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$90 THE LEADEB. fife). 492. Atro. 27, 18...
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PRANCE ASTD ENGI-AND, SOCIALLY AND POIil...
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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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A Story By Mr. Charles Dickens, Which Ha...
and magazines , and refer to such essays and newspaper articles as embrace topics of abiding literary interest . The Messrs . Low invite suggestions from all persons who approve of their design ,-and promise to consider carefully any such suggestions as may be made . It appears to tis that such an index will be invaluable to all persons who do not reside in the immediate vicinity of a large public library . "
$90 The Leadeb. Fife). 492. Atro. 27, 18...
$ 90 THE LEADEB . fife ) . 492 . Atro . 27 , 185 9
Prance Astd Engi-And, Socially And Poiil...
PRANCE ASTD ENGI-AND , SOCIALLY AND POIilTrCAIiLY CONSIDERED . Translated from the Trench of Ch . Menobe De JLoisne , ( sons Pr 6 f < 5 t de Boulogne surMer ) . By TVlrs . Philipps 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 g iven by M . De Loisne for his opinion is , that France is wanting in the aristocracy which serves in England so beneficially ias 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 . tl Ever since the conquest , " says M . De Xioisne , " since the fifth century , France has tended to democracy and centralisation ; it has been the supreme law of its existence , the prosperity , strength , and glory , whilst England , up to 1688 , only offered the spectacle of a constant struggle between the aristocracy and royalty ,, a strugglein which the advantage always definitively rested with the aristocracy . " This was the reason why Cromwell could found nothing , and that his appearance in oiir histpry ^ is like a brilliant meteor , and the date of his brightness ephemeral . Power had been given to Cromwell by the army , uhsanctioned by the nation . . It was the people who gave the empire to Napoleon . .
u Napoleon the Pirst , succumbing under the efforts of a world coalesced against him , left in the memory of the French people an imperishable worship . Richard Groin well , acknowledged Protector on the death of his father , disappeared from power to obscurity , so indifferent was every one about him , that none took the trouble to inquire whether he still existed , or in what place he resided . The Due de Reichstadt 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 1688 , 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 . In defending its privileges , it equally defended the privileges of the nation . No nobility are less arrogant , lees exclusive , or so popular as the English .
They do not form , a caste , Hying 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 j and sjxoh 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 Loisne continues : —
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 . Preservinff the traditions of the past since the 'Conquest , they ha-ve administered jurisdiction in the counties , hav e 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 the 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 founder of this race was a Danish chief , a Manfred , who in the time of theTUarlovingians , with the Scandinavians ravaged the coasts of France , and finished by establishing themselves in Normandy . William de Percy , was at Hastings , by the side of Duke William , he had , as companion in arms , Grosvenor , the actual head of the house of the Marquis of Westminster , and Richard Grenyi lie , a descendant of the first Duke of Normandy . Rollo founded the House of Buckingham and Chandos .
new Elizabeth , if George the First or his son had been Henry the Fourth ^ or Napoleon ? . . . . The House of Hanover did riot 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 because God has 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 IH . arej no 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 newspapers 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 to publish an account of the debates in Parliament , 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 hot even the honour of a discussion . Toleration has been maintained , but the right has not been recognised . From 180 $ to 1821 the Eng lish ¦ ¦ ¦ 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 , rigorouB measures have ceased , and the press has enjoyed the 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 of 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 , 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 ; ajid above all it is territorial property which gives political fortune . A great proprietor who has large domains , who possesses entire communes , 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
inde" Then there is the Marquis of Lansdowne ; 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 ; 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 , Earl of Shrewsbury , who amongst his ancestors , counted the companion of William the Conqueror , and the famous Captain Talbot , who was so well known in Prance , for his exploits in the fifteenth century . " Then Howard , Duke of Norfolk , Earl Marshal , and hereditary Marshal of England , whoso dukedom was instituted by Eichard the Third ; and ono of whose ancestors was the celebrated Catherine
finitely in the same families , that by the law of entail , which dates from Edward the Pirst ( 1272 ) they could not be alienated ; and , as I before said , they are transmitted in noble families , with 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
Howard , fifth wife of Henry the Eighth . " See Lennox , Duke of Richmond , descended from Charles the Second , and the beautiful and witty Louise de Querouaillos , Duohess of Portsmouth and D'Aubigny . " See the Duke of Bedford . Ho is of tho faan y of the Russell who expiated on the scaffold tnc crime of having sought to free England from tho odious despotism of James -the Second- ; and ot that other Russell , who carried tho oflbr of the Crown of the United Kingdom to William of Orange ? . , c " Look at the Duke of Hamilton , first Duke ot Scotland , husband of the gracious Pt incc ^? , f Baden , cousin of the Emporor Napoleon tho Tntta-One of his ancestors was croatod in lof > 2 , Duo cie Ohatelherault , by Henry tho Second , King ot Prance . .. .
they now bear . The season in London lasts for three months at most , but scarcely has it terminated when all the families hasten to return to their country seats , and hold their court 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 collooted about a hundred persons . Sport follows sport , dinners , balls , and theatrical entertainments occupy the evening . The castles , which recall our noble chateaux of Fbntainobloau , or Compeigne , have all saloons for theatrical amusement ; , concerts , and balls . A newspaper , the Morning Post , announces daily In England the noble visitors who arrive at tho different residences ^ and the parties that are given . All the nation associates itself with this splendour , and applauds tho intellectual luxury . The great families are thus known , loved , and respected . Far from being jealous of their riches ,
" Then alas I come the great modorn , illustrious nobles , those who date from our wars , and w oro created , from our misfortunes . . . . Tho Duko m Mariborough , Lord Nelson , and the Duko of woi Ungtonl " With equal lucidity tho author enters into tho reasons oftho purohase in England of commissions in th , e army , and their non-purchase in the navy 1 and -why in France tho soldier advances in Fop ° * tion to his merit . England is groat booause ot txoi colonies , which affbrd omnloymQiit to her
aemo" Shall I say that this result was duo aolely to the perseverance and intelligence of their conduot since the Norman conquest ? That would be , an error . God holds in his hands tho Hfo and destiny of nations . It is Ho that has made England what she is to-day . It is God that has willed that England was successively governed by foreign dynasties . By the Normans and Plantagonets who wore French , the Stuarts who were Scotoh , by the Prince of Orange , Denmark
by Queen Anno , the spouse of a Prince of , and by the Houae of Hanover . None of those houses Had root in the country , the accession of each of them inspired suspicions , and thus cemented the union of ail clasjea In the notion , Who knows what JBfaglond would have become if tho Stuarts had not tamed Catholic ? Who knows what she would nave becoAe If William had not been at onco un-RRPWftr , from Ms temper and Presbyterian religion j tfHeljadhadaBon . and Mb successor his capacity , * was going to say This genius , if Anno had been a
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 27, 1859, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27081859/page/18/
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