On this page
- Departments (1)
- Pictures (1)
-
Text (8)
-
April 20, 1850.] &!>£&£&&£?+ 85
-
John Bull's Catholic Bulwarks. — A high ...
-
^~^^Z ^^^y <$m cmmctL WjHU ^^^^* *
-
T&ere is no learned man but will confess...
-
We are still obliged to keep back some c...
-
ON THE CREDIT SYSTEM. Sir,—I perceive in...
-
DIFFICULTIES IN RECIPROCAL AID. Sir,—As ...
-
SUNDAY LABOUR AT THE POST-OFFICE. Maccle...
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.
-
-
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.
A Deserted Village. The Episcopal Domain...
house of prayer , he would do the same by the houses of the worshippers . However this may be , it must be the care of a Government regardful of the best interests of the country to protect the labourer against so selfish an exercise of power as drives him and all his fellows from their homes , even though the prevention be as potent as a national poor-rate , or something more potent still .
April 20, 1850.] &!>£&£&&£?+ 85
April 20 , 1850 . ] &!> £ & £ && £ ? + 85
John Bull's Catholic Bulwarks. — A High ...
John Bull ' s Catholic Bulwarks . — A high Church journal has ferreted out an ecclesiastical grievance which has at least the charm of novelty . The John Bull is credibly informed that a treasonable design is on foot * ' to cast a slur upon one of the bulwarks of the Catholic faith within the precincts of the royal palace . " Certain parties , it would appear , of a heretodox character , have taken it upon them to prohibit the use of the Athanasian creed in the Queen ' s private chapel . The John Bull affirms that the Athanasian creed is " of the bulwarks of the Catholic faith , " and if that be ciren up , what is there to hinder the whole edifice from
being overthrown ? What imparts a possible probability to this tale is the fact , that vast numbers in the Church of England have learned to condemn the Athanasian creed , as a proclamation of fierce intolerance ; and even the Ministerial Globe has not long since given currency to a proposition for disusing it . One wants to know the truth of the new tale . Why should not the Bishop of London take it in hand—why should he not boldly come forward in the House of Lords , and ask why the Athanasian Creed is not read in the Chapel Royal ? We should like to hear Lord Brougham ' s speech on the occasion—whichever side it may happen to adopt .
The Free Pakty in France . —M . Emile de Girardin is rejected by the electors of Paris because he " sets universal suffrage above the Republic . " His reply is noteworthy , inasmuch as it throws light upon the state of opinion , in France ; for it is a distinct expression of the doctrine of an important and increasing party , a school which forms a sort of link or transition between the French extreme Republicans , and the Free-Trade , Free-Church , Non-intervention , and Financial and Parliamentary Reform Party in England . M . de Girardin places universal suffrage above the Republic , but liberty above universal ^ suffrage . He defines absolute liberty as all the liberties united together : the liberty of worship , of the press , of meetings and associations , of labour , of
trade , of banking establishments—every liberty , m fine , required for the full exercise of individual sovereignty in the unrestricted development of human intellect . He sets nothing above absolute liberty , because he considers any government imperfect and condemnable which , in order to exist , needs to aim the slightest blow at liberty . For liberty is not to be made consistent with any form of govern ment ; but the government should be made consistent with liberty . To that word Liberty M .. de Girardin refers every progress , universal suffrage , and the Republic . This is the school of Proud lion , whi' -h we may call the school of intellect , to distinguish it from Red Republicanism , or the purty of faith—r . i > whom the Republic is an urttule of belief ; and . also from the Reaction which bases itself upon a lower view of the national or party
in-. Mazzini and the Swiss Government . —Swiss independence is no more . The " altar of liberty , " grandly described by M . Escher , in opening the Swiss Diet , a few days since , has verily some strange offerings upon it . The days are gone by " when the Morat men swept on— " Like a pine-clad hill By an earthquake ' s will Ilurl'd the valleys upon . " The brave burghers have discovered that discretion is the better part of valour , that " non-intervention" is safer than courage . La Suisse , of the 12 th instant , publishes Government to the note of
the answer of the Federal Sardinia , demanding the expulsion of Mazzini . The Federal Government is anxious to be at peace , does by no means intend to be a focus of plots and propagandism endangering its neighbours , had , therefore , even so long since as September last , ordered the expulsion of Mazzini , and will expel him when he can be found . But it must not be thought to take this step because it is threatened ; nay , it thinks the Sardinian menace must have been applied , not to it , but to Mazzini . Else the Swiss Government would recollect what is due to its own dignity , and would certainly—protest . " Spiritedly" of course , like Lord Palmerston on behalf of Hungary . To that level has the Republic sunk !
