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Leader (1850-1860), 10th April 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 14, ( ¦¦^ ¦¦¦¦^¦ ^^^^^^^^^ ^^ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ • " KB^C.j^W- ^o

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    • ^tt lilir Moirs.
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      M0 The Leader, Pattjrd^

      M 0 THE LEADER , pATtjRD ^

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      ¦ " • ¦ ••¦¦ ¦¦ ¦ ¦ —' ~* T : - " ¦ ¦ ¦¦...

      ¦ " ¦ ••¦¦ ¦¦ ¦ ¦ — ' ~* T - " ¦ ¦ ¦¦' ¦ SATURDAY , APRIL 10 , 1852 .

      ^Tt Lilir Moirs.

      ^ tt lilir Moirs .

      There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...

      There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep thing ' s fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —De . Abnold .

      How Passion Week Is Kept. Turks Are Amaz...

      HOW PASSION WEEK IS KEPT . Turks are amazed at us because we do our dancing for ourselves , and do not leave it to our domestic Laises ; but that semi-barbarian race has not made so great an advance as we have in doing our religious observances by proxy , as we do our charity in the same way . An Englishman , conscious of his rights , will not surrender the polka , but inscribes autograph graces on the ballroom floor ; whereas , he feels the convenience of consolidating his charity , and giving it in the Jump to the Lying-in , the Deaf and Dumb , or Royal Free , by the instrumentality of a paid staff ; and his mortifications he leaves to those who have mortification more handy to their elbow than he has / It is a division of

      employments . For example , as an eminent wit , whose brilliant pen is still occasionally traced in the pages of an elder contemporary , the Examiner , said , years ago , of a fast , your rich man undergoes it by adding salt fish and egg-sauce to his ordinary dinner ; and he may well do so according to the moral o £ statistics , since , in society at large , there is always an abundant supply of fasting on hand to make up a very good average of penance . Passion week is observed on the same principle . If there is any one observance in the

      forms of the Church which ought to affect the Christian profoundly , it is that which reminds him of the suffering endured for his sake . That it was so endured is his belief . Nay , even the most platonized Christian can hardly fail to acknowledge the influence of that passage in the history of superhuman endurance , whereof the physical agony was but small part . But how does your orthodox Christian , who abominates scepticism , or latitudinarism—how does he keep that most solemn and most touching memorial P

      He obliges the people of the theatres , her Majesty ' s servants , as some are called , whom the law counts , or lately counted , with vagrants , to keep it strictly . Against them the theatres are closed , but not against the orthodox Christian ; to 7 dm the doors are open with some " Lenten entertainment . " In the metropolis alone two thousand persons are thus thrown out of work , pro salute animce , they being , in great part , of a clasg whose own souls , according to official classification , are already lost . But their

      mortification servos for keeping his own in repair , or rather , for burnishing it anew . They fast , while he varies his theatrical entertainments with a monologue , a concert , or an evening party , adds hot cross buns to his ordinary breakfast , goes through the fatigue of an additional church , and the mortification of converting a work-day into a Sabbath , and thus , b y the proxy of p lay-actor and parson , issues forth into good society , and smiles redeemed . Wo are a moral veojAe , and wo know it ; wo are a religious people , and wo know it ; wo are a

      judicious people , and wo know it j wo arc not a superstitious nor a fanatical people , mid wo know it . Above all , we are a " respectable" people . Yes ! respectability'is . tiio real established religion df your sound-minded Englishman ^ who keeps tho most solemn and most hopeful anniversary of his Christian year by roast beef and plum-pudding on Christmas-day . Bait fish and

      ogg-sauco additional , on Ash Wednesday , and hot cross-buns on Good Friday . No matter whether fast or festival , penitence or rejoicing , it is always represented to the constitutional Englishman % y fish , flesh , or flour , additional . Tho piece de resistance is constitutionally tho same : " the spiritual idea ifl typified in the trimmings . Of courso we have a proper Protestant contempt for the * ' mummeries of a Church which at least acts

      out its belief ; of course your Lion-and-Unicorn minister has not words uncharitable and insulting enough to express his sense of the treachery of a few of the more learned , devout , and sincere men , who would also carry out tlie solemn and pathetic ordinances in which their faith is embodied * and their church enshrined . For is not a middle way . the very soul of our social , political , and religious institutions , —a middle way between sincere faith and sincere unbelief , a middle way between conviction and dissent , a middle way between orthodoxy consistently de-_ - « l ^—^ J 3 «« . J 3 1-. ^ MMi-krlAvTr * * v % "»/ vi- » 1 tT n £ > n \ ciT * frn Ifl It * . \

