From the Spectator, of 1 Sept. THE CONGRESS OF 1850. inconsistent with regular government and with the established order of things, they beg to assure your lordships, that it is with the view of maintaining regular government, and of perpetuating instituA CORRESPONDENT of the Times, who writes on tions which, though occasionally modified, have" the common sense of the Hungarian question," had an unbroken series of existence since the foun- throws out a hint that it may be desirable to have dation of the Hungarian monarchy, that they ven-"a congress of review or revisal of the treaties of ture to invoke the interference of the British gov- Vienna and Paris,” in a manner that suggests the ernment. He writes with a They have witnessed with great alarm the appli- probability of such a congress. cation of the Austrian government for the assis-weight and concentration of matter that imply mastance of Russia. They conceive that this assistance tery of his subject, not in the style of one hackwill not be granted upon terms consistent with the neyed in journalizing; and his contributions are integrity of the existing dominions of the house of put forth by the Leading Journal with a promAustria. Their alarm, however, is not confined to inency that indicates accredited authority; all this the apprehension that some encroachments may be looks as if he were suggesting what he knows to made upon the present boundary between the two be probable. empires. They apprehend that a powerful intervention on the part of Russia, a state in which the "A congress of review or revisal of the treaties existence of a constitution is not acknowledged, of Vienna and Paris" is a suggestion which we cannot be effected without danger to the free insti- are bound to approve, inasmuch as it was perhaps tutions of the country in which it is invited to in- first made in our own pages. The step could terfere. They conceive that the military occupa- hardly fail to be useful; the degree of its value tion of Hungary by Russia must be necessarily must depend in a great measure upon the spirit in subversive (for the time) of all regular govern-which it should be undertaken. That it should ment; and they know not what terms affecting the internal condition of the country may be ultimately be entered upon in the spirit of the congress of imposed by a power whose intervention has been 1815 is scarcely possible; even among the most invited for the express purpose of controlling a courteous and least advanced of diplomatists, the people which is struggling for the preservation of " right divine" would provoke a smile; and in long-established and undisputed rights. The un-the conduct of business the day when an interdersigned conceive that the essential character of national council could limit itself solely to the inRussian intervention must be to disregard rights which the spirit of the government of that empire terests of princes has quite passed. But, of all does not recognize; and that, if effectual, the inter-politicians, the class which has made least progress vention must lead to the subversion of the ancient is perhaps that of diplomatists; the secrecy with constitution of Hungary, must destroy her pros- which the discussions must be conducted is a great perity, and endanger the security of states in whose screen for excluding the wholesome ventilation of welfare and independence England is deeply inter- public opinion; and, therefore, everything will rest upon the spirit which prevails among the persons selected to assist in such a congress and the ested. It is to avoid this fatal result that the undersigned feel impelled to entreat her majesty's government to use such means as shall seem to them most effec-drift of their instructions. tual for producing a reconciliation between the Em- Not only should the spirit presiding over the counperor of Austria and the people of Hungary, oncil be different from that of 1815, but to perform the the basis of those rights which the Hungarians allotted task effectually it ought in one respect to have never ceased to demand, and the firmest at- be wholly new. It will not suffice merely to look tachment to which has hitherto been found not only beyond the interests of princes; it will not suffice to be compatible with, but to promote the most fervent loyalty to the house of Hapsburg, and has ento attempt some compromise between the claims of abled them to render such services in the hour of princes and the rights of peoples; it will be necesdanger as could never have emanated from the spirit sary to take as the basis of any new settlement the of a subdued or servile people. actual condition of all parties-the new state of (Signed,) FITZWILLIAM, F. MOWATT, knowledge among peoples, the new relations of NORTHAMPTON, J. A. SMITH, Europe in respect of commerce and intercourse, the altered state of European police. The congress of 1815 sat under the conviction that the revolution of 1789 had been put down; the congress of 1850 will know better; the revolution survived the restoration. Steamboats, railroads, and the increase of population, have made all Europe conterminous, and have destroyed the strength of frontier-cordons for such nations as will not maintain their defences on a war scale. Public ZETLAND, BEAUMONT, KINNAIRD, R. M. MILNES. H. SALWEY, B. M. WILCOX. The Magyar patriots who left England by the Peninsular and Oriental Company's packet have arrived at Constantinople; but have not been permitted to disembark, in consequence of the interference of the Russian and Austrian ambassadors. opinion has so greatly and permanently changed The meetings which have taken place in England in a large portion of Europe, that states which exin support of the Hungarian cause have produced pect a cooperation in the strict enforcement of a an immense effect in Turkey.