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mwE LEADER. [No. 445, October 2, 1858. 1...
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THE BOYN-HILL COMMISSION. We doubt wheth...
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RELATIONS OF SCIENCE TO GOVERNMENT. Lite...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Presages Of Progress Ix Tuscany. We Have...
J- v W , pr no' real disposition towards reform from within It should be recollected / however , that the natives of the sunny climate of the South are more influenced than ours by sentiment and assuredly no Government that desires immobility would trifle with the means of enkindling so inflammable a population . ' ' '
Mwe Leader. [No. 445, October 2, 1858. 1...
mwE LEADER . [ No . 445 , October 2 , 1858 . 1 AQA ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ . ¦ - ^ ¦ . ¦ ; , —¦ ¦ - - — ¦ —
The Boyn-Hill Commission. We Doubt Wheth...
THE BOYN-HILL COMMISSION . We doubt whether the official inquiry and its result is quite as satisfactory to Mr . West as his friends and sympathisers , Tractariau and Romish , could wish . The light in which Mr . West now stands before the people of England is by no means of a dubious character . The most charitable and latitudinarian , and they ' fevr , consider that he has only escaped condemnation because the character of His accuser was not of the purest , while the honest and clear-sighted , and they are legion , hold that the charge is substantially proved , and that henceforward Mr . West is to be-regarded as a black sheep in the Church of England fold . The real question at issue , and it is one of the gravest that can possibly be conceived , -was not broadly defined ; indeed , we do not see how it could have been fairly raised in the case on which the commission was called upon to pronounce an opinion . The ease itself , stripped of what we must conceive to be its irrelevant accessoi-ies , was this : — Did Mr . West , assuming to be a clergyman of the Church of England , enter the cottage of a poor , ignorant , and depraved woman , while alone and prostrated by the pangs of child-bearing , and question her about lusting before and after marriage for sexual connexion with men other than her lawful husband ? Mrs . Arnold communicated to a benevolent ladv , while labouring under the excitement caused by Mr . West ' s visit and questioning , the nature of the examination to which she had been unexpectedly subjected . / The statement was made naturally , and without the most distant idea of any after result . The poor , ignorant woman could by no possibility have invented the conversation she disclosed , nor could she , in her humble condition , have had the remotest notion of the system it illustrated , or the new powers claimed by priests . Mrs . Ellen , a lady of acute and cultivated mind , with noble , matronly indignation and instinct , comprehended the whole revolting affair at once . In order that there should be no mistake , she wrote down instanter the substance of the questions from the lips of the woman herself . Here , then , is the whole case . Did Mr . West put filthy questions to the woman , or was the accusation an invention ? Surely , it did not require a formal commission and a couple of lawyers to determine this issue . In favour of this charge there was its irresistible probability , the absence of all motive other than that which has regard to the claims of truth , and the notorious antecedents of Mr . West . In refutation of the charge , there was the fact of the former profligate habits of the accuser , and certain alleged discrepancies in her versions of the story to some of her gossips . We do not quite see the fairness or propriety of raking into the past history of the woman . If it was right to do so in order to test the weight that ought to be attached to her testimony , surely the same process ought to have been used with Mr . West to test the value that was due to his denial . The woman Arnold had nothing to gain by her accusation— -Mr . West had everything to gain by his denial—and his denial was couched in true nan mi ricortfo fashion , and apparently with that adroitness which previous Jesuitical training confers . The Commissioners , however , expressed themselves satisfied , and publicly declared there was nothing in Mr . West ' s doings for the Bishop to take cognisance of . Be it so ; the Commissioners have ; as they no doubt imagine they have , whitewashed the one , and blackened the other . We fanoy , however , that the people of England will come to a pretty accurate conclusion on the real merits of this inquiry and verdict . If Mr . West , or his rector Mr . Grosloy , conceives that the people of England henceforward will regard their proper ministration to bo in the Church ot England , they will possess an unsurpassed amount of credulity . But then comes the question of the recognised establishment of tho confessional in the Church of England . That it is there , and spreading stealthily , s beyond all doubt , —that it is countenanced more
