1859.] How one free Government may assist another. oppressors, the liberty which is bestowed on them by other hands than their own will have nothing real, nothing permanent. No people ever was and remained free, but because it was determined to be so; because neither its rulers nor any other party in the nation could compel it to be otherwise. If a people especially one whose freedom has not yet become prescriptivedoes not value it sufficiently to fight for it, and maintain it against any force which can be mustered within the country, even by those who have the command of the public revenue, it is only a question in how few years or months that people will be enslaved. Either the government which it has given to itself, or some military leader or knot of conspirators who contrive to subvert the government, will speedily put an end to all popular institutions: unless indeed it suits their convenience better to leave them standing, and be content with reducing them to mere forms; for, unless the spirit of liberty is strong in a people, those who have the executive in their hands easily work any institutions to the purposes of despotism. There is no sure guarantee against this deplorable issue, even in a country which has achieved its own freedom; as may be seen in the present day by striking examples both in the Old and New Worlds: but when freedom has been achieved for them, they have little prospect indeed of escaping this fate. When a people has had the misfortune to be ruled by a government under which the feelings and the virtues needful for maintaining freedom could not develope themselves, it is during an arduous struggle to become free by their own efforts that these feelings and virtues have the best chance of springing up. Men become attached to that which they have long fought for and made sacrifices for; they learn to appreciate that on which their thoughts have been much engaged; and a contest in which many have been called on to devote themselves for their country, is a school in which they learn to value their country's interest above their own. It can seldom, therefore-I will not go so far as to say never-be 775 either judicious or right, in a country which has a free government, to assist, otherwise than by the moral support of its opinion, the endeavours of another to extort the same blessing from its native rulers. We must except, of course, any case in which such assistance is a measure of legitimate self-defence. If (a contingency by no means unlikely to occur) this country, on account of its freedom, which is a standing reproach to despotism everywhere, and an encouragement to throw it off, should find itself menaced with attack by a coalition of Continental despots, it ought to consider the popular party in every nation of the Continent as its natural ally: the Liberals should be to it, what the Protestants of Europe were to the Government of Queen Elizabeth. So, again, when a nation, in her own defence, has gone to war with a despot, and has had the rare good fortune not only to succeed in her resistance, but to hold the conditions of peace in her own hands, she is entitled to say that she will make no treaty, unless with some other ruler than the one whose existence as such may be a perpetual menace to her safety and freedom. These exceptions do but set in a clearer light the reasons of the rule; because they do not depend on any failure of those reasons, but on considerations paramount to them, and coming under a different principle. But the case of a people struggling against a foreign yoke, or against a native tyranny upheld by foreign arms, illustrates the reasons for non-intervention in an opposite way, for in this case the reasons themselves do not exist. A people the most attached to freedom, the most capable of defending and of making a good use of free institutions, may be unable to contend successfully for them against the military strength of another nation much more powerful. To assist a people thus kept down, is not to disturb the balance of forces on which the permanent maintenance of freedom in a country depends, but to redress that balance when it is already unfairly and violently disturbed. The doctrine of non-intervention, to be a legitimate principle of morality, must be accepted by all governments. The despots must consent to be bound by it as well as the free States. Unless they do, the profession of it by free countries comes but to this miserable issue, that the wrong side may help the wrong, but the right must not help the right. Intervention to enforce non-intervention is always rightful, always moral, if not always prudent. Though it be a mistake to give freedom to a people who do not value the boon, it cannot but be right to insist that if they do value it, they shall not be hindered from the pursuit of it by foreign coercion. It might not have been right for England (even apart from the question of prudence) to have taken part with Hungary in its noble struggle against Austria; although the Austrian Government Hungary was in some