The Press.
London, England, 1855-04-21 00:00:00

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r-No. 103.—VoL. 111. LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1655. PRIC

;E SIXPENCE.

Ebt Vrtss.

body like the Corporation of London to talk
of the " dignity of our attitude," but states-
men know that in the crash of war, influence
belongs only to battalions, and that our
claim to " sway destinies" is the mere con-
temptible vapour of fur-gowned citizens, while
our forts need garrisons, and we have not a
single regiment we can send abroad to meet
the countless levies of the enemy.
How is it that, in spite of warnings and in
spite of experience, the action of the country
still lags behind its capacity and the demand
of the public ? There can bo but one answer
to the question. Our Government is unequal
to its duties—but to ascertain why it is un-
equal we must revert to the principles on
which the strength or weakness of national
action depends.
A nation can be no stronger than the
Government which directs its atfivirs. Just
as we have seen our army in the East waste
and wither under a senseles routine, the
vigour of the State has languished under the
rule of an Administration essentially corrupt
and inefficient. To stifle a clamour or to
secure a vote has been deemed of more con
sequence than to make provision for the pub
lie service ; and the main study of such
Ministries as the last and the present has
been how to readily convert the most liberal
of patriots into the most contented of place-
men.
In despotic Governments the whole re-
afaximpatabe.State are at the direction of an
individual, or of those few individuals who
form its administrative power. This is a
great advantage, but it is more than counter-
balanced by the action of a flee Government
under a representive system, which can not
only wield the whole resources of the State,
but can count besides on the voluntary and
energetic co operation of the people. But
such a Government to be strong must be
secure. From the instant that it begins to
totter—that it is driven to the desperate ex
pedient of endeavouring to sustain itself by
intrigues or concessions—its strength is lost,
and the nation it represents, however mighty
or high principled in itself, becomes in action
feeble and uncertain.

Gov( rntnent can be formed which from the
extent of its connection, or from the confi-
dence reposed in it can command is majority
in the Legislature, intrigue and jobbery in
one shape or other take the place of the
legitimate influence of party, and au Adminis-
tration becomes corrupt and mischievous,
because it is too weak to be honest and
firm.

LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1855.

THE thoughtful mind of the Emperor of the
FRENCH must have been furnished with matter
for grave reflection during his short visit to
this country. He has seen a people full of
ardour, abounding in wealth, untiring in en
terprise, making continual progress in material
civilisation, yet, by some apparently inexpli-
cable fate, unable as a nation to concentrate
their resources, and to act with vigour. He
has seen the richest country of the earth the
most defenceless ; and a densely-populated
land scarcely able to furnish a guard of honour.
for the palace and person of the Sovereign
He knows at the same time that our army in the
Crimea is not only utterly disproportionate
to our rank and reputation as a great Power,
but unequal to the work it is called on to per-
form; and, remembering that in the last great
war we had a million of men under arms, with
scarcely half our present numbers to draw
them from, or wealth to support them, he can
come to no other conclusion than that our
whole system of government has sunk in
energy, and that we are no longer equal to
the conduct of a great war. If ha recognised
in the absence of a military force our eagerness
to send every disposable man to the seat of
war, how meanly must be think of our means ?
and if he sees in our utterly defenceless state
a proof of the confidence we repose in his
sincerity, he will hardly think highly of our
prudence in trusting so much to fortune and
so little to ourselves. Should, from any acci-
dent, France be deprived of his vigorous rule,
what might be our position then ?
We deplore the circumstances which must
have forced such reflection on his mind. It is
mortifying to think that we could not give him
a welcome which would have been above the
suspicion that it was dictated by interest or
fear as much as by respect The hand which
is cordially extended is not grasped the less
eagerly because its owner is powerful. The
most generous natures are not insensible to
those considerations which are inevitably pro-
duced by a consciousness of superiority ; for
in the constancy and equality of friendship be-
tween nations, as between individuals, more
security is afforded by strength than by weak.
ness.

