WHY IS THERE NO REBELLION IN ENGLAND? (From the Times, March 21)

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 232, 19 August 1848, Page 4

WHY IS THERE NO REBELLION IN ENGLAND? (From the Times, March 21)

Ir we nsk f hy this country has scarcely felt the shock under winch all Em ope now retls, if. is not for a selfish security or a prunatuie pride. We arc too close knit with the brotherhood of Christian and civilized realms to feel in this instance that plcasnre which the Roman poet asci ibes to the safe spectator of a sailor's mortal peril. There is danger in the security inspired by some flattering comparisons. We may, howeier, ask, and indeed it is our bonnden duty and our soundest philosophy to ascertain, why we are still riding out the storm when so many a noble craft is prostrate on the beach — w'.iy do our companions one by one part their cibles or jnisa stayi, while we amid the war of the elements, amid the hurricane and the BWell, still preserve the equipments of leisure, and the immunities of a calm. By the favour of Heaven, we will sli 1 practice the arts and cherish the means which have prospered U 9 80 far. We willgprotit by the calumities we see and deplore, and co nmend to less pfudent or less fortunate neighbours the constitutional lessons which their fate now helps us to prove. The first and uv>«t obvious answer is, that this nation is already leapng the fruits of a harvest which continental Ei r. pe is only beginning to sow. We possess tho^e things which other nations are everywhere demanding at the gates of ilie Palace or ths doi r of the Legislative We have a free precs. We have liave a representative system which enables every client in the empire to point to his patron in the Senate, and which puts it .it least in the power of every woi king-man to iv quiro, if he thinks it woith while, nn actual (.urTiage. Then* is no monopoly in this country, except what is just sufficient to stimulate the ambition of those who are without the favoured pale, and to define the duties and concentrate the enerp-tes of those who are within It is known and felt by a 1 the labourers and artisans in these islands, that oftentimes one of •*tair class, with little more deliverance than his own hands have \\i ought, has attended from the common rank of poverty to competence, to privilege, to splendour, an<l to power. Theie is no lielotiy jmongst us,, excelling that which nges may have moulded, and ■which, wuh every possible appliance, ages are necessary to undo. The commonality does not bow down to a nobless, or cower to a soldiery. We do noc exhibit four hundred thousand aimed men, and less than two hundred thousand political constituents. Eve:y mode of social agitation >s peimitted amongst us •which does not actually break the public peace, outrage property or feelings, or exert a tyranny stronger than the law. If we have not a National Guard, neither do we desire one. Our courts are open and fair. The facts ol our social condition are, indeed, far from being such as the theory bet m to undertake, but the sober minded inhabitants of these islands are aware th»t such is the lot of humanity; and they are satisfied that these painful discrepancies between the promise* and the fulfilments of BuUbh constitution and law are in the course of continual abatement. We are aware, however, as we have just intimated, that »o theory will satisfy thobe who suffer a stern reality of degradation and denial. The needy m'llions w.uit something more than the cold eye of justice, or the illuaive smiles ot freedom. They want house, food, and clothing. They want of woik and wages. They want time to live and time to die, and for these purposes the assistance of that state to which they contribute so much, and which undertakes to protect them from a foreign foe, should also render aid against domestic ills. The state is wite and good, and great in the eyes of humble men. They fear it, they worship it, they love it.x What childlike confidence does the honest labourer repose in " the gentlemen" who Tulo the destinies of his little sphere! The Briii-h labourer ii taught fr"m his childhood to look up for counsel and aid. For our part, we have continually urged that it is the duty of the State to fulfil s>uch expectations. We have rejected and denounced the system of leaving things to take their course, and the poor man to shift for himself, as uite»!y inapplicable to our social 6tate, Amid much obloquy we have impressed upon the State the duly of supplying work to the willing and relief to tbn destitute; of protecting the more helpless, sex or age ; of enacting by law ihe dictates of humanity and common sense; of adapting legislation to the facts of the case ; of laying the chief pressure of our fiscal burdeus on those who are most able to bear ; of helping industry by timely exemptions. We cannot better denote the spirit of our advice than by referring to the chief sbgma we have had to endure. Not a month has passed for many a long year without a repetition of the charge that we were falling into the errors of Communism. The smallest interference with wages, time, circumstance yf employment, was compared to the frantic demands of a rustic demagogue. That was our offence. We aimed too much at a domestic, a paternal, a protecting legislation. Now, we do not hesitate to say that much of our present peace and security arises from the extent to •which the nation has complied with these principles, imperfect and partial as that compliance has confessedly been. The population of these islands know and confess with more or less readiness that it is under a kind and thoughtful government, anxious to assist the weak and to relieve the poor. Every child of poverty knows that there are laws and institutions of chanty, with a powerful section in the press and the senate labouring to give them more efficacy and scope. The Tart population of the factory and the mill feels that its rulers watch over its strength, its health, iti education, and its comfoit. The Mate thus rises up before the national mind as reasonable and tender. In point of fact, under very great hindrance*, and drawbacks, the dream of the Communiit and Socialist receives its nearest possible fulfilment. The Suie becomes a society for the common good, giving to all its members a rateable share m the common benefit and stock, J providing for the sick and aged from the funds of health and strength, and securing the weak from ex« cessive competition. The British empire is a great friendly society/ We have often described it in that character, and done our best that it should act up to the responsibilities implied. ' Hence it is that we alone stand when every realm is shaken, and revolution, like the beacon fire, glanceß from throne to throne. In one month the whole of Central Europe has not only quailed, hut succumbed. Why need we count up twenty States ? Austria has capitulated 1 That speaks for the rest. Austria, with her untold army, with her hundred and fifty thousand men to spare for Italy, with her gigantic ally, with her undisputed ascendancy, with her Mttternich, has lubmitted to the common fate. Surely the fallen despots will say, "Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us ?" Theie is scarcely aught left for revolution. But its course is from the west. What next ? If Vienna had its Hungary, its Poland, its Venice, and Mtl.in, has not St. Petersburgh also its Moicow, its rebellious Poles, iti Teutonic tributaries, its Siberian tribes, its Circassian foes ? Nay, the capital itself is built on new territory. Meanwhile, thui far, England pursues the even tenour of her course. Revolution bhiinks from a metropolis where it cannot find one refpectable malignant. It sinks at oace into a vulgar burlesque! What a hundred ihou*

sand armed men could not Jo in Paris, has been effected in London by a few pocket truncheons. In the sister island two moutliinet fanatics have been howling treason lor a twelvemonth, and have done their best to make Dulihn a suburb of Paris. The bloody design jnoved as liollow as a maniac's dream. So fares revolution in this United Kingdom ; and so will it fare as long as tho legislature anticipates its demands. A Curiosity. — We have been shown an exceedingly cuiious piece of woikmanship, which has been made by a shepherd while engaged tending his flock on the run. It consists of a small box about two and a-half inches square, rather lew than more, inside of which are no less than thii ty-live other boxes, »H fitting, in like manner, into each other. The whole of them have be*n made from almost every known kind of timber our colony produces. Tho workmanship ii exceedingly ingenious, the lid of each box closes with a likeness of the tree from whiih iho wood was cut. A Scotchman named M'Lachlan, a turner by tradd is the individual to whom the credit of the workmanship belongs. — Gcelong Advertiser.