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Leader (1850-1860), 27th August 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 990, Untitled Article

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      and magazines , and refer to such essays and newspaper articles $ s embrace topic 3 of abiding literary interest . The Messrs . Ik > w invite suggestions from all persons who approve of their ' design , ' . and promise to consider carefully any such suggestions as rnay be made . It appears to us that such an index will be invaluable to all persons -who do not reside in the immediate vicinity of a large public library . "

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      FKAJiTCE ASTD ENGIiAOT > , SOCIALLY AND POLITICALLY CONSIDEKED . Translated from the French of Ch . Menche I » e Loisne ,: ( sons Pr 6 fSt de Boulogne surMer ) . By Mrs . Philfpps Greene . Dedicated by permission to Lady Charles Napier , —W . Jeffs . . . , The purpose of this book is to show , by comparison , that the political constitution of England is not suitable to France . The leading reason given by M . De Lioisne for his opinion is , that France is wanting in the aristocracy which Serves in England so beneficially as a barrier , between the people and the monarch . The bourgeoisie now occupies the place of the ancient nobility , but was proved , incapable of maintaining the limits of

      either . The empire is founded on popular suffrage , and triumphs on the ruins of the other two classes . " Ever since the conquest , " says M . De Loisne , " since the fifth century , JFronee has tended to democracy and centralisation ; it has been , the ; supreme law of its existence , the prosperity , strength , and glory , whilst Engl and , tip to 1688 , only offered the spectacle of a constant struggle between the aristocracy and royalty , a struggl e in trhich the advantage alwaysd ^ finitrvely rested with the aristocracy . " This was the reason why Cromwell could found nothing , and that his appearance in our history is like a brilliant meteor , and . the dateofhis brightness ephemeral , Power had been given to . Cromwell by the army , tmsanctioned by the nation . It was the people who gave the empire to Napoleon .

      * Napoleon the First , succumbing tinder the efforts of a world coalesced against him , left in the . . memory of the French people an imperishable worship . Richard Cromwell , acknowledged Protector on the death of his father , disappeared from power to obscurity , so indifferent was every one about him , that hone took the trouble to inquire whether he still existed , or in what place he resided . The Due de Keichstadt was at Vienna , under the care of all Europe , and when France , thirty years later , saw her existence menaced by new revolutions , she believed she could only be saved by seeking the exiled heir of the Napoleon dynasty , and in sanctifying him by three successive votes her legitimate sovereign . "

      The point of view thus taken is undoubtedly interesting , and will bear enlargement . Our author compares , or contrasts the English revolution of 1683 , and the French revolution of 1789 . In the former fighting for its faith , the nobility of England also fought for the faith of all the Protestant sects in the United Kingdom . la defending its privileges , it equally defended the privileges of the nation . No nobility are less arrogant , less exclusive , or so popular as the English . They do not form a caste ,, living apart from the nation ; besides , a great number of English

      families can claim to descend from them , or even from a lineage more ancient . Thus it happened that the revolution of 1688 was an aristocratic and not a democratic revolution ; and such is the reason wherefore , gathering the fruit of their wisdom , and patriotism , the English nobility triumphed in the kingdom , and laid the . basis of a government that will last for centuries . M . De Xioisne continues : —

      " Shall I say that this result was due solely to the persovorence and intelligence of their conduct since the Norman conquest ? That would be an error . Qod holds in his hands the life and destiny of nations . It is He that has made England what she is to-day . It is Goa that has willed that England wan successively governed by foreign dynasties . By the Normans and Planfagenets who were French , the Stuarts who were Scotch , by the Prince of Orange ,

      the inferior classes of society are proud of their princely magnificence . ' It is the aristocracy that at all times make the most noble use of riches . From pride and generosity they , take part in all charitable works , direct private subscriptions , cover England with religious institutions , houses of refuge , hospitals , schools , and colleges . Preserving the traditions of the past since the Conquest , they have administered jurisdiction in the counties , have improved , kept in order , and constructed roads , canals , and ports , thus making the seignorial right useful to the general prosperity . Possessed of the soil their interest was identical with the interest of . the English people . They ,- as I have said before , held to the latter the place which the patricians of ancient Borne held to the plebeians . "

      For these and other reasons " the Peerage , the golden book of the English nobility , is the second Bible of England . " All this was , and is , different in France . There the nobility has not the immutability of the English oligarchy . In France each century has had its nobility . Each reign in France brought forward new names , and omitted the old ones . " Did , " he demands , " the nobility of Francis the First descend from the nobility of Charles tie Seventh ? Did the nobility of Louis the Fourteenth descend from the nobility of the Bearnais ?"

