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    518 • THE LEADER. [Saturday,

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    BOARD ANT) LODGING. Government appears r...

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    Revelations Of Archdeacon Sinclair. A Ne...

    deems necessary . The preacher , he thinks , ought to possess a " command of language and readiness of expression . " Imagine a man venturing to ascend the pulpit without a command of language ! Another qualification is " Such an acquaintance with the elements of modern science , as an intelligent congregation would expect in their instruction . " The clergyman should also know something of " mental science" and " the philosophy of morals . " " The highest

    authority in ethics is the Bible" course , and there is , we are told , a theory there , implied though not expressed ; but it requires " study and reflection to comprehend" the theory ; and the Venerable the Archdeacon opines that the clergymen should at least master the works of Bishop BtrTiiEit . That , he thinks , " would be sufficient . " Also , he thinks , that the clergymen should understand something of Political Economy ; for although " political economists overlook "

    moral and religious influences , sound views of economic science , he assures his class , are " quite compatible with sound Christianity , " and "it is not safe for the clergy in the management of large and populous parishes , to disparage or neglect this most useful as well as practical branch of study . " Composition , also , is another " branch of study " to which the Archdeacon invites his pupils ; as good thoughts do not well reach the mind unless they are conveyed in clear and appropriate words .

    The very simple course of adult education here recommended for the neglected clergy implies that our appointed preachers , expositors of the Word , successors and vicegerents of the Apostles , have neglected to learn things so elementary as the use of language and composition , the theory of morals conveyed in the Bible , and the economy of the class to whose moral state they are to minister . It is , therefore , high time that Archdeacon Sinclair should begin his new labour of teaching " common things . "

    But the cautions that he finds it necessary to convey to the clergymen standing before him in class imply a state of mental rneglect bo distressing , that we only wonder that the order has been able to maintain its position at all . We will not talk of its avoiding exposure in the pulpit , for that has not always been accomplished . But we do wonder that persons placed over congregations at the present day , in the condition implied by

    Achdeacon Sinclair , have not immediately emptied the churches of the Establishment . Perhaps the true reason is , that as most religious professors think secular education out of their line of business , there is the eame neglected state in other sects besides that of the Established Church ; so that the clergy of the privileged sect are exempt from the competition to which they might otherwise have been exposed .

    He has told them to learn something of the elements of modern science in order to be up to the mark of their own congregation ; where at least every tenth man knows what Orb and Chambers can teach him ; but the Archdeacon adds the caution that the Christian preacher is not to give lectures from the pulpit on geology , optics , or astronomy . The Archdeacon , wo must remember , is adapting himself to the state of

    intelligence in his pupils , and ho supposes that state to be such that , if ho tells thom to look into modern science , they will straightway plunge into optics , geology , and astronomy , as the subjects of lectures from tho pulpit , confounding tho Church with tho Xiocturoroom , and competing with Professor Ani > er-« qn's lectures on Astronomy in tho Adolphi Thefttce during Lent I Beally this is very sad .

    Even good morals , says Archdeacon SinoiiAiB , ought not to be couched in the language of good society during the days of Queen Elizabeth or Charles I . ; for it seems these ignorant persons , for want of knowing more recent models , chatter on subjects which they do not understand in language aping Hooker and Jeremy Taylor . It would not be proper for us to put

    into positive terms the form of the mental complaint implied by these precepts and cautions—to describe in plain English the degree of natural capability , the lucidity of perception , the schooling or the qualification for teaching . Mr . Horace Mann has done much to raise our poor and our juvenile classes from the degraded state into which they have been sunk : Archdeacon Sinclair follows with the same admirable mission on

    behalf of our neglected clergy . It is not in any spirit of invidiousness if we remark that if the clergy were rescued from this benighted state , and were eonverted into qualified teachers , a considerable indirect progress would be made in the instruction of those classes for whom the clergyman has been regarded as the appointed teacher .

    518 • The Leader. [Saturday,

    518 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

    Board Ant) Lodging. Government Appears R...

    BOARD ANT ) LODGING . Government appears resolved to make a determined stand against administrative reform , and it adopts the strongest opposition by concentrating itself , and minimising change into partial concessions . In the first place , it is proposed to collect the offices bodily , in a topographical sense . At present they lie scattered ; some of the executive departments in the City , some in Westminster , and some half way between . Nay , some particular departments are actually divided into halves .

