The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-03-26

IA Danesss Of Cheat Britain.

&C.,
WEDNESDAY,, MARCH a6. 1851.
1hs Dangsss q Cheat Britain
Great Britain Il more completely divided in
opinion, territory, classes, interest. and races.
than any other country. Between England and
sIpaAand thass " bitter dvsrsity Of race, which
b eoineidsnt with difference OF religion. Of pol
itlcs, and Of condition. In England itself there
II - 10 usual everywhere, = division Of parties,
between radical and conservative; but there
y i more deeply sx~peratsd than elsewhere, by
the wide contrast in condition between rich and
poor. There ID great difference Of interest and
opinion between the commercial and manufae-
turing classes on one hand, and the agricultural
on the other. s
These difficulties have long existed, but Of
late years they have been aggravated, and ssem
TO approach catastrophe. The Catholics have
Increased both In England and Ireland until
they threaten the sscendancy Of the present
Protestant Ecclesiastical system. The radicals
have gained ground until. after carrying the re-
form bill some twenty years ago, they have at
length outnumbered Wing party in the House
OF Commons, on vote for the further extension
Of the franchise, and the commercial and manu-
featuring interest have overthrown the restrict
i've syatem Of duties. and ith them, the power
Of the agricultural class.
The conservative or tory party, is so CON-
pletely overthrown, that recently, on the defeat
Of the Wing ministry, it was found impossible
to organize a conservative one, strong enough
to command majority in the House of Com
mons with all the vast patronage Of govern
ment. This is an event, we believe, that never
happened before. The tory party that governed
the empire 80 long; that conducted the country
through the tremendous contest with Napoleon;
that gave Pitt, Castlereagh, Wellington, Can
ming, and Peel to the ministry, may now be con-
sidered at an end for all the purposes of gov
ernment The failure of Lord Stanley to form
a ministry, and the advice given by the Duke of
Wellington to the Queen to recall the Wing
ministry, may be regarded as the consolidation
of Wings and Tories into one party, for the
purpose Of resisting the progress Of radicalism.
1t Ia revolution.
But whilst the relative power Of the forces
which have heretofore commended for mastery in
The British empire has changed 30 much of late,
and threaten such fundamental and organic
changes in the structure of that vast monarchy,
its external relations have assumed still more
portentous revolution.
The colonies Of Great Britain have become
more populous and powerful, and are therefore
not 50 easily held in subsection Besides, her
American possessions are in the neighborhood
of the United States, which have become formi-
dable and whether the American colonies fra
ternize with the United States, or the mother
country antagonizes, the danger of losing those
colonies is equally augmented In India, Great
Britain has extended her conquests to the vicinity
of warlike nations, and twice already in the last
ten years has her whole East India possessions
been in danger-frst from the Affghans, and
next from the Sikhs.
But the most imminent external danger Of
Great Britain lies In her immediate neighbor-
hood-in France, her ancient rival and hereditary
enemy. France has become republic, and
hence sympathizes with and strengthens the yet
militant element of rsdicasm in the British
empire at home. France, too has increased in
population and in military strength Great
Britain has also increased in population at home
at the rate for several decades of fourteen per
cent But her people have become relatively
far more commercial and manufacturing than
formerly. The military force has been reduced,
and more widely dispersed over the world. ] hat
of France has augmented The Algerine con-
Quest has kept about hundred thousand French
troops in constant discipline. And the internal
discussions of France, and her revolutions, have
contributed to render her more formidable to her
neighbors The fierce democracy and socialism
of France have rendered it equally necessary to
the power of LOUIS PHILIPPE and LOUIS Ma
PoLEoN to keep on foot a standing army of
four or FIVE hundred thousand men. And the
dangers of foreign Intervention with the revolu-
tons Of 1880 and l845, rendered it expedient to
give military discipline to the whole male adult
population of France, besides some three or four
millions of national guards.
The laws of descent in France, which pro.
hibt the parent when dying from alternating the
bulk of the landed property from his offspring,
and divides it equally among them, has largely
contributed to the multiplication and preserva-
ton Of rural, but poor people.
Hence, whilst the circumstances and policy
Of France have combined to produce dense,
poor, rural, and military population, those Of
England have been equally powerful in aggre-
eating large masses of wealth, in its unequal
distribution, and in producing dense, but an
unwarlike people. And it has at length re-
suited that the wealthiest kingdom in the world
lies in the immediate vicinity Of the most war.
like republic.
They are separated by narrow channel Of