The Express.
London, England, 1851-12-25 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAY. DECEMBER 23.

Le.nn retstititaTost has (as announced in last
evening's Espr.eas) resigned hisliost as Secretary of
State for Firing!' Affairs, and Earl OitmattLLE has
Darn appointed in his stea.l. A vacancy has thus
born created at the Board of Trade.
Du the 'tad of December we stated that a scrims
ditfa rture had arisen in the Cabinet,—that the cal
feud bctwtro Lad PALltraitliN and Lord GUYS '
broken out afresh. and that Lord lons itesszt.t.
would hate to &chic between his two subordinakm.
'rho dirk'. net at that time had sprung up it
cons, owner of the answer to the Fins
deputation. in which Lord PALMERSTON seeM
to wit at defiar.co the absolutist court of the II
cast of Europe. This circumstance, adding to
the irtitati.m of Austria, at a moment when the
mart of Vivant' refused to recloise Lord Wt..-r-
-1101ILLANti, --all ultra-tory as he is,—ati ambassador,
impelled L,nt its to tun ,tion the policy of keep.
is' up au antagonism with Austria,—even for the
wake of sharing popularity with kosstrit. Lord
61111.3 objutions appearea to us captious at the
time. Aad no, it is understood, they appeared to the

Print Minister.
Tian came the news of the Parisian 4 .ap .; 'tat,
silencing, like u clap of thunder, all minor murmur-
ings and cumplaints. A new subject of anxiety, and
topic of interest and discuseion, was thing to those
who had to direct the policy of the coun-
try It was soon no secret diet the head of
the. Foreign-081m deprecated any hostility to
Louts NArol.LoN, and that Lord PALMER-4'ON con-
sidered a l'rench Imperial Cabinet an ally that
might be usefully placed against the new Hull- Alli-
imee. We believe it to be t gunny certain that
the Court of Windsor or of Buckingham Palace
took an opposite view ; that it disap-
proved of Lord l'atsfeeisTON'S language to
the Finsbury deputation, as insulting to Austrian
and Ilussian connexion, and that it equally depte-
este d any close. or any even insincere alliance with the
two Jahr of France against the leagued absolutism
of tl.. Contint it. Earl Gime participated in these
freshens, and became their exponent in the cabinet.
And o e must confess, that however disliking his lord-
ship.- pr. le re nee of Seine .vit/ENEERG to Kos,U 111, we
tulle join in the repugnance w hich Loris NACOLLoN'S
oonauet has excited against him, and do not think
that any minister, representing the opinions of Eng-
lishmen, would be allowed to sanction or flatter acts
of si.ch stv.trant tyranny and usurpation—acts, too,
as decidedly destructive of all constitutional princi-
ples any ukase of the Cent. NICHOLAS could be.
Another circumstance then occurred. it is said,
veil much to complicate l.ord PALNIEttsTON's posi-
tion. This was the discovery by Louts NAPOLEoN's
pollee agents, employed in the arrest of CAVAIL:NAC
and I'IIAN4.‘UNIEU on the night of the 2nd of De-
cember, of a Yoluniinous correspondence, in which
the British government or its representative, Lord
NORM %\M. hail very freely recorded its admiration
of, and hopes in, the republic, and the utter
contempt in which it held the pretensions
and character of Louis N trots:Lie. Here then was
the intim lIIX of England and of its Foreign-other
comp:tidy destroyed in the councils of that very
lamer, on whose alliance it relied to oppose other
powers. Lord ;Wesreentetallo was nut worse re-
eeive el by the Austrian Emperor nt Vienna, than
Lord Nowt ANIIV was sure to be at the Illyske ur the
Tolle ei, s. lord •Pc tat Knave ec's position was thus
rendered utterly untenable be the imprudence of one
of hi. chief agents, and we tielieve his lordship's re-
tirement from office was more Isis own act thau that
of hi- colleagues.
We may take another opportunity of appreciating
Lord PALSIECoroN's diameter and career as a states-
man. Ile has run a long course, neither an inglo-
rious nor an unsuccessful one ; uml did we consider,
cc should we discover, that he has been sacrificed
to any tenderness for, or to any fears of, the
desp ale marts of Austria and of Russia, we should