or less by more than one Right Reverend Bishop , is also unquestionable . Will the Church of England , through its ministers , proclaim openly its Vie suspect , however , in the coming ^ contest , that tie ChunA of England will hardly find fair playat-least , from the Press . Every creed and sect has its established organ . ' Dissenters in all their endless ramifications-DeWs , Calvinists , Nonconform » is Baptists , Romanists , all have their separate journals in En-land—the Romanists , especially , are to be found linked together in one common piupose throughout the whole of the Metropolitan and Provincial Press . The Church of England is absolutely unrepresented . But the question concerns not the Established Church alone—it eyen more deeply concerns the people of England . If the people choose to look on supinely , they must be prepared for another " Reformation . " For our own part , we do not hesitate to avow that our opinion ot the value of confession to a priest is pretty much that of Bishop Joskins : — "It stung by a viper , says the sneering divine , " shall I cure my wound by whispering my grief into the car of an ass ? It will % c a fatal day for England when priestcraft succeeds in insinuating the confessional into every private house . This is , however , what is aimed at .
Relations Of Science To Government. Lite...
RELATIONS OF SCIENCE TO GOVERNMENT . Literature iu our country , -where it is free , and in the United States , where also it is free—and especially the newspaper—seems to have taken , up its proper position in relation to Government . It is wholly and entirely independent . It asks no favour frcm Government , and is theunsparing critic of all its acts . It speaks to the Government with a voice of authority , but authority not its own . It does not say to' Government , " You are not to throttle the soldier with a tight stock , because , I dislike it , or 1 forbid it ; " but it says , " You are hot-to throttle the soldier , because that deprives the country , which lias been at great expense to rear him , of his services ; because it " constrains the free movement of the agent you wish to make the greatest exertions , brings on apoplexy , and ends in evil and death . " It appeals to Tacts which are the masters of Governments as well as individuals , and by their voice it tells the Government of its wrong-doing , and tells it what it ought to do . Only by interpreting or proclaiming facts as they arise can literature and the newspaper have any but a most evanescent authority . Nor can it be of much utility . Where it is forbidden , as in France , Russia , and Austria , to notice and proclaim facts , it may amuse idle people like Punch in-the streets , or rope-dancers , or fire-caters , but it has no authority , and little other utility . Where it is dependent on the Government , and can only speak as Government bids , where no book can be written of which Government disapproves , no sentiment be printed which it fears may shake its authority , literature and journalism cannot rise superior to Government , on whatever principles it is founded . There old prejudice , or the will of one man , or of a few ignorant persons , is substituted for the facts of the universe as the guide of conduct . If our literature wore dependent on our Government it could say nothing of which the Government , disapproved , and be of no more service to the nation than were the olh ' cials who sent an army to Turkey without an efficient commissariat , and sent green coffee for the men to drink . It may amuse the idle by its narratives or charm the intelligent by its wit , but it can have no authority and be of little utility except as it finds the proper guides for human actions in the facts and laws of the universe . One science , which possesses rather the olmrnc * teristics of literature than of mathematics , stands in much the same relation to Government ns the newspaper press . Politioal economy interprets facts and speaks to Government with an authority superior to Government itself . It docs not say that what Government enacts is right , it says that the production of . wealth , including subsistence which limits society , is determined by natural laws which Government cannot alter . Government , therefore , is as much ( bound as the meanest labourer who handles a shovel or wheels a barrow to obey theso laws . If the latter cannot work successfully unless he continually proportion his exertions to tlio physical resistance ho has to overcome , neither can the former , unless it know and follow tho laws which govern the division of labour and the increase
