A wave of revolutions swept across Europe in 1848. Beginning in Sicily and followed by the February revolution in France, many countries were rocked by popular uprisings. Britain though remained largely impervious to revolutionary change - as shown in The Manchester Guardian leader columns, some of which start by reacting to quotes from the rival Manchester Examiner

Editorial: The new reform - reasons for agitation

21 June 1848

We copy the following passage from the Manchester Examiner:



Are the wealthy merchants and manufacturers of Lancashire and Yorkshire so blind as not to see that, with a revolutionary Europe around us, some advance [towards revolution?] must be made here.

26 February 1848: Insurrection in Paris Read more

We utterly deny the necessity. If all Europe is going headlong to the dogs – and that seems to be the real state of the case – is that any reason why we should be moving towards the kennel? If there is a wild and revolutionary spirit abroad, which despises all moderate reforms, and spurns all orderly, legal, and constitutional modes of obtaining them – if the people in Paris, in Berlin, in Vienna, and in Naples, instead of accepting the reasonable concessions of their sovereigns, are grasping at impossible theories of government, which can end only in anarchy or despotism – if their commerce is ruined, their industry paralyzed, their credit, commercial and financial, annihilated – their rich men in daily fear and alarm, and their labourers in idleness and misery, are these things to serve as inducements to take one single step in the direction in which they have been moving?

We rather think that the cautious and sober-minded people of England – who do not want to change their constitution every half-dozen years – who like to try every institution thoroughly before they condemn it – will be of opinion that it is quite well to wait and see the results of the experiments making by their neighbours, before they shake loose any of the foundations on which their own political institutions are based. Englishmen have sufficient confidence in themselves to choose their own time for making political changes; and they will neither have them dictated, nor even suggested, by other people.



What is it to us that Frenchmen, and Germans, and Italians, choose to block up their streets, and to overturn their governments? We can only pity their folly, and their ignorance of the true mode of improving their political institutions. Their insurrections, and barricades, and fights, have no earthly connection with our orderly and constitutional progress, effected by the force of argument, acting gradually and peaceably upon public opinion. Englishmen know well enough when large and important changes are required in their institutions, without troubling themselves about what foreigners may do or think, and without waiting to be stimulated and agitated by Mr. Hume and his followers.

This is an edited extract. Read the full article here and here. The Manchester Examiner was founded in 1846 to promote Manchester Liberalism and for 40 years was the Guardian’s most formidable rival. The major difference between the two papers was that the Examiner was in effect the mouthpiece of the Liberal political machine. It closed in 1894.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Historic image of riots in Paris in 1848. Photograph: PA

Editorial: The fruits of revolution

28 June 1848

From the archive, 28 June 1848: Insurrection in Paris Read more

We copy the following paragraph from the Examiner of yesterday:—

It is true that the European revolution has its dark side as well as its bright one; but we would have the latter be glanced at too, and not, as our contemporaries would wish, the former only.

“The European revolution has its dark side as well as its bright one!” It has its dark side, certainly; but where is the bright side, or even the bright spot, to relieve the deep gloom of the want and misery – of the bloodshed and disorder – which overspread the continent? We should be glad to see it. To us it seems, however, that both sides, and all sides, are involved in settled and impenetrable dankness. It is, no doubt, certain that affairs will not and cannot always remain in their present deplorable condition. Nay, it is possible, that out of present and temporary evil, future and permanent good may arise; but, for the present, we see no prospect of any such desirable result.



Is it in France that the Examiner expects to witness the advent of the golden age, which is to compensate for the misery and bloodshed of the present day? Where are the symptoms of its dawning? We cannot see the slightest appearance of any such capacity for self-government amongst the people of France as to inspire the slightest hope that they will be able to form a republican government, capable of maintaining order, protecting life and property, re-establishing public and private credit, and promoting the resumption of commerce, and the renewed employment of labour. So long as the present political chaos, which they call a republic, is continued, we can expect nothing but a succession of insurrections and massacres, alternating with periods of general gloom and distrust, of enforced idleness and pinching want. And what is the most probable termination of this state of things? A military despotism!

If the prospects of freedom and prosperity are not visible in France, are they to be discovered in Germany? Do they seem likely to spring from the deliberations of the convocation of visionaries and dreamers assembled at Frankfurt, who spend one-half of their time in discussing impossible schemes of German unity and nationality and the other half in fomenting and keeping up foreign war? Are they to be witnessed in Berlin, or Vienna, or Prague? Can any rational man see in any part of Germany the slightest hope of tranquillity and prosperity, as the results of popular wisdom and popular control? If there are any facts upon which such a hope can be founded, we shall be glad to have them pointed out; but to us it seems that there is scarcely a hope for the protection even of life and property, except that which is to be found in a restoration of something like despotic authority.

All this is, doubtless, very melancholy; but we should be deceiving our readers if we were to induce them to look for any other result of the wild and senseless insurrections which have thrown Europe into confusion. We do not think that the present is the proper time for organising an extensive agitation for the attainment of sweeping political changes; and so, if we may judge from recent indications, think the rational and sensible portion of the people of England.

Read the full article.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Great Chartist Meeting held on Kennington Common in preparation for a march on the House of Commons in support of the People’s Charter’ calling for electoral and social reform. April 1848. Photograph: Rischgitz/Getty Images

Editorial: Social duties and political rights

7 October 1848

If the revolutions of 1848 have not realised the sanguine dreams of their projectors, they have served to precipitate a change in the public sentiment which has been preparing for many years, and which, in England, was first made apparent by that reconstruction of the conservative party, effected under the leadership and councils of Sir Robert Peel, from 1835 to 1840.

From the archive, 12 April 1848: The Chartist meeting in London Read more

The instinctive good sense and practical turn of mind of the English nation have preserved us from the experiments which most of the other nations of Europe are at present engaged in: experiments, which are testing the truth and validity of these political dogmas. Experience and contemporary history are now confirming the lessons which they have taught in past ages, but which the present generation has neglected to profit by; and experience is now exacting her revenge against those who have despised her teaching. The fullest extension of the political franchise has been won by the French and German people; and the catechism of the rights of man is in full operation in both countries. Yet how profligate and corrupt are the new governments! how fearful is the condition of the labourers! and how dreary is the immediate future of those countries!

Read the full article here and here.