The Express.
London, England, 1855-04-17 00:00:00

ENGLAND AND FRANCE.

IF her MAMIITY were to oondnct her Imperial
visitors, some fine morning, to Hampton Court, they
might amuse themselves by inspecting the pictures of
the expedition of the Field of the Cloth of Gold, at- I
tributed to Ifoummi, or some other contemporary
artist. The visit of NAPOLEON 111. to England has
in all externals an immense advantage over the visit
of N bluff HAL" to France. Compare the washing-
tubs of vessels in the old pictures, and their top-
hamper, with the purpose-like ships of war of modern
France and England—sailing or steam. Compare

the stiff, cumbrous finery of the Kings and Peers of
the sixteenth century with the elegant comfort of
their co-equals of the nineteenth. It must be con-
fessed that the world has made some progress both
in the utilities and the amenities of life since the old
times of the Fuld of the Cloth of Gold.
But when we look a little below the surface we
find abundant traces of what the poet has called—
" the everlasting to-be that bath been." Under all
varieties of costume—with all varying amounts of
command over nature and its elements—we find man
and his destiny essentially the same. In the days of
the Field of the Cloth of Gold, as now, men flattered
themselves that their institutions and opinions were
founded for eternity ; and yet the silent river of Time
had so far sapped their bases, that they were even
then tottering to their fall. England end France
were on the eve of ecclesiastical revolutions,
and yet men knew it not. France was about to see
those Huguenot flames burst forth which, quenched
for a time in the blood of St ;Bartholomew's Eve, were

finally extinguished by the revocation of the Edict of
Nantes. England was on the eve of a revolt of the
%too from the Pop; destined to be the first move-
ment of the long struggle which ultimately established
freedom of religious worship and popular control over
the executive government as the law of the land. Is
there nothing in the actual position of the Governments
of France and England indicative of the commence-
ment of a series of innovations, the result of which
it to determine whether the one or the other of these
two mighty realms le to take the lead in promoting
civilisation for the next few centuries?
When last we adverted to the position of the Em-
peror of the FRENCH, we declared it to be our opinion
that a constitutional monarchy was the form of go-
vernment best suited to the existing state of public
opinion in France. We need not now repeat, what
we have so often said, that a constitutional monarchy
is the form of government with which the aspirations
of all Englishmen worthy of the name are identified.
In the article to which we more immediately allude
we pointed out the circumstances which appeared
to be favourable, and also those which seemed
to be adverse to the establishment of a perma-
nent Neroutox dynasty in France. The favourable
circumstances were the identification of the founder
of the Howe of NAPOLEON with the glories of the
nation in arts and arms, and with its whole system
of jurisprudence. Of the unfavourable, the principal
was the antagonism which the EMPEROR has esta-
blished between himself and the partisans of Parlia-
mentary Government. The Empire of France is of
recent establishment, and has not yet had time to
consolidate ; the Kingdom of England has stood for
ages, and is generally believed to have settled down
into strength. And yet a close inspection—aided by
a comparison of the two Governments—shows us
cracks in the walls—slight, indeed, at present—yet
which it would be wise to repair in time.

England his what France has not, the reality of
Parliamentary Government. France has what
England has not, • distribution of political power
in harmony with social relations and public opinion.
France has no hereditary politically powerful class of
nobles. Such a class has hitherto,by political theorists,
been deemed indispensable to the propping up of a
throne. But Frame has in its Legion of Honour a
substitute for a hereditary nobility Invested with
political power. England has nothing analogous to
the Legion of Honour to serve as • connecting link
between the throne and the people. Hitherto, our
institution of a hereditary peerage has rendered such
an institution as the Legion of Honour unnecessary :
bat will it long continue to do so? We are net of
thou who believe our peerage to be utterly effdte,
or who desire to are its substantial privi-
leges materially curtailed. But we cannot
close our eyes to the fact, that its own
policy has *flats materially weakened it. It is well
known that what is technically called "breeding in
sad ice" deteriorates the races of the inferior
urinals. It is ovally notorious that "breeding in
sad in " has dstorimated more than one royal race in
loropa, Acid there has been a political "breeding
is and in "ea the part of our aristocracy that has at
last reamed it to a dangerous degree of administra-
tive hobbits's'. The incapacity of our exclusively
aristooritis takes is awakening a dark, throughout
the Oaths to mee plebeians more frequently ad.
teased to administrative aloe. It in folly
to imagine that this desire will be satbdtsd
with the ommissal amiable& of moms one ae two
plebeians whhia the administrative ehele, on the oca.

APRIL 17, 1855.

dition that as soon as they are admitted they identify
themselves socially with the aristocracy. The desire
of the nation—as yet vague and indistinetly conceived
by the nada' itself—is to have plebeian' admitted to
transact the business of the state on a footing of
equality with the Ministers selected from the
video:say, who nevertheless continue to easociate
habitually, as before, with the shades to which they
originally belonged. This desire cannot be long
resisted and yet it will introduce a material
chugs both in the theory and practice
of our constitution. Hitherto the aristocracy
and the Court have enjoyed, almost exclusively,
administrative power in combination with the pomp
and parade of monarchy. We are on the eve of a
I period when the reality of administrative power will
be, in a great measure, divorced from mere courtly
pomp and parade. In these changed circumstances
our hereditary nobility will necessarily become a less
efficient prop and buttress of the throne. Some addi-
tional ligament will be required to connect our people
with the monarchical system; and that ligament can
only be found in the o.eation of a British "Order ci
Merit," analogous to the French " Legion of Honour,
embracing all who can in any way serve the State
efficiently, in virtue of their possessing peculiar talents.
On Wednesday, the Emperor of the FitENcH is to
be invested with the insignia of the Garter. Thiel
ceremony will be for him equivalent to a certificate
that he has been formally adopted into the circle of
the old dynastic families. How far this will
strengthen his position in France remains to be
seen. Will Prince ALBMIT accept, in return, the
Grand Cron of the Legion of Honour P That ac-
'lepton°. would be a recognition of the principle,
upon which the Order is based ; and the extension
of that principle to England, by the institution of a
British " Order of Merit" would afford an addi-
tional assurance of the stability of the throne, in the
Sew and untried state of being upon which the na-
tion is about to enter.—Daily News.