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Leader (1850-1860), 24th July 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 708

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      Untitled Article

      own assurance long since given ; for we hare a right to say that the Leader was the first , bymany months , to broach in England the subject of the Ang lo-American alliance , which was simultaneously broached in America . We have a right to exult now that the slight which was first thrown on the idea is exchanged for the loud concurrence which burst from that truly representative assemblage—an assemblage more truly representing the mind , the power , and the spirit of the English people than that which is technically called the Representative Chamber of Parliament . We rejoice to find there are men enough of insight and energy who have hold of the vital truth . We have one statesman , at least , who has hold of the right truth , and who possesses , moreover , the insight , and the intelligence , and the power to direct the nation in realizing that truth . Lord Palmerston . whose friendly relations with America we have had more than one occasion to illustrate , who perfectly understands all about that matter , stoodforwardat the Lewes meeting last week as a statesman who had thoroughly mastered the allimportant material principle of the Agriculture of the- Future . His phrases , often quoted at Tiptree on Wednesday , are another sign and another impulse for the general progress : —

      " I have heard a definition of dirt ; I have heard it said , that dirt is nothing but a thing in a wrong place . (• Hear , ' and laughter ?) Now , the dirt of our towns precisely corresponds with that definition . Q Hear . ' ) The dirt of our towns ought to be upon our fields , and if there could be such a reciprocal community of interest between the country and the towns , that the country should purify the towns , and the towns should fertilise the country—( laughter )—I much am disposed to think that the British fanner would care less than he

      does , though he still might care something , about Peruvian guano . ( ' Sear , hear , ' and cheers . ) Now , we all acknowledge that there are certain laws of nature , and that those who violate those laws invariably suffer for it . Well , it is a law of nature that nothing is destroyed . Matter is decomposed , but only for the purpose of again assuming some new form , useful for the purposes of the human race . But we neglect that law . ( ' Hear , hear . ' ) We allow all decomposed substances in towns to pollute the atmosphere , to ruin the health , to produce premature misery , to be pestilent to life ,

      and destructive of existence . Well , gentlemen , if , instead of that , there could be a system devised by which these substances , which arc noxious where they now are , could bo transferred so as t o fertilise the adjoining districts , I am persuaded that not only would the health of the town population be thereby greatly improved , but the finances of the agricultural population would derive considerable benefit from the change . You all know , gentlemen—all who have attended to the

      subject , and read recent publications , must know—that for an expenditure per acre far less than that which produces o ne manuring of Peruvian guano , you may establish permanent arrangements , by which , bringing from the towns fertilising liquids , you would improve your property , and a permanent improvement would bo made in tho land at a far less expense than is now required to produce a single crop . ( Cheers . )" What a relief to turn to these gatherings at Lewes and Tiptroo from the sickening scandals of county elections !

      Untitled Article

      THE MAKCII OF AUSTUIANISM . "Tub Italians are incorrigible , " say the Austrian authorities , and for that very reason tho innumerable arrests made in Northern Italy excite little uneasiness in tho oflicial circles of Vienna , for " there is a permanent conspiracy in Italy . " The only precaution taken by trio Austriann is , to increase their sovority ; and now , besides the perils of wearing an unlicensed hat , tho ap-- *¦ » V . 11 1 111 * •¦¦* 11

      ^ " pearaneo of a man in black clothes is sufficient to cause his arrest : ho is supposed to bo mourning Homo departed patriots . The Austrians have held Italy , on and off , since the Middle Ago « ; but they have not quite brought their system to perfection ; when tho Italian countenance wears the authorized smile of contentment the Austrian system will bo complete . Meanwhile tho noxtis between Italy and Austria is a strong army , and those treaties of 1815 which Austria Ikih broken

      so signally . Progress is mado in bringing Hungary to tho flame perfect relation with Vienna . According to the Austrian accounts , the people , wholly tired of its native ministers , tired of its constitution , and of its own history , has welcomed tho Austrian rule with delight , and "is lying at the feet of the

      Emperor and King . " Perhaps there was too much of spontaneous will in this acceptance of subjugation ; but rough lessons have been bestowed in correction . The Emperor has been making a royal progress in the kingdom , with much magnificence ; at Pesth , attended by the Ban Jellachich , he inaugurated a monument to Henzi , who defended the citadel of the Hungarian capital against the Hungarians ; at Stuhlweissenburg , the loyal crowd not taking off its multifarious hat with a sufficiently obedient start * a General rode about among them , knocking off the

      dilatory hats of the Magyars , much to the satisfaction , no doubt , of the Croat attendants on the Emperor ; and while the monarchis thus graciously traversing his conquered province , a court-martial at Hermanstadt issues new sentences of death , imprisonment , and confiscation . The Hungarians are not to forget the struggle for the maintenance of their ancient independence—they must not be loyal for want of thought or by their own free will ; but must render obedience to sheer compulsion , and must know their subjection . It is that government by conscious subjection in lieu of public opinion which is really making way on the continent ; and Austria , aided by the active help or the sufferance of the allies of 1815 ,

      is very successful in extending the dominion by terror . In Italy it has been completely re-established ; in Hungary it has been newly introduced , after years of constitutional government ; and whereas , under the English influence , public opinion is beginning to establish a footing in Turkey , Austria is said alread y to have set her devouring eye upon the Christian provinces . Austria is at once extending her territory , spreading her Viennese plan of government so as to make it co-extensive with her empire , and rendering her tyranny more intense . Those who were much dismayed at Lord Palmerston ' s idea of disturbing the political geography of 1815 , may derive some consolation from the reactionary encroachment which Austria is effecting on that

      same settlement . But not Austria alone ; her volunteer ally , France , is making similar progress . Louis Napoleon has been enjoying one of his royal progresses to Strasbourg ; and he has traversed is dominions amid the joy of the Prefects , and the admiration of holiday sight-seers . There has been an advance of his moral power , during the whole journey ; and its dramatic incidents were well played off : ' the President" at La Ferte " , " the Prince President" throughout many prefectures , becomes " his Highness" at Nancy :

