The Sun.
London, England, 1855-08-01 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

F•orti the Morn, ing Ad cer!iscr of this day.)

The extraordinary :TeeL.h delivered at the Tri-
nity House, by one wino had alwa)s been held up by his
friends to popular respect, on the ground that he never
interfered with politic 3, has already chnie,.is doing, and
will do, incalculable mischief. The sole objret of that
unconstitutional speech— especially uncen,titutional,
considering the quarter whence it, came—was to damage
representative GovernLoent in the eyes of the people of
this country, and to hold up to their admiration the
superior advantages oil which those despotisms which
flourish in Germany aro productive.
A person in the exulted position of the speaker on
that occasion is sure to have a number of followers,
eager to curry favour in high places, by doing all they
can to discredit representative Government in this coun-
try. They do this by their acts, where they dare not,
for fear of popular indigi ration, do it in so many words.
The conduct, relative to the Turkish loan, of the party
who are thus so anxious to carry out the views ex-
pressed in the German speech to which we allude, ought
to open the eyes of the people of England to the immi-
nent danger to which we are at this moment exposed, of
having German Absolutism substituted for that consti-
tutional system under which this country has raised it-
self to the high position which it occupies among the
States of Europe. The escape which we have had was a
very narrow one. It is alarming to think that, by so
small a majority as three, the Frexieh alliance was pre-
served, and the advent of a despotic system of Govern-
men7 averted.

We fear the country is not yet fu Ily alive to the dan-
gers by which we are surrounded. Our perils did not
pass away by the Ministe:ial nrijority on the Turkish
Loan. The Peelites and Peace Party by whom we
were placed in that imminent danger, are still as active
as ever, though working quietly and insidiously, in their
efforts to overthrow our representative institutions, in
order that a German despotism may be erected on their
ruins. They know lull well what will commend them
most in an elevated quarter, and they make sure that,
through means of an influence bebiad the Throne, they
will, before many months have elapsed, have the reins
of Government exclusively in their own hands. Hence
they go on pandering:, sometimes directly, at other times
indirectly, to the hes of Germanism.
We feel it to be otir bounden duty thus to warn the
country of what, if the people be not on their guard, will
most surely happen. We are just now on the high road
to a Russo-Austrian system of Government in Great
Britain. The Times, we are glad to perceive, is at last
beginning. to have some suspicions of this. Our con-
temporary is evident)), aware of more than he chooses to
communicate. His first leading article of yesterday was
eminently suggestive. It was the most significant of
anything we have seen in that journal for a long time
past. Mr. Gladstone, Sir J. Graham, Mr. Sidney Her-
bert, Mr. Cobden, and Mr. Bright are the principal par-
ties by whose means the purposes of the German Courts
are in the course of being worked out in this country.
And, strange to tell:, even some who have no sympathies
either with the Peelites or the Manchester school, are
doing their best to overthrow representative institutions
in this country, in order that Germanismn may take their
place.
We are sorry—to give only one illustration of this—
to see Mr. Urquhart eulogising the syst m of Govern-
ment which prevails in Austria as incomparably superior
to that which obtains in England. Mr. Urquhart is
fond of paradoxes ; but the position advanced by him at
Bristol, on Wednesday last, that "Austria is a free and
independent State as compared with England,"— is the
most startling we ever remember to have come even
from him. It is so paradoxical that we hardly know
how to grapple with it, any more than we would know
how to deal with the proposition that two and two make
five, were any one to make it.

With regard to the means by which our rapid pro-
gress towards Germanism can be arrested, it is unhap-
pily too clear that we can put no faith in Parliament.
There never was a more corrupt legislative assembly
than the present House of Commons. It would stand
inactively and -ilently by and see our most valued insti-
tutions sacrificed one after another. The Times never
wrote anything more strictly in accordance with the
truth than when it yesterday spoke of the House of
Commons as "pusillanimous or treacherous," and as
being in the habit of giving utterance to "mean and
truckling sentiments."
There is but one quarter to which we can direct a
hopeful eye. Our dependence is solely on the people.
To them alone we look, and to them do we look with
confidence. If the Commons be corrupt, the heart of
the country is happily sound. Two years have elapsed
since the commencement of the war, and notwithstanding
all the efforts which have been made by the Court, and
by many of those who profess to represent the in
the Commons, the country is as anti-Russian as ever. Nay,
they are more bent on carrying.on the war with a vigour
which shall insure a glorious rasult than at any previous
period since its commencement. All that has been said
to the contrary is a calumny. There is no sacrifice
which the•country will not make, whether in the shape
of blood or treasure, rather than submit to an inglorious
peace, to be followed by the ascendancy of Germanism
in the councils of Great Britain. " The pecple," says
the Times, with great truth and force, "stand now as
ever, patient, forbearing, long-suffering, ready with
their treasure, if we want treasure—ready with
their blood, if we require blond—anxious to endure any-
thing except the ignominy of a disgraceful peace, and to
submit .o any sacrifice except that of national honour,
the preservation of which is in them a feeling and
passion."

It is truly deplorable that such a people--so patient
under privations, so heroic in dangers, so noble in their
aspirations—should not be worthily represented in what
is called, by courtesy, their own branch of the Legis,
lature. Never was a nation so glaringly or grossly
misrepresented. There is no sympathy With them in
the House of Commons. Let them, however, be
tbankful that though not represented where they ought
to be, they are represented elsewhere. They are repre-
sented in the press. But for the press, we advisedly
affirm, this country would before now have been tho-
roughly Germanised. The country does not know the
full extent of its obligations to an honest and indepen-
dent press. We can answer for at least a portion of the
press, that it will never become corrupt or servile, and
we feel a thorough conviction that through its instru-
mentality, aided by the people, we shall before long have
an upright and independent, a free and fearless House of
Commons ; and thus have an undoubted guarantee for
the perpetuation of our representative institutions, not-
withstanding the machinations of those in exalted places,
who would hand us over, body and soul, to the tender
mercies of a German despotism.