On this page

• Departments (2)
  • 
  • 
• Text (5)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    SOCIAIj LIBERTY IN FllANCE.

  • 

    PAltLLUIJSNTAUY. HETltO.SPJ30T.

• Transcript

  • 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.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    April 14 , I 860 . ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 353

    Untitled Article

    and received those impressions from a parent . 'who ' .-taught him to regard with affectionate reverence Lord John lliusell , to whom the book is dedicated . As for his profession , he is " an unworthy member of the Fourth Estate—a fellow of .. the reading- and writing- sort ! What a pity he did not avail himself <> f his experience , and submit his preface to some able editor , who would have cut his thirty pages of declamation down to ten of sober prose , to the profit of the now irate reader , for our " fellow of the writing- ' sort" gives signs of power , and , well reined in , might probably do useful work .

    Untitled Article

    FjiHE sight of an Arab steed drawing- a stind-cart would not be - * - more unpleasant , and incongruous than is the spectacle of Jonx Bkight's espousing the cause of despotism . That a inaii who has so nobly and unweariedly defended the interests of the so-called lower classes at home , so fearlessly exposed the iniquities of nepotism , and so generously sacrificed himself to procure the liberty of the English people , should now come forward and warmly advocate the policy of a ruler who turned a free republic into an absolute autocracy , and who is only tolerated lest he should be succeeded by a dynasty eqis&lly hostile to freedom but more incapable , is a fact as melancholy to think of as it is difficult to explain . Opposed as we ai * e to the line adopted in foreign affairs by the Conservative party , in want of something else , we cannot but deplore that an independent statesman like Mr . Bkight should go out of his way to support so illegal a measure as the annexation of Savoy to the should uttersentiments such those of

    French empire , and . as a fortnight ago , declaring , that the loyalty and allegiance of the majority : of Englishmen are ' matters . pounds-, shillings , and pence . Double their annual income they will venerate with-.. double respect any -Government which secures it . Philosophers say that states of mind result -from , states of body . Can it be that the offensive atmosphere of Manchester has begun to affect the ' -moral perceptions of the inhabitants , ¦ ¦ ¦ and is making them as cloudy and impure as itself ? Undoubtedly , it must have been a violent fit of indigestion which prompted the memorable exclamation ; , " Perish ^ Savoy !" and the same speech in ¦ . another place shows unquestionable symptoms otjiiundice . If Mr . Bright's bile had not reached ^ his organs of vision , and so deprived him of the penetrating insightwhich has hitherto distinguished his political career , he would scarcely have ventured to say that " perhaps the French prefer their social liberty which ice have not , to the political liberty which , we enjoy . " As somebody in l £ amlet says ,

    " This is the very coinage of his brain . " , Banishing all considerations of national pride , and looking at the matter with entire candour , we confess that this statement of the superiority of social liberty in France to that of England seems singularly rash and unjust ; and we have yet to learn in what points such superiority consists . It is not easy to invent a satisfactory definition of social liberty , but taking- Mili / s account of it , that in its perfection it gives each member of the community the right of doing anything whatsoever , provided it be not positively injurious to the iut . eres . ts' of anybody else , and making proper allowance for the yet incomplete development of society , both in our country and the other , we maintain that at the present moment social liberty is more advanced in England than in France .

    nence and rudeness of swaggering" officers ? . But I ' m Paris tin military are to a certain extent restrained , and it is left for the pro vincial towns to feel the full exuberance-of their pride : frequeiitlj the visitor may see a tri . ) of officers striding along the footpath o the streets , and forcing all who meet them , men and women alike into the gutter ; and not seldom are the townspeople preventec from enjoyment of their out-door amusements by the ill-bred jeers and insulting- remarks of their red-breeched rulers . We might readily give a score of examples' of military insolence in salons , in cafes , in theatres , and in the streets ; but we are content to appeal to the abhorrence , in Parts sc . ivcely disguised , which the majority oi civilians' feel for the soldiery , an -abhorrence arising , almost entirety ¦ jTroin the repression of social , liberty by their unscrupulous and resentful behaviour . A large . measure of social liberty is impossible where you have an overbearing officer on one side and on the othei an imperial spy ; for the employment of this odious . verminjlid not cease with the life of M . Fotjche . A sort of distrust , suspicion , timidity , prevails through the whole of French society ; , and wherever this element enters it is fatal to free and open intercourse . In short , all history proves clearly that a despotic political government is incompatible with the co-existence of social liberty . A people may possibly be politically free and socially enslaved , but the converse—a nation politically enslaved and socially free—is rarelj if ever to be found , either in cotemporiiry or past history . The details and pai-ticujars of the political and the social position arc constantly and inevitably interdependent , so that the hitter can scarcely ever free itself from the indirect or even the direct influence of the former . There is aii unfailing correspondencebetween the two , between the political and social constitutions of a people , let us pass for a moment to the much-calunmiated social liberty of this country , and even here we find a strong connection with the political liberty which' we are fortunate enough to enjoy , and one point wi suffice to show it . The chief evil in bur political institutions ^ is the undue influence of the aristocratic element , and whence arise the greatest deficiencies in our inheritance of social liberty ? From the excessive desire to follow the aristocracy and the clergy , and the excessive fear of breaking the etiquette of the one , and of thinking counter to the dog-mafic , orthodoxy of the other . There are many signs that we are going to throw off this double yoke . The popularity of authors like Cahlylts , Mill , Ruckle ,- , and EirFKSON is proof abundant that Heterodoxy is rapidly losing all her terrors , whilst the whole tendency of . political feeling is to effect a gradual but certain abolition of aristocratical pre-eminence . But more repressive upon society and its liberty than aristocracy and church is an autocracy , and of all autocracies none more fatally crushing than a military autocracy such as that of the French Emperor . But in England , some may argue , we are tod closely restrained by public opinion : in France it is not nearly so absolute or powerful . We do not attempt to deny that in England the influence of public opinion is in excess ; but we believe that its exercise , even in excess , is on the whole salutary , and much to be preferred to _ the absence of public opinion which marks the present ; state of things in France . In France , puhlic opinion has been annihilated—and replaced by what ? By one man ' s opinion , and that opinion supported by the most degrading of arguments , that of might . But in the present state of circumstances , we are unwilling to prolong these remarks ; we are anxious to do all honour to France , and we fully appreciate the valuable services which she has received from her present ruler ; only we must protest against a statement such as that of Mr . Buigut . We will just remark in closing , that there are certain French customs , which we will not particularise , which may have struck Mr . Buio . iit as indicative of high social liberty , and they are so if social liberty involves indelicacy ; but in orilicising a broud statement , it is necessary to take high ground .

