The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-19 00:00:00

tutional government, in our days, and for a certain
portion of the world, is on its trial. It is not so for
us, who have made up our minds fully. But there
exists doubt and dispute elsewhere. In that dispute
theory and discussion can avail little ; example is
everything. And never certainly was a more emi-
nent and salutary example given to the world of
what thorough constitutionalism could do than is
offered by the reign of the late King Leopold of Bel-
gium. A more helpless or more difficult task was
certainly never given to a Sovereign than that of
taking the Low Countries in the very convulsions of
revolution, uniting and pacifying them so as to ren-
der the political existence tolerable to themselves and
to their neighbours. What with the Radical party,
the French party, the Dutch, the Aristocrats, the
Democrats, the Ultramontane, and the Anti-Reli-
gious, the Belgians were cut up into a hundred fac
tions, which differed, not upon trifles, but on the very
essential foundations of government. Add to such-
divisions the territorial ones, the want of sympathy
between Flemings, Brabanters, and Walloons, and we
have one of the most insoluble problems which polities
can offer. The Sovereign too was not the first choice
of the people. Others were elected before him, and
the choice cancelled. Then he was a Protestantand a
stranger. His German connexion did nothing for him,
his English connexion did him more harm than good.
Out of this chaos Leopold had to produce a peaceable
realm • to content his people, conciliate them ; give
no umbrage to England ; establish relations, com-
mercial ones were indispensable, with Holland and
soften the anger of the Czar, displeased with the
whole transaction and with the alliance of the West
which had imposed its will upon the rest of Europe.
All this Leopold did, founding at once the freest
and most prosperous country in Europe. It was
not merely in the grand experiment of establishing
and working constitutional government that Leo-
pold of Belgium distinguished himself. He suc-
ceeded also in the noble venture of exposing reli-
gious freedom to the assaults of a Catholic party,
while maintaining an active system of education
amidst factions equally balanced, that took diame-
trically opposite views of it. Nowhere in Europe
or in history have the religious and the secular party
been allowed to struggle in such perfect freedom,
or been enabled so fully to develope and demonstrate
by partial success what would be the incon-
venience and injustice of either exclusively
dominating. Leopold sat as an impartial
arbiter and umpire over the great struggle, out of
which we in our future government of Ireland may
derive many a useful lesson, as well as an honour-
able and successful example. That such was the
best and wisest policy, not only to render Belgium
enlightened and prosperous, but independent, is
now fully obvious. What empire could give to
Belgium, in annexing it, the same advantages, or
the equivalents for those they already possess?
Neither Liberals nor Ultramontanes would gain by
annexation to France ; on the contrary, both would
lose much, and neither can desire it. Political and
religious freedom has opened a gulf between the
two nations. The industrious and commercial pe-
culiarities of either country render the union of
Belgium to France as distasteful to the north of
France as it would be to the Belgians. It is for-
tunate that there are these guards, for undeniably
the state of Europe is but little favourable to the
defence of Belgian independence were it attacked.
With Lord Palmerston has expired the old policy
of maintaining the balance of posi er in Europe by
force of arms. Prussia is not to be depended upon
in any quarrel that does not lead directly to its own
aggrandisement. And Belgium is linked in mar-
riage with Austria, the most vulnerable and least
fortunate of European Powers. In the north of
Europe the great .Powers were never more in-
clined to aggression, and the smaller Powers less
able to resist them. So that it must be a relief
and a source of congratulation to those who
dread and dislike large military empires to
observe that the present dangerous epoch is likely
to be tilted over. In the future, absolutism and
aggression may be less in the ascendant, less the
fancy and the fashion, than they are at present.
" THE READER" ON MONTAIGNE.—The fame of
Montaigne is on the increase. In France there are
men who make the old Gascon the study of their
lives, who devote themselves to the elucidation of
his writings, and who quarrel over the interpreta-
tion of one of his phrases with as much zest, if not
with as much acrimony, as scholars among our-
selves quarrel over the meaning of a passage in
Shakspere. Since the revival of letters no foreign
writer has exercised as much influence upon our own
literature.
Essays"
acyisv'il'ihsaedve
nbaeteinontsranansladteedid intotion
after edition has been called for awl exhausted in
each. They have not in any country had for readers
What is known as the general public,have
but
only
obtained what Mr. Emerson calls a chosen
circula-
tion—namely, among courtiers,soldiers, pries,
men of the world, and men of w itandnc.ty.
There are signs, however, that theene
rOßlappre-
ciation is extending. A short time ago,
a " family" edition appeared in England,
and the reception lately given to the eloge pro-
nounced on their author by the younger Guizot upon
the re-opening of the college of France, may be
fairly taken as indication of an increasing interest
manifested in the life and works of the great essayist
in the country of his birth. Montaigne was 38 years
old when, in 1571, tired of courts and public em-
ployments,' but rich in 20 years' experience of the
ways of men in court and camp, he retired to his
chateau in Perigord. Neither by circumstances nor
temperament, we suspect, was he fitted to make a
great figure in the barbarous, cruel, and deceitful
court he had abandoned ; and now, without much
regret at his absence from the game he had left, he
sat down in quiet indifference to all things, to con-