Various
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 363, January, 1846
Heavy cavalry, in our opinion, ought to wear the cuirass; this is the only relic of ancient defence which we are advocates for keeping up, and we do so upon the score of utility. It is rather heavy for the men, but only so because they are not accustomed to wear it in a judicious manner; it is of real service to the arm in question, and is the greatest ornament that a soldier can put on. It is true that our heavy cavalry did all their gallant deeds without it, and may do so over again; still it can do no harm, and may be of much use to a brigade of decidedly heavy cavalry; the helmet and the cuirass should always go together, neither without the other, as we see it often now, forming an absurd anomaly. The coat of the cavalry should be long, like the frock-coat for the heavy regiments; short, like the lengthened jacket of the light infantry, for the corresponding branch of the mounted soldiers; and the lancers should all wear the Andalusian or Hungarian jacket. While these may be ornamented with all the fancies of lace, embroidery, and buttons, the dress of the cuirassiers should be severely plain and simple. Epaulettes here, if worn, should be mere enrichments of the top of the sleeve; no weight has to be carried on the horseman's shoulder, and therefore our metal plates now stuck upon them are useless. The belt of the cartouche-box, if needed, can be confined on the shoulder by other means; and this, as well as the waist-belt for the sabre, should be broad and serviceable, fit for the roughest use.
To complete the clothing of our brave cavaliers, we would urge that wherever the helmet and cuirass are used, there the long boot should be adopted, were it only for harmony of purpose, to say nothing of means of defence. They need not be stiff, unwieldy, and so-called sword-proof boots, like those of the Life-guards, but equally high and much more flexible; they would cost a good deal of money at the first mounting of a regiment, but they would last for a long time by merely renewing their feet, and they would be both serviceable and comfortable to the men. Let all other regiments adhere as at present to their trousers – they can hardly do better; though, if any smart hussar corps wanted to show off their well-turned limbs to the ladies on a review day, they might sport tight pantaloons and Hessian boots as of old, pace nostrâ.
One important subject, as connected with military dress, is that of national distinctions of costume; for whatever tends to remind men of their common country, whatever tends to mark them out as a band of brothers in arms, coming from the same homes, and bound to stand by each other in their noble calling – this is worthy of the attention of the skilful leader. In our own country, we have admirable opportunities of turning the strong love of local distinction and ancient glory to good account; for while we consider the brilliant scarlet of our uniforms to be distinctive of English arms, we have the glorious old plaids of Scotland, any one of which is enough to stir up the heart of the hardiest mountaineer, when he meets his brethren in the field. We are of opinion, then, that as a point of military discipline, as well as of æsthetical correctness, all English regiments – properly so called – should adhere to their red uniforms, varied with subsidiary ornaments, or other distinctions, to mark separate regiments and corps. Those from Scotland should all wear the plaids, so as to let them predominate in their habiliments – of course, we would send those stupid plumed caps to the right-about, and adopt the Scotch bonnet; but the plaid of each clan should find its place in the British army; and those noble distinctions of old feudal manners should never be done away with. The Irish regiments ought also to have their distinguishing colours; and as green seems to be the poetical tint of the Emerald Isle, there is no sound objection to the adoption of that hue for the base of the Irish uniform. Irish soldiers will fight like devils in any uniform, or in no uniform at all, as has been seen on many a gory field; but if the use of green can awaken one thought of national glory – one kindly recollection of "dear Erin" in their hearts – then let the gallant spirits from the western isle lead their headlong charges in the tint that haunts their imagination. Do we want them to have some red about their coats? – they are always willing to dye them with their best blood. And even the Taffies – the quiet, sedate Taffies – for "she is good soldier, Got tam, when her blood is up" – why should not they have some national uniform, to remind them of the blue tints of their native mountains and deep vales? Children of the mist and the wild heath, the natural rock, and the lonely lake – the glare of our Saxon red is too brilliant for them; let them wrap their sinewy limbs and fiery hearts in pale blue, and grey, and white – and so let them enter the bloody lists, where they will hold their ground by the side of the three other nations, and bear away their share of military glory.
