The Press. — London, England, 1858-11-13 00:00:00

1098 . • • ST. ing of ting of teeples, in th e ancient e great ropoli s . and for re were upon for this, incon- I of No- ondition Pawkes ginger- ler with er relics, way and tawdry, through dditional in every on being magis- tate and )plication aspect for for the re admit ial marks upon the ion of the that the !I' may be er to give f his ten- ent to ste y dinners, ut we are ni should satire day at which its nose; ar are so -e suggest should be tinguished , or to the rtholomew t the Lord ye months mportance thority or aeration in ) him per' Mayoress, de to that 2 pa i n s of rittily and BANK of the no- .I . 0 THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 13, 1858. vent the unlawful use of national flags, and to treat those who so use them as out of the pale of the protection of the State whose flag they abuse and 'usurp We feel . confident, therefore, that this is a right which our Ministers nevet will surrittder. MANET IMItOtA FIDIt6. WIIY did M. DE MosTALENtarer write a pamphlet ?It is the qtestion 'Mkt Oecurs td one on reading the " D6bat sur r Inde " and the question does not at the first glance appear directly answered by the book. An essay now in November upon the debate which took place in the English House of Commons in May ! It seems odd, and one's surprise is not decreased on looking through the pages. We find in them, run ning throughout like the refrain of an opera, perpetually recurring comparison between Eng land and France, composed with consummate ability, and enunciated with a most captivating eloquence, but presented under an aspect and in a manner calculated in the highest degree to con ciliate the former and irritate, if not alarm, the dominant ideas of the latter. The Institutions of England, her Statesmen, and her Legislators, are painted with a colouring and an effect from the influence of which one can hardly abstract oneself. Repressed in his development in France, worried with the intrigues and deafened with the babble of antechambers and the cries of the fanatics who believe themselves his masters, and of the hypo crites who regard him as their dupe, and stifled with the corrupt atmosphere of France, M. DE MONTALEMBERT rushes in a frenzy of disgust to renew his vitality by bathing his mental man in the free air of Britain. This is not an announce ment likely to be received with favour in Paris, and we are not very much surprised that the irritation excited has been profound enough and strong enough to induce the Emperor to permit a prosecution to be instituted against the author of the pamphlet. Nor is it the Institutions and Traditions of England in the abstract alone which come in for eloquent commendation. Even out of the manoeuvring of the great Cardwell intrigue M. DE MONTALEMBERT contrives to extract matter to make flap-doodle for Englishmen, whatever their politics and whatever the side they took upon that occasion ; while of the Derby, its glories and its headlong enjoyment, he paints a picture true and picturesque enough to win the hearts, not only of every trainer and jockey in the kingdom, but every legislator and every constituent who voted for and enjoyed the famous Wednesday on Epsom Downs, when a " simple Baronet" won the Blue Ribbon of the Turf Why does M. DE MONTALEMBERT do all this ? Why does he place himself within the p of a Government which the People have mafansbso lute by acclamation, and which circumstances have rendered exceptionally susceptible ? We confess we should have been a little puzzled for a reply. hurwe not happened to turn while we were reading " Un Debat sur l'lnde " to the Count's former publication, " L'Avenir Politique de rAngletere." In that book, and in the motto which closes the last chapter, as it heads our own article, we find the incentive to the writing and publication of the present essay. " Manet im mota fides." The ideas, the prmciples, and the objects of M. DE MONTALEMBERT remain un changed and unchangeable. They are now what they were then, and the "Debat sur I'lnde" is in truth but an amended version of the " Avenir Politique." The exaltation and advancement of the Papal Church is the end, and England it is hoped may yet be the means. Evidently M. DE MONTALEMBERT'S dominant idea is, that liberal political institutions like ours are better calculated to advance Papacy than Any connected with . pure and absolute monarchies. Portugal and Spain have failed egregiously ; Austria has not come up to the mark ; and France, Imperial France especially, exhibits symptom of indifference, if not of rebellion. NAPOLEON 111. is one of those few people who are capable of learning from the ex perience of others ; and for him NAPOLEON I. did not live and govern in vain. NAPOLEON 111. is disposed to back the rights of universal huma nity against the power and pretensions of Rome in the Mortara case ; and NAPOLEON 111. and his regime is, thettfore, . be held up to repro. bation by the skititif h . 1 .h Liberal institutions. We tiO_ubtif we Sty 1 . upon to be grateful for thi s , M„b DE 110 Y Lt would reve* the pro if li sin the promotion of the l ca lir uses be has has IN heart, shall we say, lied Doe 4 it body tillati Off view ? Let theiti turn to pages 15 and jl3 at the essay on the Indian Debate, where Re Author speaks of the labours of XAVIER and of the policy of ALBU QUERQUE, of DE CASTRO and DE MAISTRE. From those pages let them turn to the " Avenir Poli tique' : „ How much," says M. DE MONTALENIBERT, " for three centuries and even at this hour has the Church not had to deplore the hostility or even the indifference of this great nation ! What would not the English, if they had remained true to the old faith, hate done for it with their inde fatigable activity, their indomitable energy; the propagandizing influence of their commerce, their fleet, the munificence of their contributions, now so profusely given in error—what strength, what help the Roman Church would have found there ! What a compensation it would be for the Church ! What a contrast with the Southern Nations, which now, after two centuries of