The Press.
London, England, 1855-10-27 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

jortign 6orrzsgoutturt.

FRANKFORT, Oct. 23.
" THE liberty of the press is as the air we breathe,"
exclaim the veteran Whigs ; " without it we die."
Would that they were entombed indeed! This canon
of Whig doctrine is a truth, albeit a sorry one, for the
Whigs do exist and always have existed on the pro-
stitution of this great maxim of the Constitution.
They have practised the misdemeanor, have normally
taught the lesson, and the Times, an apt scholar, now
far beyond tutelary control, is frequent in its self-
indulgence of this unworthy act. The last act has
been against Germany. But before entering on that
subject, let oue long-lingering word be exchanged
with the old Whigs of au ancient renown. To say
that the Whig is an impostor, " de jure et de facto,"
would be to enunciate a stale truism that has ceased
to have any significance. To affirm that the Whig
is the enemy of the political humanities is merely to
revive the memory of the conduct of Sir James Gra-
ham towards the brothers Bandiera—the man who,
as a Minister, pseudo-Conservative, spouted demo-
cracy on the hustings in vain attempt to preserve his
character of Whig Liberalism, who defended the corn
laws by a quotation from Scripture applicable to their
preservation, and abjured them by another verse of
the Bible that would have justified their maintenance.
It is thus that Lord John Russell is Roman Catholic
at Vienna and Calvinist in England. To assert that
the Whig is faithless in the severest sense, it is suffi-
cient again to refer to Lord John Russell. His
conduct to Lord Palmerston in 1851 was a fitting
antecedent to his more recent lapse towards Lord
Aberdeen and the flagitious trespass against the Duke
of Newcastle; and to make manifest in his own
example the peculiar uses to which the liberty of the
press is Whig-applied, turn, 0 ye of any faith, to the
passage in Moore's private chronicle, edited by the
same Lord John Russell, wherein it is related how
Thomas Moore, patriot-poet of Ireland, was suborned
by Lord Holland to traduce, in the Whig fulness of
hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness, the honour
and integrity of a political antagonist. Possession
of an object is necessary for its exclusive violation.
The Georgian slave is defended at all hazards by her
captor for vile purposes of his own. In apology for
the misdeed the Whig is simple—" C'est l'habitude."
Accepting the excuse in plea of " guilty," it neverthe-
less becomes a bounden duty, for the sake of honest
propriety and social order, to protest against the
abuse of a power which in a studied course of wrong-
doing may eclipse the advantages which of right
should belong to it. The late attack on Germany
by the Times is a case in point.
The province of a journalist increases in responsi-
bility in ratio to the arena of circulation, and if the
latter, in an extended issue, be a gauge of merit, dis-
cretion ought to be proportionately large in wielding
the mighty weapon that has conferred distinction.
The Times is a great fact, to use its own coined words.
There is not a town on the Continent where the
English journal is not perused with avidity. Painful,
therefore, was the impression in Germany on the late
unmeasured attack of that country, and Prussia in
particular. The grounds selected for contumely
were not circumscribed, but were ample, general, and
without reservation ; and the arguments applied in
support of this outburst of opprobrium effectually
isolated England, as, if conceded, they were equally
applicable to every other country, and indeed were
so used. Certain remarks in THE PRESS and other
journals on the probability of a marriage betwixt
Prince Frederick William of Prussia and the Prin-
cess Royal of England occasioned the attack in the
Times ; and, followed by the Daily News and the
Sun, a forcible protest was issued against such al-
liance, as being nationally prejudicial, and shamefully
injurious to the happiness of the young princess.
These be grave accusations : but in the obloquy
dealt out to Germany and Prussia, anger usurped
the place of reason, and so thoroughly did the im-
pulse, proper or improper, genuine or spurious, con
trol the moment that facts were despised, and a real
or simulated ignorance went far to establish a want
of authenticity in the information of foreign affairs.
It therefore cannot be surprising that the offended
parties, indignant at such wholesale vituperation,
should reply after the following fashion :
Depuis le jour de sa fondation jusqu'it l'henre presente
le Times, qui a sans cesse ate achete, s'est toujours trouve
a vendre. Le Times livre au plus offrant sa conscience et
see opinions. 11 jauge la vertu, et tarife le vice ;11 specule
stir la probite, et cote l'indelicatesse ; it met tout eels au
rebels comma une denree avariee, et la mobilite de see
sentimens s'explique par les haute et par les bas que l'es-
compte lui faire subir.
This is the mere raving of a writer exasperated and
improperly personal, but what follows against Eng-
land is a consequence of injudicious abuse :

Nous Bayous que I'Angleterre a pour politique de caresser
jusqu'i la seryilite, et outrager jusqu'a l'impudence ; male
ce que nous Rayons par I'experience des hommes 1e peuple

SATURDAY,

le devine, l'apprend, lc sait par instinct. Aussi est-ce avec
un profond sentiMent de repulsion et de &gout qua Ber-
lin, et dans tottte l'Allemagne, on a lu l'inqualificable ar-
ticle publie par le Times sur le projet de manage annonce
entre le file du Prince Royal de l'russe et la Princes%
Royale d'Angleterre.

