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Leader (1850-1860), 15th October 1853, Edition Town of 2, Page 998, Untitled Article

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      Iiouis ISFapoleon can appreciate the federation of States ana a black coat , the sovereignty of the people , and the white waistcoat . ' We understand all the effect produced by the ?' black crow , " but , it is to be observed , that the same effect could not be produced without the contrast . Mr . Sandford is a young man , and , probably , looks distinguS . , Theatrical authors and managers know the effect of placing the principal hero amidst a , crowd of golden nobodies , himself attired in the plainest garb ,- —it is one

      mode with a general audience , of emphatically fixing the interest upon ^ personal qualities as contradistinguished from costume and such accessories ; "but then , the most beautiful verse , the noblest sentiments , and the most striking situations , are allotted to the coat without spangles , or to the rustic garb of the tenor . Dress all the persons on the stage on an equality of plainness with the hero , and the distinction ceases . It may even be recovered by the opposite process , and then again , gold and velvet shall make the distinguished statesman .

      There is some confusion of cause and effect . A powerful country represented by an ambassador singular for his plainness , affects the beholder by force of contrast ; but a powerful country represented by a man distinguished for his genius , for the nobility of his works , and for the splendour of his costume , would not he less worthily represented . Peter Paul Reubens- ' might ¦ be as admirable a figure , with his chivalrous and magnificent aspect , as Mr . Sandford , in the coat and waistcoat of genteel comedy . " While the golden fashion lasts , the Sandfords

      will always have the advantage of a contrast . Carlyle says , that the fashion of a man's apparel is identified by the desire to typify outwardly the bent of his disposition . Venezuela , anxious to be wealthy , anxious to be noble and powerful , although it cannot find a very powerful porter for the purpose , will , notwithstanding , load its ambassador with weapons of state and golden embroidery to exemplify the aspirations of the republic . But the United States desire to show that they are independent of European court influence ; stand apart from them , defy them , are

      in no degree bound hy treaty obligations , etiquettes , or ambassadorial embroidery ; and Mr . Sandford in a coat and Avhite waistcoat , embodies that defiance in a very striking manner . Each to his taste . There is an advantage in these varieties . The Oriental ambassadors have always enjoyed the privilege of a special costume , and there is no reason why the Occidental ambassador should not have an equal privilege . It is only a pity that bo much is made of costumes , for evidently our friends in America attach as much importance to this subject as ladies talking over their dress and knick-nacks . Would that

      sometiling more really typifying the power of the republic , were devised than the costume in question . The bird of Washington does rightly typify the genius of that State whose power soars over land and water , and can defy the elements in their roughest moods ; but we cannot for the life of us understand how the genius of Americahow the meaning that could speak under the star-spangled banner , is peculiarly embodied in the shape of a gentleman with a white coat and waistcoat , such as might make his appearance in the Belle Assemhlfo . or tlio Gazette den Modes .

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      THE GOVERNING CLASSES . JSTo . TJ . LORI ) STKATFOKD JXE REDCXIFFE . * JUST now the British world is canvaHHing tho jwlvantagesand thedisadvantagesof " Hecrot diplomacy : " and just now , therefore , it may be worth while to consider tho character and career of the moat distinguished of

      Great Britain ' s very few diplomatists . . Lord Redoliflo and Sir H . Bulweraro the only two of our diplomatistM who have gained anything like European ponition : and Lord Redoliffe only , of the whoJe diplomatic ; Hervice , han Hcen or done anything of . European importance . Ho if ) a representative man of the ny « tein—the nyHleni of secret diplomacy .

      What docs " Secret Diplomacy" mean ? It means tho Government of Great Britain , in regard to all affaire not strictly domoHtic , irrespective of the wishes , ideas , or cognizance ; of Great Britons . Great BritonH would not like that definition : hut , on conaiduration , they would admit it is a correct definition , ( . rent

