346 England and the Continent. QOcT. 



whole Journalism of the continent is revohitionary. Of course we do not 

 speak of the papers actually under the control of the governments, for 

 they are mere Gazettes of court and military proceedings, and no more 

 capable of being representatives of the tribe, than they are of uttering a 

 sentiment not directly dictated by the minister. The true JounutUsm is 

 in the class of those publications which, unpurchased by the minister, 

 follow the natural bent of party ; and with either covert hostility or 

 open attack, range themselves against the peace of mankind. 



We are as determined enemies of all abuses, as the most enthusiastic 

 Journalist that ever tore down the good and evil of a state together. 

 We would punish with the strictest rigour every offence against public 

 honesty, we would abolish all useless expenditure, extinguisli the extra- 

 vagance of patronage, and break down every barrier which had been raised 

 by hereditary corruption against genius and honour. We Avould dis- 

 band all military force that was kept up for either a mere military 

 flourish, or for the idle pageantry of a court, or for the guiltier purpose 

 of feeding a race of dependents, at the national expense. But, extin- 

 guishing the evil, we would sustain the good. Under even the most 

 despotic monarchy of the continent, we would ascertain Avhat portion of 

 even a vicious system was capable of public service ; violence should be 

 kept down until it was discovered to be the only means ; overthrow 

 should be abhorred while there was a possibility of escaping so hazardous 

 a remedy ; amputation should not be the specific for every disorder of 

 the limbs, and if the terrible appeal to arms must come at last, it should 

 be retarded while there Avas a human hope of peace, and be looked on 

 as itself the most dreadful alternative short of national ruin. 



The continental press, however, has none of those reserves. " Pas~ 

 torale canit signitm," it has but one voice, and that it sends through 

 its trumpet, summoning every obscure lover of tumult to the coming 

 banquet of democracy, and has but one purpose, to plunge Europe into 

 a general war, that tlie war may be merged in a general revolution. 

 This is pre-eminently the spirit of the French Journals, which, like their 

 country, always take the lead in the disturbance of Europe. They are 

 now flinging firebrands thi'ough every corner of Christendom. 



Another sign of the times has risen. War is in preparation in every 

 court of the continent. After fifteen years of peace, every court is com- 

 pelled to keep up armies, altogether disproportioned to its revenues. 

 Every court trembles at every movement of its neighbours ; a spirit of 

 bitter jealousy, and vindictive recollection, is spreading through all king- 

 doms, and a single cannon-shot fired by any one of the great powers at 

 this hour would set the continent in a blaze. 



It is to the honour of England that she is still the great protector of 

 peace, the mighty mediator between the conflicting bitternesses of na- 

 tions, the depositoi-y of those safe principles of public virtue, national 

 vigour, and popular freedom, which make her at once the natural arbi- 

 trator of angry nations, and the natural refuge of the weak, and the 

 wronged. This is her true distinction, and while she sustains it, she will 

 be, under whatever change of continental things, the virtual leader of 

 the human race. But nothing can be more palpable, than that in this 

 high capacity she has now peculiar difficulties to encounter. The genius 

 of the English constitution, of the English nation, and of the English 

 mind, is essentially anti-republican. For, the land loves justice, and 

 hates spoliation ; the public heart is human, and cannot be reconciled to 



