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    pily show their iron , handle them as gingerly as we may ; and the plainest rules of economy teach that silver is the best after all . It is with political lies as with social lies , sound policy despises them . They may gain a temporary triumph , but it is at the expense of a lasting defeat . They are sure to be found out . Yet so little do politicians understand this vulgar maxim that they lie unscrupulously , and lie recklessly , seeming to prefer what Bacon calls " the crooked wisdom . " An example occurred the other day in Louis

    Napoleon ' message , wherein the French intervention in Italy was said to be to crush " the party which compromised liberty . " A still more flagrant examp le occurs in the King of Prussia ' s speech . Alluding to the attempt made upon his life he actually calls it an opening to view of " the moral abyss over which we still find ourselves , "—and the " contempt for divine and human laws observable on this occasion ; " insidiously adding , " the

    anarcliical press bears no small share of this guilt . " Is it not startling to find a Crowned head , on the solemn occasion of an address to his country , consciously , wilfully , maligning a mass of innocent men , he knowing perfectly well all the time that the attempt was made by a maniac—proved to have been such for some time—and , moreover , that this maniac was not only uninfluenced by an anarchical press , but was an ultra-Royalist , with Royalists for associates ! Those were facts as familiar to the

    public as the attempt itself . Yet the King makes his odious statement as a reason for rigorous laws against the press ! What can be the moral effect of such a statement ? An expression of disgust darkened the faces of many members as soon as the words issued from his lips ; but what will be the sentiment of the nation when it calmly reflects on such a charge , and sees its obvious purpose ? Even

    those who could imagine that the diseased brain of the unhappy man might possibly have been excited by what he read in the newspapers—( though , as a Royalist , he was not likely to see Republican journals)—must equally condemn the odious insinuation of the speech . The Bible itself has frequently led maniacs to commit outrages ; are Christians to be answerable for those acts ?

    We have chosen a recent example and a striking one . But the prerogative of lying is usurped by all parties . Ministers , even in our moral country , have not hesitated to use it . Instances will immediately occur to the memory of all politicians . We regret to add that no party is free from the vice j even our working classes have damaged their cause by it , as in the famous case of the monster Chartist petition , which very seriously injured the Charter .

    Certain of their leaders have lied , their journals have lied ; but always with final disadvantage . They are conscious of that now , arid are freeing themselves from such unworthy tactics . They are the first class—indeed , the only class—that perceives and appreciates the sound mode of political action , and that relies on the truth and justice of their cause . Let them stick manfully to Truth , for it is great , and must prevail .

    All systems , all states , all dynasties that need a violation of the plainest rules of morality for their support—all policies that clutch at subterfugesall appeals to a nation that rest on lies , are in the face of heaven condemned , and must one day suffer the retributive scorn of men . Veracity is the first indispensable quality of individuals and of nations . The lie may look like a rock , but it is a quicksand .

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    JOSEPH HUME AND LORD JOHN . The tide is turning . Clear-headed , sensible men , even if they were at first carried away by the " No-Popery" clamour , are now openly avowing that the cry is foolish and illiberal . Several journals of repute are endeavouring to enlighten the public on this question j and Lord John Russell may yet find that he has made a false move by that " vigorous composition" which has thrown churchwardens into ecstacies .

    interference , adding , " I can understand why the clergy of the Church who have neglected their duties ( as so clearly shown by Sir Benjamin Hall in the case of Wales ) may be desirous of raising an outcry of ' The Church in danger from the Pope ' to divert public attention from the real danger from the neglect and incompetency of the clergy within the Church . " And he alludes to the statement of Mr . C . C . Greville , that the Pope is justified in all he has done by the proceedings of Sir R . Peel ' s Government , " which were not at the time objected to by any person except by Sir Robert Inglis and his limited class . "

    Where was Lord John ' s " vigorous protest" then ? And why does he put it forth just now ? Is it to delight obese churchwardens , or is it rather to strengthen his weak position by a bulwark of fools , and so keep in " power "—i . e ., the power of ob * struction—a finality clog upon the wheels of human progress ? No one doubts his object ; hear how Joseph Hume reads it : —

    " The purpose so dexterously laid hold of by Lord John Russell , of throwing ( as I stated some days ago to a friend ) a tub to the whale , to stop the course of Parliamentary and Financial Reform for a time , will , I fear , be answered , and the relief I had hoped to be afforded to the country by timely reform be postponed . The Chartists decided the purpose of Lord John at a critical period , and the Pope will now do the same ! How weak mankind are !"

    But should the public open its eyes in time , Lord John will find that not only has he insulted Ireland and the Catholics in England , but has made himself contemptible in the estimation of those very men whose support he was seeking . To divert attention from Reform by raising a Popery cry , is a sample of that policy which Bacon notices in his essay on Cunning . ** Another point is , that when you have anything to obtain of present despatch ,

    you entertain and amuse the party with whom you deal with some other discourse , that he be not too much awake to make objections . I knew a counsellor and secretary that never came to Queen Elizabeth of England with bills to sign but he would always first put her into some discourse of estate that she might the less mind the hills . " But let us hope Reformers will not be thrown off their track .

