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J>16 THE E E A jgJEjL__ _______ [No. 427...
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THE CRISIS IN FRANCE. Whether the moment...
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SIGNS OF INSANITY. cc> Tis a mad world, ...
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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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The List Royal Marriage. Lisbon 1ms Been...
order ascribed to such things by " the vulgar ;" and in this case the vulgar , upon the whole , has , with the experience of some thousands of years , arrived at tolerably sound conclusions on the essentials of the subject , though-there are still differences of opinion in regard to the modus . The bridegroom did not fetch away his bride himself ; the oride did not hasten to the impatient arms , but -with something more than " a coy , reluctant , amorous delay , " reached Portugal with a good deal of circumviation , wasting the fruitless moments in English sight-seeing , aud other somewhat dilatory diversions
- . The marriage , ia fact , painfully resembles royal marriages in general , which appear to be the mere pretexts for ceremony , or contracts formed entirely for genealogical purposes . There are , indeed , [ some peculiar circumstances in the present case , arising from the peculiar character of the young King , who " is every inch a gentleman . " He has shown it , not only by the discretion of his behaviour under his tutors , ' but since lie has left them ; not ^ only by the assiduity with which he has applied himself to public business , and his treatment of all who approach him , but by the devotion with , which , wlien others fled , he / became a watchman over the stricken inhabitants of Lisbon , and attended at their bedsides when they lay
prostrate with an epidemic . He then set an example that must liave saved many from death , and probably lent an impulse to an elevation of feeling throughout the whole-of Portuguese society . Personal character can . greatly influence even these formal marriages , as we have seen ia our own Court ; -where an ardent attachment , with many of the traits falsely ascribed to " romance" alone , has been succeeded by the development of family ¦ relations-in their heartiest , most genial , and most sterling shape . But it is not often that individual character can thus assert itself . " Where it
is not exceedingly strong , it is overlaid by the power of circumstances— -becomes mechanized to the grooves of custom aud ceremony . And these Court marriages , we truly believe , do more to unhumauiae the established rulers of the civilizea world , than any other misery to which they are subjected . Such a union tends to segregate them from the society over which they have to preside ; cuts off their sympathies ; shuts out more . than one inlet of knowledge ; prevents them from understanding those whom they have to guide , or even coerce ; debars them from learning what are the greatest pains , what the greatest rewards of life ; and making the monarch ignorant , compels him to govern ill , drives him to be a bungling tyrant , and sends him
to the grave with pomp , but without honour . It is indeed true that fortune allots to the millions who are bora into this world a most unequal share of life , insomuch that , there are some amongst us who go about possessed of thoughts , exalted by knowledge , sustained by objects within their sight , which are not only shut off from the multitude around , "but are of such -nature ' . that their existence is unknown to the many , in some cases known but to the very few . A Herschcl is accustomed to see , and watch , and think of things which tc John , " who waits upon him , could not imagine if lie were told about them . But Herschcl himself is a beggar in thought , unless he has learnt of other things in life besides what the telescope or the pedagogue can teach .
The monarch , m his own experience of tliis world , ought to comprehend what should be the experiences of his fellow-creatures , as the greater should include tlie less ; but by the laws of custom which tyrannize over crowned heads and their families , the royal class is doomed to make a mockery of life in its most sacred ties , and sentenced to a cramping and unhappy ignorance .
J>16 The E E A Jgjejl__ _______ [No. 427...
J > 16 THE E E A jgJEjL __ _______ [ No . 427 , May 29 , 1858 .
The Crisis In France. Whether The Moment...
THE CRISIS IN FRANCE . Whether the moment of crisis be near or distant , the state of Prance at the present moment is such as to command the gravest attention of Europe . Ever since the termination of the late war , her trade and commerce have been in an almost stagnant condition , and her public securities subject to a depression from which the Imperial powers have failed to relieve them . During the continuance ot the war , an explanation of the bad state of affairs was sought in the abnormal condition of the country ; but on the return of pence , it was found that ull the influences which were to have acted bcneficiullv upon the fortunes of France either lay dormant or actively helped to bring about results the very reverse of those which had been anticipated . Public credit has sunk to a point which threatens disaster .
