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July 15, 1854.] THE LEADER. 655
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MAURICE'S LAST LECTURE—COLLEGE OF WORKIN...
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OUK CIVILISATION. The week has presented...
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KOSSUWI ON THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION. Kos...
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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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July 15, 1854.] The Leader. 655
July 15 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 655
Maurice's Last Lecture—College Of Workin...
MAURICE'S LAST LECTURE—COLLEGE OF WORKING MEN . The sixth and final lecture of the course on " Learning and Working" was delivered on Thursday last . Like its juredecessors it contained many useful general observations on the necessity of combining learning with working for all classes , —on the difficulty of doing this for the class who maintain themselves by daily manual labour , especially , —and the importance to human happiness of cultivating , exercising , and directing tlie spiritual and intellectual parts of human nature . But , besides these general observations , the lecturer advanced others referring immediately to the object he had in view in delivering this course—viz ., the establishment in London ¦ of a college for working men .
The design of the projected institution i 3 evidently one which deserves to be carried out ; and we wish Mr . Maurice and his coadjutors all success . It is possible , as be intimated in this lecture , that the whole thing may fail , as the Sheffield college was well nigh doing . A critical observer may say to iiint two years hence , " What has become of your fine scheme for educating working men ? " and may have the pleasure of receiving for answer , " It has come to nothing ; " as well as the additional pleasure of saying , " That is precisely what I expected it would come to . " Yet the failure and the ridicule would prove nothing whatever against the worth of the scheme . Mr . Maurice dwelt on the absurdity of testing the importance of an enterprise—especially a moral enterprise—by its immediate failure or success .
With regard to the machinery for beginning the college ( to be opened in November next ) , Mr . Maurice -stated that certain persons , like himself , earnestly interests in the matter ( barristers , surgeons , clergymen , tradesmen , operatives , & c ) , would form the first set of teachers . Ultimately ho trusted that teachers would arise ( paid teachers ) from among the students of the college . Not tliat he would couiine the teachers to one rank of society only ; ho hoped that men fresh from the universities , literary men , statesmen ,, men of science , would come forward to assist iu teaching the working man .
He stated fully his objections to appealing for assistance- to the public , to Government , or to any sect or society . He wished the institution to be self-supporting . Men . do not want charity , they want friendly sympathetic help .
Ouk Civilisation. The Week Has Presented...
OUK CIVILISATION . The week has presented the usual illustrations of the dismal horrors around us , and of which we take no account in our controversies as to the exact ¦ amount of prosperity proved by the revenue tables . At Callington ( Cornwall ) Petty Sessions , Mrs . Craddiuk , a farmer ' s wife , and a disciple of Mrs . Sloane , has been sentenced to three months' imprisonment for brutal cruelty to her servant girl—an orphan wretch sent into her " service" from the workUouse . Here is the aggrieved heroine ' s horrible evidence : —
" She once broke a pie-dish about my head , and boat me about my head with a stick till it bled . She used to kick mo and pull me about by tho hair . She used to ball my head against the wall , and gave me two black eyes . She would swear on me , and onco poked f . he handle of a knife into my cars . 1 am rather < leuF . She put dirty messes into my mouth , and onco put her hand into my mouth and tried to -choko me . I complained to Hichard Cruddick and to Mary Treize . I was marked and bruised about tho head , nml 1 allowed it Mary Treizo . I have some marks about my legs from kicks . She onco kept me without breakfast , ami gave
me cold milk for dinner . She beat mo with a stick the duv before 1 Uft tho house . My master w « s kind to me . I took my moat with tho reat of tho family , and fed like tho rest . My work was to watch tho children ; thaiy used to tell talcs about mo to my mistress . There was a chamber utensil broken , and oho rubbed my notiu and mouth in the contents twice . 1 nover used to act indecently with tho children . Tho children onco made a mess and stud it was I who made it , and , mistress enmo out with a iircpun and put it into my vnoulh . There waa a cat ' s mess , and sho put soino bran over it and made mo lick it . Mary Troizo snw mo do it , "
At tho Thames Police Court , an engineer , in Mr , Ponu ' s employment—John Ellis by namo—has been sentenced to thrco months' imprisonment , with hard labour , for ill-treatment of his wifo . His wifo hud boon driven " to the streets "—that ia , to prostitution—by his brutality ; ho mother , one day , and nsked her to return to him . Sho declined ; and ho knocked hor down . At the Southwark Court , James Hayes , a carrier , was charged with assaulting , indecently anil brutally , two young ladies , whom he met walking in Bormondsoy-aquurc , anil to whom ho took a fancy . They declined his love ; and ho knocked thoin down . Tlio sentence- was -lus . and costs , or two months' imprisonment . Tho prisoner said it was only " n Lirk , " and pluudod drunkenness .
