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January 15, 1853.] THE LEADER. 63
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THE JUDGMENT OF HISTORY ON THE PROCESS O...
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SPIRIT-HAPPING- AND TOBTUNB TELXIKG. The...
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dDpeu Cmtnrii.
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[iN THIS BEPAKTMEKT, AS AIL OPINIONS, HO...
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There is no learned man "but will confes...
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"PICTURE-CLEANING" AT THE NATIONAL GALLE...
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NOTIONS TO CIOItRNSrONDKNTS. W I who wri...
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VmiACHiNG viik ( iosi'ici-.—Some ye\r m>...
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Transcript
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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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The Unpjtlnted Literature. A Couitksi'on...
species o ' f clearing house should be established in London , for journals of conflicting opinions to meet , and reciprocally exchange communications specially unfitted for themselves and well suited for their contemporaries . In this way much of the suppressed literature might find a path to the light . All literary pffences might , by a new statute , be amenable to summons at the police-court , and an editor might be charged for want of impartiality in suppressing an argument ; for false logic in his own writing j for diffuseness , occupying
the whole space due to a valued correspondent , or for general want of merit . For our own part , we might view such a statute with considerable alarm ; but many of our contemporaries , we have no doubt , would rather hail such a test to their talents and distinguished qualities . We should only stipulate , in such case , that if there were a jury , not more than one-half of it should be composed of rejected correspondents ; and that the magistrate should not be , as sometimes happens
now , an unsuccessful author j for , dependupon it , of all cruel judges , the unsuccessful author , with an offending editor before him , would be the most tremendous . Another plan might be adopted . Let there be opened in London a museum , for the deposit of rejected communications , open to the public , with the manuscripts of the current month accessible for immediate perusal . Probably , such a house of entertainment would be much crowded .
January 15, 1853.] The Leader. 63
January 15 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 63
The Judgment Of History On The Process O...
THE JUDGMENT OF HISTORY ON THE PROCESS OF REVOLUTIONS . " Watchman , what of the night ? " is a question which at every ebbing of the waves of progress is involuntarily asked . Are we wrong in thinking that the Historian is the Watchman of Time , who throws the light of history over the world of events ? If not , the following passage from Niebuhr ( whose penetration and honesty cannot be questioned ) has a pressing application to certain prevalent moods of political advocacy : "Eurone , " says Niebuhr ( as rendered by Chevalier Bunsen in his Hippolytus and his Age ) , " ia threatened with great dangers , and with the loss of all that is noble and great , bylwo opposite but conspiring elements of destruction—despotism and revolution ; both in their most mischievous forms . As to the former , the modern state despotism , established by Louis XIV ., promoted by the French Revolution , and carried out to unenviable perfection by Napoleon , and those Governments which have adopted his system , after having combated its author—is more enslaving and deadening than any preceding form ; for it is civilized and systematised , and has , besides the military force , two engines , unknown to the ancient world or to the Middle Ages . These are , first , the modern stategovernment , founded upon a policc-forco which has degenerated into a gigantic spy-systom ; and , secondly , a thoroughly-organized and centralized bureaucracy , which allows of no independent will and action to the country . So , likewise , modern revolution is more destructive of political lifo and tho elements of liberty than similar
movements in former agos ; for it is a merely negative , and , at tho samo time , systematic reaction , against tho ancien regime , of which it made the despotic part universal by carrying out uniformity , and by autocratic interference in tho name of the State ; whereas it gives no equivalent for the real , although imperfect , liberties which tho old system contained , in tho form of privileges ; and in corulommng Htich privileges , under tho sanction of democracy , it destroyed tho basis of liberty undor tho pretext ot Hovoreitmty . Tho ancien rSgime had , indeed , made a similar attempt in tho latter part of the eighteenth century . Tho philosophical Catherine had mode- Russian
serfdom universal and uniform ; so , too , 1 ctcr Leopold , tho liberal Grand Duke of Tuscany , had swept away , for tho lovo of Btiito-uniibrmity , tho last remnants ot tho municipal independence of Tuscany ; and hw imperial brothor , Joseph , had attempted to confiscate tho Hungarian privileges in behoof of absolute kingship . Yot more utterly had tho French Involution destroyed the liutt livinjr fforma of continental liberties , in the nameoi liberty . All freedom which had escaped tho irregular oppression ot the IlaronH in the Middle Agos was now destroyed , tostroke of the
m > thor with tho privileges of tho latter , by a pen Whatever had survived tho reaction of Llio not yet quite adult despotism of the Itoman Catholic dynasties after the Reformation , and tho philosophical liberalism ol the ' autocrats of tlio eighteenth century _ -amor » g whom Frederic tho Great alone makes an exception -was swept away theoretically b y that revolution . This universal W » tiH , n wan to bo recommended as freedom by the two beautiful words Equality and Liberty ; that is to say , Mo abolition of t , ho privilogoH of . tho nobility , ami &« <* " * tionof religious persecution and intolerance . lh " ' was in reality a bloody confiscation for tho l . enef . o the rulers ; and the Hocoml a cheap homage to tho clan . of reason olfored by an ago ot religious in . liflerenci . I immense triump hs of the revolution in Roman Call > he countries , wore owing to tlio despair created by an ofloto aristocracy and a h ypocritical priestcraft .
