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QCToaEft 6, 1855.1 THE IiEADEB. 981
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THE ARISTOCRACY. It is mere childishness...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Germany—Dynastic And Na^ Tional. Thebe H...
Empbbob , three years ago , by a palace coup d'dtat , diverted the responsibility of the Ministers from the public bodies to himself . In Prussia , should the elections , presided over by the police , result in an unmanageable majority , the Kino is prepared to "abolish a constitution already mutilated by successive acts of narfidv In Hanover a coup d'etat has been carried out The Frankfort
successfully . Assembly is putting forth its strength to obliterate the last traces of political independence in Germany . The complicated framework of insignificant states subjected to its control moves steadily through the approaches to an absolutist system , between which and the existing institutions of Germany there remains only a narrow tract still held by the constancy of the people .
Associated by the only interest they have in common—the repression of the liberal genius—the German Courts are at war upon all other questions . Catholicism in the south , Protestantism in the north , Calvinism and Lutherisin in contiguous provinces , are used as agencies to delude the people into a belief that their cause is that for which the several governments contend . Saxon and Suabian , Hessian and Bavarian , Frieslander and Prussian , is appealed to in a separate language in the name of " United Germany . " The vote or fraction of a vote of every
miserable court —Sehwartzburg-Kudolstadt , Hohenzollern-llechingen , Anhall-Cothen , or Lippe-lSiickeberg , is gained by terror and intrigue , and the irresponsible but legitimate animalculie , who are the powers of these atomic states , thrust their influence- into the policy of Germany . At the settlement of Vienna , it was stipulated that in these little dynastic machines the motive force should be representative clockwork , but the time and methods of concession were left to the discreet
authorities . The Central Diet was so constructed as to depress the entire nation to a dead level , so that the Courts and aristocracies alone exercise real power in Germany . A large proportion of the aristocracy is certainly Hussianisod—and its influence , penetrating the army and the bureaucratic service , has frequently aided an anti-national policy . But the Courts , KusMan or not , pursue interests of their own — the intcre . MS of personal absolutism , totally distinct I ' rom those of the nation at large .
The nation at large have felt their wrongs , and have more than once endeavoured to gain political independence . . But , besides , the vast military police which dragoons them into submission , I ho policy of Kurope has been dead against them . " Dynastic Germany , which prevents the revolt of Europe against Ilu * siuu principles , is the creation of the Treaty of Vienna . That treaty , framed in tho capital of a military monarch , established maxims of conquest quite as immoral and quite as audacious as 'those by which the Czars have extended their dominion
in Kurope and . Asia . In . 1 S 30 , a number of constitutions wore erected in Germany ; but the cold breath of Knglish diplomacy gave no encouragement to their nut Ikju ' . s , or to Die movements which elsewhere wero aimed at the despotism of the Emperor Nicholas . Xu ISIS , when reaction reached a point beyond which IV \ v nations will sutler , tho intelligent classes throughout Germany arrayed
theinsolvcs with the popular party , and promoted a revolution singularly free from excess . Never was there a more ignominious combination of cowardice and treachery than was then exposed by the conduct of the German ( jto yenimonfc . They know that inexperienced nations , which havo tho virluo and tho patriotism to , release themselves , in npito of ftuHtrtry violonco , yield uometiinoa boioro tho pefcfidy of their mngititrutos . Thoy entered
with cordial demonstrations into the ambition of the people . The enchantment lasted until Russia , with the tacit sanction of the British Government , quenched the newly-asserted independence of Hungary , when the courts and aristocracies fell to the work of reaction , which they consummated amid an infamous effusion of blood . It was the purpose of the G-erman people , in 1848 , not only to war against their domestic oppressors , but to dissolve the Holy Alliance , and destroy the preponderating influence of Russia . If we were to select
from the public expressions of their views during the short but spirited existence of their free press , we might gather a body of reasonings and declamations against the power of the Czab , to correspond with that which has been called into existence by the present war . But what did England do ? While the Emperor Nicholas was combated by his natural enemies in Germany , he was nattered , among us , as the Great Conservative—Pacificator and Moderator . He
was then exactly what he was when his armies crossed the Pruth ; but the dynastic sympathies of our governing class gave strength to his policy , and a stimulus to his ambition . In Austria and Prussia , in the Frankfort Parliament , in Hesse-Cassel and Hanover , the people , released from the incubus of their flying or cowering rulers , proved that they had not been corrupted by Russia , by crying out for the restoration of Poland . The German liberals have a right to be indignant when they see satires and calumnies diffused with the obvious purpose of taunting their nation into a show of activity .
