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vour to bow him out . This , however , is not so easy . He is there for money , and money he will have , unless you be firm . His tone changes , he becomes insolent , he speaks in the name of Religion , and asks you whether you are an "infidel . " The dread men have of being suspected of any lukewarmness on those sacred matters usually overpowers their judgment , and they subscribe to societies which inwardly they dislike , rather than
face a religious bully . Thus , a missionary footpad threatens you with " Money or your soul" ! We r emember one of these indefatigable touters refusing to take our quiet denial , forcing us to say in plain terms that we had no sort of sympathy with his object , and insisting on " arguing the point " there and then . Instead of arguing , we opened the street door in silence . He felt the case was hopeless , and retired with the superfluous assurance that there was " another world . "
Now , giving these men full credit for disinterested zeal , what is this threatening in the name of Religion but an aggression of the most insolent kind ? Let them make known their wants , and publicly solicit subscriptions—the pious and generous who are moved to assist them will do so without threats ; any domestic intrusion , any individual application is an aggression all the more odious , because it is made in the name of a sacred cause , and in the person of one whom you cannot kick .
Moreover , what is the tone uniformly adopted by religious writers and speakers towards those whose religion is of a less dogmatic form than their own ? Are not sceptics always vilified , as if their opinions originated in vicious propensities , —and their scepticism resulted from an immoral life ? Is not that virulence an " aggression " ?¦ Many men impelled by the very depth of their religious feelings and the honesty of their intellects , pass through the various stages of religious uncertitude till—like the late John Sterling and our own Francis Newman—they
find themselves forced by their very sincerity to discard as inadequate all known dogmatic forms . To doubt the purity of their religious convictions is an insult ; to insinuate that their scepticism proceeds from " a bad heart , " or the " desire to escape from moral restraint , " is an outrage . Yet , this kind of aggression is not only tolerated , it is applauded . The Pope calls the Church of England an imposture , and considers our country " in partibus infidelium "—among the parts of the unfaithful—in
his eyes we are all heretics hopeless of salvation . This insolence and arrogance exasperates the very public , which considers Rationalists , Spiritualists , and Sceptics as worthy not only of utter destruction in the world to come , but of univeisal execration among fellow men . The Catholic considers the Protestant a heretic ; the Protestant considers the Spiritualist a scoundrel . With a Religion of Charity for ever on their lips , how little Charity do they carry in their hearts 1
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TOO MUCH GOLD . When Paine wrote his Decline and Fall of the English System of Finance , in which he affirms that " the quantity of cash in the Bank of England can never , on the evidence of circumstances , be so much as £ 2 , 000 , 000 , " he little fancied that a time would ever arrive when gold would be so abundant in England as to cause serious apprehensions among fundholders on account of its probable
depreciation . In 1796 , when that remarkable pamphlet appeared , he says : — " the sum in the Bank is not sufficient to pay one-fourth of only one year ' s interest of the National Debt . " This was no exaggeration , as the interest of the debt in 1796 amounted
p ared with silver , gold is said to have already fallen in value , on the Continent , from three to four per cent ., and the result is , that the French Government is about to propose to the Assembly an immediate alteration of the law , so as to make silver only a legal tender , instead of gold and silver , as at present . The Times , in adverting to the proposed change of the currency in France , and the threatened glut of gold in England , says : — " It is difficult to see how it should not be eventually depreciated , not only as compared with silver , but also as interchangeable with the necessaries and chief comforts of life . ' * In other words , we may reasonably expect to see a nominal rise in the price of most articles of daily consumption . At present an ounce of gold , in other words , £ 3 l ^ s . 9 d . will buy nearly two quarters of wheat . Should gold become so abundant as to fall fifty per cent , in value , the same quantity of the precious metal would be given for one quarter of wheat . At present , the market price of silver is about
. an ounce , wnue goia aoour £ 3 17 s . 9 d . an ounce , so that the exchangeable value of the two metals is nearly as 1 to I 5 £ . If gold were to diminish in value fifty per cent ., owing to its greater abundance , then an ounce of gold would be worth only about 7 \ ounces of silver , in which case the shilling would require to be reduced to one half of its present size . As this depreciation , however , may be expected to go on
very slowly ; not quicker , probably , than at the rate of one per cent , per annum , there will be no reason for making any allowance to the public creditor , on account of the reduced value of gold . Hence , if our anticipations as to the supply from California should prove correct , our Financial Reformers may ultimately find that , even without "the sponge , " the
real pressure or IN jessenea one half . Of course all private debts will obey the same law . The man who borrowed £ 10 , 000 in 1820 , must pay interest in coin , which will purchase a larger quantity of corn , meat , and other necessaries and luxuries , than the same sum would have commanded at any time for the last sixty years . Ten years hence , however , the same nominal rate of
interest , if gold should sink so much in value , may not command anything like the same amount of commodities . But these are chances which lender and borrower must always risk ; and if the balance should be in favour of the borrowers during the next generation , it will be nothing more than fair play , for that class of the community has generally had the worst of it since the end of the war .
to £ 11 , 841 , 204 , while the total amount of bullion in the Bank , on the 31 st of August in that year , was only £ 2 , 122 , 950 . At present the annual interest on the debt is a hundred and fifty per cent , above what it was when Paine wrote his treatise ; but the quantity of bullion in the coffers of the Bank of England , instead of being equal to only one-fifth of that sum , amounts to nearly two-thirds of it .
