The Press. — London, England, 1858-03-13 00:00:00

242 Every motive ofloyalty, cf patriotism, and of self respect, will compel him to fight his ship to the last. He did not undertake the Govern ment in any expectation of receiving the ready support of the House of Commons, but he has a right to be allowed to develop his policy. and to place his plans of government before the country. If this be denied him, his final duty remains. To the country he must appeal. His duty to his Sovereign (anti to himself also) prescribes this step. And the House of Commons must look this result in the face. If they think two elections in two years whole some, and the loss of a whole year to legisla tion a thing of small importance, they will take their own course. But we, for our part, do not expect of them so absurd a determi nation. We do not think that nearly 100 Liberal Members of the Lower House will calmly face their constituents, and say, "We destroyed " the Palmerston Government in February, " and we tried to upset Lord DERBY in April ; " and if you will have the kindness to return " us once more, we shall be equally ready to " vote against Lord JOHN RUSSELL." We observe that while we were putting on paper the above remarks, the Times was at the same moment writing as follows : " Threatened men live long, and threatened " Legislatures are equally tenacious of exist " enee. We are sure that Parliament will not be " dragooned by this menace, and have very " strong reasons for thinking that it is futile. " We cannot believe that her Majesty has " placed in the hands of Lord DERBY the power " of dissolving Parliament." If it were not tolerably notorious that one of the writers in the Times has his own peculiar reasons for looking forward to a .dissolution with feelings of horror, we should have been at a loss to understand how that journal could have committed itself to so egregious an ab surdity. What ! are its readers to be made to believe that a nobleman who, as the Times has often admitted, cannot desire the Premiership, nevertheless stooped to accept it shorn of its usual powers—that he blandly gave himself up to the House of Commons to be dealt with at its pleasure ? The idea is so preposterous that is is difficult to conceive how an astute journal like the Times could venture to put it forward. However, as it is put forward as something which the Times " has strong reasons for thinking," we meet it by the plainer and broader assertion that we have the best means of KNOWING that Lord DERBY is Premier with FULL POWERS ; and that if the House of Commons, after discarding one Government, were immediately after to quarrel with another, the country at large would im mediately be called upon to decide, whether such proceedings met with its approval. THE PRESS, MARCH 13, 1858. cal progress. It is absolutely necessary that the brood of political fanatics which infest France should be trampled out before the work of regeneration can commence ; that the ground shoald be •feared of the debris of three revolutions before the architects of con stitutional freedom cal lay the first stone. Every new conrelsiea prolongs the necessity of coercion. The name of liberty is polluted by beeesslng the wave►word of assassins ; and every new crime tends Elora and more to enlist our sympathies on the side of the present regime. The paper recently issued under the sanc tion of the French Government is a temperate exposition of the question at issue between us from the French point of view. We have perused it with satisfaction, as being likely to arrest the growth of an unfriendly feeling in this country towards our Imperial ally, and to restore that cordial intimacy which we believe so beneficial to the liberties of Europe and the future welfare of Great Britain. Had it been possible for England to withdraw herself from continental affairs altogether, and to isolate herself, like China or Japan, the recent misunderstanding might have afforded her an excellent opportunity. But as no one pre tends that such a course is practicable, the next best thing is that we should maintain a close alliance with the other great Western Power, rather than have our friends at a re mote distance, and our enemies at our own door. We believe this important document will be successful in removing all traces of re cent irritation, because it reduces the cause of it within a very narrow compass. The right of asylum is freely, and even graciously, acknow ledged by one who has profited himself from its sanctity. But a distinction is drawn between an asylum for those who persecute, and those who are persecuted by, a foreign power. It is one thing to protect fugitives from the vengeance of authority : it is another thing to expose that authority to the vengeance of fugi tives. This distinction is so essential and so generic that the people of this country merely require to have it clearly laid before them to acknowledge its justice, and to comprehend the point of view from which the French nation regards the present entanglement. This once being admitted, the aspect of the question is much simplified, and we trust that no English journals will be so ill-advised as to seek to restore the confusion of ideas which at first prevailed upon the subject. Some remarks, however, seem to be called for by the tone of the Imperial manifesto on past events, as well as on the expectation which it seems to imply of future changes. It may be very true that pamphlet after pam phlet of the most sanguinary character has been printed in London, and that speech after speech may have been delivered breathing the most atrocious sentiments towards the French ruler. All this may be very true, and yet the English nation in no way privy to the fact. We will undertake to say that not one man in every five thousand of the population of London was in the least degree conscious that any such practices were in existence. The truth is, that in England our publicity is so com plete as sometimes to defeat itself. For the same reason that what we can do any day is never done, what we can know any day is very likely to remain unknown. Were the Discub sion Forum held in the dark arches of the Adelphi, with scouts posted at every outlet to signal the advent of the police, its meetings would be crowded and its decisions the talk of the town. Were the murderous