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.Jffi g 7> 1855r] !#MM iLMjATm^. §45
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THE SOLUTION OF THE SUNDAY QUESTION..The...
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SURVEY OF THE WAR. Wae, when waged in th...
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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Hyde Park Legislation. The Civil War In ...
one man is sent ' to restrain a number , his . pjuly-. chance is to awe the number by reckless ' violence of conduct , and the half-tutored police know that philosophy as well as ajjy man who has been called upon to confront a multitude . Sir Ricieabd Maine knows it ; Sir OJeobge Obey knows it . Sir * G-eobgus had an experience of a similar kind in 1848 ; he has now reversed the lesson . On that day a
ridiculou conspiracy of a few brainless knaves was pretending to force upon the English comjnunity a sanguinary burlesque of continental revolution . There was nothing but insincerity and mischief in that movement , from which the ilite and great body of the working classes held aloof . The common sense , the right feeling of the nation protested firmly and conclusively against an importation of revolutionary theatricals from abroad . The nuisance was emphatically put down . The
Hyde Park rebels in 1855 were , however , perfectly in the right , for their object was , not to prevent a conscientious and voluntary Sabbath observance , but to arrest a legislation in their own name which they repudiated for its hypocrisy , and repelled for its injustice . Lord Robert , assisted by Sir Gioege Grey , persevered in misrepresenting the people , until blood was drawn , and then the whole
sham of legislation broke down . The Home Office and the Sabbatarians will carry their measure by blood if necessary , but they can be frightened out of their dictation . That is what the result of the civil conflict has proclaimed to the people . The aristocracy were not frightened on the 10 th of April , not only because Wellington was there with his army , unseen , but ready and decided , but because the tumult itself was a fraudulent
pretence of a popular movement . When the people have truth on their side , and are determined , the aristocracy are frightened ; and that is the way to arrest the course of weak and violent legislation .
.Jffi G 7> 1855r] !#Mm Ilmjatm^. §45
. Jffi g 7 > 1855 r ] ! # MM iLMjATm ^ . § 45
The Solution Of The Sunday Question..The...
THE SOLUTION OF THE SUNDAY QUESTION . . The philanthropic but mistaken author of the Sunday Trading Bill having displayed the better part of valour , the Sunday question is apparently at rest for the present , and , therefore , now is the time for wise men to prepare ' their solution of it . It is pretty clear what ( Sort of feeling ia growing up upon the subject even in Presbyterian Scotland , where ^ Sabbatarianism is so large a part of the national religion . The toiling millions will jaot submit much longer to have their one day
^ recreation destroyed by a tyrannical super-[ Bt ^ tion . Still less will they submit to this tyranny when they know that the classes who jmjpose it are al ) lo virtually to emancipate " jhemselves from its effects by their private jj ^ Bans of enj oyment , and malte the poor l | uffer the martyrdom while they give them-. reives the praise . [ j . JwV are afraid there is some truth ¦ juL tihe allegation , though coming from a JwtdFul source , that the Ultra-Sabbatarian Jflqtioh consists not so much of Patrician and
J icnbishopa and their order , as of the Puritan ^ micl ^ e classes . Lord Dkiiby a number j O j . pstinguished fashionables arc said to have v | epn in H y de Park la « st Sumlny to see the * l |& onstration . No doubt the middle classes , \ !? l % more religious , are more superstitious ^ Bah thereat . To them has descended what j Bmains among us of the faith and spirit of 35 g fcwBi . il and Bunyan , linked unhappily jSTCa " their tyrannical Bibliolatry rind religious Jg oof ^ . But tUe middle classes , at least , J ^ M & tly keep the Sabbath them selves , though 'JW . respectiiblo houses , good dinners , and W ^ ptbachfers , make Sabbath-lceeping a very flflweiaA iuihg to them from what it is to the
poor . If they prescribe dulness , they are scrupulously dull themselves ; if they denounce smiling on the Lord ' s day , they never profane the Lord's day by a smile . In Scotland , the austere children of the kirk draw down their window-blinds , and drink behind that veil of the domestic temple a considerable quantity of whisky , according to the returns ; but they punctiliously eschew a walk in the fresh air , and we will venture to say that , penetrating into the back-parlour sanctuary , you might find an elder fuddled , but you would not find him gay . The th
members of the House of Commons are ey who , if the expression is Parliamentary , behave like cowardly hypocrites on this question , and having piously closed "by immense majorities all places of innocent amusement to which the poor can have access , drive off to relax a statesman ' s cares in the Sabbath enjoyments of a suburban villa . It may be said they do this at the' bidding of middle-class constituents . This cannot be true of the county members : and if it is true of any , it saves their sense at the expense of their honour .