A few words on the navy, and we have done – and only a few words; for we have nothing to say, but to give unqualified praise. In the habiliments of our jolly tras – God bless 'em! – utility is every thing, ornament nothing. They are clad just as they should be; and yet, on gala days, they know how to make themselves as coquettish as any girl on Portsmouth Downs. There is no greater dandy in the world, in his peculiar way, than your regular man-of-war's man. The short jacket, and the loose trousers, and the neat pumps, and the trim little hat, and the checked shirt, and the black riband round his neck – he is quite irresistible among the fairer portion of the creation. Or in a stormy night, with his pilot coat on, at the lonely helm, and his northwester pulled close over his ears, and his steady, unflinching eye, and his warm, lion-like heart within – the true sailor is one of the noblest specimens of man. He that is fierce as a bull, and yet tender-hearted like a young child – the greatest blasphemer on earth, and yet the most religious, or even the most superstitious, of men – he is not to be tied down by the rules of æsthetics, like a land-crab. His home is on the sea, as somebody has said or sung; he has nobody there to see him but himself, (if we may be excused the bull.) What does he care for dress? Only look at him standing by his gun, when broadside after broadside is pouring into the timbers of some sanguinary Yankee or blustering Frenchman. What is his uniform then? Let them declare who have seen that most awful of human sights, a great battle at sea; but let them not whisper it in ears feminine or polite.
To the officers, we will only add a word – let them eschew all hats and short coats, and keep to their caps and frocks. This is their proper dress. Let them keep themselves warm, comfortable, and ever ready for service. Never let them face their coats with red again. The old blue and white against all the world, say we! And let the soldiers take a leaf out of the sailors' books, and remember that utility, though accompanied by plainness, is far more consonant to the laws of æsthetics than unmeaning ornament or erroneous form.
GOETHE TO HIS ROMAN LOVE
Attempted in the Original Metre
Lass dich, Geliebte, nicht reu'n dass du mich so schnell dich ergeben!
Glaub'es, ich denke nicht frech, denke nicht niedrig von dir.
Vielfach wirkten die Pfeile des Amor; einige ritzen,
Und vom schleichenden Gift kranket auf Jahre des Herz,
Aber machtig befiedert, mit frisch geschliffener Scharfe,
Dringen die andern ins Mark, zunden behende das Blut.
In der Heroischen Zeit, da Gotten und Gottinnen liebten,
Folgte Begierde dem Blick, folgte Genuss der Begier.
Glau'bst du er habe sich lange die Gottiun der Liebe besonnen,
Als in Idäischen Hain einst ihr Anchises befiel?
Hatte Luna gesäumt den schonen Schläfer zu küssen, —
O, so hatt' ihm geschwind, neidend, Aurora geweckt!
Hero erblickte Leander am lauten Fest, und behende
Stürzte der Liebende sich heiss in die nàchtliche Fluth.
Rhea Sylvia wandelt, die fürstliche Jungfrau, der Tiber
Wasser zu schopfen, hinab – und sie ergreifet der Gott.
So erzengte die Sohne sich Mars! Die zwillinge tranket
Eine Wólfin, und Rom nennt sich die Fürstin der Welt.
Rue it not, dear, that so swiftly thy tenderness yielded thee to me —
Dream not again that I think lightly or lowly of thee.
Divers the arrows of Love: from some that but graze on the surface,
Softly the poison is shed, slowly to sicken the heart;
Others, triumphantly feather'd, and pointed with exquisite mischief,
Rush to the mark, and the glow quivers at once in the blood.
In the heroical time when to Love the Deities yielded,
Follow'd desire on a glance, follow'd enjoyment desire.
Deem'st thou the parley was long when Anchises had pleased Aphroditë,
Catching her eye as she roved deep in the woodlands of Ide?
Or that if Luna had paused about wooing her beautiful Sleeper,
Jealous Aurora's approach would not have startled the boy?
Hero had glanced on Leander but once at the Festival – instant
Plunges the passionate youth into the night-mantled wave.
Rhea in maidenly glee caroll'd down with her urn to the Tiber —
But in a moment she sank mute on the breast of the God:
Hence the illustrious Twins that were nursed in the den of the She-wolf;
Worthy of Mars were the boys: – Rome was the Queen of the World.
P.M.
EPIGRAMS
Anacreon's Grave
Wo die Rose hier blüht, wo Reben um Lorbeer sich schlingen
Wo das Turtelchen lockt, wo sich das Grillchen ergezt,
Welch ein grab est hier, das alle Götter mit Leben
Schön bepflanzt und geziert? Es ist Anacreons Ruh.