      " Everything : lived and was perpetuated in England . When before a respectful and eager crowd , the nobility pass to attend a levee of the Queen , it seems as if ancient generations were resuscitated , to tell the present of their combats , their misfortunes , their greatness , and their exploits . " There is the Duke of Northumberland , a Percy ! The foundfer of this race was a Danish chief , a Manfred , who in the time of the Carlovingians , with the Scandinavians ravaged the coasts of France , and finished by establishing themselves in Normandy William de Percy , was at Hastings , bv the side of Duke William , he had , as companion in arms , Grosvenor , the actual head of the house of the Marquis of Westminster , and Bichard Grenville , a descendant of the first Duke of Normandy . Kollo founded the House of Buckingham and Chandos .

      " Then there is the Marquis of JLansdowne ; one of his ancestors sat in the council of Edward the Confessor . "The Duke of Somerset , his ancestors called themselves St . Maur ( Seymour . ) They quitted Normandy , and fixed themselves at the Court , under Henry the Third . Look at the Baron Henry William Fitzgerald de Bos ; one of his ancestors was member of the assembly of great Barons , who in the thirteenth century took away the power from Henry the Third .

      " Then the Earl of Warwick , of Norman origin * who counts in his genealogy the king maker 5 the Warwick who , during the war of the two Boses , disposed of the Crown of England at his will . "See William Courteney , Earl of Devon , who descended-from Louis le Gros , King of France ; and Stuart Marquis of Bute , who is descended from Robert the Second , King of Scotland . * ' John Talbot , EarJ of Shrewsbury , who amongst his ancestors , counted the companion of William the Conqueror , and the famous Captain Talbot , who was so well known in France , for his exploits in the fifteenth century . " Then Howard , Duke of Norfolk , Earl Marshal , and hereditary Marshal of England , whose dukedom was instituted by Bichard the Third ; and one of whose ancestors was the celebrated Catherine

      new Elizabeth , if George the First or bis son had been Henry the Fourth , or Napoleon ? . . . . . . The House of Hanoner did not produce during the eighteenth century a single prince worthy of wearing the crown / and of exercising its power . ' The aristocracy had this good fortune when it tried definitely to govern the United Kingdom , that it could during a century confirm its domination , and habituate the nation and royalty to it , without having a single king Capable , I will not say of impeding and weakening its power , but even of attempting to do so . " The revolution of 1688 then succeeded , because it was at the same time consecrated by all the traditions of the history of England , and also beeause God haa permitted its free and glorious development by removing all causes of dissension and civil war . "

      The writer then proceeds to state that the English aristocracy retarded for awhile the liberties for which they had combatted;—tampering with the habeas corpus , depriving Catholics of political rights , and ( inter alia ) persecuting the partisans of the Stuarts , and suspending the liberty of the press . The proceedings of Napoleon TEL are ^ doubt , defended under the disguise of the following statement : — A law was made declaring that it was treason to write or print contrary to the law , that is to say against the established government . The news ^ papers were , in 1712 , subjected to so onerous a tax that the greater number of them ceased to appear . They were forbidden under the most severe penalties in Parliament

      to publish an account of the debates , and if since 1789 the newspapers enjoy this privilege , it is only upon sufferance . But lately , only a few months since , a proposition tending to recognise the right of publishing the sittings of the Houses , had not even the : honour of a discussion . Toleration has been , maintained , but the right has not been recognised . From 1808 to 1821 the English Government instituted a hundred and one lawsuits against the press , imprisoned ninety-four journalists , and banished twelve of them . Since then , tranquility being no longer menaced , rigorous measures has the

