The Express.
London, England, 1853-04-29 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 29.

LIE philosophic:4l writers of history in France and
Germany, who have not allowed their prejudices to
overcome their love of truth, all agree that England
has worked out more truly than any other modern
nation, the great problem which Providence entrusted
to the German tribes to solve. It is impossible to
read our annals, and not acknowledge that there has
been a successive evolution of results, all tending to
enlarge the basis of national civilisation, to strengthen
the national character, to augment the na-
tional freedom. There may have been slight re-
trogressions, but the product of the whole has
been advanoe. The individual has •been developed
at the same time that the State has been rendered

more perfect and more powerful. Englishmen are
more capable of self-government, more free in the
expression of their opinions, more fitted to act upon
their governors, than the inhabitants of any country
in Europe. In spite of the strange fact that we do
lees for education than the majority of other countries,
it is still certain that there is no country in the world
except America where the grand results of educa-
tion are obtained in such prolusion as in England.
The Englishman comes up more completely than the
inhabitant of any other country in the world to
ARISTOTLE'S definition of man, that he is by nature a
"political aaimaL."
The cause of this is, that while the Continental
. .

Governments have, inariy•of them with the best in-
tentions, acted upon FREDERIC the GREAT'S princi-
ple, "everything for the people, but nothing by the
people," we in England have been indulged in this'
merciful privilege of being " let alone. Loans
faire, which is the best maxim for commune,
is, under due conditions, the only maxim for,
healthy national life. From the village club
up to the Parliamentary Committee, through
all the phases of vestries, boards of guardians,
municipal councils, elections, &c., Englishmen have
always an opportunity of trying their hand at some-
ihing, of learning the principles of management. Ile
has beuMe self-reliant and independent.
"They manage these things differently in France."
The Government there, whether a monarchy, an
empire, or a republic, always labours to preserve its
beloved subjects from the evils and the dangers of
thinking md acting. The bureaucratic.arrangementain
force throughout the whole country, graciously take
charge of half the movements of the people, and
concoct programmes for their execution in due order.
The same is the case in Germany. There is a net-
work of bureaux all over the land, that interfere
with the actions of the citizen from his birth toads
death. The consequence is that the Frenchman or
the German, when he succeeds in throwing off the
trammels with which he has been fettered, has no I
forces by which he can act upon the new world in
which he is pieced. So much has been done fee himl
that he can do nothing for himself. Mantes aftbe•
human frame lose all their power by &tie. A
nation of horse-riders are sure to be bade/albeit And
a people that has never exercised any of the
functions of government will make bat a wretched
commencement when it is obliged to begin. This
has been the came on the Continent, where despotism
has succeeded revolution, from the mere fact of the
successful revolutionists being incapable of ruling
theniaelves. Louis NAPOLEON does not hesitate in
public speeches to charge his subjects with this
fault. They have as much freedom as is fit for
them, he tells them.
The Despotic Governments on the Continent may and
do urge this plea too far ; nevertheless the facts upon
which it is founded are indisputable. There is a
broad line of distinction between the institutions
under which Englishmen educate themselves; and
the rigid machinery by which the Continental Goe
vernmeats endeavour to make their people think,
talk, and act without education. It becomes, then,
a question of great importance to know- whether,
them is any intention of making such modifications,
in the system which has produced such admirable re-;
sults in England, as will have a tendency to bring
about a state of things which at present exist* only
on the Continent. And that there • are
rumours abroad which would indicate a danger
in that direction, is but ton well knows.
The Vienna correspondent of the Frankfurt Post Ga-
zette recently wrote: "It is now confirmed that
the Prussian police were most efficiently assisted in
the late political arrests at Berlin and elsewhere by
repeated communication; from the police of London,
without which many of the discoveries might not
have been made. In this we see a proof of the
Rood faith of tb British Goverpmeat when throegh,
Lord Warritoititartis it assuredthe Cabinet or
Vienna that it would watch over the conduct of
the refugees. We learn from other sources that the
London polies) his for wens tines kept lists of.all. the
fugitives residing there; and watches over their con:
nianicatMoi with the Continent." • •
Is this true P "gas the polio), established here
for the benefit of foreign governments a system of
supervision 'andinspeetion which it would not. have
dared •to put in practice for on; own ? Have we
really made up our minds to glee the lie to all ear
protestations bf the inviolability of the English soil P
is Lord CILVIIIAIIeS Imatit,that the King of ENGLAND
dared not enter an Englishman's house against his will
about to be turned Auto.tidiculeP For it Meet be
remembered that any system of supervision exercised
over foreigaers, to bacomplete, must extend to their
benEnglish friends. It is clear that when onceit bas-
established that, the' police may excrete§ ear-
=Ukase over a hidY.Of men =used of no crittlk.bit
=ipecac& it the possibility of the meditation. of
crime, the ground has been prepared for the founds-
lion of a coy system similar to that which obtains in
eyery CoaWiental State. We. are in danger when
enee it is decreed that refugees flying from tyranny
at home, and conducting • themselves with all due
obedience to the laws here, are placed under:the in-
, Iffietion of the police. • •• •
Surely, if this report be true,: we:should ktiow under
what conditioni ii this newer exercised ? is it put,
in execution at ono* against all refugees ,whatem
ever? Are the royal exiles of the ORLEASILFamiIy,
placedunder Coininisaioner MATNeB surveillanorythat
Louis NAPOLEON may be sure they are not plotting
a deseent on Ft:mien?' Are their houses • subject
to domiciliary Visite, while they are • dining
with her Majesty .QUEEN VICTORIA? Were MET-
TERNICR'S papers rummaged by Policeman A. 1
during his stay in• England ? ris it only in-
digent refugees Who ire treated with the benefit of
police inspection ? Is it only the miserable beings
who in political struggles have lost their all in their
own country who are the objects of suspicion in ours/
Again, how is this system put in execution? Are
the police Emmert sand judges of those whom they
suspect? Do they decide upon the nature of the
guilt the suspected are meditating without fortnal
examinations to ascertain the fact P If not, at.what
tribunal are these charges, proved, which are trans-J,
mitted to the foreign police to form material which,
at some future time, limy endanger the life of • the
suspected ?
lima questions must be answered. It it; well,
known that it is not in foreign papers alone that
rumours of this kind are propagated. Unless a satis-

factor? answer can be given to them there will be no
iioidtne The—nieratieholf conclusion that, either
through pusillanimity or culpable simplicity, the
Government have sanctioned the introduction of a
step which may be the commencement of a down-
ward path which would lead to the destruction of
the good and great result that has arisen from the
unchecked operations of the freest institutions in
Europe.
Shall we, after the Gunpowder Plot farce of yes-
terday, have a long string of names put-down u
those of men to be subject to surveillance? The
magistrate of Bow-street declares that ungranulated
rocket-powder is gunpowder, and it would further
seem that because one refugee recommends a
destitute compatriot to a place of employment,
the recommender is, in the eyes of the police, to be
held responsible for all the acts which that employ-
ment may involve. But this question is to go to a
jury of Englishmen, and we have no fear for the re-
sult. Austria will, after yesterday's evidence, doubt-
less jump to the conclusion that the Rotherhithe
factory was intended to blow the Emperor FRANCIS
off the Hungarian throne, although at present there
is no shadow of evidence of any such intention. In
other countries police " discoveries" have been very
dangerous to tho Governments who have abetted
them, and we have yet to see whether Lord Anen-
DEEN will not get into hot water, both abroad and
at home, by this Rotherhithe ease. Political police-
men are very double-edged tools.