"What do we desire the Germans to do ? Their Governments stand upon a neutral policy , dictated to them by the clearest motives * , of personal interest . Austria and Prussia , in a dynastic sense , are too much at variance either to pursue a common course without impossible sacrifices , or to take opposite sides without incalculable danger . The other states , headed by them , aud chiefly by Prussia , have no initiative . What then , we repeat , do wo desire tho nation to do ? Its sovereigns will not act in our behalf , or
press upon Russia the stipulations of " an honourable peace . " J ) o we , then , ask of Germanv that it . shall repudiate these rulers , and spring to an attitude of revolution ? We invite them to no such efforts , and our loudest blusterers know it . This alternate process of offence and entreaty is meant only to excite their sensibilities , that they may take up a menacing position with regard to their Governments , ami thus enforce the representations of our diplomacy . Our
statesmen are quite capable uf making this use ot the German people without adopting loyally one principle for which a German ought to bleed . What earthly interest can tho Germans have in the Crimea , or in Turkey ? To them the downfal of Sobnst opol , and the temporary salvation of t ! io Ottoman Empire , are only signilioant , inasmuch as thoy eclipse one of the groat lights oi' despot ism , 'which has now a second alar —in the West . It is time , then , io do justice to nations . We ourselves appeal to magnanimous judgments . Wo recognise
officially no principles , only exigencies . 1 he Cernnm Governments , for our exigencies , refuse to imperil their interests , and tho Gorman populations do not yet see how our exigencies can servo their principles . It Germany had a free press it would , we are convinced , respond generally to these opinions . Its political utterances hitherto have been fuvournblo to a llusaiua war . "Wo havo to learn , then , that wo cannot gain tho active alliance of that vast and courageous nation , because , powerless under military despotism , it ia tho instrument of profligate dynasties .
Qctoaeft 6, 1855.1 The Iieadeb. 981
QCToaEft 6 , 1855 . 1 THE IiEADEB . 981
The Aristocracy. It Is Mere Childishness...
THE ARISTOCRACY . It is mere childishness to revile the aristocracy for taking advantage of their eminence . They are privileged , and privilege is nothing unless its claims are preferred before those of ignoble men . The revived agitation , therefore , is illogical , and can only have the effect of a spasm unless it be removed to another basis , To be a Noble means to be honoured for the sake of a title , an ancestry , a family connexion ; to be , in short , intrinsically important , whether with or without education or abilities . To this situation is attached a
facility of obtaining public rewards—not for services or for merit , because aristocracy would be at an end if only meritorious aristocrats were exalted—but for being in a position to command them . Consequently , the power of being , by birth , that which a commoner ( theoretically ) can only be by merit , is inherent in the institution of nobility . It is the one real privilege of the privileged order 3 .
But our warehouses have Corinthian pillars as well as our palaces ; we have placed a gilt edifice by the side of the Norman structure . -New riches compete with old pedigrees . Though you should never have had a father , you are still , if endowed with . lands and securities , in a condition to rival the small heads and white hands of Feudal dom . " The people" will assist you . They will have , in the most popular boroughsgenerally speaking- —none but men of influence , that is , men of properly . Out of this social coalition has been created a mass of high officials , well paid , well polished , who perform their duties badly , or indifferently .
And , when our aristocratic institutions break down , we complain . We love our Lords , but they shall be Lords to no purpose . An Earl shall not be made a Field-Marshal for being an Earl , nor a Captain be held down in his captaincy for not being the nephew of a peer ; but the three estates of the realm shall remain intact , nevertheless . To ourselves this has always seemed an irrational conclusion . Either there must be an aristocracy , or there
need not . If it exist , it must be what it is — a class of privileged families , whose innate claims are superior to all others , —a class appropriating seats in the cabinet , mitres , marshal ' s batons , governorships , the highest ; field-rank , tho largest pensions , the ' brightest decorations . Or , if it be an obsolete institution , it must be abolished in order that all grades of Englishmen may depute their best Talents to tho public service . "Would they : bo willing to do it ? From the conduct of certain eTtizon-princos we are led to doubts Inexperienced noblemen become administrators of commerce , because commercial men decline to forego the prodigality of emolument arising from private speculation .
Even poors , however , sleep at times tho sleep of J \ ii » Ya > ' Wixkle before attaining their rewards . Lord CoMiiUitMEnn and tho Earl ofStuaffoud wore last heard of about fort y years ago . Several revolutions took place in the world , emperors died , statesmen ran their full careers , and bequeathed then " p laces to a new generation—" The Duke " himself became aV .-adition—while those o-
roneted brothers - in - anna lay amid the lumber of the great war . Suddenly , while tho soldiers of ' n younger race are tig htwg and perishing in the bailies of a new conflict between empires , Stk . viioim > » nd CoMll !"; "f mkkk starf upon tho scene , niul ar f <™^ ^ for their Poninsuhr services . ^ " ^ ^ - ' ^^ ' - •^ r' ^^ ' ^ thn ^ - ^ ow--thorn to shntlouj .. lj ¦ Uc ] md bcou had been ™ fe' »^ ' /< . ' M -. " contemporaries withheld from them itt u i ^^ ;^ : V"t ^^ erlo o late to acknow-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 6, 1855, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06101855/page/13/
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