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spective Governments . The Western Powers do not insist on the dismantling of Sebastopol ; they never have done so diplomatically , and they do not now ; but they demand something —perhaps the reduction of the Russian fleet , ¦ with other modifications . Russia is prepared to concede admission for other fleets , formation of other fortified stations , as " counterpoise" to her power . But she is not prepared to concede " what the Western Powers demand ; and
VIENNA IN LONDON . We do not say that our Ministers are pre - pared to betray their country to Russia , bu t ¦ we beseech the public to note how the case now stands , and to watch the sequel . All went smoothly at Vienna until they came to the Third Point —then they find they cannot " reconcile their instructions , " and the Plenipotentiaries refer to their
rehence the reference home . Will our country abate its demand ? To hamstring Russia in the Crimea is the least that could be "done to make her a safe neighbour for Austria , if Austria is to be independent of Russia , and the Russian boundary is not to lie on this side of Vienna and Pesth Lord Paxmerston has talked of Poland—the true key of Russian power in Central Europe : but even if that be not now wrested from the great burglar , surely the key of the South is not to be given , back ? -- . ———
That is the question to be discussed by Palmerston , Clarendon , Coixoredo , and Drouyn » e Lhuys , in London : the record of their conclusion will be jealously read hereafter . While the resolve is concealed from us at the hour , we see that our Ministers do not adopt the measures needed for a further war . We have not had the reconstruction necessary to make the public departments work—not even commenced ; the system of purchase in the army is still defended ; no facility , no permission even , is afforded for arming the British people . . As if our hereditary governing class were more jealous of the British people than of the Russian Czar ! The Vienna Congress in London must bear in mind that there will be an account to render , soon or late .
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LOUIS NAPOLEON IN ENGLAND . The French Emperor is to visit England , and there is no difficulty in foreseeing the nature of his reception . The usages of the Court , and the policy of the Government , allow of nothing but cordial greetings in high quarters ; etiquette and a propensity to Emperor-worshi p will prescribe the adulation of drawing-rooms ; curiosity -will suffice to throng the streets . In all this there will be enough for some observers unfamiliar with English manners and character , to mistake for a national ovation . Certain eager Radicals are thus offended ,
and promise themselves the satisfaction of at least one demonstration against the author of the coup d'etat . On every ground , of good feeling and good policy , we protest against any such demonstration . . The majority of men , who love freedom too much not to hate its destroyer , will take no part in it . It would be vain , absurd , and injurious . In the first place , it would infallibly be overwhelmed . There is always , in the composition of an English crowd , a large element of
servility , ready to interpose its officious yells in favour of power , whatever form it takes . This sentiment will be invoked the more strongly by Louis Napoleon , on account of his terribly dramatic passage from obscure adventurism to the throne of an Emperor ! There is poetry for some minds in the idea , that this Chief of the French State was once , at Count d'Orsay ' s door , suspected to be a sheriff ' s officer . Moreover , he is at present the guest of the English Court ; and this appeals to the loyal
energies of the middle-class mob , who conceive , also , that by " putting down" any outcry against the imperial Majesty , they exhibit the sincerity of their attachment to France . Folly , in London , is free , and has a loud voice , nor is it an iota the less perverse because it explodes in patriotic shouts , with equal vehemence , on all occasions —whether a Russian emperor be reviewing the Guards in Hyde Park , or a French emperor entering to a festal welcome in Buckingham Palace . Most men , absorbed in their personal
interest , regard public affairs as they regard spectacles at theatres , as excitement to amuse their leisure . Conviction has nothing to do with their political feelings ; they take the opinions with the patterns of the season , and nevep-reproach themselves with inconsistency . Nor are they inconsistent ; they desert no principles , because they never adopt any . Such individuals are numerous in thiscountry , arid , with their indifferent respectability , will swell the followers of every Napoleonic cavalcade in London . The mere gapers alsowho rush with ardour to see a Lord Mayor ' s
Show , and bring their babies to be stifled in the throng at an execution—will not be absent from these coach-and-horse displays . Amid such elements , amid natural flunkeys , amid people , of no conviction , who , like weathercocks , never cease turning until t ¥ ey " gro \ v rusty ; amid devout readers of the Times , amid the enormous ground-swell of popular excitement , what would a demonstration against St . Arnaud ' s master be but an undignified , unnecessary , and useless spasm , sure of being repressed , satirised , and turned to account as a vain effort to interrupt the " national ovation ?"
