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Leader (1850-1860), 14th October 1854, Edition Country of 2, Page 15, We sadly want a theatre of commercial mo...

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      — Tho Fat Agriculturists Of Leiuestersii...

      dean pipes an agriculturist ? Why should not the milkmaid learn the solfeggio before singing to PIscator ? Is there any reason why the ploughboy should not Avhistle scientifically ? For my part , I can tolerate any scale in agricultural matters but the sliding scale , and am not sorry to see the British farmer affecting those liberal arts , Fhich soften his manners and permit him not to become brutal .

      October 14, 1854.] The Leader. 975

      October 14 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 975

      — One Great Feature In The War Is The Wa...

      — One great feature in the war is the way in which it is treated as a dramatic spectacle . On one side , we have the newspaper correspondents , representing the sight-seers at home who cannot glut their taste for the horrible with the actual inspection of the slaughter ; on the other , the ladies of Sebastopol setting themselves upon a Grand Stand , as if they were at Ascot or Epsom . By-the-by , it was very fortunate for those curious beauties that the Zouaves didn ' t catcli them .

      — Why should mot Government talce advantage of this spirit of curiosity , and raise a little money for the benefit of the widows and orphans . Advertise a battle six weeks beforehand , lay on a line of steamers , erect a Grand Stand in the rear , and the success of the speculation .-would be immense . The club men would flock in shoals , and at any rate it would be much mope exciting than going to Boulogne or the-Baltic . Also , why not a " gallery" for the newspaper correspondents .

      We Sadly Want A Theatre Of Commercial Mo...

      We sadly want a theatre of commercial morals , where regular professors could lecture . Ordinary men cannot get at the principles which regulate the commercial world . There is a popular idea that gentlemen who do not make both ends meet , and who fall into difficulties , are ipso facia scamps , criminals , outcasts , whom nobody ought to trust or consort with . Strange to say , fact partially agrees with theory . If a young man at the West-end is caught tripping , he suffers severely ; writs and precepts are thrust upon him without mercy ; and if he is poor , or unable to find help , he is kicked to ruin without the slightest pity . There is only one hope for him :

      it is , to launch into his expenses with an air of enterprise , until they swell to a grand scale . There is so much respect for thousands in this country , that people even look -up to men whose thousands are the wrong way . You may keep your carriage on " two or three thousand a year" minus ; and a Judge shall compliment you 5 a an insolvent court on the openhandedness of your ways . You may say that that is an anomalous ease ; but go a little further east , and there you will find gentlemen in difficulties only much grander difficulties , and respected accordingly . Liverpool is at present the magnificent

      capital of the aristocracy of debt . Listen on Cornhill , and you wilL hear them talking familiarly of a gentleman who has been drawing upon another house without authority ; and there must be something of the kind , unless his drafts are repudiated on false pretencos . Another grandee in the same world , whose liabilities amounted to 300 , 000 / ., turns out to luivo laid out 400 , 000 / . mora in bills for the purchase of ships ! Hero is a hint for the fast rann at the West-end ! Yet many dons of the commercial world aa'C labouring to prop up that very fast gontloman sit Liverpool ! What ia tlie recognised npinciplo tliat rules in theso cases ?

      — Kixuuake, - The Author Of Eothen, Rode...

      — Kixuuake , - the author of Eothen , rode on the staff of Lord Ruglan at Almn , and shared all tho perils awl honours of that glorious field . Shall we havp a history of tho campaign ia tho Crimea from that pen , so ohairy of its success ? Eothen was a htorary event at homo : tho history of tho war by such a . hand would bo monumontnl . It would bo tho Iliad of two continents .

      — Tlio Tradesmen Of Kow Havo Addressed T...

      — Tlio tradesmen of Kow havo addressed to ho * lioyal Highness tho Duchess of Cambridge respectful congratulations on her son the Duko having done his duty ut Almu , Suroly a superfluous clumsiness on the part of theso prone purveyors ? Did thov expect -t ho D uke to run away ?

      — When Tho "Bombardment Of Sobnstopol Be...

      — When tho "bombardment of Sobnstopol begins tnoro will bo nn opportunity of testing liow Englishniiwo cannon mix deal with English-planned fortiiicaUcms Colouol Upton , tho ohief engineer of tho wtruss , lias n , history which ia now remembered in w « amptonaliire , th 0 county-town of which he lofl iinauiy during tho assizes , leaving an indictment ngiuiiBl ; him for forgwy unsatisfied , with « . count or

      two for fraud and embezzlement of the moneys of the trustees of certain roads . What is more natural than that talents of that kind should find advancement in Kussia , where peculation thrives to such an extent that Alexander declared his officials would steal bis teeth from his mouth if they could do it without his waking ? Accordingly , Mr . Upton became the Czar ' s chief engineer in the Crimea and principally made Sebastopol what it is ! It is to be hoped , in order to shorten the siege , that he has served the Emperor something in the same way as he treated the trustees of the Daventry roads ; because there would then be every chance of there being more " rubble" in Fort Constantine than there was in Bomarsund .

