THE 



MONTHLY MAGAZINE, 



OF 



POLITICS, LITERATURE, AND THE BELLES LETTRES. 



VOL. XVI.] MAY, 1833. [No. 89. 



PALMERSTON POLICY. 



FUTURE generations will view with mingled wonder and contempt, 

 the deplorable spectacle of our foreign policy a policy that will 

 ultimately entail on the country, a war as ruinous as the one we waged 

 to roll back the tide of the French revolution. 



There is scarcely a question that has been started of late, as to our 

 foreign relations, that is not either pending, or has been decided against 

 us. It is true, that we have sometimes raised our voice in favour of 

 trampled freedom ; but what has it availed us ? The despots of the 

 Continent have proceeded in their work of extermination, regardless 

 of our feeble cry. Yet, when, in November last, a clamour wasraised 

 by the conservative party against our armed intervention in Belgium, 

 the partisans of ministers confidently maintained, that the line of 

 policy pursued by the government, in conjunction with our French 

 allies, would level every difficulty, solve every question, and disperse 

 every vestige of uncertainty. " The imposing attitude we have as- 

 sumed," was their cry, " will be the surest guarantee of a lasting 

 peace." In what way these brilliant promises have been realized, we 

 shall just examine. 



The Belgian flag floats, it is true, upon the battered walls of the 

 citadel of Antwerp ; the forced halt imposed upon Prussia, upon the 

 very frontier of that kingdom, was, we allow, a masterly stroke of 

 diplomacy ; but what other result has been obtained ? The naviga- 

 tion of the Scheldt, the real European question, is as far from it's 

 solution as ever. The conference of London is dissolved, dead, and 

 buried, beneath the ponderous heap of it's own protocols. The cruise 

 of the combined squadrons in the North Sea, and the second act of 

 the comedy, " the blockade of Holland," are suspended until the sea- 

 son of the year shall admit of more effective operations. In the mean 

 time, William of Nassau, more obstinate than ever, and with good 

 reason too, since it has so admirably succeeded, pursues a system of 

 calculated inertia and a war of Custom Houses, the most profitable 

 by far that he could wage. However driven to his last entrench- 

 ments, the faithful ally of the crafty Nicholas has just thought of 

 another subterfuge that of an appeal from his own obstinacy, to that 

 of the States General, and of removing to their shoulders the weight 

 of a responsibility that begins to be severely felt by his people. The 



M.M. No. 89. 3 I 



