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 224 enough has been done. If foreign nations would win their way to freedom and independence, they must do as we have done,—they must gain these precious advantages for themselves, and hand them down as an inheritance to their children to be preserved by prudent heads—by stout hands—and by fearless hearts.

How much wiser are the nations than their rulers; and how thankful we should be that, in this country, at least, the rough collective wisdom of the many ever prevails against the polished ambition of the few! The recent decision of the Prussian Chambers may well preserve the country from the horrors of a French invasion: it may suffice to restore tone and consistency to a population which, although divided into many petty sovereignties, may be numbered at 60,000,000 of human beings apt enough for war, although inclined by constitution and habits to peaceful pursuits. In Germany, not in France, lies the real solution of the great problem of European peace. If the Germans are but united amongst themselves they will present such an obstacle to the ambitious designs of the French Emperor as must compel him to seek for a field of action other than the territories of his immediate neighbours. Now when a French sovereign aims at any conquests save those which lie upon his immediate frontier, he must needs go to sea, and a French navy is not invulnerable. History is there as a witness of the fact.

Let us, however, be just to Louis Napoleon. Truly enough it seems immediately due to him that at the present moment we are expending something like £30,000,000 annually in armaments and warlike preparations; but it must be remembered that he is but taking advantage of the faithlessness and folly of the sovereigns who have ruled over Continental Europe since 1815. But for their treachery—but for their impotent endeavours to reduce the European nations back to a condition of spiritual and political serfdom, we should not have heard of the Revolutions of 1830, nor of 1848—we should not have gone through the trials of a Crimean, nor the anxieties of an Italian war. Napoleon Bonaparte was the avenger of the misgovernment of two centuries; his nephew and successor would never have ascended the throne of France, nor moved a regiment across his own frontier, but for the tacit coalition in favour of despotism which has prevailed amongst the sovereigns of Continental Europe since 1815. Louis Napoleon, Emperor of the French, and Conqueror at Magenta and Solferino, is the natural successor to Prince Metternich. There will be no peace in Europe—and no reduction in the English income-tax—until the millions of Continental Europe are really contented with their condition, and have a decisive voice in the conduct of their own affairs. France has turned two dynasties adrift. Italy has shaken off her purple rags. Russia is settling accounts with her serfs, and now Germany is declaring to her sovereigns that what has been shall be no more: but that, come what may, the people will set aside the decisions of their sovereigns when these appear to be at variance with the true interests of the German name.

We are living at a period of which no Englishman appears to appreciate the true importance, because, whilst the game is being played out, we are not suffering any other anxieties than those which follow from excessive taxation. How often have Englishmen now in middle life asked of those who have gone before them: “How did you contrive to live through the struggles of the war with Revolutionary France? How was London affected when Lord Whitworth was dismissed from Paris, and the Peace of Amiens was broken? How did you bear the suspense of Trafalgar—the ague-fit of Walcheren—the fever of Salamanca, Talavera, Waterloo?” The answer invariably was—“Quietly enough!” Why not? Why should not these lesser historical vicissitudes have been tolerable, if we are going peacefully about our daily business, even whilst the greatest experiments ever made by the human race in despotism and self-government are turning out failures, and are being cast aside like Brummel’s cravats? There is the Papacy, in which mankind have more or less believed for something not very short of 2000 years, and its present representative is a peevish old man railing against the unfaithful Faithful under the protection of French bayonets, General Guyon stands between the inheritance of the great Gregory and destruction.

On the other side of the Atlantic the work of George Washington is also well-nigh undone. He and his fellows, when they sought to assert the independence of human beings, and that no man should pay suit and reverence to any, save to his Creator alone, could little foresee that in less than a century the free Confederation which they had founded would be dissolved into its elements, that too upon the question of whether the model freemen of the far West should retain their fellow-creatures in slavery. Turn from Pio Nono, and President Buchanan, to the East of Europe, and what do we see there but the dissolution of that famous old Austrian Empire, which had increased in volume and strength since the days of Rudoph of Hapsburg like a rolling snow-ball, and which seems destined like a snow-ball to melt away in the times of Francis Joseph? The recent address of the city of Pesth to the Austrian Emperor, which was published in the English journals in the course of, is calculated to dispel the last illusions which might have been entertained upon this point even by the most bigoted partisans of the Imperial faction.

The Hungarians—at least, so say the Liberals of Pesth, who, amongst their countrymen, are remarkable for moderation—refuse to give money or soldiers to the Austrian Emperor unless these are voted by a national and independent parliament. They demand that the government of Hungary shall be replaced upon the old footing such as it was before Maria Theresa tampered with it—before Francis betrayed it—and before Felix Schwarzenberg trampled it under foot. The cry of Hungary finds its echo in the Italian Peninsula, and now Northern Germany has declared that it will not, to please its sovereign, interfere in the course of events upon the other side of the Alps.

Surely here is a sufficient suggestion of the great historical events which have occurred during.