      Britons are brought up to believe that tiey are a selfgoverned people : and it is with the utmost difficulty they can be induced to face the facts of their political organization . They are allowed to talk of their political affairs ; and they fall into the error of supposing that , therefore , they manage their said political aflairs . To some extent they do manage their domestic politiqs : that is , of the 30 , 000 , 000 of them , 1 , 000 , 000 are allowed to have votes for Members of Parliament , which votes they dispose of to the richest or most reckless candidate ; that is , they have a press , which

      is permitted to be impertinent , and to bark without biting ; that is , they have the privilege of public meetings , and can generally get what they want out of their Parliament , after about seven or ten years of agitation . But in regard to aflairs not strictly domestic , they have nothing to do with the position in which tie governing classes choose to place England in the universe . Their national notion of such affairs is translated in the phrase , " foreign aflairs : " and the Governing Glasses see so well the advantages to be gained by cultivating insular pride and insular indifference ,- —that is ,

      ignorance , —that the statesmanship of sublime selfishness in respectTto all other nationalities is not only the statesmanship of the governing classes , hut the statesmanship of the popular tribunes , —the fact being , that Mr . Cobden has been coaxed into most of his recent follies by such subtle managers of democrats as Lord Aberdeen . For many generations in our history , our governing classes , — -the classes who owned the land , — had systems , principles , and persons to sustain or crush abroad : and , perpetually , active intervention , with money , men , or maxims , had to be

      resorted to . And , in these times , appeals to the people were necessary , taxes being necessary ; and the ignorant islanders were asked , now to conquer France , their inheritance , now to uphold Protestantism , now to crush an anarchical revolutionary propaganda . But the policy of the governing classes of England beingnow the policy of upholding crowned despotisms , — these classes being travelling classes , and liking easy admission to society in all the capitals , —their cue is to suggest the policy of non-intervention : these classes being tolerably safe in saying , " Let kings and peoples

      fight it out , " since they know the kings have the best chance ; and the ignorant islanders easily adopt the cant , and readily sustain the selfish and cowardly cry . The state of the national debt justifies , to a certain point , the terrors which find expression in that cant : and the governing classes , who caused the debt in order to establish continental despotisms , are still perfectly logi al in urging the people , sick from experience or tradition , of the last war , to be careful now to preserve peace—so far as they are concerned , peace being the condition of the continuation of those despotisms .

      Hence , despite a reformed House of Commons , and an intelligent , active , and , by interest , liberty-loving press , tho deeply-rooted system of secret diplomacy . The country is not anxious about the details of , the policy of peace , that policy having once been promised by the governing-classes ; and the press and " popular members" attempt in vain to overcome that barricade which the Foreign Office in right to rely on , —public indifference . In a great war , in this day , there could be no secret diplomacy ; the people would not then be indifferent , and the government would have to bo en

      rapport with the people . But in '' negotiations , " an the history of the hint six months illustrates , tho Hecrecy of British diplomacy in impenetrable . The Houhc of Commons—thatiH , the few who care to teaHo a Foreign Secretary—has the privilege of asking queHtionn ; but Foreign Secretaries have tho privilege of not answering them ; and though the House has the coiiKtitutional right of explanations when the negotiations are all over , a clever Minister has still the option of withholding more than lie tolln—for the nako of tho public service . A Parliamentary explanation from tho Foreign Oflice

      telln only so much truth an is convenient ; and human memory cannot rccal , a blue-book which waH not well edited by a practiBod Foreign Office clerk . Then who reads the bluo-bookti' { Who reads foreign jilFairn debates ? Tho London nownpupora " throw away vast capital in attempting to collect information ; and foreign corroHpondontH are very punctual in notifying to their journals and the British public that '' there is Htill a variety of rumonm here . " In fact , a newspaper correspondent , when sent to a foreign capital , is Hiiuhbod by tho neeret diplomatist representing ; Iuh own country , and in elaborately not known by thu

      diplomatists of the country to whose public he is verv irregularly accredited . In London , the Foreign Office ^ has its organs , whom it instructs to mislead ; and the Opposition organs try to generalise their profound ignorance and ludicrous curiosity ; and every now and then they do annoy the Foreign Office with a fact or a theory , which they have neatly translated from a Paris Berlin , or "Vienna journal . Thus '' secretdiplomacy * deludes the nation and las it all its own way and this liberty-loving , and more or less free country finds , year after year , gieat gratification in having to

