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sions of Trafalgar and Waterloo specially manufactured for the French market Subseouently it was under the control of Dr . Veron , the unblushing adulator and accomplice of Louis Napoleon . It is now a semi-independent , semiofficial paper , uttering only such views and sentiments as the Government permits . Under these auspices it is now , by a singular infelicity of accident the organ for throwing out a threat of
in-. For the ^ French reader it gives such , encouragement as would bo worthy of the historian aforesaid : — " England has always bee n conquered when a foreign army set foot on her soil . The Romans , the Saxons , the Danes , the Normans under William , turns overran Great Britain . The present dynasty of her sovereigns also comes from a foreign land . The dispossession of James II . by William is a sort of fourth invasion . The day has arrived when the fleets of Great Britain would not suffice to prevent a descent on her shores . "
This is as false as it is insolent . " England has never been conquered . Britain was , as Graul was by the Romans . Britain was , as Gaul was , by Teutonic invaders . The Danes obtained less permanent footing in infant England than the Normans in France . William did not conquer England , but Harold , and that by the accident which mortally disabled his rival pretender to the throne that Edward the Confessor weakly
made an object of litigation . The invasion ot William was the act of the English people : lie was appointed by the English , he fought with the English soldiers ; he reigned by " the courtesy of England . England has undergone no Crecy , no Waterloo ; nor will she ever take part in either again , if the French be true to themselves , and cease from crouching to the sanguinary adventurer who is the latest invader of France .
The threat may be only an electioneering ruse of that man who is now trying , for the third time , to trick France into being his slave ; but he may follow it out , either if his dupes should require some pledge in practice , or if Ins army should grow insolent , and need new riot and blood-letting , or if the indifference of England should convert an idle threat into opportunity . Let him come , then : it can only do us good . It is true , that no living generation of Englishmen has been accustomed to light on its own soil in defence of its own homo ; but men are not usually less stout in such a battle . It is true that London is exposed , and , in case of invasion ,
England would have to pay for her blind reliance on peace defences . But although the people is benumbed by the long repose of peace , the spirit is not yet dead ; and if the danger be not too long delayed , the old true , united , national spirit may be roused without stint or fail . Meanwhile , this base bravado should be . useful in arousing the Nation to watch its own Government . With oilicial France for our enemy , who are to be our allies ? Are we to quarrel about fish with our brothers in America , while a disreputable neighbour is Hinirling threats like these in . our ears F
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898 THE LEADER . [ SAgtraauy ,
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THE NKXT YVI'XIilNCiiTON . Tin-: Great Captain who suppressed an empire bus not . survived lowilnesH its renewal under tin ; spurious JNapolcon . lie who aided the Holy Alliance inputting down a military usurpation , ™ spared the spectacle of : i , IkihI ,-i . nl hereditary usurpation under favour of the Holy Alliance . The circumstances of the world are different Irom those when Wellington was at his prime , bill , they are not less menacing . The danger may have been more concentrated , but it is now lar moro widely spread , and far more doubtful in its
elements . " At that time hVance had suddenly risen up from the intolerable oppression which it had endured so long , had visited the world with a burst of anarchy , had quirkly solved that aimrrhy in a military despotism , and had again visited ' the world with the strong hand of a conqueror bent on territorial uggmiHli / . ement . Save | , j , o passive ; umn-hy , there was m this nol . hmg very new , nothing strikingly different Iron , the character of the rfyimc . which had preceded it ; butifis not so now . " Tlio < laiitfrrH which threaten
, , | , | lo continued peace of the world , which threaten the immortality of long standing dynast . es , are more scattered , but they are also much more characterized by innovation . U in since the downfall of Napoleon that Kussm has expanded irom beintf merely ono of the great powcrs , to Me
