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Aimtr. 27, 1850.] tRffC 3Leatl$t. 107
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"THE PEOPLE!" "IT'S COMING!" Of all roma...
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WltONGS OF WOMEN. With the increasing re...
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CHURCH AND STATE. Revolutionary ideas sp...
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CLERICAL BAILING. A very good suggestion...
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•what's o'clock? Numbers and music go to...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Wages In England And America. We Have Re...
for the landlords to assert that our farmers cannot compete with those of America because labour is so much cheaper in this country . Has not the inability of the English farmer to meet competition much more to do with another difference between the two countries , not discussed by Mr . Sandarsthe difference of rents ?
Aimtr. 27, 1850.] Trffc 3leatl$T. 107
Aimtr . 27 , 1850 . ] tRffC 3 Leatl $ t . 107
"The People!" "It's Coming!" Of All Roma...
" THE PEOPLE ! " " IT'S COMING !" Of all romantic extravagances those are the greatest which you find current among your matter-of-fact folks . You will find among them , sometimes , notions so wild and simple , that they ought rather to be the dreams dreamed by hermits or children of Nature . " It seems that in highlycommercial and highly-political Glasgow there abides such a child of Nature , and that the Leader lias frightened him by talking about that bugaboo " the People . " The child of Nature is no other than the Glasgow Citizen — a most respectable
journal , offshoot of the Edinburgh Whig paper , the Scotsman , but endowed at its birth with a more generous spirit than that of Whiggery . In sober earnestness we have expected to find in that same Citizen an intelligence and feeling far above the average , and in spite of his alarm at our words we still expect as much . His panic only shows what a regular ignorance is kept up among the " wellinformed " classes , by the habit of placing cant for information ; so that in certain points instruction is no more than the perennial cultivation of a baseless fallacy .
We had said— " If any political party would make way just now out of the stagnant slough of indifference , it must do so by carrying with it the great body of the People , " and to determine whether this is " a noble truth or a paltry untruth , " the dear child asks— " What , then , is ' the People' " ? answering his own question in this sweet prattle : — " Properly understood ' the People' is not a mere multitude of men , with warring wills and interests , but the nation viewed as a harmonious whole , as a spiritual personage or corporation , with only one will , and that just and holy . This just and holy will of the People is , in truth , but the nationalised expression of that Godimplantcd sentiment of right and wrong which rules in
evpry honest human heart ; it is the individual conscience of man in its phasis of universality . This spiritual People is the power that sanctions all laws and gives strength and honour to all governments . From it proceeds the really ' divine right' of all kings and commonwealths . It guarantees the rights , protects the persons , and guards the liberties of individuals ; and , with the consent and approval of all men , punishes every infraction of its enactments . Itulers , judges , magistrates , are but the material organs of this spiritual power ; and their rule is just and beneficent , or the contrary , in proportion as it squares with the behests of this invisible authority . When legislation speaks the voice of this People it must needs be good , for then it is the expression of the moral instincts of man , and , therefore , in harmony with the laws of God . "
" But this , " says the good Citizen , is not ' the People' of the Leader "; a most intelligent observation . Assuredly when we talk about the People as a desirable contingent for any political party , we had not in view " this invisible authority , " " this spiritual People " ; for , to say the truth , we were not only unaware of its existence , but are still wholly at a loss to guess what thing on earth the dear child is talking about . It is the prettiest notion of a People that we ever heard—quite a fairy tale—the subjects of Prince Percinet , always so virtuous and happy . But the sweet Citizen proceeds to describe for us our own People , equally to our edification . Most truly having premised that its own pretty People is not the People of the Lender , our instructor proceeds : —
" With it the People is a mere mass of men ; a material conglomeration of individuals ; at best a numerical majority of the population , without reference to the spirituality of their wills , or the holiness of their desires . * * * * rj' ] ie power defined and invoked by the Leader is not that of the universal human conscience , but the fierce material desires of the lower orders . ' The People ' of the Leader is tho incarnation , not of popular virtue , but of popular passion . It is that terrible , benighted power that can only grope its way to progress by Revolution , and whose highest triumph was a reign of Terror . IJis « People ' is the animal people—the savage Proletarian ism of Lyons and Paris , the Plebs of Manus , the Peuple of Marat ! "
" Slia ' n ' t , then , have a People to frighten it!—no nasty Plebs — no shocking , material , animal Peuple , ' all incarnate flesh j but a nice , pretty , spiritual People , all virtuous and invisible . " Seriously , however , the excellent Citizen is quite mistaken in supposing that the People of the Lender is the monster that frightens him so . His nurse has been frightening him , naughty woman Strange as the fact may appear , it is evident that
we here have a public journalist who does not know what the People is . By the People we mean the Twenty- * -ix Millions that people the British Isles ; we mean no one of the classes thereof , still less the small sections that are dignified by the name of the " upper classes ; " but we mean the whole People , visible and tangible in flesh and blood ; whereof , undoubtedly , the " lower orders " form the largest section . But our closet friend is most of all mistaken in
