The Express.
London, England, 1853-02-19 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

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LONDON, SATURDA i FEBRUARY 19.

MR. DISRAELI last night took up the popular ,ext
of national defences, and thereon preached a political
sermon. He meant it to be mischievous to the
Ministry—he succeeded in being unjust towards the
press, and dangerous in his references to our foreign
relations. Mr. DISRAELI boasts, when it suits him, of '
being a man of the press; pet, in the true temper of
despotism, objects to the free discussion of opinions
the moment they cease to suit his own views of what
may be safe, proper, or pleasant. He referred last night
to the great responsibility which attaches to writers for
the public pres., adding " No foreign potentate could
call them to account fur what they said." Surely '
Mr. DISRAELI must have heard of PELLETIEIeti case ?
That writer, who had been driven from France, at-
tacked, in the press in England, NAPOLEON the
' Finsr, and the great conqueror brought his action
in an English court of law, and obtained from
an English jury a verdict against the libeller. Here
is a ease showing that writers for the press in Eng-
land are responsible to foreign potentates, if such
potentates think fit to appeal to those laws of our
land which—as we beast—make no distinction of
persons, but offer even-handed justice to all who
seek their assistance. The truth is that no writer in
this country can pen a single line free from responsi-
bility, not only moral but legal ; and no writer, we
may venture to say, but knows this—none better
than Mr. DISRAELI. Why then bring forward this
subject again, unless, indeed, the ex-CHANCELLOR
of the EXCHEQUER speaks from a sense of only half
recovery from the criticism which helped to bring
the Cabinet of which he was a member to an early
and a fatal reckoning? It is the nature of political
trick and imposture to provoke exposure from any
press that is free. The truthful or the spotless are
not the characters which invite, or the reputations
which suffer from, the criticism of unshackled jour-
nals. The personage who enjoys Mr. DISRAELI'S
present sympathies—the hero of the cuts)) (taut—
who upset a constitution he bad sworn to sup-
port, came as naturally in for his share
of public indignation as did, afterwards, the author
of the Brewer'? Budget. But though oue was de-
nounced and the other driven from office, neither the
ono result nor the other proved either the irrespon-
sibility or the evils of a free press. Lours NAroLEot
or Mr. DISRAELI could, either or both, had they
pleased, have appealed to the law against those who
attacked them. The law was waiting their plea-
sure. Statutes without end ; judges, upright and
sage, in full number; counsel in plenty, eloquent and
willing. But neither the reigning EMPEROR nor the
Ex-Minister thought fit to avail themselves of that
natural remedy for the grievances they allege.
Doubtless each alike felt that the castigation of the
press fell heavily, for the very reason that the lash
was well-deserved. The punishment, though severe,
was just; and both delinquents now relieve them-
selves by muttered discontents—the one in his French
newspapers, and the other (as last night) in the
House of Commons. Mr. DISRAELI, last night,
gained loud cheers, when he said, "I am myself a
gentleman of the press—l have no other escutcheon."
After so frank and manly an avowal, he should feel
that his shield will never be brightened by objections
to free printed criticism.
Fair, free, but legal discussion in the press is the
very life blood of our popular freedom. " The liberty
of the press is as the air we breathe—if we have it
not we die "—said the statesman and historian,
Sir JAMES MACINTOSH. That freedom has of late
aroused anew the old spirit of Englishmen, and made
them look to their means fur national defence. It
pointed out the real character of the man who has
obtained absolute power in France; but whilst
submitting to equal criticism, a criminal in
ermine as a criminal in rags, our free press
has drawn a careful line of distinction between
the sets and the character of the Ruler of
France, and the leanings and interests, views and
feelings, of the French people. The journals which
denounced the coup d'etat heartily sympathised with
the nation which suffered it. There has been no
censure of the men,but only of their master; and now
that Frenchmen submit in silence, their new EMPEROR
is left comparatively unchallenged to await his des-
tiny. The only demand has been that this country
should be made secure against the possibility of mis-
chief from this new potentate, and those who urge such
precautions have in the same breath denounced all pos-
sible pretences for interference with foreign nations.
The requirement has been for our fleets to be sear
home; for purely defensive armaments; and for a
proper disposition and appliance of the abundant
means put under the control of our Govern-
ment. This freedom of the press, which it pleases
despots and would-be despots to complain of, has
never breathed one word in favour of aggressive war.
On the contrary, a constant theme of public writers
in those very channels where tyranny has met its
heaviest blows has been, Down with these wars of
mischievous conquest in Burmah and elsewhere. A'
free press is the natural ally—if not, indeed, the pa-
rent—of political and social progress. It has no sym-
' pathies with predatory camps, or with the spoliation
which follows in their train. Its appeals are to
men's reason and judgment, and to that sense of in-
nate justice which leads every uncorrupted human
heart to revolt at perjury, cruelty, fraud, and plun-
der, however lofty the delinquent, or however specious
. his excuse. _ _

The great point still to be kept in view is this
very one, that all improvements or additions to our
existing forces should be simply defensive. Hence
the value of ses-fencibles, of armed boats ready for
service, near shore, and of advanced ships kept in
port, awaiting their complement of men, all ready
drilled, but only to be called from industrial
avocations by the absolute fact of impending
war. To this consummation, all our debates
should tend, instead of running off into a war of cri-
mination and recrimination such as Mr. DISRAELI
delights in provoking. Such contests of personalities
are less acceptable than ever. Indeed the real
difference between England in 1843 and in 1793
is to be found in the temper of her people—their
improved moral tone, their sounder judgment,
their broader views, their unwillingness to be led
either by factions or by demagogues, and their
firm knowledge that their true interest is in
peace. Though determined to defend their own,
they are equally determined to leave others in quiet.
They will neither be cajoled out of defence—nor
deluded into aggression ; and in such a temper are
not likely to sympathise with partisan attempts to
sow dissension between England and France : two
nations placed by nature side by side, and whose
only future rivalry should be in the healthful kindly
race of advanced and advancing civilisation.

