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    Untitled Article

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    ¦ ¦ -ANNEXATION../ . offensive than

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    ¦ THE STOKES OF WESTMINSTER.

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    Untitled Article

    rTmETiE are few things more , uum . .. u . X the terms honour , generosity ,.. . nobility , when applied to mere selfish party purposes ; arid in the Savoy clamour we see a ffood deal-of tliis desecration , with no few hints at the disinterestedness of -England in earlier and Letter times . We wish to cut the matter short , and shall refer to this disinterestedness presently . In the meantime , we would inquire whether there are no other virtues of a less prodigal , but of an equally binding description with , generosity , disinterestedness , &c . In private life a great many noble and generpus actions are constantly inviting us , and it may cost us a good deal in feeling , to take the imchivalric part ; yet we constantly find it not merely our inh

    terest , hut our duty , to be safe and prosaic , especially wen our generosity and chivalry will have to be paid for by others . AV . e rather doubt whether the most magniloquent of the writers and speakers aaainst annexation -would throw himself on the injured side in a melee , or even feel it his duty to take up every slight inflicted upon himself , if at the cost of even the day ' s dinner to his children and domestics . It is distinctly not our duty to protect every injured stranger , at the expense of inflicting the most unquestioned injury upon those who are dependent upon us . the present question is not , be it remembered , the mere question of the loss of an rhiproblenintical advantage , but of positive and actual damage as well .. It is not the loss of a coinm .-rcJaltreatvwhich may provide food for hundreds of thousands

    , —a matter of inore consequence than the luxury or the triumphs of the men of Manchester ; it is the danger of a war which miirht cost both food and blood to . the people of England . ; and it is no ' more the duty of ministers to risk the food of a nation , than of the master o £ a family to risk the lives and interests of those whom he has under his care , except for the very strongest reasons . It is evident that , the anti-nnnexationist protestors do not care one straw about the risk of a war , if they can get the Government into mischief ; and it is equally evident' that . neither the Government nor the mass of the English people consider the cause sufficient . . .

    " We are fully aware of the difficulties of a commerce-created and a commerce-cemented peace : the miseries of slavery in America which we are obliged to wink at , at least with the eye- of the State , because the subsistence of our population depends on slave-growii cotton ; the many petty injustices which we shall be obliged , in all probability , to witness between State mid State , rather than break up commercial systems . We may be disgusted at ' the serene selfishness and indifference of those who cherish this system , and there are many of them , for the sake of their own . pockets , and their own pockets alone ; but still we cannot help recognising the mighty law , that if ever peace prevails it is what the has called

    portance as Poland , which was deliberately sacrificed in those bygone days of England ' disinterestedness , which are by inference contrasted with ; our own , but the fact is that it is no easy matter to prove this disinterestedness . Perhaps the nearest approach to disinterestedness or an i ndifference to substantial interests , was made in the wars of the Grusades , unless we adduce one or two of the military transactions of Cromwell with foreign powers , for religious objects . With these exceptions , almost all the united action of nations for war or for peace has been mainly produced and promoted by the inducements of interests . Wars * have been made for opposing interests ; as'B Ac ox says , treaties have been generally made where the interests have been identical . " Non " enim verbis foedera confirmantiir , sed iisdem utttitqtibiu . '' Can any thing equal the selfishness of the struggles of England for the possession of France ; of the wars of William the Third and Anne ' s time , where Whigs and Tories fought for power and precedence , each making the nation ' s landed or money interests the plea ? What trouble did the Hanoverian interest cost us on the Continent ! And what was the motive ? DidBuKKE , the champion of Chivalry , ever attempt to detach from chivalry the material interests of tlie English nation ? Pitt now and then did , and on more than one occasion got thtis answered by SheiudaK : — " After all these protestations . for the rights of humanity , after all these sentiments of abhorrence for the regicide republic , ministers were the first who neglected the professed objects of war , and who consulted individual gain . While they Were calling upon all to join in a contest such as never appeared beforewhile they were maintaining that to bring the . awful and unprecedented struggle to a happy termination , they thought that they must have an indemnity for , their trouble—they fitted put an expedition , and they stole the West India Islands- This was the way in which we were to . ' " 'punish , treachery , and set an awful example of the punishment which awaits disloyalty and irreligion . " "From that moment all dignity forsook us , and the variance between our profession and our practice was by turns the subject of -laughter , of censure , and reprobation to our allies . " . , ¦ ¦ :: ¦ '¦ . . : ' Honour may be a snow-white horse , and Interest a coal black one ; , biit in the constitutional coach England has made them keep pace / together pretty well ; the white horse may do all the capering and curvetting , trusting to not being put at full speed for the sake of its rather stronger and more sober companion ; and whoever , after a calm and candid survey of English history , undertakes to deny tin ' s , must put info his arguments some of that heedless and ' solf-sacri ( icing chivalry which he wishes the nation io put into its acts .

