The present Napoleon,
reeking with the blood of his unarmed fellow citizens, kisses the queen
of England, and the _entente cordial_ with him becomes the foreign
policy of England. Entangled in his toils, she makes war on Russia as
his ally, stands silently while he humbles Austria and changes the map
of Europe, and barely escapes by an afterthought being dragged into an
attempt to destroy a free republic in America, to enable France to
augment the area for the expansion of the Latin race at the expense of
that of the Anglo-Saxon.
What would the great Chatham and his son--who so long moulded the
destiny of Europe--say, if they could revisit the earth and peruse the
history of their country for the last twelve years? Would they recognize
her as that England who in their hands smote the house of Bourbon, and
inaugurated the policy which led to the overthrow of the greatest
captain who ever tormented with his lust for glory the human race?
Certainly, in all the wars which England waged against the house of
Bourbon, France never attempted a conquest of greater value than that
which the present Napoleon has commenced in Mexico. Certainly, no
conquest which the first Napoleon ever threatened in Europe would have
so strengthened France as would the annexation of Mexico to her
dominions. But England has expended in her wars with the first Napoleon,
to restrain him from acquisitions which could not have materially
injured England, all her resources for war.
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