Joahiin J . onua , a draper ' s assistant , accompanied a prostitute to a " house of iicconunoiluliim . " Aliasing his purse , ho charged hor with tlio theft , and , sho denying it , ho throw hter down , pulled out a claspknife , and attempted to exit her tb . xout--uuUln . jr . hor eovorely . Tho police woro called in , and tho dnipor ' s
assistant was found , after all , to have had his money all right in his side-pocket . Sentence one month ' s imprisonment . At Sheffield , a coroner ' s inquest has been held on the body of a young factory girl , who , seduced , and disappointed of marriage by the seducer , a labouring man , bought sixpenny worth of chloride of zinc , and poisoned herself . In Ed ward-street , Kingsland-road , a woman , with her head out of the window , screams " Police , " and " Murder "—her husband being engaged in beating
her . The policeman rushes into the house but cannot open the room-door , and finds that the wife declines , after all , to charge the husband . He goes down stairs , where a mob has collected , and finds another man beating two other women , who , standing up for the sex , had used severe phrases against the wife-beater up-stairs ; those phrases being resented by the second brute , anally of the first brute . Brute No . 2 is taken into custody , and is sentenced to six months' imprisonment . His only excuse was that he had been taking " spirits . "
An attorney s clerk , at Haslingden , married , and with children , found that he could not keep himself and his family on the pittance a grinding chief allowed him to earn ; so he took to drinking , and , on getting quite sober , committed suicide . His letter to his wife , apprising her of the resolve he carried out , gives the calmest and most business-like reason for cutting his throat . Lelilia Eggins , a respectable married woman , was , on Wednesday evening , making her way home down Regent-street , when a " gentleman" came behind her , and , as she swore , though the gentleman utterly denied the charge , handled her indecently . The gentleman , M . Villott , Director of the Sbho Theatre , was handed to the police , and in the morning was sentenced hy the Marlborough-street magistrate to a fine of 3 i .
At the Oxford assizes , Anne Alleway , . a widow , aged 50 , has been sentenced to a year's imprisonmeet , for systematically beating lier mother . The mother ' s " aggravations" appeared to have driven the widowed daughter mad . Daniel Phy thian , a young felloe , a tailor , has been committed for trial at the Westminster court , charged with attempting a rape upon an old woman of 70 ^ in whose house he had been engaged working at his trade . A coroner ' s inquest , in Westminster , has brought
in a verdict deeply affecting the professional character of Mr . Jay , a medical practitioner , under whose care his female servant died . It would appear that the girl was pregnant , and died of " premature birth "—the inquest arising out of a suspicion that abortion hud been attempted . The verdict is : — " Deceased died from inflammation of the peritoneum , which the jury , Avithout imputing any malicious feeling or criminal neglect to her master , consider to have been greatly proinpted by improper medicines administered by him to the deceased . " 1
A court-martial is being held at" Windsor , to try the conduct of Lieutenant Perry , of the 46 th regiment , who , having quarrelled with , a brother officer , Lieutenant Greer , while playing cards , is charged with having knocked hi 3 friend down with a brass candlestick . The defence so far is that the provocation was sufficient , Lieutenant Grecr having called Lieutenant Perry " son of a "
Kossuwi On The British Constitution. Kos...
KOSSUWI ON THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION . Kossuni appears to be getting cured of his excessive tact , and , consequently , to be giving his talent fairer play . Up to this time , in England and America , he has sinned in being too much of the courtier for the popular tribune—in being too eager to conciliate prejudices by suppressing truths . But , in his Glasgow addresses last week , he has spoken out—thinking , perhaps , that a Scottish nndienco would have a tendency to bo candid about English institutions—and his sneers and his satire , for which we must make allowance , demand attention . Here is his notion of our national alacrity in favour of human freedom : — " I desire you to understand that I am perfectly aware of tho fact "that Great Britain , as a State , will do nothing out of sympathy for Poland or Hungary ; that Great Britain , as represented by its Government , knows of no sympathy at all , or , if it knows any thing about it , nil Hh leanings are rnthor for the dynasties than for tho nations . 1 know that groat Britain , as a State , nover stirred a finger far tliosuko of nntional freedom abroad . Oh ! JL know tluit Grout Britain , as a State , docs not euro a bit about seeing our nation oppressed , and that whatever be our sniU'riiio-.- ; , Great
Britain , ad a State , will not throw one straw of holp to cling to nt it , even if wo woro evidently drowning for ever , provided Great Britain be not forced to it by its own interest ! nay , I go so fur as to be perfectly convinced , that even in that case , Grout Britain , as a Stato , will lie extremely anxious to provide by some other moans for its own interest , if possible ; and ifit can find out some such means , It will studiously avoid to employ thoso which would benufit any oppressed nation , and do run go the t-ecurity of tho oppressors ; so much is Great Britain , us a State , prunu to look
