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    September 3, 1853.] THE LEADER, 855 ' ¦¦...

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    ¦ The Governing Classes'. No. L—Jliul Im...

    father nor of the mother , there has to "be superadded the accident of that special shaped head which permits a philosophical temperament . ' Perhaps the Jew is your only preper cosmopolitan ; and . we have seen in the career of Mr . Disraeli in Great Britain ample evidence of the advantage it is to an ambitious man to be without a country ; he becomes the true citizen of the world—his genius expands with the consciousness of an illimitable public for an audience ; and he sees all

    "qu estions" rightly , because national questions are questions of humanity , and he sees them in their entirety . But there is a near approach to the cosmopolitan frequently encountered ; in those cases where the native of one country becomes formally and naturally adopted as a subject in another . Such is the position occupied by that admirable Prince who is consort to Queen Victoria ; and to that happy position is attributable his remarkable success as an English

    politician . English statesmen , for the last hundred and fifty years , have been too naucb distinguished by the characteristics of islanders . When English kings owned the larger portion of France , English statesmanship had o-randeur and comprehensiveness ; and the tone of the talk of Normans had a magnificent universality about it . When the Tudors followed , and Henry the Eighth had to manoeuvre for the benefit of Europe between Francis and Charles , it was noticeable that Wolsey and Cromwell had no narrow national prejudices , and that

    the Cardinal , who was a conscientious man , loving God and pitying man , and who believed that the world could he blessed were he Pope , would have thought it not only not wrong , but his duty , to sacrifice England if Charles would give him the triple tiara . When Elizaheth held England , and when the battle in Europe was between freedom of thought and slavery of thoughtbetween Protestantism and Popery—her statesmen were less Englishmen than philosophers , and a Cecil or Essex thought it as much a matter of course to spend two or three millions of English money in destroying Philip in the Low Countries , as Sir William Molesworth thinks

    it advisable to spend half a million on a new metropolitan bridge , or as "Lord Dudley Stuart would think it proper to send British troops to Hungary against Kussia mid Austria . Just before , in Mary's time , excellent Englishmen desired to gee England a Spanish province , believing that a universnl enlightened despotism would be best , however much their countrymen preferred parochinlity to mankind . When the Charleses had relatives in the Palatinate , whom it was only decent to Hustnin , England enjoyed the rule of statesmen

    who took broad views of the usefulness of England in . Knropo ; and the second Charles certainly did not concoal his opinion that ifc was his personal interest to hack the policy of the Grand Monarquo with the map o ( Em-ope : Charles having got a good deal out of in-Milarit . y of mind by ] , is travels . When William of Ornnj » o got i , l , o English throne he proved a great man ; !» i < l Mr . Mncuulay , who himself has tho advantage of "i double country , admires William inordinately , bc-< 'au . so William nought England for tho sako of the I «» v Countries . When a Pretender was added to the political characters of Great Britain , British statesmen ,

    < Ji * both . sides , Loyalists , and Whigs , and Hanoverians , were compelled to sustain themselves by cultivating iM'i-Hoiml and dynastic friemWiip . s in Europe : and this "Mmsifcjr raided tho intellects , and enlarged the ken , of <>>• ' politicians , as was visible in tho philosophic ten-;'"»« M'h , remarked by Pope , of Bolingbroko , and tho "" KlliM-cmco of the great Murlborough , as remarked by woryliody , il () ( , whether the bribes sent to him were 111 I'Vench erown . s or English guineas . But with Wall >> lo begun narrow-minded , insular ntutesniaiiHliip \ n < uva ( , Uril uin . The two lir « fc Grov-es tried to connuui

    'U ' li | , IHi 11 WM'iMi ^ imr iniwliiii / kir * w . < 4 . ' . ' 1 .. . l . i -. ;" ' ¦ increasing tendency not to look beyond Bl " % kiiHihI , . KKfrliH ] , iuWnntH ; and occasionally they K " t « million or two spout , and , i thousand or two K "K o » hohalfof Hanoverian intereKlM . But K ,, K-«»« l wuh deepening into ri nation of huckster *; and _ "' polo wan huhI ainetl by them for keeping the pcaeo m Km- » i « ., lul , l brihin- nil tho Kontlomeu o f l . Jn-lami " | I ' ai huinciii . ) to bo lnuTow-ininded and Hellish . "rtlisuu , hiu real huccohhoi" in power , wan inteiifoly itn