The finances of the country are set forth in such a manner as to betray the fact that the truth is , above everything , to be kept from the people . In ten years the National Debt has been increased by something like 110 , 000 , 000 / . ; and the yearly excess of expenditure over income is aoout 10 , 000 , 000 / . But , as an example of the false face put upon the public accounts when they appear hi the form of a budget , it may be observed that only half the sum nameel as deficit appears directly against the Government , the other half being debited as paid away for purposes to which
it is never applied . In fact , a sum of 6 , 000 , 000 / . is annually voted ( I ) for payment of the Sinking Fund , and is used lay the Government for any purpose for which it stands in need of money . A . commission appointed to consider the details of the Budget of the present year have set this in a very clear light , in spite of the endeavour evident in their proceedings to make the discrepancies of the Minister ' s figures as ; little offensive as possible to the Imperial Finaiicier-in-Chief . When we find , therefore , the public accounts of Prance tampered with and contorted until it is impossible to put the smallest trust in their nominal results , we
need not go much further in search of a cause for the decline of public credit , with its natural consequences , stagnation of trade and commerce . The very attempts which have been made to bring about commercial and speculative activity have been of a kind to confirm suspicion and to alarm distrust . The Imperial conferences with the promoters of great railway schemes and Bourse operations were not calculated to inspire any one with hope of souad improvement . Nor are the
measures taken at this moment to compel the Charitable Institutions of the country to sell their lauds for the purpose of investing tlie proceeds ia the Fluids , ou pretext of enabling-them-. to ; "draw larger resources , any more calculated to bring about public confidence . The proceedings are too obviously empirical—too random , to be confided iu as earnests of the Imperial wisdom and power to rectify the evils with which they are intended to dfiftl . ¦ : " ' .
But it is not only in the embarrassments of her finances that we sec at this moment subject-matter for grave and even anxious attention to the state of Prance . Again and again , since 18-IS , has Louis Napoleon stepped in to save the poor of Paris from starvation , which signifies revolution , lie has regulated tlie * price of food , subverting tl \ c ordinary operations of trade , without securing the least permanent advantage to the trader or to the workman . A temporary end was served ; the settlement of the bill ot expenses was deferred ; hut this mode of , getting over a difficulty cannot be
employed for ever ; the price of food cannot be artificially regulated in the face of a natural scarcity . This scarcity has now to toe dealt with . There is not auinial food enough in the country to supply its wants ; aad already the effects of the long-continued endeavour to bear with tlie deficiency is telling upon the bones and sinews of the people . America , England , Belgium and Spain are ready to furnish France with beef ; but the people of France are too poor to avail tliemselvcs of the remedy for tlieir want , aud they Lave to set earnestly to work to find some substitute that is within their means . Horseflesh is the remedy nearest to hand , and the higlicst scientific authorities arc brought to bear upon the
public mind to familiarize it with the idea of hijppophagy , This is ; i strong sign of the condition of the French people—of . the masses , enormously taxed , and without hope of improvement , as regards their physical welfare . Looking to the social and political condition or France the portents arc still " stronger and more directly against the possibility of an improved public confidence . Since the affair of the Hili of January the Imperial acts have been for the most part directed against the last vestiges of civil liberty left to the people ; and , in fact , the Government
has become a veritablo tyranny . "We know that , for weeks after that date , numbers of men were carried off from every department and transported without public accusation or trial . We know that , since that time , the whole press of Trance has been gagged , and every means by which the public voice couul be made to bo heard has been cut oil' from it . The Imperial will is not in the least degree relaxed , and within the last week we find even presses used for Fine-art purposes are no longer to be permitted to remain iu the hands of unlicensed persons , for fear of tho machines being perverted to uses adverse to the Government . The pressure is becoming too heavy , and already