    t ;> prevail by the binding pressure of- poet commerce , " the golden girdle of the world . " Though , like every human system , it cannot be a perfect one , our hope is that it will , by gradually . contracting the circle , at last crush ' the habit nf war ; this cannot lie done at once , and it would be infatuation to expect it . We are aware that war is , on the whole , an iiT (' H < rifl . ii 3 ' ns well us nn unprofitable thing ; this is too widely allowed to admit of dispute or require argument , and we only do ntit dwell upon the chic and probable effects of religion as u subsidiary , because it is rather our business to view the question with a political eye only .

    Wo feel sure , from what we soid . in a ' former number , tlint Wellington would have shrunk from this wnr , and we feel nearly equally sure that the predominance of the military spirit mul the pressure of army claims for glory and service ^ are a positive embarrassment to ' tho present Emperor of prance . It is the only power which he needs fear-, ho has set Iho priesthood nud their' dogmas nt nought ; he has turned nearly n full i ' neo iigainst the prejudices of trade ; he would be . ghul , and wisely , to

    make i \\ e wine-growers and tins bouvgeoisie a point de remntancc nU'iiinst the clamouvs of the soldiery . Ho cam neither do this at once-by imperious refusal , nor in a direct , wny . Now , when England has sanctioned by silence other anncxiittbns , when she lias practised them abundantly hersolf , is this n tlnje to cry havoc , let slip the dogs of wnr , and embroil everything , for party or personal motives , ns menu as those with which they charge , justly or not , Louis Nai'OLEO ' n ? Avo they to pivvenfhim from stenling u march , simply thnt they may steal one themselves ?

    There may bo nets of injustice eo monstrous , in themsQlves , und in , fchoiv consequences , as , to force us upon wnr . We do not bc ? lieve thntXord PALMEnsxoN nnd the rest of tho Ministry ore so thoroughly unpatriotic , or so utterly devoid of generosity either , ns to * oiler no resistance if tho present were a vital question" for England s future interests or present honour . It is not our fault if Savoy is not of substantial importance , or if its inhabitants nro mdilrVront , or if Victor . Emm . vnujjl ohooses to resign it without o remonstrance , It is scarcely of so much iui-

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    BfiFOllE the gorgeous pile on which Parliament has spent more than two inil | ions of mon « y is actually complete for its future assemblings , the stone of which it has been built is found to be in a . state of palpable decay ! Instead of materials having been employed of a nature peculiarly fitted to ensure the durability of the edifice , and the preservation in their ¦ beauty of its elaborate external ornaments , a species of limestone has been used , which now turns out to bo singularly ill-qualified to resist the decomposing inllumcc of nn atmosphere , impregnated with tho fumes nnd gases prevalent in the metropolis ; nnd the silent progress of deterioration is already become so incontestable , thai a sum of £ 72 $ 6 was demanded ' last session , and , of course ,

    grouted , to defray the expense of washing the exterior of the huge building with a certain chemical preparation said to have tho efl ' eet of indurating the surface of the stone . On Friday last Mr . Wish brought the subject under then notice of th * House of Commons , and asked whether any permanent advantage was to bo hoped from the use of the " architectural cosmetics" thus ordered , or whether they had , as yet , been experimentally applied . The reply of Mr . Cowpiut , the newly- " appointed Chief Commissioner of Works / was far from sntisfoctory ; and ns the ultimate consequences threaten to become rather serious , it is only right that thy history of the transaction should ho clearly understood , and that tho true cause of the mischief which is likely to cost us so dear , should bo plainly pointed out .

    It nppears from tho very lucid and striking statement of Mr , Wise , tluit when , in 1831 S , Sir Ciiaiuvks "Bakky's design for tin New Houses of Parliament was adopted , add Jiis ostiinnto mis accepted of . t 77 i , 5 < 50 , u stipulation was made Unit a royal commission ttliould bo appointed to inquire before any portion of tlio costly structure was begun , what was the most suitable stono for the purpose . The commission was ngveod to , and it consisted of Sir IIknhv Db la Hkchr , Dr . Ahnott , Sir Ciiaulkh Baiiky , and Mr . tfMrm . After spending several months travelling

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    250 The Leader and Saturday Analyst . [ Marcw 17 , JS 60 .

    ¦ ¦ -Annexation../ . Offensive Than

    onensive ' ANNEXATION ... ' ' . t "I . _ _ . £ Cs ^ - ~ . ~ , Z . fn J-l . * *^ *"

    ¦ The Stokes Of Westminster.

    THE STOKES OF WESTM 1 NSTEH .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 17, 1860, page 250, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2338/page/6/