effusions of which the French writer complains printed in danger and darkness, with all the ingenious precautions adopted by our old Jacobite pam phleteers, they would attain publicity at once. The stimulus of mystery would produce its natural results. But as it is, who has ever heard of these pamphlets ? Who pays so much attention to the French Debating Club at Wilde's as he would to a game of snowballs in the square? Or who, if fortune has ever conducted him to the St. Stephen's of Fleet street, has any other emotion than one of ad miration at so excellent a parody? The French writer is better informed on the localities of London than he is on the habits of mind of the British public. We have something else to do in this country than to watch the contor• 1 tion of a Leicester-square patriot, or the wrath of a pothouse Harmodius. We wish, therefore, to impress upon oar neighbours and saw, dot as we make all du e allowesce for *air own national cha racter, he**, and inalitutiows, they are b ound to make similar return. They must d o as they could be dose ow. V s strive to place surselles itt their polOon. They must strive to plets thorinselves in tow And we heartily beg the be believe Mist if they succeed in doing so, tbey will gradually come to under stand that the fact of certain writings bcing printed, and certain speeches delivered in this country, is no indication whatever of the state of national feeling. So much of the past. But we cannot con. teal from ourselves that a question of great difficulty remains in regard to the future. How are we to reconcile the protection of refugees with the maintenance of undoubted inter national obligations ? The difficulty will demand the utmost delicacy and forbearance on both sides. On the one hand it is totally impossible that England should abate one jot from the absolute sanctity of her island temple. On the other hand, that a constant and cordial ally should be made a target for English bullets fired by the exiles whom England shelters, seems utterly intolerable. This is a dilemma from which no human wisdom can completely relieve us. We must trust to time. But more than all, we must trust to the mutual generosity of two great nations, who will be slow to think evil or to impute motives ; and who will interpret particular events by the light of their general friendship rather than their general friendship by the light of parti- cular events. One word in conclusion. No measures could have permanently benefited the French Emperor which did not meet with the hearty concurrence of the British people. Govern. ments can no longer transact these affairs between themselves ; and when public confi dence was withdrawn from the Palmerston Administration, every hour that he remained in office was widening the breach between the two nations. Under these circumstances it was absolutely necessary that a Conservative Government should be placed in office. Their turn would have come ere long, let events have progressed as they would. What parti cular accident should reveal the weakness of the Liberals, and summon the leaders of the Opposition to the helm of the State, could not be foretold with exactness. But the event was certain. And now that a Conservative Ministry is once more in office we look forward to a suc cession of measures which shall readjust our foreign relations and vindicate Representative Government. THE FRENCH MANIFESTO. THE advance of knowledge which puts a limit to individual independence has a tendency also to abridge the isolation of States. As law, police, and all the complex apparatus of civil government crow up around him, the man is transformed into the citizen. He lays aside his sword, converts his gold into securities, and no longer takes the law into his own hands. Such is the complete result as exemplified in the members of any one civilised commu nity ; but in the general community of nations we discern as yet but the tendency. The pro gress of science has diminished those natural obstacles which made some nations safe be cause they were inaccessible, and others inno cuous because they were remote. Russia was less formidable before the introduction of rail ways, and England more secure before the in vention of steam. If this be so. it is obvious that England can no longer afford to stand aloof from European politics. The same agen cies which have narrowed the Straits of Dover to the dimensions of a river, compel her within the pale of the continental system. We are still far distant from the day of universal law, and "the Federation of the World." But the tendency is visible. And if this empire is to maintain her ancient superiority, she must be the earliest to read the signs of the times. We have previously expressed our convic tion that, notwithstanding his peculiar posi tion at the present moment, the Emperor NAPOLEON is one of the truest friends of politi- • OPPOSITION CHIEFS. " Wao is to lead the Opposition ?" has become a question of the day. Lord PALMERSTON, Lord JouN RussELL, Lord CLARENDON, Lord GaAs- VILLE, are each and all spoken of by their friends as being most fit for the leadership. Discomfited place-hunters gather round Lord PALMERSTON, but Lord JOHN RUSSELL IS not without supporters ; Lord GRANVILLE has an extensive connection, and the Stafford-house Whigs do not desire to aid Lord JouN RUSSELL. Two years ago it was well known that a large number of Members of Parliament were re solved on putting forward the claims of Lord CLARENDON to the chiefsbip of their party ; but there are not half a dozen Liberals who would now propose to do so. Besides these diserrdant candidates, there is a body of popular members who wish that some strong Radical politicians should be cried up, and that on any further Liberal movement there should be a prior agreement that the ollices of the next Liberal Cabinet should be " equitably adjusted " between Whigs and Radicals. Unanimity is the last thing to be expected from such ill-matched confederates. The difficulty between Lord PALMERSTON and Lord JOHN RUSSELL is certainly very great. For the last few years each has done his best to injure the other. Since 1835 up to 1852 Lord JOHN RUSSELL was the recognised leader of the Liberals, and he never would concede that post to Lord PALMERSTON. It was Wily. In 1830 that Lord _ . PAT.btERSTON joined the WWI,