Mit . Hudson in Ireland . —Mr . Hudson , M . P ., has been paying a visit of inspection to several estates which are about to be brought to the hammer under the operation of the Encumbered Estates Bill , and the general impression is , that he intends to make large purchases . What his means may be of investing extensively in that kind of property we cannot pretend to guess ; but one thing is clear , that if he has any spare funds he cannot put thorn out to much better purpose than in buying an estate in Ireland , especially if he can find one of those to which the Standard alludes as " selling for eighteen
months' purchase of their former value . " What rack rents these wonderful estates must have commanded in the good old days ! Probably three or four times their real value . A few purchasers like Mr . Hudson would rather help to raise the value of Irish estates . If he could only inspire the same confidence in his superior skill and sagacity among those who are about to buy farms in Ireland as he did among English railway share . holders six or seven years ago , he would give a marvellous impulse to improvement in that unhappy country . And , redeeming Ireland , he might also redeem something else—his own kingly renown . No longer Railway King , why not—bating the high treason—King of Ireland ?
^~^^Z ^^^Y ≪$M Cmmctl Wjhu ^^^^* *
— , , jmMlnt ~^^ r <' - i —J ^_ J- —JjJB ^ JWU * — — ^^—tj—w ^^^^—^^ fcj dftpra Cmttml .
Pc01309
T&Ere Is No Learned Man But Will Confess...
T & ere is no learned man but will confess lie hath much profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and his judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profitable for him to read , why should it not , at least , be tolerable for bis adversary to write . —Milton .
We Are Still Obliged To Keep Back Some C...
We are still obliged to keep back some communications ; although , with one exception , the full and compacted style in which the letters that we publish are written enables us to represent each class of the communications that have reached us . The subjoined letters , more than one of them by writers of standing , may serve as a useful example to other correspondents who have taken less pains to pack their meaning into a manageable compass . The exception to which we have referred consists in a single letter , conveying a rather vehement imputation that we are hostile to religion . The writer somewhat mistakes our purpose . But , if Dr . Sleigh will couch his statements and arguments in a more specific form , we shall be happy to accept the communication that he promises .
On The Credit System. Sir,—I Perceive In...
ON THE CREDIT SYSTEM . Sir , —I perceive in your paper of April 13 a proposal to enact for the whole kingdom the principle which the Standard suggests as a cure for the bad debts and profligate expenditure at Oxford . I hope you will give more prominence to this suggestion , and endeavour to excite public discussion concerning it . For myself , I had feared that this was a theory which practical men would deride , until I heard it strongly advised by a Scotch farmer , a shrewd man of business , guiltless of superfluous theories . It now appears to me that minds of so different an order , in the most opposite circles , are disposed to assent to the doctrine as to give hope that public opinion is ripening towards this view . I would begin by enacting that " no shop debts should be recoverable in law . " This would cut off at once the disgraceful system by which fashionable gentlemen prey on tradespeople . It would lower all prices to the present cash prices . It would deliver tradesmen from an immensity of care , which at present ruins the happiness of thousands . It would diminish the bankruptcies * of shopmen , and the severe losses which they inflict on the merchants who supply the shops . When the measure had become established as to shops it would afterwards be clearer into what classes of mercantile debts it could safely and equitably be
carried . Direct investments of money and positive contracts must necessarily remain under the protection of law ; but the credit system , is so great a bane of English happiness that to cut it down from its present artificial luxuriance into real trusting of one who deserves trust would be one of the greatest boons to this trading nation . Pray do not let the subject drop thus . Francis William Newman .
Difficulties In Reciprocal Aid. Sir,—As ...
DIFFICULTIES IN RECIPROCAL AID . Sir , —As you have announced your intention in good earnest of giving scope for the discussion of all questions relating to social economy , some of us plain people may hope to see intelligible answers given to the multifarious suggestions which start up , as it were , to thwart us , as soon as we think we have obtained some ground to stand upon . With many others , doubtless , I read your article upon " Christian Socialism" of last week with intense interest . But here at starting a difficulty besets me , which I will venture to communicate for the purpose of having it removed by abler hands than mine .
