Political aspects and prospects in Europe : a lecture delivered before the Young Men's Association in the city of Albany, January 31, 1854
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'%lis"^ /"^ ^■\ 4M4^ "o V .Hq, ^ <j> ■^«?4^V' y\ •^, , * - ^ o ^ . ^ ^•o^ ^^.Si >iJ-Vsk A- ' ■ - ' ' 'V <' '■-. . ^ * G -^ •Vi V" • ff\ mi' IPoIitical %spth m)) ^wsptts in fcope. LECTURE DELIVERED BEFORE THE YOUNG MEFS ASSOCIATION CITY OF ALBANY, January 31, 1854. ^ , Q „• C \\ X ^ BJ DANIEL D; BAENAED, LL. D. r ALBANY : WEED, PARSONS AND COMPANY. 1854. o ft ' -rt,^ Rooms op the TouNa Men's Association, ) Albany, February \st, 1S54. ( At a meeting of the Executive Committee, held this day, it was unanimously Resolved, That the thanks of the Association be presented to the Hon. Daniel D. Baenaed for his interesting and instructive Lecture on " Political Aspects and Prospects in Eueope," delivered before the Association last evening, and that he be requested to furnish a copy thereof for publication. ( A copy from the minutes. ) JACOB C. CUTLER, Recording Se&y. Albany, February \, 1854. Hon. DANIEL D. BARNARD, Deab Sie: We take pleasure in communicating to you the foregoing copy of a Resolution, unanimously passed by the Executive Committee of the Young Men's Association this day. We trust that you will be willing to favor us by a compliance with the request therein contained, that we may give a more enduring form and a wider circulation to the invaluable truths contained In the Lecture. We have the honor to be, Your obedient servants, CLINTON CASSIDY, GILBERT L. WILSON, RALPH P. LATHBOP, GEORGE B. HOYT, WM. A. JACKSON, J. C. CUTLER, H. H. CRANE, JOSEPH WARREN, J. N. PARKER, JOHN C. FELTMAN, PETER SMITH, Jr., W.' T. BURGESS, JNO. t. Mcknight, jno. f. steele, H. T. BUELL, JAMES REID, WM. H. TAYLOR, DAVID MURRAY, REUBEN WILSON, CHARLES D. HARMAN, K. V. DE WITT, Je. Albany, February 15, 1854. Gentlemen : I have felt much flattered by the very kind matter and manner of your letter of the first instant, accompanying a Resolution of the Executive Committee of your Association, asking for a copy of my Lecture, lately delivered before that body, for publication. I regret that circumstances have prevented an earlier reply. I have concluded to place my manuscript at your disposal, which I will do as soon as I can find time to revise it, with a view to the correction of any errors in language that may have escaped me in the haste of composition. With great respect and esteem, I am, gentlemen, Your obedient serv't, Messrs. Gilbert L. Wilson, D. D. BARNARD. Clinton Cassedy and others. LECTURE. I THINK we are never, in this country, without an ex- pectation of a Revohition to "break out somewhere in the European woi'lcl. Many look eagerly for tliis sort of news, and feel no little disappointment whenever an ar- rival is announced and no blessed intelligence of this nature comes with it. Others expect these events with more patience, and with a mingled feeling of dread and hope. It is an opinion, very commonly entertained, that it is only through this kind of tribulation that any people, not already free, can enter into the full beati- tudes of liberty. And those who hold this sentiment are enabled to fortify themselves by many examples, to show that the emancipation of nations must be achieved by violence and war. It was thus that our own inde- pendence was estabhshed. It was thus that the inde- pendence of the South American Republics was estab- lished. It was thus that Holland threw off her subju- gation to Spain. But, natural as may be this sympathy of the American people with revolution abroad, actual or expected, still it becomes a question how far it is fit and proper, how far it is right or politic in us to give expression to it, in reference, at least, to those countries with which we maintain, and officially pro- claim our desire to maintain, relations of peace, com- 6 POLITICAL ASPECTS AND merce and friendsliip. Nations are equals; and some- thing is due to courtesy between them, as there is be- tween gentlemen ; and the people and the government ought to be in accord on a matter of so much impor- tance. Whatever attitude is proper to be assumed by the people of the United States towards a foreign people and government, the same attitude would seem to be quite proper to be assumed by the President of the United States, who, as their rej)resentative, is the Con- stitutional organ of foreign communication and inter- course. Suppose, then, that an American Minister abroad, who, in that capacity, represents the sovereignty of the coun- try, under the appointment and instructions of the Presi- dent, and who, it is often insisted, is bound to represent his country in all its distinctive and characteristic senti- ments and feelings, should apj^roach the sovereign to whom he may be accredited, on the occasion of present- ing his letters of credence, and say : ' Sire, It gives me particular pleasure to convey to your Majesty the assu- rance of the President of the United States, as I am in- structed to do, of his hearty desire to maintain and per- petuate relations of perfect amity with your Majesty and your Majesty's government and country. It is due. Sire, at the same time, to candor, to apprise your Majesty that the United States are looking anxiously, I ought to say impatiently, for a rebelhon and revolution in your Majes- ty's dominions, by which your Majesty and your royal house shall be extirpated, or driven into perpetual exile, and your Majesty's oppressed subjects become emancipa- ted and fi'ee.' This, to say the least of it, would be a novel proceeding in Dij)lomatic intercourse; and per- haps, after all, the most ardent patriot amongst us would PROSPECTS IN EUROPE. 