ing into undue importance, by official pursuit, men so powerless and so contemptible as are most of those he seeks to crush. If to an amendment of our law (whether enactive or declaratory only), so as to bring within its grasp and adequately to punish all attempts and conspiracies to murder,—such a measure we will gladly and promptly pass, as soon as we have ascertained (which our jurists are now occupied in doing) that the existing law is insufficient for its purpose, either by leaving technical loopholes for escape, or by assigning a penalty too trifling to deter. But if-as would appear to be the casewhat the Emperor really asks, and what alone can meet the exigencies of his position, be the enactment of a law which shall enable our authorities to take cognisance of a merely meditated crime,-which shall empower or direct our police to remove or to confine a man simply because it is "notorious" that he hates the Emperor, and would slay or dethrone him if he could,-which, in a word, shall abolish that grand and saving distinction to which we owe the wonderful security of our personal freedom, the distinction, namely, between overt act and secret intent, then we cannot answer him too promptly, too plainly, or too resolutely, that such a change in the whole spirit and principle of English legislation we WILL NOT make—no, not for the sake of any alliance or of any Emperor. If this document is characterised by remarkable courtesy and moderation, the next we have to notice is lamentably different in tone. It appears that, on the same day on which Count Walweski addressed his famous despatch to M. de Persigny, similar missives were forwarded to the ministers of France in Belgium, Sardinia, and Switzerland. A copy of the last is now before us; the arrogance of its tone and language is unprecedented. It explains how the French minister for foreign affairs would have addressed England if he had dared; and it is impossible not to feel that it affords the best possible justification of the vote of the House of Commons, on the subject of the corresponding despatch sent to this country. We give the more remarkable passages: Paris, Jan. 20, 1858. TO M. LE COMTE de Salignac FENELON, MINISTER OF FRANCE AT BERNE. M. LE COMTE,-In the despatches which I had the honour to address to you on the 7th of August, 28th of November, and the 12th of December last, I directed you to acquaint the Federal Council of the manœuvres in which the refugees in Switzerland, especially those in the canton of Geneva, notoriously engage, and to demand their removal from our frontier. In spite of your zeal and activity in the matter, we have, up to the present time, obtained only dilatory and evasive replies. The attempt on the 14th of this month against the life of the Emperor shows that we have only too much reason to watch the attitude and the plots of Italian refugees, and that it is among them that the most corrupt and docile instruments of the regicidal conspirators are found. It seems impossible to me that any honest man of the Helvetic Confederation can have been otherwise than struck by this fact, or that he does not share our impressions thereupon. I dare, then, to flatter myself that, in renewing at Berne your former requests, you will find on the part of the federal authorities a greater readiness to do them justice. However that may be, M. le Comte, the Government of the Emperor knows not how to remain indifferent to the voice of public opinion, which, from one end of France to the other, demands how it is that neighbouring and friendly countries protect with a complacent hospitality men who openly conspire against the life of the Emperor. In addressing itself to the Confederation, in order that these dangerous men may be expelled the cantons which touch our frontiers, and placed at more distant parts, the Government of his Imperial Majesty only makes use of the law of legislative defence, and invokes the principles of the rights of nations. The Federal Government will disregard the conditions of the Helvetic neutrality, and will deceive itself as to the nature of its privileges, if it believes it can invoke them in order to avoid giving satisfaction to our grievances. To tolerate more or less directly, even by silence and inaction, that refugees who have received an asylum upon its territory abuse that hospitality to attack a neighbouring Government by their writing or their plots, that, without doubt, is not to observe neutrality; for if neutrality has its rights, it also has its duties, which require above all that it shall avoid any attack upon the repose of other States. I pray you, then, M. le Comte, to insist upon it, with the President of the Confederation, that measures be taken without delay, in order that refugees notoriously known as disposed to take part in criminal enterprises, especially those organised into societies in the canton of Geneva, be deposited far from our frontiers. In the event of the Helvetic Government not consulting upon the means of satisfying our just requirements, it will incur a grave responsibility, and will only have to take to itself the consequences which its determination may entail." Probably, since the time of the great Napoleon, so indecent and uncivil a diplomatic document was never transmitted from one Government to another. It bears marks, not only of excitement and irritation, which might be excusable enough, but of an entire want of perception of the courtesies and respect which are due from one independent state to another. It distinctly charges the Swiss government with evasion, with viewing with complacency the attacks on the Emperor's life, and with a substantive violation of neutrality. It declares it to be impossible that "honest men can differ from M. Walweski in this matter, and it "insists," under penalty of "consequences," 1 on immediate compliance. One expression particularly calls for comment, as avowing in precise terms what the French ministers really want, and what they ask plainly where they think they may venture to do so. They ask the removal of the refugees "notoriously known to be disposed to take part in criminal enterprises," i. e. the arbitrary treatment and punishment of their enemies, simply on the ground of notorious disposition to do wrong. If the English nation had not so promptly interfered to supplement the defective action of their government, there is no saying how