The Press. — London, England, 1856-11-01 00:00:00

The devotion of his Majesty affairs, and his presence near sent time, forbid us to douT received his sanction. It co lish public the sentiments Whatever construction we ml upon facts, let us recognise selves. This note in th before us with the whole weight of the autho rity of the Imperial Government of France. This fact remains constant, let us regard it in what spirit we may. In the note itself there is nothing to wound the susceptibility of this country. It is di rected, not against the liberty of the English press, but against certain abuses of that liberty. It complains that certain calumnies have been diffused respecting the French Government ; and, appealing from these newspaper slanders to the common sense and good faith of the English people, it warns them that a continu ance of this system must tend to disunite that alliance of France and England which is the best guarantee for the peace of the world. These are solemn words. Nations are but aggregates of individuals, and the British people should receive this appeal as a man would receive the remonstrance of his next door neighbour against a wrong which he feels to be most injurious to his peace and his honour, and which he is conscious he has never deserved. We believe that in this note may be traced something more than the language of official complaint. It glows with the personality of grieved and wounded sentiment. Some of our newspapers affect ignorance of the grounds on which this remonstrance is founded. It is difficult to believe in their sincerity. In our mo , t influential journals — journals which are emp'rntically supposed to represent the Engl sh min 1, and which are not unconnected with of r Go 7ernment—there have appeared most markcu and insulting in• sinua Lions against the morality, the honesty, and the good faith of the Imperial Govern ment of France. These insinuations do not date from yesterday. They extend over several months past. If this assertion should forth and to overthrow, not the Government only, but the whole fabric of social order. It is against this peril that the Administration has perpetually to guard; and we can well understand, since it has found it necessary to impose restraints on the freedom of its own press, withiwhat uneasiness it must view the press of a near and friendly country dis seminating the calumnies and fulfilling the aims of its worst enemies—the disturbers of social order. In a country situated as France is at the present moment, it is impossible to separate the cause of the Government from the cause of the nation. I f we wound one we wound the other. The Emperor is the choice of the whole people; the Government is the choice of the Emperor. To insi-t that the Government is faithless and corrupt is such an offence against good neighbourhood as must lead to a dissolution of the friendly alliance between the two Governments. And it is against this peril that we are warned. Undoubtedly our Government is not answerable for the language of the English press. It is free ; but is it, therefore, irre sponsible? To what is its power owing ? The answer must be—to the support ac corded to it by the people. It is presumed to represent the popular voice in this country. And hence, for the very reason that it is free from Government control, its language, after a certain limit has been passed, becomes the more important. The nation is held account able for it. The speech of the English press is taken to be, what it claims to be, the speech of the English people. How can it be otherwise? There is no such thing in the world as irresponsible power. The instincts of mankind lead them to look for some tangible representative of insult and it is impossible to dispute. We think he bad a right to look for some better return for his constancy than the slan ders by which he has been assailed. We do nut allude to the detestable calumnies which have been propagated in obscure prints, though we have reason to believe that those are sedulously brought under his notice. They might be passed over in silence ; but we cannot wonder that the French Government should feel indignant when our leading journal, with an animus too plain to be misunderstood, puts forward the pretended confessions of avowed felons to damage that Government in the estimation of the French people, and in the eyes of Europe. A continuance in this course without some decided expression of dis approbation on the part of our public, can have but one result; and in the dissolution of the French alliance we should unques tionably lose, in the words of the Moniteur, " the best security for the peace of the world." • _ s• ' • 46:)1- . . . , ... . ~• 184 • ~• 1 0/0 1,- -..-- ya s- s • -0 - ---s .... .. 1 4: + No. 183.