      boast , "We are the only free country in Europe " Certainly , as now , the public arouses itself when it gets frightened ;—when the secret diplomacy , after six months' negotiations to keep the peace , is bothered and breaks down , it is not much wonder that there are a few public meetings , which , of course , contribute greatly to the amusement of Lord Palmerston and a lively circle of governing classes in his country breakfast-room . And Great Britons think that they are very magnanimous in crying , " Let us stand up for Turkey , " when they have positively ascertained that they cannot help themselves . That is , — -taproom

      democracy apart , —the majority of Great Britons are decidedly still in favour of letting Lord Aberdeen let Russia do what she likes . A nation of shopkeepers cannot realize national honour : a fact amusin gly illustrated this week in the columns of the shopkeepers ' journal . In one column appears an attack on Nicholas for attacking Turkey : in another , an article to show that what Nicholas is doing in Turkey , Lord Dalhousie , like all other British governor-generals , is doing in Hindostan . The shopkeepers begin to perceive that Great Britain is an empire made up of plunder and oppression of nationalities : and if Nicholas

      can get hold of Constantinople , why they wish him "luck . " Such a theory comes immensely to the aid of a Peace Society , and of the Governing Classes . These are considerations which account for the scarcity of great men in British diplomacy ; and for the moderate success and minor position of England ' s , at present , most distinguished diplomatist — Lord Stratford de Kedcliffe . The first thing for a politician to get hold of , said Fox to Canning , is—a policy . Our diplomatists , for the last thirty years , have never been quite sure that they had a policy ; and hence their enormous and successive failures , personal and national .

      All our political literature and all our political gossip testify to the consistent and consecutive success of the Russian diplomatists : and a conviction has , oflateyears , been growing up that the -Russians have some special aptitude for the political swindling termed diplomacy . Various reasons have been proffered to account for the phenomenon ; i $ e have beeji told that a Russian combines the Asiatic suppleness with the European tradition , the cunning of tlie savage with tho wit of the salons . May not the reason be , that tho Russian has a consistent policy , direct , clear , universal , to pilrsiie and to strive after . Those who have studied the Russian system , and

      have got the key to present Russia ^ politics , contend that the Russian diplomatists are , practically , the most straightforward of men . Diplomacy , when you know what you want , cannot be difficult ; and if you are not awhamed of what you want , your diplomacy is franlc , straight , decisive , an « l not secret . In lato discuiasionH , Cromwell has boon contrasted by Great British idiots with Lord Aberdeen ; and we are informed , "Ah , Cromwell would have done bo and bo , not been long about it . " Those insular gentlomen , who arc always in politicsbecause they always take

      wrong , the wrong point of view , ariaing from an cxcuaal ) e belief that this if * a self-governed country , do no Heo that Cromwell had two great ad vantages , as HtatcHuuui , over Lord Abordoen : in the first place , «« knew what ho wanted ; and , in the next p lace , ho mMJ » not ashamed to Hay what he -wanted . Had Lord <> elit fb been in tho Russian norvioe , he would have ho < an high a position among diplomatists as Baron m now holdH ; had he been in tto United States «« rvico ,

      ... . 1 . 1 1 .., nriwl alllOI ' he would havo been , m rwipooted »« d envied an'O ' fc diplomatists an Mr . Bancroft or Mr . Everett . J ' ' ^ cauwe ho hiui been a Great British dip lomatist , ho v »» ummcceHBful , an unhappy , and a miwchievouH n « Ru « sia ha « « , policy , tho United Stottw havo a jioi J , and either policy can bo proclaimed and purmioa ^ out Hubterfugo . But Great Uritain ha « no P olicy ^ what in tho wuno thing , nho > iw ono policy at one . » and another at another ; and at all timoa th <> »

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      998 THE LEADER . [ Saturday , ¦ ¦ j i ' r .- i ' ' . ' i ' . " -i—¦ ' ' ¦ — — ' ' ¦ - ' ' ¦¦ " - ¦¦ — ~< m ^^^ immmmA . Jt ¦¦¦ ¦ - ^ '' ' i "' - ' " ]\ | -- - - - f ' ¦' - .. ¦' . '" . ' : . ¦

      Untitled Article

      * His lordnltip cmtorH in thiH H < iries of pa ]) cru , in hi » Iphaboticttiuepeol , aa fcjir Stratford Canning .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 15, 1853, page 998, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2008/page/14/