mode, of His Majesty's pacific negotiations with other Powers. It never will be endured by His Majesty that any Government shall indemnify itself for the humiliation of subserviency to France, by the adoption of an insulting and peremptory tone towards Great Britain. His Majesty proclaims anew those principles of maritime law, against which the armed neutrality, under the auspices of the Empress CATHERINE, was originally directed; and against which the present hostilities of Russia are denounced. Those principles have been recognised and acted upon in the best periods of the history of Europe; and acted upon by no Power with more strictness and severity than by Russia herself in the reign of the Empress CATHERINE.

Those principles it is the right and the duty of His Majesty to maintain; and against every confederacy His Majesty is determined, under the blessing of Divine Providence, to maintain them. They have at all times contributed essentially to the support of the maritime power of Great Britain; but they are become incalculably more valuable and important at a period when the maritime power of Great Britain constitutes the sole remaining bulwark against the overwhelming usurpations of France: the only refuge to which other nations may yet resort, in happier times, for assistance and protection.

The

When the opportunity for peace between Great Britain and Russia shall arrive, His Majesty will embrace it with eagerness. arrangements of such a negotiation will not be difficult or complicated. His Majesty, as he has nothing to concede, so he has nothing to require; satisfied if Russia shall manifest a disposition to return to her ancient feelings of friendship towards Great Britain; to a just consideration of her own true interests; and to a sense of her own dignity as an independent nation.

WESTMINSTER, December 18, 1807.

TO THE CATHOLICS OF FRANCE.

MONTREUX, Festival of the Annunciation, 1874. THE Chief of the Catholic Church has declared that the abuse of military power is one of the causes of existing evils, which is equivalent to saying that it is necessary to restrain this power.

The number of those who, in France, not only bear the name of Catholics, but profess obedience to the Holy See and reverence the person who occupies it, is very considerable. A small number amongst them would suffice to carry out the wishes of the Pope, if they accepted the duty and applied themselves to the task of comprehending how military power has become what it is at the present day: unlimited; as also the origin and the consequences of such a state of things, and the remedies of which it is susceptible.

In a letter which I lately addressed to a French Review, I showed how the Crimean War originated, and what consequences have resulted from it; among which we must reckon the fall of the temporal Power of the 'Pope. It is very evident that if Catholics had foreseen this result, and, further, if they had known that that war was planned with this object, it could never have been made. It is not less evident that a war cannot be planned beforehand with an object totally different from its avowed and ostensible motive except in so far as the military power is in the hands of the executive, without being subjected to any sort of control, either in virtue of the law, or on the part of the nation, either by its knowledge of affairs or by its sentiment of justice.

In my present work I confine myself to wars which belong to a former epoch. I demonstrate how they have been rendered possible, and consequently how they could have been prevented. I connect them with the abrogation in England of the functions of the Privy Council, especially in matters regarding peace and war. For, according to the Constitution, this body served as a judicial barrier to the Executive Power in so far as the Royal Prerogative could only be exercised on a decision taken by the Privy Council, which was independent of every political party, as also of the arbitrary will of the Crown, its members being appointed

for life.

It is also necessary to observe that the abrogation of these functions by an Act of Parliament in the reign of Queen ANNE, was voted for the purpose of placing an unlimited power in the hands of the Executive in matters connected with military action and relations with foreign Powers.

There can be no doubt that the case is such as I have presented it. Nor can there be any doubt that if this unlimited power had not been possessed by the Government in England the state of the world would not have been what it is at the present day. There is no longer peace, either internally or externally; because all the regulations which originally existed as a bridle to restrain the unlimited power of the sword have been suppressed.

The remedy consists in re-establishing them. Until some persons shall occupy themselves in learning by what means the re-establishment of these laws can be arrived at, a single step will not have been made to replace on true bases Society which is falling into ruin.

The peril is so much the more extreme that it involves each individual at the same time as the nation, and that it implicates him in sin. In fact, according to the Canon Law, the shedding of blood without just cause, constitutes murder. Now at the present epoch the nations of Christendom rush into wars without taking any steps to assure themselves that their cause is just, or even what that cause is. The idea of taking such steps no longer even exists.

I had intended to continue the examination, not only of the wars, but also of the diplomatic operations in which England and France have taken part from the Congress of Vienna to the Crimean War. A prolonged illness has prevented me from carrying this plan into execution. I publish to-day what has been written for several months, although the work may be incomplete, and although I may not have been able myself to prepare it for the press, because I feel that there is not a moment to lose.

In the document which inaugurated the Revolution of 1791, amongst those propositions which announce the revolt of man against his Creator, I find at Article 16, this remarkable Declaration :

"Every society in which the separation of powers is not determined, has no Constitution."