Frühling, Sommer und Herbst genoss der glückliche Dichter,
Vor dem Winter hat ihn endlich der hügel geschützt.
Here where the Rose is in bloom, the Vine and the Laurel entwining —
Here where the Turtle invites – here where the Grasshopper springs,
Whose is this grave in the midst, which the Gods with life and with beauty
Thus have circled and decked? – This is Anacreon's Tomb.
Spring, and Summer, and Autumn, the joyous spirit had tasted,
And from the Winter he hides under this hillock of green.
The Warning
Wecke den Amor nicht auf! Noch schäft der liebliche Knabe
Geh! vollbring dein Geshäft, wie es der Tag dir gebeut!
So der Zeit bedienet sich klug die sorgliche Mutter,
Wenn ihr Knäbchen entschläft, denn es erwacht nur zu bald.
Waken not Love from his sleep! The boy lies buried in slumber;
Go, and, while leisure is left, finish the task of to-day;
Even as a diligent mother, who, seizing the hour as it passes,
Works while her child is asleep – knowing he'll waken too soon.
The Swiss Alp
War doch gestern dein haupt noch so braun wie die Locke der Lieben,
Deren holdes Gebild still aus der Ferne mir winkt;
Silbergrau bezeichzet dir fruh der Schnee nun die Gipfel,
Der sich im sturmender nacht, dir um den Scheitel ergoss.
Jugend, ach, ist dem Alter so nah, durch's Leben verbunden
Wie ein beweglicher Traum Gestern und Heute verband.
Yesterday's eve were thy peaks still dark as the locks of my loved one,
When from a distance she looks fair and serene upon me;
But, with a mantle of snow, at morn those summits were silver'd,
Which the chill fingers of night sudden had spread on thy brow.
Ah! how swiftly in life may youth and old age be united —
Even as the flight of a dream yesterday link'd with to-day.
North and South
Glanzen sah ich das Meer, und blinken dië liebliche Welle
Frisch mit gunstigem Wind zogen die Segel dahin.
Keine sehnsucht fühlte mein Herz; es wendete rückwärts
Nach dem Schnee des Gebirgs, bald sich der schmachtende Blick.
Südwärts liegen der Schätze wie viel! Doch einer im Norden
Zieht, ein grosser Magnet, unwiderstehlich zurück.
Glitter'd the ocean around, in light the billows were breaking,
Freshly, with favouring winds, glided our sails o'er the sea.
Yet for the land of beauty I felt no longing; in sadness
Backward my glances still turn'd towards the region of snow.
Southward how many a treasure invites! but one, like the Magnet,
Stronger than all, to the North draws me resistlessly back.
CHRISTMAS CAROL, 1845
Tune. – "Packington's Pound."
I
"The intrigues of this month shall we e'er comprehend?
Will the Dons, when the Parliament meets, give a clue?
Will one Tory among them speak out like a friend,
On the why and because of this famous to-do?
Is it really the case
That the Whigs are in place,
Because Peel, when his colleagues assembled, appall'd them
By a cool proposition,
To toss to perdition,
Both the faith and the force that in office install'd them."
II
Thus groan'd out a grumbler, all sulky and sour,
But for Christopher's temper such trash was too much;
And it soon made the malecontent quiver and cower,
When he saw preparations for handling the Crutch.
"Lay your croaking aside,"
The old gentleman cried,
"Or I'll make you eat up each ungenerous word:
Not our deadliest foe,
Such injustice should know,
And far less shall a friend be convicted unheard.
III
"Come read here their Mottoes extracted from Burke
For the Commoners, – here for the Peerage from Lodge;
Say, can these be consistent with pitiful work,
On a par with some Whiggish O'Connellite dodge?
Though at present a cloud
May the mystery shroud,
Till secrecy's seal from their lips be removed;
When the truth shall appear,
It will all become clear,
And the words here inscribed shall again be approved.
IV
"Ne'er believe that Peel's noble Industria Plann'd
Aught design'd of its honours his fame to despoil,
Aught but Justice to Industry, Justice to Land,
To the loom and the ploughshare, the sea and the soil.
His hand will still hold
Straight, steady, and bold,
The scales where our wealth and our welfare are weigh'd:
Still though tempests may blow,
And cross currents may flow,
He will steer our good ship till at anchor she's laid."
