also among a large portion of the middle class of population, who bona fide wished only the removal of grievances and a moderate constitutional government. The, to foreign nations, apparently excessive excitement and zeal of the Germans generally in favour of the population of the Dutchies connected with Denmark, and their consequent obstinate hostility to the Danes, threatened the integrity of that small kingdom. Finally, the old and gradually becoming weaker policy of the Austrian government, the fluctuating and inconsistent policy of the King of Prussia and his ministers, the mistaken policy of the King of Sardinia, and the degraded state generally of the Italian population, high and low-all the causes and events now and before alluded to, conjoined to spread a political intestine conflagration over the continent of Europe, from which it has not yet by any means entirely recovered. France, in 1848, presented a striking spectacle of wickedness and weakness. To put an end to the horrors of civil war and slaughter by the mob of Paris and other large towns, recourse, as usual, was had to the army for protection of life and of property, and to restore order and comparative tranquillity. But, unfortunately, in the government which came to be established, the executive and legislative powers appear to be opposed to each other in a manner inconsistent alike with steady co-operation or stability; and unfortunately, also, although constructed upon a basis as broad as practicable, the representation has not hitherto secured a body of men, however intelligent, sufficiently patriotic to sacrifice their selfish individual or party views to the national welfare. In Austria, perhaps, the greater evil was avoided by the ultimately weak administration of Metter

nich being succeeded by at least comparatively able and energetic men, who were enabled to put an end to the miseries and horrors of internal civil war, by the aid of the less civilised nations on the north and east. And although adverse to any foreign interference whatever, we must do the Emperor Nicolas the justice to admit that, although his alliance and aid in support of Austria, of course, gratified his ambition and increased his own power, he acted as disinterested a part as will reasonably in the circumstances be expected. The alliance of Austria and Prussia appears, also, with the support of Great Britain, to have fixed the vacillating policy of Prussia, and secured in the mean time the threatened integrity of the sunk kingdom of Denmark. And by this union of theirs, these great Continental powers, if they were only to abstain from their own aggrandisement, and promote the establishment of moderate constitutional governments, protecting the individual rights and energies of the people, might perhaps effectually contribute not only to the tranquillity, but also to the positive welfare and advancement of Germany in general. The evil, however, is, that this new combined intervention on the part of Austria, Russia, and Prussia, is by the despotic governments, whose more recent proceedings, as well as those of the minor sovereigns of Germany, indicate an intention of measures, of which the result will probably be very different from that just alluded to. But Great Britain, Holland, and Belgium, it is trusted, will continue to have, and France and Sardinia, it is to be hoped, will soon be able to construct for themselves, constitutional and truly liberal governments upon a popular basis, with free institutions, protecting individual rights and interests, and will thereby

set and exhibit a salutary example of regulated liberty to the Continental nations of the east and north of Europe; for this is almost the only intervention or influence which one nation can legitimately exercise upon or in relation to another. This influence of example is no doubt indirect; but when the national intercourse is frequent or intimate, it is powerful, and operates safely, because gradually. It is more efficient for good than even the generosity of a government which declares its territory a place of refuge and safety for all the unfortunate under political changes, such as dethroned kings and disappointed ministers. And it is never liable, like it, to the risk of a well-founded reproach; for an indiscriminate and too generous declaration by a government, that its territory is a safe refuge for all the unfortunate under political changes, may not only relieve and succour the unfortunate innocent, but also afford undue shelter to the guilty, who have been unsuccessful in enterprises, if not absolutely criminal, at least undertaken solely for their own selfish aggrandisement; and may thus afford such individuals the means of carrying on, in the midst of a foreign European capital, schemes of mischief which they had not the means of maturing in their own native countries. National pride and generosity are not sufficient, any more than superiority of wealth or power, to excuse or legally justify a neutral nation, desirous of peace, in affording the means of political machinations, which is, in fact, equivalent to an actual intervention.

FARTHER INQUIRIES

IN

INTERNATIONAL LAW.

PART SECOND.

ON PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW, OR THE LAW OF NATIONS IN THEIR INTERCOURSE IN THEIR CAPACITY AS INDIVIDUALS, OR ON THE CONFLICT OF LAWS.