PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

THE Emperor of Russia is making vigorous preparations for war; and the Emperor of France has issued invitations for an European Congress; which of the two is most likely to promote the peace of the world, it is not at present easy to determine. It is old advice from a well practised diplomatist in his day-if you would secure peace, prepare for war. We are not without hope that the determined attitude which Russia is assuming may have the effect of cooling the eagerness which France has lately shown to try conclusions with her on the field of arms. The result of an European Conference we cannot profess to divine. But, in the first place, we have to learn whether the invitations of the Emperor will be accepted-whether the Congress will be held; and, in the second, what subjects it will have to discuss. For until these important questions are set at rest, it is quite unnecessary to speculate upon the probable consequences of a Congress which may never sit. Certain minor points have already been agitated, which might occasion inconvenience. For instance, who shall be the chairman ? Some French newspapers tell us that the honour has been proffered to the Pope. Whether this is put forth as a feeler by the Jesuit party in all seriousness, or whether it has been flung out as a joke by some of their opponents, which seems more likely, it suggests one of the difficulties which would present themselves to British statesmen. Then, what is to be the result of its deliberations? Are they to be enforced, or only recommended? The Treaty of Vienna, in 1814, and the present struggle between Poland and her ruthless master, would form, it is supposed, the chief points of discussion. But something must be said of Denmark and the Schleswig-Holstein dispute; and something, too, if England be present, about the continued occupation of Rome by a French army, and the unsatisfactory state of Italy; and as the wisest chairman cannot always prescribe the course which an animated debate shall take, the invasion of Mexico, and the recognition of the Southern States might come under review. And before all these points had been decided, the sovereigns, or their representatives, would have become uneasy, and the Congress would probably end as it began. The world, in short, is not yet sufficiently wise and good to lay down the sword, and settle national quarrels, where great interests or great passions interfere, by a mere majority of votes. The Congress does not find much favour with our public writers, who on such matters fairly represent the sense of the country. Yet there is a very proper disposition to suspend the national decision until the government have had an opportunity of laying the whole case before us when Parliament assembles.

But the whole of the Continent is restless as the troubled sea. The death of the king of Denmark, an upright sovereign, though little respected in private life, has placed the father of our Princess of Wales, as Christian IX., on the throne. But while we are congratulating ourselves upon a closer connexion with our

ancient and esteemed ally, the Schleswig-Holsteiners, or a large party of them, again dispute the right of Denmark; while Prince Frederic of Augustenburg claims to be their rightful lord. Germany, and especially Prussia, supports his claim with the utmost violence, while Denmark prepares for war by land and sea. Russia, with, no doubt, other objects in view, is strengthening Cronstadt, already the most impregnable fort in Europe, and increasing her ironclad navy with a rapidity rivaling our own. To us, who sit ca mly aloof, there seems something almost inexplicable in this sudden burst of warlike frenzy, amongst the nations who drank most deeply of those vials of wrath poured out in the last great war. We fail to see anything great in the questions at issue. Poland is not worth a campaign, or it may be many successive campaigns, of certain bloodshed and enormous cost to Russia, but of uncertain issue; and the Sch.swigHolstein affair is of still less importance to Germany. We feel that when some unborn Peterkin, or Wilhelmine, shall say to the veterans of their day,

"Now tell us all about the war,

And what they fought each other for."

He will receive no answer more satisfactory than that which old Kaspar gives in Southey's ballad,

"What they fought each other for,

I could not well make out."

A heathen would explain it all on the heathen theory of Fate and fiery comets. A Christian looks higher, and sees portents of another kind. The lesson which we read in the Old Testament, of a lying Spirit sent forth from the Lord to persuade the kings of Israel and Judah to go forth to battle against the king of Syria, is surely written for our learning. When God has a controversy with the nations, the Spirit of discord goes forth, and they are like the troubled sea, whose waves cast up mire and dirt.

Our own relations with China and Japan are unsettled and with regard to the latter country, unsatisfactory. We have made an appeal to force, and burnt a city. Whether the Japanese will compel us to withdraw and suspend all further intercourse, seems uncertain. With the New Zealanders we are at open war. The conduct of the Maories appears, as we are more acquainted with it, not altogether without some excuse. We have received the following note, which we have no doubt places the question in its true light:

"During the last month, the Church Missionary Society has put out a Statement on the affairs of New Zealand, in reply to the charges, which were first alleged in the New Zealand papers, that the natives had made a fresh and unprovoked insurrection against the sovereignty of the Queen, and had thereby proved that their profession of Christianity had not raised them above the state of savages. It was also confidently asserted that the friends of the native race, who in the former war of 1860 protested against its injustice, now condemned the natives as wholly in the wrong. This was especially asserted of the Bishop of New Zealand and the missionaries.