be unii le alarmed for the difficulties likely to assail
his -.wee ssor. If, as the Times represents, Loud
PALNILItsToN has been ejected from office for dis-
pleesing Prince ScilwAßZENniatli, and for not
eipiesing Lolls NACOLEON,—is it thereby implied
that his successor is to ally with Austria,
with Russia, and with l'russia against the
government of France? Any such policy as this
would selincly be acceptable to the Englis.h public.
'nut imblie condemns !.nets N.teoteox and his
lib' t tieide acts. but it condemns likewise the treachery
mod tyranny of the Austrian Emperor. England,
too. is able to distinguish between a nation, cud the
dynasty width chance may impede upon it. And we
are not going to fall once mere into the blunders of
the last century, and abet an alliance. of German and
Russian despots against France, because France does
not happen to wear legitimist livery.
We may, and must, condemn the acts of Loris
Nat.oceose ; but it is by no means for the purpose of
setting up a royal competitor to him. England is
not alksl upon to strain a nerve or expend a six.
pence to set a Bin titioN or an that:a:vs on the
throne. Both have been quite as treacherous and
hostile to us as ever the HoNAC %ICUS have been.
And we cues have no wish but to see France pros-
perous, content. and tree, under whatever rule or
dynasty it may choose, withuut ourselves putting
forward any predilection or advice in a matter so
peculiarly and exclusively the business of the French
people. Our wishes are to see Franco free, prob•
peroue. and happy.
It is preamble that attempts will be made to
get up the old anti-Galilean spirit, and to ex-
cite a Beixarmirelihobia through the country.
Such a ore would be eoneenient, for facilitating
every plan of expenditure on the part of the got-ern-
ment and for'' bucking economy." Nu doubt we shall
be toad that our coasts are exposed. our military force
null. and that we are at the merry of the French
army embarked on board the Boulogne fishing-boats,
unl, .s millions arc voted to put the country in a state
of detente. to swell the army to a war-footing, and to
equip a channel fleet to ward off imaginary dangers.
Whit thousands may thus be spent for the sole
end of alarming and provoking the French—who will
not be slow to make counter armaments and
show corresponding fears,—are we to court the
alliance of the Austrians and Russians, as we did
before' But as neither of those powers can move
a regiment without raising funds, England must
come forward with these, if not in the old
shape of subsidies, at least in the new form
of loans. We should thus have the fears and the
burdens and the alliances of ItiOti. 11409, and 1810
back again. with the necessity of raising 100 millions
annually in licit of 30, and those even nut eufticing.
We have, therefore, carefully to look into what
alliances and what policy we are going. If the
pul.iie be not alive and well-informed, the
country may drift into a very dangerous and
unnatural position. If Lord P.tLAttlesiVN was
at times the Quixote of liberalism, there
are o.irse Quixote's to be found. We do not say this
of Lord GlicNritte, of whom the public know but
little—and that tittle chiefly
.in connexion with the
Great Exhibition. His appointment has apparently
originated with the Court. The circumstance of the
Foreign Nlinister being in the Iloureof Lords will pro-
bably make Lord dons Russet'. the mouth-piece of
foreign policy in the {tense of Commons, no disad-
vantage in a great many respects. But the possibi-
lity of Lord P.U.SIERsToN in opposition, and abetting
in the House of Commons Galilean friendohip and
alliance, in contradistinction to an Austrian or Rus
tian connexion—this. every one must see, would
weaken the whig ministry, and destroy the whig
party. beyond all the slender talents of the Gaels to
uphold them.

Various modifications of the Whig cabinet may—
and probably will—be the ultimate result of Lord
PAI Ill.lt+TON'S resignation. In all these changes the
people have a direct interest in demanding that minor
differences be overlooked for the purpooe of bringing
into the public service the men moot likely t ad% once
th%. weal.