In two ways it might be misconstrued in France;— ' it might be taken as a mark of irreverence to the French people , or it might be supposed to represent , with its small voice , the whole amount of indignation remaining in this country against the men of the coup d ' etat . To prove that such indignation exists is surely unnecessary . The French Chief of the State knows that he has not converted public opinion in England , since his organs are incessantly engaged in impeaching our liberty of speech , and in assailing our institutions . Great Britain
is , for the time , his ally , and yet the most piercing thorn in his side . This is as plain to lim as it is to us , and there is no fear that the intelligent classes in France will mistake the formal courtesies of our Court , or the ebullitions of our populace , for expressions of political sympathy . The same classes in England , no doubt , desire to distinguish themselves from the excitable crowd . But , if they must appear in the streets , their course will be to remain silent , ' — and honour be to all whose sentiments force them so to refrain from utterance of applause
- —though , as multitudes constitute partytriumph , the most considerate will avoid contributing to them . In no other way can a decent respect for the public guest be reconciled with a . spirited maintenance of that principle which animates all independent minds , and inspires , we dare hope , even some of our statesmen . And here , if we might appeal to something higher than the fluctuating exigencies of policy , we would put it to leaders of theyounger . school , who profess to bringtheir consciencesto the discussion
of state affairs , who take office from " a sense of duty , " and quit it from " scruple , " whether they are bound to join in any flatteries - of lawless empire , and whether they must offer more than a formal reception to the titular of a throne , so founded and so maintained . This is a time for political honesty , and for high-spirited honour not to be ashamed of itself ; it is an opportunity for testing the sincerity of men who profess a creed more noble than that of Sir Robert Wai / pole .
For ourselves , we do confide in the existence of some political virtue , and shall rejoice to see it tried and proved . There are , indeed , some men in our governing class , who must act on these principles , or repudiate the character of which they are supposed to be proud . Neither they , nor any others , can or ought to deny that , practically , Louis Napoleon , who governs France , also represents it , in an official sense . He represents it as the member for London , if London had no electors , would
represent that city . But in no other sense does he come in a representative character . He does not represent the intelligence of France , or its friendship towards England Thinkingirpeople there , as here , regard him as the successful conspirator of December , and they cannot overlook the circumstances which render an Anglo-French alliance , based on his
will , a brittle bond . - They remark , with painful solicitude , the development of these international relations , sprung from necessities which , on one side , arose with the whole country , and on the other , depend on the fortunes or caprices of a man . No one here exults over the present . humiliation of the French ; still less does any man , who ever had convictions of his own ,
believe that architectural demolitions and restorations canatone t ° people for the loss of all that proved them civilised . A British alliance has long been desired by a party in France ; that party was not the Bouapartists . The Bonapartists are they who inspired the faith of the peasants in a day when Waterloo should be avenged ; but the coup d'etat showed them other necessities .
As nations do not live by bread or by stone alone , so usurpations must not altogether depend on armies—only alliances can knit them to the frame of Europe . The new Emperor , therefore , repulsed in his advances to the Court of St . Petersburg , sought , as a pis alter , the Court of St . James j and the mob in England , well-dressed and ill-dressed , have generously endowed him with generous
motives . r ^ Even now , the illusion is not past . The Napoleonic alliance is still prized , though hitherto it has been fraught with disaster . A secret and sinister council , in which the diseased impatience of a desperate and remorse-smitten castaway presided , draped a British army , unprepared , half-armed , and unwilling , into the forlorn
Crimean expedition . Our own generals , overruled by the least competent of thoir allies , yielded opinions which it was criminal not to maintain at the instigation of a man who would not reck how many thousands of Lnghsh soldiers rotted , froze , or died . in arms before Sebastopol . It results that our prestige is all but gone ; that our decheancc is pronounced in the salons of the Continent ; that we are
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TO CORRESPONDENTS . " Delta . "—The subject of your letter is already put of date , B ^ -Is mistaken in supposing that stamped newspapers will potbe transmissible under the new act as before .
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v ^ ^ v _ y » SATURDAY , MARCH 31 , 1855 .
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There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —De . Aknoid .
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March 31 , 1855 . ] T H E XE AD -Efi . 301
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Leader (1850-1860), March 31, 1855, page 301, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2084/page/13/
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