    Englishman , and confessed his prejudices with the most amusing candour of a belief that he was a great man because he said he didn't care for either French , or Prussian , or Austrian , or Spanish policy , —all he -wanted to advance was English interests ; and undoubtedly this ' one-sided policy did" increase the territory , and added to the practical force * of England as a belligerent against everybody . His son was a greater man ; comprehended great causes ; and nobly spent about five hundred millions sterling ( which is now

    represented by a national debt worthy of a great empire ) in suppressing that Corsican dynasty , which has been ( in the shape of a double illegitimacy ) lately revived in Paris . But Pitt was the last of these far-seeing English statesmen ; and n very insular series succeeded him . Peel was the impersonation of the English , spirit — the commercial spirit , which sneers at and doesn't understand the grand jpolitique- —that spirit so exuberant in the distinguished statesman , Mr . Cobden ; and indeed the greatest statesman in England in these days is a

    statesman who understands finance , Peel being Premier rather than Wellington for that reason , and Mr . Gladstone being preferred to Mr . Disraeli for no other reason . The compliment is sometimes paid to Lord Palmerston that he is above insularity of statesmanship , and is disposed to believe that the Russian system is a good system for Europe and the East ; but attentive study of that eminent personage does not warrant the belief that he is otherwise than humorously British , evidencing this in his famous remark , that be would

    sacrifice everything in Europe to the promotion of the comfort of a civis JBritanicus ; in fact when he went down to his bureau in the evening , his first solicitude was iiow he can advance tlie interests of Jones , and his second , only how he might throw in an occasional fillip to the destinies of humanity . And if an English statesman who has passed his life in the Foreign Office cannot attain to a cosmopolitanism of view , what can we hope of that ill informed ( on European affairs ) set of gentlemen who succeed one another as Ministers in this enlightened

    country , and whose completest acquaintance with the affairs of other countries is obtained by reading the clumsily written , but carefully incorrect , correspondence of broken down men about town , who are sent to various capitals of Europe by morning papers ? Our statesmen are the Sir James Grahams and the Sir Charles Woods , and that class of minds ; and their capacity to take the European view in politics was illustrated by their hustings speeches at Carlisle and Halifax , where , though privy councillors of a monarch in alliance with Louis Napoleon , they talked like

    taproom British liberals about the blessings of constitiv tional liberty , and the villany of his Majesty the Empcror of tho French in not instituting a Houso of Com . inoiis into which any patriot could buy his way . Our narrow political system is furthermore deprived of the adviintages which might be obtained by bringing in our clover diplomatists , who know tho affairs mid have adopted the views of other nations , and who occasionally let friendly royal allies pay their debts , to expand tho statesmanship of the vehement British clerks who nro right honourable rulers , and whose acquaintance with the continent is confined to u reminiscence that thn

    plutcs are never hot in Paris . In our system it Is necessary that a Minister should bo nn actor , and hnvo a capacity to twaddle to ordeiv— " part y governmen t " requiring oratory , nnd oratory requiring training- ; and the result is , that our Henry Bulwers , and NorinuuliyH ; and KodcliilcH , who , by long residence abroad , Ioho healthily a vast ; amount of insular notion , * are excluded from our homo bureaux and Ministerial benches . Even if they did \ y . t oflico , l , hoy would have to affect the Piihncrstoiiian . style , and bo overwhelmingly

    parochial and patriotic ; or if they didn't , they would ho treated as Lord' Malmcsbufy was treated — hooted from tho Orkneys to tho Idle of Wight , because ho wished to be friendly to Louis Napoleon ; or hooted us Lord Aberdeen has boon hooted , on tho buro huhpic-ion that ho m enough of a sage to look beyond Bennondsey wliwn bo takes up a map . If llicao views of tho prevalent , perhaps beenuse inevitable , tendencies of British fit atesiuaiiHhip are correct , it will' readily bo admitted that our imperial polity