the great arbiter of Thrones , looming like a menace down the eastern border of the whole continent of Europe . It is since the downfall of Napoleon that the American republic has attained its vast dominions , has acquired its spirit of territorial extension , and it is within a few years of Wellington's death that the stirring citizens of that young republic have proclaimed their aggressive policy . The immense gold fields , offering an enormous bait for the migration of the Anglo Saxon family , are the latest discoveries of the age , and it is within the present week that we see the influence of the Australian mountains of precious metal in drawing to that English colony a strong
tide of American emigration . These are great facts , which suggest some considerations that bear upon the appointment of Wellington ' s successor . For the next year or so , indeed , it may matter little who is at the head of the department trimming the horse-tails of the cavalry , or the knapsacks of the infantry ; but to judge from the movements of the world , a day is not far distant when the personal character of the man at the head of England ' s - military
government will greatly influence the future . Wanted a Cromwell ! Is he to be found amongst the half-dozen candidates already named for the post ? Is the Prince Consort , for example , a Cromwell ? Is the young prince of the House of Gotha , the amiable patron of all civilizing arts , competent to confront the powers of Europe , and to control the destinies of his adopted ; country with an iron hand ? Is he capable of stemming the torrent of events ? Nobody suspects him of virtues
so ungentle . Is the Cromwell to be found in Lord Hardinge , that distinguished General , who has won his spurs in many climes—who has shown so high and soldierly a pride in the public service—w ] w has been amongst conservative statesmen distinguished by so generous and liberal a disposition ? Assuredly not . Lord Hardinge is the man to perform the services of a department , to undertake the command of a division , or to execute any other allotted duty with grace and capacity ; but he is not the man to act for a nation , and to move nations by the grasp of his hand .
The man who stands before the world as suited to the time ? is General Sir Charles James Napier , the conqueror of Scinde . For many reasons Wellington is understood to have fastened upon him as the best man for a troubled field ; but we do not lay much stress on that anecdote . Napier has the prestige of a conqueror . Although a veteran , his latest public acts have shown undimmed brilliancy in his faculties . If ho might be didieult to act with oilicial colleagues , as his
enemies will inevitably allege , it is because he has manifested a resolute spirit to deal with corruptions in the army . And above all . he is a , national soldier . Alas ! the people is sunk in apathy , half unconscious of the necessities of the day , or it would now rise and cry out for that—a national commander . That Napier is so , we have a splendid testimony in his pamphlet on the militia ; as honourable a " piece of writing as ever came
from the pen of a Napier . In that page he showed that he perfectly appreciated both what a militia , can do , and what it cannot do . He showed that he knew how to value the ardour of the citizen-soldier lighting for his home ; that he could command such an arm with knowledge and with relish , and that he would know exactly the kind of service to put it to . Hut the pamphlet showed much more : it showed that Napier viewed such a , I fairs , not only with the eye of a , professional man , no ! , with the routine notions common in a mere
ollicer of state , but with the mind of a patriot thinking as well an acting for his country . These two elements in his character indicate exactly ( be man wo want—the will to grapple with the abuses that enfeeble our army , that clog it with men incompetent to their duties , that dcinondi / . e the ollicers , that waste the public money without securing Ihecomfort of the soldier ;
iind the knowledge how to be a leader of the people in defence of the nation . That he will be chosen , we scarcely venture ! to hope : he is too strong a man for these fame times ; but whoever may be his predecessor , the stormy horizon inclines us to believe l . haf the day ih not far ofl when Napier ( if fulness of yearn and strength be granted him ) may be demanded by events * and may then bo ruled at lm true value *
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ITALY AND THE ITALIAN CAUSE Itf ENGLAND . We have from time to time kept our readers in formed of the proceedings of a Society which has we believe , the peculiar distinction of being th ' only Association in this country devoted esne eially to the consideration of questions of foreign politics—the Society of the Friends of Italy This Society , having now concluded the first year of its existence , has put forth its first Annual Report , in which an official statement is given of
