The Press.
London, England, 1858-11-27 00:00:00

1166

THE WEEK.

THERE is a dead pause in the world of party and politics. Join
BRIGHT'S blundering and violent harangues scarcely disturbed it. The tercen-
tenary of the Reformation and the Charge of the Bishop of Lox oos nearly
broke the silence, as do a few big drops before the thunderstorm. The
Times forgets its classic stories, and grumbles commonplace, not from want
of power, but from poverty and paucity of texts. The Record is unable
to discover in the mist or to hear in the silence of a single dancing rector
or pirouetting curate, and each and all grasp recklessly at reports of
cases whose gross indecency sullies their pages and ought to forbid
their publicity. St. Barnabas is gone to roost, and Mr. IVEsrEttros,
the unquiet churchwarden, for once sleeps sweetly. Even Cardinal
WisEmAN's snore is inaudible to Mr. BOWER. Is it a breath of relief
that the tired world draws after Crimean and Indian excitement ? Or
is it the stillness of what its sailors call breeding weather at sea, which pre-
cedes a hurricane that strains every timber of the ship, and rouses the
sleeping ocean from its quiet bed a thousand fathoms down ? Easterly
winds, an easy Money Market, and the Funds, like the weathercock,
almost stationary, are proofs that either John Bull or the country has
gone to sleep. Is it the reaction of an effort to introduce Reform,
increased by finding it too difficult to discover whether it be the
machine or the men that work it that most needs reform? Perhaps it
is the tiptoe expectation of a Conservative Reform Bill, which multitudes
will, of course, pronounce insipid, because there may be in it no spice
of revolution in Church or State to give it piquancy and flavour. Men
hold their breath in moments of intense expectancy. Perhaps this
Pythagorean silence is the result of the withdrawal from the outer world
of PALMERSTON and RUSSELL and BRIGHT, in order to concoct a Bill,
each in sequestered silence, that will outbid and outrun in revolutionary
speed and fervour any constitutional attempt of her Majesty's Govern-
ment to mend the faults and to improve the character of that marvel of
finality, the Reform Bill of 1832. One lesson only we could wish all
men to learn during this interval of quiet. It is this—True reform is
an inner life before it takes the varied shapes of outer action. Like
charity, it begins, but does not end, at home. What is most deeply
needed is not readjustment of political machinery, however useful, but
elevation of aim, and integrity of heart, and purity of motive, and diffu-
sive kindness and Christian patriotism in every class of our country. It
is not a political system, however good, that makes a people, but a
people that make a system. A wise and great people prosper under any
system. A corrupt and unrighteous nation would be wretched even in a
millennium. Whoever contributes most by moral influences to correct the
prejudices, still the passions, and raise the social and moral temperature
of a community, is the Prince of Reformers, and the product of his
unostentatious labours is a Reform no State-tinker, however gifted,
can create.

M. KOSSUTH is before us again—not this time as the earnest exponent
of oppressed nationalities, but in the more useful and less ambitious cha-
racter of a public instructor. On Thursday in last week the ex-Governor
of Hungary delivered a very clever and interesting lecture at Edinburgh
on "The Characteristic Differences of Nations," and his remarks on the
qualities that combine in and distinguish the Anglo-Saxon race front any
other are well worthy our attention. To arrive at a fair and impartial
estimation of national character, a man must undoubtedly have
that sort of education, that intuitive knowledge of men and manners,
and that peculiar instinct of mind, which extensive reading and
travel combined alone can impart; and it would be impossible to ap-
preciate the distinctions made by M. KOSSUTH without having thus
known and lived amongst the nations whose peculiarities he discusses.
The " individuality " of the three nations, German, French, and English,
is compared by the lecturer to the three spiritual faculties of man—" Mind,
Heart, and Soul ;" and he proceeds thence to enlarge on the idealism and
reasoning power peculiar to the German, the sociableness and communica-
tiveness of the Frenchman, and the force of will and practical activity cha-
racteristic of the Englishman. The German is, in M. KossuTres opinion,
a profound thinker, the Frenchman an agreeable talker, and the English-
man an energetic "doer." We do not dispute the general accuracy of
this classification ; we find in it rather imperfect truth than fundamental
error. Now, we deny that the English as a nation are doers only, and not
thinkers. We protest against being judged by that continental theory
which starts by assuming that, because we accomplish great works and
achieve more success in material than ideal matter, we are utterly and
entirely devoid of all sentiment, all romance, and all love of poetry : a
longing after practical success, and a continual desire of developing our
strength of purpose, is perfectly compatible with a mind as thoughtful as a
German's, and as artistic as a Frenchman's. Whilst we have no wish to
run counter to the happy wish expressed by M. Kosstrrit at the conclusion
of his lecture, that " the pretension to exclusive superiority in each nation
" should he softened into mutual esteem," we may yet question the pre-
ceding assertion, that the natural characteristics as described by him are
requisite to make that perfect whole" in European society without which
"progress would be at an end." For our own part we should imagine an

THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 27,1858.

