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Jan. 7, I860.] TheLeader andSaturday Ana...
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LORD MACAULAY —THE POLITICIAN". THE publ...
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.
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"Church Associations." At Present There ...
short time our attention to a subject in which most people are interested , and to which if they neglect to turn their eyes ,: they will have to regret their own apathy , and execrate , when malediction will be useless , the subtle pertinacity of a crafty crew ¦ confederated for the perpetuation of public abuses , and indefatigable in blocking up every avenue to improvement by which their own sinister influence may be impaired or the complacency of their prejudices disturbed . We allude to the stir about to be made for the upholding of
Church rates , and in connection therewith , though somewhat incongruous , the abrogation or neutralisation of those improvements ' in the law of divorce and of the degrees of . consanguinity in marriage , which have received the sanction of public opinion and the Government , and by which the well-being and happiness of the general community will be advanced and secured . It will save time and prevent misapprehension of the nature and objects of these people , to take their description of themselves and of the nature of the objects they have in view , out of their own mouths ; and for this purpose we will quote the words of one of the principal props by which it is sought to shore up the declining cause in which they consider their interests to be implicated . . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
At a meeting of the association called the " Bury St . Edmunds district Church Institution , " held on the 23 rd of last month , in the Guildhall of Bury St . Edmunds , which was attended by a host of clerical members and lay consultees , the Rev . Lord Arthur Hbkvey , who filled the chair , after a preliminary prayer and many professions of good feeling and Christian charity to all people from whom he differed in religious opinions , ' said : — " They were bound firmly and uncompromisingly to resist the attacks and attempts to deprive the Established Church of what she had so many centuries enjoyed . He would say one word with regard to the particular machinery by which they were
endeavouring to carry : out their object . "When a few of the clergy hastily met together the other day ( for there was no time to be lost ) to consult with one another what was best to be done ,, they were informed that there was in London a central institution , - called ' The Church : Institution , ' which was coinposed , they were told , of men who were totally free from all parties in the Church , whose object was to gather together the scattered . strength of the Church throughout the country ,, and bring it to bear on one common object , hi proof of which , they were authoritatively informed , that the institution , which was established in London as a centre , was cordially approved of by
After some further imputation of motives to those whose opinions were at variance with his own—which , considering that the noble speaker had just said his prayers , and professed his Christian charity to those from whom he differed , was , to say the least of it , in very bad taste- ^—his lordship , without wishing to disparage the / zeal and liberality of the dissenters in-providing houses of ; worship for their communities , would simply ask , where did the dissenters build and maintain a place of -. worship ? Where it would pay , where there was a sufficient number of the community to enable it to do so . " These specimens of liberality in Lord Hervey . will convey a tolerably accurate notion of
the geheralfeeling of his coadjutors on-this occasion , and is of a piece with the sayings of the orators at -other . similar meetings . Lord Hedesdale , avIio held forth a few days since at Shipstonupon-Stour , in the diocese of Worcester , at an assembly of antiabolitionists , held out a threat to his tenants : " If church-rates were abolished , he should add to each of his tenants' rent such a sum as would cover the average of his cburch-rates , and pay the rates , himself . " In other words , set public opinion at defiance , neutralize the effect of an Act of Parliament , and compel , nolentes or volentes , those dependant upon him to pay a tax which the legislature had abolished .
The public should , however , be aware that for the concoction of this organisation for the perpetuation of a nuisance , they are indebted to the fertile brain and disinterested advocacy of Mr . Hoare , by whose molewarp industry , in silence and darkness , the scheme has been planned- and methodized ; This gentleman , at the meeting- held in the metropolis , described his eautioxis and hidden movements in the furtherance of his holy object . He told his auditors how he had written to an archbishop and to bishops , and received approving answers to his communications . The archbishop , however , had somewhat qualified his approval ; whether or not his grace felt some misgivings for the prudence of his correspondent , and thought that
his zeal for the stones , bricks , and mortar of which the " fabric " of the church is composed ,. might induce his intrusion upon the functions : for which he , as archbishop , is specially appointed , did not appear . His grace took the opportunity of reminding him to examine and adhere to the directions of Ms " catechism , to respect his spiritual pastors and masters , " and to recommend such respect to those with whom he had influence ; to leave spiritual things to spiritual authority , or , in more homely phrase , to restrain the propensity of the cobbler from quitting his last ; all which Mr . Hoare very devoutly promised to do , and will no
doubt keep his promise . Mr . Hoake , in the peroration of his speech , informed his friends that he was the sole proprietor of a secret which would prove a solution of all difficultii'S connected with the question , and please everybody concerned . This secret he did not divulge , so that we must be content for some time to remain in unblissful ignorance of the efficacy of the gentleman ' s nostrum . Let those who are . of our w . ny of thinking exert a little of the energy he has displayed , and persevere to obtain the object they have in view with as ' little delay as possible , lest this promised panacea should prove a failure .
