R USSIA2T A GGRESSIOX. 



217 



If they should again serve a dish, which is 

 neither "fish nor flesh," in the House of Repre- 

 sentatives, and if the Ilouse should be contented 

 with this assurance (as we heard out-of-doors), 

 that " the Government keep before their eyes the 

 U'ish of the nation that the interests of the mon- 

 archy — in opposition to the Russian policy of ex- 

 tension — should be secured" the ambiguity of the 

 situation would not be at all changed, and the 

 door would still be left open ; so that, if events 

 took another turn, the water would be turned to 

 grind the mill for those " influences that wish to 

 get a share," and our nation would some morn- 

 ing awake to find that, under the pretense of se- 

 curing the interests of the monarchy, things had 

 happened which the nation abhors as it does 

 damnation. 



I do not speak so because I have forebod- 

 ings ; it is not my object to enter into questions 

 of principles. I don't want to quote the sad 

 pages of our own history, nor the examples of 

 Polignac or MacMahon, to show that it has al- 

 ways been so; and that there has never been 

 any impiety without the reigning power invoking 

 interests of state when committing it. But, as 

 we stand in view of the danger of Russian exten- 

 sion, I pray my countrymen to look for that page 

 of history where they will see it written how the 

 Viennese cabinet understands the securing of the 

 interests of the monarchy when face to face with 

 Russian aggressive policy ! This has such an 

 actuality of interest that I nearly shudder when 

 I think of it. 



Whoever looks at those pages must feel con- 

 vinced that the Viennese cabinet never did under- 

 stand the securing of the interests of the monarchy 

 so that the Russian extension should not be per- 

 mitted ; but it so understood them as that, whenever 

 the Russians commit robbery, Austria must rob 

 as well — that, when Russia extends herself ', Austria 

 ought to do the same. 



So, I repeat for the third time, it understood 

 them at the division of Poland, and so it has un- 

 derstood them ever since, without exception, when 

 face to face with the Russian policy of extension. 



This is an awful remembrance. 



And this they call the policy of restoring the 

 equilibrium ! 



And what has history said of that awful pol- 

 icy? I do not speak even of morals, of honesty 

 which is always the best policy in the end, though 

 it was a long time ago struck out of the vocabu- 

 lary of diplomacy. I point to facts. 



By this policy the Russian power has been 

 swollen to giant - like proportions, which now 



menace the whole world. The consequence of 

 this policy is the war of to-day, and Russia now 

 smooths her way, through the Turkish " Slavonic 

 cause," to the Hungarian and Austrian "Slavonic 

 cause." 



On the other hand, this policy of sharing has 

 not saved the Austrian dynasty from withering. 

 Russia has grown up ; Austria has dwindled. 



And what will be the result if the Vienna 

 cabinet should again follow this damnable policy 

 of expediency ? 



In the past it has put a razor in the hand of 

 Russia ; now it would put this razor to the throat 

 of Hungary, and also of Austria. 



" Duo cum faciunt idem, non est idem." 



There can be no doubt that what the Rus- 

 sians would rob from the Turks, what their influ- 

 ence would win on both shores of the Lower 

 Danube and on the Balkan peninsula, would form 

 a real increase of their power, an augmentation 

 of their strength ; and the influence thus ac- 

 quired would act upon the Slavonians of the 

 Austrian Empire, and upon those of the Hunga- 

 rian crown, like the loadstone on iron. Those 

 Slavonians that would be caught by Russia, she 

 would take with her. 



On the contrary, what the Viennese cabinet 

 would pilfer, under the shadow of the Russian 

 highwayman, from the Turkish Empire, would only 

 weaken us, and become eventually our death ; be- 

 cause it would eternally multiply and put into 

 further fermentation all the already fermenting 

 and dissolving elements. The Slavonians who 

 would be caught by the Viennese cabinet would 

 take the latter with them. 



And what would be the infallible final result ? 

 The punishment of talio. If St. Petersburg and 

 Vienna should divide the rags of the torn Turk- 

 ish Empire, twenty-five years would not elapse be- 

 fore the Russians, the Prussians, and the Italians, 

 would divide Austria and Hungary among them- 

 selves, perhaps leaving something of the booty 

 to Wallachia, as the reward of subserviency to 

 Russia. This is as true as that there is a God. ■ 



Well, I feel no call to be anxious about the 

 dismemberment of Austria, if free nations might 

 step into her place ; but I do feel it my duty 

 to be anxious about a dissolution by which Rus- 

 sian power and Russian influence would be in- 

 creased. I feel it so much my duty that, if 

 our fatherland were connected with Austria only 

 by the ties of good neighborly friendship, and 

 if Austria were threatened by the Russians, I 

 would most determinedly say to my countrymen, 

 " Defend thy Austrian neighbor to the last drop 



