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

(From-the Times of this day.) :
It often happens that after an op..
maxim has been neglected for many i_._
Utopian the'stream of events bears the- worldZan.._
to a point which gives it a truth and reality. -We
have often heard of the regrets which the great
masNti
onaon
atp esoc leomonhmvfai
deeasi
men, and
sayings
tfayhhe 1
idiii
en. latersdeamgsnswtpdiare
i rhroei
zedva
bde,
rtabo days.ipao l.iinfluencetirecognisedperhaps,c.w amadelah c 0
1:
tse knt
aptitudenhh
greatly
rewi
tbnrue
a said tt 0
dwse
11..
hi
rthbi
t,lchi
in..
.
listeners- in the little dwelling at St. Helena.
diction,wisdom
Europe must become Cossack or Republican, he.
spoke words which, whether true or not as a pre-
no small_ degree to form that settled oiiiiion'or
Russian aggression which has given strength and
popularity to the present war. But his few, ivciids
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 siaccessill" ..'
foe. He was visited by the idle and the curious
among our countrymen ; his discourse with his_ sse.;
-dbi :eucinstdendobler its
voted followers was often of the nation against
whom he 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 bad been grouped the
camps ofEurope during the longest and most devas-
tating war which the modern world bad seen. A
generation has passed away, and a French Ambac-
sa.dor 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 gaia the frendship ofEngland. ' What great
' thing 'he exclaimed, could we have done if
. ;.--Burt Tew•-1411m-eigh000014141.0.........,
niiklit,rlrideecl, 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 auk 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 Tuirty Years' War the monarchies
ureal hade upholderso stagnatedffeud or s,
oaufr
in
dt
both
ol
England,
g lonapi
nai
dlni:o breathednto though
gahre
temporarily
m the
many
fnr
ye e
and air
of action and libert.s. Pitt and Coburg were the
victorious, had its reward in long years of disean-
tent and a debt which centuries cannot efface.
weighty arguments to adduce, but the discussion
can have no real value, fur 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, sufferei, and paused exhausted from the
struggle ; 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 padre 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 i 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.
is strong, not only by following the precedents,rdecessor.
but by avoiding the faults of his great Pa. Marengo
His teacher is not so much the hero
_ln;
alliance—the
onne—the seeker of
anAntr hereditary Princes—the
his ambition is of a
true source of his
elected Emperor, forgetful of and Austerlitz as the negotiator
will be the bettNera.Politra
have now a Bonaparte who
truster in the faith of
othe
fame and power.
nr He has lah
far as we have a right t
and powerless fora century. The coali-
kind for which Europe
tod lo e its by •
eve p powers indus-
quillize his country,
ursuits has been his aim d •
try and material p
_. during
against a Western Emperor raised to
has learnt from ad
seven years of Pro-
on which now taken the lead
the world has gazed
in resisting a o
adversity. :ietyfildSgoe2far as we can see, SO
tiott, of past days are renewed, but they are not
now
a throne by the most solid of titles, but passing
beyond the bounds of his legitimate national sway;
they seek to curb a despot whose authority is based
on the traditions of a barbarous race, and is used
for the extension of the darkness and blind obedi-
ence by which he reigns. aTiiosit and Bay.
strugglesPeii
results will be nobler also.
We may trust thatthe
conclusion of this war will
see the mass of the people awakened and elevated
in every part of Europe. The great war against
Napoleon stengthened 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 indireot.
we
therefore anticipate many things exilewhich
cannot foresee from that alliance which the
of St. Helena wished for in his own day.

......,_—____...._ •
SODDEN DEATH OF A RETIREDCITIZEN.—Yesterd ay,
in the forenoon, as a gentleman of thewsme of Mum-
ford, of Manor House, Shacklewell, crossing the
south end of Princes-street, by the Bank, he suddenly
staggered, fell, and instantly expired.
stthaete 2d3d
GAS LIGHTING IN MAIII'LESONE.--013 Saturday Mr.
Greenwell, clerk of the Marylehone Vestry, presented a
report from Dr. Letheby, on the gas supplied to the pa-
rish by the Imperial Company. In respect to the iliu-
n m
nLi
eentdk
ee
db yi n
thatsect i hne of
h
recommended
act of Parliament ef the Grea Central Gas Consumers'
ladionpatteindgth ie )°
plane rY
Company, to a-certain if the amount
hour Was supplied in accordance with . the contract. The
result was, as to the illuminating power, that he found
• ranged
from 18 to 29 per
Icent, above the act of Par-
liament standard. In respect of the
per hour to the public lamps, he quantity delivered
meats. The result was tl3- made various exp cri-
power of the gas is ' "t while the illuminating
the quantity fully equal to the contract standard,
delivered to the street lamps is less than
four ct,bic feet
which
burners '"
is used in
per hour, In fact, ure
.• with the pr.ess
he
the district of th-0 court-house, t
will not deliver that quantity per hour even if
the tap be turned full on—a circiumetance which 1*
rarely observed in the street lamps.