The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-03-29

Scff0S AND uxsa RAGS, IN saEss or srs'
aA-~s~
KxslasA's ssppsssd Decay.
TIE opinion SCENE to be very prevalent
that England, having lost prestige in the
Csmean war, and having been Of late bull
lied md insnltsd BY al the greet Powers,
under the feeble government Of Palmcrston,
h, therefore, rapidly sinking from her rank
- nnt-elaae power. We do not think SO.
J wedo lot love England, but We neverthe-
iess believe her TO be moro powerful at this
moment than she has ever been since the
dAys Of the Conqueror. She is, according to
o1f judgment, only suffering one Of those
pesloaieal eeaipsss, the consequence of !
fseble Administration, to which she has
been subject at intervals for the last two
centuries and halt. and which, in times
past, have Led to precisely the same opinion
among outsiders with regard to her dcelir,
thas i now 80 generally entertained
England had never been so powerful ant
20 respected ct home and abroad As she was
daring the reign Of Elizabeth. A very few
yeAxs OF misgovenment, during the time o!
her succeeoor, sufi1ced to reverse her post
ton among the nations Of chfis'endom:--
From the most formidable, she became the
moot conteMptible power in Europe
Every King In Europe dreaded Elizabeth;
every Hing In Europe despised James
Elisabeth had contended single handed wi'h
Speln. that power upon whose domfnions
the sun neverset, and she had come OK VIC
torfous. James had suffered his own son
in-Iav to be deprived Of his dolnini ons, and
driven forth . wanderer upon the face OF
the earth, without daring to Strike d blow
in his defence, just as Victoria allows the
fsther>in,law of her son and heir to be shorn
of one-fourth of his inherih by a single
operation. England at the death of James
had no weigh: in the councils of Europe,
nor was Its influence increased by bis sue
ceeeor. Yet in quarter of century after
James had been carried to his grave and il
. single year after his successor had been
decapitAted, under the vigorous administra-
ton Of Cromwell, che became more power
ful, more feared, and more respected, thar
she had ever been at any former period OF
her history.
The long misrule of Charles H. and bis
brother again caused England to lose all in
AUence abroad. Perhaps her condition was
never so pitiable as during the Dutch mari
time wars, when the cannon of the enemy
were heard at the palace of White Hall! But
no sooner had James II. been expelled, nrG /
his place filled by William OF Orange, q man I!
Of great enterprise and consummate vigor |
and conduct, than she instantly resumed her
rank among the foremost States Of The
world. She relapsed again, about l7tl-62,
when the reins were taken from the hands @;
the elder Pitt and placed in those of Lord
Butte. The change seems to have been more
rapid than it had ever been. Iu.l 80 she pas
triumphant over France in all parts of the !
world. In America she had conquered Can.
ada, in the West Indies She had taken Ha- i
vsna, aud in the East Indies Give had pre- |
scented her with an empire as populous as |
the half OF Europe. In Ill she was buiIied |
BY Spain about the Falkland Islands and /
dared not resent il. a succession Of feeble !.
Ministers had totally destroyed her prestige |
and she seemed 10 have sunk to the coudi' /!
ton OF q second rate power. Tie WRITINGS
of. Junius, and other authors, about that
me, clearly demonstrate this fact. Then
followed the war with these Colonies, fool |
Ishly begun, feebly prosecuted, and ending !
In utter discontinue. In ISL, in his 'tNotes !
on Virginia" Mr. Jefferson was SO Impressed !;
with the rapid decay Of Great Briiau's |
strength that he even went so ftr--if We are /
not mistaken-as to predict her speedy !;
downfall. Yet twelve Years after she en |:
tered upon and prosecuted to the Bitter end /
those tremendous wars OF the French reyo |
lution, which form series OF the mos,
appalling events known to history.
1t Is not wonderful that England should |
have made poor figure in the Crimean war.
A long peace, habits Of money IL ltling, and
the'belief carefully insiilled into the minds
or her people by her writer's, that she had
proved herself superior to all the rest Of
Europe, and had but to appear in order to
insure success, had rendered her careless OF
the preparation necessary to success. She
awoke from her dream of arrogant superl"
ority to find her prsstige gone Cor the time.
Bat she redeemed herself by the prodigiors
clergy with which she crushed the Sepoy
rebellion. Aud now, under the feeble com
ellis of Russell and Palmerston, she has suhh
lower than she ever has been since Tue onss
OF Charles IT. Yet We venture 10 Ifeoie'
that she will yet show herself, as she mas 50
often done, one of the most powerful ma
.;on. If tho world. We expect to derive no
benefit from anything che may DO we
,hIuk her policy detestaele. But We enter
,.;, M dombts whatever with regard to her
power.