supposing that the People is an incarnation of bad passions , a " terrible benighted" thing ; and we are perfectly sure that if the humane and intelligent Citizen only made acquaintance with that same People , he would be quite amazed at his own bugaboo ideas . The French child is told that Wellington is as " tall as Rouen steeple "; and our own dear Glasgow little friend has been equally misinformed about the People . The creatures called by that collective name , let him rest assured , have limbs and faculties like his own , —mind , conscience heart . They have senses , and therefore ,
we say , they have a right to consult their own bodily comfort and needs ; they have perceptions , and can advise in their own case ; they have affections , and will sympathize with you , if you do with them ; they have conscience in nature just like your own , and will acknowledge the same instinctive elements of right . We might have thought it rather late in the day to be making these disclosures touching so obvious a subject ; but if we find these wild romantic notions in our respectable and wellinformed friend , what extravagances may not be afloat among the pensive public !
Now , we are not afraid of this great thing called the People , immense as its inherent power is . But the fact is , that there is one unfailing recipe for governing the People . Not by flattering its desires and passions , though that expedient may serve the turn of the self-seeking demagogue . Not by pampering it with luxuries—alas ! the the People , in its greatest numbers , is inured to privation . You may do much by appealing to the sense of justice , because conscience is not monopolised by the Citizen ' s "invisible authority . " But
the one rule for effectually governing the People more certain and powerful than all is this—win its affections . Appeal to the sympathies of flesh and blood , speak to the popular heart , and trust to the same affections in the living souls called People which you feel in yourself . That is the art of all true rulers ; if the statesmen of our day have lost it , on their head be the responsibility of anarchy . For no free People can be governed by those who
ignore its sympathies and affections . If the People is " terrible" to any class , it is because those who are answerable for controlling the immense creature have neglected their art . You will not be safe till you restore that sacred and potent influence , nor ought you to be so , " 'Tis conscience makes cowards of us all . " If we fear the People it is because we wrong the People , in thought or act . Trust it , and it will lend you its strength .
We shall not cease to proclaim that conviction , momentous alike to People , to the classes who are taught to fear the People , and to the statesmen who profess to rule—the conviction that if you will be safe , strong , and energetic , you must have the People with you .
Wltongs Of Women. With The Increasing Re...
WltONGS OF WOMEN . With the increasing refinement of the age , we notice an increasing disposition to one foible which is rather strikingly illustrated by the current literature of law and police , a certain mean sort of baseness towards women . To conform with the spirit of the day profligacy becomes sneaking . We read of a case in which " a sickly little girl , " aged sixteen , summoned the father of her child to support it . The man , father of a family already , had decoyed her and seduced her , and now professed poverty as the plea in
bar of supporting his own child . His punishment is—to pay half ' -a-crown a-weck for the keep of his own offspring . James Phillips is charged at the Mansion House with brutally striking a girl in the streets at night . He said that she and another girl accosted him , and he only " pushed " them , fearing that they meant to rob him . " And so , " said Alderman Carden , " by ' merely pushing them away , you covered one of them with blood ?" ht
" Exactly so , " answered the cool gentleman ; " I mig have touched her on the mouth or nose , but it was to save my pockets , " Not many years back such a plea might have sufficed , but somehow magistrates have learned that women , such as Phillips struck , are fellow-creatures ; Alderman Carden showed by his remarks that he can feel for their miseries , and he sent Phillips to Bridewell to refleot on . the new view of " the rights of woman , " hitherto so generally repudiated ,
The Court of Exchequer is pondering the unfortunate reiteration of a case in which one Gibbs demands a new trial , because a jury awarded £ 800 to Miss Adams , a young lady whom he had faithlessly promised to marry . It was not the rashness of youth that hurried Gibbs into the promise , for he is fifty-four years of age . At the trial he pleaded that the young lady was of consumptive tendency , and he convicted her of the offence of having swallowed cod-liver oil . His counsel now tried to make the Chief Baron accept that plea ; but Sir Frederick Pollock altogether declined . Mr . Sergeant Shee then recorded the magnanimous plea that £ 800 was excessive , since his old client really was not worth the money to a young
lady . That point the Chief Baron agreed to consider . The promise-breaker would consent to a verdict of £ 500 . Gibbs estimated himself so high ! We should consider it exorbitant , if , in these cases , the " damages " were reckoned as compensation for the husband lost . Sergeant Shee is quite right in saying that Miss Adams was well quit of the promise-breaker ; that , in fact , the damages ought to be considered as a fine paid by the promise-breaker for ever having intruded as a suitor at all , probably to the detriment of a young lady ' s , prospects in other quarters , A Gibbs is quite correct in pronouncing £ 800 exorbitant as a compensation for himself ; but the intention of a Gibbs is a trespass worth any money .