7 not care, supposing tliis to be tbe true feeling of the country, to bave tbe country quite so faitbfully repre- sented abroad. It is natural and ine\dtable tbat tbe citizens of a Re- public, as bappy in its Constitution and prosperous in its affairs as ours is, and wbo, not from mere babit or pre- judice, but from well-reasoned and enligbtened convic- tion, are devotedly attacbed to tbis form of government, sbould be disj)osed to sympatbise strongly witb tbose wbo call tbemselves repuljbcans, wberever tbey arise and manifest tbemselves in any quarter of tbe world. But tbere is some danger tbat tbis sympatby may mis- lead our judgments, may outrun knowledge and discre- tion, may waste itself on unwortby objects and on un- wortby demonstrations, may do less tban justice, or posi- tive injustice, to existing governments and institutions, and, in its excess and universality, may lead our govern- ment and country to assume positions, in tbe face of tbe world, wbicb it would be impossible to maintain, and from wbicb it would be equally impossible to retreat witb credit or bonor. It bas seemed to me tbat it migbt not be altogetber unprofitable if I sbould embrace tbis occasion to present to your consideration a sketcb of tbose revolutionary attempts and movements in Europe, in modern and re- cent times, witb tbeir successes and tbeir failures, wbicb, in tbeir origin, or in tbe turn given to tbem by tbe party calling itself democratic or republican, bave bad for tbeir object tbe overtbrow of Monarcby, and tbe plant- ing of tbe Repubbcan system in its place ; and to offer also, in connection and continuation, a sketcb of tbe re- markable process wbicb bas long been going on in Eu- rope, wbetber under tbe lead of tbe existing sovereigns POLITICAL ASPECTS AND themselves, or against their will, in converting absolute governments into governments of limited powers, with written Constitutions and a representative parliamentary system, and with provisions, more or less extensive and complete, for the guarantee of popular rights and liber- ties, and for securing to the people a place and a share in the business of government. As the substance of what I propose to offer will be historical, following, strictly and literally, the course and current of events, I trust it will be borne in mind that it is no particular fault of mine if it shall seem to follow from the obstinate truths of the record presented, that Europe, whether generally or in particular quarters, is not quite so far advanced in the line of full fraternity with us as a Republic as many amongst us have hoped and believed. We shall find, after all, for our consola- tion, that Europe has been making progress, and very remarkable progress too, in liberal ideas, and in govern- mental forms fitted to advance, and in some good degree to secure personal freedom. And we shall find, also, that for very much of all this, beyond all question, she is in- debted to us, and to our institutions and example. According to the avowed objects and designs of the Democratic and Revolutionary party in Europe — that party which has lately had its representatives from abroad in this country — that party which looks to the United States for sympathy, not to say for material aid — it does not consider that anything has really been gained, or any- thing really accomplished, if its success, in any demon- stration, has not gone the full length of overturning an existing government. Monarchical in its form, and estab- lishing a Republic on its ruins. This party, of course, accepts of no sovereignty but that of the people ; and it PEOSPECTS IN EUROPE, 9 goes furtlier, and accepts of no political reform under any other sovereignty. It professes its design and reso- lution to go to the root of the matter. It will have the Re]3ubhc and nothing else ; and I su2:)pose there can be no doubt that a decided preponderance of voices, both among the leaders and in the ranks, is for wliat is called the Democratic and Social Republic. This party, as a political Propaganda, aiming to plant the authority and rule of Democracy everywhere, to the exclusion of all other government, by means of revolution, may Ije re- garded as going back in its history rather more than sixty years ; it goes l)ack to that stormy period in France, when, born with more than the strength of the infant Hercules, its spirit gained a ready ascendancy in those councils and assemblies called in that unhappy country, at that period, to propose remedies for the re- dress of those monstrous and unendurable