"The 'Statement' represents matters in a very different light, and shows that the present unhappy circumstances of New Zealand are to

be traced to the neglect, on the part of Europeans, of treaty obligations, and to the violation of treaty engagements; and more directly to the military aggression by the Government of New Zea land, upon native property at Waitara in 1860, which aggression the Government has since acknowledged to have been wrongfully made.

"It must be borne in mind, that the British sovereignty over New Zealand was acquired on treaty stipulations in 1840; that the natives were then, and for many subsequent years, strong enough to have expelled the Europeans from the islands; and that they allowed the settlers to spread themselves over the country, and to enjoy perfect security, in fulfilment of their part of the treaty.

"The Statement' casts no censure upon the hostile measures adopted in the present emergency by the governor of New Zealand. A collision may have been inevitable, as the result of former wrongdoings; and the threatening attitude of the natives may have compelled the British forces to attack Waikato in self-defence. But when self-defence has been secured, justice, as well as Christian duty, require that every effort should be made to effect an honourable negotiation."-" H. V,”

The third American campaign is drawing to a close. The slaughter on both sides has been frightful; never were so many great battles fought with so vast an expenditure of human life, and at the same time with results so utterly insignificant. Each party holds its own, almost as it did three years ago. If anything can be more dreadful than the waste of human life, it is the shameless levity with which this work of slaughter has come to be regarded. The Federal States seem in this respect to have become utterly demoralized. But we admit that we are judging by the conduct of public men, and the speeches of the President and his creatures, and by the tone of an obsequious press. We have said before, and repeat it again, this is not the voice of the Northern States, but of a wicked, unscrupulous, and heartless faction, by whom unhappily they are governed. But such is the nature of a Republic, and such, since history began, have Republics always been. In times of danger there has been a dominant faction, and the rest were silenced. The prospect of peace seems as remote as ever. The most hopeful sign is that American recruits can no longer be had, and mercenary Germans and Irish emigrant Papists make but indifferent soldiers.

It is amongst the moral wonders of the age, to be explained only, in our opinion, by the sure word of prophecy, that the Church of Rome, feeble and dying at the heart, exhibits more than usual vitality in all her members. We have written enough to place this beyond a doubt, as regards both France and England; and if we were concerned only for our success as public journalists, we should write no more on the subject. For, even religious readers are soon disgusted with what they have been persuaded to believe is a thread-bare subject, about which there need be no alarm. We observe with much satisfaction, that several of our newspapers are beginning to take up the subject earnestly. Amongst these the St. James's Chronicle-a very old newspaper, which has stood the test of a century-begins, as our readers will see by its advertisement, a new series as a weekly journal, with a promise that it "will continue to fight for the maintenance of the

Protestant religion of the realm, as established at the Reformation." Its first number sustains the promise, and while it acts on this principle we shall wish it well. This is the one point on which the politics of the Christian Observer have always centred, and to which indeed they have been almost confined. We do not forget that there are a few other labourers in the same field, chiefly the religious newspapers, whose consistency entitles them to our high respect.

Thus we bid our readers farewell for the passing year, wishing them an abundance of those blessings which Advent and Christmastide bring with them. Fervently let the prayer arise, "Give peace in our time, O Lord!" And with this let our thanksgivings abound, that hitherto the sword hath not come nigh our favoured land. What does not Britain owe to the Lord her God for all His benefits!

46

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

A CONSTANT READER, "who has for many years taken in the Christian Observer, and has known it under several Editors," thinks that we should not bring before our readers the lives of Roman Catholics, however sincerely pious they may have been; since the more holy such characters were, and the more free from the errors and follies of their creed, the more they seem to recommend the system." We admit the justice of the observation as a general truth; but in the three instances in which we have transgressed, those of Mad. Guyon, Savonarola, and St. Bernard, the Church of Rome, we imagine, will not feel very grateful to us. Mad. Guyon she imprisoned as a heretic in the Bastille, and only released her to die an exile. Savonarola was burnt at the stake as a heretic. His place in history is that of a pre-cursor of the Reformation; he belongs to the school of John Huss and Jerome of Prague, though with far less light. St. Bernard was, no doubt, the best Papist of the three. Yet he too was a Reformer, and in a later age would probably have been made, by his intolerant Church, a Confessor if not a Martyr; and on this account his biography was introduced. On the whole, our own view does not differ much from that of our Correspondent. The curse of God lies heavy on the Church of Rome, and will sink her like the great millstone which the mighty Angel cast into the sea; and the voice from Heaven cries, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."

INDEX

OF THE

ESSAYS, SUBJECTS, INTELLIGENCE, OCCURRENCES,

&c. &c. &c.