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    April 14, 1855.] THE.LEADEB, 349

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    EXCLUSION OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES. The mid...

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    The Imperial Visit. N"O Clear-Sighted Po...

    power may say as did the Uncle on the eve of his fall— " Tout m ' est soumis , et tout me manque *' It is not our fault if journalists cannot recommend a courteous welcome to the public guest without proposing a tribute to tyranny itself . Retracting none of their animadversions on the coup d ' etat , they confess that it has produced a " new sort of despotism "—a sort just as old as that of Domitian . " What novelty is there in the existing

    government of France ? Is its swaggering violence new ? or its false pretences ? or its proscription lists ? or its censorship ? or its senate of mutes ? or its Corps of Valets—or its delation and espionage ? No;—but its public works — suggestive of Cabacalla , symbolical of that worst age of Eoman decay , in which the emperors found a city of bricks

    and left it of marble ; the age in which arms , laws , and civic virtues sank to servitude . After such an era was Rome debased and affronted by the insolence of every criminal who could debauch a praetorian guard . No one expects the English populace to understand these things , or the English aristocracy to care for them . The former will see in the Fbench Empebob a man whose

    army is fighting by the side of our own ; the latter will forget , in their worship of power , how St . Arnatjd clutched a marshal ' s baton as he died , like an Eastern Rajah , with thousands df victims to make his funeral glorious . But why do respectable journalists exaggerate the necessities of Lours Napoleon ' s visit , and mystify their readers by

    talking of his claims to praise for seeking an English alliance- ? The Ebench Empeboband little blame to him for it—first sought the alliance of Russia , and being repulsed by Nicholas , fell back upon England as a resource , exactly as he took a charming and estimable lady to wife after sueing in vain at half a dozen German Courts . " We owe our

    ally , therefore , to the pride of the Emperor Nicholas , precisely as the French Empbess owes her crown to the pride of certain petty sovereigns of Germany . His Impebial Majesty may encounter in England some of those men who , exiled for their virtue , retain spirit enough to prefer lifelong banishment to any mean compromise with his authority . He , the public guest , represents certain elements in France ; they —the public guests also—represent all that is upright , manly , and illustrious in . their

    country , and their principles are respected by all that is earnest , honest , and intelligent in England . " We trust that our public men will so order their reception of the Imperial visitor as not to offend those classes of the French which he does not represent . If the alliance is to be enduring , it must ultimately be placed on another basis ; it must be the union of two nations inspired by the same attachments and by tile same antipathies , with identical interests and institutions at

    least partially in common . "Wanting these elements the bond is purely artificial ; formed by accidont , and by accident liable to be broken . Louis Napoleon himself , by a turn in the politics of Europe , may find it convenient to develop more strongly the ties with which he seeks to link his throne with the kindred authority of Austria ; or the Court of St . Petersburg , despising the past , may consent to bo less fastidious in its choice of

    associates . The French Empehob must lean on some external power ; he resembles a tree without root , balanced by its branches , and sustained by props . But tho time may come when , in England , the nation will , begin to question tho value of the Thibb Napoleon's friendship , which has injured her more than the Fibbt Napoleon ' s enmity : this is at least the opinion of French society .

    April 14, 1855.] The.Leadeb, 349

    April 14 , 1855 . ] THE . LEADEB , 349

    Exclusion Of The Middle Classes. The Mid...

    EXCLUSION OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES . The middle classes ^ are struck with their own wrongs : they complain that they are excluded from the power of the State , that they are not admitted to the army ; and that they can at the best have some of the minor appointments in the Church . The complaint is not strictly true . The middle classes do appoint some of our bishops—when the sons . that class are studious or servile enough to

    work their way from stage to stage , and to mount the highest pulpit ; but then they abandon the class to which they belong , and call themselves of the aristocracy . For verily we doubt whether there is a bisbop that is a commoner by birth , who does not in his own mind regret the fact that the Lady Bishop is only " Mrs . . " The middle classes can get their sons high into office , even as high as a Peel can advance ; if your tradesmen or manufacturer can amass a sufficient sum

    of money to back his son with a university education , or a great fortune , or a landed estate , displacing some old family to plant the new . But then , again , the scion of the middle class is indignant indeed , if he be not counted of the aristocracy . He has only helped to sustain that institution with " blood , " and the abandoned middle classes profit as little as Dido did by JEneas ' s

    marriage with Layinma . And your middle class can purchase commissions in the army—after having got sufficient wealth to pay the purchase-money , and to wield the influence that backs the application for purchase . But then again the child of trade goes to live near Belgrave-square , and cuts his City connexions . It is the treachery of the sons of the middle class that leaves it without influence , although the individuals get-it . ~ —

    There must be something , then , in the conduct of the class which saps the natural affection of its children , destroys the esprit de corps , and makes those who rise from it ashamed of their origin , and not anxious that their class should rise with them . Possibly we might find the explanation of this unfilial feeling in the general supposition , that

    the spirit of the middle class , its habits of thought and feeling , are more commercial than cliivalrous , more selfishly beneficial than honourably generous . Men wTidKaverisen to rank by the scales of trade are apt to kick the ladder down when the prize is grasped . To carry with you your middle-class associations into the salons of Belgravia , is like talking about business on Sundays .