of productive knowledge and productive skill . Political economy , the science of these laws , has becu too much in conflict with Government to ask favours from it , and has assumed to be its teacher and master . Rightly or wrongly , the professors of this science claim to observe and interpret the natural laws of the production of wealth . Without a continual increase of wealth society cannot prosper ,, without wealth it cannot even exist , and with the * authority of those who teach from possessing knowledge , political economists require Government toabolish ' restrictions ,, to refrain from imposing them ,. and to leave all kinds of honest industry , perfectly free . Inasmuch as they only state facts and interpret the laws of nature , their requirements sooner or later will be complied with . The physical sciences , however , although the facts and laws they are conversant with arc more positive and more evidently independent of all Go-, Vernmcnt control than the facts and the laws with which literature and political economy deal , do not assume the character of teachers of Government-The professors of these sciences , though why it should be may be hard to explain , seem rather the sycophants than the superiors of Government . They do not say , with authority derived from a full and deep conviction of tho truth of -what they know , that Government must do one tiling and abstain from another , because facts dictate such a course ; they onl y hone , at most , as Professor Owen lately expressed it , that they may have Government approbation and support . They hope that what they do and have done is pleasing to the authorities . They seem to estimate the approbation of Government as equal to the discovery of truth . They are delighted that sums continue to be devoted maid of their pursuits , and grateful for the co-operation of the Board of Trade . In return , science nius Government ,-not merely by words of-praise , bul by efforts to promote the public weal . That science has ^ iven mankind the crime-decreasing tras-lamp , the iightning conductor , tho electric tck'gr ; iph ,. rulcs for the mariner ' s guidance in storms , & c . & c , is its v ; hrious privilege ; that it is the means of promoting to an indefinite-extent the objects at which true state policv aims is acknowledged by all ; why , then , should not science , which lias achieved these great works , speak rather as-a master tliaii a suitor to the Government , which professedl y wishes to accomplish such work and is unable ? It the patronage it seeks and the honours of which it . is greedy , ¦ a rc in the course of nature and consistent with its laws , why docs not science boldly say so , and demand compliance with these laws , as it demands that dwellings shall be ventilated , and all excreta be removed ! ' The professors of these sciences are either too humble or too boastful , and at once inconsistently exult in the power they derive row studying nature , and represent it as something much inferior to a ministry or a prince . A far-seeing finance minister , Professor Owen informs us , will regard the man of science with n favourable eye , on account of tho streams of wcnltn that may flow from the application of the abstract truths to the discovery of which he devotes himself . Science , then , is to be honoured by Oovi-rnment as an indirect contributor to tho puuuc coders . Such an assertion opens up all the questions connected with Government patronising nw * rewarding men of science . On these political economy assumes to speak with an authority wnic « the professors of the physical sciences put wnaci ij their clamour for Government assistance IN « t 10 j saying whether giving such assistance be cohsisichi . or not with the duties of Government , whether in e end it promote accurate knowledge and " ' ' ' ' .,, sum of wealth and . enjoyment or not , we ° nl y »» | ' ; that tho right or wrong of so doing is « uscnj > irw o of demonstration , and tho claimants o P . ?"" f Q should make it as clear and certain tlmt » i w ;' duty of Government to bestow it ns it !>»» V shown to bo tho duty of tho Government to a <> JJ all restrictions on industry . The profossors < di » physical sciences repeat experiments to »^ i the proportions of tho different elements , si a ' carbon , hydrogen , and nitrogen , m our lorn , «' they are not content unless this bo iiacfrtm the smallest weight ; but any Imaly " « ""! ' ,, satisfies them that Government onn help so » oin j honours and rewards , though they may bm . iin perverting or stilling truth wherever , 11 y « w applied , iThoy . entirely' forgot thoir Jin ^"" 1 «< J curacy and devotion to facts whenever ll » oic is question of obtaining public money 01 v honours . . , . , _ . „ ,. of . The true relation of tho physical soicnccs , ns
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 2, 1858, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02101858/page/14/
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