    For the part we have taken in this controversy , amidst the reproaches of even staunch supporters , every day assures us it was not merely the line indicated by our own principles of absolute freedom in opinion , but also the true policy of the Knglish nation ; and we cannot conceal the satisfaction afforded us by observing that policy has the perfect concurrence of the Patriarch of Reformers , Joseph Hume : a mari whose age , experience , and political position give gravity to his opinion . In a letter to the Hull Advertiser Joseph Hume correctly intimates the danger to all religious liberty implied in the ad dresses to the Crown for

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    CZARISM , C ^ SARISM , AND THE KING OF PRUSSIA . The topic of the past week has been the King of Prussia ' s Speech . The question every where is , " Does it mean war or peace ? " At first , in the enthusiasm caused by its declamatory tone , and by the show of patriotic passion with which it was spoken , the Prussians construed it as a defiance to Austria ; but , since they have read it in print , they begin to find it less satisfactory , and to suspect that Frederic-William will once more be treacherous to the aspirations of the nation . And , as this view gains ground , the murmur rises " If he does betray us now , it shall be the last time , for it shall cost him his throne . "

    But the speech is significant in another respect than as a prophecy of peace or war . It is as characteristic a specimen as we have seen of feeble royal egotism , of monarchy pompous on its last legs . Throughout the speech it is Frederic-William personally that appears ; he is the prominent figure in the movement ; Prussia is concentrated in him : it is a notion of his that the nation is in a tumult to carry out . " My throne , " " My Government , " " the different parts of the monarchy" " that profound confusion of all ideas in which alone an

    the tenure of a barbaric faith in their rights pervading the abject heart of the people they govern ; or , on the other hand , men like Napoleon , who have won a title to use such language by their own actual greatness , b y the energy , and fitness , and success with which they have , in times past , schemed and acted for their nation , and by the flood of new life and aspiration derived from their own special tendencies and genius , which they have infused into its counsels . In a word , they are either Czars or Caesars . What Czarism is we all

    know . It is that system of individual despotism which reposes on a religious faith or fear pervading the governed population , and demanding such an enthralment . Csesarism , as its promulgator and advocate , a French litterateur named M . Romieu , is now trying to teach Europe , is very different . It is the temporary rule of an able man attaining power anyhow in a community , and holding * it by

    the mere right of the circumstances which make his usurpation possible . All the world , says M . Romieu , tends towards a state of Csesarism ; this , and not Republicanism , or universal suffrage , is the political form that shall prevail in the future . C » - sarism is the coming thing in France , in England , and in all the civilized parts of Europe ; and even America shall soon lose her suffrages and her retative institutionsand be ruled bv

    presen , a succession of adventurers , such as swayed the Roman empire , called into existence by passing events , prompt to establish themselves , but impotent to found dynasties . God knows ; it may be so ; we shall not dispute the paradox , but will only suggest that , in any case , the avatar of Democracy may have a good while yet to run , and that by doing our best for it while it lasts , we may be making a good investment , and quietly improving the quality of our future inevitable Caesars . But , accepting

    M . Romieu ' s definition as he gives it , we repeat that the only rulers that have a right to talk in the L ' etat c * est mot style are , at the one end of the social progress , the Czars or Nicholases , and > at the other , the Caesars or Napoleons . Now , the King of Prussia is neither a Czar nor a Caesar . He is a Czar at heart , trying to look like a Caesar , but wanting the claims of either . His power is not guaranteed by any tenure in the faith or feelings of the Prussian people , —they are

    Prussians , not Muscovites ; and they sneer at him as a pedant at once blustering and obstinate . Nor has he swung himself into the royal saddle by any mighty personal efforts . He has done no feingls important thing for Prussia ; fulfilled none of her wants , led her on to no beneficent or valiant action . When he has marched forward in front of her it has heen because , had he not done so , he felt that he might experience the propulsion of her toes . What right has he to use the language of royal

    egotism ? The King of Prussia stands in a critical position . If he leads the chivalry of liberal Germany to war , he sets in motion complex developments , of which no one foresees the exact issue , but which will certainly lead Prussia in a Democratic direction . If he retracts , it will be one offence more on his already heavy indictment ; and an indignant nation will with difficulty be restrained from taking vengeance . Already the cry has been raised by the Prussian press , " Hohenzollern beware !* ' Fewpeople in this country know the intensity of hatred towards royalty which the recent faithlessness and cruelty of continental despotism have diffused through German society . A friend of ours was in

    walking with a member of a German university the neighbourhood of Berlin . They sat down near an ant-hill and watched the little creatures at work . " Look here , " said our friend , pointing to a verylarge ant who was making himself conspicuous , that fellow is surely the King . " His companion looked , took out his penknife , and , without saying a word , cut the traduced insect in pieces . All over Germany it is a common feeling that , should another revolution occur , there must be less of scrupulosity , less of pity on the Democratic side , than there was in the last . It begins to be thought that magnanimity may be a blunder , and that in such cases a touch of Robespierrism may have sound sense in it . To such sad extremities are

    even kind hearts driven ! They are wrong , grievously wrong ; yet the fact is none the less ominous . Such is the soil over which Frederic-William walks . Who shall predict his end ? A flight some day out of Prussia in a flunkey ' s dress , or a niche in history beside Charles I ., and Louie XVI . ? The issue is yet partly in his own hands j but his antecedents are against him , and such men tcldoui change .

    attempt at regicide could arise , " " intention to create for the German States a constitution equal to their necessities , " " the idea which was the foundation of my efforts , "—such are the phrases of the speech ; not mere phrases of form such as occur in our own Queen ' s speeches , but the deliberate words of a spasmodic man still clinging to the idea of the divine right of royalty , conscious of sacred blood in his veins , and holding in a modified form the old maxim of the Grand Monarque , Lt ' ctat e ' est rnoi .

    That this should be the case ; that , in Prussia , a land intellectually among the foremost , a land of professors and scholars and thinkers , the hereditary sovereign should use this language of real individual consequence and supremacy , is a subject for curious speculation . For , to what persons is it justly permitted so to talk ? What kinds of rulers are they that may talk of " my efforts , " " intentions , " and such like , without incongruity ? They are , on the one hand , men who , like the preent Einncrur of Russia , hold their despotism by

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    Not . 30 , 1850 . ] &f > * SUgdlt * 851

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 30, 1850, page 851, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1861/page/11/