June 17. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



559 



LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1854. 

 POLITICAL PREDICTIONS. 



It would be interesting, and perhaps not wholly 

 unprofitable, to bring together the various at- 

 tempts that have been made to shadow forth the 

 approaching crisis in the political world. As 

 literary curiosities, such things may be worth 

 preserving ; and I therefore send you a few sam- 

 ples as a contribution. 



The first is from the Abbe De la Mennais, 

 whose words, uttered about twenty years ago, are 

 thus given in a provincial paper : 



* England, like all other countries, has had her 

 period of aggrandisement ; during a whole century 

 Europe has seen her dawning ahove the horizon until, 

 having attained her highest degree of splendour, she 

 has begun to decline, and this decline dates from the 

 day of which the fall of Napoleon, due principally to 

 her exertions, marked the most brilliant period of her 

 glory. Since that time her policy has undergone a 

 striking change, which every year becomes more evi- 

 dent. Instead of that vigour and promptitude of reso- 

 lution of which she used to give so many proofs (though 

 they could not all be praised alike, because there were 

 more than one act repugnant to morality), she is now 

 timid, she hesitates, she labours painfully through the 

 dark and crooked paths of diplomacy, and substitutes 

 intrigue for action ; incapable, it would seem, of tak- 

 ing a decisive part at the right moment, even on the 

 most momentous occasions. The English nation has 

 evidently lost its strength, or the belief in its strength ; 

 and as to actual results, one differs not from the other. 

 Look at this England, so haughty, so wedded to her 

 interests, so skilful formerly in defending them, so bold 

 in extending their influence over the whole world ; 

 look at her now in the presence of Russia. Humbled, 

 braved by that young power, one would say that she 

 trembles before its genius. The Czars exercise over 

 her a species of fascination which disturbs her councils 

 and relaxes the muscles of her robust arms. The con- 

 quests of the Russians in the East menace the posses- 

 sions of England in India ; they close the Dardanelles 

 to her fleets, they shut out her commerce from the 

 mouths of the Danube and the shores of the Black 

 Sea. After what fashion would she have resisted these 

 things thirty years ago ?" 



The next quotation is from Alison's History of 

 Europe from the Fall of Napoleon, published in 

 1852. In chap. i. p. 68., after citing some lines 

 from Gray on Education and Government, he thus 

 proceeds : 



" It will be so to the end of the world ; for in the 

 north, and there alone, are found the privations which 

 insure hardihood, the poverty which impels to con- 

 quest, the difficulties which rouse to exertion. Irre- 

 sistible to men so actuated is the attraction which the 

 climate of the south, the riches of civilisation, exercise 

 on the poverty and energy of the native wilds. Slowly 



but steadily, for two centuries, the Muscovite power 

 has increased, devouring everything which it approaches 

 — ever advancing, never receding. Sixty-six millions 

 of men, doubling every half century, now obey the 

 mandates of the Czar; whose will is law, and who 

 leads a people whose passion is conquest. Europe 

 may well tremble at the growth of a power possessed 

 of such resources, actuated by such desires, led by such 

 ability ; but Europe alone does not comprise the whole 

 family of mankind. The great designs of Providence 

 are working out their accomplishment by the passions 

 of the free agents to which their execution has been 

 intrusted. Turkey will yield, Persia be overrun by 

 Muscovite battalions ; the original birth-place of our 

 religion will be rescued by their devotion ; and as cer- 

 tainly as the Transatlantic hemisphere, and the islands 

 of the Indian Sea, will be peopled by the self-acting 

 passions of Western democracy, will the plains of Asia 

 be won to the Cross by the resistless arms of Eastern 

 despotism." 



I shall conclude with two or three extracts from 

 a pamphlet, published some time last year at 

 Toronto, and bearing the significant title, The 

 coming Struggle among the Nations of the Earth ; 

 or the Political Events of the next Fifteen Years, 

 S^c. The writer begins by interpreting, as appli- 

 cable to the present times, the prophecies of 

 Ezekiel, Daniel, and the Apocalypse, from which 

 he foretells the following events : 



1. The seizure of Constantinople, and over- 

 throw of Turkey by the Emperor of Russia. 



2. War between France and Austria : over- 

 throw of the latter, and consequent destruction of 

 the Papacy. 



3. The conquest of the Horns or Continental 

 Powers by the Emperor of Russia. 



4. Britain rapidly extends her Eastern posses- 

 sions, prevents the occupation of Judea, and com- 

 pletes the first stage of the restoration of the 

 Jews. 



The writer then continues in the following 

 strain : 



" Turning his eyes eastward on the wealth and pros- 

 perity of the countries under British protection, the 

 triumphant conqueror of Europe will conceive the idea 

 of spoiling them, and appropriating their goods and 

 cattle. Scarcely is this idea formed, than its execution 

 is begun ; and sudden and terrific as a whirlwind he 

 enters the ' glorious land.' So sudden and unexpected 

 is his onslaught, that the British power is unprepared, 

 and Egypt, Ethiopia, and Libya fall into his hands. 



" Meanwhile, Britain has been making strenuous 

 efforts to stop the progress of this gigantic Napoleon ; 

 and every soldier that can be spared is sent away in 

 the direction of the rising sun. But what can the 

 British army do against such a host as the Russian 

 autocrat has around him ? Brave as the officers and 

 men may be, what success or what renown can be 

 gained in such an unequal conflict? In the critical 

 emergency, the parent island sends a cry across the 

 Atlantic, ' Come over and help us ! ' Swiftly is the 

 sound borne over the waves, and soon an answering 