These latter words merit attention from being 'pa_
ticularly expressive of the temper of Collective Ger-
many. It is too much to suppose that the 'Ames,
with its unlimited means of acquiring intelliglince, is
not well instructed on the intricacies of o,i'errnin
Courts; it is not possible that the private and re.
vealed policies of the German principalities. can hale
escaped notice. In language of discourtesy and cot_
tempt, the Times predicts that Prussia a.nd German; •
without distinction of party, are nationally inimical
to England, and unworthy of an alliance with her ;
that England, as a rule, should eschew foreign con-
nection, and more especially with Proaestant Prussia.
One of the reasons adduced is, that an English.
princess on a l'russian throne would become in
Russianised, and, by possibility, induce a
prejudicial leaning of that nature in England.. In
order that the position be tenable, it must be taken
for granted that the war with Russia be perpetual—.
a standing war—and that Prussia and Germany are
for ever linked by inclination, not less than by ne-
cessity, with the interests and with the ambitious
determinations of Russia. Let this bold assertion be
scrutinised—let the veracity of the fact be tested.

By the Congress of Vienna, Germany was deprived!
of its ancient empire. Some princes were mediatired.
—the remainder by an unwise arrangement became
dependent, by force of position, upon Prussia and
Austria; and the new kingdoms of Bavaria, Wurtems
burg, and Saxony were continued in a shape of cit.
cumscribed dominion that made each dissatisl,ed
and covetous of an increase of territory, at the
expense of the neighbouring princes. Prussia was
Protestant, and Austria Catholic. Prussia popu.
larised education, and Austria restricted the supply
of knowledge. Prussia established univ ersines,
Austria repressed them. The first was ar ,plaided
by the people; the second bowed before and re-
ceived the blessing of the Jesuit. Disco' al ensued,
jealousy was rife throughout the Corded..tration, and
then a third agent subtly introduced its( ilf—this was
Russia. It worked with cunning tools . And by a triple
trench. 1. By family alliance with the princes;
2. by fomenting a disrelish both c,A' Prussia and
Austria, and by prompting inder.endence ; 3. by
perseveringly inculcating the irraninent hostility
and cherishing a hatred of Fran ce, and pointing to
the legitimate counterpoise of Russian protection.
The wild doctrines of democracy copied from France,
and proclaimed in the Paul. Kirche of this tows,
were directed by Russian intrigue, and had in-
tended results. Russia was thereby immediately
strengthened in her Germraiic position. The failure
of the Hungarian cause, was owing to her inters
ference, which riveted the subjection of Austria; and
the republican license otthe Paul Kirche, mischievous.
and objectless, made the German princes, robbed
and ruined by the democrats, cling for safety to,
their Muscovite guardian. At that precise period:
the affairs of Prussia were placed in trust by the,
Emperor Nicholas, and the members of the u-paitti
de la Croix" were nominated trustees. But the
constitutional, and conservative party, tinily and
absolutely Liberal, and not Whig. Saxon, were fully
cognisant of the Russian intrigue against the. inde-
pendence of Germany, and stood alt.of !loom either
faction', despotic or democratic. They were made
stronger by the defeat of the Frankfosb anarchists.
It is in the oblivicn or ignorance of the existence of
this influential band of German politicians that con-
! sists the chief error of the Times. Of this band-
-1 constitutional, conservative, monarchial, and patri-
I Weeny German—the Prince of Prussia may be.
recognised as the bead, and the names of MM. de
Bunsen, Von Usedom, Bethinan Hollweg, Bonin,.
d'Auesweld, de Wincke, and Furstenberg Stanheim,.
are a guarantee for the high interest with which they
are spiritually ennoble& They are opposed to.
foreign interference, Russian and Austrian; they
desire that Germany should be nationally CODSOII-,
dated, and acquire a unity and a distinct position off
which it is at present depthed ; they are in strict
union of sentiment with the Prince of Prussia, with!
whom, together and in common, they view in Pro--
t,estant and constitutional England a natural and
necessary ally against unscrupulous 'Russia an
Jesuit Austria, and they would pleasurably witness,.
as constitutionalists, Protestants, and anti-Catholics',
a closer bond of affinity betwixt the two nations;.
Now, is this large, liberal, and powerful party,. conn-
posed of men of European reputation for talent as
probity, with the Prince of Prussia as their 'sender,
resolute in their defence alike against RnaWiat and the
Jesuit, deserving of that sweeping coutheamatic
with which the Times, recklessly and without reflec-
tion, has so unjustly visited it? Is it a. erirne. in the
Prince of Prussia to entertain a regard for Protes-
tant England? Is M. Bunsen to be reproved for
reverencing the constitutional and anti: Catholics
institutions of Great Britain; and is that, honest band
of patriotic spirits, full of sympathy for Anglo.