the Archbishop of Canterbury , the Bishop of London , and the Bishop of Winchester , and that they had given their encouragement to it ; and a letter was read from the Archbishop of Canterbury to Mr . Hoare , the founder of this . Church Institution , wherein he gave his cordial approval to Mr . Hoare's labours . Under these circumstances , they thought they could not do better , with a view to act efficiently * on this occasion , than adopt the machinery of this Church Institution , and it seemed exactly suited to their purpose . "
The speaker then proceeded to dilate on the blessed state of Church polity during the Heptarchy , and to deduce arguments from the precedents of those days in support of what ought now , according to his views , to be the practice throughout England . He described the very natural dislike of . those who derived no benefit from the administration of the Church , as arising from a wish to transfer £ 350 , 000 a year , the amount of the rates throughout the country , into the pockets bf those to whom it did not belong , who did not wish to possess it , and had no-right to have it . He then diverged to quote the late speech of Sir John Coleridge , whose antiquated lore and limping logic appears to
be the text book of the supporters of the tottering system , In so doing , his lordship , cither from ignorance or from that obliquity ol' vision which . prevents a man from sewing anything antagonistic to his own prejudices , ignored the fact that one-third part of oil the tithes of the country , in tin ; good old times to which he alludod , were specially appointed to be set aside for the upholding and repairing the edifice of the Church , and coupled , or rather endeavoured to cbuple , the efforts of the «• Society for Liberating the Church from State Control , " with
the general movement throughout the land for getting rid of a vexatious , unnecessary , and unequal impost . Prom this allusion to the Liberating Society , lie suddenly turned round on the Government . " Our statesmen , on whom devolved the carrying ; on the gpvemment of the country , had observed that a good many seats in Parliament turned upon whether the candidates would support the abolition of Church rates or not : they perceivod , consequently , that n good deal of support in 'Parliament depended upon the degree ol' oncouragoment they might givo _ to a society so earnest in its desire for tho destruction of tho Union in Church and State" ( the Sooioty for Liberating the Church from State Control ) . '
Jan. 7, I860.] Theleader Andsaturday Ana...
Jan . 7 , I 860 . ] TheLeader andSaturday Analyst , "¦ ' ; . ' ¦ % '' ..:
Lord Macaulay —The Politician". The Publ...
LORD MACAULAY —THE POLITICIAN" . THE public know Lord Macau lay , whose unexpected death we . announced last week , as an author and a politician . To be fully appreciated , he must be considered in both-. capacities . We are ' about to speak of him as a politician . He began his working life as a politician . He had made a reputation for himself at the University . He had gained prizes for poetry , and was a firstclass scholar , He " belonged by nature to that order of men who always form the front ranks in ' the great intellectual progress , " His own inclination might have led him to literature and philosophy ; his position and connections mode him a politician . He was scarcoly removed from * the University , where ho had-acquired reputation also" as a speaker , before he was introduced to the public , at anti-slavery meetings , as an orator destined to serve the great cause of freedom . At that time , the noble rewards which literary men—himself , Sir WALTiiHScQTT , Mr . Die ken a , and othors—have since obtained , were scarcely known . -Literature , us a profession , was then little honoured , and ill paid . Apparently , it cqnld only bo successfully exercised aa an adjunct to some Church preferment , tho legal profession , or some tolerably well-paid public office . Tho dependent position of ]\ Joohe , ' \ VoaD 3 wouxu provided for under the Stamp Offico , Hallam and Sqott both occupying oflieial positions , probably made Mr . Macaulay's friends deem it essential that he should receive some publio appointment . Leading statosinon , like tho Jesuits , were on tho , look out for vising tulout , that they might seduce it into their service . ' Mr . Maoavlay ' b connections were liberals , and wlir-n Mr . Canning introduced some ol thorn into office , Mr . Maoallay was at 6 i > co provided for . N itiiout having done more professionally than cnleu his commons , and 8
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 7, 1860, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07011860/page/7/
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