The Sun.
London, England, 1855-11-12 00:00:00

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Spirit of the Public Journals.

( From the Times of this day.)

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It often happens that after an opinion or a
maxim has been neglected for many years as
Utopian the stream of events bears the world on
to a point which gives it a truth and reality, We
• have often heard of the regrets which the great
Napoleon in his later days made known to his
listeners in the little dwelling at St. Helena.
Some of his sayings are recognised as the treasured
wisdom of a life, and had a political aptitude which
at once made them proverbial. When he said that
Europe must beeome Cossack or Republican, he
spoke words which, whether true or not as a pre-
diction, were destined to influence greatly the
minds of men, and which, perhaps, contributed in
no small degree to form that settled opinion of
Russian aggression which has given strength and
popularity to the present war. But his few words
of good will towards England have often been re-
garded merely as the enforced compliments of a
man speaking of an obstinate and at last successful
foe. He was visited by the idle and the curious
among our countrymen; his discourse with hi. de-
voted followers was often of the natio against
whom ho fought in person in that encounter at
Toulon which first gave him a name, and whose
stubborn squares he vainly essayed to break on the
day which closed his mighty career. It could not
be but that some words of admiration should fall
from his lips when solitude and reflection caused
him to think calmly of the deadly contest of more
than 20 years. But to mankind it seemed that
those mutual wounds could never be forgiven. A.
peace of armed watchfulness seemed to represent the
closest union which was possible between the two
rivals, around whose banners had been grouped the
camps ofEurope during the longest and most devas-
tating war which the modern world had seen. A
generation has passed away, and a French Ambas-
sador now quotes to an English audience the words
of the great exile. "It is now 35 years," said
M. de Persigny at Guildhall, " since the Emperor
Napoleon I. expressed his regret that he had been
unable to conquer the prejudices of the two peoples
and to gain the frendship of England. What great
things,' he exclaimed, could we have done if
united!" But a few years since a statesman
might, indeed, have spoken of the blessings of
peace, of the progress of the world, through the
tranquillity of France and England. He might
have pointed out that when these two great nations
were at peace the world had rest, while their dis-
cord lighted up a flame in the furthest corners of
Europe. But this would have been all. The ne-
gative benefits of a cessation of enmity, the pro-
gress of trade during the reign of tranquillity, the
necessity of preserving by every means the actual
state of Europe, and of abstaining from anything
which could give offence to the national pride of a
neighbour, would have been the limit of the speak-
er's cautions and hopes. It is only within the last
two years that the full force of the first Napoleon's
words could have been appreciated. " Those great
things," said the Ambassador, " are now being
accomplished for the happiness and security of the
world.' Europe will no longer advance through
the abstinence, but through the efforts, of its lead-
ing Powers. They are no longer compelled by a
sense of duty to abdicate their influence, lest it
should lead to mutual hostility and the calamity
of the world ; the time has come when they can
give full play to their genius and aspirations, cer-
tain, as far as human things are sure, that the
rivalry will only be as to which can labour most
efficiently in a great and approved cause.
It is of little use to argue for or against the
wars which Pitt and Castlereagh waged with
revolutionary France. Men who have seen the
event may pronounce dogmatically that the
policy of past statesmen was shortsighted, for-
getful that they themselves look clearly upon
results which could only be seen darkly by the
generation which is gone. It must ever remain a
disputed question whether the first outbreak of re-
publican violence was wisely resisted by arms.
Some may say, as the men of the time said, that
the tempest would have overwhelmed Europe.
Pitt is to them the man at the wheel, the pilot who
weathered the storm, the prophet who stood be-
tween the living and the dead and stayed the
plague. Others will have it that England, its
Church and King, its foreign allies, its alarmists,
and its bigoted mob who listened to them, were
alone to blame. France would, according to them,
soon have returned to tranquillity. Even the
Bourbon might have preserved his life and throne.
The excesses were those of a threatened and ill-used
people, whose territory was violated and whose
chosen institutions were interfered with by the
despots, great and petty, of old Europe. Changes
were necessary ; mankind had suffered for cen-
turies, and their patience was exhausted. Since
the close of the Thirty Years' War the monarchies
had stagnated until no man breathed the free air
of action and liberty. Pitt and Coburg were the
real offenders, and England, though temporarily
victorious, had its reward in long years of discon-
tent and a debt -which t cnturies eannot_efface.
The upholders of both opinions hafe many and
weighty arguments to adduce, but the discussion
can have no real value, for it cannot teach a clear
lesson for our future conduct. It is plain that
England went to war because a deep impulse urged
her to the conflict. Whether the immediate object
was gained it is useless to inquire ; both nations
laboured, suffereA, and paused exhausted from the
streggle ; but what each obtained was, that in that
long contest it developed itself and was fitted
to bear its part in the new condition of
Europe. France created the system of society
which is most suited to its wants and inspira-
tions, and from its captured capital began
to influence the world with greater power
than in the age of Louis XIV. England
during its long isolation equally strengthened its
national character and threw off the slough of a
century of imitation and dependence ; its commer-
cial, manufacturing, and colonial systems were
perfected, its energies were roused to efforts in
every walk of knowledge and action, a constella-
tion of great names brightened its annals, and into
the whole nation was infused that vigour which
has enabled it to hold its high place during forty
years of peace. France and England are now
still more decidedly the first countries in Europe
than they were in 1789.
Had Liverpool and Castlereagh made peace with
Napoleon, the Bonaparte dynasty might, as now,
have sat on the throne of France without the dreary
episode of the Restoration or the corrupt interval
of the Orleans reign. But possibly in that case
Bonapartism would have expressed other and lower
ideas. The ruler of France might have been
merely a monarch after the pattern of Vienna or
Berlin. Fifty years of empire would have given
him a place in the continental brotherhood, and all
that is distinctive in the character of his Govern-
ment might have long vanished. Napoleon 111.
is strong, not only by following the precedents,
but by avoiding the faults of his great predecessor.
His teacher is not so much the hero of Al.funng°
and Austerlitz as the negotiator of Tilsikanede_the
Bay-
onne--the y.
onne—the seeker of an Austrian alliance—the
truster in the faith of hereditary
Princes--the
elected Emperor, forgetful of the true source of his
fame and power. We have no Bonaparte
who
rces—the
has learnt from adversity. farw a
as we can see, so
hisbe atmtebri.tion To istroafna-
far as we have a right to.)
e tehe itspowersmboadienu
dr
leadg
kie.dllifzoer
hiswh which Europecountry,
to
dwelviltlebloP..
tran-
quillize
i
gazed
t;
whiche has
hasas
tnehoe
enw
world
oai his
edain
has
seven years of power.
foeoPwaue
rrsre. onu
renewed,
try and material
but they are not
powerless for a century. The coali-
tions resisting
Western Emperor raised to
the most solid of titles, but passing
nst
ipooewnl is -ho of
directedupna spell-bound
t and
days
against a
abetyhornodnethbey bounds of his legitimate national sway;
they
seek to curb a despot whose authority is bee",
on the traditions of a barbarous race, and is used
for the extension of the darkness and blind obedi-
ence by which ho reigns.
As the motive of the
struggle is nobler its
results will be nobler also.
We may trust that the conclusion of this war will
see the mass of the
people awakened and elevated
in every part of Europe. The great war against
Napoleon
&Lengthened the power of the continental
monarchs ; let us hope that their subjects will
benefit by that which has now commenced. The
most lasting consequences of human actions are
often those which are unseen and indirect. We
may therefore anticipate many things which we
cannot foresee from that alliance which the a.---'lO3
of St. Helena wished for in his own day.

