Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1855-03-04
The London Times on Aristocratic Rule
In England-Popular Movement Recon-
mended.

IA HSnSiduu-TOpuidT uoScmcHt ncC0m-
mended.
In the life Of every man there are certain
periods when, overcome by some bodily weak
ness, led aside by some strong passion, or en-
crossed by some tayorite pursuit, he seems to
lose his grasp over his destiny, to relax his
efforts after the end at which he is straining,
and to sink back into ease, Incidence, and self
complacency Much such a period has this
| country passed through since the establishment
of free trade in 1916. Immersed in the pur-
suit of material wealth, proud of the extension
| which our noble principle gave to our com
merce, and happy in the relief from paupersm
| and the increased facility Of finding employ
ment, we have been only too well content with
| things as they were, and too little disposed to
| inquire what they should be. The revolutions
of 1913, and the crimes, mseries, and absur-
dties to which they gave rise, had produced
reaction against liberal sympathies and opin-
ions, and tendency to submit without inquiry
to whatever authorities might be placed over
US. The election of 1852 was struggle for
| principle virtually condemned already, and
| practically obsolete, and the nation only sought
| to strengthen the hands of those in whose adj
hesion to free trade they felt entire confidence.
| From different circumstances it came to pass
| that at no period since the Reform bill had the
| Office, place, and patronage, as in the COM
mencement of the year 1854. They had con.
| Quoted our business for many years without any
extraordinary miscarriage or misfortune, and
! we were content to leave them the field ofpoli-
| ties as their peculiar vocation and monopoly.
| But war has always been noted as an unspar-
! ing innovator-the destroyer Of conventional
| responsibilities, and the overthrower of all
| manner Of snug and comfortable ciuues and
| coteries. The experience of the last few months
| has awakened the people Of England from their
| dreams of wealth and prosperty-from their
| traditional selfgratulations over the naval and
| military exploits of the late war, and from the
supposition that men invested with high rank
and clothed with great Office are possessed of
| faculties equal to the direction Of our affairs
| whenever there is more than an ordinary strain
on the vessel of the State. Our eyes are open
| and we behold that we are naked We ask for
talent sufficient to conduct great affairs to sue.
cessful conclusions, and instead of talent we
| are offered titles and pedigrees. We ask for
merit, and we are offered in exchange high con.
nections, or, at best, seniority. The cold shade
| of aristocracy is over us all, aud nothing can
grow beneath it except the offshoots Of the
| tree itself. Up to the middle of November
this country believed itself to have armies,
generals, statesmen, departments, all equal to
their several duties, all Of the very best the
world could afford, and now, in the middle of
February, in three short months, all is changed,
| or rather all is reversed. We have awoke from
| our dream of hope, prosperity and success, to
disaster and dismay. Our generals turned out
worse than useless, our ministers something
more than incapable, every public department
has been crushed into hopeless imbecility by
the weight of unbending routine and worthless
| formalites, and on no one occasion that we are
aware OF has the right man been selected 10
| fill the right place. Everything has been mis-
managed to degree which, if predicted, would
have been deemed incredible; yet, so far as the
public are aware, no single official has yet been
recalled, and, a weeks interregnum, govern.
| ment has been reconstructed and strengthened
| only by the omission Of three of its leading
members, and the promotion of one who is at
| least guilty as any Of those omitted.
The people of England have remained quiet
| under all these things. They have felt-as
| how should they not feel?-the mortality which
has brought mourning to every hearth. They
| have noted-as how should they not note?-the
incredible and inexplicable confusion and stu.
| pidity which have presided over every depart.
ment, giving reality to absurdites, such as the
| most extravagant Imagination could never have
| painted, and occasioning miseries such as the
gloomiest prophet could never have foreboded.
Why the people has been so long silent has
been TO most rejecting men matter of wonder
and establishment. They feel most acutely.
but they have remained hitherto passive spec.
tators OF the method in which their best hopes
and dearest interests have been squandered
and betrayed. Perhaps they have cherished
hope that at the meeting of Parliament all
things would be WELL Perhaps they have been
content to read their sentiments faithfully re-
Elected in the columns Of the press. Whatever
be the cause Of their silence, the cause exists
| no longer, and we have to look for an expires.
sion Of public opinion from one end of this
country to the other, which will convey TO our
governing classes most clear and Ineligible
warning that the patience Of the nation is ex-
haused, and that the necessity Of widening the
area from which our Executive is TO be taken
is great and paramount The enthusiastic
meeting ut the town of Derby has led the way
and the remaining towns of England will not
be slow to follow. The cry is for practical
craftsmanship, for opening free career TO
talent, for placing our resources in hands equal
to the emergency. The Derby petitioners hold
no extravagant or exaggerated language
they declare their confidence in the i1stice of
the war, they express their humiliation and
regret at the disasters which have occurred.
they pray Tor searching inquiry into their
causes, and suggest remedies adequate TO the
emergency which we have TO meet. While |
ministers are debating how TO fill up the
most important Offices with the least compe-
tent persons, and considering the claim of
rank Of family, and Of connexion--of every
thing except merit and capacity-whie the |
friends Of "rising young statesmen" Of the |
true breed are indelatgaby soliciting their adj |
yancement from office 10 Office tho noonla nc /
England, who care for none Of these things, |
are gravely taking the matter into their serious |
consideration, and coming TO conclusions but |
little favorable to the stability of the present
governing classes. We have been ready to |
allow place and patronage to the monopolzed |
by few great families. We have been con-
tent TO live in our own country, strangers
to our own institutions, but it was only on
condition that our national pride should be
respected, and our interests and position in
the great family of nations remain inviolate.