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Leader (1850-1860), 13th July 1850, Edition Town of 1, Page 375, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      giving me a glimpse of that glimpse ? It is at present all Greek to me ; perhaps you who have been to college can construe it . I should be very glad to see even the dawn of a national doctrine ; but I do . wish to be mystified ; and , if I pay sixpence a-week ( I do not grudge it—the way you arrange and condense the news is worth more than that , even if I did not like the rest of your paper , which I do ) , I expect to be told what I am told in plain unequivocating language . Now , if you have a glimpse of that said doctrine , pray give it us , and oblige Yours obediently , ' W . Thomas .

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      MARRIAGE . London , July , 1850 . Sir , —I should be glad to ask Mr . Froude through you what he means by saying , ** Show me any really noble-minded person whose soul is suffering , and you have done something , but where is any ? " His experience and knowledge of married life must be , indeed , limited and superficial , if he can for one moment believe that the evil that brings people to Doctors' Commons exists only amongst the ignoble in soul who most frequently figure there . It may be a question as to how far it is wise , as

      society is now constituted , to recast the social laws that at all events secure the material sustenance of children , however much their moral and spiritual welfare may be endangered by the stormy atmosphere that too often surrounds them ; but , surely , it can be no question with any whose experience has dived at all below the surface , that many a " really nobleminded person , " is weighed down to the earth , his energies crippled , his soul withered , his life saddened and made void , by the chain that one act of youthful folly or inexperience bound around him for ever . And this is reality , as seen in many a wrinkled brow and embittered tone , not " cant . "

      The novel expressions of dissatisfaction with existing arrangements , and the agitation in men ' s minds upon the subject , not now , as heretofore , darkly hinted or silently whispered , seems to betoken an awakening that will before many years are passed , involve this in the moving questions of the day . And we hope to see in the Leader such clear , straightforward , and spirited grappling with the difficulty , that all who desire only the liberty that truth , the truth of God and human nature demand , may be able to rally round it as their standard , and to quote its opinions as authority . * * *

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      SABBATH SECT DESECRATION . Sandon Bury , July 9 , 1850 . Sir , —I was greatly pleased with your unqualified condemnation , in the last Leader , of the paltry plea of inconvenience , of non-expediency , in your reprobation of the ground taken by the party opposed to the decree for preventing the delivery of letters on the Sundays . But , well as such censure has been observed in many cases , I feel certain there are many ready to unite with me in challenging the Saints to prove that a Christian Sabbath was ever divinely instituted—to show where it is enjoined—what are its

      specifications—to explain why it is considered a blameless act , or , with the strictest , a very venial offence , to have prepared a hot , luxurious dinner on the Sunday , yet so decidedly sinful to earn the same by any useful occupation—why music is forbidden by them save that which has been composed or adapted by arbitrary choice to words or themes sacred , and subsequently so profaned by the heartless accents and callous feelings of those who exhibit for effect—why horses and carriages may be used ,

      involving much unnecessary labour for menials , and yet a written summons to a death-bed , or a lifefraught missive , may not pass through the Post-office on the first day of the week ! In return I am ready to contend that not only is the keeping of the Sabbath not ordained , but that it is actually forbidden both by the spirit and letter of the New Covenant . I remain , sir , yours obediently , Clara Walbby .

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      LORD ASHLEY'S POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS . July 11 , 1850 . Sir , —Quite enough has been written and said on this" subject to convince any unprejudiced mind of the injustice of Lord Ashley ' s interference with people in the country obtaining their papers through the medium of the Post-office . But the way in which a small portion of the press and a few newsagents are endeavouring to support his lordship in carrying out his one-sided views deserves some notice

      and reprobation . A report appears in the columns of the Morning Herald of an interview with Lord John llussell , containing , probably , a greater quantity of nonsense and untruth than ever before appeared in a column and a half of that paper . Wo are gravely told by the Herald that the deputation represented a large and influential body of proprietors , printers , publishers , and venders of London weekly papers . Let us test this assertion by their own report . We find representatives from BelVs Messeng&r , the

