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Leader (1850-1860), 1st January 1853, Edition Country of 3, Page 17

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      We Have Learned To Look Forward To Each ...

      _arposes of Providence , grammar was not needed . " Let us call attention _, the following : — " < The Christians claim a miraculous revelation , ' say the Mormons ; ' and so do e claim their Scriptures and our own new ones . The miracles of the Book of _[ ormon are quite as credible as the miracles of the Bible—the angels of one as uch a fact as the angels of the other—the visions of Joseph Smith as authentic as _, e visions of Paul or Peter / « Unbelievers say ,. ' Show us the gold plates , the original records of the Book of ; ormon ; ' to which the Mormon replies , ' Show us the original MS . of any part of ie Old Testament or New Testament !' << < Jesus and the Apostles wrought miracles ; so did the early church / say the _iristians ; and the Mormons claim to work miracles to-day , and have a ' church witnesses'to corroborate the claim . Smith wrought miracles ; the elders work ivacles ; the Book of Mormon itself is a stupendous miracle ; and the rapid rise id steady progress of the new sect is the most astonishing miracle on record , say icy . " If ever Christians appeal to the evidences of the genuineness -and authenticity the Christian Scriptures—the Mormons have their evidences . Do the moro niantic appeal to the ' testimony of the Spirit ?'—the Mormons do the same , and limthe * undying witness of the Holy Ghost' to the truth of their religion . Somemes the other sects attack the Mormons , and say , * Work us a miracle / Say the ormons , 'Do you appeal to miracles as proof of truth ?—let us see the miracles ' the Baptists or the Methodists , of the Calvinists or the _Unitarians ! We have iracles in abundance to show / Orson Pratt relates sundry miracles in his book . 53 and 69 , et seq . ) , ' the great miracle of Reuben Brinkworth ; ' cases of healing ie blind , the leprous ; cures of the cholera , and other diseases ; cures of ' bones t through faith / There are written records stating the names and places of . the irsons , the time , and circumstance of the miracle , with a minute nicety to which [ _C Christian Scriptures make no pretence . "

      In summing up , the writer says : " The Mormons at present at Deseret live in an orderly and quiet manner—inistrious , comfortable , and happy . The testimony of Colonel Kane , of Lieut _, rennii-on , of Captain Stansbury , proves this . There is abundant evidence that e Mormon emigrants are more orderly , temperate , clean , and decorous than any _iss of foreigners that arrive in America . We trust they may renounce the iserable absurdities of their theology , discard the doctrine of polygamy , respect _jman as the equal of man , abandon their hierarchical form of government , and come a great sect that loves God and man . It is not just to despise their humble igin , nor the _exti"avagance of the rude men who set the sect in motion . If in c second century a ' commission' had been appointed to investigate the origin of e Christian Church and the Christian Scriptures , it might perhaps have brought ange things to light . For our own part , we are glad to see any signs of a fresh ligious life in America , or in Christendom , and welcome this sect to the company the Methodists and Anabaptists , the Protestants , and the Catholics ; , and wish em all God speed . The freaks of relig ious childhood do not surprise us ; and we pect a baby to cry before it talks , to creep before it runs . "

      The editorship of the Edinburgh Review , vacant by the death of Prossor Empson , is a post so honourable and desirable , that there has been nsiderable gossip respecting the person who will be chosen to fill it . nong the persons named was Mr . John Forster , the editor of the Exlincr , and probably the very best person for the office ; Mr . Henry Rogers is also named ; but from the Athena : um we learn that Mr . George _ihnkwali . Lewis is the person chosen . He is a man of extensive ulition , and moderate views ; whether he will rescue the Edinburgh from ' .: timidity and heaviness into which it has lapsed remains to be seen .

      January 1, 1853.] The Leade R. 17. .. - ...

      January 1 , 1853 . ] THE LEADE R . 17 . .. - . — _, ? - .

      It Is Not Easy To Estimate The Value Of ...

