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frttflf 80,1653] THE LEADED y3T
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WHO IB THE CUIiPBITP Simokt is a very in...
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[in this department, as am. opinions, ho...
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There ia no learned man but will confess...
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THE LAW AS TO THE ADMINISTRATION OP OATH...
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NOTICES TO COEBESPONDENTS. If a reader w...
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Tim Pedicmee of Giieat Men.—One often he...
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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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«A Stranger" In Parliament. Thb Senate O...
tibid JbJ » B * wbfcl » eVenrbddy politely affected not to observe , ' being amply baliaiiced by the extra salary ati & tiOli a year , which Vernon Smith , who as waiting for a vacancy in the Coalition , proposed , and which the gouseVas tqo careless to denounce as a job , but rather permitted as a- capital joke , that , he was puzzled at this jropp lementary opposition , tagged on by Sir John when the comijuttee had been got through , and it was evident from his haw-haw-ish and poph-pooh-ish air in replying to the Droitwich baronet , that he never dreamed of the defeat that he immediately received , and which should never have been allowed , for the very reason , for which the
unwilling House has been intimidated into passing this wretched bill—that it weakened the moral power of Eng land in India . The natives might not have comprehended our ffisthetical difficulty about double governments ; but they understand their own politicoce conomical perplexity as to salt ; and the practical effect on their minds of Thursday night ' s division will he this t- that they will believe , with great prbpriety , that Parliament has rebuked the East India 0 ompany for what the ryots regard , with great propriety , as an infamous monopoly of what is , in India , a first article of subsistence . The result will
test whether or not the House of Commons might not safely have put the Government in a minority ( had it been so disposed , —which is very doubtful ; for most members have relatives who hold India stock , and most members are practical men ) on the main points of the bill . If we do not see a revolution , or a murder of a collector , Sir Charles Wood will have been convicted of obtaining an act under false pretences . There are , however , qtjber tests at work of native endurance . It appears that the India ( native ) newspapers are going to translate Sir Charles Wood ' s five hours speech . If England retains her great dependency after that , she is sure of her for ever .
England , at any rate , has paid India the compliment of agreeing to give * Yorkshire squire 5000 / . a- ear to govern her : of putting the Minister for India on a level with the Minister for all the Colonies . -Nay , Lord Palmerston , who spoke for the blushing and would-be unconscious Wood on the occasion , induced the House of Commons to consider whether it was not desirable to have in the Indian department some man , to be called a Permanent Secretary , who should know something about India ! That sounds an extravagant report of Lord Palmerston ; but—i * ead his speech . He spoke for half an hour on the advantage which it would be when a Minister for India was appointed
to find in his bureau a gentleman , high in character , and reliable in tone , who could guide the Indian Minister on Indian affairs ! He referred to the advantages he had experienced from such an arrangement in the Home Office , where he was very new ; and he referred , generally , to the facilities which such a system gave to all new Governments . That is—up to this moment India has repeatedly been governed by men who knew nothing , and who , until they had educated themselves at her expense , could get to know nothipg of her affairs ! What a satire , from one of our first Parliamentary heroes , on our whole Parliamentary system ! A Stbahgbb . Saturday Morning .
Frttflf 80,1653] The Leaded Y3t
frttflf 80 , 1653 ] THE LEADED y 3 T
Who Ib The Cuiipbitp Simokt Is A Very In...
WHO IB THE CUIiPBITP Simokt is a very innocent and proper thing ; it ' s only one of the rights of property ; why should you intorfero , with your canonical notions , to put it down P Law sanctions it ; human avarice holds fast to it ; the Church—now you know tho Church could not got on . without it ; and if unfit wion creep into tho Church through tho back door it opons , of course that ia the fault of tho Bishop . Yes ; it's all tho fault of tho bishop ; ho should not institute ; it ' s a diagroco to him to institute an unlit person . Wo , Simonists , «« aro not to blamo ; wo only soli tho presentation , tho Bishop , he ' s tho culprit .
