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Leader (1850-1860), 11th May 1850, Edition Country of 1, Page 9

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      The Extraordinary Express, In Anticipati...

      the Assembly on its being called , " for the first time , l egitimately to represent the Ionian people , and on seeing confided to it the mournful task of healing , as far as ° may be possible , the wounds of the country , and by institutions more consonant with its intellectual , m oral , aivi material wants , render le . ss bitter the remembrance cf the past . " The reply expresses regret at the differences existing between Great [ Britain and Greece ; calls attention to various measures for the advantage of the island , especially one for imblic instruction , and concludes thus : — «* To your Excellency is presented the opportunity of recommending and supporting the salutary institutions which are required in reason and politics to harmonize ¦ with those already obtained , and to replace by a radical reform the discord and improvidence which at present

      " Such institutions , due to the Ionian people by right , to the faith of treaties , to British honour , will make appear less tardy the approach of that hour which is known alone to Providence , and which human calculation cannot foresee , when the arbitress of the seas shall erect a trophy more glorious still than that raised atNavarino , when it shall with Europe , just and grateful , have united in one body all the scattered members of the Greek family , which , though divided by policy , have , in common , origin , language , religion , recollections , and hopes . " Sir II . Ward took two days to consider his reply . In that reply he rates the Assembly for their strange want of" thanks or even courtesy" towards her

      Majesty , who , in granting them a new constitution , had cheerfully made such large concessions , though she " had so little to risk by withholding them "; and severely censures the Assembly for an expression referring to the " deplored and deplorable excesses " of last year , which " he will not affect to misunderstand , " as aimed against himself . " Your injustice , " he says , " has wounded me deeply , and -will retard a settlement which I should have been the first to promote if sought in a spirit of conciliation and good faith . " The Commissioner concludes by lecturing the House for the vagueness of " what you are pleased to call * radical reform ' " : —

      " If you have a proposal to make to me , make it m plain and intelligible terms . I shall be happy to find it of such a character as may warrant me in affording you the cooperation which you ask . But I will not risk the peace of these islands , or my own character as a public man . by assuming the responsibility of submitting to the Queen , with whom all constitutional changes must originate , any proposal in which I do not entirely concur ; nor do I think that such a proposal can be prudently or properly made until we approach the close of a session in whidi the Assembly shall have given proofs of moderation ami good sense in the use of the powers which it already enjoys . " I have no wish to kerp open past differences .

      All that I ask is , that you will take a soberer view than you appear to me to have done hitherto of your o . vn position and powers ; that you will rest satisfied with that share of authority which the constitution secures to you , . ind loarn th . it to respect the rights of others who exercise with you concurrent , jurisdiction is the best way to secure your own * * * * I will set the example of what I recommend , and act as mediator whon differences arise , if the moderate party in this assembly will second

      my efforts firmly and in good faith . If not , I shall not shrink from any course that my own sense of duty may prescribe ; and in that case , having exhausted all the means of conciliation that my experience as a public man can suggfst , I shall use legally and constitutionally the rights vested in me as the Queen ' s representative for the maintenance of peace and order ; and , confident in the support of the intelligence and good sense of the country , I shall wait until the time shall have arrived for a legislation consonant with its wants . "

      The Moniteur smnounces that the Minister of the Interior has appointed a Commission , to prepare a project of law upon the " reforms necessary to be made in the electoial law . " The Commission is composed exclusively of Legitimists and Orleanists . The new project of law submitted by the Government to tho Commission will , it is said , disfranchise 3 , . jf ) 0 , 000 voters . The Council of Stats of the canton of Teasin , forbirls the public exhibition of the Holy Sacrament and the chanting of the Te Down in the churches , as

      ordered by the Bishop of Coire to celebrate tho return of tho Pope to Home . The reasons assigned for this step , nrc—first , that the Uishop issued his circular fixing the ceremony without previous communication with the Government ; next , that the circumstances which { . receded sum'accompanied thereturn of the Pope weivj ., 1 . such apolitical character as to cause " disagreeab ' e sensations" in Republican States ; and finally , that the proposed celebration might give rise to demonstrations injurious to religion and calculated to disturb public ti ' iiiiMuiility .

