The Express.
London, England, 1846-09-16 00:00:00

revolution of hay, smil et Abe easmatiou of Louis
FIIIIIPPL, will tha lan ale ON restoration
Europe of Loots Foot's policy,
of that hostility batman Engboi sot the BOURBONS,
which caused fts: Soft wars and slaughter thaa
BONAPArTIST aid* did ?
For, after all, thew quarrels between England
France have never been caused by the discordant
real interests of the two countries, bat by questions
dynastic and personal ambition. During the
centuries that history has written in blood, el
war and every battle have been occasioned
the jealousies and quarrels of princely f
lies. The BOURBON family has shed more blood
by its ambition than any family in modern history.
We name this as a warning, but in no fear of its
recurrence. We are aware that it cannot again be
the case. Whenever a family, by its ambition or in-
terests, shall stand in the way of European happineao
and concord, we feel confident that, in the prawnt
condition of the world, that family will be sacrificed,
sooner or later, by the common consent of all nations.
We should be very sorry to see the house
ORLEANS assume this superannuated position. We
should be sorry to see its chief re-enacting the old
dynastic dramas of the seventeenth century, and
making nations the foot-stools and play-things of
family pride. We should prefer seeing in the
ORLEANS Princes the models of constitutional sove-
reigns. We would rather they should become far
greater, more powerful, and more glorious, for acting
in the fall spirit of their age, than LOUIS THE
FOURTEENTH for acting in his. But if this family
will in their diplomacy go back to the old policy
of the family compact; and if their politics tend to
arrest and eseamoter constitutions and public liberties,

instead of developing them ; and if their main-
tenance of pence be employed in the concocting of
causes of future war, as well as in amassing materials
for the prosecution of such war;—then we do hope and
believe that the populations of the different countries
thus placed at strife, and led to harm, and to fight
blindly with each other, may come fully to perceive
the true and small source of so much misery. Once
perceived, it will require no great effort to prevent such
poison flowing from it. But we repeat that it would
be with the bitterest regret we should find the family
of ORLEANS declare itself openly inimical, by its
avarice or ambition, to the mutual good understanding
and independence of European nations.

THE problem will soon be solved. This day week
will probably witness the Duke on the Arch. Mr.
WY/in.'s work is completed. Colossal Copenhagen,
with his gigantic rider, hangs from the scaffold of the
casting-room. The place has been visited by hosts of
connoisseurs. Report says that the Duke himself has
inspected his exaggerated Eidolon. His comment was
characteristically brief : a " good morning" to the
artist. Did he feel some misgivings?
The elevation of the work will be an epoch in the
_ _

life of the Green-park gate-keeper and his family.
Mr. BCRTON has answered for the stability of the
arch. But he is not an unprejudiced authority. The
sub-committee
should be compelled to live in the
apartments of either wing, till the enormous mass bas
had time to settle itself and the controversy.
Meanwhile the ceremony will be imposing. It is
to blend commercial and military pomp. The pro-
cession from Mr. Wrsrr's studio will be luaded by
the Duke's regiment, the Grenadier Guards, band
playing and colours flying. The car will be mounted
on the wheels of a Great Western engine. The forty
horses which are to draw it are a contribution from

Messrs. Goring°, the patriotic and enterprising
brewers. Where the committee and sub-committee
are to walk, we have not ascertained. We would
suggest to Sir FREDERICK TRENCH and the Duke of
RUTLAND the propriety of their walking in front,
scattering copies of the correspondence, and singing
Io Peeans over vanquished public opinion and out-
raged taste.
Never, since the time of the Trojan horse, has such
an equestrian monster paraded the streets of a capital.
The infatuation, however, which in the tale of Troy
fires a whole population, is in this case, we would
hope, confined to a small section of subscribers. But,
if limited in numbers, they are great in obstinacy. In
vain the Woods and Forests, the Treasury, the archi-
tect of the arch, the voice of the press, urge PRIAM'S
question,' :

- Quo mama Use irnmanis.eyrui statuftet Quit auetor
Quidoe pains! t rue religtol nut qua machine ball
Which we oay English:
What in the world do they mean to set up a charger so
swfitgin' ?
Has Trench tea to worship an idol, or Hill made a new
warlike engine ?
We get no answer, but the quotation from Sir
F. Tamemn's new deealogue, .‘ Honour the Duke."
Without any dean to detract from the glories of
his Glum F. M. the Doke. of Wzturrorort ; with
every Cisposition to vinpathiee with the country
that glories in crowning his prey head with reve-
rence ;we wish to knew why seeped to the Duke
must express itself by outrage to taste ? Because his
Grace's merits outrun all measure of praise, most his
statue violate all laws of proportion ? He may have
his statue. He has deserved his statue. We should
have supposed he had had enough of stews. He
has braved the battle of taste and the breeze of
epigram in the character of AC1111.1.1+3, for some
quarter of a century in Hyde Park. He has borne
the brunt of city wits in front of the Exchange. Why
must he identify himself with the ignorance and
absurdity of the day in Grosvenor Place ?
However, the mischief is done for the present Up
he goes. For three weeks only--say the sub-com-
mittee.

- Seandit falalis madams mum,
Feria armia ; preri dream inareptaque puella
Sacra eammt,fusentque mange contingere pawing
Illa ambit, ftedisque ninon* illabitur %we..
Or vernacularly :

On goes the mar to the arch built by Declaim Burton,
Pregnant with battles of taste—the committee, their object
now certain,
Sing forth their mean, and glory to handle the cables, the
road in,
Ala which advances the Duke by the forty-horse power of
We would fain play the Laocoon, to warn our fellow
Londoners of the consequences of this atrocious viola-
tion of all artistic principle. Yet it is probable that
the warning will not be needed. The disproportion of
arch and statue Will be more eloquent than the appeal
of Sir FREDKRIM Merrell. The figure is of a pale
gold colon?' as we are informed. The fresh surface
of the bronze will catch and reflect the sunlight, sad
incongruity may •for a time be hidden in splendour.
The experiment is a new one. Such a figure on such
an arch nowhere exist. On the " mane ignotum
pro magus:two" principle, London may applaud
what it does not understand. But there are
laws of proportion which must not be violated.
An etch is an arch : a pedestal is a pedestal. Mr.
Burrotes erection will be too small for the former,
too large for the latter. The Duke will be between
two artistic stools : would that he may share the fate
of other things in such a position, and come to the
ground.
Figure and plinth together will be nearly forty
feet high. The arch is sixty-seven. The length
of the arch is sixty-two feet, that of the statue
twenty-two ; the width of the former fifty feet, that
of the latter eight. According to trite pro-
porfion, the pedestal of an equestrian statue
should in length, breadth, and height, nearly aqua
the figure itself. These proportions are not arbitrary.
They have been fixed by the practice of the greatest
masters of their jtt,and are, founded on immutable

principles. Theyilrinot hi violated with impunity,
though a Tams decree the Nielation, and the Duke
&WELLINGTON exeMpLifyite The matter recta with
the public. As HuMPtY-DoloPti can go up, Elnliti
Dampty may some down. If we are anxious to
another to the long list of artistic eyesores which make
London ridiculous, we have curly to leave the Duke
on the arch. If we would spare a great commander
the ridicule associated with a misplaced and clis-