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Leader (1850-1860), 31st March 1855, Edition 2 of 2, Page 13, LOUIS NAPOLEON IN ENGLAND. The French Em...

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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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      Maboh Vs. 1858.J The Leap Eb. * ^.

      Maboh VS . 1858 . J THE LEAP EB . * ^ .

      To Correspondents. •• Delta."—The Subjec...

      TO CORRESPONDENTS . •• Delta . "—The subject of your letter is already out of date , B ^ to mistaken to supposing that stamped newspapers will not be transmissible under the new act as before-

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      Sattjtcday, Mabch 31, 1855.

      SATTJTCDAY , MABCH 31 , 1855 .

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      There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...

      There is nothing so revolutionary , because thereis nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world 13 by the verylaw of its creation in eternal progress . —Vs . Arnold

      Vienna In London. We Do Not Say That Our...

      VIENNA IN LONDON . We do not say that our Ministers are pre " pared to betray their country to Russia , but we beseech the public to note how the case now stands , and to watch the sequel . All went smoothly at Vienna until they came to the Third Point— -then they find they cannot " reconcile their instructions , " and the Plenipotentiaries refer to their respective Governments . The Western Powers

      do not insist on the dismantling of Sebastopol ; they never have done so diplomatically , and they do not now ; but they demand something — -perhaps the reduction of the Russian fleet , with other modifications . Russia is prepared to concede admission for other fleets , formation of other fortified stations , as " counterpoise" to her power . But she is not . prepared to concede what the Western Powers demand ; and hence the reference home . Will our country

      abate its demand , ? To hamstring Russia in the Crimea is the least that could be done to make her a safe neighbour for Austria , if Austria is to be independent of Russia , and the Russian boundary is not to lie on this side of Vienna and Pesth . Lord Paxmerston has talked of Poland—the true key of Russian power in Central Europe : but even if that be not now wrested from the great burglar , surely the key of the South is n ' ot'Tto"begivenback ? — .-. — .. _

      That is the question to be discussed by Palmerston , Clarendon , Colloredo , and Dbouyn de Lhuys , in London : the record of their conclusion will be jealously read hereafter . While the resolve is concealed from us at the hour , we see that our Ministers do not adopt the measures needed for a further war .

      We have not had the reconstruction necessary to make the public departments work—not even commenced ; the system of purchase in the army is still defended ; no facility , no permission even , is afforded for arming- the British people . As if our hereditary governing class were more jealous of the British people than of the Russian Czar !

      The Vienna Congress in London must bear in mind that there will be an account to render , soon or late .

      Louis Napoleon In England. The French Em...

      LOUIS NAPOLEON IN ENGLAND . The French Emperor is to visit England , and there is no difficult } ' in foreseeing the nature of his reception . The usages of the Court , and the policy of the Government , allow of nothing but cordial greetings in high quarters ; etiquette and a propensity to Emperor-worship will prescribe the adulation of drawing-rooms ; curiosity will suffice to throng . the streets . In all this there will be enough for some observers , unfamiliar with English manners and character , to mistake for a national ovation . Certain eager Radicals are thus offended ,

      and promise themselves the satisfaction of at least one demonstration against the author of the coup d ' etat . On every ground , of good feeling and good policy , we protest against any such demonstration . The majority of men , who love freedom top much not to hate its destroyer , will take no part in it . It would be vain , absurd , and injurious . In the first place , it would infallibly be *

      overwhelmed . There is always , in the composition of an English crowd , a large element of servility , ready to interpose its'officious yells in favour of power , whatever form it takes . This sentiment will be invoked the more strongly by LoAs Napoleon , on account of his terribly dramatic passage from obscure adventurism to the throne of an Emperor ! There is poetry for some minds in the idea , that this Chief of the French State was once , at Count

      d'Orsay ' s door , suspected to be a sheriff ' s officer . Moreover , he is at present the guest of the English Court ; and' this appeals to the loyal energies of the middle-class mob , who conceive , also , that by " putting down" any outcry against the imperial Majesty , they exhibit the sincerity of their attachment to France . Folly , in London , is free , and has a loud voice , nor is it an iota the less perverse because it explodes in patriotic shouts , with equal vehemence , on all occasions —whether a Russian emperor be reviewing the

      Guards in Hyde Park , or a French emperor entering to a festal welcome in Buckingham Palace . Most men , absorbed in their personal interest , regard public affairs as they regard spectacles at theatres , as excitement to amuse their leisure . Conviction has nothing to do with their political feelings ; they take the opinions with the patterns of the season , and never reproach themselves with inconsistency . Nor are they inconsistent ; they desert no principles , because they never adopt any .

