t the maintenance of it was extremely difficult. The policy
of the French emperor was considered capricious and dynastic, and not
regulated by good faith and justice. His eagerness to create an
alliance with Russia, at the expense of England, was obvious in every
circumstance which brought the three powers into diplomatic
connection. This was more especially the case as regarded the Danubian
Principalities. On every question which arose in connection with those
provinces of the Turkish empire, Russia fomented dispute between herself
and Turkey, between the Porte and the Provinces, and between France and
England. France fell in with the views of Russia, thwarted the Turkish
government, bore herself affrontfully and dictatorially to the sultan,
and peevishly and even menacingly towards England, by which nation the
rights of Turkey were from the first consistently espoused. The boundary
question was conducted so that it was difficult to believe that France
and Russia had not conspired against the rights of Turkey and the policy
of England, ostensibly to enforce which France made war upon the czar.
Austria generally sympathized more with England than with France and
Russia in these disputes, but no power could place confidence in the
perfidious government of the kasir, any more than in that of the czar.
Prussia showed neither justice nor magnanimity. Her policy was selfish
and cowardly. Although the grandson of the King of Prussia was affianced
to the Princess Royal of England, that circumstance made no difference
in the pro-Russian sympathies of the king. He abetted Russia in all her
designs. The Prussian people generally expressed disapprobation of the
policy of the court, but did not show spirit or purpose to counteract
it. On June the 19th, a treaty was signed at Paris, and ratified on the
last day of the year, between Great Britain, Austria, France, Prussia,
Russia, and Sardinia, relative to the frontier of Bessarabia, to the
Isle of Serpents, and to the delta of the Danube. The policy of England,
on the whole, triumphed in this treaty. The Swiss Canton of Neufchatel,
which appertained to the government of Prussia, revolted against that
government. In consequence of that event, much diplomatic difficulty and
discussion arose in Europe. The moderate plan of arrangement recommended
by England influenced the decision of the contest in a manner
satisfactory to the Swiss Confederation and the people of Neufchatel.
The King of