We believe that this evil might be remedied
if the Conservative party better understood
their own lower. They have a majority in
the country, but it requires to be roused and
organised. The Conservative principle, ac-
cording to Sir BULWER Lxrros's eloquent ex-
pression, is not lifeless, but vital. It means
a warm and generous attachment to all that
men hold dear, to the influences that soothe,
sanctify, and elevate life—to hearth and home
—to throne and altar. Our people we are per-
suaded are attached to their country, and its
laws and institutions—to their Protestant
faith—to their liberties, and to order, without
which no freedom can be secure, and no pro.
gress possible. The union we desire is for no
abstract purpose, but to maintain, to extend,
and to perpetuate these blessings. It is only
by connecting them with principles of poli-
tical action, and by placing them under the
guardianship of a great party, that we can
hope for their security and development

THE IMPERIAL VISIT.
THE Emperor of the FRENCH is too sagacious
to mistake the character of the reception givtn
to him in this country. He will not confound
the homage rendered to his success with the just
tribute paid to the rectitude of his policy and
the straightforwardness of his conduct. It is to
take the very vulgarest view of his position
and of the sentiment which animates the
country to suppose that he is honoured merely
as a lucky adventurer. It is not because he
has passed from lodgings in King-street to the
Tuileries, and that the hand which now firmly
grasps the sceptre of France once held a con-
stable's staff, that he commands our applause ;
but it is because be has shown since he
ascended the Imperial Throne that he compre-
hends the noblest use of power; that he has
distinctly recognised and proclaimed that to
maintain order within a State is to promote
public prosperity and private good, and to
resist any disturbance of the existing Euro-
pean system is to practically act on the prin-
ciple that the ago of conquest is past, and to
place the independence and rights of nations
under guardianship of those same rules of
law and order which protect the members of a
community, and which it is the first object of
their Government to enforce.

The late Government was weak from in-
ternal division—the present is weak from
want of political following. A succession of
such Governments would be enough to break
down the strength of any nation. Indeed, the
very existence of them supposes a vice in the
people, or a radical defect in the Constitution.
Lord PALMERSTON has lost the administrative
vigour he once possessed. Holding the Pre-
miership on sufferance, he is compelled to
lean on the party to whose political ideas on
many points he is notoriously opposed As
the price of their support he consents to be-
come their tool for the distribution of office,
and, instead of considering the interests of
the public service, is compelled to look solely
to the necessities of his position.
This state of affairs would not have been
possible had the Conservative party remained
united, or had it been stronger than it is. In
free States, it is not from political antagonism,
but from political compromise, that danger is
to be apprehended. While parties retain their
natural limits and characteristics, their strife
is beneficial to the commonwealth. It ani-
mates the people to take an active interest in
public questions, and forms the best part of
their political education. But when parties
are confused, or split into sections, when. no

But, setting all such ideas aside, no one
acquainted with the poverty of our military
establishment—we mean of our effective as
compared with our paper establishment—can
doubt that our force is below our necessities,
and unworthy our position. Our deficiency
lowers us in the sight of our allies, and
weakens our voice in the councils of Europe.
To talk of moral power, in the disputes of
rmtions, apart from armed force is mere cant.
Wby have se for two years been dangling
attendance on Austria. but from the know-
ledge that she has half a million of bayonets
at her disposal? It may be very well for a

As a people, we are, perhaps, at all times
too prone to regard elevation as virtue. The
favored of fortune need not fear, much from
social scrutiny. Success is among us the
greatest of all facts. But in excuse of this
tendency it is to be said that, owing to the
long and undisturbed supremacy in this coun-
try of law, and to the general prevalence of
honest enterprise, the paths to any kind of
eminence are so hedged and bounded, so
guarded by restrictions on whatever can bo
hurtful to society, that success can rarely be
separated from the qualities which deserve it.
Of those sudden terns of fortune which have

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