The Press.
London, England, 1858-03-13 00:00:00

THE PRESS, MARCH 13, 1858.

cal progress. It is absolutely necessary that
the brood of political fanatics which infest
France should be trampled out before the
work of regeneration can commence ; that
the ground shoald be •feared of the debris of
three revolutions before the architects of con-
stitutional freedom cal lay the first stone.
Every new conrelsiea prolongs the necessity
of coercion. The name of liberty is polluted
by beeesslng the wave►word of assassins ; and
every new crime tends Elora and more to enlist
our sympathies on the side of the present
regime.
The paper recently issued under the sanc-
tion of the French Government is a temperate
exposition of the question at issue between us
from the French point of view. We have
perused it with satisfaction, as being likely to
arrest the growth of an unfriendly feeling in
this country towards our Imperial ally, and to
restore that cordial intimacy which we believe
so beneficial to the liberties of Europe and the
future welfare of Great Britain. Had it
been possible for England to withdraw herself
from continental affairs altogether, and to
isolate herself, like China or Japan, the recent
misunderstanding might have afforded her an
excellent opportunity. But as no one pre-
tends that such a course is practicable, the
next best thing is that we should maintain a
close alliance with the other great Western
Power, rather than have our friends at a re-
mote distance, and our enemies at our own
door. We believe this important document
will be successful in removing all traces of re-
cent irritation, because it reduces the cause of
it within a very narrow compass. The right of
asylum is freely, and even graciously, acknow-
ledged by one who has profited himself from its
sanctity. But a distinction is drawn between
an asylum for those who persecute, and those
who are persecuted by, a foreign power. It is
one thing to protect fugitives from the
vengeance of authority : it is another thing to
expose that authority to the vengeance of fugi-
tives. This distinction is so essential and so
generic that the people of this country merely
require to have it clearly laid before them to
acknowledge its justice, and to comprehend
the point of view from which the French
nation regards the present entanglement.
This once being admitted, the aspect of the
question is much simplified, and we trust that
no English journals will be so ill-advised as to
seek to restore the confusion of ideas which at
first prevailed upon the subject.

Some remarks, however, seem to be called
for by the tone of the Imperial manifesto on
past events, as well as on the expectation
which it seems to imply of future changes. It
may be very true that pamphlet after pam-
phlet of the most sanguinary character has
been printed in London, and that speech after
speech may have been delivered breathing the
most atrocious sentiments towards the French
ruler. All this may be very true, and yet the
English nation in no way privy to the fact.
We will undertake to say that not one man in
every five thousand of the population of London
was in the least degree conscious that any
such practices were in existence. The truth
is, that in England our publicity is so com-
plete as sometimes to defeat itself. For the
same reason that what we can do any day is
never done, what we can know any day is very
likely to remain unknown. Were the Discub-
sion Forum held in the dark arches of the
Adelphi, with scouts posted at every outlet to
signal the advent of the police, its meetings
would be crowded and its decisions the talk
of the town. Were the murderous effusions
of which the French writer complains printed
in danger and darkness, with all the ingenious
precautions adopted by our old Jacobite pam-
phleteers, they would attain publicity at once.
The stimulus of mystery would produce its
natural results. But as it is, who has ever
heard of these pamphlets ? Who pays so
much attention to the French Debating Club
at Wilde's as he would to a game of snowballs
in the square? Or who, if fortune has ever
conducted him to the St. Stephen's of Fleet-
street, has any other emotion than one of ad-
miration at so excellent a parody? The French
writer is better informed on the localities of
London than he is on the habits of mind of
the British public. We have something else to
do in this country than to watch the contor•

1

tion of a Leicester-square patriot, or the wrath
of a pothouse Harmodius.
We wish, therefore, to impress upon oar
neighbours and saw, dot as we make all
due allowesce for *air own national cha-
racter, he**, and inalitutiows, they are bound
to make similar return. They must do as
they could be dose ow. Vs strive to place
surselles itt their polOon. They must strive
to plets thorinselves in tow And we heartily
beg the be believe Mist if they succeed in
doing so, tbey will gradually come to under-
stand that the fact of certain writings bcing
printed, and certain speeches delivered in
this country, is no indication whatever of
the state of national feeling.
So much of the past. But we cannot con.
teal from ourselves that a question of great
difficulty remains in regard to the future. How
are we to reconcile the protection of refugees
with the maintenance of undoubted inter-
national obligations ? The difficulty will
demand the utmost delicacy and forbearance
on both sides. On the one hand it is totally
impossible that England should abate one jot
from the absolute sanctity of her island temple.
On the other hand, that a constant and cordial
ally should be made a target for English
bullets fired by the exiles whom England
shelters, seems utterly intolerable. This is a
dilemma from which no human wisdom can
completely relieve us. We must trust to time.
But more than all, we must trust to the mutual
generosity of two great nations, who will be
slow to think evil or to impute motives ; and
who will interpret particular events by the
light of their general friendship rather than
their general friendship by the light of parti-
cular events.

One word in conclusion. No measures
could have permanently benefited the French
Emperor which did not meet with the hearty
concurrence of the British people. Govern.
ments can no longer transact these affairs
between themselves ; and when public confi-
dence was withdrawn from the Palmerston
Administration, every hour that he remained in
office was widening the breach between the
two nations. Under these circumstances it
was absolutely necessary that a Conservative
Government should be placed in office. Their
turn would have come ere long, let events
have progressed as they would. What parti-
cular accident should reveal the weakness of
the Liberals, and summon the leaders of the
Opposition to the helm of the State, could not
be foretold with exactness. But the event was
certain. And now that a Conservative Ministry
is once more in office we look forward to a suc-
cession of measures which shall readjust our
foreign relations and vindicate Representative
Government.