of Russia , in Turkey . So much for the first stage . And if Austria has the strength to carry out her intention , she may succeed in curbing that power which restored Hungary to the Austrian empire , and may so fulfil the promise of Prince Schwarzenberg that
some day he would astonish Russia with " an immense ingratitude . " There is , however , no probability that Russia would fall without resistance . A distinguished diplomatist , who had excellent opportunities of observing , has said of the Emperor Nicholas that he would not yield , though all tie powers of Europe were against him ; they might destroy him . But even if he succumb thus to an inevitable fate , he will strive to sell his existence dearly ; and he has the means . Unfortunately for the German Powers , they have not kept dear accounts politically , and they do not always stand well with their own subjects . Besides , all the German Powers are -not with "Austria and Prussia . The chief Ministers of
Saxony and Bavaria have accepted decorations recently sent to them by the Emperor ; they now belong to the knightly order of Saint Alexder Newsky , patron Saint of Hussia , and they have received those decorations at a time when the Czar has threatened to erase , the names of Austria and Prussia from the honorary position which they occup ied in his' military roll . Hungary , * too , has . been infinitely ^ more <> fi % nded by Austria than by Russia ,
sinqe Austria has betrayed a trust and an oath , while Buisia was only a foreign foe—a foe , too , whose warfarewas , conducted with comparative politeness . Whether Hungary -will join the arch-enemy of freedom or not , we have yet to leam . Her decision cannot be prejudged by Western ideas . But whatever may be the decision of any particular community , there is no doubt that Russia will seek allies wherever she can find them ; she will
find them , too often , amongst malcontent States and parties in the South of Europe—amongst the Greeks , the Sclavonians of Austria as well as Turkey , and amongst those minor States of Germany which feel their inferiority invidiously , and burn with the desire of rising superior to the Duchy of Brandenburg . It is scarcely possible , therefore , that Russia should be without the power of mischief , and there is no reason to suppose that the European , alliance will be formed with such completeness , or its work executed so nicely , as to keep Russia in a state of absolute isolation , and to finish the war by chastising ) and perhaps reducing her . Should the contest grow larger , Austria might find new circumstances to justify a new counsel , and might turn from the Western to the Russian
alliance . It -would be false policy ; but there are circumstances under which States as well as individuals want either the insight , or the fortitude , or the strength to be wise . In that case Austria would be against Western Europe . It would be a wer , not for opinions only , but for existence ; and Russia would contend not only to defend herself , but to avenge herself and to aggrandise herself ; fulfilling three ambitions withone war . In such a case it would be idle to fight for any pedantically definite object ; to abide by a ridiculous moderation , and to be content with the
evasome of these long-standing grievances must be cured . It will be necessary , not only because justice requires that Russia should give compensation for the war which slue has brought upon Europe , and that Austria should give compensa tion for the immunity which she is allowed in being admitted to the European alliance ^ but also because the contest will be one for entire
existence , and if freedom be not fairly established , conquering and triumphant , on the field of Europe—if the contest be not commenced with the purpose of making freedom thus absolutely dominant—then the stronger purpose will prevail , and Russia will crush Europe in a rule of political slavery , commercial suppression , and religious barbarism .
The safety , therefore , of the states representing national independence in Europe demands that Russia shall be effectually conquered and laid prostrate by a grand counter-action ,, raising influenced and powers the very opposite . Commercial justice demands that mankind shall be repaid for the afflictions which Russia has drawn upon them , and which the tyrant monarchs , with all their power , have been unable to avert ; and civilization demands that the great occasion for a new step fax progress should not be lost . It is time to have done with 1815 ; we want a new niap of Europe , more just , more beneficent ., The statics quo would be a ridiculous end to all this contest . The
virtuous states should be rewarded , and the lowly should be exalted on the ruins of the downfallen . How has ; Russia held her possessions , except by rapine and force ; and if she forfeits that bad tenure , on what other title can she retain them ? Why- should - she keep Poland , which never offended Europe , but only served it , and which has never ceased to exist nor to protest ? If Russia be not the prosperous and irresistible power whicli she has pretended to be , Lithuania will
remember her own independence . Finland will ask why she has been wrested from Sweden . The maritime powers of the world will ask , by what right a conquered power should exercise any veto upon the Baltic or the Euxine . The corn-eating world will ask why Russia should possess the granaries of Odessa , or the mouth of the Danube , only to frustrate the fertility of the corngrowing countries and the commerce of the world Bessarabia , as Lord Ponsonby says , would be freer to enjoy her fertility , if freed from Russian control .
