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3^408, January 16,1858,] THE LEADER. 631
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HANOVER JEWELS AND COBURG TITLES. The Co...
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FRENCH HISTORIANS. The translation of an...
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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.
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M. Graneer De Cassa&Na.O. Some Twenty Ye...
for * men of the pen' which you are so eager to preach ? . When true literary men are considered as public enemies , they retire into silence and leave their places to be occupied by unscrupulous scribblers and half- ^ educated adventurers . What a picture of Le Sfecle Imperial is drawn in his simplicity by this Imperialist ! The ordinary run of stage literature is fit only for the admiration of drunken bachelors . Even the Scene Frangaise is invaded by " gipsy dom , vice , and slang , and by shameless adultery . " Elsewhere we have " pictures of the
private life of prostitutes . Romances are iabrxcated from " the same mud , " & c . In other columns we find details which we need not repeat , and which all tend to show M . Granjer ' s determination to represent French literature as fallen so low that civilization and public morality are in danger . It must not be supposed , however , that this writer is completely conscious of the value of his affirmations . After all lie has said he cannot refrain
from declaring that " literature contains no parties , that it contains only men of talent , of wit , of taste , and good education ; " and will take , no doubt , some early opportunity of showing that this drunken and debauched mob whom be paints as * furnishing Prance with its intellectual food , is at the head of the thinking world , and the admiration of all intellects . His violence is partly the natural violence of the pamphleteer and the libeller . Of course the truth that most high intelligences in France have retired from the scene and made way for greedy and corrupt mediocrities is too apparent to fail to strike even him . But lie is not aware that he has
assisted to produce tliis result ; and if ifc be true that his imperial master has encouraged him to undertake the regeneration of literature by means of this weekly sheet , with its alarming proportion of white paper , it will be a curious fact in Napoleonic history . The undertaking , however , is already a failure . The cry of ' Silence a I ' orgie' drew all eyes at first ; but so would the cry of ' Silence' from any gay gentleman to a drowsy cathedral congregation . There is nothing orgiastic about French literature at present . It is simply flat and timid—the necessary product of the regime it is under . M . Granier ' s Reveil will awaken nobody , and has already ceased to be the subject of conversation in Paris .
3^408, January 16,1858,] The Leader. 631
3 ^ 408 , January 16 , 1858 , ] THE LEADER . 631
Hanover Jewels And Coburg Titles. The Co...
HANOVER JEWELS AND COBURG TITLES . The Court newsmen are strutting about like heralds or drum-majors , for they are once more in season . Everybody has been thrown into a flutter by the anticipation of right royal doings . Sir Robert Carden has employed two notable dusteaters to dig for precedents that may qualify him to enunoiate , in historical fashion , the congratulations of London . The bell-ringers all over England are making ready for a metallic din which may bring down a fall of snow . St . James ' Palaoe has been disturbed , washed , painted , deoorated , carpeted , and prepared for a crush of painted lilies and
gilded gold ; at the theatres tragedy and comedy wall oelebrate a ' sweet event , and during a fortnight , at least , people will be talking of the royal bride , Honiton lace veils , the Prussian prinee , weddingcake—that should bo of consolidated Hybla honey with ruby plums—and the delicate trousseau , the still more delicate bridesmaids , and that pretty toilette-service of cowl and silver with wlnoh so many simple folks have been disappointed . Your P » iNi < aE « s Rqval , these rural loyalists say , should dip her fingers in a moonliko bowl of gold with diamond edges . Thoy know not that royalty has a taste for comfort , Juxd that the Queen docs sometimes walk from one room into another without a
crown on her head , a globe in one hand and a sceptre in tho other . Nevertheless , the public instinct is right . Theso superior beings , who dwell in palaces , arc wondorfully susceptible on tho aubjcot of jewels , litorally and metaphorically . They love jewels on the nock and jewels on the name . — carcanetsand titles . It is not in Hanover only that they watch with glowing eyoa for the return of tho diamonds from London . 5 wistful glunoos will follow the sparklinl ^ treXslSrer ^~ We ^ ocp ^ our ^ .