amalgamation of national characteristics would improve every nation and
we would rather each " took a page from the other's book," and endeavour
as much as possible to blend the thinking with the talking, and carry both
into practice. With regard to the German, he is so constantly leaving
this world of sense, and idealizing in the realms of imagination, that his
sentiment but too often degenerates from romance into flights of fancy at.
once fantastic and absurd. Had he but a grain of "the common sense"
which M. 'Commit attributes to the Englishman, he would soon perceive
his folly, and, like many a poetaster in this practical country, have to
swallow his sentiment and lay aside his visionary philosophy and misty
metaphysics to join in the pursuits and occupations of an active life. The
French, on the other hand, might improve their national character by
adding a tinge of the German sensibility and thoughtfulness to their
usually careless temperament, whilst their social dispositions would not
suffer by a judicious admixture of English reserve. The English and
French genius differs, inasmuch as the one individualizes and the other
centralizes. But, as M. liossimi points out, this is to he attributed not
so much to individual character as to the peculiar position in which each
are placed by the forms and practice of the Government of their respective
countries. The weak point of an Englishman's character is his apparent
haughtiness and coldness of manner, which often degenerates into egotism,
rudeness, and a want of vivacity ; and a lesson from our neighbours pour
appremlre a &re vif would not come amiss
to many a man who prides
himself in the name of Briton. The distinctive feature is that individwiliza.
Lion (so to speak) which no foreigner can comprehend. An Englishman
speaks of himself and acts for himself, as an individual, with a fixedness of
purpose and a determination to succeed, and though utilizing his ideas and
discarding for the time all occupation but that of a practical and material
nature, he is yet not incapable of those higher flights of the mind which so
enthral a German, nor is he the less able to devote himself, and with as
much pleasure and assiduity, as a Frenchman, to pursuits of science, litera-
ture, and art. IVhilst, then, we congratulate ourselves on the general
fairness of M. Kossum's remarks, we must be allowed to protest against
the fallacious supposition that the English, as a nation, are so entirely ab-
sorbed in matters of practical utility as to be devoid of the mental capa-
bilities imputed alone to Germany, or deficient in the social and convivial
qualities attributed solely to the inhabitants of La Belle France.

There is no political news this week of any great moment, as we pre-
sume the addresses of Messrs. BouvERIE and LABOCCHERE to their con-
stitutents will hardly be considered such. Smithfield and Southwark,
however, have contributed their quota to the week's amusement. The
worthy people who figured on the first-mentioned occasion would do well
to consider whether their appearance in public is at all likely to promote
the object they have in view. The advocates of manhood suffrage usually
give the British artizan credit for a certain amount of intelligence, which
the rest of the public are very willing to take upon trust. To believe in
him, in fact, is just now rather the fashion tjian otherwise. But if he wishes
this profitable delusion to continue, it would be wise of him to hold lii3
tongue. We might continue to think him a swan if his voice didn't betray
him. But we are afraid the literal-minded individual who last Monday
declined to give Lord ROBERT GROSVENOR his title., because the Bible for-
bade him, will cause infinite disbelief in the existence of many Alton Lockes
among the tailors and shoemakers of the metropolis. On the Surrey side our
old friend Sir CHARLES NAPIER has been giving the electors that identical
piece of his mind to which they have been so long accustomed. Nothing
like fortifying, except fighting, in Sir CHARLES'S opinion, though we
remember a certain orator, of whom it was said that he was " lingua melior
" sed frigida bello dextera." And we think Sir CHARLES would consult
his own dignity best by moderating those martial harangues in which he
so much delights.
We have also to record political speeches by Mr. Cox, of Finsbury,
and Mr. NEWDEGATE. The former gentleman expressed his willingness to
accept a Reform Bill from Lord DERBY as soon as from Lord JOHN Bus-
SELL, for which gracious admission the Noble Premier is doubtless duly
obliged to him. The Hon. Member for Warwickshire dwelt strongly on
that glaring inequality in our town and county representation which can-
not be overlooked any longer, and ably pointed out the manifest inconsis-
tency between M. DE MONTALEMBERT's praises of English liberty, and his
desire to bring her back to Popery, in the repudiation of which that
liberty had its origin.

A great disturbance has been made this week and last on the sub-
ject of college fines at Cambridge. One of the colleges there has, it
seems, raised the scale of fines for non-attendance at chapel, and
" knocking in" late, to a height at which the undergraduates have
begun to kick ; and, in consequence, they have invoked the aid of the
leading journal to put their oppressors to shame, not scrupling to attri-
bute the most sordid motives to the body of gentlemen who constitute
their college superiors. Now, about the expediency of this particular
innovation we say little beyond this, that the fines for late hours ought
not to press hardly upon poor men, who, if they pass their evenings
regularly in wine parties or social gatherings of any kind, are not ful-
filling the purpose for which they were sent to the University. How-
ever, we have no desire to urge this point ; but what we do think
that Oxford and Cambridge had better wash their dirty clothes at home.
There is a sufficient check upon any undue college charges in the sen-
sitiveness of paterfamilias; and if these charges are really both cause-
less and excessive, the diminution of candidates for entry at that parti-
cular college will soon rectify the evil. En the next place, we "14
express our opinion that the columns of the leading journal might be