The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-02-17
The Crisis In England.

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siby Earl Grey Minister Of War. But there
are changes at hand in the British Isles Of far
greater import than this: changes in COMPARE
son with which the substitution of this for that
lord, or the fall of this or that ministry are
mere child's play.
From the accession of William and Mary to
the present day, England has been ruled by
clique. One hundred and seventy years has
the great British oligarchy held supreme power,
and trodden the people under foot. Not with
out fitful bursts Of impatience, dark symptoms
Of uprising on the part of the down-trodden.
William went to his grave without hearing of
them. Anne served as shuttlecock to the aris-
tocratic battledores till she, too, died knowing
nothing of the people. The two first Georges
spent their swinish lives in unc Consciousness that
there was people at all. But the third George
began to learn. Outspoken remonstrances, and
fierce mobs, nay, stones rafting on windows and
peers carriages overset were his teachers. 1t
was necessary to compromise and few men Of
the people, much to their establishment and to
the delight Of blockheads, were raised to power;
these, of course, to lose their popular origin to
blend with the aristocracy and to betray the
cause which had raised them. Then more out
cries from the real people, and more quaking
Of lordly knees, and paling Of lordly cheeks
An impulse fierce, almost uncomfortable, is
given to the movement by the French revolution.
This time no compromise is tried; but the
gullible masses are hushed by senseless de-
claration of war with France. For twenty
years men are too busy cutting French Threats
to think of English rights. At the end of the
slaugbtering, the people have been bled SO
freely as to require repletion before they can
fight with spirit at home.
With years their siren 9Th is strong again and
the battle is renewed with the aristocracy. Ali
the prestige Of highlands military glory is on
the side Of the latter. The Duke of Wellington
belongs 'to the orders" he will die for it.
Parliament is sold body and soul to the peers:
members wipe the lords boots. But by this
time there is new power in England, the press
The Edinburg RerieW and others as bold de
mand parliamentary reform; meaning the over
throw of the nobility. Ten years they fght
then the lords, fearing worse, sulkily succumb
For ten years or SO, the people are satisfied
That cycle accomplished, up starts Dick Cob
den, and asks that the lords be no longer al
lowed to tax the people to keep up the price o
corn, and hence land, wherein lies their wealth
Then another long fight, OF polls, and meetings
and Parliament and printing press. But it ends
like the former ones: the lords walk out of their
bouse into the lobby SO that free trade shall
pass.
A pretty strong foundation here for the con-
tinuance of the war. Accordingly Mr.. Locke
King or some other nobody moves for Parlia-
mentary reform, meaning the old story; and
Lord John Russell the model trimmer resists
it for while, then whips round and fathers the
bill himself This time it is serious after
the margin left for monarchy being quite
fractional, and universal suffrage close ct nand
At that critical moment the war with Russia
1t was o war with France which saved the no
bles in l793-l0oms up and for time no one
thinks any more Of the war that is being waged
at home. The mobiles are in an ecstasy.
How grievous their disappointment The
foreign war has hardly begun, and the poor
fools have hardly settled themselves in the best
Offices Of State, when the domestic war bursts
out more desperate than ever. Men see that
the aristocracy have ruined the army, democrat
lied the State, disgraced the nation. That
they ore fighting bitterly with each other
Lord Russell tripping Lord Aberdeen, Lord
Derby quarrelling with Lord Newcastle, Lord
Palmerston refusing to act with Lord Derby,
all the lords together in confused hand
to hand scramble omnous symptoms of 1
portending ruin. And with one voice the
men of England pronounce their doom. Sheer
iDgly, bitterly the great London Times tells
us that Parliament has adjourned to keep holy
the festival of King Charles the Martyr; as
though beheading had not been too good for
The fellow, and as though every one in England
did not know it. Angrily this or that leading
man asks the people whether they will sell
themselves to the people; and even the street
ballads-that speaking literature of the masses
call for 'lords in deed, not lords in name"
There Is wonderful signifcancy in all these
facts. That the day has come when the final
battle between the men and the noblemen of
England must be fought, 1t were venturesome
to assert Tricks have saved them before:
lodges, false promises, lying pretcxts the
armory Of tricks, lodges and lies may save
them again. But the oftener these allies are
used, the feebler they must become. Every
time the lords are driven TO shirk the great
issue, it strides nearer and nearer to their
hearths, grows huger and huger in the lessen
ing distance. What IL the people, sick Of Lord
Grey as Of Lord Newcastle, sick Of the whole
family Of lords and peers, should rise suddenly
and knock them bodily on the head
Stranger things have been seen in France
Not all the virtues Of the Chorieuls or the valor
Of the RohaDs could save their noble houses
from the iron heel Of democracy or their noble