CHAP.

XXXIV.

65.

session of

1840: the King's speech.

The session of 1839 closed without any further event or discussion of general interest, and that of 1840 com1839. menced with the following speech from the throne: "My Commence- relations with foreign nations have maintained that pacific ment of the character which the general interest requires. Our flag, in concert with that of Great Britain, and faithful to the spirit of that union, always so advantageous to the interests of the two nations, watches over the security and independence of the Ottoman empire. Our fixed policy is to uphold the integrity of that empire, the preservation of which is essential to the maintenance of general peace. Our efforts have at least succeeded in arresting in the East the course of hostilities which we would willingly have prevented; and how great soever may be the diversity of interests, I entertain a sanguine hope that the accord of the great powers will bring about a pacific solution of the question. A great change has been effected in the situation of Spain, and if I cannot yet announce that civil war has entirely ceased, yet the northern provinces are pacified, and the contest has lost the serious character which threatened the throne of Isabella II. In Africa other hostilities have broken out, which call for a decisive repression. Our brave soldiers and cultivators, to whom my son has gone as a pledge of my solicitude, have been perfidiously attacked. The progress of our establishments in Algeria and the province of Constantine is the real cause of that insensate aggression; it is indispensable that it should be punished, and 1 Moniteur, a renewal of it rendered impossible, in order that nothing 1839; Ann. may hereafter interrupt the progress of settlements which the French arms are never to quit, and that our allies may find under our flag the most efficacious protection."

Dec. 24,

Hist. xxiii. 4, 5.

In the debate on the Address, M. Thiers made a brilliant speech, remarkable as the manifesto of the powerful parliamentary coalition of which he was the head. "I am," he said, "I admit it, a partisan of the English alliance, but that as a man who never forgets

And

XXXIV.

1840.

66.

M. Thiers on the Eastern question.

what is due to his country. I cannot renounce that CHAP. noble alliance, which is founded not only on the union of material strength, but still more on that of moral principles. When alongside of England, we are not Speech of obliged to conceal our standards; they bear as a device, Regulated freedom and the liberty of the world.' on what do the opponents of the English alliance rest? What has been the cause of the profound hatred, the envenomed strife, which has separated France and England? I will tell you in one word. Democracy has exploded in France at one time with a bloody committee at its head, at another led by a great man, Napoleon. It has astonished the world, but at the same time alarmed it; and, as happens always when liberty alarms, an immense power was given to its enemies. Who has sustained the contest which the French democracy had provoked? Naturally that of all aristocracies which was the most powerful, the most rich, the most skilful. Aristocracy also found a great man, Pitt: the English aristocracy, on behalf of the terrified world, struggled, with a great man at its head, against French democracy with its great man. The strife was dreadful. Napoleon often said, I committed one error in my life, an error common to England and me. We might have been allies, and done much for the good of the world. I would have done so if Fox had been at the head of its affairs.' What did that mean, if not that it was the English aristocracy which sustained the contest with Napoleon?

67.

"But behind that question of principle there was an immense material interest. France had not then aban- Continued. doned the hope of being a maritime and colonial power of the first order. She had not renounced the brilliant dream of distant possessions. She had desired to get Louisiana, to keep possession of St Domingo, and even to attempt to effect a settlement in Egypt, of which the avowed object was to threaten the English possessions in India. To what object at that time did we make all our

XXXIV.

1840.

68.

66

CHAP. power bend? To coalesce all the nations of Europe against England. There were then good reasons for a desperate strife at that period. But happily nothing of that kind now exists. Moderated revolution governs France; moderated revolution governs England. The strife of interests has become as impossible as that of principles. France has become enlightened as to the true path of her greatness. Who among us now thinks of distant possessions? Whence this change? Because the mind of France has altered-because all the world sees that our true grandeur is to be found on the Continent. Every one in Europe professes a desire for peace, Continued. and happily in a firm and decided way. That is the reason that Russia cannot come to an understanding with us. If the system of partition is impossible, what remains but that of precaution? But the system of precaution that system which consists in taking a position which might enable us at once to adopt such a line as is consistent with the dignity and interests of France-can be carried into execution only in concert with one nation, and that is England. She is our natural ally in principles, always of importance in Europe, and not less so is she an ally necessary for the policy of observation and precaution. The power most interested in preventing Constantinople being occupied by any European state-the power which has always made the greatest efforts to prevent it-is England. It is no wonder it is so. The dan