-Globe. political surveillance over revolutionaries will be more and more disappointed. The conduct of the English officials in excluding the Italian therefore, is a congress for the settlement of Eurefugees from Malta, is rather a disgrace to the rope according to the present understanding of present ministry of England than any true sign of policy and justice. retrograde opinion in this country. The congress of 1850 will have to handle a wholly altered state of affairs-one in which power is no longer concentrated in governments, in which all operations are more rapid, and peoples know a vast deal more of what is done to them. It follows, that such a council must not only do more than look to the claims of princes-it must also look to something beyond mere geographical fittings, by which territories have been "given" to this or that prince, the people as little regarded as the rats in a house that passes from seller to purchaser. Some account must be made of the people, their will and genius. In 1850, the members of a congress will know a great deal better than they did in 1815, that no "settlement" of the kind can be final-it will be no ultimate allotment of Europe; and the duration of any new settlement would be endangered, not secured, by the presumption that finality would be more possible now than it was then. It is at this point that we see the interests of peoples and princes unite. The best and surest mode of obtaining durability for the new settlement would be, to make such arrangements and combinations as should promise in their own working a chance of continuance. The settlement of 1815 has already been so completely broken up, that practically the office of the congress of 1850 would be one not of demolition but of reconstruction. Some special revisions have already been effected, and two are particularly instructive. The settlement has been disturbed in order to carry out a further partition of Poland; if we may trust the profession of the Russian autocrat, the incessant movements of his Polish subjects, and their share in the armed movement of Hungary, have forced him into the field with an immense army. On the other hand, the disruption of a compulsory union of two states with very discordant sentiments, Holland and Belgium, has had such a happy influence, that in the midst of the European anarchy, surrounded by revolution and war, both those countries have been remarkable for quiet. The arrangement of 1830 has stood a fiery ordeal which no treaty-guarantees have enabled the settlements of 1815 to endure in any part of Europe. The diplomatist in the Times speaks of consolidating Austria on the basis of Stadion's federative constitution; and to that end he would cast off Lombardy, because of its utter alienation from Austria. But what of Venice? That ancient republic he assumes to be divided between hostility to Austria and a counteracting influence; there is no proof of any such influence. But, he says, Venice is "marked out by nature as the commercial emporium of Tyrol and Southern Germany." What then? If the Venetians are averse from Austrian rule, why seize their port as a gift to Southern Germany? why renew the ratification of Napoleon's shameful betrayal of Venice to Austria? If, indeed, a party does exist in Venice favorable to Austria, or if one favorable to a federal connection can be created, the geographical fitting might not be amiss; but to reännex Venice to Austria as a conquered province, is to plant in the consolidated empire the seeds of a new revolt. 66 An objection has been taken, that England would enter the international council too late, as the intervention would have come much better months ago; which is indeed too true. But in those days it was only" journalists that foresaw the expediency of an European Congress; statesmen had not yet had the idea sufficiently drummed into them. However, the mischief of delay is not so bad as it seems, since other parties to the state of Europe are equally "too late;" Austria, which has tried force, and won by proxy a suicidal victory, would have been much wiser to invite a congress in 1848; the Pope is an exile from his reconquered city; France has no plan; and the revolutionists of Europe generally are too late," because they have suffered their battle to be fought out. Each party may say, "Brothers, we are all in the wrong." But, indeed, it is never too late to settle disorder on the substantial basis of real strength and true justice. 66 From the Journal of Commerce. THE STATE OF SIEGE. THIS can hardly be said to be an anomalous, or unusual condition of society in France, or elsewhere in Europe, except in degree. Society there has been under military protection (if protection it can be called) from the time that standing armies became the policy of rulers. While Louis Philippe was on the throne, the peace establishment of France was 400,000 men; that of Prussia was 80,000; that of Belgium 45,000; and those of A congress had formerly been suggested to settle the Italian question; the writer in the Times treats more especially of Hungary and Austria, but incidentally alludes to Italy and Germany; Schleswig-Holstein awaits appeal to a competent tribu- the other states about in the same proportion. nal; the professions of Russia invite a formal Ostensibly, these armies were maintained as a recognition of her disclaimer in respect of encroach- preparation for foreign war, but, in reality, to ment; the internal state of France might be very overawe and keep down domestic riot and rebelmaterially and beneficially influenced by such an lion. This, at least, was the more immediate, authoritative expression of the opinions prevalent and not the least important, object