Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-05-16 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES, MONDAY, MAY 16, 1859

parishes, we observe;'haT s been. adopted, " that at
the present momentous crisis in the destinies of
Europe, it is ofvital iinportance :to the interests of,
the United Kingdom that her- rulers strictly
abstain from involving her in any of the com-
plications which . have taken -place between the
hostile Powers, • and from. -.any participation in
the war 1 which :has •commenced," -although we
question the propriety, of adding to this
expression, any such declaratiOn- as " that the stern
determination of the people of -this - country to keep
qear of the contest which has 'arisen between t'onti-
riental despots °kelt to be MideAnnwn in the most
eimphatic manner -to the Ministers. who pt Iresent
hold., the authority of Government,"---loeccuse this,
if it means anything, can only imply that " the peo-
ple of this country? have taken, or are going to take
the government of the country into their own hands.
Now, this would be to warp a position 'which could
never be Imaintained, - aid tint not, 'perhaps, "by
the people of this country,", bet
~only,, it may
happen to be, by a self-willed - and: reStlesS faction
among them.
,Thit celebrated 4 "three tailors of
Tooley-street" could issue a manifesto, beginning,
"We, 'the 'people of England." - And .any Parish
Vestry, or any politicalja-ita, however insignificant,
can at any tiare do the same. It is one
thing to speak in the name of the ' people; but
'suite another thing to Italie ;the people's:authority for
so doing.. At the same time, we have no doubt tt
may be taken for gvanted, 'that the people 'of this

country are-very gererally, not to Say unanimously,
of opinion that it is most desirable -to abstain from
any participation in this most criminal war,--40 do,
in fact, just what her A tjesty's Government, with so
much care and prndence, are really doing. But as
to their .4‘ stern xletermination •to keep clear cif the.
contest,"—this is, as -the Yankees would say., " all
bunkum." For they are not the three est4es of
the realm.. They are one, of the three —and, a. most
powerful bite 'no 'doubt; bat still only one, and
therefore, not'entitled to assume the authority of the
whole three, even in questions of peace :or war.
Not that, in such questions, or .in any questions, the
constitutionally expressed wishes of the peOple are,
to be disregarded. Sure we arc, That Her Majesty
would always-pay .the utmost possible deference to
her people's wishes, and show the highest respect
f©r their feelings, .. And we :know very well what
would seen tirther'. fate of any administration of Her
Cabinet, that ditl7-rmt- act in a similar spirit. But
then this .regard must be reciprocal. The Sovereign
maintains her •own rightful position, -and so must
her people theirs. And her Majesty's povermmlit
have their dutiesto fulfil —and so have the people"'
theirs, . .

The parochial Memorial to which we have
thus reiterates the offensively unconsti-
tutional assumption; "Your memorialists,
therefore, pray .that the municipal authorities
Of this vast parish will, as speedily as
may be convenient, -call a general meeting of the
inhabitants of your parish, in order to afford them
an opportunity of conveying to her most gracious
Majesty, and to her Ministers, their solemn deter-
minutionto take no part 'in the blood, and ruin; and
desolation with which despotic monarchs are about
to overwhelm the continent of 'Europe, and to
sanction no movement of our own forces which has

not for its direct object the defenCe of our shores
from foreign aggression." Now . this, we repeat; is
a piece of presumption that is in quite as bad taste as
was that of the " three tailors of Tooley-street "
aforosairl. Fin., surely, this determination of a
knot of noisy parish politicians, however -solemn it
may be, to take no part in the war, cannot biud the
whole country, and therefore ought. not to supersede
the legitimate, the constitutional functions of the
country's Government. What they mean, most pro-
bably, is that they strongly disapprove of the war
that they are resolutely determined not to sympathise
with it---and that they vehemently object to the
Government dOing anything to involve the country
in the conflict. And in all this we most heartily go
along with them,. We have no doubt, indeed, that
the great body of the people Etre of the same opinion.
Nay, more,—there is every reason to believe - that-
both her Majesty and her Majesty's Ministers are
themselves, one and all, of just the same mind.
But then it must be remeinberod; that the country
has a Government. Even if the people be, according
to the popular principle, " the only source of power,"
that power, as an administrative or executive instru-
ment, must rest somewhere—must be .ernbodied is
some tangible and practical form. And this is what

is called the Government. It is an indispensable
necessity of civilized society, and of a settled com-
monwealth. And in every such case, it constitutes a
body under a contract, as it were, with the people,—
yet in which, as indeed is the case with all con-
tracts, there are mutual oblig ttions. " There seems
to be," it has been well observed, " but two general
kinds of government in the world ; the one exercised
according to the arbitrary commands and will of
some single person; and the other according to
certain orders or laws introduced by agreement or
cu3toms, and not to be changed without the consent
of many." The latter, then, is the kind of govern-
ment under which Englishmen have the happiness
to live; and to realise the full benefits of which both
those who.govern and those who are governed, must
each know and keep their own place. There is, there
must be, where freedom prevails, mutual confidence,
and mutual dependence. Oar &tn 'of Government
is .one in which this is essentially the case. The
people on whom it depends for support, must have
confidence in its integrity, not less than in its ability.
And at such a crisis as the present, more especially,
will any GoVernment find, that, in the words of
EDMUND BURKE, "plain good intention, which is as
easily discovered at the first view, as fraud is easily
detected at last, is of no mean force in the govern-
ment of a people."