      have ceased , and the press enjoyed greatest liberty ; but all citizens have a right to prosecute a newspaper for defamation , injury , or calumny , and to demand and obtain damages often so considerable as to cause the ruin off the newspaper . " .-. The writer then goes on to state that " no statesman in England has ever made his position by means of the press , or acquired power by the daily publications . " To prove s also , " how impossible it is to dream , of establishing in France institutions similar to those that exist in England , " M . de Loisne proceeds to state

      that" The property of'England is concentrated in the hands of forty or fifty thousand proprietors . In France it is divided between five millions of proprietors , and this number is daily increasing j and above all it is territorial property which gives political fortune . A great proprietor who has large domains , who possesses entire commnneSji who can count by thousands the inhabitants who live on the heritage of his ancestors , must inevitably enjoy incontestable , I had nearly said immoveable , influence . And remark that these vast domains have remained indefinitely in the same families , that by the law of enta il , which dates from Edward the First ( 1272 ) they could not be alienated ; and , as I before said , with

      they are transmitted in noble families , the title , and that so inflexibly that it is by no means rare to see the daughters of noblemen left without means , whilst a distant cousin suddenly becomes by the death of their father , heir and fortunate possessor of the castles and vast domains in which their childhood has been passed . The incontestable influence of the nobility , and of the great proprietors is increased by the use which they make of their fortune . In'place of living obscurely , or ostentatiously expending their wealth in cities or at the court ; , they live on , their domains in the centre of their vassals and tenant farmers , such is the name they now bear . The season in London lasts for three months at most , but scarcely has it terminated when

      Howard , fifth wife of Henry the Eighth . ¦" . See Lennox , Duke of Bichmond , descendod from Charles the Second , and the beautiful and witty Louise de Querouailles , Duchess of Portsmouth ana D'Aubigny . " See the Duke of Bedford . He is of the family of the Russell who expiated on the scaffold the crime of having sought to free England from , the odious despotism of ^ Tames the Second ; ana ot ihat other Russell , who carried the offer of tlio Crown of the United Kingdom to William of Orange . „ , « Look at the Duke of Hamilton , first Duke ot Scotland , husband of the gracious Princess or Baden , cousin of the Emperor Napoleon the Tiara . One of his ancestors was croated in 1552 , Duo . ao Qhatelheraulfc , by Honry the Second , lung 01 France .

      all the families hasten to return to their country seats , and hold their courb there . I do not exaggerate , the expression is true . In the vast dwellings , formerly constructed by the serfs , by the conquered , by the Saxons * it is not rare to see collected about a hundred persons . Sport follows sport ? , dinners , balls , and theatrical entertainments occupy the evening . The castles , which recall our noble chateaux of Fontalnebleau , or Compeigne , have all saloons for theatrical amusement , concerts , and ballet , A newspaper , the Morning Post , announces daily in England the noble visitors who arrive at the different residences , ' and the parties that are given , All the nation associates itself with this splendour , and applauds the Intellectual luxury . The great families are thus known , loved , and . respected . Far from being jealous of their richer ) ,

      « Then alas r come the great modern , illustrious nobles , those who date from our wars , and wore created from our misfortunes . . . The D « "W Y Marlborougb , Lord Nelson , and the Duke of wol lington !" With equal luoidity the author enters into tbfl reasons , ofthe purchase in England of commissions in the army , and their non-purchase in the navy and why in Franco , the soldier advances in PV ° WV ' tion to his merit .. England ia groat because ot w » colonies , which afford employment to hex «

      omotoy Queen Anno , the spouse of a Prince of Denmark , and' by tho House of Hanover . ITono of those houses had root in the country , the accession of each of them inspired suspicions , and thus cemented tho union of all classes in the nation . Who' knows what Itagland' would have bqcomo if the Stuarts had not turned Catholic ? Who knows 1 what oho would nftva "become If William had not been at once unpotoulai ? , flcom his temper and Presbyterian religion j Itn ? had' hada . ^ ftTJld his successor his capacity , I wan going to say his genius ; if Anno had T > een a

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      ggf t THE LEABEB . fHo . 492 , Aug . 2 ?> 185 9

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 27, 1859, page 990, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2309/page/18/