of them. They among the European powers, and the ideas which the leading French statesmen could not fail to catch from that inspiration. The thing wanted, were distributed through the principal towns, and Paris were stationed 60,000. In Germany, in the funeral of Lafitte, including the police, a hunAustria, in Italy, everywhere in Europe, bayonets dred thousand men bore arms. Battalion after glitter in the streets, as well as on the fortresses battalion, mounted and on foot, in an almost endand ramparts, and you wake and sleep with the réveille and tattoo. In Italy, and especially in Naples, and the Pope's dominions, the soldier attends you everywhere, and in some of your excurCons attends you personally. If you travel in the ural districts, you find them scattered along the road like milestones; and since they cannot see in the dark, you must be sure to reach your inn, in some walled town, by nightfall. less line, and all equipped as if for battle, marched in the procession. Why was this? To honor the illustrious dead? To pay respect to the remains of a distinguished but unmilitary patriot? So the government professed. But the people knew well that that was not the motive. Else, why did male spectators redden with indignation, and females turn pale, at the sight of so many swords and muskets, so many cannon, and so The citizens themselves have no idea, general-much unconcealed powder and ball, displayed on ly, that society can be safe without the soldier--such an occasion as the burial of a popular citjust as they imagine religion cannot exist without izen? the state. Even in England you will be assured, by men of all parties, that the public peace would be insecure but for the men of arms known to be everywhere at hand. Hence, whatever form the state assumes, monarchical or republican, the military is deemed alike indispensable to its tranquillity. To an American, this is a strange state of things. And to a European, the absence of military protection with us is not less strange. They are amazed at our apparent insecurity; and are incredulous when we tell them that with us that species of protection, as a standing precaution, is unnecessary. "But suppose that mobs do occur with us, and are less promptly subdued than with you," continued the American, "which is still the better condition of society-that an outbreak happening now and then, should be laid by the slower action (if slower it be) of the good sense and patriotism of a community accustomed to self-government, and by a civil police, backed in the last extremity only by a citizen soldiery; or that we should live, like you in Europe, always at the bayonet's point, and under the frowning muzzles of great guns? 66 Suppose we adopt your system. Taking your 400,000 as the basis, we, with a population two thirds as large as yours, should want for our tranquillity some 260,000 soldiers. We call off that large number of our young men from the wholesome pursuits of industry, we subject them to the moral influences of the camp, we fill our cities and towns with them, and burthen the country with their subsistence and pay; and now you say society is secure ! Is this, then, the prefera When news reached Paris of the Philadelphia riot, in May, 1844, the French cited it as a proof of the exposed condition of our citizens. Here is a mob, said they, of two or three days' continuance, because there was no military either to prevent or promptly put it down. Depend upon it, you will have to resort to our system of an armed domestic peace, and that soon, or society will be-ble condition? No; though mobs were by a huncome too lawless, too riotous, to exist. To this an American, then in Paris, replied as follows:-"Why," he asked, "should the fact of a riot in one of our cities surprise you, since human nature is everywhere the same, and everywhere disorderly? Why regard it as the mere result of defective municipal arrangements? Men there are of like passions with men here, and no precautions can wholly prevent their occasional outbreak. There are, however, fewer riots, and they are less violent and sanguinary with us than with you. And in those that do occur, it is the foreigners among us-men that have received their social training on this side of the waterthat are commonly most numerous and active in them. dred to one more frequent than they are with us, You have many popular outbreaks; you These views were urged, with effect, on the live in constant apprehension of them, and some- occasion which we have mentioned; and we are times they continue unchecked for days, malgré happy to see similar reasonings occasionally adyour military. I happen to have been reading on vanced in the National Assembly. In the late the walls of your Pantheon, and on the column in earnest debates on the state of siege, a member your Place Bastile, the names of scores of citizens expressed himself as follows:-"This pretended who have fallen by violence in your streets. You military justice, so much talked of, is not concannot have a public celebration of any sort, not formed to the true spirit of society; all these even a royal wedding, or the funeral of a distin- strifes (luttes) which you wish to suppress, are guished man, without an attending military force precisely the result of military abuses, contrary to -not as a pageant merely, but for safety. At human nature, and to all the principles of human ity. You have habituated men to obey servilely and to kill their fellows, and can it surprise you that these men return to violence ?" by popular acclamation. When these delusions were in the height of their evanescent glory, we did not scruple to deny their reality, and to dispute The state of society in Europe is radically the possibility of their accomplishment; but