—yesterday,
SUDDEN DEATH OF A RETIRED CITIZEN.
of mum-
As crossing the
in the forenoon, as a gentleman of the eau'. •
ford, of Manor House, Shacklew
south end of Princes-street, by !he,:ti
ell'—ank, h© suddenly
staggered, fell, and instantly exPlNrzect_
On Saturday Mr.
GAS LIGHTING IN MAEYLEBOon
gas supplied to the report from Dr. L.eth9bYnypany.
In respect to the illn-
Greenwell, clerk of the theMaornyle be. Vestry, presented a
pa-
rish by the Iniperiale I
mended in the 23d section of the
Dr. °Letheby stated that he had
rninating P
Central Gas Consumers'
certain tl o amount of four feet per
adopted th;pwlaenr,troecf°tEnhe Greatif
Company, •
supplied
illuminating
accordance with the contract. The
as to the illuminating power, that he found
it ranged from 18 to 29 per cent, above the act of Par-
liament standard. In respect of the quantity delivered
the public lamps, he made various cap eri-
abcoturofwrasarbren in
per
eesruhl to
uwra
ts
0,
meats. The result was that while the illuminating
power of the gas is fully equal to the contract standard,
! the quantity delivered to the street lamps is less than
four cubic feet per hour. In fact, with the pressure
1 which is used in the district of the court-house, the
j burners will not deliver that quantity per hour eTe_n !!
the tap be turned full on—a circumstance which ni
i rarely Observed in the street lamp.