23 OCTOBER 1852, Page 11

SILENCE IS PEACE.

FRUI is hypocritical, not only towards others, but towards itself. A. Correspondent learns " with a mixture of astonishment and dis- may," that, as we said last week, " the most general feeling mani- fested in the press, in the conversation of the city, the club, and the drawingroom, professes to be that the ' Empire' will confer 'stability' on France, and therefore peace on Europe." " Iremeus," however, notices and corroborates the distinction which we then made : we did not say that the feeling is so, but that it professes to be so, and professes for special reasons. We do not believe, indeed, that in the bottom of their hearts, men, either East or West of Temple Bar, really. feel that the institution of Louis Napoleon, whether called Empire or not, will bo more stable for the change of epithet. But a great fact does exist and is recognized : the Usurper has ac- complished the full grasp of that power which he partially seized on " the 2d of December"; ; and., holding that power in his hand, ho is regarded with fear. FRUI is hypocritical, not only towards others, but towards itself. A. Correspondent learns " with a mixture of astonishment and dis- may," that, as we said last week, " the most general feeling mani- fested in the press, in the conversation of the city, the club, and the drawingroom, professes to be that the ' Empire' will confer 'stability' on France, and therefore peace on Europe." " Iremeus," however, notices and corroborates the distinction which we then made : we did not say that the feeling is so, but that it professes to be so, and professes for special reasons. We do not believe, indeed, that in the bottom of their hearts, men, either East or West of Temple Bar, really. feel that the institution of Louis Napoleon, whether called Empire or not, will bo more stable for the change of epithet. But a great fact does exist and is recognized : the Usurper has ac- complished the full grasp of that power which he partially seized on " the 2d of December"; ; and., holding that power in his hand, ho is regarded with fear. Usage, of course, will demand that any " empire " should be treated with an official respect. It is a part of the routine to do so, and it would require something more than revolution to dis- continue the practice in this country but the spontaneous servility in London goes beyond that homage. There is a feeling that if the Usurper be angered he may do mischief, and therefore "the City" is anxious not to anger him. If he were to do mischief, it might for the moment arrest trade ; and that is the calamity which the City must avert. Hence, although not thoroughly trusting in the sta- bility of the Empire, the City professes to put trust in it, partly. as an outward concession to his pretensions, and partly as a pre- text for its own servile acquiescence.

The people in the City must know as well as Tremens, though few of them perhaps can state it so well, that those who desire war can always find a pretext ; and that Louis Napoleon, like his uncle, with the sounding profession of peace, no doubt contemplates its antithetical accompaniment. They must know, as well as our other correspondent, R. G., that if Louis Napoleon should contract a loan in London, he would probably pay it by the repudiation of a general war. Still there is one resource for helpless incompe- tency—it is to shut the eyes. Many a sagacious creditor who has a spendthrift debtor continues to lend money even after he has lost faith in repayment, on the mere principle of acquiring present comfort by help of an absolute blindness to the future. So a very timid man, who sees an enemy approaching with threatening as- pect, obtains at least an instant's comparative ease of mind by shutting his eyes to the shocking object. It is precisely by that process that the City acquires its present confidence in Louis Na- poleon. The only hope is, that he may be fed well, sleep well, and be kept in good humour. -

Tremens remarks that "the habit of bearing arms," which is the largest reliance for national self-defence, is wanting amongst us. It is so ; for that reason we only named it alternatively ; and we see a practical difficulty in the proposal to make good our lost time in that respect. Those who rely. on blindness and silence will be in no mood to tolerate practice in the use of arms : arms make a noise.