THE WELLINGTON OF PEACE. [From the Spectator, May 8.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 745, 22 September 1852, Page 4

THE WELLINGTON OF PEACE. [From the Spectator, May B.]

Some distinguished member of tbe Peace party has been doing the good service of placing the doctrines entertained by bis colleagues and the opponents of all militia bills in their most forcible light. A light so forcible, indeed, that when Lord Palmerston cited the exposition in -Parliament, other members of the same party, who are more worldly-wise, disclaimed the doctrines. The enthusiastic pamphleteer, however, has far the best of it iv consistency and vigour of development. He showed how it is the .Christian duty of this country to be conquered by France, and forecalculated the victory to be attained by that species of national martyrdom. He sets forth his view in a dialogue on " The Rifle Club or the Manual Duty of Soldiers." He grants that l( 250,000 men may come from France," " unopposed" ; thai not findit)g t tbe £18,000,000 which tbeyex-.

pect, '-* they- will levy heavy contributions on the city of London ;" and thus -hi proceeds — " Parliament will be swept away ; the courts of justice* will be abolished ; the French General will issue write, and a new Parliament will be called, consisting simply of Frenchmen ; the Code Napoleon will be substituted for the' law of England : the Sovereign will live like a private individual, in Scotland ; the government, of course, will be annihilated, and the country will be entirely governed by this French army which has invaded us. But then," adds the writer, " what will that signify ? — we shall go on working our mills. We shall stand behind our counters and sell our wares in our shops. People must eat ; they will want clothing. We shall supply their wants, and we shall go on making money." This is candid ; there is no mental reservation about it. It is too candid for Peace men who are obliged to confront Parliament. We can. imagine j them sayiug to the writer, " Yes, yes, my dear fellow, there is a great deal of truth in what you say ; but the House of Commons is not prepared for it, and tbeie is no use in giving strong meat to babes. But we are making daily progress ; and be assured that all which you desire is involved in Cobden 4 only the House does not see it. He is the boy for the point of the wedge." However,, we ; have not reached, the climax. The stale of things already . described, says the writer, will astonish the. world : finding that the non-resistance is not a trap to ensnare — that there is no ambush— some man among the 250,000 who is a man of deep Christian feeling, will be struck with so glorious a spectacle as a nation remaining without resistance under the invasion of a foreign foe ; Russia, Austria, and Prussia, will hear of it : the French will go back to their own country, will offer to return the £50,000,000 which they have taken, and we shall magnanimously decline to receive it J Such is the victory which is to shame the series of Crecy and Waterloo. Let us ask three questions of this ingenuous writer. First question. He has perhaps been pestered by an organ boy, and has given him sixpence, not to stop, but to go ; and eftsoons a most melodious sound has burst upon his ear from another barrel organ, and then another. Now fifty mil* lions sterling is a large gratuity ; and does not the philosophic writer think, if the French organ I boy made so good a profit out of a summer trip Ito England, that when Russia, Austiia, and Prussia " hear of it," — as assuredly they will, I and very much amused they will be, — their organ ! boys will be very likely to visit Britannia in her superannuated benignity ? Second question. It is presumed that 250,000 of our gallant neighbours will share our hospitality for some time.; and the ingenious pamphleteer does not confidently reckon on more than one gentleman of deep Christian feeling in the quarter of a million : now, what will the ladies of the Peace party say to the transactions that must be looked for in the interval ? Perhaps, however, they do not object ; and certainly we have no j wish to dictate to the ladies of the Peace party j even by the implication of a query, nor yet to the gentlemen. We only wish to know whether the writer, who does not appear to be familiar with military affairs, has taken that' practical questiou under consideration. Third question. What a rangements are to be made respecting the children of so very mixed a parentage ? We should be sorry to be inquisitive 4 but so provident a person as the writer who elucidates the Manual Duty of a Soldier cannot have overlooked that poiut ; and the public, we think, especially the parish, and the persons interested in the succession to real property or the peerage, have a right for information from the author of the scheme before they adopt it. Colonel Thompson, Mr. Wakey, and other allies of the Peace party, wished to shirk the connexion with a brochure so little suited to the House of Commons : but it is theirs by internal evidence. It is the logical sequel to the conduct of those gentlemen who try to prevent, in detail, every proposition for securing thai resistance which, as the pamphleteer lets out, is not to be given at all. Mr. Cobden and his friends strive to withhold the means of resistance; of course not desiring to resist, only they dare not *' tell that to the marines." Mr. Cobden, indeed, denies that he trusts to the forbearance of French Generals, and now explains that he trusts to the spirit of rivalry which will prevent Louis Napoleon from permitting any French General from gaining so great a prize ! " Timeo Frenchmen et donaferentes ;" but Cobden of the West Riding and Cochrane of the Esmeralda know not fsar. Bright talks of resisting the French in a body, when they begin to come ; but he would withhold even the beginning of a discipline to that end ; and for what reason can he do so ? The illustrious pamphlet supplies the only logical reason. When one coast is smitten, turn the other. Nor can the pamphlet be disclaimed as unauthenticated. It issues from the bouse of that distinguished colleague who desires to be a Member, not for Peace, but for Perth — Mr. Charles ■ Gilpia. Nay, those who are acquainted with the genuine, sanguine, thoroughgoing Quakerism of that excellent person, would not be surprised to learn that it came from his own pen. Bright talks of fighting, though he is a Quaker ; but evidently Gilpin puts forth the real Quaker view. The brochure therefore is, authentic; it is the Peace, plan of national defence ; only it has been disclosed somewhat prematurely. But having a thorough reliance on his doctrine, the author thinks that if it can conquer the French, it should at least be able, beforehaud, to conquer the prejudices of bis countrymen : and so far he is j right. " 1