Church And State. Revolutionary Ideas Sp...
CHURCH AND STATE . Revolutionary ideas spread apace . For a particular reason we ask the reader to read what follows attentively : — The time has arrived for the Church Unions to take up more fully the general question of the relation between Church and State in its whole bearing . It is evident that the Government , and political persons generally , will be glad to give the go-by to the question as long as they can . We would also express our conviction that the union of Church and State is no dogma , or positive relation , to the maintenance of which , in any particular waYi
Churchmen are pledged ; but that its arrangement must depend very much on the character of the State , which varies indefinitely , while the Church , is one and invariable ; and that the principle on which the Church should proceed , is to obtain the best terms it is able ; reserving always the privilege of breaking off the connection , if the terms allowed by the State are such as interfere essentially with its functions . We have arrived at a state of things in which it is evident that there is only one alternative ; either there must be a readjustment of some points , or the union between Church and State will certainly , ere long , be dissolved .
Now does not that paragraph seem to you exceeding good sense ? Quite suited , in short , to the place which it graces in our columns ? You think that we have written it , and we have no great objection to your supposing it ours . But it is not : although we have not put marks of quotation , it is from the English Churchman .
Clerical Bailing. A Very Good Suggestion...
CLERICAL BAILING . A very good suggestion has been made , and has been adopted by the Common Council of London , to improve St . Paul ' s and the area in which it stands , by removing the dwarf wall and iron railing , and thus clearing a space for view and motion . An open space in a busy quarter is a pleasing sight : crowded , railed St . Paul ' s is not a pleasing sight ; a disfigurement was to be made into an ornament . But the Dean and Chapter will have none of
it : they will let the people within the rails , but must have power of shutting out the public , in order to an occasional leisurely contemplation of the edifice ! It seems that the Dean and Chapter confess the soft impeachment of an occasional idolatry , and cannot forego the fond contemplation of their church bodily . As to identifying the church with the progress of improvement , and so winning a fresh lease from the goodwill of the citizens , that they account surplusage .
•What's O'Clock? Numbers And Music Go To...
• what ' s o ' clock ? Numbers and music go together . Alfred Novello , an hereditary musician , who puts a soul of art into a driving trade , desires to set our dial-face in order , and to simplify railway time-tables ; to which ends , from time to time , he issues exhortations on the subject to the public in general : — The Northern nations , " he sayB , " by common consent , begin each day of tho month immediately after midnight , which is , no doubt , the beat arrangement ; but it appears an objectionable custom to fitop short at noon , half way in the day , and begin a Hocond scries of twelve hours , called by tho snme numbers as the previous twelve , because it becomes necessary to distinguish the hours of each series by supplementary words—as morning , afternoon , criming , night ; ante-meridian , post-meridian , or their abbreviations . The objections to the custom have become more evident since the increase of railways ; for it is found difficult to insert these distinguishing words in the close table * mod to convey information of the arrivals and departures of railway trains . " Then follows a table of most convincing figures ; after which our guide , philosopher , and music-seller , enlarges on the imperfectibiUty of Iiradahaw , with instances that arc truly appalling . We must confess that Jiradshauf
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 27, 1850, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27041850/page/11/
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