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Leader (1850-1860), 1st September 1855, Edition 2 of 2, Page 11, THE LAST OF YOUNG IRELAND. Suppose that ...

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      Disraeli And Bolestgbroke. A Prospective...

      that negotiation that ended m the peace of Utrecht . It was at best a dangerous and inauspicious concession demanding every compensation that could be devised , and which the circumstances of the war entitled us to require . France was still our formidable enemy ; the ambition of Louis was still to be dreaded : his intrigues to be suspected . That an English Minister should have thrown himself into the arms of this enemy at the first overture of negotiation- that he should have renounced advantages on which he might have insisted ; that he should have restored Lille and almost attempted to secure the

      sacrifice of Tournay ; that throughout the whole correspondence , and in all personal interviews with De Torcy , he should have shown the triumphant Queen of Great Britain more eager for peace than her vanquished adversary ; that the two courts should have been virtually conspiring against those allies without whom we had bound ourselves to enter no treaty ; that we should have withdrawn our troops in the midst of a campaign , and even seized upon the towns of our confederates , while we left them exposed to be overcome by a superior force ; that we should thus have deceived those confederates by the

      most direct falsehood by denying our clandestine treaty , and then dictated to them its acceptanceare facts so disgraceful to Bolingbroke , and , in somewhat a less degree , to Oxford , that they can hardly be palliated by establishing the expediency of the treaty itself . " Is this conduct that should furnish an example to any man , much more to an English statesman ? But we forget . If Mr . Disrae £ 1 be a statesman—he is not an Englishman ; for although birth niay naturalise , in the eye of the law , it cannot naturalise in the eye of

      fact ; and thus Mr . Disraeli remains an Arab , we were going to say of the race of IsnarAEii , although he has exchanged the burnous for the frock-coat , the - turban for the round hat , and the ! Law and the Prophets for the " Craftsman" and the "Patriot King . " Indeed , Mr . Disraeli is not wholly unlike BoiiiNGBROKE—a copy after , and a very long way after , the original . Lord Bolingbboke was not only a clever man , but a man of genius ; not only a rhetorician , but an orator . He did not deal in mysteries ; he never said anything analogous to that famous

      betise— "the age of ruins is past ; " he was brilliantly practical , even in his intrigues and his treacheries . BoiiiNGBBOKE had a vaster , sharper , brighter intellect than his Oriental imitator . His reputation as an orator did not rest on unrivalled proficiency in personal sarcasm ; his fame as a man of letters reposed on something more substantial than half a dozen second-rate romances ; his position as a politician rested on real , although perverted , ability ; and , strangely enough , he was the first to see that reciprocity of trade was more beneficial than restriction . But

      he was an unsound , because an unconscientious politician , and , in spite of his incontestable genius , he presents an example to be industx-iously shunned . If he shine brightly in the past , it is with the halo of corruption ; a beacon of warning , not a watchfire of welcome . But like assimilates with like , and the imitative must have their model . Mr . Disraeli—wo may have to remember it more acutely some day—selects for his exemplar the man who did sell his country ' s honour and disgrace his country ' s flag ; and who triod hard to hand over our hard-won liberties to the tender mercies of the perjured House of Stuart .

      * September 1,1855.] The Leadeb, 839

      * September 1 , 1855 . ] THE LEADEB , 839

      Vict1ux Victoria Victa. At The Tomb. The...

      VICT 1 UX VICTORIA VICTA . AT THE TOMB . The Chapel of the Invalides is open ; it is day time , but the dim religious light of a Iioman fano sheds solemnity on the atmosphere ; the organ is rolling forth a solemn strain , as a lady is walking up the aislo to pay tho tributo of an inaudible prayer at the tomb of a deported horo . It is Queen Victoria at tho tomb of Napoleon . Some time since , in the pride of triumph , that soldier , who boliovcd military politics to embrace tho whole scionco of life , gave