we wrong in many respects, and a standing martial have forborne, from respect to the German nation, police is one of its fundamental mistakes. grand essential to tranquillity is confidence. confidence cannot be produced by force. On the contrary, distrust is the natural result of that sort of agency. And hence it is, that there is not in fact, nor can be, in Europe, any settled confidence between the governing and the governed. And that public distrust naturally extends itself to private life. Among the disclosures which every revolution in those countries makes, and especially where military force has been most relied on, is the fact of a painful want of confidence between man and man, as well as between rulers and citi- The King of Prussia had commenced his ostenzens. Fearful of the men in power, they are dis-sible part in the movement of Germany by a proctrustful of each other. The trust that should be lamation calculated to inflame and gratify the placed in the citizen and neighbor, in the commu-wildest hopes of the democratic party, at the monity itself, individually and collectively, is trans- ment of its first ebullition; and, as he had just ferred to the sword, which seems to say, and is made to say, But for me, you would quickly plunder and destroy one another! The to insist upon the complete confirmation of the But opinions we then entertained, by events which have since placed them beyond dispute. Nor is it our intention in any way to augment the soreness and discontent which are the natural result of experience so dearly purchased. That experience is the true foundation of political power in free nations, and the next time the Germans set to work to erect an empire, we trust they will not select a quicksand for the site of the edifice. As it was, the attempt they made fell little short of moral, political, and historical impossibility. abandoned his own capital and humbled his own army by unlimited concessions to the revolution, there seemed no reason to doubt that the influence In these circumstances, we repeat, the senti- of Prussia would tend rather to swell the force of ments and habits which can alone consist with this deluge than to arrest it. For many months the settled peace of a community, cannot be that was the case; every throne in Germany totformed. Respect for public order and the public tered as long as the Prussian monarchy was insegood, a sense of personal character and citizen-cure; and it remained uncertain whether a strange ship, individual as well as general patriotism, and mixture of dynastic ambition and revolutionary a cherished confidence, mutual and public-these, in such a condition of society, are sentiments of small account with the majority of the subjects, and indeed are quite lost with the million, for want of opportunity to act. Subjection to law is, with both rulers and ruled, a question of brute force, and whenever the people perceive that superiority of force is with them, authority goes down, of course. From the London Times, 21 Aug. POLITICAL STATE AND PROSPECTS OF GERMANY. enthusiasm would not eventually consign every throne in Germany to ruin, and convert the King of the Prussians into the leader of a European revolution. That part was unquestionably within the reach of the court of Berlin; and to the honor of the king he rejected it. He rejected it, we have no doubt, from conscientious motives-from a recollection of the rights of others, and his own dignity-from a clearer sense of the local interests of his kingdom and of Germany. But Prussia could pursue no middle course; the consequence of the king's refusal of what they called an imperial crown was an immediate rupture with the revolutionary faction, which had THE general aspect of affairs in Germany, and hitherto screened its operations behind the Prusthe position of Prussia, more especially with ref- sian party, and civil war broke out in the weaker erence to the other Germanic powers, may be states of Saxony, Rhenish Bavaria, and Baden. described as the exact opposite or counterpart of The cabinet of Berlin immediately took the lead what they were just twelve months ago. The in the repression of these serious disturbances; popular movement which had broken out in the Dresden was saved in part by Prussian grenadiers; days of March was then still at its height. If the and a campaign on the Upper Rhine brought the unity of Germany was to be established within the Northern Germans to the frontiers of Switzerland, confines of the Confederation, and if the power of and even appeared at one moment to menace the the nation was to be extended as far on every side Helvetic Confederation and the Canton of Neufas the German tongue is spoken, the Frankfort chatel. The minor princes, who had been conAssembly and the Central government were the vulsed with terror during the revolution, by a sense engines of these important changes, and the su- of their own defenceless condition, especially preme representatives of the national will. If since the fatal example of the military revolt in Prussia was to receive the blessings of a repre- Baden, were eager for an arrangement which might sentative system of government, and to become the secure for them the protection of Prussia, and the ostensible chief of that renovated empire, these position of the great nobles of Germany. Even institutions were to stand on the broadest basis of when Prussia seemed to be the chosen head of the democracy, and to be sanctioned in the first instance | Frankfort democracy, the little princes waited not even to learn her decision, but acquiesced in those the part of foreign powers to abstain from all unproposals on any terms. Much more likely were due interference in the relations of the German they to cling to Prussia when she