      Tho Journal ih ( ivnivc states that Mazziui is still in Swr / cvland . Ciro-it improvements hnve boon mnde in the post system between Austria , Prussia , find the German st-nes , in imitation of How land Hill's plan . Tho mi st important point is , that Austria find Prussia have renoum-cd all claim to transit po & t : ige : Stamps will Ih * employed , as in England . Aceoydint ? to tho last advices from Warsaw , tho f ' z . 'i- wji .- ; expected to arrive in tU-it city on the 7 th iiLsti'iit . ' '

      May 11, 1850.] 3e!) G Ibleatjiet. 153

      May 11 , 1850 . ] 3 E !) g IBLeatJiet . 153

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      Saturday, May 11, 1850.

      SATURDAY , MAY 11 , 1850 .

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      There Is Nothing So Revolutionary;, Beca...

      There is nothing so revolutionary ; , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in its eternal progress . —Dr . Arnold .

      Progress Of The New Reformation. It Is N...

      PROGRESS OF THE NEW REFORMATION . It is not onl y among the clergy , or among persons specially inclined to deal with ecclesiastical abuses , that agitation now prevails : the signs of an awakened understanding are manifest in every direction , and even in high places . Not only have the Bishops , struck by the hazardous position of their Church , been taking counsel , —not only is the Exeter-hall interest astir to improve the great gathering of 1851 ; but in the colonial debate of Monday night we Lave the House of Commons at confession . And some of

      the declarations are remarkable . The general declaration was , that the Church of England has never been enabled to assert and maintain its own organization : it is incapable , therefore , of preserving to itself the religious function . The fact was stated point-blank . Mr . Gladstone said : — " Every religious system has its own private compact , except the" Church of England . " Mr . Page Wood denied that the Church had the power of assembling in the Australian colonies for purposes of its own internal legislation ; and what was said of the colonies in this debate was expressly said with a more earnest solicitude for the state of the Church in England : —

      •' It was true , " said Mr . Wood , " other religious bodies did possess that power . There was no obstacle in the way of the Roman Catholics , the Wesleyar . s , or the Free Church of Scotland so to act ; but the Church of England , unfortunately , was not in that position . Her position in the colonies was of a very ambiguous character . She had no means of carrying out any useful power , but was liable to be fettered at every step by any one who chose to raise quirks and quibbles against her proceedings . Her desire was th ;» t she should be relieved from that difficulty . In the colonies thpy had not an Established Church by law . The Church there had no power-no authority ; she was merely equal with all the other religious sects in the colonies . "

      Mr . Roundell Palmer enlarged this complaint : — « ' Other religious bodies possessed the power of selfexpansion ; the Church alone did not possess it . She , it appeared , was to be kept in the same state in which she was placed two hundred years ago . " Mr . Hope gave the complaint a more remarkable direction : — The Church of Scotland and the Wesleyans had their assemblies , the Roman Catholics had their synod . Mr . IiA-HOUCHEiiK : ' They are voluntary . '

      " Mr . Hopk : So was this . Either the arguments of the right honourable gentleman fell to the ground , or there was something dangerous , detrimental , and noxious in the Church of England which ought to prevent its members from being allowed the power of self-action and self-government which other religious bodies possessed . " And , alluding to the satirical sceptical speech of Mr . Roebuck , Mr . Palmer gave vent to another apprehension : —

      •* He was afraid , from the speech they had just heard , as well as fiom other symptoms which unfortunately no one a'uld help perceiving , that they weic approaching a time when the question of the principles upon which the Church of England should be maintained , would be discussed under far different circumstances from those they had been hitherto accustomed to hear , and under which all who were friendly to that Church , or the monarchy , or tho country itself , would ever wish to hear it discussed . "