the progress and expenditure of the Society during the past year , and of its present aims and views with reference to the Italian question There are various points incidentally touched on in this Report , which , we think , Englishmen may consider with advantage . . The Report thus sketches the contrast between the actual conduct of England , in reference to the recent Italian Revolution , and the conduc t which might have been expected from England , considering her historical antecedents : —
" In every national movement , call it ' Revolution or what we will , there is a right and a wrong , a progressive tendency and a retrogressive tendency—not vaguely scattered either among the contending elements , so as to be discovered only by long calculations , but embodied , for the most part , with palpable and instantaneous clearness , in the well-marked separations of men and parties . And what else can be the duty of nations looking on in such a case , but to discern the right , and to back it—to ascertain on which side the progressive energy is afc work , and to let the whole
strength of their sympathies go to the service of that side . Nor was Italy a very . complex case . The Papacy , Jesuitic activity , and tyrannical government of the worst species on the one side ; native patriotic leaders , and the whole Italian people on the other—such was the simple state of the problem that had to be con - sidered with regard to Italy . For an Englishman , one would have thought , choice in such a case was not very difficult . Given such a balance of parties , " one would have thought , and the whole island of England , could free and Protestant earth have moved , would
have thrown itself unasked into one of the scales , let it was not so . The existing power in every country being naturally assumed as the representative of order , and the Papacy being the existing power in Italy , even our liberal newspapers would sometimes , as in a fit of morbid candour and conservatism , make themselves the apologists of the Papacy . And if , even between the two great antagonist tendencies , our journals and our politicians hesitated and appeared dubious , much more did they hesitate when it came to be a question in what section , in what class of aims and opinions on the
patriotic side , the real strength and hope of Italy lay . Certainly , if ever a foreign political party has had to win a good opinion in England , against all manner of prejudice and opposition , that party hus been the National Party among the Italians . Look , for example , at the conduct of the Times , juul those whom it represents , with regard to this party . That journal , more expressly pe rhaps than any other , stands com mitted to the opinion that the hope of Italy , and even of E urope , lies in the abolition , root and branch , of the Hccu-ar Papa . Surelythenif any party in Italy more than
cy , , another should " have the . sympathies of the Tunes , it w that party which in signalized by this very circumstance , that it is the- only native party in Italy whs has the phrase , ' Abolition of the Secular 1 « I »« J distinctly inscribed on its banner—the party whioM , its brief day of power , actually did tbo « tu ] M : in | o «» thin S thus talked of nx desirable by our political au . /„ ., /; . ,,,, 1 flw . m . lv n . ntv . as far as tlm world know ., lanliand tlm only partyas far as urn w " ' "' '
; , f that would to-morrow do tho thing again . Y « t this party fams in that quarter is but too well kn <>\ The conduct of the Times and of those who think w ¦ it , in regard to the National Party in Italy , compared only to ( hut of a man who first advert , iw ' . ^ and wide for a copy of a book , only one copy ot wliu . ^ known to be extant , and who then , when tlujP" ^ - ^ of that solitary copy conies to bin door to wak" w LTiituitouM present of it , driven him away wiUi
and abuse . " _ . \\ oW There in n tfreat deal of truth in thiH . „' little Hyinpafcliy tho common " No-I opeiY . ing han had from iih , our rcadcrn very W <> ' There is no fear , therefore , that wo nhall I ' taken when we nay thai , when falcon in h -I HCI . 8 O , thiH very " ^ 0- Po pery" cry ih « ' ° mid fho l . enrticHt form of native J « , ntf » HI „ bafivencHH . Ho long m " . No-IV ^ ry , _ proHcrinf . on of Uoinan-cafholicH , painH a '" I . ^ ti <» 011 ncfH of Koman-cntholie worship . <» i ( ioU . Roman-catholic propatfundrsrn , tho ' \ ' .. rowi' . of the Anglican hnvn-nlecvoH , or tlio (^ 1 ^ > V " over Popiuli vcBUuwntM—no long a » SS 0- *
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 18, 1852, page 898, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1952/page/14/
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