But if , for the retribution of the offending power , and the benefit of the world , this iniquitous distribution of the map be amended , other states will ask to be promoted in the new regime . Whatever immunities Austria may earn by good faith in the opening struggle , the claim of Italy to political existence , if not independence , can scarcely be silenced . The real independence of Switzerland will be asserted , and those countries which have actually conquered the field of Europe by their powers and activity , by their foresight and luti ill be unable to refuse
reso on , w the claims forced upon them by trust in their higher rule . As to now forswearing new territorial distributions , after that war , which no one can forecalculate , shall have swept Europe , it is nonsense . The true principle is , to resolve beforehand , that the re-distribution shall be an honest one , and shall benefit all countries , without undue gain for any power , and still less to any family . " It is , " the ingenuous Lord Carnarvon said , in seconding the address , " that the petty feuds of families should give place to the interests of nations . "
cuation of the Principalities . Other journals have talked about " compensation , " but more -would be at stake than that . If it should be a war of principles , they would not be abstract principles . If there is such a thing as evil , it is embodied in its most solid form and in its largest proportions in those powers which have sustained the absolutist principle in Europe , —have deprived mnnkind of rational freedom , have liabitually kept whole communities under their rule in affliction by in
retaining the prison an enormous representative draft from the population . The Neapolitans mourn more than 20 , 000 prisoners , lingering in hopeless confinement so long as the throne upholds a Bourbon . Austria has made whole states feel that they were slaves , and has taught them to know that ^ vhioh is the most humiliating and shocking form of state enslavement— they are used to keep up each other ' s slavery . Russia prevents that commerce which our Peace party declares to be the most valuable of material blessings . If Europe be thrown open by a war ,
unnecessary . The object of securing peace , if possible , was too consistent with the feeling of this country to be neglected , and Ministers are right in saying that the growth of opinion at home was necessary ; we . wanted time to develop our warlike machinery to its fullest strength , after so long a repose in peace , as well as to permit the same development in Turkey , and to give room for Austrian and Russian opinion to turn round in . We nQw stand in this position . The Czar has been called upon to declare whether or not be will evacuate the Principalities . In cither event England and Prance have agreed upon joint
action . Turkey has accepted their alliance upon a convention . Austria and Prussia have also joined the alliance , so far as to unite in the demand for the evacuation of the Principalities . Should Russia refuse , it is a case of war . In that event England and Prance possess a fleet in the Black Sea , and they will , we believe , possess one in the Baltic -, though the third French squadron has not been specifically mentioned as destined for that quarter , llie French and English contingents will be in Turkey—a body of 65 , 000 at least . The distribution of this anxiliary force has not yet been exp lained , but it will be , no doubt , of a kind to bring the Russians to a stand , unless they should
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THE SCOTTISH EDUCATION BILL . Oue . Scotch friends may perhaps consider it a proof that their nation is of less importance in the eyes of Englishmen than an English province , that the Manchestev-and-SalfordEducation Bill should , in the first place , receive more attention in Parliament than their own , should in the next be honoured by a leading article in the Times , and discussed by the leading London journals , while that to which themselves looked forward so long and anxiously was introduced to a House threeparts empty , and finally passed over in " contemptuous ' faience by the press . Let us suggest that Scotland is a " terra incognita" many -writers to wliom the " Manchester Condition Question" is a familiar subject ; and that nothing could he more complimentary to Scotchmen than a silence which implies that they arc fully capable of looking after their own interests . Had the Home Secretary of 1843 been actuated l > y the same liberal principles as the Lord Advocate
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204 T HE LE 1 DE R . [ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 4, 1854, page 204, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2028/page/12/
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