      What an amazing spectacle is here presented by the House of Commons , in this year of the Christian asm 1850 ! A distinguished member of the Church which claims to be descended by apostolical succession from a Divine founder , is pleading before the Legislature of the empire for permission that his Church may acquire some definite religious « compact" or bond—such bond being the very principle of unity—some authority to vindicate and preserve its own organization ! Other members of that Church emphatically repeating the declaration of its singular and helpless position among churches ; while tho Ministers of the country feebly repel tho duty thrust upon them , to seek

      efficient or morally useful ! The " Church of England " ! according to these declarations in Parliament , is the greatest of shams , a something without a centrical principle ; and so lost is the sense of allegiance to that Church , that the leading statesmen shrink from the duty of restoring its position , and endeavour to stifle the voice of concience as it speaks in the mouths of these more frank and courageous champions .

      safety for their Church ; weakl y " regretting the polemical tone which the discussion had assumed , " regretting " that the course taken by some members of the Church had led to proceedings tending to exhibit the Church in a state oi disunion , thereby impairing its efficiency and usefulness . " As though the pretended union of the Church , kept up in appearance by the disguise and covering of its discords and anarchy , could make it really

      But , we have said , report talks of active understanding as grappling with these momentous subjects in much higher quarters— " higher " according to the artificial scale of society and of worldly power . An Oxford paper reiterates the report that the Athanasian Creed , the great intolerant sectarian badge of the Church of England , has been discontinued in the Queen ' s private chapel ; and justly observes that the circulation of that report in some of the most eminent London journals , without contradiction , tends to confirm it . The Oxford

      Herald adds a new report—that Prince Albert has prevented the use of the Church Catechismin many respects a preparative for the Athanasian Creed—by the educators of his own children . The Oxford paper expresses great horror at this change , the journalist claiming for himself a very Conservative orthodoxy ; and he observes that Prince Albert ' s education at a German university lends probability to the report . For ourselves we have noticed with the greatest satisfaction some traces in the public speaking of Prince Albert which indicate him to be , not merely a reader , but a close and

      original student of the great German philosopher Humboldt . It is all but impossible that a man of the Prince ' s intelligence should be an active , thinking student of a philosopher like Humboldt , without acquiring views entirely irreconcileable to sectarian glimpses of religion , utterly incompatible with any view of religion but its eternal truth and universal dominion . We do not , indeed , trust too much to gossip in this matter : the power of routine is great , and royal persons especially will sometimes submit to their doom in that matter with a very tragical obedience ; but the report is one trace of the extent to which this movement of conscience

      has gone . Men are thinking about these things in all quarters . As in the physical world some great atmospheric phenomenon , some overshadowing of the earth , or world-wide vibration of the air , indicates the causes of great planetary movements , so in the moral world you see from time to time these world-wide vibrations , indicating that a new sense has passed over men ; that organic life has awakened to some fresh cognizance of the conditions under which it exists ; and , without consciously taking counsel together , men-obey the common law . The deadened state of spiritual matters might have led one to liven while

      expect a reaction about this time . these movements are going on we see the marks of degeneracy and degradation in the Church of England , such as the sale of advowsons , and clerical appointments to reversions ; but it is manifest that a very large portion of the Church laity has felt tho universal shaking of conscience . The new reformation is not limited to those who seem to take the lead in it : many are sharing it , are moving in its progress , who do not know in what great movement they are borne . For though the conscious instrument bears the burden of a sacred duty , the blessing of God ever falls on the unconscious equally with the conscious .

      Farmers Revolutionary. *' When Some Peop...

      FARMERS REVOLUTIONARY . * ' When some people protest there is a distress , and others that , there is not a distress , the natural solution of the di / fic ! ult , y is , that somrs are distressed and others are in no distress at all . To drimind that , bcfoio the existence of ( H > tress was admitted , it should bo proved that the Quo < n upon the tl . roiie war , ^ uff ring extremity for want of nourishing food , would be manifestly outrageous and absurd . "—Colonel Thompson .

      Earl . Gri-iy and Mr . Cobden insist that there is no agricultural distress ; the Duke of Richmond and Mr . Chowlcr affirm that fanners never were in a worse condition : whom are we to believe ? The Member for the West Hiding is seldom wrong in any matter-of-fact statement , and , generally speaking , we would buck him against any member of the

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 11, 1850, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11051850/page/9/