ouoh are ] the objections with which our viows aro assailed . Now , reader , wo ask you who ia tho culprit in tho following disgraceful transaction , narrated by the Itovorond Sidney Godolphin Osborno , authenticated with his signat-uyo , und published by tho Times . There is in Cornwall a certain pariah called St . Ervan ' Jn or about tho year 1851 , by tho death of tho then incumbont , the Jiving bocamo vacant . The patron wished to sell Mo said living ( the rioxt presentation or tho advowson , I fun not informed which ) at tho highest price lie could ob-Lflin _ A fwnn i-1 , i , ^ . „ . » ,. - _ . „_ i * nnw 1 ( inMir fW \ ll *• W » Al / V 1 «/ T If / ft S * tain . A gentloman found jnfirmparaltic
was , very , y , utterl y incompetent to do tho duty , and giving every proupoct , from his state of health , of aflbrding to the purchaser speedy ponaoaaion . To this gentloman tho living ^ " 9 given . It was eomo timo boforo ho was brought to tho spot for induction , & o . ; ho had then to bo supported JJ P tho aislo by two persona ; jolly and wino , eayB one inlormunt , wino and water says anotlior , were supplied him « t tho reading-desk . Ho was not ablo to get through * o «< hng tlio Thirty-nino Article ' s in tho morning ; becoming vwy unwoll , ho waa rornovod from tho desk to tho inn in " » almost fainttog state * In tho afternoon , however , he
was again brought down to the church , and did succeed in finishing the reading of the said Articles . Another clergyman from a neig hbouring parish had been sent for , to be ready to finish the service , in case this new incumbent should through weakness fa } l to do sp . So fatigued was the poor man with the effort that he was detained in the neighbourhood under circumstances causing great apprehension for his safety . He itvver , resided ; within these few weeks the living has become again vacant . " The whole scene , " says my correspondent , " was one calculated to inspire unqualified disgust . "
Mr . Osborne , with whom we by no means agree in general , is a zealous hunter of such abuses as this . In the present ease b . e lays no email blame on the Bishop of Exeter for allowing a paralytic to pass muster . Well , we admit it is a strong case . But although . Mr . Osborne is confident that the Bishop could have refused to Institute , we by no means share his confidence . Clearly the Lay patron thinks he is right ; but how he reconciles it to his conscience , it would take an Erastian imagination , to
conceive . To Us he is the culprit ; he knows that the bishop is surrounded by a network of legal doubt , and that if ho refused to institute , it would be under heavy penalties ; for Parliaments , composed of lay impropriators , have fully protected their property in simony , and neglected the rights of the Church . It is too bad of them to turn upon the bishops , whom they menace with , penalties , and say , after having appointed an unfit man—My lord , it is disgraceful , why did you institute ?
The practical point suggested isrrthis : Could not the Bishop of Exeter take up the challenge , and explain ' w % and haw a bishop is at the mercy of lay patrons ; what restrictions are set upon him , and what penalties P
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[In This Department, As Am. Opinions, Ho...
[ in this department , as am . opinions , howevee extreme ahe ali . owed an expbession , the editor neoessaeilx holds himself responsible fob none . ]
There Ia No Learned Man But Will Confess...
There ia no learned man but will confess he hath much profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and nis'judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profitable for him to read , why should it not , at leaat , be tolerable for hi 8 adversary to write . —Milton .
The Law As To The Administration Op Oath...
THE LAW AS TO THE ADMINISTRATION OP OATHS . v . : ; z ( To the Editor of the Leader- ) Sib , —The following is tho 6 and 7 Viet ., c . 22 , referred to in my last letter . It is entitled ' An Act to authorize the Legislature of certain of Her Majesty ' s Colonies , to pass laws , for the admission , in certain cases , of unsworn testimony , in Civil and Criminal Proceedings . " Passed May 81 st , 1843 : — " Whereas thoro are resident within the limits of or in countries' adjacent to divers of tho British colonies and plantations abroad , various tribes of barbarous and uncivilized people , who being destitute of tho knowledge of God and of any religious belief , aro incapable of giving evidence on oath in any court of justico within hucu colonies or plantations j and whereas doubts have arisen whether any laws which have boon or which miffht bo made by tho legislatures of such polonies respectively , to provide for tho aamissibility in ouch courts of tho evidence of such persona , aro not or would not bo repugnant to the lay of Jbngland , and therefore null and void ; and it ia expedient that such doubts should bo removed . Bo it thoroforo enacted by tho Queen ' s most oxcellont Mftjosty , by and with the aavico and consent of tho Lords Spiritual and Tomporal , and Commons in this prosont Parliament assembled , and by tho authority of tho same , that no law or ordinance made , or to bo mado , by tho legislature of any British colony for tho admission of tho ovidonco of any , such persona oa aforesaid , in any court or boforo any magistrate within any such colony , shall bo , or be doomed to have boon , null and void , or invalid by reason of any ropugnmncy or supposed ropifgnancy of any such onactr ment to tno jaw of England , but that ovory law or ordinanco mado or to bo mado by any euch legislature aa aforoBaid , for the admission boforo any such court or magitjtrato of tho evidence of any such persona as aforesaid on any conditions thereb y imposed , aboil liavo Buch and tho samo effect , and shall bo subjcot to the confirmation or diflallowanco of Her Majesty in such and tho samo manner as any other law or ordinance enacted for any other purpouo by any such colonial legiflature . " Tho Icffielaturo appear * to huvo had flomo doubt , m
to whether the law proposed to be made was repugnant to the law of England , as it uses the words " repugnancy or supposed repugnancy , " And well might it doubt , since Lord Denman'e Act has rendered infamous persons- —persons who have been convicted of crimescompetent witnesses;—for Lord Coke considered infidels as not fide dignus , nor Worthy of credit , and be put them in company , and upon the level with stigmatised and infamous persons .