sense foreign yoke. But when, the Hungarians having shown themselves likely to prevail in this struggle, the Russian despot interposed, and joining his force to that of Austria, delivered back the Hungarians, bound hand and foot, to their exasperated oppressors, it would have been an honourable and virtuous act on the part of England to have declared that this should not be, and that if Russia gave assistance to the wrong side, England would aid the right. It might not have been consistent with the regard which every nation is bound in a to pay to its own safety, for England to have taken up this position single-handed. But England and France together could have done it; and if they had, the Russian armed intervention would never have taken place, or would have been disastrous to Russia alone: while all that those Powers gained by not doing it, was that they had to fight Russia five years afterwards, under more difficult circumstances, and without Hungary for an ally. The first nation which, being powerful enough to make its voice effectual, has the spirit and courage to say that not a gun shall be fired in Europe by the soldiers of one Power against the revolted subjects of another, will be the idol of the friends of freedom throughout Europe. That declaration alone will ensure the almost immediate emancipation of every people which desires liberty sufficiently to be capable of maintaining it: and the nation which gives the word will soon find itself at the head of an alliance of free peoples, so strong as to defy the efforts of any number of confederated despots to bring it down. The prize is too glorious not to be snatched sooner or later by some free country; and the time may not be distant when England, if she does not take this heroic part because of its heroism, will be compelled to take it from consideration for her own safety. JOHN STUART MILL. INDEX то VOLUME LX. Abbey of Port Royal-history of, 485; About the West Riding, 449 Alison's History of Europe from 1815 to Alpine Club, the, 239 Alpine Excursions, dangers of, 241 Amnesty, the, between France and Ancient sea margins, 130 Honourable Arethusa M- G—, 243 Bacon's Philosophical Works, 387 Barons of Buchan, the: a contribution Books of Travel, 105 Brain, disturbances of the, through British and French Naval Administra- Brunel, Isambard Kingdom: In Me- Buchan, the Barons of: a contribution Buckle's, Mr., History of Civilization, Cairnes, J. E.: Essay towards an Ex- Canning, George, and his Times, Staple- Character of Victor Emmanuel, 505 Chorley, J. R.: Notes on the National 423 Comyns, Rise of the, 133; their politi- Concerning Friends in Council, 344 De Boismont, A. Brierre, On Halluci- Democracy and Autocracy, identity of, Democratic Tyranny-Risks of Eng- D'Estrées, Madame, Adventures of, Destruction of the Abbey of Port Drama, National, of Spain, Notes on 314, 423 Earthquakes, by C. R. Weld, 708 England, Risks of Democratic tyran- England's Literary Debt to Italy, by English Poetry versus Cardinal Wise- Essay towards an Experimental Solu- Europe, History of, from 1815 to 1852, Finance, Indian, 534 Fjeld, a Journey across the, 186 French Wars, Modern, 71 Garibaldi, a Song from, 95 German Contributions towards Pro- 42 Hieratic Papyri, Goodwin's, 42 Holmby House, a Tale of Old Northamp- Hunt, Leigh, English Poetry versus Hunt's Manual of the Philosophy of Hurry and Leisure, Concerning, 145 Identity of Autocracy and Democracy, Idylls of the King, Alfred Tennyson's, Illusions and Delusions, 625 Indian Finance, 534 Irrationale, the, of Speech, by a Minute Italian Confederation, the proposed, Jesuits, intrigues of the, for the destruc- Kean, Charles, Life and Theatrical Keats, Cardinal Wiseman's charge Keightley, Thomas, on the Life of Edmund Spenser, 410 Lady of Lee, the, 372 Last Spring at Rome -a Bird's-eye Legend, the, of Arethusa; 243 Life of Edmund Spenser, on the, by Limits of Religious Thought examined, Lombardy, cession of, to Sardinia, 249 London, the question of fortifying, 637; Long Vacation Readings, 672 Machiavelli and his Prince explained Maubuisson, reform of the Abbey of, 487 Mayo, Dr. Some Remarks on Mr. Mill, John Stuart: A Few Words on Modern English Literature, Thoughts Modern French Wars, 71 482; history of the Abbey, 485 Naples, France, and Austria, 373; Neapolitan misgovernment, 374; 80- Naples, invasion of, by Charles VIII., Napoleon the Liberator, 624 caused by the introduction of steam, Index to Vol. LX. state, 646; practicability of the pas- Nelda: a Romance-translated from New Administration, the, 122 Notes on the National Drama of Spain, Old Northamptonshire, a Tale of: Peace of Villafranca, the, 244 Pitt and Canning - Fifty Years of Pitt and Napoleon on the defence of the Poetry-A Song from Garibaldi, 95; Politics-The New Administration, 122; The Peace of Villafranca, 244; 779 Port Royal and the Port Royalists, 482 Religious and Philosophical Guides- Remarks, Some, on Mr. Buckle's 293 Reserved People, Thoughts on, by a Risks of England-Democratic tyranny, Rome, Last Spring at-a Bird's-eye |