And yet , large as this accumulation of gold may seem , compared with the poverty-stricken condition of England at the end of last century , it is nothing to what we are likely to witness within the next few years . If the gold placers of California continue to furnish the precious metal at the same profuse rate as they have lately done , the value of gold must rapidly sink in the American and European markets , and , as this will soon be the only country in which gold will be a legal tender , the surplus gold of all the world will rapidly flow into England , to the great alarm of usurers and all who are interested in keeping up the value of money , Com-
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MODERN BIGOTRIES . If you eat peas with a knife you forfeit all claims to be a gentleman . Your heart may be gentle and loving , your soul noble and aspiring , your mind enriched by meditation , observation , and study , but you are no gentleman . We are sorry to state it so bluntly , but the code of well-bred life has so decided it . Ludicrous as these trivialities appear in the face of the great solemnities of Life , how much more contemptible are they in the greater solemnities of
Religion ! If these little observances of etiquette do nofc form the real gentleman how much less can they form the real Priest ! Yet such is the degraded condition of our Church , such the contemptible lifelessness it has sunk into , such the utter oblivion of its great and sacred function of spiritual mastership and leadership , that trivialities of form have taken the place of spiritual activity , and the quarrels in the Church are no longer those
fervour , piety , and , above all , for the active interest he takes in the welfare of his parish ; he is one of the working clergy , who believes that he has work to do in the world . We are by no means admirers of his doctrines . Sympathy with Pusey * ism can scarcely be expected from the header . But we do admire his earnestness , his manly carrying out of his convictions in spite of Bishops and barricades . And we may ask any dispassionate person what feeling other than that of profound contempt can fill the mind when we see such a h
clergyman deprived of his living ( for , thougMr . Bennett resigns , he is forced to resign ) , not on ae « count of apathy , not on account of heresy , not on account of immorality , but on ^ account of " his posture and that of his curates in celebrating the Holy Communion "—we use the Bishop ' s words" the not giving the cup into the hands of communicants , and the putting the bread into their mouths instead of delivering it into their hands ; . the form of words used before the sermon instead of * collect , and the crossing of themselves by the
clergy present . " Is not this worse than testing a gentleman by his manner of eating peas ? Worse , because in * volving more serious matters . Modes of dining are regulated by custom . Belgravia dines differently from Whitechapel . Manner at once indicates locality . But in such momentous matters as those of spiritual guidance are we to allow ceremonies thus to take precedence of virtues ? Yet this is the form—the petty form of modern bigotry . We are more shocked at the Cardinal's title than at his errors . We are more horrified at
genuflexions and lighted candles than at doctrinal absurdity or careless apathy . A Bishop will allow candles to be placed upon , the altar , but if you light them the Church is in danger . And this is religion ! and these men call us Infidels , and brand us as irreligious ! Truly , exclaims Shelley— - How green is this grey world !
of doctrine and polity , but of miserable etiquette . England , from her very small prime minister with his " vigorous protests , " down to the stoutest and hottest of her churchwardens frantic with admiration of those protests , cries out against the " Romanizing tendencies" of one active party in the Church , and the real " danger" is said to lie in the mummeries" which that party has revived . The cry has at length forced the Reverend W . Tfonnntt to resiarn his livinar , and
Knightsbridge will no longer be the scene ot bunday barricades . The Bishop of London willingly accepts this resignation , and the leading journal of Europe , in a sentence which ought to be embalmed for its exquisite stupidity , gravely counts this " AMONG THE FIRST 8 UBSTANTJALTRIUMFH 3 op the Protestant cause" I Well , we know how to value the Protestant cause , if this be the triumph it desires . We know with what reverence to regard a Church which looks upon the practical efficiency of a clergyman as nothing compared with his conformity in observance , Mr , Bennett is celebrated for eloquence ,
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SOCIAL REFORM , EPIST 0 LJE OBSCUROB . UM VIROttUM , XXI . —Tub Pooh Law . To W . E . Fousteb . Dec . 10 , 1850 . My Dear Sir , —Shall I not thank you for your admirable contribution to social reform ? You have
fastened on the lever . The false character of the present Poor Law system might be established by simply calling to mind three glaring facts , as prominently familiar to the public as the Bank of England , or Somerset House itself . The existing Poor Law was framed by leading members in that school of Political ( Economy whose principle is not to regulate industry , but to let it alone , and whose great achievement has been Free Trade .
Their law was framed for the express purpose of being so contrived , as to discourage the use of itself—the perfection of its working would have been consummated in its total disuse . It has been administered by the pupils of its authors , and yefc the intent of those authors has been practically abandoned . If their success was impossible , which we believe , their failure has not brought happiness to the country . Whatever may be the dominant views of political ceconomy , the fact stares
us in the face—contemporaneously with the uncompleted attempt to withhold regulation from the relations of industry—that in this fertile , wealthy , and industrious country , the fertility of the land is frustrated in great part by holding back capital and labour ; that riches accumulated in grett masses are balanced by poverty accumulated in great masses : and that labour is frustrated , or denied employment altogether . With immen e encrease in the material resources of luxury , the
happiness of the country does not encrease proportionately : landlords , in maintaining their position against encroachment for a time , are uneasy between remorse for duties repudiated and fears of future retribution . The commercial rich , stimulated by the poverty from which they fly , exhauat , in the race after wealth , the time and faculty of enjoying . One half of the labouring class wastes life in ceaseleas toil , under the scourge of the dread lest it should fall into the condition of the other half ; abject , hungry , find wretched .
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Dec . 14 , 1850 . ] &ff $ Hea $ i $ V . W > 9
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 14, 1850, page 899, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1862/page/11/
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