      It is not easy to estimate the value of what may be called the suppleentary legislation of the Press . The Press is not only the exponent and e guide of public opinion ; it is the great corrector of corporate abuses ul imperfect institutions . If a railway company does wrong , a " letter to e . Times" brings that wrong before a large tribunal . If an Irish jury send man to the gallows upon evidence which would only convince an Irish ry , the Press steps in with indignant voice to arrest the hangman before e judicial murder be consummated . If a monopoly be found oppressive , il' a public body be wasteful in its expenditure , thc Press is read y to pose the evil . Last week the Atli . eiue . um made a bold and timely assault on the Auditors' Report of that much mismanaged institution , The terary Fund . We transfer a portion of the _Athenazum comments to our ges : — " Two _e'irciuiisfane ; e _; s strike ; the cyo on running _deiwn this page ; of nmiie'rals : — the _smallne-ss eif the ; amount of money collected as compared with the ; cost of _eolleefiein , anel ( 2 ) the ; want of reasonable proportion bi'twe ; e > n the ; amount frihufed anel the ; expense of its distribution . The ; amount eif money coMee ; te'd ring flu ; year which is , of _e-eiurse' , exe ; _lusive of the permanent income—is set ¦ vn at , OOHf . 4 s . The particulars of this sum are ; not , stated ; but as it is well > wn that , the Queen's annual ilemafion of 100 guineas , and the important subipfieins of | , he' _Ibre'ign ministers nnel of emr own literary _jiee'rs anel eminent men letters , are ; all collce ; t' . _'el at the expense of a penny lettor , we ; may assume ; finite // si half the . _nione-y is , or mig ht , be-, _colle'e-ti ' d almost five of cost to Ihe ; _nistitu->• li so , it appeairs that , as if is now nianiigeil , the- getting _together of a sum ler 5001 . _ceists an expensive ; dinner , and a _considi'rable amount , _hesieleas . What yearly dinner actually costs , i . s not here reipeirfed ; but as there ; we're I ' M < _'i-s at the last at a guinea each eighteen stewards present , paying two guineas li ' extra- twenty-two stewards absent , who paid three ; guineas _eae ; h—making in 21 1 _guine-as , or ' 221 / . 1 I . v ., anel as there is a loss ou the ; dinner charged against fund of 20 / . !> . _v .,- if emr reckoning is right ,, fhe-dinner must have cost upwarels _^ ' 0 / . Can any one assert , that this expense is _necessary ? Are the niiiiiuge'is i' that they get as much from the ; dinner us is spent on the dinner Y Then , as lie disburseine'iifs of the year : -we find that I 0 ' . l 5 t . has heen given away , anel t the charge for sei giving it has been no less than ( 501 /¦ _'•>*• ' )' hi' < , vil is 1 ( ' 'year than it was lust ; but oven with the improvement , what is the _ninchisiein vhioh these facts anel liguros loud i > AH tho great items of expenditure—the

      dinner , rent of premises , salaries , stationery , and so forth—may be fairly set down as expenses of collection ; the transmission by post of fifty cheques to distressed scholars is certainly not a very costly part of the business . Neither need it cost much to receive a dividend across the , bank counter . When then ? Why , this : — it appears , that to collect what we have assumed to be about- 500 / ., an expense is incurred of upwards of GOO / , for ' office expenses , ' and upwards of 240 / . are laid out on ' a dinner '—in all more than 840 / . Absurd as this supposition may seem , we have no doubt that the fact is even more so . We have assumed , for the sake of argument , that without the 810 / .-sunk , the 500 / . could not be obtained : but we are convinced that such is not the case . Every man who can read figures must see that- when he sends money to the Literary Fund no fair proportion of it can ever reach the persons in whose favour it may be subscribed . Thus the springs of charity are dried up . Even the wealthiest may fairly object to support an institution which is not true to its mission ; and as to literary men , it is unreasonable to expect them to sustain in any great degree a fund so largely drawn upon by ' office expenses' and by the losses of an annual dinner . "

      Life Of Thomas Moore. Memoirs, Journals,...

      LIFE OF THOMAS MOORE . Memoirs , Journals , and Correspondence of Thomas Moore . Edited by tho Right lion . Lord J ohn Russell . 2 vols . Longman and Co . A member of the House of Bedford—a statesman who has held the perilous eminence of the Premiership—undertaking the modest , troublesome , . and affectionate task of editing the Memoirs and Correspondence of one who gained his position by a pen , is surely remarkable among the literary phenomena of these ages , and carries the mind back to those not very distant days when the chiefs and nobles had not even the modest literaryacquirement of being able to write their own names : when hands familiar with the sword-hilt were never inked by " clerkly" occupations . The men who now represent those chief's are as ambitious of literary distinction as the " poor devils" who have with a pen to combat "W ant . The House of Howard on the platform of the lecturer at Mechanics Institutes , and the House of Bedford on the title page as " editor" of a p oet ' s Correspondence , will one day be noted as marking an era in historic development .