effaliacourse , and they burn and glitter in a dirty room at the Tower not less ignobly than the sixteen crowns of the Kremlin , and we have our Mountain of Light , tho tribute of India , popularly supposed to be worn , like a Cyclops' oyo , in the middle of tho Quebn ' s forehead j but some doarly-boloved goma aro going—rosc-diiinionds of many facets , often worn at state-balls , and wow to bo parted for over from Uw > head , neck , aud units of Viotoiua . Perhaps , too , the young lady of sweet seventeen who is to
be married on Monday week may have sighed over some of her favourites , included in the odious Hanover bequest . We are forced to make restitution , but it is satisfactory to know that we can do it as spitefully as we please . When an ambassador came to Kxtblai Khan , demanding for his master a certain emerald , the King , having no Lord WensijEYDALE to consult , cut off the envoy ' s head , put < a pebble in the mouth , and sent that back as an answer . Perhaps IsABEiiiA of Spain , if asked for her emeralds , which are the finest in Europe—a beautiful contrast to the purity of her complexion—might object in terms equally despotic and decisive ; bat we
are in the power of Equity , and what thuee judges declare we should do must be done . If there were not another emerald in Peru , or diamond in Brazil ; ii no red ruby were ever to come again from Ooloonda , or rose ruby from Balaohan ; if the sapphires of the Orient—with the six-rayed stars in thek burning hearts—were -exhausted , still the verdict has been given for Hanover , and that majestic court has not been disappointed by the result of its squabble over the jewels of great George II . Town and country gossips have been supplied with a topic ; rash journalists have valued the condemned jewels at a million sterling ; and no one is
dissatisfied , except , perhaps , jf it might be reverentially hinted , the lady who will have to purchase ' a new set . ' And that suggests a question . Semi-ofiicial prints have already promised , on the part of the public , to atone for the grasp of Hanover , by making up the loss . Does that mean a grant of 100 , 000 / . P The economists must look to it . We can easily imagine Sir Cornewall Lewis , with Roman dignity , asking for a vote to purchase for Her Most Gracious Majesty an apartment of octahedral crystals , or to commission some Shylock . to travel in search of Peruvian emeralds and amethysts from Ceylon ; but even with the glitter of state balls and
banquets dazzling their memories , we can scarcely believe our legislators to be so courtly as to spend a hundred thousand pounds sterling in jewels for the Queen , . when one of the old crowns at the Tower might be picked to pieces , without shaking the Constitution to its base , or torturing the historical sympathies of the public . Prinee Albert , moreover , has his little question . He is now Prince Consort . Oblige him b y saying ' King Consort . ' He has given us his all—himselfand can no more ; and why begrudge him a mere title , if only to spite Ids cousins on the Continent ? Field-Marslial his Royal Highness the Prince Consort ,
however , Chancellor of one University , Ranger of certain parks , Colonel of certain regiments , Governor and Constable of Windsor Castle , recipient of sundry allowances , emoluments , and circuitous incomings , may be said to occupy not an unpleasant position . He stands with his hand on the back of the throne , and surely that is near enough . 'King-Consort' is a compound title with a Spanish colour , and we doubt whether the English nation understand it . They would think of the spect . ro which ' the likeness of a kingly crown had on . ' They would imagine they saw ermine and purple over the scarlet uniform . In fact , they would dislike it . Jealousy is , of course , a vicious
passion , but when millions of Englishmen arc likely to be jealous , in a public , and not in . a personal sense , it is simply judicious to avoid irritating exhibitions . We are not assuming that the scheme has been really hatched , but just now we are Court newsmen ourselves , and are bound to have reason to bolievo' that * Her Majesty / a few days ago , took Lord Palmerston aside and asked him what the people would think of a King-Consort P To which the Premier may , or may not , have replied j indeed , it is possiblo that tho question was never asked . But we have no doubt of this , that if we have to choose between briying tho diamonds and sanctioning the title , by all moans let the strong-boxes of Bondsi root be sent down to the palace , and the bill presented to tho faithful Commons .