Heaven forbid that we should impugn the observance of the seventh day as _ a day of rest , or assail any who wish honestly to legislate for that " object . May the time come when the Sabbath in that sense shall T > e kept throughout the world , and all humanity enjoy its respite from toil together . Political , moral , physical science prove the need of such a respite for the mind , spirit , and muscles of man : and the State is
perfectly justified in enforcing the observance of ifc against the lust of lucre , and securing it to those who , being under tlie tyranny of Mammon , might not be able to secure it for themselves . But the day of bodily and spiritual rest , of recreation , happiness , and thankfulness to God is one thing : the day of religious gloom aud formality is another . The first is the privilege of humanity : the second is the dos ^ iia of a sect . The first ,
society is bound to guard : the second , no Sabbatarian has a right to impose ou those who are not Sabbatarians themselves . Give us a reasonable Sunday Trading Bill by all means , if the better way of general agreement and spontaneous respect for the needs aud rights of humanity will not suffice to guard the day of rest ; but accompany it with another bill " for freely throwing open everything that can make the day of rest one of innocent recreation and as much healthful
enjoyment as the lot of man permits . Let " Independents" and " Free Churchmen " give us the benefit of their own principles . Let them keep the Sabbath in their way , and allow us to keep it in ours . Our freedom will do no wrong to their restraint : our gaiety will not condemn their gloom . But in the meantime they are making themselves responsible for the vice and misery of millions who , not being Puritans , are driven to dons of low sensuality in honour of the Puritan Sul ) l > ath .
" \ Vo arc glad to publish , for inir play , the letter of a " Free Church Minister ;" and our answer to him is , that while ho and his Church arc- content to observo the Sabbath themselves without imposing its yoke' on others , wo squill m > t have a word to say against them . lie will scarcely deny that the Puritan Sabbuth ia ato certain
peculiar religious doctrine confined Churches aud sects . It is denied by Lho immense majority of Christendom , and has been combated ( and to our minds conclusively ) ovon on the moat orthodox hypothesis by some Protestant divines . The Presbyterians have no more right to forco it on us tliun Catholics or Anglicans have to forco Catholicism or Anglicanism upon them .
Their doing so is . mere tyranny , fpi > whicli they will give and can give no justification whatever . Our correspondent himself disdains to offer us any argument . He simply defies us to take his " Sabbatarian Sebastopol . " "Why yes , if . people are determined to entrench themselves behind the ramparts of accumulated prejudice , it will be harder to carry those ramparts by appeals to reason and humanity than it is to beat down Russian earthworks with cannon -balls .
But Sebastopols of this kind , when they obstruct justice and the good of people , unfortunately provoke in the end the use of other weapons than appeals to reason and humanity : a truth on which we adjure the garrison , as they are good men and wise men , to reflect before it is too late .
Survey Of The War. Wae, When Waged In Th...
SURVEY OF THE WAR . Wae , when waged in that grim earnest spirit which animates the armies in the Crimea , dares not stop for the death of commanders , not even when the lost commander is beloved by the troops as Lord Raglan was beloved . Another steps in ; the dreadful work goes on ; and one man reaps what another has sowed . The two armies , as General Pelissieu informs us , meet over the grave of the chief , beloved by the one , respected , nay almost
venerated by the otlier , and then return to the trenches or the camp , and the old life , broken for one moment by the solemn pause of the last solemnities , renews its course , and goes on as before . And so we , turning from the momentary contemplation of the man whose high character will be better appreciated as years roll t > y , resume the thread of the Crimean epic , and try to record the last act in which the departed chief was engaged . _ _
The frustrated assault . —! N " ow that we have the official and unofficial documents relating to the failure on the 18 th of June before us , that failure ceases to be matter of wonder . It was the inevitable result of one of those accidents so common , alas , in the history of all wars . From previous descriptions , aided by the best maps , the reader no doubt understands the relative positions of the Allies and the enemy . But we may as well , perhaps , refresh his memory . The successful assault
of the 7 th of June gave the Allies three commanding positions , Mount Sapouue , the Mamelon , and the Quarries . Each of these positions was separated frem the other by deep ravines , the line of the attacks in which they form the advanced posts lyiug along the intervening crests or ridges . The crushing fire of the 17 th June was directed along the whole of the eastern front , but mainly on the two strongest works . Judging by the cessation of the Russian fire , its effect was considered to be overwhelming , and the generals ,
officers , and men of both armies were confident of success . Lord Haglan and General Pklissier , therefore , the engineers concurring , determined to assault the place without delay , and fixed upon the morning of the 18 th . At first it was proposed that the place should be cannonaded for two hours , that is , from three to five o ' clock , and that the storming columns should rush forward as the fire censed . Deeply do we regret that this plan did not French l
seem practicable to the Genera . Late on the night of the 17 th he informed Lord Raglan that ho should not wait tor any preliminary firing , but fall ou with tl » o dawn . The reason given for this decision is that tho French troops would have boon assembled in such numbers that they could not bo concealed . It nuiy be so . 1 . ho plan ot General PiSLisaiEU wns not earned out , and so was not fairly triod , but to us it seems a little preliminary iiro could have done no harm .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 7, 1855, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07071855/page/9/
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