abuses in which the government of the time had involved itself; when, through its domination, the National Assembly of France proclaimed the abolition of Royalty, the birth of the Republic one and indivisible, and the readiness of the French people " to assist all nations desirous of recovering their lil:)erty." Within a very brief period from the rise of this party, taking that date at 1792, besides the Republic of France, with greatly extended boundaries and power, not less than six or seven other republics were proclaimed, as trophies of its victorious cause, and witnesses of the wisdom of its doctrines and principles. Venice became a Democracy. A Republic was proclaimed at Rome. Genoa was converted into the Ligurian Republic. In Naples, the Parthenopian Republic was founded. Two other Republics, the Transpadane and the Cispadane, 10 POLITICAL ASPECTS AND were establislied in Lombardy and upper Italy, after- wards united — first, under tlie name of the Cisalpine, and, next, under that of the Italian Republic, with no less a personage than Napoleon Bonaparte for its Presi- dent; and, finally, the Kingdom of Holland was con- verted into the Batavian Republic. Here, then, was great apparent success. Six or seven years had sufficed to found in Europe as many Repub- lics, all built on the subversion and the ruins of the old order of things. Battle after battle was fought, and victory after victory perched on the banner of the Republican forces, and one proud old monarchy after another was compelled to acknowledge and recognise these new governments which had arisen to astonish and confound the vision and sense of mankind. But, unhap- pily for the cause and encouragement of the party of Revolution, much less than the same number of years that had sufficed for the creation of these new governments, was employed in sweeping them away. In a short dozen years from the solemn abolition of Royalty m France, not a vestige or sign of a Republic, which had been created by Revolution, remained in Europe. All had been dissolved and had disappeared, as if they had been, not substantial fabrics of political government, but something vapory and unreal — mere exhalations from the bosom of the disturbed and reeking earth, though assuming, fantastically, the outline and shape of great and gorgeous structures, with solid foundations, under the shelter of which nations might gather to taste the felicity of freedom, security and peace. And from the period when this entire grouj) of revolutionary creations had disappeared, on through a term of forty-four years, no serious attempt — at least. PEOSPECTS IN EUROPE. 11 no successful attempt — was made to re-create Repub- lics in continental Europe. And all this time tlie Democratic and Revolutionary party was not extinct ; it existed ; it was, all the while, an organized, and often an active, Propaganda. It was doing what it could. It was cherishing its peculiar doctrines. It was nourishing its mortal hate against Royalty. It was storing up its wrath for the first occasion which might offer for action and vengeance. It had its adherents, its j)artizans and agents in every country. Indeed, the broad doctrine of Republicanism against Royalty has, at all times, its re- presentatives and advocates everywhere in Europe, and in every rank and condition of life. Among men of genius and philanthropy, especially those of poetic tem- perament ; among philosophers ; among learned profes- sors and savans ; among Avriters and literary men ; in the ranks of the army, and very high up in those ranks ; in the ranks of the nobles, and even among those of princely birth, Republicans are found ; those who hold to the theory of Rej^ublican doctrine, and honestly main- tain and defend their faith in that doctrine, as often and as openly as they can or dare. These, it is true, do not usually swell the ranks of the active revolutionary Propaganda. But their well known sentiments, though utterly discarding all sympathy with the extreme opinions, and the socialistic, infidel and bloody creeds, so prevalent in that party, give encouragement to it, and lend to it a sort of moral aid and comfort. And after all, nothing was done, and scarcely anything was at- tempted, for forty-four years after the first French Republic, and those that revolved as satelhtes around it, had disappeared. 12 POLITICAL ASPECTS AND At length came the insurrection in Paris of February, 1848, and once more France was procLaimecl a Republic. Immediately, new hopes animated the revolutionary Propaganda ; immediately, it sprang into new activity. This time, however, it was not backed by the armies of the Grand Nation, in the various theatres of its opera- tions. In each country it was left mainly to help itself. It did what it was able to do. In the progress of events, Venice proclaimed itself a Republic, and gal- lantly did she fight to maintain her declaration. Once more a Roman Republic was proclaimed. A Repub- lic was set up at Florence. And in Hungary a war, begun for reform or for independence, Avas converted into a struggle for the Republic. A few short months, however, saw the end of all these