"M. de Bismarck's invitation to admit the moderation "and forbearance of the great German Governments, "Her Majesty's Government feel bound not to disguise their own sentiments upon these matters. "Her Majesty's Government have indeed, from time "to time, as events took place, repeatedly declared their opinion that the aggression of Austria and "Prussia upon Denmark was unjust, and that the war, as waged by Germany against Denmark, had "not for its groundwork either that justice or that 'necessity which are the only bases on which war ought to be undertaken.

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Considering the war, therefore, to have been wholly unnecessary on the part of Germany, they deeply "lament that the advantages acquired by successful "hostilities should have been used by Austria and "Prussia to dismember the Danish Monarchy, which it was the object of the Treaty of 1852 to preserve "entire" (g).

It is worthy of consideration whether a State which can and does not intervene for the protection of another unjustly attacked does really provide for its own safety or secure that peace which it so justly prizes; whether there are not cases in which both national honour and national interests are best consulted by recognizing the international obligations of succouring an oppressed member of the commonwealth of civilized States; whether the conduct of a State may not be selfish, as well as that of an individual, and be attended with the like consequences. may apply, with a slight alteration, the language of

(g) Ann. Reg. 1864, p. 237.

I

our present Prime Minister as to the rights of individual men to property and religious freedom, to the aggregates of men or States, and say, "The rights of "each State are the rights of his neighbour: he that "defends one is the defender of all; and he that "trespasses on one assails all" (h). It may safely be affirmed that in the present war (1870) France was the aggressor, that the immediate reason which she assigned for beginning it was neither true nor adequate. The choice by the Spaniards of a Hohenzollern, by whomsoever suggested, for the throne of Spain was not an act which disturbed the balance of power, and neither threatened the general liberties of Europe nor endangered the safety of France. But is it not most probable, or indeed morally certain, that if France had not refused to cooperate with England and assist Denmark in her noble war of self-defence in 1865, or had aided the minor States whom Prussia absorbed in 1866, the present war, which bids fair to be at least as disgraceful to Christendom as any in which Christian States have ever been engaged, would not have taken place? Let those who deride the notion that a State has International duties weigh well the following words of M. Prevost-Paradol, uttered but two years ago:"Le démembrement du Danemark, toléré par nous, malgré les offres formelles de concours que nous faisait alors l'Angleterre pour empêcher une iniquité si dangereuse, les encouragements que la "Prusse a reçus de nous dans ses desseins déclarés "contre l'Autriche, le secours qu'avec notre aveu,

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(h) Letter to the Bishop of Aberdeen in 1852, p. 14. "The rights of each man."

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"sinon par notre ordre, lui a prêté l'Italie, sont des "faits qui n'ont plus désormais qu'un intérêt historique, sur lesquels il serait sans intérêt de revenir, "et qu'on peut abandonner au jugement sévère de "l'équitable postérité" (i).

III. The evils which result from this state of things are not transient; they tend to render permanently insecure the mutual relations of independent States.

Much of the energy, freedom, and vigour which have animated, as well as the arts and sciences which have embellished and enriched Christendom may be traced to the free competition and emulation arising from the existence of States of no considerable territorial grandeur, but members of a commonwealth which proclaimed that "Russia and Geneva had equal rights" (k).

The prevailing notion, unhappily not confined to Europe, that a State must seek territorial aggrandisement as a condition of her welfare and security is a vulgar relapse into barbarous times, and fraught with future misery to the world (7). Hence the great evil of enormous standing armies, perpetual menaces to the liberties of mankind; hence the miserable palliations of wrong and robbery under the specious titles of "rectification of frontiers" and the like.

Hence the contempt for the feelings and wishes of the inhabitants of territories, incorporated like brute animals, by brute (m) force, into the "rectified" State.

(i) La France nouvelle, par M. Prevost-Paradol, ch. iii. p. 373. (k) Pt. ii. ch. i. of this volume.

(1) Mackintosh, Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 214.

(m) "La force matérielle, la force brutale, la guerre, puisqu'il faut l'appeler par son nom." Chambre des Députés, 31 janvier 1848.—Guizot, Hist. parl, de la France, t. v. p. 555.

"D'un premier mal naîtraient une foule de maux. "Reconnaissons donc que l'injustice est un mauvais "fondement, sur lequel le monde politique ne saurait "bâtir que pour sa ruine" (n).

This mode of annihilating the liberties of free men did not, speaking only of modern times, it must be admitted, begin with these later German wars. It was the radical vice and the dissolving element of the conventions which closed the European wars against France, 1814-15.

The transference of provinces and kingdoms from one potentate to another, without the consent of the transferred inhabitants, was strongly condemned at the time by the wisest statesmen and jurists of the British Parliament (o). Subsequent events have proved the wisdom as well as the justice of this condemnation.

IV. The rights of the people thus denied in Germany have been recognized in another part of the European Continent in a very remarkable manner. The kingdom of Italy, created during the interval of which we are speaking, has been founded upon the basis of consulting the will of the inhabitants; and while these pages are being written the remaining dominions of the Pope and Rome herself are, according to the suffrage of their inhabitants, being united to this kingdom.

V. The means of ascertaining the wish of the people are open to considerable doubt and difficulty. The invention of the plébiscite is capable of being

(n) Mémoire raisonné by Talleyrand, in 1814, against the dismemberment of Saxony.

(0) Ch. xiv. of this volume.

used as an engine of despotism as well as of freedom. If Italy has acquired province after province, and city after city, by this instrument, by the same she has lost and France has acquired Nice and Savoy-an acquisition from which she has derived no real benefit, and incurred much odium, and which she made (p) in opposition to the warning and wishes of her ally Great Britain. I may be allowed to put in contrast with this mistaken policy the cession, by England, in 1863, with the consent of the Great Powers, of the Ionian Islands to Greece-an act in which real homage was paid to the principle of consulting the wishes and feelings of the subjects of acquired territory.

In a civil war (q) the stronger party will not allow the wish of the weaker party to be so ascertained, nor, if ascertained, pay attention to it, and the intervention of a third Power for the purpose of securing and giving effect to this expression of opinion, such as the Prince of Orange in the English, the King of France in the American, or the King of Sardinia in the Italian revolution, cannot take place without the existence of a war between this third Power and the other belligerent in the civil contest.

I suppose it would not be denied that, in the recent American civil war, the Southern States would have

(p) Lord Russell to Lord Cowley, July 5, 1859: "Her Majesty's Government have learned with extreme concern that the question of annexing Savoy to France has been in agitation. . . If Savoy should be annexed to France, it will be generally supposed that the left bank of the Rhine, and the 'natural limits,' will be the next object; and thus the Emperor will become an object of suspicion to Europe, and kindle the hostility of which his uncle was the victim."-Ann. Reg. 1860, p. 243.

(q) Pt. iv. ch. i, of this volume.