Tire poetical notion of Christmas-tide and its wee-
thyr bears but a slender resemblance to the London
reality. The clear black frost. the sparkling stars at
night, or the grey storm-clouds resting on snow of
dazzling purity, it would be vain to look for. Our ,
modern London Christmas wraps him in the chilly pall
of river mists, thickened with smoke and soot, ana
picks his steps warily through muddy streets. To do
justice to Christmas now-a-days, one must take a
lesson from poor WlisoN, the landscape painter. A
friend WWI complaining to him once of the cheer-
lessness of a foggy day in London, " It's a
bed day," said DICK, " that won't do to make a 1
night of: let us have the shutters closed, and
the candles and tumblers be brought in." We
would nut, indeed, advise that Witsox's example
should be followed an pied de la Wire. The
liquids had better be kept for the evening. All that
we mean is that customary ritual of Christmas —its
more solemn duties of the forenoon, and its stately
and jOyOUS festivity afterwards, had better be under-
stood _at once to be nightwork from beginning

to end.
And the solemnities of Christmas are so essentially
of an in-door character as to make us pretty independ-
ent of wind and weather. The gloom without only
enhances, by force of contrast, the brightness within.
Did we not fear to he accused of kitty, we might
say that innocent mirth, and interchange of friendly
gifts, and gossiping, recall of dear raemones of former
days, hedged in by the dismal dirty fogs of London,
arc the fittest :flowing forth of the glory above all
glory first revealed to mortal eye in a 'dilapidated
stable.
One of our evening contemporaries is in the
habit, duly, yearly, of telling his readers with
a very serious face, that it is matter of principle
with him on this day to abstain front all pole-
mical comments. Oladly would we follow his
example did the hurried march of events permit.
But incidents now-a-days trend so rapidly on the
heels of each other, that if any one of them is left
without its appropriate comment, it must be passed
over altogether, unless one is content to drift so fur
behind contemporary events as to be unable ever
again to come up with them. But though even on
this day we cannot entirely abstain from our week-
day's work, we may devote a little of our time and
space to a Christmas gambol or rhapsody.
One gnat beauty of Christmas is that to all—to
the poorest and to the busiest, as well as to the
wealthy and idle—it brit)" by a pleasing compul-
sion, a few hours, more or Icse, of' breathing time. In
no former age of the world was thee privilege of be-
ing obliged to stand still for a little so much to be
cherished as now. We live in a constant hurry.
Railway travelling would he the type of our exist-
ence, were it not that while the rapidity of our
business movements equals that of the locomotive,
there are no stations in business life. We are kept
in such a constant fame, and fret, and endeavour,
that we have not time to be conscious we are living
till life slips through our fingers altogether. The
child in the song, ever chasing the rainbow that still
recedes, is the type of us all.
Let us, then. on Christmas, at least, pause for a
few hours, and recollect that though great and
attractive goods in prospect lure us on to this inces-
sant chase, we actually have some goods in our pos-
session, if we would only please to be aware of it.
Political reforms are good, and sanitary reforms
likewise, and moral refornis best of all; hilt though
the morals and domestic habits and public conduct of
all men stand in need of improvement, there is sonic
goodness and some happiness among us. Let us in-
dulge in a good-natured laugh at the earnestness of
our pursuit, even while we are certain that we will
renew the chase the next moment.
Old-fashioned Christmas had its "all-licensed
jester," entitled to turn all that was grave to a juke.
Let us be our own jesters. Nor will it be difficult
to find warrantable matter of mirth in the events of
the year now closing. Though the Christmas panto-
mimea should prove as dull as ditch water
(as is by no means unlikely—seeing that the Lord
Chamberlain insists upon having all tricks of the
clown submitted henna:hand for his approbation,
claims to decide whether he can be allowed to steal
sausages and stow them away in his bottomless
pockets) we have in the rapid shifting% and transmu-
tations of the Fast. Year matters more startling and
grotesque thou ever 'clown danced or enacted.
