The Evansville journal., 1844-11-14
THIRTY YEARS OF PEACE.

o. unalloyed enjoyment. Ii is not enough
for man to be placed in circumstances 10 en-
Joy unless they are also in mood TO enjoyl
themselves. HThe mind is lis own place.
remarked. the first student of psychological
phenomena, when, to his surprise be found
himself uncomfortable even in Paradise.--
This is the brazen, not the golden age; and
mems tempers are too peFverse TO admit of
peace bringing an absolute Arcadan or Idyl-
lie felicity.
Accordingly, our thirty years ofpeace have
been marked by constant grumbling and
squahblng among ourselves athome. Since
Waterloo, we have passed from one state of
internal ferment to another. There have
been Cato street conspiracy and aQueen'sl
trial ;the Glare election and the Catholic Re-
lief Bill, the Repeal sediton and the impyi-l
sonment of O'ConnelI; the great Bible So
ciety centroversey, and the Free Church
schsm; Rebeccaism. These are not 1.-THE
of the quarrels which in the course of thirty
years have split up the country into banded
sections ofinVeiera1e parisans. There have
been Trades Unions and strikes, Anii-Poor
| law agitation, Anti-Corn-law agitation Anti
Factory agitation, Anti-Slayery agitation
The court has been unpopular-as when the
windows of the prince regents carriage is
broken; popular-as dur.ag the enactment OF
a citizen king by William the Fourth, again
unpopular-as when the cry was raised" The
queen has done it all!'; Minot and local
episodes OF strife are too numerous to recount.
The national mind has been hannted by
dreams of revolution. In fact, John Bulls
thirty years ofpeace appear to hasty rotro
spect one long lasting dream ofhorrors under
visitation ofthe nightmare.
1t is ridiculous enough TO look back and
! note how ephemeral were the most lively ap-
prehensions and angers elected by these
squabbles. The exaggerated language OF
orators under their influence, for the time
sympathised with by all of us,would make
men ashamed of allowing any circumstances
to disturb theis equnimity in future, had
moi men lucky knack of forgetting the past
in the present. The continual rupture oi
old alliance and formation ofRew-the abrupt
termination ofeternal friendships and eier-
nal hatreds-iend confused and shifting
character to the scene on which we look
back, which is but family paralleled by the
crowd ofpismires in incessan. motion tumb'
ling over each other in an ant-hill. The
Whigs have been both the idols of the mol
1 and the aim of its brackbarts. The Scotcl
Dissenters and the High Churchman who
lately seeded from the establishment arc
not The only parties who have alternately
8 Iiauded and viluperaied each other will
| equal JUNCTION. Profound religious enthu
siasm strong though imperiectly infoFmet
sentiment of humanity-nay, mere maieriq
interests-have repeatedly formed coalition
of the most discordant ingredients, and et
faced in one angry moment the friendshipo
lyears.
To listen to men s inflated defamation
at any moment--or to mark their feeblenes
and imbecility of purpose would Great,
the impression that thirty years of peace hav'
4 been thirty years ofenglorious waste ofhme
The contrast however, between England il
1914 and in England in 1914, will shol
this TO be most erroneous inference
Steam navigation was curious experimeu
in 1914, aud railways with locomotive Ell
gines running fifty miles an hour were neve
dreamed Of. now; from Glasgow to near tn
Lands End the country is intersecied wit
railways, and rapid and regular communi
Il cation is maintained by means of steam be
lS tween this country and China on the on
i hand and the West Indies and America o
the other. Since 1914, mechanics inst
iutes, cheap publications, and schools, hav
,6 carried not merely elementary but scient
fc knowledge into circles otsociety TO whic
it never penetrated before. Since 1871
there has been a marked revival ofihe relig
ious spirit and extension of its inAaenc
among all classes; there is decorum in th
manners of all, more Of a wise and eve
tasteful self denial in their pleasures; th
Temperance movement is rather symptom
than a cause of improved morality. Sine
1914, the best works of More, Byron, Scot
- and Wardsworth, have been published, vii
minor efforts in imaginative prose and poetry
in printing aud sculpture wehave had WiIA
Chantry, and rivals worthy of them; stead
and honorable progress has been made
of every branch of science. The test all
D. Corporation Acts and the Catholic Disabil
De ties have been abolished; the Reform Bi
IN has increased The power and importance
the middle classes; better police has r.
I'd pressed the fercer aud more violent crime
ne The navigation laws have been consolidated
many restrictions on industry and conmerc
It's removed or alleviated. Public sympathy hi
been excited for the poorer classes, wi
ee have hitherto participated least in the gail
OF the last thirty years; and the controver:
ng among the possessors of political power
sr- not whether anything ought to be done e
in the poor, but how it is to be done.
Thirty years of peace, then, have left
-e- freer as regards our laws, more self contr
richer in the possession ofall our sources
/ enjoyment, material, intellectual, moral, al