The Press.
London, England, 1856-02-23 00:00:00

RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC APPOINT-
MENTS.

WE believe we may state with confidence, that,
on the conclusion of Peace, Count MEDEM
will be oppointed as the representative 'of the
Court of St. Petersburg in Loudon, and that
Baron BRUNOW will be c.ccredited as Russian
Minister at Paris.

RETIREMENT OF THE AUSTRIAN
MINISTER.

WE announce, with sincere regret, that his
Excellency Count COLLOREDO, the Minister of
Austria, is about to terminate his diplomatic
relations with the Court of St. James. His
Imperial Master requires, we understand, his
Excellency's services in another scene of sur-
passing and enduring interest, and perhaps,
we may add, difficulty. We will not dwell on
the subject at this moment further, but only
express what, we are sure, will be the general
feeling of sorrow that English society is about
to be deprived of the presence of an eminent
individual, who, throughout his career in this
country, has
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170

LIFE PEERAGES.

who has conducted himself in a more irre-
proachable manner, and who will leave us
more honoured in our memories.

IF we cast our eye over the various kingdoms
of Europe at the present day, we can hardly
fail to be struck With the fact that they littve
almost without an' exception been free,
prosperous, and exempt from internal convul-
sions, exactly in proportion to the success with
which the nobility has maintained its inde-
pendence of the Crown. The policy of Louis
XI., steadily followed up at a later period by
RICHELIEU an or Louis XIV., wrested from the
French aristocracy their rightful privilege of
governing, and reduced them to a position in
which high personal qualities were unable to
redeem the odium attaching to a class who,
with all the wealth of the country in their
hands, had no duties to perform and no taxes
to pay. The Reign of Terror was the conse-
quence. Some little time before this policy
reached its consummation, occurred that great
event which determined the future of Eng-
land, which secured to her nobles a sphere of
activity and usefulness, and prevented them
from sinking into that apathy which is always
the precursor of corruption In the Revolution
of 'BB the victory was, perhaps, pushed too far,
and the Crown weakened too much. But the
question to be decided by experience, and not
by theory, is whether at that time the pre-
dominance of the nobility over the Crown was
not a lesser evil than the predominance of the
Crown over the nobility.
The idea of a European Monarchy is that
the King represents the principle of autho-
rity, the people the principle of freedom, and
the aristocracy the principl e of order ; the
duty of the latter being to correct the aberra-
tions of the other two, to uphold liberty with
out being turbulent, and subordination without
being servile. This is the ideal of a modern
Constitution—not attainable, perhaps, more
than any other ideal, but on which neverthe-
less we should fix our eyes as the type of a
perfect polity.
If we were asked what it is that especially
fits an aristocracy for the discharge of these
functions, we should say it is the sense of
permanence that pervades it. In an aggregate
of families, of whom some are very ancient,
and all hope to be so, the personality of indi-
viduals is weakened. A member of this body
is not a mere isolated unity, connected alike with
the past and the future. He feels him-
self but a link in the long chain of his
country's history—morally almost powerless
to do other than perpetuate the traditional
policy of his race. In proportion to the
antiquity of his family will such a man be in-
clined to view popular questions with bold-
ness. He whose family or order has coexisted
with the people for a thousand years, will not
doubt their honesty or good faith; nor, on the
other hand, will he hesitate to speak out
frankly when his principles are opposed to
their wishes. He will be equally fearless
either to promote their liberties or to restrain
their licence. In the presence of two other
forces which are by nature fluctuating, which
can no more help being so than the waves of
the sea, is not the existence of a third, of a
character essentially the reverse, of paramount
importance ?
Whether the introduction of life peers would
affect this character is surely not a difficult
question. They would be ill the House of
Lords, but not of it. Their personal associa-
tion and habits of political thought would all
be in accordance with the general sentiments
of the Commons. To change a man's na-
ture something more is required than merely
to change his name. If you at once invest
him with all the attributes that belong to an
hereditary peer, it is probable that a corre-
sponding change will follow in himself. Other- i
wise the very inferiority of his position will
drive him into antagonism, even had he felt
none before.

Those who have accused us of denying the
Royal Prerogative know very well that their
use of that word is equivocal. The exercise