we have many signs of impatience . Let the venal pi * css attempt as it will to deny the fact , the late Op . position elections in Paris , and more particularly the re-election of Count Migeon iu the Haut Rhin , are so many protests of the people against the pre ' sent regime . The struggle , iu the case of Count Migeon was carried on face to face with the Government ' which exerted iu vain its whole power to defeat the popular candidate . There was not even an attempt to conceal the Imperial influence which was brought to bear against this man , whose only special claim to popular support against the Imperial nominee
lay in the fact that-lie ' , had been scandalousl y persecuted at the previous election for having dared to oppose the candidate provided by the Government —for " the free-choice of 1 he electors . " The decision of the electors of the Haut Rhin is more significant than the retributive attempts of any number of foreign conspirators . But it is in the attitude of the French Army that we see most clearly the all but impossibility of a restoration of public confidence . The conspiracy of forty subalterns to murder a civilian who had had the temerity to write a very mild iest upon tie
maladroitness ot sous-ofneiers ia the carriage of . their spurs when in the neighbourhood of ladies ' dresses , ^ shows at a glance the military terrorism by which . France is at this moment governed . There is no mistake . In France , the writer of a joke against-a soldier is beyond the pale of civil law or protection : the sous-officicrs of the Imperial army are judges and executioners , beyond even Imperial power of control ; they do their bloody work , and not a hand is lifted against them by Imperial
authority . History , - ; it has been said , never repeats itself , and in a Targe sense that is true ; yet Ms-. torical parallels arc not wanting , and it will be strange if the altitude of the French army does not call up to the mind of France a picture of the throne of another Umpire surrounded by Praitoriaii guards—and of the fate of him who sat upon . it . With such thoughts in their heads the people of France are not likely to be either trustful of their Government or sanguine on the subject of Public Credit .
Signs Of Insanity. Cc> Tis A Mad World, ...
SIGNS OF INSANITY . cc > Tis a mad world , my masters . " The licverend Mr . Leach has been fried this week on a charge of insanity for actions which In themselves seem reasonable enough . He lived in a country house , far from so-called " society , " and he " was afflicted with a domineering mother : to mitigate his loneliness , and also , he admits , to retaliate on his mother , he admitted his servants to his table , and was in tlie habit of taking one of the--servant-girls , the ' prettiest we suppose , on his knee , and kissing her . Dr . Johnson did the same at the Mitre Tavern , wlu-reto
he invited sonic " pretty fools , " who came Io talk to him ; other wise men have followed his example ; and though it is certainly against biensf-iuice to sec ; a clerical gentleman toymg with servant wenches , yet the man might do it excusably enough in a fit of Stcrnc-likc sympathy , or as : i meve relief from the tedium of a lonely studio . It is strange enough , if we consider the matter deeply , to find ourselves excusing a Christian minister for associating on terms of perfect equality with his dearly beloved brethren . Is it really and truly un-Christian and unbecoming- in a minister of the Gospel to sit down at tlie same table with servants ? "Would
the cany apostles have done it—or was St . Paul on his missions always invited into the parlour , and not allowed to preach , or talk , or cat in the servants ' hall P It is said , also , that Mr . Leach used to give out a hymn between rounds of card-playing . A . very odd notion , and showing a very eccentric tone of mind ; but , possibly , Mr . Leach had some general notion that card-playing ; in itself was as innocent as eating and drinking ; that interrupting it with religious exercises was only like the daily fact of afternoon service between luncheon and dinner . As to his treating the servants on an equality , we arc reminded of the different conduct of the
Spanish grandee , who , ufdieted with few visitors in a lonely castle , was compelled occasionally <» call in a domestic to take u hand ut a mime of cards ; but insisted that the new player should rest on one knee , to establish his social inferiority . Poor proud heart ! too sociable to sit alone ; too proud to allow his fellow-man even a temporary equality . Mr . Loach committed other acts of insanity . He kept loaded pistols ( no madness in u country-house ) find lie wore ltis beard—an insanity now shared by nearly half the population . But the crowning mildness was liis intention to marry one of the
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 29, 1858, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29051858/page/12/
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