NOTES BY COLONUS.

Bruce Herald, Volume VI, Issue 404, 7 February 1872, Page 5

NOTES BY COLONUS.

X BRITISH WE-PUBLIC.

It seems to be an indubitable,, fact: that there, exists in 'CJreaJ; Btitajn at tlie.present r time a certain amount of" republican spirit,; if we may so call it., .As ib what /extent this feeling prevails amtyig pur relatives at the: antipodes it, may' be difficult to form an opinion. There appears . to be T,ea>o.n. "to suppose, however, that the feeling in "favor of a republic Sties not, by any meaps, permeate . the mass of population of the British isles, Probably people at home and in the colonies, who have considered this subject of a republic, may be divided into thrW classes:— First, those /who; are called,. 6r call themselves, " ardent republicans"; namely, those who are desirous of, and are agitating for, the immediate establishment of a republican in place of the prespnt monarchial form of , Government. Secondly, of those .who are con ten t to be lookers on, without; expressing,, Jbri the present,,a deicided opinion, one way or the: other, and who are desirous of adopting that course which is. most likely to minister to the common weal. Thirdly, of out and out royalists, who. would stick to monarchy through thick and thin. Perhaps we should not be going far from the truth in asserting that the second or; intermediate class is the most numerous one in Great Britain and the colonie?. All the old twaddle about the divine. right of kings is a thing of the past, and setting asid» a few individuals \yho consider royalty too sacred a thing to be touched or moved, the great mass of the British nation in the British isles, and scattered over the globe, would be ready for acbange if they were only certain: that the public welfare required such a change. We know well that there is not a more free nation under the sun than the British — that the form of British government is in fact, if not in name, republican — that the will of the monarch is as nothing compared to the will of the people— that the combined , voice of a large majority of the nation can carry out any measure of policy or legislation. We know also that if the great mass of the nation has not as much advice as it ought to have in the British Government, the extension of the suffrage would be sufficient to secure the proper representation in the national councils of men of all classes, and that monarchy in England does not stand at all in the way_ cf the extension of popular power. Considering these circumstances, we can rationally come to no other conclusion than that no very great benefit can be expected from the change of the form of Government from that of a constitutional monarchy to that of a republic. . Undoubtedly there is something- absurd and contrary to common sense in ministers, Mr Gladstone, or the Lord Chancellor having to dance attendance on the Queen in Scotland, or in the Isle of Wight, or where else she may think fit to reside for the time being ; it is absurd that public business should be interfered with and interrupted to accommodate an individual. Generally speaking, also, royalty may incline men to hold in extraordinary respect a semblance of worldly pomp and power, and induce them to value less those things only that are worthy of reverence, wisdom, and goodness. Although a change in the form of Govern ment may be desirable, there is not the slightest necessity to be in a hurry to make the change. It is to be hoped it would not, but it is possible the immediate establishment of a republic in Great Britain might tend to bring about a most melancholy catastrophe — that of the rupture of that fellow-feeling which binds the British colonies to each other and to the horn« country. That a civil war should break out to settle such a trifling matter as royalty would be horrible in the highest degree, and the action of agitators who would dare to stir up the passions of men, and induce them to fly at each others r.hroats to settle such an insignificant dispute, must be looked upon by all sensible men with the greatest detestation, indignation, and disgust.

HOME NEWS.

A gentleman, whose norn de plume is " Piccadilly," and who is own correspondent in London of the ' New York Herald,' lias interviewed Mr Charles Bradleigb, the comiDg 1 Cromwell, and great ftg-itator for a British Republic. Mr Bradlei^h at present hangs out in a humble dwelling in a dirty street in the east end of London, but when the republic is proclaimed he i* •romg 1 to reside in Buckingham Palace.

We are told that, there are at present in Ens-land and Scotland 68 republican clubs, and 75,000 "ardent republicans," the men enrolled being;" for, the most part the highest, most intelligent, and most well-to-do amongst skilled artisans. The shopkeepers hold aloof, and nothing can fie done with tlie agricultural class yet. The Queen is to be the last monarch who shall sit on England's throne. If she died to-morrow there is to be no regency, but a repnblic is to be proclaimed instanter. If necessary, there is to be a fight for it. " I deprecate such an issue," says Mr Bradleigh ; " I, deny the right to. inaugurate revolution by iorce; but the monarchy must end, and the republic; must be set up. I shall not strike the first blovy^biit 11 it comes to blows 1 shall be certain to strike the last. If the crisis is deferred for five years, the revolution may be a bloodless one at its commencement ; If it comes novv, it. will be a bloody one." If this be "acorrecc account of what Bradleigh said, the best course to adopt with the worthy man, woi\ld,prpbablybe e tb;Conbign his valuable person td a r.espep.tablelunatic asylum: for a brief periodj in tlie hope that rest and quiet might restore the equilibrium of his mind. A republic may be bII very Well, but to induce British men Id fight.about such a harmless and irisignificant. thing as royalty, as it exists at present in Grnat Britain, is conduct only ot a fool or a knave.

At the annual meeting of. the National Education League, Mr ForsterV policjf

was very: generally condemned, and n resolution wns unanimously, adopted request- 1 ing far Dixon to gitfe no tide in the House of Commons of a motion declaring /.the Education Act." defective and urisa'tisfatf-l tovy,!' calculated; to ..promote rejigious discord throughout /the colony, /and as vio> ■jating 'the rigtits of conscience. Mr M'iaW, M.P., complained that, denominatiienal as" the Education. Act itself was, both it and Educated Schools Act had been, worked with a •dend'm'inationaT'bias. Mr Miall spoke Of the sectarian spirit as the worst 'feature of the agf, arid of the concessions^ 'the Government made to it as the worst' part of their policy. The object of the League was, he declared, to banish this sectarian quarrel from English society by pushing it out of the field of education. Mr Miall's remarks were loudly cheered. The movement in favor of a nine hours day's work, instead j of 12 or 14 hours, is making considerable progress in England. In the north-east district nearly every large firm has made the concession, and in other purts of England many employers have followed the example. Of late it is stated the International Society his not been supported by the working men of England. In America a piano has been patented, in which in place of strings there are steel hooks, of a peculiar shape, which are said to give, a much clearer and sweeter tone than the strings. These forks, also, are practically everlasting, and do not require tuning. ■ ..