406 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 



interests of the German states, and especially of Austria, are diametrically 

 opposed both to those of France and Russia ; and as the Germans can never 

 become a maritime people, they are our most natural allies. We have nothing 

 to fear from them : they have nothing to fear from us ; whereas both we and 

 they have every thing to fear from France as well as from Russia. Our 

 present system of policy is directly the reverse of this, and we are alienating 

 them by cultivating the friendship of their bitterest enemies, merely because 

 their form of government is said to be similar to our own, although in spirit 

 they differ as much as light from darkness. In forming alliances, it is, how- 

 ever, the most absurd thing in the world to pay the least attention to forms of 

 government. Principles and forms of government ought not to have the 

 least weight in questions of such vital importance. If it were for our in- 

 terest, we ought to form an alliance with a Nero in one country, and with 

 the most licentious democracy that ever existed in another. (!!!) Our 

 alliances, in a word, ought to be founded on mutual interests, independent 

 of all forms of government. Hence, as long as the world remains consti- 

 tuted as it is at present, whatever form or forms of government may exist in 

 Germany, the Germans will always remain our most natural allies. And al- 

 though the interests of some of the German states may at times be opposed, as 

 those of Prussia and Austria for instance, still we may rest assured that 

 English influence, properly directed, and divested of all party feeling and pro- 

 pagandism, would always be powerful enough to neutralise the elements of 

 discord, and direct the united energies of the whole Teutonic race." 



The author then is one of those tainted with Russo-phobia, however much 

 he admires the government and policy of that country, to the praise of which 

 he devotes rather more than a fourth part of the pamphlet : but he is no less 

 strongly an anti-gallican, nay, much more strongly, if his invectives against 

 la grande nation are to go for any thing. Now we contend altogether against 

 one of the principles assumed by the writer respecting a coalition against our 

 natural enemies, disapproving of the use of the word "natural" as well as of 

 the theory of "immortal hate" so confidently laid down as the basis of 

 the whole argument ; while at the same time we fully agree that no alli- 

 ances can be durable that are not grounded on mutual interests, only we re- 

 serve to ourselves the power assumed by the author of deciding for ourselves 

 what seems to be the interest of England at the present crisis. No interest 

 appears to us as a stronger tie than mutual advantage, commercial advantage, 

 one, by the way, quite overlooked by the pamphleteer, (who seems to consider 

 the martial pride of England as of much higher value than the exalted station 

 which she holds in the arts of peace :) and certainly to no foreign nation are 

 we united by such strong ties of mutual commercial advantages as to France. 



To contend that France has no interests in common with us, and no in- 

 terests having for object the keeping down of Russian domination, is truly 

 absurd ; for the interests of both as the great providers and exporters of manu- 

 factured goods, which constitute the great wealth of the countries, render it 

 absolutely necessary that peace should be maintained in Europe; and if the 

 ambition of northern governments render war unavoidable, it cannot be 

 otherwise than to the joint-interest with England and France to oppose their 

 efforts with combined strength. This of course we mean in case that both 

 countries should continue to improve progressively and alike in manufacturing 

 skill : when the balance of interests is overturned, which we do not fear, our 

 reasoning ceases to be applicable. It is not an uncommon error to forget the 

 new principle, one of twenty years' growth, of commercial connexions between 

 nations, and the writer of "the remarks" may well be excused; but we should 

 be ill performing the duty of conscientious critics to our readers, if we did not 

 expose the defect and at the same time point out what seems to us to be the 

 most important feature and strongest tie of the league between us and France, 

 including Spain and Portugal. It is to no purpose to urge objections to 



