mysterious visitations of Providence to which all of us are at any and every moment liable, France would necessarily and inevitably be thrown into such a state of confusion as to paralyse all steady action of what government might remain, if any worthy of the name should survive the shock. And if the lawless disturbers and enemies of order and constituted authority of whom we have been speaking were to get hold of the reins of power, as might only too probably happen, the clamour they have already made wherever they could raise their voice, against the present war, gives us the certainty that they would oppose its continuance and withdraw the fleets and armies of their country. But supposing that the most deplorable chance we have been just contemplating, and which we trust, is as unlikely as it would be deplorable, should not occur, yet is there danger. The accounts from the seat of war, guarded and cantious as they are upon so perilous a subject, yet are beginning of late to make mention with ominous frequency, of jealousies and heartburnings, and to a certain degree of dissensions between the two great allies. The somewhat over exuberant good fellowship between the soldiers of the two armies, which marked their intercourse at first and for some time, has been latterly giving place to mutual surliness, quarrels, and even fights, and even between the officers the same apparent heartiness by no means exists. These matters are little spoken of in public, and hushed up as much as possible, but yet the truth concerning them has come to be pretty generally whispered abroad; and as the tendency of all broils, if their causes be not at once removable, is to increase, we may, it is to be feared, have to witness some unhappy outbreak. The causes meantime seem more inclined to multiply than to diminish. The common disasters of the bloody eighteenth of June, when both armies were beaten back from Sebastopol, lead, as such occurrences always will do, to ill suppressed and very exasperating recrimination. Several minor occurrences both before and after tended to increase this effect. Then came the successful storming of the Malakhoff by the French, and the severe and most sanguinary repulse of our troops from the Redan. This made matters ten times worse, the French soldiery taunting our men on every occasion with the different result of the two attacks. The occupation by the French military force sent in the expedition to Kinburn, of that fortress, and their refusing to admit the British soldiers and seamen, and in one case, even the British Admiral, the gallant Sir Edward Lyons himself, came next, and has almost brought to a head the ill-will and acrimonious feelings so long gathering before. These jealousies and contentions, however, though highly dangerous, and most earnestly to be deprecated, would be of comparatively small importance, if a difference of interests and a discrepancy of views as to the ultimate settlement of the great objects of the war were not a chance very prominently upon the cards. We have alluded before, and only alluded, to the points on which such differences and discrepancies might, and doubtless will arise. We do not like to dwell upon them now, for even their speculative discussion is calculated to raise and keep up something of a feeling of irritation, which will be an evil quite suflicient for the day that shall unhappily see it openly declare itself; we could not, however, omit the allusions we have made to them, when endeavouring to attract the serious attention of our readers to the prospects of the war and the doubtful future before us. That no miserable recollection of old and gone-by feuds and hatreds, no deplorable dwelling upon and fostering of recent causes and occurrences of mutual provocation and bad blood, no success of the secret intrigues that the indefatigable agents of Russia in all parts of Europe are undoubtedly at work upon, and above all, that no passion, folly or wickedness of those who guide and influence the policy of the two great leading powers of the world, Great Britain and France, shall break their most happy alliance, and once more set roaring and internecine war between them, is and must be the prayer of every one in every country of the globe, who values the blessings of rational liberty, peace, and civilisation, and has the cause of humanity at heart. [We have inserted this, and the preceding paper, in close proximity, as we consider that there is a very important, and most interesting field of speculative political philosophy opened by them before the reader. They represent the feelings, the hopes, the fears of different nations: the former is the work of a Frenchman of great and deserved reputation; the latter by an Irishman, and one who has watched long and earnestly, in and out of Parliament, the various changes of European politics, bearing upon the position, the stability, and the welfare of the United Kingdoms. We recommend these two papers, Polonia Redux, and The War and the Future, to every reader-not, indeed, because they appear in THE IRISH QUARTERLY REVIEW, but because they show facts plainly and clearly-facts which every man who loves the honor of our nation should know-facts which are important to all who desire to form sound opinions on The War, on its policy, and on the Future-a future which may bring peace and security if advantage be taken of Poland reconstructed; but a future which may bring disaster and ruin, if the wild passions of rival nations and the half-forgotten dreams of old enmity be recalled.-Ed. I. Q. R.] |