V
"But surely that terrible leader of Walter's
Was not utterly void of foundation in fact.
Was the Cabinet really not full of defaulters,
And resolved for a time on that ruinous act?"
"Cease, blockhead, to babble
Your ganderlike gable:
Could Repeal e'er be Reason Contents Me with Graham,
Could the Ne Nimium
Of good Gordon succumb,
Or the Stanley's Sans Changer be changed into shame?
VI
"With Avito Honore would Wortley turn tail,
To his Præsto Et Persto is Binning untrue?
Could the Sperno Timere of Somerset quail,
Or a Ripon with treachery blot Foy Est Tout?
Could the princely Buccleuch
Stoop the star-spangled blue
Of his Bellenden banner when Leaguers came on?
Proved the Lion a jest
On great Wellington's crest?
Did his Virtus exude at the shriek of Lord John?
VII
"Arthur falter'd? – I'll swallow such inpudent flams
When the ears of the sow yield us purses of silk;
When there's no Devil's Dust in the Cotton Lord's shams,
And the truck-master's pail holds unmystified milk.
Not a Tory, I swear,
Will be forced to declare
In the face of the Nation's assembled Senatus.
That from duty he shrunk,
Or once felt in a funck
About Cobden, and Bright, and some rotten potatoes!
VIII
"We shall see them again, even now or erelong,
Upon Wisdom and Equity taking their stand,
Calm, able, and upright, harmonious, and strong,
In peace and prosperity ruling the land.
Firm, faithful, and free?
What they say they will do —
No Right unprotected, no Wrong unredress'd;
While writers of Letters
And all their abettors
Stand in swaggering impotence caught and confess'd."
THE CRISIS
The announcement that the Peel Ministry had resigned was received by us, as we believe it was by the nation at large, with feelings of sincere and solemn regret. We do not know that any Cabinet has existed within our memory whose retirement was wished for by so few, and deprecated by so many among all classes of men. We have doubted the policy of some of its measures, and more than doubted the propriety of others. But we have never ceased to respect the energy, the ability, and the honesty of the great men composing it; and have always felt that in those points on which we could not agree with them, they were entitled to a generous forbearance, due to their responsible and arduous position, as the ministers who have most strenuously and most successfully endeavoured to solve the problem, how the government is to be carried on under the Reform Bill. The disappointment of some expectations among a powerful and prominent part of their supporters had diminished the enthusiasm, and divided the feelings, of the party who mainly contributed to bring them into power. But, on the other hand, it should not be forgotten, that they equally disappointed the adverse expectations, and ultimately gained the confidence of a large, and not unimportant, portion of the country, who for years had been taught to believe, that the accession of Conservatives to power would commence a new era of warfare, oppression, profusion, and corruption. Let us look fairly at some of the practical and palpable facts of the case – at some of the most conspicuous features of public affairs, during their administration. Agriculture has flourished, and agricultural improvement has advanced in an unprecedented degree. Commerce has plumed her wings anew, and added other regions to her domain. Public Credit has been supported and advanced, and the revenue raised from an alarming and increasing depression. Peace has been universally maintained abroad, and agitation rendered powerless and contemptible at home. The Poor have been contented and employed, and not a murmur has been heard against the authority of the Crown, or the principles of the Constitution. These unmistakable results have been felt by all men, and all have confessed, in their hearts, that however they may have been offended with minor blemishes – whether by the short-coming, or by the excess of ministerial liberality, – the great purposes of government have been achieved by the ministry now dissolved, and they will frankly acknowledge with ourselves, that we shall not soon look upon its like again.
We know nothing of the causes that have led to this memorable and momentous event, except that apparently differences of opinion prevailed among the members of the Ministry in reference to the corn-laws. We shall not believe, until we hear it from their own lips, that any portion of the Cabinet have advocated any scheme fraught with danger and injustice to the best interests of the country: nor shall we indulge in any conjecture as to the real nature of the policy that may have been under discussion, where conjecture must be so vague, and where it must so soon give place to authentic information. We shall merely say, that any measure calculated to place agriculture and industry generally, in a disadvantageous and defenceless position, must have met with our unfactious, but firm, opposition. If ever the day should come, when protection, by common consent, were to be withdrawn, truth compels us to declare, that there is no one by whose hand we should desire to see that painful and dangerous operation performed so much as Sir Robert Peel; – not because we should be insensible to all the awkward and painful embarrassments of such a change of course; but simply, because we are bound to say, that there is no other man of whose knowledge, skill, and sagacity we have the same opinion. By none we think could the fall be so much broken, or the transition made so smooth, or so little injurious. Certain it is, that a measure of total and immediate abolition from the Whigs, incompetent and incapable as they have been proved, would be a calamity of which the magnitude can scarcely be estimated by the most gloomy imagination. We are far, however, from contemplating the necessity or possibility of such a policy from any Ministry whatever.