new visions of Republican success and glory. The new French Republic of 1848 held out a year or two longei^, and then fell, more ingloriously, perhaps, than the gov- ernment of any great country ever fell before. And then, once again, not a single example, great or small, remained in all Europe of a Republic founded in revo- lution, or established under the auspices of the Revolu- tionary party. Europe was once again as universally and strictly under the sway of Monarchy as it had been previous to the proclamation of the first great Republic, one and indivisible, in France, sixty years before. It was once again, and is now, to-day, as universally and com- pletely under the sway of Monarchy, as a system of government, as it was centuries ago. And the circumstances under which the Democratic republican system has been extinguished in Europe, on the occasion of this last attempt to establish it, are sin- gular and curious, and are full of instruction to those PEOSPECTS IN EUROPE. 13 wlio really wish to form an estimate of the chances of success which remain to encourage the hopes and efforts of the revolutionary party. In the first place, it is to be remarked that the French Republic of 1848 was established under a Constitution marked with strong democratic qualities. The preamble declared that its principles were those of Liberty, Equali- ty and Fraternity ; and that its foundations were, the Family, Labor, Property and Public Order. It conse- crated the majority of numbers as the principle of sov- ereignty, and election by universal suffrage as the founda- tion of all just power. What improvements on this Constitution the democracy of Euro23e might propose to make, or could make, in order to increase the chances of success and permanency, it is not easy to understand. It may be assumed, I think, that this Constitution was as likely to stand as any other which might have emanated from its creative genius. And then it must be considered that this Republic had a fair field ; it had the whole field to itself Nobody from without interfered, or attempted to interfere with it. Europe did not arm now, as on a former occasion, to oppose it. No country in Europe offered or proposed to oppose or disturb it. On the contrary, it was agreed, on all hands, the doctrines of the Congress of Laybach to the contrary notwithstanding, that France was at perfect liberty to make and maintain just such a government for herself as she pleased. The Republic was promptly acknowledged, and Diplomatic intercourse was estab- lished between it and all the leading Powers. And the Republic had another great advantage. The party of Royalty in the country, whatever might be its aggregate numbers, was broken into three factions, di- 14 POLITICAL ASPECTS AND vided and distracted between three dynasties and tliree pretenders to the throne. They were Legitimists, Or- leanists, or Bonapartists, each faction deadly hostile to the others, and each resolved that Monarchy shonld never be restored in France unless in the line to w^hicli its allegiance was due. In the mean time, not only was Royalty abolished, but, for a while, the very presence, in the country, of any Royal person, or prince of any blood, royal or imperial, ever belonging to France, was forbidden. The atmosphere of the country was not to be tainted with the presence of any such person, nor any chance or opportunity given to any such person to steal away the hearts of the people, or seduce their unsophis- ticated aifections from the one and indivisible RejDublic. The question of the Republic was to be for France and France alone, unawed and uninfluenced from without, and unbiassed and unseduced from within. The French people were to determine what sort of a government the French people should have. Well, the Republic was accepted, and the nation j^ro- 43eeded to elect the Chief of the State by universal suf- frage. And this it did with an unmistakable premoni- tion of what was to follow. Besides a Socialist candi- date who received between three and four hundred thou- sand suffi'ages, there was a true and genuine Republican candidate, Geul. Cavaignac, a Republican from honest conviction, esteemed and honored l)y the nation, who received less than a million and a half of votes ; whilst Louis jSTapoleon Bonaparte, a Prince of the Imperial house of that name, and the Pretender to the throne of his uncle, carried off more than five millions and a half of suifrages, and was triumphantly elected. He was now President of the RejDublic with a Constitution. It PROSPECTS IN EUEOPE. 