Essays and addresses / by professors and lecturers of the Owens College, Manchester.

  • Victoria University of Manchester
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essays and addresses / by professors and lecturers of the Owens College, Manchester. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    547/576 page 527
    The War of the Austrian Succession, which led to the Second Silesian and to the Seven Years' War, was the result of an aberration, brought about by the restless eagerness of Austrian diplomacy, from the accepted principle of joint action on the part of the European Powers in reference to any question seriously affecting their mutual relations.* The only definite result of these wars was the sudden rise of Prussia to the rank of a Great Power ; but the aggres- sion which, under hypocritical pretences, Frederick II. dared in the first war, and the acquisition which he heroically defended in the second and third, in no wise affected the security of any of the allies of himself or of his adversary. The transfer of Silesia having been accepted by Austria, was accepted by Europe ; and the attempted unsettlement of the cession only led to its final establishment. The slight shock given to the European system by the original aggression was of less significance than the attempted retaliatory dis- memberment of the Prussian monarchy, an intrigue whereby Lorraine eventually fell to France, may be mentioned as an exception. German patriots have since discovered that their nation never forgave the House of Austria this act of national treason. * It seems to me that the engagements into which many European Powers had been induced to enter with Austria to uphold the Suc- cession as settled by the Pragmatic Sanction must be condemned as prejudging a question which foreign Powers had no right to discuss unless they discussed it collectively in the interests of the peace of Europe at large. The fact that these engagements had been taken separately, and that they were in consequence observed by some and cast to the winds by others, without there being any mutual right of holding one another to the guarantee, caused the wars mentioned in the text, which temporarily disturbed the peace of Europe, but cannot be said to have endangered it as a system capable of re- establishment on the same basis, to which indeed it finally attained.
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