Since Tyranny hiw received now developments , as those carried out by th « drot N apoleon , and , further ntill by modern " state government * , it is nocowuiry that the Science of Liberty should inuko more than
corresponding advances . The element of revolution * or , as we would rather say , of radical and , at the same time , rational and practicable improvements , should recast its policy , where necessary , so as to supply , with the utmost distinctness , the positive quality which Niebuhr ( who calmly and judicially passes sentence on the Present , his hand on the page of the Past ) regrets to have missed in his searching historical inspection . One lesson is evident from Niebuhr , —namely , that Tyranny , both of Church and Crown , creates despair , and we know Despair invites excesses , and then , as we have recently seen , from these very exeesses , Tyranny takes new life , and bolsters up a reaction in the name of that very " order" which itself had made a falsehood and a curse . We believe that
the " cessation of persecution and religious intolerance " was not owing to " religious indifference , " hut rather to a manly and conscientious sense of equal justice . But , both the intellectual and the political intentions of Revolutionists have been overcast and obscured by the excesses which the intolerable cruelties of Tyranny had invoked , but could not justify . As the established power is commonly the strongest—if its excesses are suffered to beget excesses on the popular side , the victory will , by a series of alternations that makes good men despair , fall into the hands of constitutional and
systematic Oppression . " They dig their own graves who make only half revolutions , " was an exclamation often now repeated , and ascribed to St . Just ; but , had St . Just lived thirty years longer , he would have seen reason to have said , " they bury themselves who make whole revolutions , " after the favourite abstract fashion of the * politicians of theory and impulse . An ardent lovo of freedom , and a manly and heroic moderation , patient to suffer the convictions of the majority to grow , are the true qualities that advance the science of Freedom . At least , so all History , as well as enlightened political philosophy , teaches . loir . i
Spirit-Happing- And Tobtunb Telxikg. The...
SPIRIT-HAPPING- AND TOBTUNB TELXIKG . The indefatigable reader who studies his daily paper as a duty , will have seen recently a case in which a woman , of plebeirfforigin and unascertainable residence , was sentenced to a very unpleasant penalty for obtaining money from servant maids by the pretence that she could tell them their fortunes ; and he will also , when quietly enjoying his Household Words , have perceived that an American lady , who dwells in the semi-aristocratic and highly respectable neighbourhood of Portman-square , has for some time past been taking from the more prodigal
and curious of the " upper" classes the sum of one guinea as a consideration for introducing them to a Spirit . Perhaps it would be hard-hear ted to suggest that a Detective should be provided with 21 shillings , and requested to get up a conversation , through the " medium , " with his grandmother —supposing that female to be deceased , or , preliminarily , to have had any existence ; we only draw attention to the fact that a certain number of people are day by day chatting , at one pound ono the colloquy , with members of tho invisible world ; and that though gipsies , and persons of that stamp , notwithstanding their knowledge of stars , and their Egyptian descent , aro perpetually picking oakum in consequence of tho vigilance of tlio police , no recreation oi '
tho kind seems yet to have boon recommended to those ladies from America , who undertake , at any moment , to make a quiet old Spirit , that would have been ashamed o £ such frivolities while in tho flash , hammer away , like a drunken carpenter , at the dinner table or on tho wall , and como all tho way from its quarters in tho next world , to respond in a coherent and instructive manner to whatever absurd questions shall bo put to it by silly people in this . Spirit-rapping may , or may not , bo an imposture ; but as it belies our experience , and is inconsistent with our religion , suppose we employ tho secular arm , and try a littlo harmless persecution . Let us call tho heresy " false pretences " and send an inquisitor in a blue coat , to hand the
profeHflorn over to tlio civil power . IJHK () RK ~ TIIK WlODDINO . W ( 5 lllld to Wllit ill thd vestry for tho officiating clergyman . All tho gloom and dampness of the day seemed to be collected in this rooin a dark , cold , melancholy pliice , with ono window which opened on a burial ground steaming in tho wot . The rain pattered monotonously on tlio pavement outside . While Mr . Hhorwin exchanged remarks on tlio weather with the clerk ( : i tall , lean niim , arrayed in a black gown ) , 1 sat silent , near Mm . fthervvin and
Margaret , looking with mechanical attention at tho white Hurpli ' oeM which hung before mo in a half-opened cupl )() Jird . at tho bottlo of water mid tumbler , and the long-shaped books , bound in brown leather , which wore on tlio table . I was incapable of speaking—incapable even of thinking—during that interval of expectation . At length the clergyman arrived , and wo went into tho oliUrch tlio church , with its de « iliito array of empty pows , and itn chill , heavy , wcok-dny atmosphere . — CoLLINfl ' 0 Basil .
