The following articles I clip from a secular paper of Aug. 22, and send them to you, as they throw light upon the present state of Europe, all betokening a speedy fulfillment of the long-wished-for event, the consummation of all things.
J. CLARKE.
PROSPECT OF A GENERAL EUROPEAN WAR—THE POLITICAL HORIZON DARK.
The London correspondent of the New York Tribune writes,
In a few days, however, two or more brigades of regular Italian troops, six battalions of Sicilian rifles, and two batteries of artillery, will be ready to take the field, all in all, about 30,000 men. A regiment of cavalry is in course of formation, and 12,000 mobilized national guards, in fact, irregular insurgents, are under arms. With these resources, Garibaldi will soon be prepared to make an attack upon Naples, and to overthrow the confusion which is now reigning there. The officers of the fleet have openly declared that they will not fight against Italians; a portion of the army protest against the foreign regiments, and insist upon the order for disbanding them; the Royal Guards and the foreigners shout, "Down with the Constitution!" "Long life to Maria Theresa!" the Queen Dowager, who is at the head of the re-actionary party, while the lazzaroni and the children in the street greet one another with a hurra for Garibaldi!
This state of things has seriously alarmed Austria, especially as in Hungary the demonstrations multiply, and Serbs and Croats openly express their sympathies with their former enemies of 1848. On the 8th of Aug. the Council of the Empire is to discuss the Budget, and the Hungarian members have selected this opportunity for a parliamentary attack upon the system of centralization prevalent in Austria. They will be backed by the Bohemian, Croatian, Serb and Wallachian members; a Dalmatian, too, has promised his vote; and then the opposition will muster strong enough to disturb the equanimity of the Cabinet and the Emperor.
After having disclosed the defects of the present system, they will recommend provincial constitutions for all the different portions of the empire as the only possible remedy, and then give in their resignation. The Vienna Cabinet is well aware that such a resignation will be nothing short of the first sign of a revolution, and are therefore looking around for assistance. This is the real cause of the Toplitz Conference, which resulted in a complete understanding between Austria and Prussia; and if the Syrian difficulties have for a while detached from this coalition, we see England—that is to say, the Court and Cabinet—rather inclined to support the German princes, and the king of Belgium.
A great European war is scarcely to be avoided. Though the Austro-Prussian Alliance which now extends over all Germany is for the present only a defensive one, still it cannot fail to soon become offensive in the face of the rapid extension of revolution in Italy. Napoleon sees his danger, and accordingly keeps 600,000 men under arms. In the course of August he is to have an interview with King Victor Emanuel at Monaco, between the French and Italian provinces, to arrange the future position and relations of the Empire and the Italian Kingdom—these natural allies against the coalition. The Latin races and the German nation are pitted against one another, but Revolution and Enthusiasm now side with the Latin League, while the German coalition represents the oppression of other nationalities, and centralizing despotism. The Oriental question complicates the situation still more, since Europe cannot now allow that Russia should annex the East, while the Western and Central Powers are making war against one another; and still the Sultan and Turkish Empire are past saving. They have wasted the respite given them by the Crimean war and the peace of Paris, without consolidating their power; and their doom is sealed since the fanaticism of Lebanon and Damascus have caused the indignation of the civilized world against a power unable to give protection to its subjects, and to prevent the most atrocious outrages.
THE PERIL OF ENGLAND—A REMARKABLE CONFESSION.
The London Times, in an article noticing the late letter of the Emperor Napoleon says:
"It is the policy of the Emperor of the French, for reasons which he believes to be quite sufficient, at a time when all Europe is only anxious to preserve peace with him and his invincible legions, to maintain an army amounting to four hundred thousand men, and, with few colonies or outlying dominions to protect, a navy, to say the least, of the most formidable dimensions. Our navy is our only guarantee for the existence of our vast trade and the retention of our Colonial and Indian Empire. Our navy depends on our dock-yards, our dock-yards depend on the force which we can spare for the defense, and on the fortifications which we can erect around them. Twenty-four hours' loss of command of the Channel is invasion. Twenty-four days' loss of the command of the sea is ruin to our credit, our commerce, our manufactures. The machine is so complicated that it will not bear the slightest or most temporary derangement."
The above lines are significant and contain an extraordinary confession. The Times, in effect, says to the French Emperor that if he can obtain the control of the Channel but for twenty-four hours, he can invade Great Britain, and then throw his disciplined hundreds of thousands of troops on her shores. If he can hold the command of the Channel by a superior fleet for twenty-four days, he can ruin British credit, British commerce, and British manufactures! The British political fabric, we are told by the Times, is so complicated that it will not bear the slightest or most temporary derangement. This is certainly not a very enviable picture of British greatness! Louis Napoleon having no colonies to guard, and having an immense navy is able, by concentrating it all in the channel, while the British navy is distributed over the globe, to get that superiority for a few hours or a few days, which, the Times thinks, would be disastrous to England.