We do not believe that the rumour has been set afloat without justification . The scheme has not now been heard of for the first time . It is credited by ™ those-who-oan-di 8 oriminato-b © t i w eea—faot-and gossip . But it is impossible to put faith in the report that tho ohango in Prince Albert ' s titlo will bo nlmoat immediately announced . Tho Queen nnd her advisers have not hitherto been accustomed to take stops so rash , arrogant , and provocative of popular suspicion . Surely , the nation pays adequate homage to the royal family . There is to be a marriage in St . James ' s Chapel within a few days , and what congregations will afterwards assemblo to worship tho purple velvet and the place where the
Prince and Princess stood ! We « re not dweHers in Oriental fairyland , and do Hot build our queen palaces of chalcedony with onyx , roofs , cornelian pillars , and lamps of clustered opal $ we cannot seat JEL It . H . on the throne of Ai » raschid , and put a tower of gold on his head , but we pay our royal family proper respect , and we ask in return onlydecent consideration .
French Historians. The Translation Of An...
FRENCH HISTORIANS . The translation of an article recently published in the Ediatbuvgk Review on M . Henri Martin ' s History of France , is aeeompasried iu the last , number of the Revue Britannique by a letter from the historian , who complains , with some reason , that his opinions have been misprepresented or misunderstood in several particulars . The Reviewer , after a rapid but able view of the labours of MM . Thierrt and Guizot , and observations more or less oorrect on MM . SiSMONDi , Michei / ET , and Thuies , addresses himself to his more immediate subject . " If , " he savs at once . " an historian earns immortality by
flattering the prejudices of the nation and of -earn fraction of the nation whose annals he relates , M . Henri Martin has already attained his end . " There would be more truth in this observation if it had been general , not particular . Nearly all French literary men find it necessary , or , at any rate , think it necessary , to be the flatterers of their readers , and an amusing list might be made out of the various forms of adulation . constantl y employed . M . Henri Martin shares this fault in common with most of his contemporaries , but is , perhaps , guilty in a less degree than many . Whilst looking upon his own countrv as the centre of the universe , and identifythe of
ing as a matter of eourse progress France with the progress of humanity , he does not absolutely ignore all foreign civilizations ; and it is worthy of remark that no French writer , with the exception of M . Michelet , has more energetically condemned the reckless and impotent attempts made by Charxes VIII . and his immediate successors upon Italy . He had a right to expect , therefore , not to be singled out especially for blame as forgetting everything but the interests of French ambition . M . Henri Martin , whose work as an entirety more than deserves its reputation , clearly shows , in his answer to the Edinburgh Reviewer , what a careful
reader of his history should have perceived , that the praise he attributes to the early French kings is not that of endeavouring to extend their dominions indefinitel y in every direction , but of bringing together in one body politic a number of scattered membersnaturally united , but soattered accidentally . He takes for granted that , as it were from all time , a certain number of people inhabiting a certain extent of territory had received a call to conglomerate into what was to become the French monarchy . The truth of this supposition may be disputed—indeed , it seems an evident hallucination;—but a writer who looks at history from that point of view as very far from deserving the charge of being an
indiscriminate advocate for conquest . He looks upon the French nation as homogeneous , and would , we think , like to see Europe divided intonations according as it is divided into raoes—which would make a strange revolution in our maps , and would leave France m a position rather too pre-eminent . He would , no doubt , give Italy to the Italians , Hungary to the Hungarians , Poland to the Poles—a scheme which Liberals in England , who can go no deeper tb . au that rabbits should be rabbits , and harea ^ hares , will cheerfully accept , without remembering that the necessary consequence is Ireland to the Irish , Scotland to tho Scotch , Wales to the Welsh , and India — to the Hindoos , as the French say , without explaining what thoy understand by India , and where we are to find the two hundred million of Hindoos
who are now , thoy imagine , fighting for their liberty . Naturally , M . Henri Martin would refuse to discuss whether the ancient inhabitants of the Isle of France ate tho same in origin as the Flemish , the Alsaoians , the Provenoals , and the people of Bearn . At any rate , he would find it diffioulUo-poitttu ^ tany ^ would give France a natural frontier withdut irregular extension hi some directions and as irregular retreat in others . Are some of the Swiss less French than tho Gascons ? and are not the Savoyards more French than tho Flemings P Wo are afraid this talk about unity of race is swnply in the mouths of our Gallic neighbours a means ot attacking and dissolving some of the powerful politics which rise in thoir neighbourhood , and which base their unity on something very different from sxnu-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 16, 1858, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16011858/page/15/
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