. Charity is enjoined throughout the whole of Holy Writ , not as a virtue to be practised by the rich only , but by all men . Now , as no man comes into the world provided with any special fund to dispense in bounties , but as the exertions of any association ( call it nation , or what you please ) abundantly suffice with common prudence to cause them to multiply , it would seem that no extraneous aid from man ' s generosity was calculated upon in the scheme of Providence , without which the human beings
which he allowed to come into existence would necessarily perish . When my thoughts wander into this channel , —and who at the present day can refrain from thinking on such matters ?—it appears to my simple view a kind of arrogant pretension on the part of one man to set himself up as the caretaker of another . ^ Moreover , being a little accustomed to dealings with sharp , wilted tradesmen , the unkind suspicion will force itself that when , not merely individuals , but whole classes of a community , undertake to do that for whole other classes which , it seems , God intended that every man should do for himself , there must be some strong , and perhaps selfish , motive to impel to
what , in a well-ordered state of things , would be a work of supererogation . Such benevolent ^ persons seem ( at least some ) to be more bent in making their fellow-men satisfied with their actual lot than with striving to remove the causes -which render that lot an unhappy one . As every human effort in a false direction tends but more and more to disorganize the scheme of Providence , and thus eventually to increase suffering amongst men , this difficulty , which , a charitable mind meets at starting when called upon to provide for others , deserves some reflection . To illustrate my meaning , I will take the case so warmly advocated by your contributor of the seamstresses and tailors' workmen . For the relief of
this class of the labouring poor , the point held up to aim at is an increase of wages . An unfair allotment of wages must arise from disorganization either in the labour market or in the sources whence consumers draw their incomes , b y which these incomes become smaller than they ought to be . Here , then , is my point . Is it an effectual remedy for some who happen to have abundance ( a small minority ) to give up all control over their superfluous wealth in order to make their neighbours contented under a vicious state of things ; or would not their exertions be better directed to inquiring into the reasons why any labour should not find its due employment , or why the consuming class has grown limited in numbers or straitened in resources ? In the one direction the most ardent benevolence finds its field limited
by exhaustion of means ; in the other no boundary would seem to be set to the perfectibility of national organization and freedom of exertion . I find , too , a second difficulty , which has , doubtless , also struck many other readers , in the plan of a society for the purpose of directly , i . e ., artificially , raising any particular description of wages . It is this . No class of workmen ( whether with the head or with the hand ) stands isolated . The interests of all are so linked together that one part of the chain cannot be affected by good or by evil without the results being , with more or less force , felt by some
of the remoter parts . Were we , for instance , violently to disarrange the present system of slopselling by raising a portion of wages , which means raising the price of the articles now sold 6 O cheaply , the consumption would inevitably be checked . To meet this , I know the benevolent protectionists of the workpeople say that would make no difference , since higher wages would be paid for what was sold . It does not require , much skill to point out that these high wages would necessarily be confined to fewer hands , by which a new complication in the tailors ' work-market would be caused . But it is surely also
wrong to confine one 8 views to this market only . If I give up a glass of wine or a saddle horse to meet the increased cost of my own clothing or that of my family , I diminish the . earnings of vinedressers , sailors , merchants , and glassmakers in one case ; in the other I throw a groom , a grazing farmer , and ploughmen , pro tanto , out of employment . I do not see how the richest can change his mode of living ( expenditure ) without deranging the system of which his expenditure has formed a part , nor how a pennypiece can be given where no return is exacted without robbing the fund of the industrious . firm belief is that
This is my difficulty , and my Providence never intended one man to depend upon the favours of another . But who can walk our streets without confessing that some grand derangement of the providential scheme has taken place , and that we have no time to lose in trying ^ to set our house in order ? The question is , how is this to be done ? and I have troubled you here with the doubts and difficulties originated by the scheme of what has been called " Christian Socialism . " Perhaps some of your correspondents will throw more light upon the matter which is now so obscure to , sir , Yours truly , Pall-mall , April 10 , 1850 . Eobiiia .
Sunday Labour At The Post-Office. Maccle...
SUNDAY LABOUR AT THE POST-OFFICE . Macclesfleld , April 15 , 1850 . Mil . Editor , —It is become almost a universal theory that men ought never to ask others to do for them what they can as well do for themselves . Unfortunately , the maxim is only a theory : few men have yet learned to practise it . This fact has become more strongly impressed on my mind by seeing so many petitions from those who call themselves the religious portion of the community recorded in the proceedings of the Legislature . These parties call upon Parliament to do away with Sunday labour in
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), April 20, 1850, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20041850/page/13/
-