15 was au easy step from tliis to the Presidency of the Re- public, still elected by universal suflfrage, with the Con- stitution abolished. In one year after that he was ele- vated, by the use of this same powerful lever of universal suftrage, to the dignity of Emperor of the French, and the very name of Republic was once more blotted out of the page of French history. The Revolutionary party say that Louis Napoleon be- trayed and sacrificed the cause of French liberty. He seduced the army and thus overthrew the Republic. Louis Napoleon had been a wanderer on the face of the earth. He had been regarded as a desperate adventurer. He had been six years a State Prisoner in the fortress of Ham for his political offences ; and, when the revolution of 1848 broke out, he was abroad as an escaped criminal and fugitive from justice. He came back to France penniless. He had no military fame ; had never "set a squadron in the field," or fought a battle in his life. He had achieved no exploits to captivate the imagina- tion of the French, or fire them with visions of glory. Yet three times within five years he was saluted by the almost common acclaim of that people as their chief and their ruler. He had the army with him, but he seems to have had the people with him also. The army was just as nearly unanimous in his favor as the people, and no more so. And why not ? It was not a foreign army, with which he had invaded the country. It was a French army, composed of French citizens and forming a part of the electoral body of the country — men just as ca- pable of deciding for themselves, and just as free to do so — and more so, because they had their arms in their hands — as the rest of the milHons who gave him their suffrages, whether they would have him for President of 16 POLITICAL ASPECTS AND the Republic or some body else, or wlietber tliey would have the Republic at all or not. No ; as I read this interesting and iinj)ortant chapter of history, the case was a very plain one. If French liberty was betrayed and sacrificed, it was the French people that did it. It was done after the most aj)proved form — by universal suflft-age. And, in my judgment, the vote at the first election on the 10th December, 1 848, which made Louis Napoleon President by so overwhelm- ing a majority, at a time when he had neither money, nor patronage, nor power, was just as significant and decisive of the fate of the Republic as the greatly in- creased vote which made him President for ten years, or that which elected him Emperor. I can see nothing in all these extraordinary proceedings but a manifestation of the will of the French people, by universal sufii^age, against the Republic. If a Republic in France cannot stand on the basis of universal sufi:rage — cannot main- tain itself with universal suffrage, when the issue is whether it shall stand or fall ; if when that issue is pre- sented, no matter how unfairly, universal suffrage seems to go against the Republic by nearly eight voices out of ten, by nearly eight millions out of ten millions, I con- fess I do not see what very comforting grounds of en- couragement and hope remain for the Republic* If the Republic is to reappear in Europe in our time, with any fair promise of stability and permanency, I am sure I should not know, with any acquaintance I have * The several elections referred to are to be looked at in their main features and results. No sane man takes them a? examples of what popular elections ought to he in point of freedom and purity, or as exempt from the gravest ex- ceptions in many particulars. But, after all allowances are made, there remains enough to render it sufficiently certain that a large majority of the French peo- ple, as well in 1848 as afterwards, were not of the Republican party. PKOSPECTS IN EUEOPE. lY of tlie state of things abroad, in wliat quarter to look for its rising, or for tlie dawn of so gracious a day. It is apparent that the hopes of the Revolutionary party now rest on the anticipated European war to grow out of the complications on the Eastern question, as affording an opportunity for successful popular de- monstrations in certain quarters. In the event of such a war, Mazzini no doubt expects to take easy possession of Italy for the Republicans ; Kossuth confidently looks to have Hungary ; and Kinckle, or somebody else, sees a clear field for the Republic in Germany. That, in such an event, there will be risings of the people in these countries, or some of them, is more than probable. But it is quite another question whether the long expected Republics are to rise out of the chaos, and come to the light, and find permanent foundations on which to fix themselves. On this point, my faith is not as large or as confident as that of the remarkable men I have just named. If a general war takes place in Europe, the immediate cause of that war will be the disturbance, or the threatened disturbance, by the Emperor of Russia, of the present territorial arrangements, constituting the balance of power between the several sovereignties, according to the general plan of 1815, upon the pacifica- tion of that period. And the object, and the final result, of the war will be, either to maintain the status of those arrangements as now existing, or, if any change is to take place, then to fix the new territorial arrange- ments and divisions to the mutual satisfaction of the parties, and so as still to preserve the balance of power in Europe. 