The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-12-29
Republican Progress I'm England.
From the New York Time,

ing stirred up by Sir Charles Dixie an
ambitious young man of moderate abili-
ty, and, as any one who has read his
Great Britain" cannot fail to see,
superficial, inaccurate, and given to
hasty conclusion-is something new,
whereas it is merely a somewhat feeble
repetition of avery old story. Sir Charles
Dixie is not by any means the first man
with handle to his name who has
come prominently forward against
monarchical institutions. What fam.
ing leaders" there would be in some
of our contemporaries tomorrow if such
words as follow came over the wires
" His Lordship sincerely congratulated
the House and the nation upon the
continuance of peace, which he con-
ceived was principally to be attributed
under Divine Providence to the glorious
revolution Of France. Nothing, his
Lordship observed, would more tend to
make it permanent than a steady and
well-iormed alliance with that great and
free country"
Yet such was the speech delivered in
1890, in the House of Lords, by Earl
Stanhope-within a few months after
the outbreak Of the French revolution,
at time when, perhaps, more than at
any other, the public was excited in fa-
vor of the subversion of monarchy. As
ardent sympathizer with the liberaliz-
ing movement as his friend Lord Stan
hope, was the first subject in the realm,
the Duke of Norfolk. Having renounc-
ed the faith of Rome he entered Parlia-
ment. aud, with Charles Fox, headed
the opposition against the American
war. The exalted rank. historic line
age, and immense estates of this noble
man, gave him extraordinary influence,
which he did not fail to exert in man
ner which could not be interpreted as
favorable to the views of Tom Paine,
and the violence of his harangues in an
early period of the Revolutionary War,
resulted in his name being struck out of
the lists of Lord Lieutenants of coun-
ties and Colonies of militia.
In 1891, Tom Paine's "Rights Of
Man" appeared. 1t was designed to
teach the people republicanism in the
plainest Ian yuage, and was Immediately
largely circulated, especially among
Methodists and Unitarians-one edition
of ten thousand copies being printed by
one man. 1t was forwarded to all the
market towns in the Kingdom, whence
it was disposed among the neghboring
villages, and even trusty agents were
employed to attend the market ordi-
naries in the country for the purpose of
incalculating its principles. Nor was
this the only machinery at work for re-
publican ends. There existed "Revo-
luton Society" in regular correspon-
dence with the societies in France.
We hope" says the writer of one of its
letters, to profit ourselves by your sue
cessful exertion III favor of freedom !;
and that an imitation of your splendid
actions may soon enable as to purify
our own Government" And here,
again, it must not be imagined that the
promoters of this movement were " low
people," Among the most indefatiga-
bic was the celebrated Sava,t, DR.. Priest
ly, whose exploits in Philadelphia, in
connection with Cobbett, are doubtless
well remembered by careful readers.
In his letters to Burke, in answer to
that statesmans book, Priestly predicts
the happiest consequences as sure to
flow from the French Revolution, and
contemplates that blessed period when
the Established Church for " such YER
min as the clergy deserve no mercy")
will be destroyed.
The public celebration by DR.. Priest
ly and his friends of the anniversary of
the destruction of the Bastile, produced
frightful riot at Birmingham. But
in those days, when the post was slow,
newspapers few, and electricity idle,
such events passed Off without much at
tention.
Throughout the country ran the revo-
lutionary spirit. In the manufacturing
districts, especially, when the European
war broke out, and prices became fright
fully high, misery made many converts
to a system which offered change to
those whose condition could not
change for the worse. The readers Of
those admirable fctions, Shirley"
and John Halifax" will have gained
glimpse into the state OF the manufac-
turing classes early III the century; and
the bitterness, discomfort, and tenden-
cy TO violence which then animated
them, have been repeatedly contrasted
with the placid, accomplishing endur.
ance manifested by their grand children
III the Lancashire cotton famine half a
century later.
No years in British history were so
favorable as the first few of this century
for radical change of government. The
example of France, powerful leaders,
the army and navy necessarily concen.
trated on foreign foe-all the adjuncts
were there and yet it came not-and
why? Two circumstances then tended
greatly to retard it, which at this mo-
ment retard, and will, we believe, long
continue to do so-an innate suspicion
OF and dislike to change on the part of
the bulk of the people, and the good
feeling which in agricultural England
exists among the various classes of the
community. As to the first, there is
little more to be said than that the con-
sentative instinct is deep and abiding
trait in the Saxon race. AS to the sec.
ond, it is in great measure the result
OF system entirely the reverse of that
pursued in France, with the exception
OF La Vendee. The English landed
gentry have always lived among their
own people. Both the Tudor and Stuart
| sovereiyns insisted on IL James | in