      — Serjeant Adams, Of The Middlesex Sessi...

      — Serjeant Adams , of the Middlesex Sessions , hath an active brain , and a more active tongue . He has a good heart and a garrulous stentority , and he is as liberal of his tediousness as a king . Hi & jury periodically listens to his proposal of abolishing it , his bar delights in baiting him ; and he would abolish that , too , we fancy , and do the pleadings himself . Perhaps there is nothing that he would not abolish , save himself and convict-transportation —which has been abolished . But he won't allow it to be given up . The ticket-of-leave system he is bent on abolishing , —not in favour of perpetual imprisonm-ent , but of renewed transportation . Now we have a proposal to make , which must . "delight

      everybody in the Middlesex Sessions-house : As not one of oiir colonies will have the convicts , and as Serjeant Adams will not let them be kept at home , let him be sent on a quest to discover the Uhdiscoverable La . nd , the Norfolk Island of the "Future , in which the unutterable abominations of transportation can be renewed . The reward of his service shall be the compliance with the dream of his lifeconvictism restored . What strange sound is that approaching the furthest wilds of the aboriginal world—hark!—ceaseless as the hollow- sea-bubbling on the sJhingle ? Yes , we know it !— 'tis the voice of Adams—the adopted father of Cains , seeking a home for his children .

      But why sfeek ? It is a great question what to do with the Crimea ; yet surely none can be so fit to people the Crimea as tho children of crime ? Let them be transported thither . Or they miglit be formed into a corps under General Adams , and sent on a roving commission into Russia , with licence to approriate the Czar , the Cesarovich , all the Czaroviches , and every thing that is theirs . Only , we fear , Kussia itself would imitate Canada , the Cape , and Australia , in rebelling against the authority of Eng . lad , if it were pushed to that extreme .

      Sheffield And Mr. Roebuck. (To The Edito...

      SHEFFIELD AND MR . ROEBUCK . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sheffield , October 11 , 1854 . Sir , —I noticed in the Leader of last Saturday a paragraph from the Spectator , stating that a letter from Mr . Roebuck was sent to be rend at a " recent " public meeting held in Sheffield , but that it-was kept back for an improper purpose . The paragraph goes on to state what aro the supposed contents of the letter , and calls for its publication . As tho statement is not strictly accurate , and may load to- misapprehension , unless explained , I venture to trouble you with this note .

      It is not necessary to inform your renders of the origin and progress of a singular local Whit ; movement hero . Suffice it to say that the Whigs and mongro . l shams of all descriptions in the town had an object to gain , and they banded themselves together to accomplish it . Various stratagems were next attempted , and amongst the rest they assumed the virtue of making a movement in favour of the Independence of Poland . By not unskilful maungcment on the part of tho Kadicals , tho Whigs were compelled to declaro their unqualified adhesion to tho Polish democratic centralisation , of whom tho most nota-blo member is tho worthy patriot , Stanislaus Worall , Esq . They thcu took steps to have a Town ' s mooting , to petition Parliament in favour of tho Independence of Poland . That meeting took placoou Whit Monday , tho 4 th of Juno last .

      Koaauth wns present , and broke his two years' silence by speeches which acted like an electric shock upon the country . Before tho mooting was announced ! , Kos-Hiith hud boon properly warned of tho stato of parties , and tho character of tho parties who were inviting him . I recollect tho Louder remarking on tho absence of several well-known public characters from this meeting . Thoy were not ubscnt , but wore not culled upon to take any part in it . Somu timo after tliu meeting hud taken place , it begun to bo secretly rumoured that Mr , Roc-buck , and our other excellent Radical member , Mr . Iludfleld , had been invited to attend tho Kossuth meeting , and tlmt both had Bunt letters declining to attorn ] . Having Whigs to < loal with , wo Lad no moans of gotting at the truth of theso rumours . At our " recent" public meeting , held ow tho 2 HU wit ., to declare non-conM « nco in

      the Ministry , mainly on account of th e shameful occupation of the Principalities by Austria , in the interest of Russia , according to the words of Osten-Saeken when he was evacuating them , one of the speakers who opposed the movement , and who took part in the Kossuth meeting on . the 4 th of June , said that Mr . Roebuck was not pleased at a letter of his having been suppressed . This was the £ rst public intimation that had been given of the fact , and it was given by one who acted with the party which suppressed the letter . You will , therefore , see that it rests with the Whigs to publish Mr . Roebuck ' s letter , as well as Mr . Hadfield ' s and to explain why they suppressed them . Yours , faithfully , Isaac Ieonsidb-

      Cholera, A Disease Of Fear. (To The Edit...