18 POLITICAL ASPECTS AND It is no new thing for an Emperor of Russia to wor- ship with his face turned towards Constantinople. The Emperor Alexander, in his time, desired strongly to be allowed to take possession of that renowned city. He wished to make it another capital, perhaps the Capital, of his Empire. As long ago as the Peace of Tilsit, it was agreed between him and Napoleon that the Ottoman power should be driven back into Asia — at least, that nothing should remain to it in Europe but Constantinople and Roumelia. And at a later period, a distinct proposition was made in a diplomatic note, without signature, but with the sanction of the Empe- ror, to the Minister of Napoleon, for the partition between Russia, Austria and France, of the entire posses- sions of the Sultan in Europe, including Constantinople, which was to fall to the lot of Russia. But Napoleon would never consent to see the Czar installed in Con- stantinople. These projects of dismemberment failed, therefore, at that period; but they have never been abandoned — at least, on the part of Russia. The quarrel which the Czar has now fastened on the Sultan is an experiment on his part, the first hazards of which he has been willing to take for the sake of the chances that might grow out of it of making at least some approaches towards the grand designs of Russia in the direction of the Turkish Capital ; an object so much longed for, and now so long delayed. He has counted, probably, in part on the known repugnance almost universally felt to see the joeace of Europe dis- turbed ; and partly on the supposed want of cordiality between England and France, and the difficulty, there- fore, which would be found in those two powers uniting to oppose him. It is probable, also, he has been willing PKOSPECTS IN EUEOPE. 19 enough to believe that the work of conquest and dis- possession in the European dominions of the Sultan, once begun, the western powers might be brought to connive at the operation ; and then nothing would remain to be done but to settle, in another Congress of Vienna, how the spoils should be divided, and what changes, if any, should be made in the general arrangements of Europe. Now, I hazard the opinion — not perhaps worth much, and the unsoundness of which possibly the next arrival from the other continent may show — that there will be no general war in Europe on this Turkish question. I think the Czar will find that the time has not yet come for driving the Sultan out of Europe ; for assigning Constantinople to him for his winter capital, and making him the keeper of the Gates of the Ottoman Empire. He will find it impossible to satisfy the other powers interested in that great question. He will find that the western j)owers are not yet prepared to consent that his impatient ambition shall disturb the present equilibrium in Europe, so long the guarantee of peace. They have already made a united declaration to that eftect. I think, if he is not mad — and perhaps he is — he will not care to encounter them in war on such a question ; a war in which his signal discomfiture, so far as his real designs are concerned, must be inevitable ; a war in which I think he cannot count on a single ally. And before the season shall arrive when a regular and efii- cient campaign can be undertaken, it is quite probable, as it seems to me, that diplomacy will have found a way to appease the wrathful demi-god of the North, or for his escape from the awkward position in which he has 20 POLITICAL ASPECTS AND placed liimself, and save Europe from a sanguinary struggle.* If this anticipation shall be realized, of course tlie hopes entertained of a Republic in Italy and a Republic in Hungary and a Republic in Germany, to emerge from the smoke and confusion of a general war, must be dis- appointed. And, on the other hand, if such a war comes, I see very little to encourage the hopes of the revolutionists. The time of a general struggle and melee among the powers of Europe, the object and the end of which must be the maintenance, or the readjust- ment, of the equilibrium of Europe, does not seem to me a time for Revolution to raise its head. With the strength of the male population of almost every country put in requisition to supply the military contingents; with immense armies moving in every direction, and present or at hand almost everywhere ; and with a circle of belligerents, which, however hostile to each other on the points immediately involved in the war, would be united as a band of brothers to put down every sign and symptom of Democratic Revolution wherever it might be attempted ; with all this, it is dif- ficult to see what peculiar encouragement such a state of things holds out to the party of Revolution. PEOSPECTS IN EUEOPE. 21 tlie democratic Propaganda, and set up Republics, but lier forces will go tliere, if at all, as they went in 1849 to Rome, to put down Revolution and all Republican movements, and to sustain or restore tlie ancient order of things. When has Revolution, or the democratic Propaganda, ever made a successful movement, or any serious movement at all, in Europe, during a general war, except where a first rate power was in the field with a Revolutionary army? I remember no such example, nor do I expect to witness any such instance.