      JBriiannia , Patriot , Banner , Record , and Christian Times Now , four of the above six papers are avowedly religious papers , and not published on Saturday or Sunday , therefore not likely to be affected by the new postal arrangements , —utterly incompetent to judge of the effect produced on Saturday papers : unjustly interfering in a measure likely to affect the interest of the proprietors of papers published on Saturday , unnecessarily and obtrusively tendering information to Lord John on a subject that from their position they are not likely to be well informed on , and unnecessarily mixing themselves up in a question they have no to be

      interest in , and have therefore no pretension called the representatives of Saturday and Sunday papers . Bell's Messenger has long since ceased to publish on a Sunday , for reasons best known to the conductors of that journal . So that the Messenger and the Britannia are the only papers that were represented by this influential deputation . Out of forty papers , publishing Saturday or Sunday editions , and odoly enough the gentleman who represented the Britannia had not a word to say on the subject , the whole weight resting on the shoulders of Mr . Lee , whose strength is so great as to enable him to sustain the representation of the Herald , Standard , St .

      James ' s Chronicle , and Bell ' Messenger ; so we find him stating to the Marquis of Clanricarde , who appears to have received a visit from some of the same gentlemen that occupied Lord John Russell ' s time the other morning . The only printers who chivalrously stepped forward on this occasion were Messrs . Tyler and Reed , printers of the beforenamed Banner and Patriot . The influential publishers probably consisted of the gentlemen whose names grace the imprints of the respective papers , assisted by Mr . Freeman . The news agents were misrepresented by Mr . Smith , whose religious scruples will not allow him longer to suffer the

      Post-office to deliver papers on a Sunday , though his men and horses are busily employed ^ every Sunday morning in conveying Sunday editions of London newspapers to the different lines of railway for the purpose of being conveyed in parcels to be delivered by the country agents , men and boys , who have been working all the week . Mr . Gilbert , who appears to have been specially retained by the Sabbatarians for the purpose of getting up a demonstration in their favour , appears from the report to have given utterance to some original and not very clear notions of his own . Take an example or two . ' Mr . Gilbert " assured Lord John that the cessation of

      printing , publishing , and selling of newspapers on Sunday would be a social benefit . " What does the proprietor of the Herald say to this , whose staff of compositors and editors work on the Sunday to produce Monday ' s paper ? Perhaps the Herald will explain what Mr . Gilbert means in this sentence . Again , Mr . Gilbert says , "if the papers hitherto distributed late on Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings were to be sold on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings , the sale would be greatly

      facilitated and increased , and their tone of morality much improved . " Perhaps Mr . Gilbert is ingenious enough to inform us by what process the Saturday evening papers are to be published on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning , and can also show by some process of reasoning how the tone of morality of any newspaper is affected by being published on Friday in preference to Saturday or Sunday . Is the Observer , which is published on Sunday , less moral than Lloyd ' s Newspaper , which publishes on Friday .

      Again , Mr . Gilbert tells us , *• that his own experience convinces him that the London Newspaper interest entirely misunderstands its own interest . " In all humility we must differ from this gentleman , and believe the newspaper proprietors quite as capable of looking after their own interest as Mr . Gilbert . However , these are trifling matters compared to the imposition Mr . Gilbert attempted to practise on Lord John . He said : — " The newspaper agents who

      transmitted the papers by post to all parts of the kingdom were , with one exception , entirely in favour of the change which had taken place in the Post-office arrangements . " Now the Herald reports Mr . Gilbert to have used these words to Lord John on the 9 th of July , although he was present at a meeting of news * agents , called by himself , on Juty the 4 th , at which the following amendment -was carried , in spile of the opposition of Mr . Gilbert and his party : —

      " Mr . Wild suggested several difficulties , and moved an amendment to the effect' That the closing of the Postoffice on Sunday for the delivery of newspapers and letters is arbitrary and unjust : and that this meeting considers such a proceeding opposed to the feelings of a large mass of the people , and pledges itseif to make every lawful exertion to get such order rescinded . " How much it is to be regretted that Lord John Russell had not been furnished with a report of the meeting at which the above resolution was carried . I refrain from expressing my opinion on the shortness of Mr . Gilbert ' s memory , or the unscrupulous course pursued by those persons who arc endeavouring to assist Lord Ashley in preventing Englishmen reading newspapers on a Sunday . I am , sir , your obedient servant , A . London Newsagent .

