The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-12-13
The Revolutionary Crisis in Eng
land.

In hate number of BJdckuood's s
Magazine, there is o remarkable arti-
Gle, showing the helpless condition to
which England has been brought by
various causes. The masses are re-
duced to pauperisrn, the finances of
the country are IN so critical posi-
ton that it hampers its foreign policy,
and its navy is pronounced worthless.
The picture is as gloomy rs it can be,
but it cannot be pronounced over
strained. It is but q re-echo Of what
we have so long been saying, by way
of warning to the statesmen, both
Wing and Tory, who have been seek
ing to cultivate trouble with this
country.
The fact can no longer be dis
guised, that the British empire IS on
the eve of one Of those great changes
which occur periodically in the lives
of nations. Since the time of the
Commonwealth, it has enjoyed a term
of Fictitious prosperity, which, while
it has enriched the ruling classes, has
beggared the great mass of the peo-
pie. 1t is now at q point where this
artificial system refuses to work
longer. It is, in fact, in an analogous
condition to that in which France
found itself Immediately prior to the
Louis XI, down to 1889, that country
had occupied o position of seeming
prosperity and greatness, while, in
reality, all was poverty and wretched-
ness within. Too much church and
too much feudalism were the direct
causes of its miseries, and it required
q bloody ordeal to enable it to free
itself from them. 1t is precisely the
same influences which have brought
England to her present wretched con
dition. A selfish and unprincipled
aristocracy and greedy church have
so eaten up her resources that nothing
is left to sustain even the machinery
of Government. When it is con
fessed that nation mustrenounce it's
foreign policy because Of its inability
to go to war, all is said It has either
to submit to dismemberment, or to
pass through the fires Of revolution,
in order to regenerate itself.
It is in this situation that the Bri-
tish empire now finds itself Tho
movement commenced by John
Bright is but the first throe of its po-
litical agony. When MIR. Bright set
out In his present career Of agitation,
we are persuaded that he had no clear
conception of wherc it was leading
him. He is the. Mirabeau. Of the new
revolution-vehement, self-willed and
passionate, and acting from his I'M
pulses rather than from his judg-
ment. Like the French demasogue,
he finds himself on the brink of II
precipice, the depths Of which he has
not ventured to measure, but down
which he will assuredly be carried
by the avalanche that he has assisted
to unloose. Let his position be not
mistaken. He is the creature, and
not the originator Of the new revclu-
tionary movement. Had he not
happened to be in the van, some
other head would have been found to
plan, and some other hand to point
the way.
There can be no stronger evidence
of the correctness Of these views than
the pressing manner in which the
leading English journals are again
beginning to urge the settlement of
the Alabama claims. II the articles
from the London Post and Times,
which have just reached US, do not
exhibit degree of alarm that is in
consistent with anything but sense
OF extreme danger, we do not read
them rightly The urgency Of com
ing at once to On amicable settlement
with this country is apparent in every
line; and this arises not from feel
ing Of justice or consciousness of
wrong-doing, but from the fear of
still further complicating the dangers
which threaten the empire with dis
solution. Whatever may be the mo-
tive, SO far as we ere concerned, we
shall be glad to have these claims
disposed of. If England has to pass
through the ordeal of such % convul-
sion as we anticipate. it will HA better
for its Government to insure our for
bearancc than our resentment.
Ne,c York: Herald.
FROM THE CANADAs. special de-
spatch to the New York World, dated