but to dynasties and governments , and to disregard the concerns of nations . I believe I am right i n this estimation of Great Britain ' s policy , because it is the light of truth in history which brought that estimation home to my mind ; but be I right or be I wrong , such is my conviction ; I firmly believe that considerations of national egotism are the only powers which may bring Great Britain to our side ; but that without that imperious argument the oppressed nations on earth have nothing to hope , nothing to expect from Great Britain ' s sympathies . Penetrated as I am by this conviction , I desire explicitly to state , that in the matter we have to treat I discard emphatically any appeals to sympathy * ; I desire the arguments I told
at Sheffield and Nottingham , and may tell here , to be judged exclusively from a British interest . It is Great Britain whichis at war ; your is the war , yours is the issue -, your blood , your money , j'our sacrifices are at stake ; your victory , your defeat are trembling in the balances ; therefore it is the necessity of your own honour , of your own interest , to consider with dispassionate but with comprehensive prudence what are the means best adapted to make your war effective in its issue , successful in its operations , requiring the least of your blood , the least of your money , and shortening the duration of the indirect but
tremendous sacrifices which the war inflicts upon your commerce , your industry , upon the earnings of your working classes , and even upon your daily bread and meat . ( Cheers ') . Never in my life have I been in honour , in conscience , more strongly convinced of anything than of this , that shall Great Britain attain the aim upon which it professes to be bent in . this war ,, it must discard the false and ruinous alliance with Austria , it must recur to the Polish and Hungarian nationalities ; or else it will see itself naffled . in the proposed aim , and will find all its sacrifices unavailing and vain . "
M . Kossuth might have added tliat other nations , and very properly , are just as little cliivalric as ourselves . But his estimate of us is accurate enough to be taken without conditions : and Ms arguments , which are telling on the country , against the Austrian alliance , will have the greater effect because they proceed , or affoct to proceed , from his consideration of how far our direct interests are involved in aiding the cause of the great Hungarian leader . This satirical summing up of our pretensions to self-government is likewise sufficiently true to suggest some humiliating reflections—which will do us good . " Therefore , believing that Great Britain ' s policy must answer Great Britain ' s will , and
believing also that the British nation is Great Britain , I went ao far as to request the people to declare its will , by passing resolutions , and signing petitions to the Imperial Parliament , petitions assuring , in the most humble and peaceful manner , the representatives of the people that their humble petitioners will ever pray . I assure you , sir , in all sincerity , that in thus acting I acted in perfect good faith . { Cheers . } From my familiarity with the logical philosophy of constitutional life , and from my ignorance of the fact that British public law is an exception to that philosophy , I really thought that it would be neither unlawful nor incompetent in the people of Great
Britain to declare its will about peace and war , and to petition Parliament . Have I erred in this ? I have but to plead ignorance in excuse , and plead it with all possible contrition ; an ignorance , perhaps , excusable in me , n stranger , when T see the inhabitants of Sheffield , the citizens of Nottingham , and the citizens of Glasgow , sharing ia my unintentional mistake . Well , sir , I have the unpleasant duty to inform you that we have been all labouring under a delusion in this regard . I have nn official authority for saying so much . The people of Nottingham , in public meeting assembled , passed resolutions much like those which I understand aro about to be
proposed to this meeting . —resolutions embodied in « petition to both Houses of Parliament . Tho Duke of Newcastle , actually Minister nt War , was requested to present tho petition to the House oi Lords . ( Cheers . ) I have been favoured from Nottingham with a copy of the answer of tho Duke , signed by his privatu secretary , and dated Downingstreet , Juno 17 . Allow mo to read the meritorious part of it : —'" The DuUe of Newcastle desires me to inform yon ( the chairman ) that it would be most unusuni to present a petition to l ' urlinmont having direct reference to a declaration of war , or tho establishment of pence with foreign powers , which nro
matters entirely within the power « ind prerogative of tho Crown . Tim functions of Varliunicut could hardly bo applied to cither of these events until each hud actually taken plncu ; mid under these circumstances , Kc , the Duke declines tot .-ike ixny step with rotfiird to the petition . " >•'<> " ' , >' " I 1 ki m ) t ( l llitc m ™ taken in what little luurliah 1 know , that answer inouns to say , " that tlio Hritish Million has no right to meddle with thonu matters until all is over , " con-Honuontly , be it riylit over or wroiu ; over , no remedy were possible ntfiiiimt it , because 1 certainly imagine that nu possible Muli » e ( nient eonsui- «> can be reputed to be n remedy , as it cannot muko undone things that are done . Nay , I mn even niado to understand
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 15, 1854, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15071854/page/7/
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