The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1840-12-08
THE CHARACTER OF THE ENGLISH.

The London Examiner, discussing the pro-
priey Of going to war for the sake Of peace,
takes occasion to satirize the English character
after the following fashion:
I'VE are singular people. There is this
peculiarly IN our faults that they are all contra
ry to our dispositions, and referable 10 the I'M
comfortable force OF circumstances We rebuke
our neighbors for the desire OF territorial aggran-
disement, and in India we are in perpetual
course of conquest and enlargement OF our en-
pire. Non-interference in the affairs Of other
nations is an established principle with us. and
we are forever meddling in disputes that do not
concern us. We should be the most peaceabe
people on the face of the earth, and we profess
to be what we ought to be, but we slip into wars
Heaven only know why or wherefore. We
have, as Lord Castlereagh said, San ignorant
impotence of taxation;" we groan under our
debt, and the burdens il entails, but for straw
we are ready TO rush into wars which would
pitch, and end in the robbery Of public creditors
We pay for an expedition for the promotion OF
civilization in Africa, and we pay more largely
for an expedition to restore an anarchy IN ASA.
A vote Of some poor thirty thousand year IS
grudged for education al home; ana ten umes
as many thousands are expended in arIning semi
barbarians 10 cut the threats of semi barbarlans
We say most edfying things in censure OF the
French propensity Of war; and while we blame
them for menacing war, we feel quite uncon-
scious that we ourselves have committed the
folly they only have meditated, and are actually
engaged in war for the most despicabe cause
in which gun was ever fired.
Al the close of the session Of parliament her
Majesty informed the two houses
81 am engaged, in concert with the Emperor
of Austria, the King of Prussia, the Emperor OF
Russia, and the Sultan, in measures intended to
effect the permanent paciicaton OF the Leyant,
maintain the integrity and independence Of the
Ottoman empire, and thereby to afford addition
al security for the peace Of Europe"
Parliament was prorogued in peace (wlth the
small exception Of the war we are waginS with
the third Of the human race in China,) and
when it meets again, ii will have to pay the bill
of war which has been got up in the recess,
pastime to enliven the vacation, shooting sea-
son in Syria, battue in the Levant.
But names are things, and what we are about
is styled "a pacifcaton.n We lombard towns,
we batter down castles, we storm iortresses, we
arm sem-savages, and all this for peace! What
in the name Of wonder can peace think OF such
care of herr
The Turkish empire is in a syncope or swoon,
as it were, and her kind nurses, by way OF burnt
feathers under her nose, ply her with congreve
rockets, thump her back with bomb-shels, pat
HeT nduuS Win iOIty-cigHl pOuuu sHot. y hS anu
sword are our mild restoratives of suspended
animation
We have seen something like these friendly
acts in the picture of Saving at fire, in which
some extremely active and jealous friends OF the
proprietor are busily engaged in throwing the
looking glasses and china out of the window
So the broken pieces will in due time be restor-
ed to the Sultan, and the pieces will have some
jagged sharp points on which his authority will
rest with as much easiness as Reguus in his
spiked barrel.
Madam Roland apostophized the crimes com
mitted in the name Of Liberty, but quite as ex-
traordinary are the things done in that Of Peace.
England ravages the coast board of Syria for
the sake Of peace. France throws up stipend
GUS Notifications, and arms million of men,
and protests that she is paying a debt to peace.
What can peace think Of being paid in this coin?
Are the bullets and bayonets any of her curren-
cy? Is her bank an arsenal If these are her
dealings, what can war be like ? If peace be so
prone to arms, her opposite, war, should in
France be a sister to charity, and in England a
Quaker.
Certain it is, that our method of preserving
peace appears to be much the same thing ds war,
as far as Syria is concerned, and even though
the war should be concluded, as it has been
commenced, within the recess, the question is
how John Bull will be satisfied with the price Of
such an entertainment during the vacation. The
cost will be not altogether pleasant, even il the
consequences to be apprehended from the light
ing OF the flame do not extend, as there is too
much reason to apprehend"