soon a document equally explicit might have been addressed to ourselves. In conclusion, we cannot forget that the ruler on whose behalf these demands are made by his injudicious friends, was long sheltered both by England and by Switzerland when himself a "notorious" enemy to the existing government of France, and a conspirator against it, and an actual assailer of it from both shores; and that he once was an active member of an Italian secret society, and a comrade of many of those very refugees whom he thus relentlessly denounces and pursues. Surely it would have been wiser in his ministers to suffer these memories to sleep. The concluding correspondence between the two Governments is also before us; and we have no hesitation in saying that Count Walweski's last explanatory and apologetic despatch ought to be accepted as satisfactory. He assures us that he never could have thought of intimating that English laws "knowingly" favoured guilty and murderous designs. The most satisfactory part of the document, however, is the extract from a private letter of the Emperor to Count Persigny, showing that he was fully aware of the difficulty which English principles and customs would place in the way of such impediments to plotting as alone could be really efficacious; but that for the sake of allaying the irritation of parties in France, who were more ignorant than himself of the spirit of our police and jurisprudence, it was hoped we should do something: "Je ne me fais aucune illusion (he writes) sur le peu d'efficacité des mesures qu'on pourra prendre, mais ce sera toujours un bon procédé qui calmera ici bien des irritations. Expliquez bien aux ministres de la Reine notre position: il ne s'agit pas aujourd'hui de sauver ma vie, il s'agit de sauver l'alliance.' BOOKS OF THE QUARTER SUITABLE FOR READING SOCIETIES. Sermons by Archdeacon Hare. A new edition. Macmillan. [We cannot but regret the form of this book. The rhythmical form seems to us to be inappropriate, and often most discordant. But the substance of the book is full of deep truth and fine discrimination. We differ widely from Mr. Newman on points of Christian theology; but on the theistic basis of faith there are few Christians who have not much to learn from him.] Life and its Varieties. By L. H. Grindon. 1 vol. Whittaker. [A genial book written from a Swedenborgian point of view; vague and mystic; but animated by a deep love of truth and beauty.] The Creeds of the Church. By C. A. Swainson, M.A. Macmillan. [A thoughtful series of discourses. The author is clearly anxious to grasp and solve the real intellectual difficulties of the present day, and shows that he has opened his mind to study and understand them. Still his interpretations of sceptical schools of thought are sometimes narrow and onesided.] Spirit-Drawings. By W. M. Wilkinson. Chapman and Hall. [Dr. Wilkinson's writings have always ability to recommend them. This little book is a very curious account of real phenomena within his own personal experience,-phenomena which he regards as normal, but which most people would think morbid.] Personal Recollections of the Last Four Popes. By his Eminence Cardinal Wiseman. Hurst and Blackett. Rational Philosophy in History and in System. By Alexander C. Fraser. Hamilton and Adams. [A clear and on the whole a sound essay on the apparently unprogressive character of metaphysical philosophy.] Lectures on the Philosophy of History. By G. W. F. Hegel. Translated by J. Sibree, M.A. Henry G. Bohn. [This is a book that needed translation, being Hegel's most popular and interesting work. Mr. Sibree is well qualified by study and attainment to attempt the difficult task of translating Hegel's lectures. We have not compared his translation with the original.] History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth. By James Anthony Froude, M.A. Vols. 3 and 4. J. W. Parker and Son. History of the Republic of Venice. By William C. Hazlitt. Russell Smith. [A valuable and workmanlike book.] 2 vols. Switzerland the Pioneer of the Reformation. By Madame la Comtesse Dora d'Istria. 2 vols. A. Fullarton and Co. British India; its Races and its History. By John Malcolm Ludlow. 2 vols. Macmillan and Co. [Mr. Ludlow's lectures are tinged by strong prejudice against the English administration of India. They are able, like all his writings; but not calculated to leave a true impression on the "working-men's class," to which they were delivered.] Life and Times of Edmund Burke. By Thomas Macknight. 2 vols. Chapman and Hall. [A popular and painstaking book, too much given to eloquence.] A Biographical Sketch of Sir Henry Havelock, K.C.B. By Rev. William Brock. Nisbet. The Life of Mahomet, and History of Islam. By William Muir. 2 vols. Smith, Elder, and Co. [Full of valuable research and matériel for the life of Mahomet.] Estimates of some Englishmen and Scotchmen. A series of Essays contributed principally to the National Review. By Walter Bagehot. 1 vol. Chapman and Hall. Views and Opinions of General Jacob. By Captain Pelly. Second Edition. Smith and Elder. Commerce of India. By B. A. Irving, M. A. 1 vol. Smith and Elder. [A timely and valuable book; but written by a student rather than a practical man.] The Defence of Lucknow a Diary. By a Staff Officer. Smith and Elder. [A most interesting diary, written with military brevity, exactness, Suggestions towards the Future Government of India. By Harriet [Full of clever remark, but extravagantly overrating the objections to an immediate change in the form of the Home-government of India.] Recollections of the Last Days of Shelley and Byron. By E. J. Trelawney. Moxon. [After the artificial biographising of Moore, and the vague and vapid gossip of Medwin, this fresh and graphic little book will be welcomed with almost unqualified pleasure. The author would have done the public an injury had he omitted the stirring romance of his own life with which it concludes.] Fifty Years' Recollections, Literary and Personal. By Cyrus Redding. 3 vols. Charles J. Skeet. [A book full of pleasant anecdote and gossip of the characteristics of great men.] Memoirs of Beranger. Written by Himself. 1 vol. Hurst and Blackett. Narrative of the Mission to the Court of Ava in 1855. By Captain Henry Yule. Smith, Elder, and Co. [A volume not merely magnificently illustrated and got up, but containing a most interesting account of a country little known.] |