is at sea. England is a great maritime power, and France is one also. Russia menaces Constantinople from Sebastopol; to meet that danger it is necessary to take a defensive position in the Dardanelles, which communicate with France and England. How is that defensive position to be secured? By an Anglo-French fleet in the Dardanelles, for there we shall find an alliance alike in the object and the means. Russia has no need to hasten the period when she is to touch the shores of the Mediterranean. She already occupies the most beautiful shores

XXXIV.

1840.

of the Black Sea, and although the keys of that sea are to CHAP. be found in Constantinople, yet they are there held by weak and feeble hands, entirely under her control. Russia, therefore, has no need to accelerate matters; her only interest is to prevent those keys falling into younger and more vigorous hands. Where are those younger and more vigorous hands to be found? Clearly in the Pasha of Egypt, and in him alone.

69.

"The Pasha, however, does not desire the perilous honour of guarding those Straits. He knows that if he Concluded, attempted it, Russia would be there before him: 1833 has taught him that lesson. He knows that to provoke it would be to hasten the partition of the Turkish empire and his own ruin. There is no need, therefore, of trepidation or haste in the Eastern question-there is time to conduct it with prudence, deliberation, and skill. The course to be pursued is quite simple-it consists in placing a combined French and English fleet at the mouth of the Dardanelles, and having done so, not to substitute PREMATURELY for the question at issue between the Sultan and the Pasha, the question of Europe. The Pasha demands an hereditary right to Egypt and Syria; that is a mere word. Turkey is not in a condition to reconquer them; she should not therefore wish to do so. It is necessary that Turkey, as she did with Greece, should make the sacrifice of Egypt and Syria. The victory of Nezib— the defection of the fleet-has decided the question. The death of Sultan Mahmoud has removed the most im- Moniteur, Dec. 28, placable enemy of the Pasha. Nothing is wanting for 1839; Ann. the entire pacification of the East but the cession, in 65-67; L. hereditary right, of those provinces which are already his 485, 486. de facto, and by the right of conquest."

It is one of the most interesting things in history to observe how great coming changes are anticipated in the thoughts of far-seeing men-how much more rapidly do events succeed each other in the realms of ideas than on the theatre of real life. One would have imagined from

1

Hist. xxii.

Blanc, v.

CHAP. XXXIV.

bate.

70.

these words of M. Thiers that the great alliance between England and France, which afterwards worked such won1840. ders in the East, was on the point of being formed, and Reflections yet thirteen years elapsed before it took place; and in the on this de- interim, England and France were three times on the verge of a serious war! M. Thiers the minister proved very different from M. Thiers the leader of the Opposition. In the mean time, however, all went on smoothly: the Address, which re-echoed the speech, was carried by a majority of 212 to 43; and the King made a gracious answer, which concluded with these words: "The concurrence of the three powers for the prosperity, the strength, and the dignity of France has always been the object of my most anxious solicitude. It is thus that can alone be displayed, without and within, the salutary action of the constitutional monarchy which we have all sworn to maintain. Your loyal and patriotic adhesion 1 Ann. Hist. is a new pledge to me of the support which my GovernMoniteur, ment will find in you for the true interests of the country, which are inseparable from the rights and the ascendant of authority."

xxiii. 112;

24th Dec. 1839.

71.

the Duke de

Nemours and the

Saxe-Co

burg

Gotha.

1

These flattering appearances, however, were entirely Marriage of fallacious. The Chamber was not inclined to support the Ministry; they were only waiting for a favourable Princess of opportunity to overturn it. A coalition, of which M. Thiers was the head, had been formed between the Left and the Left Centre, which calculated upon possessing a small majority in the Deputies; but they were for some time at fault, from a difference of opinion as to the question on which the trial of strength should take place. At length it was agreed to make it on the settlement to be made on the Duke de Nemours, between whom a marriage had been arranged and the Princess Victoire Auguste Antoinette de Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, sister of the King of Portugal, niece of the King of the Belgians, and cousin of Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. The high connections of the bride, who was in her nine