      VciUUcU , u . lit I jiK 5 \ j \ ZL \ J \ . i \ JA . y vTpt / ujjr v * . wv * m . * .- * - « „ ^ not more befitting our sober , serious , businesslike and practical countrymen not to rush into extremes—even of religious belief and of religious practice . Worship moderately , keep reserves towards Heaven , and in your comhiunings with the supernal , " pas d ' enthousiasme . " And so it happens that the delight and pride of respectable people is not so much to go to church , as to 7 iave been to church on Sunday , — $ ot so much to pray , as to hear " a beautiful discourse . " Not to believe , but to " make believe , " not to

      worship but to conform , is the motto of your safe constitutional Christian ; and the high pew and the hassock are the emblems of Ms Kingdom of Heaven . If any more laborious observances are due , some poor curate or play actor can get it done for you ; for social distinctions are prdained by Providence , and your " respectable" gentleman presumes his right of precedence in entering the

      kingdom of Heaven , any Low Church text notwithstanding . He can afford egg-sauce for his fasting : men of lower social standing , who do not keep a cook , must put up with the plain fasting- itself , as a substitute for the egg-sauee .

      The Next Election But One. Individuals A...

      THE NEXT ELECTION BUT ONE . Individuals at present are in advance of parties . The fact , which , observation can easily detect without . any very " extensive views , " is consolatory ; for it euables us to discern that we have still some of the stuff of political manhood , if we could but get quit of the political rubbish —the leavings of old factions and old questions , AThich beset men of the better stamp . The next election will in great part be devoted to the resettlement of a settled question . Freetraders are to fight their battle o'er again , are to re-slay slain Protection , and to double-lock the door of the tomb upon that last ceconomic phase of Toryism . But in other respects , it is to be apprehended that practical questions will occupy the second place only , and that the rubbish will stand foremost . " Reform , " in its most conventional sense—meaning the official existence of a Whig party which is always ardent for Reform except when it possesses the power to satisfy its ardour— -will occupy a prominent place ; also " Protestantism , " meaning a sectarian bitterness ajjainst certain of our fellow-subjecta ; and also

      Financial retrenchment , which is not to be achieved . All these are names of fair seeming , if they did but represent realities . But , in . the name of Reform , we shall be invited to set up again that great impediment of Reform , tho Whig party ; the " education" hinted by the Liberals is a thing unattainable , until they agree to separate it from dogmatic points about which they never can agree ; and " Protestantism" is a counter-irritant that has positively increased the

      force and virtual dimensions of the ultra-Catholic party . Half tlie Roman Catholic part y had practically entered the boundary that divides Protestantism from Catholicism , were dwelling in peace with their Protestant fellow-subjects , and were adopting Protestant habits in tho important matters of independent thought , scientific inquiry , and free intercourse ; until they were sent hack with insult and violence by tho outburst of technical Protestantism ; and that virulence is to be converted into electioneering capital .

      The next election , therefore , will bo dovotod to tho double fastening of tho . Froo-trado policy , the discussion of questions idle , because hardly mature for tho electoral field , and of that mischievous schism which discussion will widen . The really urgent questions that nro practically pressing upon the people will bo proportionably irept in the back ground . Familiarity with tho Labour question , which must bo handled at no very distant date , is positively a disqualification at tho noxt election in most quarters . Tho disflontiojua and distractions by which not only tlie

      national chtirchv but all churches , are torn , is a subject beyond the grasp of the men who will be busy in creating and becoming lawmakers . The defenceless state of the country , in tW face of Absolutist Europe , is a question which the cleverest of all parties at electioneering will try to stifle . . Foreign policy , again , will not be so much as alluded to in a passing asseveration of sympathy for freeddin . ' ' ¦ Ital y * for example . , free Italy , that might be once more the foremost champion of true Protestantism , will be allowed