sterility and decline, are on the high road to apostacy !" - And much more to the same purpose, very eloquently set forth, all tending to the realiza tion of MoNTALENtsEsr s favourite idea, which he pursues with a persistency worthy of DE MAISTRR himself, that Rome and England, severed by what he designates as a fatal misun derstanding, may be again united like body and soul. To that we say,_ Got) forbid ! But there is the key to M. DE MONTALEMBERT 9 B policy 119 exhibited by the " Avenir Politique," and "Un D6bat sur rlnde." . _ We said that we owe him no peculiar gratitude for his expression of opinion upon the value of our character, our institutions. Why do we say so ? Simply because M. DE MONTALEM BERT regards and makes much of us merely as an instrument. Ile only values us in proportion as he thinks we might be made available for the advancement of his Church and of her dominant Order. Does anybody dispute this ? We beg them to read the following passage in the " Avenir Politique " " The glory of the Catholic Church—one of I the conditions and of the consequences of her im mortality—is to render herself always all to all. It is to lend herself with an indefatigable inflexi bility to the institutions, the manners, the ideas of all countries and of all ages, in all that is not incompatible with Faith and Christian virtue. England, above all, claims and deserves in this respect some especial precautions." Here, then, in the " Avenir Politique," we have the key to the essay before us. M. DE MONTALENI BERT whips with his eloquence the stupid and violent Priesthood of Ireland, and even the Car dinal himself, not in the interests of Eng land, not for the love of his or her for tunes, but in the interests and for the love of the Papal Church. He rates them because they were clumsy instruments : not because they were wrong fundamentally, but because they have misunderstood the functions and nature of the Papal Church, and fail to recognize and use efficiently that indefatigable flexibility by which she renders herself always all in all. They have rubbed up the back of England against the hair. M. DE MONTALEYD3ERT makes it his business in the "DCbat stir Uncle," sedulously to smooth it down again. There is one more very remarkable publication which we have only space now simply to refer to as strongly confirmatory of the views which we have advanced. It is entitled " Russia and the Jesuits." It was written originally in French, principally from unpublished documents, and translated and published at the instance of a well-known politician in this country. A very cursory perusal will, we are sure, satisfy our readers that nothing is so true of the Papal Church that, changeable to any extent in its apparent form, it is for ever unchangeable in policy and real character, and that now, as ever, the phrase is true of it, " MA= tatatcrre Funs." p AN IRRUPTION FROM THE E AST. WITH fanfare of trumpets, with b raying brass instr i ume ih n g ts, tif ra be tt u le t drums, vibrating flauntingiteeies flags and tig a motley dfowd gathefed on Tuesday in precinata o the City, bkrst through the anti, boundM'y dt Templt-bitt, and flooded the lines of tonithuniiatiod throttith the metropolis. traffic) *as Mopped efitttely lbr hours; and hours Nen tit business kid men of pleasure alike debarred from moving about their avocations. Nobody had bargained for and everybody was put to most serious venience. It was thought that the Ninth vember had fallen into much the same condition of desuetude as the Fifth, and that Guy had been packed up in the lumbering bread coach, and both put away together the mysterious Gog and Magog, and other of which the significance has passed awl been forgotten. Not a bit of it. The unmeaning Puppet Show flaunted itself the streets with fresh pretension and addit impertinence and obstructiveness. Now, we really do protest against this sense. We object to the traffic of London impeded for four hours, in order that a trate may be sworn in ; we object to state ceremony being made ridiculous by applit to unfitting subjects. We have every respect municipal institutions in general, and office of Lord Mayor in particular. We that it may be perfectly right that especial of consideration should be bestowed upc Lord Mayor of London as the impersonation municipal principle; we acknowledge City Banquet on the Ninth of November a very convenient occasion for a Minister a piece of his mind or an indication of I dencies to the Public ; and we are content the Ninth of November made much of by or balls, or speeches, or addresses. But not content that the whole Population have all their arrangements for an eni put out for the sake of an exhibition a Provincial Circus would turn up it and if the citizens east of Temple-bar attached to its tinselled splendours, we that in 1859 the Lord Mayor's Show should transferred to the locality of the extinguished Smithfield-market, or Finsbury-square, - scene of the joyful turbulence of Barth Fair. We should think, however, that Mayor may be invested with his twelve of traditional and conventional iml more quietly without lessening his authL diminishing his utility; and the moderation in assumption will have the advantage to him per sonally of rendering himself; the Lady Mayores.s and the Miss Mayoresses less susceptible to that sudden fall in the ensuing year, the pains of which THEODORE HOOK has so wittily and humorously delineated. RESPONSIBILITIES OF BANK DIRECTORS. THE public has not yet heard the last of the no torious JOHN SA.DLEIR. For the last many days the Landed Estates Court at Dublin has been occupied in taking evidence as to whether the " London and County Bank," or the official trustee of the creditors of the late " Tipperary Bank," is to have the proceeds of SADLEIICS estates. The disclosures in the case, as to bow banking transactions are carried on, are enough to startle. We had known before that JOliS SADLEIR was a schemer and an adventurer; that he was a man of straw, setting up in London ;ti a sham capitalist; that he was without scruple of any kind ; and other main feat ures in his chk