The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-23 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

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THE "SATURDAY REVIEW" ON D tYWNING-STREET
DICTATORSHIP.—It has been said that one of the
most remarkable social and political phenomena of
the day is the concurrence of a claim for personal
liberty with a superior claim for a strong govern-
ment. And this, it is added, is what has happened
once before in the world's history, in the rise of the
Imperial power in Rome. Historical events seldom,
perhaps never, exactly reproduce themselves ; but
there is sufficient analogy in the two cases to give
them something more than a superficial resem-
blance. In the two leading countries of the Old
Continent and the New World, in France and
the United States, much the same political ten.-
dencies are observable. Universal suffrage, with
a strong despotism tempering it, the treading out
of a real personal liberty by a general system of
what amounts to Government proscription of all
intellect and discouragement of all thought in
politics, reigns in France. In the United States,
this fearful system and its consequences are repro-
duced by the party monopoly of State appoint-
ments, and all revenues on political distinction are
as completely closed to the higher American mind
as on the Seine. In it's lowest form the same ten-
dency has taken root among ourselves, in our esti-
mate of our municipal government. We want to
be governed, and we want to retain the form of
self-government, but we decline to take the trouble
which self-government involves. So the timid and
idle whimper for a Haussmann, or scream for a
dictator-mdile. We are all ready, though we care
not to say so, or we are all thought to be ready, for
a Cmsar—a Caesar Augustus or a Caesar Napoleon
or a Caesar Lincoln. It is only in such a state of
things that a Bismark is possible, and can be, even for
a time, a success. It may be that Earl Russell and
Mr. Gladstone have appreciated this state of Eu-
ropean political morals ; but whether they have not
over-estimated its force among ourselves is another
matter. ' For it may be quite possible that, though
we clamour for strong government in the face of
Pancras Vestries and Metropolitan Boards of Works,
we are not quite demoralised. It does not follow
that because we cannot, or will not, manage our
lighting and scavengering, we are yet disposed to
abolish the House of Commons. Earl Russell seems
to think that we are entirely ripe for a little high-
handed despotism of this sort. He and Mr. Glad-
stone are quite ready to do the gevernment of the
country in a free, noble, and high-spirited imperial
Manner. We are not fit to be trusted, and the pre-
sent Ministers will relieve us from all anxiety. As
things are, Providence and all human things com-
bining to make the present Cabinet the only possi-
ble Cabinet, it follows that the present Cabinet must
have its own way. A pure Whig Ministry, or rather
a Russell Annistry,being of the nature of a political
Fate, why it is folly to kick against Fate. And this
because Fate has it all in its own hands ; if Fate
were to be cashiered, and the Titans were to de-
throne Zeus, then chaos would come. This is pre-
cisely the Premier's argument to his followers, who,
we are told, receive his oracles with tremendous
enthusiasm. He did not condescend to justify his
policy ; he simply announced it. The Franchise
Bill might be incomplete, unintelligible, illogical
without a measure of redistribution ;but it was the
Premier's intention to persevere with it in practical
independence of its necessary context, and .this was
the oracle's voice. If the supporters of the Govern-
ment, if the House of Commons, if the country did
not accept this decision of the Destinies, let them
take the consequences. It was not a matter to be
argued ; it had been decided. 'There is something
in this noble insolence which is sure to tell. One
cannot help having a sort of sneaking admiration of
a Bismark, when he ruffles and hectors in a superb
way. And one admires him the more, in the clas-
sical sense of admiration, so long as he succeeds.
In Earl Russell's case it remains to be seen whether
success will justify his swelling pretensions. He
bids high for success ; but if he fails, he fails irre-
trievably. All that will be left for him and for Mr.
Gladstone will be to take to the demagogue line in
a more vulgar fashion. And we must do him the
justice to say that Earl Russell will make a very
poor Tribune of the people. Septuagenarian powers
are not the stuff out of which an O'Connell, or a
Feargus O'Connor, or even a Mirabeau are made.
The present Premier will not be in his place at the
head of a Birmingham Union to demand a £7
franchise from Lord Derby installed in Downing-
street. And 'yet this, or a little short of this, is
what must have been present to his mind when,
he delivered his recent address to his followers.
He must either have meant this by his domineering
language, or he must have talked big from very
emptiness of counsel. As a matter of fact, we are
convinced that the Government are only blustering
because there is nothing left but to bluster. They
are committed to a certain line, and they.think that
their only safety lies in adopting the most haughty
deportment. Being a necessity to the country, it
is superfluous to consult anybody but' themselves.
A Cabinet, especially a Whig Cabinet, is empowered
by Providence to rule, and the act of ruling must
be now and then imperious. They are forced by
political exigencies to dictate, and they accept the
burden of dictating. It is sometimes necessary,
under the stern obligation of putting down an enemy,
to snub a friend. And if your friend and constant
supporter, your natural ally and client, 'your
trusted and valued dependant, your consistent con-
fidant, has the temerity to doubt your prudence,
or to question the propriety of your policy, why
then, painful as it is, he must be denounced as an
accomplice in' a dirty conspiracy, and set down as a
traitor, a renegade, and apostate. This is Earl
Russell's attitude to Lord Grosvenor. Although
this is the treatment which Earl Russell thinks, as
a matter of domestic discipline, necessary for his
family of Whigs, we might perhaps have reckoned
upon a different and more courteous bearing to the