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tamper with Abd-el-Kader ? Austria has relinquished the foremost place , which she had taken from France , and . Russia now stands as the , arbitress of humbled Turkey . The great powers of Europe , Austria and Russia , have made vast strides since 1848 , and they are evidently bent upon proceeding to extend and consolidate their rule . Turkey , Sardinia , and Switzerland , are now the states menaced by those Powers , as Belgium is by Prance ? How long ; will this state of things continue ? Until a great counteracting power shall arise . And what may
that power be ? A few years ago we might have said , the States which uphold constitutional freedom and public law . But they hold back ; only uttering to the patriots who bave resisted , the cowardly reproach , that by emulating the Hampdens ancl EJiots of England they have actually made the Charles Stuarts angry ! But conjecture may glance at powers that might possibly arise to confront the tyrants . Where military power is the real instrument of authority , it may occur to the mind of some ambitious genius of
the sword , that it is idle sport for the hero m the field to play pander to the Emperor in the drawing-room ; and thus a military secession might be the first diversion in the game of imperial absolutism . The peoples also of Europe might act . It is true , that , like the people of England , they seem inclined to sacrifice anything for a quiet life . Still , tyranny such as imprisons good citizens for life , or until old age , in noisome dungeons—which flogs women , and persecutes all , may become really intolerable ; and then the next insurrection would be no rose-water
revolution . Or constitutional countries may awaken from their dream of security , and perceive that while their very existence is endangered , the means of extrication are evident enough . Some , indeed , are half awakened . Belgium perceives that she may be absorbed in France ; but she asks in vain , it is said , for English support . Piedmont also asks for aid , and England hesitates—as Piedmont does herself ; for it is true that she has sided with Austria against Italians , although Austria repays her , as we have seen . Turkey falls , and England permits three millions and a half of her trade to be extinguished by the absorption of Turkey , rather than make a bold stand 1
" England , " we say , because the English people really acquiesces . It is true , that here and there a genuine English spirit is aroused . At Newcastle-upon-Tyne , for example , Mr . Crawshay shows that the magnates of English commerce can still take a statesmanlike view of international affairs ; Mr . Elackett proves that an English gentleman can still be an " independent Member" and a Liberal , without truckling to a craven policy ; and the audience shows that a mixed assemblage of English people can still understand plain questions with which our ruling statesmen profess to be puzzled . But as a whole , England is apathetic .
And France ? . Louis . Napoleon js encouraging everybody , all round , to rely on his friendship—England , the Belgians , Prussia , . Russia , Austria , the Lombards , the Turks , A . hd-el-Xader—all are incited by him to offer what they can ; and when the time of the eruption , comes—then the lava of French arms will flow down that side of the heaving volcano which leads into the happiest valleys and the pleasanlest vineyards .