--VoL.IV. LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1856. STAMPED ....SIXPENCF. UNSTAMPED..FIVEPENCE. __ _ _ _... _ • , - (/ 'be disputed, we shall know how to make it wrong. If a man chooses to keep a ferocious 12 C 'il' I . CS S. good by citations of the exact words used. dog on his premises. it is to the man, not to We can imagine that the Emperor of the the dog, that the neighbours look for redress FRENCH would feel equally hurt and indig- of injuries received. Our press is not respon- •, -:- mint at the display of this designed and per- sible to the Government. Well. But to LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 185(1. sistent malevolency. The condition of French whom, then, is it responsible ? There can be . • society as regards politics is peculiar ; it is but one answer :—To the people. This is the • exceptional. The Government has found it view taken by the Moniteur. It is to the THE French Government has thought it ne- necessary to restrain that freedom of the English people that an appeal is made. If • . cessary to protest against the license of a por- press which prevails here. We do not now they decide that the French alliance is not tion of the English press ; and there are cer- speak of the wisdom of such restriction ; we worth retaining, it is little likely to last long. tain circumstances connected with the publi- confine ourselves to the fact. Unrestricted This change in the tone of the English cation of this note in the Moniteur which freedom of the press, and the maintenance of press we can conceive to be a subject of pain- entitle it to serious consideration. We propose authority and order, are found to be incon- ful surprise to the Emperor of the Fassen. sistent with each other. Only eighteen months have passed since he to enumerate those circumstances with preci- That liberty or license of comment which was received in our metropolis with universal sion and calmness. seems natural to us, and which we have ac- acclamation. Every newspaper was loud in Before discussing the note itself, we have to customed ourselves to bear as stalwart swim- his praise. The French alliance was then inquire what authority attaches to it. The mers learn to buffet ocean storms, is entirely regarded as an object of supreme importance, foreign to the genius and character of the and the French Emperor was welcomed as our Moniteur is the recognised organ of the French French people. Attacks on their Government greatest and most faithful friend. Government. The announcements which ap- are incitements to revolution. Society cannot In the interval that has elapsed there has pear in it have the same kind of authority as be otherwise than insecure in a nation which been no change in his policy. He has been the Ministerial announcements in our London has gone through such sudden and violent constant to the English alliance, though we changes of Government as it has been the can understand what powerful inducements C . Gazette. They are the formal and approved misfortune of France to experience for the must have been held out to him to break from declarations of the G overnmen t o f France ; last sixty or seventy years. We can laugh at it. During the war he held a position which and of that Government the Emperor Nero- the attacks. from whatever quarter tkey pro- would have enabled him to give a turn to the . LEON is the head. teed, which are made on England and her in - polities of Europe most perilous to England. )... The devotion of his Majesty to public stitutions. The Conservative element in this Had he desired to work out that scheme of . country holds society together with a force policy which we arc accustomed to associate _.'•-• affairs, and his presence near Paris at the pre- which neither the shock of domestic dissen- with the name of his uncle, the opportunity sent time, forbid us to doubt that this nor(' sions nor foreign hostility has been able to was not wanting. His good faith was proof received his sanction. It conveys to the Eng- overthrow. It is otherwise in France. There 'igiiinst every temptation. He never faltered lish public the sentiments of our great All 3. mighty forces of disturbance, ever animated to in his course ; the whole resources of the . , .. Whatever construction we may choose to put new efforts by the remembrance of success on French empire were unsparingly put forth to - . k 1 upon facts, let us recognise the facts them- former occasions, wait but the slightest bring the contest in the Crimea to a glorious selves. This note in the Moniteur comes symptom of encouragement again to burst conclusion. This is matter of history which before us with the whole weight of the audio- forth and to overthrow. not the Government lit is imnossihle to disnute. PROTESTANT PRECAUTIONS. THE article in the current number of the Quarterly Review, on the " Declining Ineffi ciency of Parliament," contains several remark able views of the present state of our political affairs. There is no part of that article more entitled to attention than its concluding re marks on the "attitude" which the Roman Catholic Church has asstu It may be regretted that assign more space to that its subject; but, taken as see its expression of opini which we hold to be of whether examined from Lmed in this countr .. the QuVerp,,, t partic „ at il-, 11 7. if:" N.,. Ls it is, I l i ,--. • s r ~0, . 0 , Lion upo. it l h i ;7,, • i l , 5 ? first-ratp i VII ,' '....* 1 7 the reboy 7 l tr''''' '":. F".. t A ze .., . AillV_ „ 4 . ) to tn iri • ...0:—. • w -8.. - Nr s - ~--