THE

FOREIGN POLICY OF ENGLAND.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

"The policy of Russia is based on the certainty she has of spoiling England of her Hindoo empire."

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“In the event of a war in which England should coalesce with France, Russia indulges the hope of prompt success, only when that union shall be broken up."-Russian Memoir in 1834.

England will feel the unnatural policy of Lord Grey in all its disadvantageous consequences so deeply as to tear to pieces the coil of Talleyrand, and will again separate herself from France.”—Memoir of a Russian Minister in 1833.

FOR several years there was nothing to disturb the peaceful progress of the under-current of diplomatic action which was preparing a European crisis-that is to say, there was no event, however dangerous, no encroachment on the rights of Europe however open, no denunciation of wrong, of danger, and of crime, however forcible or precise, that could arrest the attention or reach the minds of two nations whose inhabitants were divided into sections, all warring with each other on grounds which are imaginary-raising the interminable standards of what they call "principles," around which to battle amongst themselves, although the meaning of the so-called "principles" was far removed from the comprehension of the combatants-two nations, in fact, which, composed of classes having personal interests at variance, and being unacquainted with this circumstance, yielded up their

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energies to a vain attempt to secure preponderance over each other-the perception of their NATIONAL interests or security being lost sight of in the struggle.

In this state of things, the events which constitute the history of Europe during the last few years, although passing before their eyes, have remained unseen by the great bulk of the British and French people-by all those portions of them which have taken part in political affairs. What is the consequence? Have other nations been idle or inattentive? No: there is One in which no such prostrating influence has had existence-Russia has used the blindness of England and France to work out her objects! Gradually every event which she has predicted has come to pass; and they have come to pass in the face of, and often at the very moment of the bitterest denunciation and exposure of, the means of action employed to bring them about. The words "Peace," "Civilization," "Liberty," "Increasing Commerce," "Interest of Nations," and hosts of general propositions embodied in other similar abstract terms, have constantly intervened to carry away men's minds from the examination of any tangible thing connected with their country's safety or interest.

When the current of a nation's mind is running in a particular channel, it is distasteful and difficult for any of the individuals which compose it to rise out of the stream, and stand alone upon the bank for the purpose of surveying, from solid ground, and in deliberate composure, all the influences which act upon that stream-considering to what goal it may be hurrying them along; but the roar of a cataract suddenly opening on the ear, will fix the attention of the most heedless or indolent; and if not absolutely intoxicated or insane, every man will stop upon the bank and ascertain in what position he is placed-what path he is to pursue. It is thus with England and France at this moment. The course of recent events, though fraught with an importance never equalled in the annals of history, has failed to awaken the national mind, in either country, to the slightest consideration of the end to which it was tending, or might tend. It

has failed to do this-not because there was nothing in the course which had no threatening aspect; not because there happened no present injury to their material interests; not because there were no warners on the banks to apprise them of the danger, and point out the means of escape, but it has failed because neither the danger, the injury, nor the warnings, have been sufficient to reach the comprehension of men whose minds are absorbed by domestic enmity, sunk in lethargy and ignorance, or steeled by pride and by hatred. Men who having once lost their way, without knowing that they had lost it, become the prey of the first guide who has something to gain by misleading them. The same state of mind which has originally caused them to lose their way, will prevent them from detecting the honeyed falsehoods of their guide, and this it is which makes our present political condition so much more hopeless than the condition of men navigating an unknown stream in a boat. The evil is IN OUR OWN MINDS, and without our whole attention be directed to it, there is no hope of safety!

In the affairs of Europe, the peaceful under-current has been succeeded by the roar of the cataract-France, a nation mighty in military renown, arms against England! In the language of the Russian Minister, from whom part of my motto is taken, "there is one contest of bombs and bayonets, and one of principles "—we have long had the contest of principles, we have now the prospect of the contest of bombs and bayonets! Within sight of our own coasts, we have 33 millions of people breathing war, and manufacturing muskets, cannons, powder; drilling and raising soldiers, fitting out ships, spending millions of money, in preparation for the combat of "bombs and bayonets !" This looks like something tangible-there is here something more than words; if you had said to any Englishman or Frenchman, as much as one hour previous to this becoming known, that such would happen, he would have flatly contradicted you; he would have told you that such a circumstance was impossible! If you had requested a reason for its "impossibility," and laid before him your proofs of the tendency of every

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recent public event towards that end, he would have told you that "France and England were too enlightened" to do what would so decidedly "impede the march of civilization !" He would have told you that it was not for the "interest of nations to go to war"-that in the nineteenth century the principles of "Popular Liberty" and "Representative Government," had made too great progress for anything so generally pernicious to the interests of the communities as war to be possible-that the "diffusion of Education" was the best guarantee against such follies as characterised the "dark ages" only-that that "best possible instructor," the Press, formed too powerful a check on the movements of the "Despotic Powers" to permit any "disturbance of the peace of Europe "—that the "days of war and tyranny were over," and a thousand varieties of similar irrelevant phrases would be produced, and re-produced, as reasons for avoiding the trouble of examining the tendency of any event, however dangerous, or of analysing any transaction, however infamous.* Of course it is much easier for the indolent, the ignorant, the incapable and the dishonest, to take refuge in these vague general speculations (the stronghold of "modern civilization") than to use the faculties which their enjoyment of the rights of citizenship imposes on them as an imperative duty, or to admit their ignorance or their incapacity to judge of national affairs. So long as no physical calamity was pressing on their personal comfort, the people of England and France continued to look on the consideration of any subject of national interest as the work only of enthusiasts

* Thousands of pages of papers, written for the purpose of explaining to Members of Parliament the bearings of various political proceedings connected with the transactions of England in foreign countries, have been ascertained to contain falsifications, mutilations and even forgeries; yet not a single Member of either House of Legislature has heen found to examine a single sheet! Last Session of Parliament, whenever a Member got up to make a remark upon any subject of Foreign Policy, (for so has it become the fashion to designate the national interests in England!) the newspapers almost always reported "there was such a noise in the House, of Honourable Members going out, that it was impossible to catch, except imperfectly, the words of the Honourable Member's discourse!"

who were troublesome, or of madmen who were dangerous ! But the threat of a war with France at length came, and it has directed the attention of some few individuals, in a slight degree, to what was previously so universally despised. It has not drawn the attention of either nation to the real situation they are in, nor has it inspired them with the slightest desire to comprehend by what agency they have been conducted where they are, or what path it is now necessary to pursue; they are still hurrying on to the precipice, and the only difference between the present moment, and that previous to the time when they first heard the roar of the cataract, seems to be, that the attention of the voyagers is divided between the rage of the dissensions which are habitual, astonishment at the folly of each other, and abuse and detestation of those who have been warning them of the danger which was coming, as predicting the events now in course of fulfilment !

The possibility of a war with France excited a little attention in the minds of a few, but it was chiefly among those who feared for the injury it might entail on their commercial relations with that kingdom; it was almost entirely confined to the baser considerations of individual personal interest, and has been productive of no beneficial result; but to such as these even, it may not be wholly without eventual good, to address some observations on the prospects which the present state of things holds out as to the realization of their fears, their hopes or their anticipations.

The rupture of the Alliance with France took place at the end of last July, in consequence of a Treaty signed in London, for the purpose of maintaining Peace, there being at the time not the most remote danger of War, without the intervention of the Treaty of July, or some other pacific instrument of a similar nature! Some individuals, not liking the pacific" appearance denoted by the arming of several hundred thousand soldiers filled with hostile intent against England, enquired of the author of the mischief what he had done to drive the French into hostility? The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs replied to them that he had done

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