      And , let us hasten to add , Lord John has performed his humble task with skill and simplicity , just as if editing had been his special business . It was not an easy thing to do ; and on thc whole he has done it far better than we usually lind it done . The preface is written with unostentatious modesty , with nice feeling , and with an affectionateness honourable both to his friend and to himself . It is not because he is Lord John Kussell , whom politically we have so frequently attacked , that we should hesitate to say emphatically of him what his performance claims from us ; nor , on the other hand , that we should be led away into the opposite extreme , and be cheaply g enerous . What we have said , is saiel totally irrespective of his position , solely respective of tho work in hand . Nor will we dismiss it without noticing two minor points which arrested our critical pencil . One is a touch of bathos which overpowered our gravity . " It is true , " lie says , " Mr . Moore had a small oliice at Bermuda , and that iu his latter days he received a pension of 300 / . a-year from the Crown . But the oliice at Bermuda was of littlo avail to him , was the cause ofthe greatest _embarrassmemt he ever suilbred , aud obliged him to pass in a foreign country more than a year of his life . " What a calamity—a year of his life ;! The second point is in reference to Moore ' s tenderness towards his mother , the expressions of which , Lord John says , " liow from a heart uncorrupteel by fame , unspoilt , by the world . " W " c regret to see such currency giveMi to so ancient and _eh'plor--able a commonplace , Avhich , if it means anything , moans nonsense ; and if only a " rhetorical phrase , " has assuredly not the limrit of being novel . " ¦ Heart uneorrupfed by fame ! " Are hearts usually corrupted by it ? The utmost one can say i . s , that fame ; stimulates the ; vanity by _reitc ; rafed caresses ; though he is a bold man , anel a peior observer , who will assert that men are vainer under success than unelcr failure ; . We ; will back fhe vanity of a " neglected genius" against , that of a _su <;(; ossfu 1 _Coethe _" , an unread novelist against that of a J > _ie-he'iis , a , hissed _le'iior against , that , eif a Mario , for any amount you please ; . ' Waiving this point , we still say that if success _ine-rcase the ; vanity , if does not corrupt the ; heart ; anel as fo I , he ; heart being " unspoiled" hy " the _weirlel , " if woulel he ; te > insult Lord John _, to ask him if he seriously believes the worhl ( in any other than an exclusive House' ) spoils a nature ; _geieiel in itself . Li communion with our felle > w men we ; are bettered , not spoileel ; we ; h ; arn _flie're ; the ; groat _h'sseni of how "to live for others in others ; " we ; learn there ; fo suborelinafe flu ; primary instincts of egotism to the ; higher _soe ; ial instinct ; we ; learn fhe ; re kindness , anel charity , anel toh ; _rane-e , anel sympathy ; moving among the ; good anel the ; hael , among those ; who are better than ourselves anel thoso not ho <> _-oe ) el , emr moral education makes its _sleiw and _elilliemlf progress . If" the ; world" spoiled us , how would man ever improve ? how would social evolution be ; p ossible ; ? Lorel . John speaks with more' wiseloni and pertinence' whem he ; spe'uks of the ; independence and homely praol . ical virtue's requisite ; in literature , as elsewhere : -

      " If may , however , with truth be averred , that , while ; lile ; rary miMi uf ae ; kneiw-Ie ! elge _; el talent have ; a claim on the ; government , of fhe'ir cenintry , le > save ; them from penury t > r urgent distress , if is better for lile'iature lhat , laniiie'iif authors shoulel not look to political patronage for fhe'ir _inainte-nanev . If is _de-sirahle that they whei are the ; he ; irs of fame _sheiulel pivse'rve ; au _inele'pe'ixleaiea _: of position , and that the rewards of ( he ; Crown shoulel not biuel men eif . _h-l I era iu se'rvile aelhcrcuco . Kighfly did Mr . Aloore ; uiieletrsfaiid fhe ; dignily eif fhe laurel . lie ; newer wemlel _barti'i" his freedeim away for any favour freim any _epiarfe'r . Although fhe wolf of poveHy offe'i _) prowle : el rounel 'his eloor , lie' _nesve-r _abiuideiucel his humble ; dwelling ( entile ; safety eif flies City or the _pnife'cl , iein eif ( he _i'alae-e ; . from fhe strokes e > f penury indeed , more than once ; , neifhiT his _uiie'e-asing e _\ _e'ifieiii , '——¦ nee ; _Ajieilliniri infulii , t . _oxil .. ' Hut . never did he ; make his wife anel family a . _prete-xf for political _HhuhhincHii ; never eliel he ; imagine that fo le ; _uve ; a _disgraevel name ; as an _inhe-i _ifaiice ; fo his children was his eluty as a father . Neither eliel he-, like ; many a richer main , with negli «« _-e _ne'e amounting to crime , leave his fniele ; . ; ine'ii tei sutler Ibr his want eif fortune ' . Minijrliuir careful economy with an intense ) hive of all the _enjoyments of _soeficf y , lie inuna"e ; d

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 1, 1853, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01011853/page/17/