The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-04 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—It is impossible to read the account o
the preparations now being made in every town
and hamlet of Great Britain, or to walk the streets
of London, or to mingle in society, or to watch the
thousand nameless symptoms by which the temper
of the public betrays itself, without becoming con-
scious of a prevailing enthusiasm more spontaneous
and intense than has been kindled by any event
within living memory. There were rejoicings at
Queen Victoria's Coronation, and there were rejoic-
ings equally sincere and universal at her Wedding,
nor can we forget the proofs of regard and attach-
, went which were showered on the Princess Royal
when she left her parents' roof. But ft is no dis-
paragement to the happy reminiscences of those
occasions, or rather it is a testimony to the Queen's
long-tried popularity, to say that they failed to
excite the same interest as the Prince of Wales's
marriage. And yet, if crowds are chiefly attracted
by the grandeur of a show, there is nothing in the
programme of Saturday hich can account for so
general a desire to be present at it. A Coronation
is a gorgeous ceremony ; at the Duke of Wellington's
funeral the procession was swelled by some of the
most famous of living soldiers and statesmen ; but
here there will be little to gratify curiosity and a
love of display. Half-a-dozen Royal carriages, the
well known equipages of the Lord Mayor and
civic dignitaries, and a squadron of Life Guards—
such sights as these would hardly tempt the whole
population of this metropolis away from their
homes and callings. The grand avenue of windows
and balconies, alive with human faces, through
which the Prince and Princess will pass, cannot
but be a noble spectacle, but it is one which only
those who form the procession can witness. We
have taken thought for weeks and laid out many
thousands of pounds, ostensibly for the sake of an
experience which will last less than a minute, and
yet none of us is ashamed of it. This is a pheno-
menon which needs to be explained, and of which
the explanation may help to dispel some popular
illusions, already discredited, about the spirit of our
age. There never was any real danger that this
great and wise nation would so cut itself off from
its past history, and so recklessly imperil the destiny
which Providence has intrusted to our keeping, as
to follow the desperate career of revolutionary
France. The danger was not that the people would
wilfully desert the Throne, but that the Throne
should prove unworthy of the people ; not that
Monarchy should be condemned as worn out and
effete, but that our Monarchs should not know how
to adapt themselves to the altered conditions of poli-
tics and manners. The Royal power had triumph-
antly weathered the French Revolution, but would
it survive the Court of George IV. ? It had shown
that it was compatible with Parliamentary Govern-
ment, but could it be reconciled with modern
notions of economy and the requirements of modern
public opinion? It is chiefly because it hassatisfled
this test, and withal identified the Royal family
with the domestic virtues of the nation, that the
reign of Queen Victoria has strengthened the posi-
, tion of her dynasty. She has not realized, for no
human Sovereign could, all the wild expectations
that were entertained at her accession, but she has
shown that a good Queen, and therefore a good
King, may avoid all semblance of a collision with
her subjects and win their entire devotion, without
becoming a puppet or a cipher. A roe faineant,
in the better sense, may still be by far the most
powerful man in the country without making a
single enemy. The most independent and high-
spirited race on the face of the earth will submit to
be lead by a thread, not blindly, but with a distinct
consciousness of the reasons for its submission, upon
one condition and one only. Their loyalty must not
be coldly accepted as a right, but merited by its ob-
jects and cordially acknowledged as a willing tribute
of love and esteem. It is not the King, as descendant
of mythical ancestors, or as consecrated by the inves-
titure of the Church, or as the highest of feudal
suzerains, or even as chief magistrate, the fountain
of honour, the dispenser of reward and pardon, the
visible leader of society, that we love to idealise and
to salute with every demonstration of national re-
spect. It was not in this country or in this age
that the title of " Well-beloved" was conferred by
acclamationheredihereditary
inn
eoe na.e o
Wef the
give worst
our and
homage weakest
no
the office alone or to the Sovereign alone, but totthtoe
Sovereign because, of
office worthily. If it
i
dwseorefahrealds,ihnecflomllsmtihsseiokni, ourngly
loyalty would flag, but
were held by a degeneratet worounlnd egrqauthaolul
Till this shall happen—and we may rest assured
days—loyalty
that it will never happen in our own equally
Monarch.flag if
itys—loyalty
will still find a legitimate object,and
the potency of
its spell will not be broken. Loyalty may possibly
outlive Monarchy, but Monarchy will never outlive
loyalty. There is nothing in the human mind more
durable than this sentiment. Patriotism, which
was first developed in perfection among the city Re-
publics of antiquity, has been transplanted into
Christian States of a thousandfold greater extent,
where it flourishes to this day. The same be said
of loyalty. It grows naturally out of the personal
relation between a King and his subjects. So far
from dying out in our present advanced state of
civilisation, it shows more vitality? in Great Britain
than it has done since George 111. ascended the
1
throne a century ago. That it cannot be quenched
or exhausted by any fair demands on it we are
firmly persuaded, and it will be the fault of evil
counsellers if it shall ever be damped by the want
of a truly Royal response to it,