* The Revolutionary Projoaganda is accustomed to count on defections supposed to exist, or supposed to be likely to arise, in the ranks of the armies. I remember, dur- ing my late sojourn abroad, that on the occasion of some slight disturbance in one of our cities, it was announced in a German newspaper, as grave intelligence, that a revo- lution had broken out in the United States and the army had fraternized with the people ! There is just about the same probability that any regular army in Europe, once in the field, will fraternize with revolution. Un- doubtedly there are democrats and revolutionists in the armies, but the spirit of disaffection has little chance to show itself in the face of severe discij)line, and of that e-'^prit du corps which animates every military organiza- tion, and where the common sentiment is one of perfect * Undoiibtedly, in the event that Austria should be found on the side of Russia in this general conflict — a very improbable event, I think — and have France in the field against her, there is a chance, and a probability, that she may lose her Italian Provinces; and even that Hungary may achieve her former independence. Both these countries may be great gainers; Lombardy and Venice escaping from the sovereignty of Austria altogether, and falling under a constitutional regime; and Hungary compelling the Emperor to recognize her separate existence as a kingdom. An insurrection in these countries for these objects may very well occur; but I see no reason for supposing that France, or any other power, is to help the Democracy to set up Republics there, or any- where else. 22 POLITICAL ASPECTS AND loyalty, and the undeviating and universal rule of action that of implicit obedience. Nobody expects, I believe, the wooden automata that compose the Russian army ever to do anything but obey orders. The Austrian army never seems to shrink from any duty to which it is called, against revolution and extemporised Republics. They did not fraternize with the Republic of Hungary, or the Republic of Venice, or the Republic of Tuscany. And as for the French army, what may be expected of it may be learned from the bloody ferocity with which it conquered at the battles of the barricades in Paris after the covfp d^etat of Louis Napoleon. It was the sol- diers, not of Imperial, but of Republican France, which conquered Rome from the Republicans and delivered it up to the Pope. If there is any country in Europe where the army might be supposed to be a power dangerous, or likely to become dangerous to the government, it is Prussia, and hence the hopes, perhaps, of the Propaganda in Germany. Prussia is strictly a military kingdom. Nearly every able-bodied man in it is a soldier. The army, active and inactive, is composed of the entire male population capable of l)earing arms, with very insignificant excep- tions, from the age of full manhood onward to that which unfits the soldier for any service. It combines nearly the whole physical strength of the kingdom. The mili- tary system of Prussia is that of a thoroughly organized and thoroughly disciplined militia. Properly, there is little that can be called a standing army. The force in service at any one time, is composed chiefly of the young men of the country under the age of twenty-four, un- dergoing the process of complete military instruction and discipline. They range from the raw recruit to PEOSPECTS m EUROPE. 23 the complete soldier, ready to graduate from this great Military School. Three years is the normal term of in- struction and service ; though the recruit who can fur- nish his own uniform, and who, on a strict examination, is found to be educated up to a certain point, completes this service in one year. After this service is completed, the Prussian falls into the Landwehr of the first class, in which, up to thirty years of age, he is subjected to occa- sional drills, and to short tours of exercise annually, in the grand manoeuvres and military displays of the king- dom. He then falls into the Landwehr of the second class, reserved for the event of war. It is easy to see that the Monarchy in Prussia must hold its position by a very frail tenure, if the army was capable of being turned against it. To fraternize with the people the citizen soldiers of Prussia have only to fraternize with themselves. They are the people. And if Revolution in Europe, and the cause of Democracy and Democratic Republics have any connection with the progress of education and general enlightenment, as is commonly supposed, then Prussia, of all the countries in Europe, ought to be the field where the Revolutionary party might act with the greatest efliciency, and reap the most certain successes. In no country in the world is the pursuit of learning, in all its branches and in its highest walks, prosecuted more earnestly or more suc- cessfully. Nor is there any country where this learning is imparted and inculcated more assiduously or more effectively ; and what is particularly to the purpose in this matter, is the well known fact that among the most able, profound and world-renowned Professors and Teach- ers, are found those of the most liberal political senti- ments, who never fail to color their teachings with the 24 