had more dis- States; and even the attack on Denmark could not tinctly shown that she was not unprepared to draw rouse the chief states of Europe from their system the sword against the excesses of the revolution; of observation and neutrality. But to preserve that her army was all-powerful and trustworthy, these relations it is essential that Germany, and and that she could stem the torrent which was each of the German states, should avoid such intersweeping them away. The Hohenzollerns of nal changes as would materially alter the balance Southern Germany, lords of territories not exceed- of power. It is impossible that any French goving in size a small county, abdicated their sov-ernment should view with indifference the extension ereignty in favor of the royal branch of their house; and thus the ascendency of Prussia throve and struck its root abroad by her successful opposition to those principles which she had affected last year transiently to adopt. of the military power of Prussia along the whole frontier of the Rhine. Nor would the commercial interests of Great Britain learn without apprehension that measures were contemplated to interfere with the absolute independence of the free port of The aspect of Germany is, therefore, changed, Hamburg, whose transactions are so nearly conand Prussia herself is now governed by men whose nected with those of our own mercantile cities. energetic policy is at present supported by a ma- These considerations, added to the increasing rejority of the new chambers, strongly adverse to luctance of the people in Germany to yield an the revolution. But, though her means of influ- unqualified submission to Prussian ascendency, will ence are altered, the objects to which she is tend-doubtless warn the court of Berlin not to presume ing are the same; her ascendency is advancing, too much upon the strength of its position. It has but it rests on a popular basis, and the slightest imposed on Germany a lasting debt of gratitude imprudence on the part of the cabinet of Berlin for the energetic repression of a formidable revolumight give the signal for fresh convulsions within tion; it will, we hope, take the lead in the pacific the German states, or a more direct remonstrance establishment of constitutional government; but, from other parts of Europe. The Prussian troops if these events are to raise the character and station are now looked upon all over Germany as the of Prussia in Germany and in Europe, their effect forces most opposed to the tw? passions of uncon- must be gradual, and their results must be equally trolled freedom and of local independence. The remote from revolutionary violence and from miliPrussian regiments returning from Schleswig were tary aggrandizement. fiercely attacked in the streets of Hamburg, partly by the anarchists, but far more by that spirit of independence which is the life of the commercial freedom of the Hanseatic cities; for Hamburg still stands aloof from that political union which she knows to be the forerunner of the most calam-own subjects and with the French republic are itous commercial restrictions. In the southern provinces on the Rhine, which have been devastated and demoralized by a frightful insurrection, the Prussian army is viewed with sullen animosity; and, as the Grand Duke of Baden finds himself, on his return to Carlsruhe, wholly dependent on his powerful auxiliaries, the military occupation of the country is the sole support of his government. On the other hand, the southern powers of Austria, Bavaria, and Wurtemberg, have not been slow to avail themselves of this increasing jealousy and popular hostility to the Prussian influence. They are even accused, we hope without reason, of fomenting that spirit of anarchy from which Prussia has most effectually contributed to save them, and of an attempt to revive the obsolete pretensions of the Archduke John. From the London Times, August 20. AFFAIRS OF ROME. THE relations of the Papal government with its daily assuming a character of signal iniquity. It is evident from the conduct of Pius IX. that he entertains no intention of compromise in those political differences which drove him into temporary exile, but that his authority has been resumed with the deliberate resolution of carrying out to their full extent those traditional principles of administration which have hitherto so equivocally characterized the States of the Church. We have reasons for surmising that this resolution is not of very recent formation. It would have been no unnatural result if the violent measures of the insurrectionary party in Rome, following, as they did, so closely on the liberal overtures of the pontiff himself, had induced some reactionary sentiments; but we are not without an opinion that the determination now These are dangerous and unworthy tricks, shown on the part of his holiness, to maintain in if they have been resorted to; but at the same their full integrity all the abuses of an essentially time, it bodes no good to the union of Germany corrupt administration, was of earlier growth than that, in these critical times, the Assembly or Diet the revolutionary schemes of the late conspirators. of the Confederation has ceased to exist in any It is even possible that in the first passages which distinct or lawful form, and that the policy of the occurred between the respective heads of the Papal northern and southern courts is more divided, if states and the French republic some such doctrines not opposed, than it has been at any moment since were candidly avowed, but all perplexities on this the formation of the Germanic body. point are removed by the fact that the pretext on There is, we doubt not, a strong disposition on which the overt intervention of France was at last |