      to sleep in the embrace of the triple tiara . J " English Protestantism means anything -rattier than free religion . It means that most eoldhearted sort of intolerance , understood official indifferentism , and state-paid orthodoxy . In education , it means the " dog in the manger . " As to the rest of Europe , is it not "in orderP " The next Parliament will be elected on the strength of questions that are virtually out of date , that are superficial and transitory ; audit follows almost necessarily that the next Parlia

      ment cannot last . But the next election will in a great degree be a preparative for the one after it ' . ; -.- and this is the fact which we desire that both candidates and electors should keep in mind . Some candidates who become ' memoers will outlive this inferior trial , and will have to take their stand at the subsequent election on higher grounds . Others will now irrevocably mark themselves as belonging to this lower and transitory stage of electoral existence , and will proclaim themselves unworthy

      of choice by the broader light of a happier day . Candidates cannot now be elected on the strength of these larger and more enduring questions , but to no small extent they can be tested as to their fitness for active service at the future time ; and the remark applies equally to the elected and to the rejected . jOn the other hand , be it remembered , that this is ^ tlie last occasion , before that more important after-coming election , when the whole body of the electors wi ] l be called forth to hear more important subjects discussed , and more vital interests probed , to the quick .

      That there are men in advance of their several parties even this miserable session has sufficed to prove . Mr . Disraeli has more than ever shown what he might "doasa scientific politician if the exigencies of his abnormal position and the fears of his party , half his master , half his slave , would let } him . Mr . Walpole has ostensibly evinced a faculty for appreciating national feeling , the opportunities of Parliamentary contest , and the influence t 6 be gained by a more elevated tono than has become common amongst our statesmen ; but his party , or rather all parties in the i TT * _ _ ' 1 _ A . un A . - » . « . 4-1-. j-k + V \ t «/» £ i fXT fi . Ill fill \> erutuvo vixv iwi j

      present . n . ouse , uare uvp -o ~* ----reasoning , which would endow with the franchise every man charged with the supreme trust ot defending his country ; and Spencer Walpole must sink to the safe level of his party and ot tlio House . Palmerston was restless or too vigorous for colleagues superannuated even more in policy than in years . Sir James Graham can grasp a knowledge of national necessities , but he is lain to act with the noble lord , " the rococo head ot a rococo clique . , There are individuals also hcMnd their party . Lord John Russell , for example , is not up to tno mark of his own chosen supporters . At Jus conference in Choaham-placc , 167 Members ot 1 axliamont were present by his invitation , yt w . iu

      number , 75 voted for Mr . Berkeley s bano * « tion , 18 only against it ; and of the 18 that votea with Lord John , only three had been in oilico with him . Amongst tho absent wore all Jjoi John ' s cabinet colleagues , except 1 *^ bevmoui . On Mr . Hume's motion of March the 25 th . > 19 of the CJicslmm-placo councillors voted vn Lord John , while 50 went with Mr . Humo , ana 98 did not think it worth while to attend at aw . iJL } UIIL M . l \ Jv IJUlilik * W YY \ JX V *» . " . ¦*»*— - « - ¦ - i

      Out of doors wo see men prepared to accoj < Parliamentary duties , and to discuss in X . mont the merits of tho groat Labour quests j and theso arc most of thorn men belonging ,, » like Mr . William Newton , to tho worlnnj , " . itself ,, but to tho "high" ranks of flo « They arc inevitably Members of tho next j . •¦ root but ono ; some of thorn w , \\ V ^ X bo found even in the transition * *"' IflI bttto Man of this stamp will not altogether i J 1 , «; ,. lorwri-Mwr / i i : r \ flirt 1 o \ V dlttlOOl »" ¦ . „„

      tioncoring slang of the day ; they ™ ""Jtintf that tho picked men of the present contest i j bo tho leaders and exemplars hi tho Jug '" more emphatic contest beyond .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 10, 1852, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10041852/page/14/