POLITICAL ASPECTS AND characteristics of their peculiar doctrines and opinions. Besides her six universities, Prussia opens to her people, and maintains, about one hundred and twenty Gymna- sia — institutions equal to the common run of our Ameri- can Colleges and so-called Universities; with several normal Academies, many progymnasia, and numerous high schools ; and she provides for the mass of her popu- lation a common school system, which is ample for em- bracing every child in the kingdom in its instruction, and of the benefits of which she compels every child in the kingdom, not otherwise provided for, to partake. Education is, therefore, literally universal. Every Prus- sian employed in my household during my late residence in Berlin, male or female, without exception, and down to those in the lowest and most menial ser\dce, wrote perhaps as clerkly a hand as one-half of the young gentlemen who supply our counting houses and banks in this country. In like manner every Prussian soldier comes into the army with at least the elements of a common school education. And this is not all. Schools for carrying forward their instruction, conducted mainly by the young officers, are established in all regular bar- racks and quarters, which the military regulations re- quire the recruits to attend. And in this way it is, that the peasant and the mere clod-poll, who come up from the estates and rustic villages in the country with the countenance, the carriage and the ideas of a boor, to enter on their service as soldiers, are turned back at the end of three years, completely metamorjDhosed, with a marked manliness of bearing and character, and often with a degree of intelligence, and even of refinement, quite extraordinary for the sphere of life to which their destiny confines them. PROSPECTS IN EUROPE. 25 One would really suppose, if there is any country in Europe where a successful blow could be struck for emancipation from Monarchy, it might be Prussia, where the people are the army, with education and intelligence enough to know that if they should take the field against the King and Koyalty, the King and Royalty must in- continently go the wall. Just at the time when I en- tered Prussia, a little more than three years ago, the chief military force of the kingdom, amounting to more than six hundred thousand men, that is to say, the main physical strength of the country, was on foot and in the full panoply of war. The King had turned them out for a fight with his loving nephew, the young Emperor of Austria, which, happily, however, did not come off. But there they were, the people themselves, in the field, with their arms in their hands, thoroughly disciplined to war, and among the best soldiers in the world.. And why in the world, if they were Democrats and Pevoki- tionists of the genuine stamp, should they not have taken that occasion, when the order suddenly came to them to disband, to proclaim the al)olition of Royalty, and the succession of the Republic, one and indivisible ? No ; the Prussian army seemed to be loyal then ; it seems to be loyal now, and it seems likely long to continue loyal ; which is only another way of saying that the Prussian people, on the whole, are loyal to their King, and are not yet ready to embrace the Republic. It is no doubt true, that the idea of the Republic, as an order of things appertaining to a state of political perfectibility — Avhenever that Millennial period shall ar- rive — is quite prevalent, and a good deal cherished all over Europe. But in spite of their leaning towards this sentiment, practical men — and all communities now 26 POLITICAL ASPECTS AND abound with such — men who have property, and fami- hes, and business affairs to look after, who have a stake in society, and interests which require the protection of a stable, orderly and permanent government — all this order of persons, and nearly all others who give them- selves the trouble to think much of the matter, enter- tain the most thorough conviction that it is not within the competency of the Revolutionary party, and not within the competency of any body, at the present day, and in the present state of things, to devise a plan for the reorganization of the old societies of Europe, on the basis of the Republican System, which would afford any sufficient guarantee of public order, or have any power of duration. They see nothing in the experiments al- ready tried to lead them to desire to see those experi- ments repeated. The attempts and demonstrations of 1848 were most unhappy for the credit of the Republi- can cause. That cause was found to be so mixed up with socialistic ideas, and with bold and wicked projects for subverting all society from the foundations on which God has ordained it must stand, that the wise and the good and the j^rudeut shrunk from it with horror. They think and feel that while the strength of Samson may suffice to pull down the pillars of the Temple, the strength of a thousand Samsons might not re-edify the building, or construct another in another form, to take its place and answer its uses, out of the broken frag- ments found in its ruins. 