      " enthusiasm" throughout , waxes to the " most sympathetic acclamations" at Bar-le-duc , to " respectful devotcdness" at the same place an hour later , and at Nancy , to " the most profound gratitude towards the Prince who has saved France . " A mock " passage of the Rhine" delights French traditionary vaticination at Strasbourg ; at Kehl , across the frontier , the Prince President reviews the troops of Baden with the most gracious amonity , and is escorted back to tho French territory by tho foreign ministers . The whole pageant marks the progress of His

      Highness in a royal possession of the affections of his people , and in the sufferance of the allies . The passage of royal Franco across tho Rhine has already been performed in drama , with a concurrent welcome from German Legitimacy ; and thus the question of awarding the frontier has been negotiated in a symbolical pageant . Tho political geography of 1815 was never more thoroughly under discussion than it is now , with actual progress in revising it according to the Austrian sense : the one thing manifest is , that the encroachments are mado at the expense of constitutionalism , and that England is wholly absent from tho negotiation .

      Untitled Article

      THE « LEADER" AND THE CHURCH . Me . K rNTRKA sends us a tompornto and kindly letter , re-asserting , with some qualifications , our " inconsistency . " We printed his letter last week ; and as we are in court wo must seo what can be said in reply . The gint of the charge is , that wo " systematically devote much of our time to lengthy loading articles on the internal discipline and policy of the Church , " from which ho proceeds to " infer an extreme anxiety" on our part " for the improvement of it « affairs , in order to ensure increased power and stability" to the Establishment , Passing over tho inference , which is

      dimply gratuitous and illogical , and not warranted by anything we have Written on the subject we remark , that Mr . Kintrea holds our course to be inconsistent with the purpose of the Leader —that " of propagating sound liberal princi ples in politics , and perfect freedom of opinion and worship in religion . " Mr . Kintrea , by impli cation , likewise charges us with advocating " the principles of all parties . " To deal with the accusations directly : we deny that we have ever published any articles on the

      internal " discipline of the Church ; and we deny that we have ever advocated the principles of the Church . If proof of this be nee ded , we appeal to the articles we have written on Church affairs , confident that no such advocacy can be found . What we have advocated is this : —that the Church should be permitted to develop her principles ; that it is incumbent on her to develop those principles ; and we have said that if , in that development , Separation becomes a point of

      duty , an act of necessity , let Separation ensue . For we have always felt , and always asserted , that the dissensions in the Church are so great , the hypocrisy of some of her members so glaring , the inconsequence , the timidity , the hollowness of others so pernicious , that the maintenance of the Church m her present state , setting aside entirely the vast question of Church property , is morally degrading to us all . Surely that reason alone is sufficient warrant for the part we have taken .

      As to the charge of " inconsistency , ' we make very light of that . We utterly deny that because we are what in political jargon is called "Radical "in most things , the only line open to us on Church matters is attack , abuse , demolition . We take higher ground—ground which we believe the deepest and most far-sighted thinkers will acknowledge to be really more " Radical " and effective than that which Mr . Kintrea

      believes to be right . We abandon the old traditional mode of dealing with the Church . Our aim ia not to destroy , but to test the vitality of the Establishment , confident that if the Establishment have a real vitality , it will endure , and if it have not , that it will die . We wish to put in action a deeper principle than that of demolition from without ; we wish to give the Church the opportunity of saving or destroying herself , once for all , from , ¦ within .

      You cannot ignore the Church ; neither , however desirable it may seem , can you " abolish it root and branch" without a revolution . The Church is too important to be ignored—too strong to be abolished . But let the Church have power of independent action , and you will find that she will save herself or destroy herself , according as truth or falsehood predominate in her composition .

      Now , what wo have advocated in the Leader is tho demand for Convocation and synodical action ; because wo beliove that every body of men , more especially a body like the Church of England , has a right to self-development , in eo far as it docs not clash with the rights of others . And from this point of view Mr . Kintrea will find that wo cannot " leave the Church and its synodical questions to their fate , " without " hurt " to the nation , including Mr . Kintrea and

      ourselves ; and he will find also that the " first wish of every true friend to civil and religious liberty " is not to " abolish" things " root and branch , " but to seo that all men have duo liberty . Wo trust enough has been said . We entirely acquit Mr . Kintrea of any intention to make an " offensive charge" against the Leader ; and , welcoming free discussion with him as with any other becoming opponent , wo are glad of having had this opportunity of Betting ourselvos right with many of our readers .

      Untitled Article

      THE PEOPLE THE ONLY LEGITIMATE SOURCE . It is lens difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than it is for a working man to enter tho national council ; though Iu ' h presence there would materially aid tho deliberations of that body . It is not so in the United States . Wo question whether any member of tho Republican Congress remains in the condition of ft working man ; but the facility of advancement , both social and political , is ho grout in tho United States , that the theoretical boast of this country is realized there , and it is not only possible , but common ; for ft man to riso from the humblest to

      Untitled Article

      70 S THE LEA PER . [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 24, 1852, page 708, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1944/page/16/