    could not bxit benefit from the accession of Prince Albert to a share in the British Throne . It is true that Queen Victoria has no British blood in her veins ; but the Duke of Kent was a man who was without a policy in politics ; the Duchess of Kent did' not belong to a family with a cause , and was of a character which inclined her to domestic virtues : and her Majesty had the misfortune to be educated by a man who held power without a plan , who had no domestic or commercial policy , and assuredly knew as littl e of foreign

    policy as Lord Palmerston could help ; and Lord Melbourne had never the energy—which Lord John Russell subsequently displayed—to conspire a gainst Lord Palmerston . Her Majesty , besides , was educated in England , and saw little of the class who could have taught a young Queen , that as there was no policy at home to look after , the affairs of Europe might bo worth her attention . Had she married an Englishman , as her Majesty's parochial subjects would have desired , the Bermondsey foreign policy was the inevitable foreign

    policy of this country ; and even islanders , who are loyal , would not gladly have seen the English monarchy excluded from the freemasonry of kings—the " solidarity" which is the most perfect of all—that of dynasties . From such a fate—the fate of being pronounced bourgeois and vulgar , the English Throne was saved by Prince Albert ; Perhaps he has not quite succeeded in impressing our public men—and , very wisely , he appears to think impressing our public men quite as effective as appealing to our public

    —with the full conception of the blague of the Bermondsey policy : bnt it is evident that ho lias done much good , and that he has aimed at performing , more gracefully , the role of William of Orangethe role in which Leopold of Coburg ambitioned to anticipate his nephew . It is said very frequently in society , " What admirable tact is shown b y Prince Albert in not meddling in politics ! " That is tlie remark of Englishmen ; for when they think of politics , they think of the corn-laws , Income-tax , tho cab-act , and the enfranchisement of Peddlinsrton . Prince

    Albert , like William the Third , thinks that Englishmen aro fully equal to tax Bermondsey ; and lie does not take any interest in , and does not interfere in , tho arrangements which are made by a Mr . Walpole or a Sir William Molesworth , witli regard to militia franchises , and huts of Ann Ilickses . In these respects wo do not want the statesmanship of his Royal Highness , and we should have quarrelled with him had lie not let

    us govern ourselves , through the means of tho governing classes , in our own way . But wo did want the influence of si clever , widely-informed , sympathetic , friendly , but not exclusively British mind , in regard to what is called " foreign a Hairs ; " and that influence , has been exercised , no doubt with excellent effects , by tho Prince Consort . Exercised , no doubt , indirectly , but not less completely . We are suggesting no

    impertinence , and nothing unconstitutional in pointing out that fact . That her Majesty is good enough to take an interest in what tho governing classes do for us , in other parts of Europe , was proved , to our national gratification , on the occasion of the quarrel between those distinguished statesmen , Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston , when it was unreservedly mentioned -o tho House of Commons by the former persona / jo , that his Queen made it a rule to see every despatch of

    the Foreign Secretary before it could ho forwarded to its destination . And the happiness of her Miijesfy'n married life is so delightfully patent—her example-in bciiuf happy is , indeed , so repeatedly urged on her . subjects—¦ that it would be affectation to express a doubt but that His Royal Highness's counsel is often nought , and ol ' teu udopted . Let us , at least , hope and bo grateful , ( hat it is so . Let ; ntf only imagine what might ha , ve been

    the intensity of tho Ilenhomlsey policy at the tune when the Earl of Granville , ' an eminently nice and porpotually promising young man , was promoted ( via the Board of Trade ) from tho Mastership of the Buckhounds , to tho direction of tho power of ( 1 rent Britain at tho Forei gn Office . Notoriously , indeod , tho appointment of tliat amiable , but not ast < . miHhii > p , nobleman , was only « xouHod by tho governing- elates—i hough it wuh admitted that ho tmoko very good French—on tho ground that

    September 3, 1853.] The Leader, 855 ' ¦¦...

    September 3 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER , 855 ' ¦¦ — - - ~~~ ' —J ZL' ' " ' . — ¦ . _ . , "* ; . ¦ . ' . *

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 3, 1853, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03091853/page/15/