    In the first place , what can be mope essential to the existence of social liberty than the power of free expression of opinion on all subjects , including politics?—for we presume that Mr . Bkigiit only use the phrase political liberty in its ordinary and genuine acceptation—rthat is , as liberty . in exercising political rights . Now open declaration of opinion is not a political but a social right , audits toleration is a distinguishing . characteristic of all , social freedom . Free discussion and unrestricted expression of views are the very alphabet , th ' o first elements of a social emancipation ; without this a society enn huyo only n spurious imitation of liberty . Now any one who is at all acquainted with the French nation at homo , who has conversed with average specimens oi' intelligent Frenchmen-, must bo aware that on most of the great questions which interest civilized t dis

    communitios , ns active and developing organizations , hey play eonsidorablo reluctance to argue openly and boldly , not from luck of views or information , but from a suspicious timidity which want of political freedom invariably begets , jNut only in tho fottered press of h ranco , hut equally in social intercourse , wo may observe this unwillingness and reserve in conversation on Hcrious matters , however open , frank , and li « "ht-hoi » rted people seem whon pleasure is the topic . Unless , therefore , Mr . Buioht allures the opinion of the gentleman who denounced conversation as the bane of society , wo must cortnmly admit that tho restraint upon its freedom in Franco is a- eei-ioud damage dono to tho liberty of French society . Tho shivery ; of tho press is another gross and flagrant infringement , not of political but social liberty , but of so patent a description that it is unnecessary to

    dwell ' upon it . , i l But it is not only Oovornniont intorforonoo and repression whioli wo instance us opposed to Mr . Bum jit ' s notion of tho sooiuj freedom of France , Thuro it 3 auothor , courtier , and « till rnoro hateful tyranny than that of tho impurial government ; w tyranny whoso brutul insolence ia not to Uu conceived in this country—wo nlliiuo to tiio soldiery of Franco . Does Mr . ljumiit forget a certain duo ) , no very long time' ug <> , which croutotl hoidu sonsutionm 1 ) rlvnoo , ancj nioro . in England , in whiah M . do 1 ' ono , n writer in ft newspaper , was run through tho body for having employed so hnnnloas a phrase us <« tho inevitable Hub- ) ioutonnnt » P" Are not tho Parisian caissons constantly annoyed , in < H \ p&s , theatres , uiul other plnoos by tho importl-

    Untitled Article

    rilHE Session of Parliament , as far as it has proceeded , De * - pronounced a busy one . The public business which has been initiated , or fully transacted , is in character both varied and important . Measures have been introduced likely to make a prominent n < Hire iii history ; motions have been brought forward connected wTth matters of the highettt public interest , and questions have been propounded and answered involving materials for future legislation or parly hostilities . Government has passed through tliO parlm * mentary ordeal with negative advantage It hus not { mined »" numerical strength in the House ; it hits not gained in moral woiglit in tho country . On the other hand , it bus lost no important Biipnortor ; it has retained about as inuoh public confidence as it ever possessed ; and it has stood its ground against all the force which t . liA Ortnosition has hitherto organized uiruinat it . OrovornmoiiC lias eoino

    boon , on- the whole , very fortunate . It hn » boon orceU ugly situtttions , and it has hud to make the humiliating adm . 8 s . on more than once of having boon deceived , and ot Imviiifif unwitting y deceived parliament and tho country . U has , however , tided ovex these di « aatora protty well , and whon tlie recess iu ^ pasaoc , and inenibors meet again within the fourwall . o f tho Now Palace it w . 11 have npuarontly but few visible poJitiwil rooks ahead . A br of enuinemtion of what has boon done mid attempted since Parliament assembled for tho donpatoh of bu , ine «« » mvy not be »»»» touctnre . First , n » to motions . A \\ m \« fc ; ' ° « oat prounnunt must bo ranked the ifilut mid Mivnootl .. bgtli of whioli , . not a « o , newha early and Huddou death ; ( he motion for ti ooinmittoo tP ooiwulor the buithons o Sh ppS and Oommoroe om-ried , and the paltry motion ooiinootod with tfi « liSvor Coiitnwt-. TUou with re . pe . tto uno » t » oiiH . IIiom vui n incewttnt dtorm of queries on all concoivablo subjogta , lore-

    Sociaij Liberty In Fllance.

    SOCIAIj LIBERTY TN FllANCE .

    Paltlluijsntauy. Hetlto.Spj30t.

    PARLIAMENTARY itETUOrSPECT .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 14, 1860, page 353, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2342/page/13/