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PEACE NOTION OF WAR ESTIMATES . OouTjI ) we get at the reasons which convinced the IVaco Deputation of Louis Napoleon ' s pacific intent-ions they would bo of a singular kind . They must , be somewhere in the things which the deputation observed , and what were they P Not . his moustache of course , though that is the first object that strikes the cy
Perhaps it might bo in the " concessions " which he rnsikcH---concessions , namely , to shareholders in this or that railway . Now lot us examine this reason . He must mean pence , the pacific railway directors might , argue , since ho encourages ( lie reciprocation of commerce , and permits English capital to invest itself in France . TKind potentate ! But let us ask what is the ulterior valuo of that permission' ? I To permits . English capital ' iHt to supply English money for making 'French railroads ' , and English capitalist already counts Ii ' profits . Hut docs it quite follow LUat Louis Napoleon would always permit
French money to come back to pay English dividends ? This we take leave to doubt , both as to the will and the deed . On occasion , Louis Napoleon has not shown himself very scrupulous about property . We have seen that he has * against all usage , appropriated English money invested in railways , as the shareholders in the Bordeaux and Oette company can testify . Grant that that confiscation was only sharp practice , and was justified by a technical flaw in the case of the shareholders ,
still it abates our sense of . the Imperial good faith . The confiscation of the Orleans property was a direct spoliation , which ought not to be justified in the eyes of commercial men by the fact that political prejudices prevented much popular indignation in France . But even if these reasons did not suffice , commercial men might well doubt the means of a ruler whose ordinary finance is mystified by cross accounts , in order to palm off the transparent appearance of an even balance in 1854 . "What can be the credit of a man who
resorts to such devices for such a purpose r It is scarcely trifling to say , that the dinner which he gave them was about the best proof of his honesty . The proof was something , especially to the civic mind . A feast is a tangible fact . The man that places before you the tenderest meat , rendered by science and condiments a veritable sweetmeat—who can sooth your palate with melting creams of the most aromatic ecstacy —who can inspire your imagination with the
most delicate yet brilliant wines , in whose atmosphere , half materalist half spiritual , the sparkling beam of liquid sunlight is relieved by the delicatest shade of the purple black , until the sense itself becomes a work of art , accessible to no ideas but those that approach it en beau—such a man must have a profound consideration for you ; and if you represent m your own proper person a joint and sacred mystery of Peace , England , and Shares , he must be profoundly touched with affection for Peace , England , and Shares .
Oh , false reckoning ! What if the dinner were an investment ? Did not Circe feed her guests ? But the authority of these people to pronounce dogmatically either way is amusingly absent . Nobody sent them ; nobody gave them a warrant . The very signatures to their " address" are repudiated . Lord Campbell has shown that the whole proceeding was illegal—a sort of treason against the state — an usurpation of its high office , in the face of foreign authorities . They had nothing to tell Louis Napoleon , except that
they were not bent on warlike aggressions ; and , as a French journal has said , nobody supposed ! that they were . The utterance was needless . And what can they tell us of French pacifies P Did they inspect the arsenals and dockyards P Did they review the troops P If they had , could they report upon the facts P Can they put a tirailleur de Vincennes through his manoeuvres ; can they tell the difference between a Minio rifle and one of the improved pattern now made at Birmingham P # Did they inspect the men , or enter into conversation with the officers P Did
they poke their heads into a single cannon , taste a single sponge , or qualify themselves to report anything by so much as counting the buttons on the jacket of a Hussar P Not ono of tljese things , wo venture to say , did they do . What then becomes of the demonstration P Can John Maaterman , junior , report to Louis Napoleon , " Ijdtat cost moi , " and aver that lie speaks the sentiments of England at largo ; or can Samuel (¦ jfii rney bo deemed a fjxialified reporter on the actual state of military affairs in France P
It does not uoed military knowledge , however , or a visit , to Paris , to know that no calculations on these heads could be trustworthy . Great Britain turns peace to a profit , but Franco has not always done so , and on this head Louis Napoleon is himself a remarkable witness . We ([ iiotu his own words : — " Undor a wine ( Jovornmont , and where tlio leader taken euro tliat tho public rove mien are not wasted , groat ( wouoniv may !>« (' Hooted without obstructing tho various brunches of' the ndminiHtmtion . The budget of Napoleon , notwithstanding tho war , never exceeded nix or Hcven hundred million ** . In 1814 alone , it readied
1 , 070 , 800 , 000 franc * , and ho met thin enormous expense without borrowing . llo fiftid that a budget of 000 , 000 , 000 ought to be sufficient for France in timo of ponce ; yet , at tho present timo , notwithstanding police , the budge : ! , is "l , !(; 0 , 0 . » : * , G 58 friincH , or 400 , 000 , 000 more- tlmn if . was undor Napoleon , and
500 , 000 , 000 more than it onght to be in time of peace . " In 1814 , the expenditure of Great Britain was 106 , 832 , 260 ^ j it is now little more than hajf that sum . In 1814 , Napoleon I . ' b expenditure was about 4 ^ , 062 , 000 ^ . j now Napoleon III . ' a expenditure is more than . 60 , 000 , 0001 ., with nothing but a fallacious balance in prospect for 1354 * Decidedly Engjand profits by peace ; on the face of the figures France seems to lose by it ; and ¦ w hatever may be the reasons , for that bad management Ort her part , decidedly she hfis not our reasons to dislike a war .
