Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 12th September 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 15

Page 15
Page 15
15 of 24

On this page

  • Text (3)
  • Transcript

    • 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.

      Misgovernment And No-Government. We Are ...

      -GtovBEnment , and -when the ^ -qveraunaaat proves lamentably weak , . we must make good , witli -our lives and our jearnings , . every deficiency . The Executive has only slowly awakened ± o the importance of this Bengal mutiny . Everything has been done by halves , byiihe slowest possible process , and with apparent reluctance . Such , it appears to us , is misgovernment . But at present we may almost be said to have no government . The . nation is in mourning ; week by week intelligence

      arrives of appalling horrors in the East . We ihave , at this moment , more cause for grief And-alarm -than ever before in our history . IBut all -goes merry at Balmoral . The most illustrious personages inthe realm are aaotin-© onvenienced . They . enjoy their Highland seclusion ,, . and no -doubt they warmly hope . that the Bengal Sepoys will shortly be prevented from cutting children in itwo , . flaying the faces of dear English girls , and perpetrating sucli atrocities -as to compel a lionhearted man to become the Vir & inhts af a

      j-oung wife , the mother of two infants , laying her dead at his feet , that she may not die polluted . Of course these ' poor people' have . the sineerest regrets of the galaxy that illuminates the Court Circular . So alsoa majority of the governing classes are grouse-shooting onthemoorSj-and discussing the Litest massacre of antlered or feathered game . There are a . good many ^ Romans to fiddle while Bengalis burning . Lord PaIiMecbstok himself , we are told , stops in . town , and we give him credit for

      being actually in earnest , and putting forth his energies now he has been convinced that the Indian mutiny is not a contemptible affair . But where is the Cabinet ? "Where the Privy Council ? "We do not ask , " Where is the Opposition ? seeing that during the session not a single suggestion of value emanated from the Tory phalanx ; but it would not be unreasonable if , with an awful conflict to carry on , the administrators of public

      busineBs were to remain in their official places . Perhaps one Secretary of . State might object that India is not his department . Exactly so . India has been treated as a department upon departmental principles , and we see the consequences . If the public were Alive to the perils that press upon the empire , they might be induced to act systematically upon the Government , and assemble in convention to watch the Ministers at their work . But

      misgoverninent during the session , and nogovernment during the recess , is an old fashion , and we perceive no likelihood of a speedy change .

      . Ijfa. 390, S Uggaimskr 13 . 1857.] The...

      . Ijfa . 390 , S uggaiMSKR 13 . 1857 . ] THE & E A T > 3 E R . 879

      'Peace Makers.' Weeen We Imve Preached T...

      ' PEACE MAKERS . ' Weeen we Imve preached the beauty of 'the Churdh of the Blue Vault , ' we did not recommend the Church of jthe Black Yault . [ Nowhere , perhaps , can the voice of Teligion more clearly -direct its worship to the ruling Power of the creation than in the natural cathedral of the woods , or under the Tault of heaven itself ; but under the vault of town

      smoke , amid the din and bustle of the marketplace , the simple truths find difficulty of utterance , and . preaching degenerates into Bcolding , sometimes into scuffling . If men must live in towns , the proper place for them to hold communion with each other and with their Maker is ono consecrated to the purand

      pose , walled in against the conflicts of the outer world . Nor is it every man who can be regarded by his fellow-creatures as entrusted to speak the words of religion ; for although we all draw our being from the same Author , our gifts aro not equal , and avo do not always preserve tho gifts with which Wo arc endowed at birth . A moral is often neon best in a story , and wo have more than one to toll . On Wcdncs

      day last , one "WantKLAJH < Baxo ? £ I & was placed before the magistrate in -the ' © uildiiall { policeoffice , . accused : of . being in -St . Sepulchre's ^ Church ' with . the intent < to commit a felony . ' The word is harsh , and does . not appear to be justified by tlie facts . The . man , however , was found by-the sexton of the parish church in the jpulpit , alone , repeating the . Litany aloud . On the altar he bad placed some . artificial flowers , for he is an artificial

      rflowermaker by trade . He pleaded , however , a high mission . "When . the sexton questioned his right to fee there , he declared that * he was sent into the church , by the Almighty . ' Moreover , be-. assailed the official with texts from the Boole of Common Payer ; : he read the passage from Isaiah , — " Behold the Lord will help ane $ "who is he that shall condemn me ? " The sexton was * he , ' . and his ability to turn "Witi / iAM Baxter out of St .

