The Express.
London, England, 1849-02-24 00:00:00

vie erpreMS.

MAILS.
Its may els MemWes, to the ltediterrenton, geppt, M.D.
dyke. bah lgong-fficag, lb, will be Node up this orenkg,
the ffitk IVA
The mils lir Mpg o=4Lleb, Madeira, Cub, sad Olteulun
will be sale wen Se eft be Mb Feb.
Tbo sae he lbw IMO Tea Illuntees Lod. sad New
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lurb bo iamb iglu the mufti the Mat&
The West Isis Mb. bluffing debarb glemets. Sums.
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mait=oe..h....morimages. Yaw erimah affik Ind "WM will
be nude ug es the ebbing el the full d Man&
The bee for the wed Obi d Albs sal Ilidetre will be mad,
tap ea the of the billureb.
itte bags kr Medafo. be luaus Ayres, will be
aide up as the bulb of be 4th beta.
The bogs lb Belga Serb Asismisose the VON States,
will be Nebo at the webs bibs lb Muth.
The begs for Olkenhes, Msaa, Omsk be lobs Wes" EMI.
Adis, Cellos, bulb ling•ffiruk Ng Di rib Pratithentptou, wil
M beds up= be siondag d tbe fhb Sub.

MGR WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Till D•i Itenl•46 IWA p I. Attempts, It Is. put S.
ToElasstrw—lkattag, WA pest S; Mamas, 64 W. pill S.

LONDON, SATURDAY, FEB. 24.
AT this moment last year France was giving the
signal of those great popular uprisings which have
overturned every throne in Europe save oar own, and
some others sunk in barbarism, or lost in insignifi-
cance. Yet no one, even amongst the wise heads of
Europe, was aware that revolution menaced, that
society was undermined, or that monarchs did not
reign, as during time immemorial, in the
hearts of their people. M. °mon and Loris
PHILIPPE, with the book of French life before
them to open sad to consult, did not drain
that there were fifty thousand discontented men in
Paris ready, to do battle against an army, determined
and able, if roused, to upset the throne, and crush the
entire governing and electoral clam into subjecties.
The Times, the leading journal of all gaae mas.
declared that the riot in Paris would a strengthen
the ministry", and yield to a system of resolute
seercion."
Since that time the governments of Europe have
sew through every phase of policy and sentiment,
ihaa smatident security in their force and merit,
sad statempt of either the claims or the power of
their subjects, first to utter prostration and aelf-sban-
doninent, then to resuscitated hopes, to a trust in
sunning; afterwards to well-concerted schemes for the
restoration of their old ascendancy by means of mili-
tary conquest; and, lastly, this being achieved, to
the very same spirit of insolent tyranny and con-
tempt of popular rights which characterised the
governments overthrown. In fact we may consider
She time from February 1848 to February 1849 a
=Oor clock, on the dial-plate of which the 'intl.
f governors have moved round, so as to
mark at the present epoch the self-same point at
which they were surprised a twelvemonth back.
But however the tendencies and principles of govern-
mesa may be the same as heretofore, their position,
dales, and necessities are different. A
.year ago there
seemed to be scarcely such • thing in Europe as
public opinion. Minister and monarch took no count
of it, or bemocked it : 1848 has shown that public opi-
nion, however dormant, possesses still a vital and irre-
sistible power, and that the government which braves
it, is never secure from its sadden spring, its powers of
opportum and vengeance. Absolutists now hail
aid liberals deplore the universal ascendancy of mili-
dry rule. But in truth and in reality the armies have no-
where prevailed where a great mass of public opinion
wasnot roused to be decidedly in their favour. Had
not the exams and follies of the red republicans in
Paris excited universal condemnation, no government
durst have turned its cannon upon ;hem. Had not
the majority of the Prussian Diet erred into
extravagance, and allied with unmeaning tur-
bulence, General WRANGEL durst not have ventured
upon his untainted reaction. Had the Viennese Diet
net alienated the Sclavonian population,the Sclavonian
vestments could not have been brought to assault it.
In Prussia and in Fear oe, at least, the army is as
amenable to public opinion as the government; it
I both countries public opinion is, and will remain
emenign, and the fall or ascendancy of different
=depends upon the assiduity, the sagacity, the
, and the success with which they pay court
to this new queen of all governments and of all mobs.
The great characteristic of 1848 is its having with.
drawn the curtain from before this dread tribunal
of public opinion, which existed indeed, veiled and
mealy believed in by either government or peo-
ple. But its jurisdiction is now patent, even in those
astral countries of Europe where the light of free-
am was supposed not to have penetrated. Our abso-
lutists build their hopes on the throne of the old Re-
na
empire, or the sword of WINDIsCRORATZ and the
barmen of the Bohemian soldiers. We:plue our trust
for this part of Europe oa the German public and the
German press, which together constitute in sentiment
a German nation, spinet which neither dynastic 's-
tates nor military violence can permanently peal
We are aware, however, that in this country it is
not anxiety for popular liberties, either abroad or at
home, that tens the predominant sentiment of
the 'dishtowel dams. Fears at; present are for
ths orgeniestits se moiety italf, and for those upper
alma sorPNril to le nseessary to its conservation.
We joie in the Wider& upper classes are natural. I
and thwarts neeseary, and that the inequalities
whisk austitate these will exist under free as under
despoils dates; nay, we are inclined to think, that an
upper ekes, not eerie, would be more powerful and
more rapeseed, were it to seek no privilege or prefer-
ence whatever from the law.
But an aristocracy entrenched in privileges and
bolstered by immunities, is quite another matter.
Such an aristocracy is seriously menaced in all parts
of Europe. And there can be no doubt that the
odium attached to it does prevent such people as the
Flesh, ter example, from granting that fair degree of
tolerance and weight to a natural aristocracy, that
will ever be paid, es soon as the institution ceases to
be an oppression and an offence.
The most serious result of 1848, however, to the
minds of loyal people, is the dethronement of kings,
and the to establish republiceigovernments.
Far tin prang, °wear, there seems little reason to be
alarmed on this score- Republicanism is rather at a
dissant. The identification of the name with ana-
emia doctrines, popular turbulence, and excessive
taxation, has discredited a republic in France, al-1
though these things are not more necessarily connected
with a republic than with an absolute monarchy.
But the idea of a republic, whether realised or not,
in France or elsewhere, does and will exist, and will
always serve as a subject of comparison with mo-
narchy. And this fact cannot but render the task of
a monarch exceedingly difficult, especially in such
countries as France.
And for our owsipart, without any predilections for
• republic, we must confess to entertain the opinion
that monarchy in France for any time is an impos-
sibility; and that, even if it were pomible, it is un-
desirable,especially by those personages who have
claims to fill the high office. It is quite plain that
the French, or that a people in their position,
will never be content with a monarch that
rests apart from the affairs of government, that
lira in wealth, splendour, and dignity, and only puts
forth a will ones in a lissfress, to decide between the
claim of this or that chief for prime minister. A truly
conatitutionel monarch, necessarily deprived of hete-
diari claims or old prestige, would never satisfy
time 'math, who, in a ruler, require to see and to
worship the powerful head and the intelligent and
active mind. A monarch, in fast, eland exist, with-
out some claim on the affections, and even admiration
of his subjects. Hereditary loyalty hitherto supplied
them to anhereditary prince. But in Musa end
In many other oountnes, how an this be found or be
resuscitated P It mustbe by penned merit
stun donator in the Ass thin me rd.