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THE MORAL OP THE ASSIZES . The assizes proceed , but imaginative } as are reporters , we see no * cases extolled as * " intensely exeiting . " The week illustrate * the tenderness of no soft-hearted judge , the virtues of flo > ro ^ mantic ruffian ; we have nothing to tflcrarnl over , save the" dull routine of criine—nothing to be impatient with , sate ihe unsteady steps of justice . Even amusement is not to "be foufid in the * week ' s dreary trials , though barristers have evidently laboured at jokes , and juryineri have obviously been bringing discredit tipoit jtrtiee . Under such circumstances , te& may coMteittplate ' certain cases , not as exceptions , Unit as illustrations of tie rest ; and , turning mdifferently over the daily broadsheet , may coiigraitulate * ourselves more or less , as it happens , oh the brightness of the intelligence which illumines the homes of large masses of the people ; and on the elegance of the few and only vices which intrude upon a state of high civilization .
At Morimouth , three men are indicted for manslaughter t conducted on exclusively Welsh principles . The accusation is , that after Iianelry fair , where there had been the usual amount of " skirmishing , " as the witnesses mildly called it , the deceased , who himself had a taste for somewhat strong drink and rather rough gymnasties , was stoned , kicked , and beaten to" death . Evidently he died with a skull fractured , and the brain lacerated—symptoms seldom appearing in cases of suicide ; but in a country where there are few recreations , and Crystal Palaces are objected to , exhilaration will follow a wake ; and " skirmishing" always results from exhilaration .
Hence the slayers are subjects for sympathy . Moreover , there must be a doubt as to their identity ; for , so festive are the proceedings , that everybody is intoxicated , and the majority take to bearlike jocularities , before their close : so the jury candidfy admit that the man is dead , but prudently feel a hesitation as to whose brogues " might have been the instruments of the final and mortal laceration . The prisoners get the benefit of that doubt ; and the intellectual , if dangerous , amusement of " skirmishing" is probably po \ v being toasted , to inebriation point , by the p hilanthropic pugilists of Llaneliy and the neighbourhood .
On the same day , at the same place , a man is indicted for firing a loaded pistol at a woman , intending to murder her . The fact of the firing there is no doubt about : a broken jaw , divers teeth lost , and shots in the neck , leave that well established ; but the couple arc content ; they have put up the banns , as a preliminary to marriage ; and the pistol business was a mere , though forcible , illustration of tho amantium ir < e
principle . What , then , have the ptiblic to do with it P The lady looks upon it as a private affair , is " forced into the witness box , " calls the shooting an accident , acquits her sanguinary lover , and retires , minus her teeth , and marked about tho neck , to bo united in tho bonds of matrimony to the gentleman who signalized his courtshi p by these tender demonstrations of a barbarian ' s
regard . Let us hope that the promise of marriage , which has been tho value received , by the expectant bride , for hor mild viowof tho affair , will be duly and properly fulfilled . Lot us counsol her admirer to fidelity : a , passion which survives gunpowder is deserving of its reward . For us , as journalists , it only remains to point out that , in this case , marrying a woman is very
like tampering with a witness ; and to suggest that hero is another illustration of tho danger to justice and so to public Bocurity , of postpOTirng tho examination of witnesses , for months , till th 6 period of tl le assizes . Hero , forinstiince , subsequent to tho accident , or tho crime , wo have this afterthought of tho marr iage , and wo have tho death of a principal witness . The magistrates had , of course—no blamo to thorn for what is » UBuay
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350 THE LEADER , [ Satprpati
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Leader (1850-1860), April 9, 1853, page 350, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1981/page/14/
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