Numerous instances are to be found in our books , of the application of the principle , that witnesses are to be sworn in that form which they consider binding on their consciences , and the following may interest your readers . Members of the Kirk of Scotland , and others , who object to kissing tho book , have been sworn , by lifting "P the right hand , while it lay open before them . Thi 8 appears to be the mode in which'President Franklin Pierce took the oath of office . ( See \ Leader , March 19 ^ - ) Irish Roman Catholics are sworn on a New Testament , with a crucifix delineated on the cover .
Jews are sworn on the Pentateuch , keeping on their hats , the words of the oath being changed , from " So help you God , " to " So help you Jehovah . " Mahomedans are sworn on the Koran , and the ceremony is thus described in J 2 . v . Morgan : The book was produced ; the witness first placed his right hand flat upon it , put the other hand to his forehead , and brought the top of his forehead down to the book , and touched it with his head ; ho then looked for 6 ome time upon it , and , on being asked what effect that ceremony was to produce , he answered that he was bound by it to speak the truth . According to the report of Amychund v
Barker , part of the ceremony of swearing a Hindoo consists in his touching the foot of a Brahmin , or if the party swearing be himself a priest , then the Brahmin ' s hand ; but , if this is considered b y their religion as essential to the validity of an oath , and it appears to be so , it is obvious that a Hindoo cannot he sworn in a country where no Brahmins are to be found . In a recent case , a Chinese witness was sworn thus : On getting into the witness-box he knelt down , and a China saucer having been placed in his hand , he struck it against the brass rail in front of the box , and broke it . The officer who swears the witnesses then administered
the oath , m these words , which were translated by tho interpreter into the Chinese language : " You shall tell the truth , and the whole truth ; the saucer is cracked , and , if you do not tell the truth , your soul will be cracked like the saucer . " Whether this deference to the conscience of witnesses could be carried so far , as to allow a form of oath involving rites which our usages would pronounce indecent or improper ; as , for instance , the sacrifice of an animal , or , as in patriarchal times , placing the hand under the thigh of the person by whom the oath is administered , ( See Genesis , ch » xxiv . v . 2 ; ch . xxvii ., v . 29 , ) has not been settled by authority .
In conclusion , I have only to thank you for enabling me to state the law upon this subject , through the medium of your Open Council , and express a hope that some law reformer will take this subject in hand , and remove tho evils which I have shown to exist .
Temple , April 4 th . A BAEHI $ TEE . To persons wishing to investigate this subject , I can confidently recommend Mr . Best ' s philosophical book , from which I have so largely quoted . Being a treatise on the principles of evidence , it is more adapted to thp general reader than the more elaborate works of Mr . Pitt Taylor and the Right Hon . S . March Phillipps .
Notices To Coebespondents. If A Reader W...
NOTICES TO COEBESPONDENTS . If a reader will give us some particulars of the objects and purposes of the now Religious and Scientific Society in Tavistockplaee , we filmll bo happy to f * ivo them currency . Several letters under consideration . Erratum in our lant . — -Pago 713 ( 3 rd col . ) , for " to tho complete explosion of a dingruonilil accusation , " read " to tho complete explosion of a disgraceful organization . "
Tim Pedicmee Of Giieat Men.—One Often He...
Tim Pedicmee of Giieat Men . —One often hears the question , what kind of families havo produced men of distinction , brought up in conversation . As wo have said before , it is not always quite fairly put . For instance , wjien it is recorded that Milton / a father was a " Hcrivpncr , " it should bo remembered thafc ho was of ancient lineage . Tho families may cluim among poets , Spencer , I ) ry < Jcn , Waller , Surrey , George Herbert , Beaumont , IJyron , Shelley , Cowper ; among great writers generally , liacon , Boyle , Gibbon , Hume , Fielding , Smollet , Congreve , Swift , Sterne , Arbuthnot , Walter Scott , Goldsmith . Thoso inert were all what a herald would designate gentlemen . Doubtlesa , wo omit othorH , for wo quote from inomory : but tho oppoaito aide has a formidable list : —3 Jon Jonson , Cowloy , Prior , Jeremy Taylor , Dr . Johnson , Collins , Gray , Scldon , Keats , Richardson , Franklin , liunyan ( by some , supposed to descend from tho gypsies , a point worth searching into ) , Moore , Crabbo , all came out of tho inferior strata of ( society . —Westminster Review for July .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 30, 1853, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30071853/page/17/
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