      away his step-daughter , Hortense , against her will , to one of his brothers . The brother is gone ; the poor lady survives only in the chivalrous melodies which mark her genius , and the " national" ditty of the Bonapartists . Some years after that unhappy marriage , the inflexible Napoleon , hunted down , threw himself on the generosity of the Prince-Regent George . As well might he have thought to throw himself on the island of Atlantis . The " Footman" regnant immortalised his meanness by caging his conquered adversary . IiOUis Philippe , the King of the retail-shopmen , imagined it a stroke of policy to conciliate the Bonapartists by reimporting the bones that Sir Hudson Lowe had left entombed at St . Helena . The mortuary merchandise arrived ; but no sooner were the bones in France than they were rejoined by the spirit , and thus revived that influence which , when the adulterated King of Commerce was shaken from his throne , re-established the Empire once more upon the ruins of the Republic . A chapel is the tomb of Napoleon , now authentically recognised as " the First , '' and the great successor of George the Fourth , the guest of Napoleon ' s successor , " fidei defensor" in Protestant England , comes walking up to the Papal shrine while the organ peals forth the British anthem " God save the Queen . " "Was it the Genius of the Poetical Justice who awoke the voice of that instrument , or was it the Spirit of Satire , diabolically playing on the sacred keys a lugubrious dance of death with more morals in it than that of Holbein ? in the ball-room . The day closes , the gay and smiling band , small in number , for whom all around leave ample space , have spent the sunny morning in the forest of St . Germain , before the quiet but luxurious dinner at St . -Cloud ; and now they swim into the atmosphere of light which fills the great pleasure-palace of Versailles , the air vibrating under the music of master-hands with gaiety and passion . The lovely Empress must not dance , although so beautiful and graceful : the hopes of a dynasty impress their august veto upon that young Spanish lady of disputed parentage , and she can but smile upon the scene which others enjoy . The dance begins in stately fashion : Emperor and Queen lead it , Prince and Princess take their places , courtiers follow in due degree , and etiquette reigns at the inauguration of the ball . But with dancing the blood warms , with the brilliancy the head grows fervid , with the ease , the frankness , and the facility that wait upon every wish , vigilance is lulled asleep , guardedness forgets itself , and pleasure rules . Children , however exalted in rank , however cultivated , are free from tho restraints that visit older years , and they at least may set the example of enjoying in a freer fashion . The PitiNOE oi Wales and his sister waltz , for tho Emperor has asked to see them . Stop a moment : loho is it that has asked ? Do you not remember , some years back , loitering in Leicester-square , wandering sometimes to Kensington Gore , not unknown to scientific societies , a grave man , down-looking , whose countenance > vas as much the subject of controversy as his genealogy ; whose eseocheon was said to bo Dutch , and mind dull , although his name was Napoleonic and his aspirations imperial ? It was deemed to bo presumption in him to " mix " with tho select society at tho scientific meetings ; he was admitted on easier terms into tho circle of social refugees at Gore House ; ho was thought to bo only in his eloment on tho pavement of Leiceetor-Hquaro . It somctimos happened , no doubt , that ho was standing on the pavement amongst tho

      spectators kept back by the police , as Queen Victoria passed . Now if that silent man had then said , " I will invite that woman to be my guest ; I will give an entertainment such as she has never had before ; and , verily , I will put my arm round her waist , " the hearer would have laughed at his nose . Yet that has been done . Yes , children with their irresponsible unrestraint often set an example into which their seniors are hurried ; and after "Wales and the Princess Botal had whirled round in the waltz , then" did Imperial France , olim " Louis Nap oleon , " put his

      audacious arm round the waist of Royal England . Queen Victoria lent herself to the seductive impulse , and her beaming countenance showed without disguise that verily she was pleased to be where she was—whirled in circles resting on the arn # bf the Chevalier . And what did Prince Albert do ? Smile , of course , a half-paternal approbation at seeing the mother so like the daughter . "W hat did the Empress do ? Smile , of course , approbation to see her husband holding Royal England in his grasp . What did anybody do , but fall in with the spirit of the hour , and Louis Napoleon was master of the situation .

      It is not many years since that we heard a distinguished representative of practical science in this country declare that never more would war disturb the peace of Europe . That same eminent person , justly deserving of his country ' s praise , has assisted in organising an army against Russia . Yea , the same prophet of quiescence shall be found , countenancing the project of Dundonald for exterminating the enemy by unknown agencies . Not long since , we heard a man quite as eminent , though not in practical science ,

      declare that the part of the individual m public life had ceased—that civilisation had so completely established its order and routine , that the influence of any statesman individually would never more show itself in the world . Men yet more elevated have been heard to declare , in places not more private than the House of Commons , that " the system" would run its course , whatever individuals might choose to do or think . Routine and civilisation * should have assisted at the ball of Versailles—should

      have seen Windsor Castle invited to learn the art of giving feasts from Leicestersquare , and have witnessed how graciously , how frankly , how enjoyingly Queen Victoria entered into the spirit of the

      hour—Jamais en France , jamais L'Anglaia no re " gnera . "Mais l'Anglaise ? " She reigns , and she is in France ; she reigns , "but does not govern ;" and there are those who kneel to rise . Were all in that gay scene equally without thought ? Was every spirit carried away by the charm of the hour , or was there not a spirit which never forgets itself , whether watching the slow and reverent steps of the lady up to the aisle of the chapel consecrated by Rome , or her womanly form resting on his strong arm , whirling her ia the thought-escaping walj ^ z ? " God save the Queen !"

      The Last Of Young Ireland. Suppose That ...

      THE LAST OF YOUNG IRELAND . Suppose that Austria woro remodelled in constitutional federalism—suppose a Parliament at Vienna — suppose an Hungarian M . P . who edited a national journal o . t * . c *\* throwing up his seat and announcing thai-in continence of Vienna «« a » te « lwationJhoying utterly degraded his country , 11 to a P ^ mco ho had resolved to abandon tho cau « ° [ nationality nnd emigrate to ^ ° »^ HJJ not tho event be regarded us ol some Bignfaoanco in relation to ll ^ garian , Austuan and European affairs ? No doubt : tho tact

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 1, 1855, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01091855/page/11/