    The same class makes it a matter of complaint and indignation , that its aristocracy is not sufficiently valued . Its contractors , its shipowners , its stupendous engineers , are not taken into the Government . True ; but what does the fact prove ? They tell us that if a Lindsay were to govern the Admiralty , we should not have those deplorable mistakes which have rendered largo fleets

    of shipping comparatively useless in tho Black Sea ; that if a Salt were placed over a public department , all tho subordinates would be made to know their duty , and the business would be executed ; that if a Laing were in the Cabinet , the members would keep railway time , and tho country would go as smoothly as the Brighton line . The assurance is not entirely reassuring , for it does suggest occasional collisions . ' It is true that men in the

    East of London understand business better than men in the West ; it is . probable that if we had Lindsays , Salts , and Lainqs , we should have an attendance in the public offices at business hours ; the " Dons" would not come down at three o ' clock in the afternoon ; and customers coming to give orders , or creditors coming to be paid , would not find the clerks whistling " Peter Dick , " or making arrangements to spend the day at Gravesend . For

    all the real power , we are told , lies with your Laings , Lindsays , Salts , Stephensons , and Paxtons . Why , then , in Heaven ' s name , do they not take their places ? .-If they have this power , why not exert it ? Do not let . us be told that they are strong men , but are kept out of power , and cannot help it . For the complaint is a contradiction in terms . If the Laings , Lindsays , and Go ., are

    kept out of power , it must be through their own weakness . Either they do not stand by each other , or they do not get others to stand by them . They are nearer to the working classes than " the aristocracy , " and they ought to have more support from " the million . " Why do they not besiege Downing-street with the multitude at their back , knock at the door of the office , and make themselves be let in ? There must be some

    serious error in their accovints , or they would not have the complaint to make . Why are they excluded from the army ? It is not by the system of purchase , because the middle classes possess considerable means of purchasing , if it pleases them . But we suspect their inclinations do not go in the military line . They do not care for soldiering . They prefer a comfortable home , keeping to safe employment Or useful labours ; they like production instead of destructionthat is the phrase . Now there are some of the middle class who labour under the

    religious persuasion that soldiering can be done away with ; that States will upon invitation disband their armies ; and that we may discontinue a useless profession . We are bound also to believe in the coming of the Millennium ; but present facts rather painfully convince--us that it has not yet ^ arrived . To talk about disbanding armies in the _ days of Sebastopol , with doubtful prospects on-the Danube , the ^ Vistula , the Rhine , antL the Neva , is rather an anachronism . "We must , therefore , reckon military strength as one of all

    the elements of the governing power or States that are to be independent , or to sustain a Government . While it exists it is the real arbiter over other powers . Influence mav obtain possession of the sword , but once possessed , the sword determines other questions . A hold over the sword , . therefore , is essential to complete any political power . The Crown is said officially to wield the power of the sword alone , but that which is true in theory , is not in practice . There are the men and officers of the army to be consulted : the aristocratic and wealthy

    classes officer the British army ; and if it were possible for a Charles Stuabt to arise , lie could no more order the army against oar aristocracy and our moneyocracy than he could enforce ship-money against Hampdens . The officers of the army always are tho depositaries of the largest , though not the readiest , Bhare of power in diposing of the army ; and , consequently , a great share of military power lies with the class that officer the army . The middle classes abstain from doing so . ? » ey abstain bocause they do not share military tastes or chivalrous sympathies ; and they are punished by their exclusion from the seek to enter

    army which they do not readily . Hence is it that the army is anti-national— - because tho middlo classes , having no real interest in it , do not enre to insist upon iree passage for tho poorer middlo classes through the ranks , or the direct admission of representatives of their own class into tho rank ot officers . Fnsympnthising with their own class—isolated from tho support of tho multitude—abdicating tho power of the sword— - discontented with tho untradmg parts ot Government—tho middle classes have accumulated an inert force which they have not the spirit to use ; and they have rendered

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 14, 1855, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14041855/page/13/