We take our stand upon the principle of protection to national agriculture and industry, in the existing and peculiar circumstances of the country. We do not love restrictions for their own sake, or desire any protection by which nothing is to be protected. But we think that protection is demanded by the exigencies of the whole community, and to that extent and on that ground we advocate its preservation for the general good. We shall not enquire at present how far the amount or the form of that protection may be modified. That may no doubt be a varying question, of which the discussion is to be controlled only by the grave consideration that its too frequent agitation is a great evil, as inevitably unsettling important rights and arrangements. But if it be thought that the rapid progress of events in this railway age admits or requires a relaxation or re-construction of existing restrictions, we are prepared candidly to consider any specific plan that may be tabled, and to weigh deliberately the amount and kind of protection that may now be necessary to preserve our status quo, having regard to the facilities of transit, the discoveries of science, the progress of improvement, the increase of population, the abundance of money, and any other elements which may be alleged as to a certain extent emerging since the last adjustment of the scale, and having special regard also to any alteration in the distribution of taxation which may accompany the proposal for such change. We do not see our way to such a change. We do not recognise its necessity; but we think it unbecoming the position occupied by those who concur in our principles to offer a blind or bigoted resistance to any discussion of a practical matter, which must always depend greatly on surrounding circumstances and complex calculations. Far less shall we here enquire whether the time is soon or is ever to arrive when all protection is to cease. In politics, as in other things, the absolute words of "always" or "never" are rarely to be spoken. It is sufficient for us to say, that the period when such a revolution ought to take place has not as yet been presented to our minds as an object of present and practical contemplation.
Let us unite, then, in support of these national principles with a calm, candid, and temperate firmness, demanding a just and fair protection, so far and so long as it is needed to keep our soil in cultivation, and to foster those improvements, which cannot be carried on without the prospect of a due return, and by means of which alone, if ever, the necessity of protection may be superseded, or its amount diminished. Let us oppose any rash or undue alteration, from whatever quarter it may come; but, above all, let us resist to the uttermost the attempts of selfish Leaguers and the more reckless portion of the Whigs, whose interested or unprincipled policy would overlook all those large and deep-seated considerations, which in every view require so much management, and such nice computation, before any thing can be done in so momentous a matter as the providing permanently for a nation's food, and the development of a nation's resources with a due regard to those various interests which seem often to be conflicting, but which, in a just point of perspective, are ultimately identical.
Our pain in contemplating the loss of one ministry, is not alleviated by our anticipation of the ministry that is expected to succeed. The rash and presumptuous man who has been called to take office, does not possess, and his character, so far as hitherto known, is not calculated to command, the confidence of the British nation. We could not look back upon the crude projects and unscrupulous practices by which the last Whig ministry disgraced their office and endangered their country, without a feeling of the deepest alarm – if we believed it possible that a repetition of them would now be tolerated. What is to be the character and course of our new rulers? Independently of the corn-laws, what is to be their policy as to Ireland, as to foreign affairs, as to domestic finance? Is the Popish Church to be endowed in the sister kingdom? or is the Protestant Establishment to be overthrown? Is repeal to be openly patronized, or only covertly connived at? Is Lord Palmerston to be let loose on our relations with other powers, and to embroil us, before six months are over, in a quarrel with France and a war with America? Is our revenue to be supported to the level of our expenditure, or is a growing deficiency to be permitted to accumulate, till our credit is crippled, and our character branded with almost Pensylvanian notoriety? Is the country prepared for such enormities as these, or for the risk of their being attempted? We hope not: we think not. We feel assured that the very contemplation of their possibility, would make the nation rise in a mass, and eject the imbecile impostors who have already been so patiently tried, and so miserably found wanting.