      Sepulchre ' s Church certainly implies that the artificial flower-maker did not have the assistance he ^ anticipated . Thus convicted of an insufficient commission , he was taken by the sexton to Guildhall police-office , and placed before Sir Pjsxeb Imujrie on . a charge of felony . Sir Peter Laurie : " What did . you want in -the church ?" Baxter : "I found it open , atid I always understood a ehnrch "was free to every one . I am 'subject to religious enunciations , and this was one of them , -which came upon me and directed me to . go into . the first church I found open , and I accordingly went into St . Sepulchre's because I found the door open . "

      Sir Peter : " What do you mean by a ' religicnisemmciation ?"' Baxter : "It was-a'religious feeling which induced me to go in and pray and preach a sermon . " Sir Peter : " I consider you are a very dangerous man if you are subject to such calls . " It is not tbe "first time that Sir Peter has 'delivered an undoubted truth . . Jl man who is subject to such calls' is ' a dangerous man , ' and we have an example only too ready to our hand . The Reverend II . Hanna , of Belfast , is Buck a man . He is subject to ' religious enunciations , ' and he lias ' a religious feeling which induces him to go met and pray and preach a sermon '—namely , in ¦ the streets of Belfast . Now Hanna . is a

      Protestant minister , evidently of highly pronounced Presbyterian sentiments . He is ^ endowed with all the energy of youth , and has a strong sense of his duty . This was shown in a very striking manner . On Sunday Ia 3 t , he preached a sermon in front of the Custom-house at Belfast , choosing for his text , " How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation ? " Perdition has a greater terror for him than anything that can be brought in this present world . Uoinan 'Catholics had already taken their stand on the steps of the Custom-house , but he was

      not daunted , and his example made his congregation , both male and female , stand by him . A great * rabble' approached , but Ha / nna . and his friends stood firm . ^ Torty Protestant young men , ship carpenters we conceive , formed themselves into a band , and armed with staves kept oft" the thousands of the ' rabble . ' The magistrates took alarm , not only , of course , for their person id safety , but for the peace of the town , and they urged Hjlhna to desist . We all remember the fable of the Trumpeter who was taken prisoner , and who pleaded that he never used the sword himself . " Rut

      you make others tiao a sword , " answered his captors ; and they treated him on the qui faoit per aliwn principle . Hanna -was decidedly tho 'first soldier in Belfast on that day ; for the light thickened . The forty carpenters did not suflice ; tho mayor hud to read the lliot Act , to call out the constabulary , then troops ; four regiinenta contributed several companies to tho defence of the peace , while cavalry scoured tho streets even till nightfall . An Irian paper comments justly

      • on " vth © fiame of mind' in . which Hanna and his congregation must have conducted the ieligiou 6 ( service : siuange ftame-work , indeed , do we see in Abe / co & flkts of the forty carpenters , the . thousands of "the rabble , tbe constabulary headed by the mayor , and the hussars galloping . about amongst the excited populace , who answered to the firing of the infantry in kind . ; for blood waB shed that night in Belfast !

      Truly may Sir Peteb Latjbie say that the man w-ho is subjeet to calls to go and pray and preach a sermon without any authority delegated to him by Bishop , Eing , or congregation , is a dangerous man . -For , be it observed , Hanna was preaching to a congregation which had not sappoAnted him , without warrant from Bishop or Presbytery "to thrust his dootrune upon the rabble of Belfast . 3 ? or it is stated that the Presbytery had already determined not to ( Continue these

      . "If you will forgive me this time , " said WlI _ Q _ . M HBaXTEE , to Sir P . ETEB liATTKIE , " I will en deavour not to offend again . " Baxter decidedly stands in contrast with Hanna , who insisted upon his ' rights ; ' . and . iSix Peter's rejoinder might have been addressed

      with much greater force . to Haota than to Baxteb . "If you act upon impulse , " said Sir Peter , " you may have no control over your feelings , and might commit murder . " Why , Hanka ' s trumpeting Jeas ended in bloodshed and death . Xet the military ; acted on the side of Hanna , who was brought before no Sir Pjgbeb , Lattbie to account

      for his e religious * nunciation . ' Sir Peiteb ; liATLRiE e cautioned the prisoner against future attempts at preaehing to imaginary congregations , and believing him to be a little wrong in his mind , directed the officer to take . iim home . ' We can only infer from the facts that Hanna is very ' wrong in his mind ; ' and it appears to us to be far less dangerous to preach to > imaginary congregations than to real congregations , such as that winch the Presbyterian , collected in Belfast , and then left mayor . and military to disperse .

      The Civil Government Of India. The East ...

      THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF INDIA . The East India Company is a corporation consisting of about eighteen hundred Proprietors , who divide among them , the two thousand five hundred votes for which the stock forms a qualification . Perhaps a seventh of the votes are held by natives of India ; many aTe possessed by Jews ; a still larger number by ladies . Formerly , in . selecting the Directors , this electoral "body exercised directly almost a supreme power over tho

      British possessions in the East . By the law of 1883 , Tiowever , the entire system was modified , ; the Couit of Proprietors ceased to act as a political body . They "were deprived of their commercial property , of their right to trade , and of their independent prerogative . The standing capital of six millions was -made a primary charge on the revenues of British India , and tho State provided itself

      with the means of extinguishing , when necessary , the whole amount of stock . Nevertheless , the ^ Directors , as representatives of the Proprietors , retained certain political privileges which were renewed in 1854 , and , should these be cancelled , 'the Proprietors would be entitled to the repayment of their capital at tho rate o + " two hundred pounds sterling for every hundred pounds of stock . In 1874 < the rcscrvo fund will liavo

      accumulated to yuch an extent that a largo proportion of tho East India stock may be purchased without any duirgc upon tho revenue . MoanwhiUytho duties of tho Proprietors consist in receiving their dividends of tcn-a-half per cent ., and in electing a certain number of tho

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 12, 1857, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12091857/page/15/