Meanwhile Lord Stanley had been thinking of other matters, and the allusions to Alaska and to Canada in the letter of April 4, afford a delightful instance of the light in which British statesmen viewed Colonial questions at that period.
The Eastern Question has left us quiet during the last ten days. I hear nothing more of the proposed cession of Crete, and I suspect the French have found out that they had been going a little too fast and too far.
The Luxemburg business has monopolized attention. Holland was willing to sell the Grand Duchy if the consent of Prussia could be secured, and France wished and wishes to buy, but Prussia steadily refuses. Holland dares not act without Bismarck's permission, and for the moment the plan seems to have fallen through. But the Emperor cannot afford a fresh defeat, and I fear we have not seen the end of the transaction. There is an almost universal expectation of war.
The Americans, as you will see, have bought a large amount of worthless[10] territory from Russia at a nominal price. Their motive is probably twofold: to establish a sort of claim in the future to British North America, lying as it does between their old and their new possessions; and to gain a victory over us by doing without our knowledge an act which they probably think will annoy England. In that expectation they will be disappointed, for I cannot find any one who cares about the matter, and the press in general treats it with indifference. It is true that in Canada the feeling may be different.
The Luxemburg difficulty (which had the effect of producing a temporary rapprochement between France and Russia with regard to the Eastern Question) was settled by a conference in London, and letters from Lord Stanley and others show that war was narrowly averted, and that the French were not ungrateful for the action of the British Government.
'We have been too busy at home to have much leisure for Eastern affairs,' wrote Lord Stanley. 'The success of the Conference in keeping the peace was not, I think, expected by the general public and has given proportionate satisfaction, more perhaps here than elsewhere, and more in France than in Russia. The Emperor dreaded the idea of war and would have accepted almost any terms. The Prussians, being prepared and knowing that the French were not so, professed great indifference as to the result of the negotiations. Many still say that the inevitable quarrel is only postponed. It may be so, but I am inclined to think that in such matters to gain time is to gain everything. Irritation subsides, new questions arise to divert attention, and the opinion of the country has time to declare itself. I am told that at Paris the feeling of gratitude to England is general and strong.'