This truth, which was declared in words, was not realised in act. The judicial power as regards its higher functions was not then separated, and has never been since separated in France, either from the Legislative Power, or from the Executive Power. In all the thirteen Constitutions which have been elaborated from 1791 to 1870, on every occasion that the right of peace and war, or the land and naval forces have been treated of, it has been to place the exercise of the one and the command of the others in the hands of the Executive Power-King, Consul, Emperor, or President-or in those of the legislative body.

France has therefore remained "without a Constitution" from the date of the Revolution until the present time.

The Revolutionists of 1791 believed that they had accomplished the separation between the federal power and the legislative or executive power by the 1st Article in Chapter V. of the Constituent National Assembly, which said:"The judicial power can in no case be exercised by the legislative "body or the King."

แ

According to the same Constitution (Chap. III. Art. 2),

the right of declaring war belonged to the legislative body. "War can only be decided on by a decree of the legislative body."

66.

The legislators, then, of to-day do no more than follow the errors of the Revolution, if they cannot understand that a Declaration of War ought to be a judicial act.

It is clear, therefore, that in order to combat Revolution, as many wish to do, the arguments fall short if they do not spring from this fundamental basis; to omit it or to neglect it is to leave the enemy master of the situation.

I should add that what has impelled me to undertake this work, is the appeal which has been made on me to draw up a project of law for the establishment of a Tribunal for War in France. It appears that the idea of such an undertaking has been dropped with the attempt to re-establish the monarchy. If it be so, the misfortune is great, and great is the deception.

France is to day weak, and much more so in consequence of her internal struggles than of her external defeats. I see only one way for a cessation of these struggles, which unhappily not only exist, between "the party of disorder," and "the party of order," but which render the latter, although in the majority, powerless before the minority. A neutral ground has to be discovered on which all opinions might unite. I mean an object for which men might work together. Where is it to be found if not in the project for establishing an institution which is equally necessary under all forms of Government; which is of pre-eminent interest for the country; and which has nothing in common with the ideas and sentiments which divide into separate camps so many honest men?

There is in France one man who has already worked to reunite upright men in one common object, and I am proud to call him my friend. I speak of M. LE PLAY. I address myself, then, more particularly to him and to his friends, conjuring them to add to the other objects of the "Reunion "of social Peace," that of presenting, and inducing the National Assembly to accept, a Law establishing for France a Court whose function shall be to resolve every question of Peace and War.

DAVID URQUHART.

The Brussels Congress and the Foreign Affairs Committees.

SPEECH OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF DENBIGH.

(Extracted from "Hansard's Parliamentary Debates," Vol. ecxx.) HOUSE OF LORDS, Friday, July 3, 1874.

THE Earl of DENBIGH, in rising to inquire whether Her Majesty's Government have decided on sending a Commissioner to the Conference at Brussels, and to present Petitions on the subject, said, he desired to elicit information on the subject, so that their Lordships might clearly understand what was proposed to be done. Very shortly after the Franco-German War he received, in common with many others who had devoted their attention to the care of the wounded during its continuance, a written communication from a German nobleman, whom it was not necessary to name, requesting support to a scheme having reference to the conduct of hostilities by nations engaged in war, and in especial with reference to the treatment of the wounded and prisoners of war. This scheme it was proposed to carry out by means of an International Society, to be called the "Universal "Alliance," and to be worked by means of diplomatic action. This had a very philanthropic sound, and at first sight seemed very desirable. He accordingly gave a general, though qualified, approval. For months he heard nothing more; until he received one or two letters from an English gentleman, who said that, seeing his name, with that of many others, figuring as supporting the action of this German nobleman, he thought it his duty to warn him to be on his guard. The writer gave his reasons for the warning; and he (the Earl of DENBIGH) accordingly wrote to desire that his name might not appear any more in connexion with the plan. Soon after he received a communication from another correspondent-this time a French nobleman. He wrote to Paris to make inquiries as to this person's character and antecedents, but failed to obtain any information that could be considered satisfactory, and he took no notice of the communication. He next heard of a deputation of the Universal Alliance being received by the Emperor of RUSSIA at Buckingham Palace, and His Majesty's adoption of the project. But their Lordships ought to know the difference between the original programme of the Universal Alliance and the sheet which he now held in his hand. Originally this Society had been instituted for ameliorating the treatment of prisoners of war, under diplomatic action; but it had now developed itself into a large scheme for the "promotion of in"ternational works of humanity," and was contained in 147 Articles -a broad sheet of which he held in his hands-which, it is added

"Will be submitted to a Conference of delegates from the various Governments. These will constitute a Convention analogous to that of Geneva in favour of the wounded in war, and will eventually add another page to the Code of International Law."