The New York herald., 1870-04-02
Great britain In Revelation Rapid and
Sweeping Changes.

Sweeping Changes.
Our news from Europe for some tima past
has been 80 rich and varied that 1t has often
been difficult for us to do Europe justice In
! our editorial columns. France has been
exacting. So has Spain. So has Austria. SO
has Rome, through tho Ecumenical Council.
Revolution is everywhere in the Old World
north, south, east and west, the old fights with
the new, the young with the experienced,
the patient with the impatient, the law-abid-
ing with tho s'irreconcilables." Many old
things are passing away. Many things are
becoming new. In Europe the divine right
sy TEN is dead-only its shadow now lives
and the arstocratic system, or the system Of
privilege, is rapidly dying away. The new
| agents of civilization have become 30 forcible,
so irresistible, in fact, and so impertlnent, If
our readers viii, that the old fogyism of the
past no longer exists except on snfferance.
This transformation il visible everywhere in
| Europe, but nowhere Ia it more clearly
revealed than in Great Britain. The condi-
tion of the British empire to-day is study for
the philosopher. Proud, powerful, imlerious,
ambitious as ever, she everywhere feels the
force of the new ideas, feels 1t in her remote
dependencies, feels it at home in every pulsa-
| ton Of the national heart; and, to her honor
| it must be added, she yields with good grace,
! with much caution and with not little skill
to the pressing necessities of the hour. AT
| the same time the revolutionary aspect OF
| the empire is such that it demands some
! confederation on its own account, while it
serves as somewhat exhaustive COM
mentary of the times.
| If we look at her colonial policy, what
| changes have taken place within the last few
| years! Formerly it was the ambition of Great
Britain to multiply colonies as rapidly as pos
| sibIe. She could mol have them fast enough,
and she could not have too many It was her
pride TO have her forts frowning on every pro-
| montory and her guns roaring in every latitude
| aud 10 all climes. In this ambition no nation,
| since the days of Spanish supremacy, has
! been half 30 successful. And il has to be
| admitted that Great Britain, both in tho extent
| of her power and in the positive good she has
! done the world, has made the memory of Spain
| small and somewhat contemplate. Now, how
ever, 1t seems as If the extrem.tie, Of tho
empire were too bulky for the heart.
Great Britain at one time almost for
got herself In her anxiety for her colonies.
Now she begins to -e that she must look after
herself and the consequence is, the colonies all
| over, India alone excepted, are politely told
| that having sucked the mother country so long
10
doubt wise and well that it should be so. But
tho change, for all that, is noticeable aud sug-
gestive. II raises tho qnestiop-which many
differing minds answer differently-whether
Eglnnd il forever 10 remain mistress of the
seas2 1t raises another question Of not less
importance-whether grand confederation Of
all the British depend ancies with the mother
| country is either desirable or p0ssible2 The
British colonial question at tho present moment
indicates crisis In the history, not Of the
British empire only, but in the history Of the
world.
| This, however, is after oil an outside dini-
entity. At home, in the heart of the empire,
| the revolutionary forces are strong and the
| changes, which are numerous, multiply with
| amazing rapidity. Within the last few years
| how many old things have been swept away
| How many new forces acting upon public
| sentiment and giving Shape to legislation
were unknown fifty, even thirty, years ago
| Reform bills have made the workman
| power. The intelligent artisan has not abused
his power, but he has gone on imperiously
demanding his rights and the rights Of his
! fellows. Hence one reform has been but the
| stepping stone to another. Disraelis Reform
bill made an end Of the Irish Church,
forced on the settlement Of the Irish
| Land Tenure system, hurried forward
the present educational difficulty, created
! or helped 10 create the necessity for the ballot
box, which, though long dsspised as un-Eag-
lish, is likely soon to become an English instl-
tuition. Nor can we refuse to admit that to
| the same source many other changes now
| imminent are more or less directly traceable.
! At the Same time the Reform bill itself, and all
that has followed in the shape Of reform, must
be looked at as the proper fruit Of these new
agents, which are everywhere breaking down
the old barriers which were wont to separate
class from class, and which to favored few
secured a monopoly Of privilege. Public
opinion, created and nourished by the modern
newspaper and its numerous helps, has rem
dercd all these reforms in Great Britain neces-
sary.
What Is taking place In Great Bri
tain is taking place oil over Europe
The only difference is that British
statesmen, and the British people. though
somewhat slow to begin, generally take actor
in time to save themselves and to give th'
empire new lease Of life. Violent revolu.
tons do not take place in England, because
British statesmen, feeling the force of public