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      Critics are not the legislators , but the judges ana police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret anc try to enforce them . — Edinburgh Jteview .

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      We have no gossip this week . Literature has been forgotten while the great Shadow passed over it . Circles have had other things to talk about , and in all circles the death of the greatest statesman of these days has been a topic of sorrow ; even hostile factions have shaken hands over his grave and joined in one expression of regret . Why did not his detractors admit his greatness and his honesty during his lifetime , since from what now appears they were thoroughly convinced of his being both great and honest ? We have touched upon this elsewhere , but recur to it for the sake of

      giving the reason as stated by Dr . Johnson , in his rugged , emphatic , honest , bigoted way : — - " Treating your adversary with respect , " he says , " is giving him an advantage to which he is not entitled . The greatest part of men cannot judge of reasoning , and are impressed by character ; so that if you allow your adversary a respectable character they will think that though you may differ with him you may be in the wrong . " Words to ponder on ! We of the Leader believe that in all cases candour is the exponent of strength , and that Truth needs not borrow its suasiveness from

      Falsehood , nor its eloquence from Malignity . Sir Robert Peel ' s loss will be felt by the Nation ; it will also be specially felt by Literature , as the Athenaum pointed out in an admirable article , wherein it sketched the generous patronage he accorded Literature and the friendship he showed to Men of Letters .

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      The event of the week is the publication of the Edinburgh Review , a number more varied and entertaining than we have had for a long while . Politicians will look after its articles on Church and State Education , the African Squadron , and the Gorham Controversy j while Literature is interested by papers onBlaekie * s ^ Esckylus—Goethe—MerivaWs Roman Emperors—and Merimee ' s Peter the Cruel j and Philosophy by the long paper on Probabilities . We have but turned over the leaves , however , as yet , and can only speak of its promise .

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      In France the discussion on the laws against the press is an absorbing topic ; and Victor Hugo ' s speech thereon is an event which for a time at least will eclipse even the appearance of Lamaiitine ' s new novel , Genevivve , volume one of which we have seen , and only seen , on Jeffs ' s counter . Otherwise , there is no novelty—for we can hardly suppose that Louis XVI . by the matchless

      Alexandria Dumas will be a novelty , except in the matter of paper , print , and title . Dumas ( read by the Universe—he tells us so himself ) ought to have a monument erected to him by grateful printers , publishers , and translators ; wherever we cast our eyes we arc sure to see some country rejoicing in translations of his works , and Spain , with her wonted , alacrity in keeping up with

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      The political storms have lulled in Germany ; and , as in the lull of storms while the rain is iitfully pattering on the leaves you hear the birds resuming their interrupted melodies , so now in Germany the poets are timidly putting forth their songs , andnaturally enough—they have a strong tendency towards the Romantic School . For example , we have Lieder von Dilia Helena , which throws us plump into the midst of the Schlegels , Novalis , and Arnim—we , who fancied we had escaped them for ever ! Then , again , Gedichte von Lebbecht Drever , edited by Eichendorf , the celebrated Romanticist , who is so " extreme" in his views , that he attacks Lenau and Anastasius Grun as

      not liberal enough . We have also to chronicle—for those who care about such things—an epic poem called Amaranth , by Redovitz , which , imitating the Parzival and the Frithiof ' s Saga has made some noise , and it is said to have real poetic material in it . But the chef d ' oeuvre of the day ( and who does not write

      chefs d ' eeuvre now , when every man capable of turning a couplet calls himself by the august name of poet , when every man claims for himself that rare divinity—Genius ?) is lsmelda Lambertazzi , a " romanza in three cantos , " by A . Dorr . Not having read this marvel of poesy , we have nothing further to say on it than that it excites considerable enthusiasm among some of its readers .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 13, 1850, page 375, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1846/page/15/