TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE NEW REVOLUTION IN CENTRAL EUROPE.
THE collision between the people and the military at Warsaw is a most unfortunate occurrence. It inter- rupts, perhaps terminates, a legal movement which promised infinite benefit to the peoples of Central Europe. The great reaction which followed 1848 has, it is obvious, spent its force, and Europe is once more in insurrection. Taught, however, by a fatal experience, and made patient by the stern compression of twelve years, the popular leaders have adopted far wiser tactics than of old. They have preferred the English to the French idea of revolution. Instead of rising at once against the thrones, and so rendering concessions impossible from the beginning, they have striven to extort from the sovereigns a victory over the administra- tion. New franchises, new powers, are demanded for the people .instead of new rulers, and the result, up to Sunday evening, has been undeniably favourable to freedom. In Austria the Liberals have gained more than they have lost since 1848. Without drawing a sword, without an insur- rection in any one province, without infringing the strictest letter of the law, they have. compelled the reigning House to concede a constitution. That document, however imperfect, whether issued in good faith or as a temporary expedient, secures to the Austrian populations three great rights. They can fix the amount of their own taxes, pass their own laws, and make their own arrangements for bringing their grievances to the notice of the Executive. The English Parliament originally could do no more, and the suffrage, of which so much is made, though restricted, is far wider than that of Great Britain previous to 1881. Englishmen were not enslaved because their representatives were aristocrats, and the Austrian noblesse is neither foreign nor anti-national. A system of local diets has been sanctioned, which may readily be developed into complete municipal independence. In short, the weapons by which freedom is secured are placed in the hands of the people, and the initiative is trans- ferred from the Emperor to themselves. Even the last great concession, the one it was supposed no Hapsburg would ever grant, has been yielded to the full. The Emperor, on the 10th inst., decreed the absolute equality of the Protestant and Catholic communions. Protestants are eligible for all offices, can hold any form of property, perform worship in their own way, and, we presume from the wording of the decree, receive converts into their own faith. It is possible, of course, that this special concession is the price paid to Prussia rather than to the Revolution, but it is none the less a gain which only the passive resistance of the Liberals could have enabled the Protestants to secure. In the same way the Hungarians, without breaking any law, without affording the Emperor one pretext for a resort to force, have extorted the means of securing all the franchises they demand. They denied the validity of the royal title, and the forms whiclf make abdication valid in Hungary have been formally gone through. They demanded the abolition of the Austrian laws, and the Hungarian code and form of procedure have been legally re-established. They objected to meet in Diet at Buda, and are permitted to assemble for the transaction of business in Pesth. Their special claim to be a nationality is still refused, but no claim tending to personal and poli- tical freedom has been successfully resisted. The power of legal innovation, moreover, is far from being exhausted. The Diet holds in its hands the keys of the local treasury. It can insist on the restoration of its troops before supplies are granted, and the Emperor, if determined to refuse' can only appeal to force. There is nothing to stop the local members from establishing trial by jury, a free press, municipal govern- ments, all that constitutes among civilised men the ground- work of freedom. They might even, by a wary persistence in demands the Emperor can grant, create a National Guard, and so place their liberties beyond the reach of a reactionary cabinet. It is a premature explosion alone they have to dread, and so long as they keep within the law, self-interest will restrain their adversaries from precipitating the appeal to arms. The success of the revolution in Poland was less in ap- pearance, but it was still decided. The Polish leaders care- hilly stopped short of insurrection, and every fresh demand has been answered by a fresh concession. For a month Warsaw has been governed by its own citizens. An un- popular Minister of State has been dismissed, avowedly because the people demanded his dismissal. The Emperor Alexander, by announcing his plans of reform to the diplo- matists, has formerly placed them under the guarantee of Europe. The reforms thus announced seem small to consti- tutionalists, but they tend directly to the personal freedom and progress of the Poles. The Emperor grants a Council of Notables, which though nominated is Polish, and cannot be actuated by national antipathy. However limited its powers may be, the Council at least secures to Poland a "legal expression of its wishes and desires," a privilege hitherto persistently refused. The elective administration granted to the counties and districts amounts, if wisely used, to personal liberty, while the new education provides means for the intellectual progress the Poles are eager to commence. It may be said these concessions are not honest. Very pos- sibly, though as they do not impair the autocratic power, they are just as likely to be honest as deceptive. But, the dishonesty granted, the same passive insurrection which com- pelled the publication of the decrees, would gradually compel their honest execution. By the latest detailed accounts the Poles had begun themselves to believe the reforms, especially in education, honest and satisfactory. The event of the 7th of April, however, interrupts, if it does not dissipate, their hopes. The populace of Warsaw, tired of demonstrations against inferior officers, ventured on one against the Castle, and were dispersed by the soldiery with heavy loss of life. That "demonstrations" are necessary where free speech is forbidden may be conceded ; but the special form of demon- stration adopted was a wretched blunder. The first object of both parties was to avoid a collision, yet the popular lea- ders adopted a system which inevitably added the element of personal irritation to the dispute. Soldiers even in Eng- land will not always bear insult, and Russian officials are never the meekest of the human race. Yet the last demon- stration was specially directed against the Governor and the soldiery. Force once employed must be continued, for until terror is established, every defeat increases the irritation of the sufferers. Once in the ascendant the system of terror is sure to spread far and wide, and the citizens of Warsaw have endangered the progress of Hungary, and Germany., as much as of Poland. It is possible that the Emperor with a wise forbearance may refrain from pushing his adtantage, and even disavow Prince Gortschakoff; but the initiative has with inexcusable recklessness been replaced in his hands. Concessions which last week would have been instalments of justice, are this week acts of grace. We have no wish to defend or even extenuate the slaughter of unarmed men. A fire engine would have dispersed the crowd just as well as a fusillade, and covered them with ridicule besides. But there is no capital in Europe, except London, where demonstra- tions such as the Poles have indulged in for a month, would be tolerated for an hour. Let thirty thousand Parisians yell under the windows of the Tuileries, and try. The plan of action adopted was absurd, and the leaders, we greatly fear, will pay the penalty which in politics follows a mistake.
As the cloud over Central Europe thickens and deepens, it is impossible to deny that the influence of France grows strong. One wave of the Emperor's hand would to-day throw Europe into convulsions. With Hungary, Poland, Venetia, and European Turkey all in insurrection, with Denmark arming on the north, and the Tyrol invaded on the south, the progress of France, united, homogeneous, and armed to the teeth, could be arrested only by Great Britain. The English- men who applaud with such vehemence the "rising of the nationalities," forget that these nationalities look to Paris for guidance and inspiration. With France, Spain, and the nationalities at his disposal, Louis Napoleon assumes a posi- tion as dangerous to the independence of Europe as to the just influence of Great Britain. His uncle's path was smoothed by the spirit of revolution, which, as the spirit ot national unity, is now sweeping difficulties from the road which leads from Paris to the Rhine. If iith such temptations spread before a Napoleon, with Germany invading Den- mark, and Austria threatening a foray into Central Italy, with four kingdoms in open or covert insurrection, and all Europe listening for the sound of the first cannon, peace is still preserved, we may thank for it the armed strength which makes the only peaceful state in Europe arbitress of the scene.
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