'llw euthanasia of sanitary reform in the rejected
water bill for the metropolis was a bolder transition
from the sublime to the ridiculous than ever histrio-
nic burlesque ventured upon. And but for the loss
of life with which it was attended. the change of a
supple and complaisant and withal self-indulgent
president of a republic, into a stern and pious mili-
tary dictator. is a poetical license transcending
the most daring buffoonery of an AutirrormaxEs.
Ci.LoN, the sausage-mat:Cr, was a grave com-
mon-place politician, cempared with Loris Naro-
LEoX. The gnat Emperor of Ararat.% begirt with
his Mamelukes—his Idea's ers and his Itanvinivs—
yet trembling at the apparition of Mr. Parmoot
wending through Styria with his umbrella and
carpet-hag, and not to be pacified till the intrusive
spectre was exorcised by the police, is fur more
ludicrous than the monarchs immortalised in "Tom
Thumb" or llombastes Furioso." The quiet evapo-
ration of Archbishop Wrsrst ix—the cuffing and
scratching of the Lesh Defence Association, amid
their vows of eternal friendship—the silencing of
:hose Clapham belle which frightened the town
from its propriety—arc burlesques of the farcical.
At a graver season one might lament over these
follies. and exclaim with OXENSTIERN about "how
little sense. the world is governed with." And yet a
deeper glance into the current of passing. events
cheers its by showing that it is clear and irresisti-
ble, notwithstanding those unseemsly straws on
the surface, some good— great good—has been
achieved during the year. The fruits of the Indus-
trial Exhibition wilt be gathered in good time•. In
M. JULE 4 JANIN'S sidrita, remarks on its opening
solemnity he dwells upon nothing with so much
unction as the confidence in the reason and orderly
habits of the nation. minced by the non-appearance
of any constraining force among the assembled mul-
titude's. May not the moral then inculcated have
had its effect upon the good. and the wise, and the
free-spirited of France. and be, in part, the occasion
of what seems at present the deplorable result of
the Presidential re-election? The vote was to de-
ride whether Lours Narotr.ox should or not be
expressly allowed to retain his usurped authority.
hitch juefgment gone against, who believes that fie
would have peaceably obeyed? Force would have
been required to give it effect. But French-
men have learned that arms can only destroy. not
build up. May they nut be biding their time, con-
fident that dissensions among the usurpers, and want
of means, and an awaking sense of their worthkss-
nes". near lead to a universal repudiation of their
yoke, before which they must bow for lack of instru-
ments to work their rebellious will? We cherish
the hope of seeing at no distant date the first peace-
ab!e revolution in France.
There is a growing spirit of humanity and resolute
Ipacitie self-assertion abroad. Words have been
spoken that can neither be forgotten nor unsaid.
Opinions. principles have struck root which mere
physical violence cannot eradicate. The retrograde
movements of ISM cannot be lasting. Those who
are old enough to have witnessed the over-
throw of the Great NAPOLEON—to have seen
wzr own country transformed: from the England
of CAS fIEKEAGII, SIDMOUTII, and their spies,
and Spafields rioters. into the England of
di-senting and catholic emancipation, of the re-
no-m bill, of corn law abolition, and of reasoning,
elevated loyalty to our Qui:Ex.—need not fear that
the world is about to turn back again ;be the present
aspect of affairs never ao gloomy.
And immoveable in this eheerful faith. we wish
our readers a merry Chtistmas and many of them,
confident that our wish will be fulfilled.

A con n r,rox DENT, whose letter appears in another
colunin, illustrates in a striking manner the
extent to which free-trade principles have
direct

already came to influence and the polies
of nations. Looking back upon the annals
of dilontaey for the last five years only, he finds
that during that bria period no less than five inter-
national maties have been concluded (there it a
sixth in the course of negotiation) for removing to a
greater or less extent the impediments which fiscal
legislation had placed in the war of commerce. Bel-
gium has thus liberated its trade with Holland on
the one hand, and with France on the ether Hol-
land ith Belgium and the Zollverein ; Prussia with
Hanover: and Austria with Sardinia. Again, four
nations have met halt-way the advances made by