    While we have the India House in the City , the Irish Office in Park-street , the Foreign Office in Downing-street , we have the Colonial Office in that same cul de sac , with its off-lying department , the Emigration Office , in Park-street ; the Treasury is in Whitehall ; the Exchequer Bill Office some distance over the way ; the Exchequer Loan Bill Office in the City ; the Navy Pay Office in some obscure street in Westminster ; and the Admiralty , which has to do with Navy pay , is divided between Whitehall and Somerset

    House . To the public , the consequences are rather serious . A man with a warrant for certain payments will probably have to attend at the Admiralty , Audit Office , Treasury , Navy Pay Office , and tho Bank of England , with others intervening , and will positively bo detained in town a night , because it is impossible to compass tho journeying to and fro between the public departments . Similar inconveniences attend even the public servants , and constitute one grand excuse for delays . Well , Government intends to remedy this state of things . Downing-street is to be the centre ; but a considerable tract of land to tho south and north of that official

    street will be devoted entirely to a now building—a grand quadrangle , 250 feet long by 150 wide , with tho present entranco ol Downing-strcet for its grand portal . Tho contomplated building is described by the Times : — " Tho right of this quadrangle , ns you enter , after passing the present buildings of tho Privy Council and tho Board of Trade , would bo occupied by tho residences of tho Kirst Lord of tho Treasury and tho

    Chancellor of tho Exchequer , thrown back from their present position , and covering tho spaco now occupied by tho Treasury-gardens . The north-wostorn portion of tlic quadranglo would bo occupied by tho War Office ; tho contro roomsnppropriutud to Ministerial receptions ; the south-west by tho Foreign Office , with tho State Paper OfTlco in its rear ; tho south by tho Colonial Office ; nnd tho south-east cornor , facing tho Privy Council , by a . building not yot appropriated , to any public service , but for which

    there will be , undoubtedly , numerous claimants . The plan seems to be a good one , and made in a spirit of comprehensive simplicity . The situation of the Foreign and Colonial Offices is such th at they may be completed before the present dens in which those departments at present burrow have been pulled down , and thus the expense and loss of more than one removal may be spared . The total cost of the undertaking , including 25 , 0007 . for fittings and 54 , 000 ? . for the purchase of properties required , -will be 585 , 000 ? . It is proposed to commence with the new Foreign Office , as supplying a want most urgently felt , and being , besides , to be built on land a considerable portion of which is vacant . For this purpose 90 , 000 / . will be required . "

    The grand concession in departmental reconstruction is the reorganisation of the -war department . Bat here , Lord John Russell says , the improvement is to stop . He does not think that the Foreign Office , or the Colonial Office , or any of the other offices , needs extensive reconstruction . Exactly the same kind of objections were made against the very reforms now conceded . Liord Abebdeen

    objected to Lord John himself , that there was no necessity for appointing a War Minister . The concentration of buildings has been urged upon Government , with the same reasons that now exist , but not granted , " account of the expense . " If Government faces the expense in a year of war expenditure , what is the reason ? It is , that the Executive is concentrating upon the ground , in order to prevent a thorough administrative reform , by presenting a closer front and making such concessions as cannot be avoided . Press them , we say , and they will concede more . This it , is the ' function of the

    Administrative Reform Association to accomplish , and their address , which we published last week , implies that they are not without a perception of their right duty . What they have to deal with is—the public departments . They have to meet the declaration of Ministers , that all which is required is conceded . It is not true . The whole system is essentially defective , and the concessions made from time to time still leave defects . For example , it

    was only within the last few years that a good system of registration has been introduced . That system originated with the Treasury , and has been carried out iu all offices under control of the Treasury ; but the offices not within the same control , such as the Foreign Office and the Admiralty , are left to follow what system of registry they like . The Audit Office has to audit the payments of salaries to the officers of various establishments throughout England . It audits the accounts of the payment of salaries to all the

    Custom-house officers in Liverpool ; but to be able to audit thom properly , it should have the Treasury authorities for each salary ; since even genuine payments might bo wado without authority . Yet , will it bo believed that it is only within tho last few years that the Audit Office has organised what are called " Establishment Books , " that in , books showing the names and salaries authorised for each Customs establishment in the kingdom ? Previously the officials did not know whether the salaries were authenticated " W

    not , and had to refer back and forward irom office to office to discover tho authority lor a now or increased salary . So far good ; but wo are still behind : Customs Accounts lor 1850-1 and for 1851-2 remain still unaudited for want of establishment books ; while tho Customs Accounts for 1852-3 and 1853-4 , nro being audited with novel eaao and rapidity , because their ostabliHlunent books are romiy .

    Tho Foreign OHico was specified by i'ora John as not requiring improvement ; r rests socuro in . superiority . It can ^ trimslato foreign documents into neat bn tfj * ? ami the official , version of Baron A « okesh Ostjbn ' s G oiunan-lfronch coutrnaMW favourably with tho hasty voreions ot tuo

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 2, 1855, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02061855/page/14/