Then, as to the corn-laws, is the new minister to adhere to his last manifesto, or has he used it merely as a lever for opposition purposes, to be laid aside, like some implement of housebreaking, when an entry into the premises has been effected? That attempt will scarcely be tolerated by his own supporters. Then how is he to carry his measure? With the present House of Commons, he cannot hope to do so, nor can he entertain that anticipation from any dissolution, except one carried on under such circumstances of unprincipled agitation, as would convulse the country, and prove fatal to commercial credit and prosperity.
But suppose he had the power, how would he use it? Would his measure be such as would immediately throw any considerable portion of land out of cultivation? That seems to be the hinging point of this corn-law question; and it is one on which the "total and immediate" men are more evasive, in public discussion, than on any other, though privately such of them as understand the subject, are fully aware of its bearings. If the proposed scheme would not attain or involve the result of throwing inferior soils out of culture, what good would it do to the League and their friends? For, strange to say, when the matter is probed to the bottom, the battle for which the League are truly fighting is directed to the great national end of laying waste inferior land. It is only by lowering rents and prices that they expect benefit, yet it is as clear as day that rents are dependent on the comparative value of the highest and lowest grades of the land in tillage; and if prices fall, those lands that barely pay at the present rates must cease to be cultivated. Read any of the more open and outspoken repealers. Take up the little tales of Miss Martineau, one of the most able and honest of her sect, and see how completely the object is to get rid of the expense attending the cultivation of inferior land. If that object is not attained by total and immediate repeal the whole discussion is a delusion. But if Lord John's proposed measures will throw lands out of cultivation, to a large extent, what provision is to be made to avert the inevitable evils that must ensue? How is the surplus population to be supported that will thus be thrown loose on the market of labour? How are the burdens to be provided for that the land thus disabled has hitherto borne? Are the imposts on agriculture to increase while its returns are to diminish? or is the old Whig expedient to be resorted to, of raising that very tax which they have resisted and denounced? Are all customs-duties to be abolished, and is the deficiency to be supplied by having the property-tax aggravated to whatever multiple the account may require? What safeguards or palliatives are to be devised to prevent the panic likely to ensue from so vast and so sudden a revolution; in which, under the instant diminution of rents and precariousness of prices, every mortgagee will be driven in desperation to recur upon his debtor, and every landlord upon his tenant; while the whole landed interest, high and low, though chiefly, no doubt, the middle and smaller proprietors and tenants, will be compelled to curtail their expenses to the lowest sum, and those who have already but a narrow margin of surplus, be reduced to beggary and ruin.
But would this confusion and distress affect the landed interest alone? No; the same alarm which involved that interest in ruin, would soon extend to manufactures, by striking at their foundation, credit. Already, from a singular and unhappy combination of causes, a period of restricted circulation and of high interest for money, has begun to follow on one of unlimited accommodation: distrust seems ready to take the place of confidence: gigantic schemes in progress are paralysed or threatened with abandonment: the country appears to be trembling on the brink of one of those commercial crises which from time to time, and unavoidably, arise out of the spirit of speculation. Let but this additional element of confusion – the distress of the agricultural classes, and all that depend upon them– be thrown into the already wavering scale, and who can pretend to estimate the amount of ruin which a week may produce? The paradise of free-trade in corn may indeed be obtained, but it will be reached through the purgatory of a general bankruptcy.
But is free-trade to be confined to corn? Are the agriculturists alone to be deprived of protection, the manufacturing interests retaining the advantage of those protecting duties which exclude the competition of foreign markets? That is plainly impracticable. The silk, the wool, the iron, the manufactures of the Continent – the "main articles of food and clothing," according to Lord John Russell's letter – are also to be admitted into our markets at rates with which native industry cannot contend. Is this likely to raise wages, or to keep them as they are? Will it better the condition of the working classes? Or is the condition even of the higher classes in the mercantile circles to be made more comfortable by that immediate increase of the income-tax, which must be imposed, to balance the loss of revenue arising from the deficiency of our customs, if national faith is to be preserved, or the government of the country conducted. In every view of the case, and to every interest in the state, we believe that absolute free-trade, such as appears to be contemplated by the late leader of the Whigs, would be fraught with ruin. The letting loose of such a storm upon the State, with the hand of Lord John Russell to hold the helm, is a contingency from which we believe the very boldest will draw back.