LOUIS NAPOLEON ie a hero after all. He has ac-
tually made a descent into the very penetralia of the
English legal institutions. He has flung himself
boldly into the Prerogative Court—the Court which
bids defiance to the reforming attempts of QUEEN,
Lords, and Commons—the court " from which no
traveller returns" without terrible marks of his
perilous voyage. He has, like another JASON,
ventured into this enchanted hold, and re-
turned without a scar, bearing with him
as his meed of glory—not the Golden Fleece—but
the golden parchment of his perilous quest. There
is something ominous in this. The stronghold of
English prejudice—the great Ecclesiastical Court—
that wh ck has resisted from time immemorial all
, external force, falls at the first summons from the
" nephew of his uncle." He has no citations, nor
appeals, nor " compulsories," nor caveats, nor, in
' fact, any of the dreadful weapons in the cede-
! siastical arsenal, flung at his head. The garrison
surrenders at discretion. Sir JouN DoosoN
j tell; with a faint though dreary show of
I opposition. If LOUIS NAPOLEON can have his
way with the Ecclesiastical Courts, he may do what
he likes. To parody the Yankee formula—the
, Courts beat the 13ritishcrs, and the EMPEROR beats
the Courts. The inference is easy. Where was the

British L:on ? NAPOLEON 111. has bed his will,
and nobody has heard even a single roar from the
allegorical guardian of his country.
:ince, however, the thing is done, and the great
Emperor's Will is to leave us, we must give up with
the best grace we may. Fate is against us.
If the Prerogative Court could not detain the
document in question, we may be sure that
no power on earth can. Let us torget our inevitable
loss, and speculate upon the progre.4 of the illustrious
parchment on its way to France. Is there to be a
procession? Is there to be a legation armed to the
teeth, appointed to receive the will of the Estrtion.
from petfide Albion represented in the persons of
trembling ecclesiastical lawyers? Is the document
to be carried through triumphal arches to the sea-
side? Is it to be received there by a lighting
admiral, who, imitating the example of his
illustrious predecessor, the terrible JoiNett,te, will
fling into the sea all his mahogany cabin
.iCollitaitombello,wounpd
hsinigigneilffyanido.
energeticfurniture tewrlmiesnhisininum.nittl
his admiring crew, rather than let one fragment of
the sheepskin full into the hands of the perfidious
nation who have just delivered it up? All the world
twheikl:nrintheee DbitodJyo INo
ft. I lit.:
EftwmasnileßarsewihnagolwilaerB:oE. occasion, successful
'to his care. There are
splendid capabilities in the celebration of this " rape
of the parchment," mud we advise the lucky hero not
to neglect them. The opportunity is eminently dra-
matic.

Whilst cheerfully surrendering NAPOLEON'S will,
there is occupation given for speculation as to what
use the nephew intends to make of the strange docu-
ment he has demanded. As an appeal to the national
vanity, procession or no procession. it is cure to meet
with some success. The amount of this, however, is
so problematical, that we must look further for an
explanation of the motives of the I.:stem:oft. His
present MAJESTY must by this time have so largo
a stock of NAPOLEON "stage properly," that when
he makes public his negotiations for obtaining any
more, we may suppose that he has a very superior
1" iron in the fire." A., however, his Imperial High-
ness never exposes his irons until they are red hot,
we must content ourselves with conjectures as to his
intentions.

Dues ho intend to fulfil all the provisions of
the will ?—or rather, does he intend to pro-
mise to fulfil them ? If so, here would be
a noble stroke for popularity. In the will
and in the codicils to it NAPOLLON leaves behind
him fabulous sums in all directions. Does the nephew
mean to signify his intention to pay these legacies,
and then plead a necessity for more malt for fulfilling
the promise? Is the will to be read as the forged
will of CIiSAR was read after his death—in order to
inflame the minds of the legatees ? In the first codicil
" the civil list of Italy "is taxed with the payment of
large sums to faithful servants. Are the " faithful
servants" to be told that they must find
their payment in Italy—that they must demand
their rights there. Is the nephew—self-constituted
heir of the uncle—to seek for the payment of lega-
cies in the spots named by the testator? Is, in fact,
the necessity of the payment of N troLEoN's legacies
to be hoarded up as a reason for any future aggres-
sions ? All these are of course mere speculations; but
looking at the present EstrEitoit's past career,
are they to be considered as without foun-
dation ? Some of the copies of the will have
attached to them seven codicils, in which
the EarPEROR speaks of a sum of 200,000,000
of francs—of his palaces at Ito:ne, Florence, and
Turin—of his private domain of enormous value.
All these are disposed of in the codicils in question,
and the half of the private domain, in particular, is
bequeathed to the officers and soldiers of the French
army. Fancy a conscientious Emper rr, at the head
of the largest army in the world, piously pro-
claiming his solemn belief in the propriety of
the fulfilment of such wishes of his deceased
uncle. How eloquent might such a nephew
be upon the necessity of finding means
for enabling him to acquit himself of his Habitats".
What would be the effect of such a testament in the
hands of such an executor? All these, however, are
mere shadows, and are to be held as such. In the
mean time we congratulate France upon having ob-
tained another memorial of her great hero, and our
own Government on acting so sensibly with regard
to the delivery of it to the nephew at his request.

ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE
THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA.

The following intelligence has been received at
the Foreign Office by a telegraphic message from
Vienna, dated yesterday:
" An attempt has been made on the person of the
Emperor.
"His wound is trilling.
" The perpetrator of the crime has been ar-
rested."