      CHOLERA , A DISEASE OF FEAR . ( To the Editor of Hie Leader . ) Maryport , Sept . 24 , 1854 . Sir , —In an article in your last Number , " Ventilation versus Cholera , " another attempt is made to account for the presence of this man-slayer amongst us . The old tale of an " epidemic atniosphere" is taken for granted , and insufficiency of ventilation the exciting cause . Facts ia many instances are strangely at variance with this assumption . Sympathy and fear are admitted as accessories only , whereas , I think , you will find they are the sole cause . Cholera has not been confined to the poor and ill-lodged , for , hi proportion to relative numbers

      the Lord Jocelyns and Mr . Bra . dshaws furnish their share of victims , although the relaxing and attenuating effects arising from poverty of living—low diet and bad lodging—or the extreme of dissipation , WUl render the mind much more susceptible of distressing influences surrounding it , and so favour the Fear doctrine . Cholera visits barracks , work-houses , and prisons ( jvhere the inmates are made acenxainted with its ravages outside ) , irrespective of ventilation or anything else ; but who ever heard of lunatic asylums being visited by cholera ? I can conceive of inmates being so slightly deranged as to be susceptible of fear , and thus they fairly come under the category of subjects .

      When , in 1832 , Dumfries was almost half depopulated with this disease , the inmates of the lunatic asylum . there felt nothing of it . Last year , when Newcastle and adjacent villages suffered so much , a large lunatic asylum was totally exempt , although in the proximity of a village which was prostrated by the disease ! Colonel M'Lean , in alluding to this fact at a late meeting at Carlisle , expressed his conviction that this singular exemption could only be accounted for by the circumstance of tlie villagers drinking of tho Tyne water , and the inmates of tho asylum using water from a pure spring . Ou the

      following week the governor of the asylum writes to a Newcastle . paper to this effect : —" Had Colonel M'Lean informed himself better of the facts , he would have found that both the villagers and inmates of , our establishment drink at the sanie fountain . " Yett strange to say , neither the governor nor the colonel saw the important point so obviously brought home to them , —that the intnates of the asylum , though subjected to precisely the same conditions in all other respects , were in such a stato of mental derangement as to be incapable of being impressed or excited by the fear .

      In your correspondent's list of gcneralives and propagatives—swamps , rivers , bud sewerage , impure water , electricity , stratification , & c , —ho omits tho important item of few , but settles do-wn into tho vague conclusion that it requires a " concurrence of circumstances ' to produce cholera . " —For brevity ' s sake I would concede all that is said about concurrent circumstances , and still contend that all he has enumerated aro as innocuous as is a magazino of gunpowder away from the fatal match . Now fear is the spark , and without it thcro cnu b « no cholera explosion . II , Awauu .

      The "Family Bible" Proposition. (7b The ...

      THE " FAMILY BIBLE" PROPOSITION . ( 7 b the hldilor of lUo Leader . ') Supt . 2 . 0 , 18 . ) 4 . Sir , —I find in tho Clerical Journal of tho 22 nd'inst ., that " Pater Xlliarum" is answered by a writer signing himself " Metiox , " who recommends " Dr . Bootlnoyd ' a translation of tlxo Holy Scriptures us , being well suited for family use . " Iuni afraid , however , that the Housitivo father of dauglitcra will ho as little pleased with Dr . 13 . ' a rendering of the XI . Kings , xviii . 127 , as ho is with the ordinary version of tliat lies hero

      unpleasant passage . Tliu iliirieulty , then , : if Mio obj « ctionnblo parts of tho Biblo an ; faithfully rendered—us , of oourae , tiieyuiiylU to l > u if rendered at all—they will certainly Iw olIVn « ivo to delicate minds ; if they are loft in lliolr origin *! lantfimfjo much incuiivenicnco will enHiie ; and iflhoy aru obliterated altogether , shall wo not bo charged with mutilating thu Hook <> C LAM Of thuso tl » rcu courses ¦ which is thu best I' Or wlmll wo real cou touted with the ' authorised version" ivunuw posHOfls , with all it » admitted defects , taking it for bettor for worse ? ZlSTA ..

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 14, 1854, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14101854/page/15/