Ddpeu Cmtnrii.
dDpeu Cmtnrii .
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[In This Bepaktmekt, As Ail Opinions, Ho...
[ iN THIS BEPAKTMEKT , AS AIL OPINIONS , HOWBVEB BXTEEMB ABE ALLOWED AN EXPBESSION , THE EDITOB NECBSSABII / 3 T HOLDS HIMSELF [ RESPONSIBLE FOB NONE . ]
There Is No Learned Man "But Will Confes...
There is no learned man "but will confess he hath much profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and ais judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profitable for him to read , ¦ why should it not , at least , be tolerable for his adversary to write . —Milton .
"Picture-Cleaning" At The National Galle...
" PICTURE-CLEANING" AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY . ( To the Editor of the Zeader . ) 27 , Soho-sqnare , Jan . 13 th , 1853 . Sir , — I should feel obliged by your publishing the accompanying notes relating to the inscription on Claude ' s " recently-flayed picture , representing the " Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba , " their writers having authorized me to make what use of them I might think proper . The evidence they contain will , if I am not greatly mistaken , be considered fully as trustworthy as that of Mr . VVornum . I remain , Sir , yours obediently , MOKKIS MOOEE . Kemp Town , Brighton , 12 tli Jan ., 1853 . Mr dear MoORD , —With reference to the now halfobliterated inscription on the picture of the " Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba , " by Claude , in the National Gallery , I can most positively affirm , that until the last vacation , the words " La Heine de Saba va trouver Salomon , " were . perfectly legible , without the aid of spectacles or catalogues . No picture in the gallery has been more rudely and wantonly defaced , with the exception , perhaps , of the " Plague of Ashdod , " by Poussin , which appears to have been scrubbed with a brickbat . Yours faithfully ,, William Coning ham . Inner lVmplo , 13 th Jan ., 1853 . My BEAR Moonis , —I have read your letter in the Post of the 10 th inst . You therein speak of " other witnesses" to the removal of part of the contested inscription from " the Queen of Sheba . " If it be any satisfaction to you , I shall be happy to add my testimony to tliat fact . ISefore the picture was cleaned I could read that inscription ; since the cleaning , I have striven in vain to make it out . Hut how discoursing 1 that the question of tho destruction of that work should be made to hang on such nn isolated fact ! Why , I , « 'i casual observer , can put my finger on many parts of tho picture , from which the colouring of Claude has been removed , and can , if it would servo any purpose , on oath depose that the lights and surfaces of individual objects were visible before the cleaning , but exist no longer * Hut all this is idle . You can easier turn back tho tide than stem tho madness of modern folly , ycleped " art . " Always yours truly , ( JjiOROH AliKKEI ) AllNEY . M . Moore , Ksq . j >> 5 | Hbould add , that I only knew of tlio inscription from having soon it on the picture itself , never having read the catalogue in my lift ) .
Notions To Cioitrnsrondknts. W I Who Wri...
NOTIONS TO CIOItRNSrONDKNTS . W I who writcH about l . ho l'cikKh- of iiioiimo , has mimui < lorfltoo . ' l ( ho K nirnni . ir . 'Hxto Immmk a , liMtin .-l . i . » ii ol hox t . o ., a . i . iulo mourn , liiitl a fnnmlo h . oiiho « I ., 1 . « . hi . » i « - « tho Kmulv * n » common . Wo miy it tf « ii .. rnlly of a .. ioiimo , « mi , ily Ixwau-o tho h , x h not ol . vio . m . lliil wo H « y it of a I'al . y as olio ,. # / ior r tha . GormiuiH , indwil , nmlio tho lml > y noutor ; but J- ^ yrm * malm tlio iiumiho f ' oiiiiiiiiw . Will tho " Khk IihIi < ) |>< " -a livo' comply With on" ,- quu- ; i »' . nt . niul Himtl hiii mini" and n < UlniH » ?
Vmiaching Viik ( Iosi'ici-.—Some Ye\R M>...
VmiACHiNG viik ( iosi'ici-. —Some ye \ r m >^ , I \ iv * r a piously-br < - . « i ^ ! i ( -up Methodist child caii ^ nt ., ovv . »» - ^ « cockcliafev , -vnd Hipping him with hitt fin ^ i , to ^ . « if him nr ' in , Haying at . ovory Hip , " L'll mnko th « c , m- '' ;^; ii tho « reapol 1 " — JSlachwood ' s Magazine for January .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 15, 1853, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15011853/page/15/
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