      Such individuals are numerous in thiscountry , and , with their indifferent respectability , will swell the followers of every Napoleonic cavalcade in London . The mere gapers alsowho rush with ardour to see a Lord Mayor's Show , and bring their babies to be stifled in the throng at an execution—will not be absent from these coach-and-horse displays . Amid such elements , amid natural flunkeys , amid

      people of no conviction , who , like weathercocks , liever ceaseturning until they grow rusty ; amid devout readers of the Times , amid the enormous ground-swell of popular excitement , what would a demonstration against St . Arnaud ' s master be but an undignified , unnecessary , and useless spasm , sure of being repressed , satirised , and turned to account as a vain effort to interrupt the " national ovation ?"

      In two ways it might be misconstrued in France ;¦—it might be taken as a mark of irreverence to the French people , or it might be supposed to represent , with its small voice , the whole amount of indignation remaining in this country against the men of the coup d ' etat . To prove that such indignation exists is surely unnecessary . The French Chief of the State knows that he has not converted public opinion in England , since his organs are incessantly engaged in impeaching our liberty of speech ,

      and in assailing our institutions . Great Britain is , for the time , his ally , and yet the most piercing thorn in his side . This is as plain to liim as it is to us , and there is no fear that the intelligent classes in France will mistake the formal courtesies of our Court , or the ebullitions of our populace , for expressions of political sympathy . The samo classes in England , no doubt , desire to , distinguish themselves from the excitable crowd . But , if they must appear in the streets , their course will be to remain silent , — and honour be to all whoso sentiments force them so to refrain from utterance of applause

      - —though , as multitudes constitute . partytriumph , the most considerate will avoid contributing to them . In no other way can a decent respect for the public guest be reconciled with a spirited maintenance of that principle which animates all independent minds , and inspires , we dare hopei even some of pur statesmen . And here , if we might appeal to something higher than the fluctuating exigencies of policy , we wouldputit to leaders of theyounger school , who profess to bringtheir consciencesto the discussion

      of state affairs , who take office from " a sense of duty , " and quit it from " scruple , " whether they are bound to join in any flatteries of lawless empire , and whether they must offer more than a formal reception to the titular of a throne , so founded and so maintained . This is a time for political honesty , and for high-spirited honour not to be ashamed of itself ; it is an opportunity for testing the sincerity of men who profess a creed more noble than that of Sir Robert Walpous . in

      For ourselves , we do ^ confide the existence of some political virtue , and shall rejoice to see it tried and proved . There are , indeed , some men in our governing class , who must act on these principles , or repudiate the character of which they are supposed to be proud . Neither they , nor any others , can or ought to deny that , practically , Louis Napoleon , who governs France , also represents * it , in an official sense . He represents it as the member for London , if London had no electors , would

      represent that city . But in no other sense does he come in a representative character . He does not represent the intelligence of France , or its friendship towards England . Thinking people there , as here , regard him as the _ successful conspirator of December , and . they cannot overlook the circumstances which render an Anglo-French alliance , based on his

      ¦ will , a brittle bond . They remark , with painful solicitude , the development of-these international relations , sprung from necessities which , on one side , ardse with the whole country , and on the other , depend on the fortunes or caprices of a man . No one here exults over the present humiliation of the French ; still less does any man , who ever had convictions of his own ,

      believe that architectural demolitions and restorationscan atone-to . a . people for the loss of all that proved them civilised . A British alliance has long been desired by a party in Fiance ; that party was not the Bonapartists . The Bonapartists are they who inspired the faith of the peasants in a day when Waterloo should be avenged ; but the coup d ' etat showed them other necessities .

      As nations do not live by bread or by stone alone , so usurpations must not altogether depend oh armies—only alliances can knit thein to the frame of Europe . The new Emperor , therefore , repulsed in his advances to the Court of St . Petersburg , sought , as a pis aller , the Court of St . James ; and' the mob in England , well-dressed and ill-dressed , have generously endowed him with generous

      motives . f Even now , the illusion is not past . The Napoleonic alliance is still prized , though hitherto it has been fraught with disaster . A secret and sinister council , in which the diseased impatience of a desperate and remorse-smitten castaway presided , dragged a British army , unprepared , half-armed , and unwilling , into the forlorn

      Cr imean expedition . Our own generals , overruled by the least competent of their allies , yielded opinions which it was criminal not ^ to maintain at the instigation of a man who would not reck how many thousands of English soldiers rotted , froze , or died in arms before Sebastopol . It results that our prestige is all but gone ; that our decheance is pronounced in the salons of the Continent ; that we are

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 31, 1855, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_31031855/page/13/