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dDjttit (Cram m
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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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There is no learned man but will confess he hath much profited by readme controversies , his senses awakened , and nis judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profitable for him to read , why should it not , at least , be tolerable for his adversary to write . —Miltow .
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THE RECENT CO-OPERATIVE CONFERENCE . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Silt , —My former communication , concerning the recent Co-operative Conference was solely occasioned by your having spoken of that , body , as it appeared to me , in terms of unjust disparagement , tending to fix upon it a character which I felt it did not deserve . The letter of Mr . Vaiisittart Neale , published in your last No ., contains a sufficient explanation as to the constitution and character of the conference , and the reasons why so large a proportion of the co-operative societies there represented , were those connected with the Society for
Promoting Working-Men ' Associations , by whom the conference was convoked , —a circumstance which may have suggested to you the idea of its being a " sectarian and exclusive" body . Permit me to add , as an additional reason to those advanced in explanation by Mr . Neale , that those societies being chiefly in London , had much greater facilities for sending delegates than societies in Lancashire and Yorkshire , where such bodies are most numerous . Several of the principal associations in the north of En gland , and even in Scotland , however , were represented by delegates at that conference , and many others expressed by letter their sympathy with its objects .
The only fact referred to in your explanation in support of the alleged " sectarian and exclusive character of the conference , " is that of an intentional discourtesy having been put upon The Leader , in its not having received a special invitation to attend the proceedings of the conference , a discourtesy which you say " not put upon some of our contemporaries , who have laboured less than ourselves in the . same cause , " ( i . e ., co-operation . ) I trust it will not be considered a discourtesy when I say that this appears to me a very slight foundation upon which to build so grave an accusation against a public body as that of sectarianism and exclusiveness . It , however , rests upon a mistake . The facts are these , —a note was . sent to The Leader , iind other journals known or presumed to be favourable
to co-operation , requesting that publicity should be given in their columns to the forthcoming conference ; no special invitation to attend its proceedings was sent to any journal . Two reporters for the press , however , presented themselves , and those gentlemen can bear witness that every courtesy w ; is shown to them , and every facility a Horded ( us it would have been to a reporter from The . Leader , or any other paper ) to make their reports as full and accurate as possible . A report of the conference us contained in the Morning Advertiser wan subsequently sent by me to the Leader and other weekly journals . ' Extremely regretting that any misunderstanding upon this subject should have arisen , and fully acknowledging the services rendered by the Leader to the cause of co-operation , — I am , Sir , your obedient servant , Thomas Shotitek , fleorutary to tho Conference-
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T JI M T E M V EH A N 0 K C A ( J S E . ( To / he Editor of the . Leader . ) gll ^—T am glad that " Ion" has informed your readers that Temperance hotels are not licensed to sell intoxicating drinks . Those who want to buy must go to those who well ; and no teetotaler is to be blamed for not soiling alcohol , any more than a baker for not stilling beef . Fortunately for those who are strong enough to bo angry , but not strong enough to do without wine , there are scores of houses in every town with the tempting notice , " Liccmed to be drunk on the premises , " where they can drink to their heart ' s content . Wo teetotalers are foolish enough to prefer Bleep to HtimnlnntH when wo arc tired with lecturing *
I very much regret , along with " Ion , " the bigotry of many teetotalers . But I still more regret the conduct of those who have given occasion to it . When Christians and ministers not only do nothing to prevent drunkenness , but hinder those who are doing all they qan , and often tempt on the unwary to destruction , it is no wonder that those who owe their all to the practice of teetotalism should . not be able . to appreciate the self-sacrificing love of such men as " Ion . "
Your correspondent complains of the " innumerable teetotal orators and tract distributors , " who are not hospitable enough to give their friends the particular drinks they want . We do not profess to keep a druggist ' s shop ; and friends must bring their own medicines with them . Moreover , they should take them privately , and not force us to see them taking doctor ' s stuff at the dinner table . Arsenic and prussic acid arc very valuable medicines ; so are castor oil and seima ; but I suppose that even " Ion" does n 6 t provide those for his friends at meal times . There are plenty of druggist ' s shops in every town ; and will be , along with workhouses and gaols , so long as intoxicating liquors are used as at present .
Bishop Hall ' s " silken string" is not much talked of by Christ and his apostles . The advocates of drinking are not , perhaps , aware that the word moderation occurs only once in the Testament ; and there it ought to have been translated gentleness or patience , as iu other places where the same Greek word is used . St . Paul taught that we ought to give up eating flesh or drinking wine , if they led our brethren to transgress ; and our Lord taught that it was better to be drowned than to " offend one of these little ones . "
If " Ion" had ten sons and brought them up to moderate drinking , and one of them afterwards gradually became a drunkard ; and if he had known that by bringing them all up without stimulants he might have saved that one from his awful fate , I doubt not but that even he would have been a strenuous advocate of teetotalism in his own family . We teetotalers wish to feel for all tempted persons , as for our own children ; and we practise that which we advise , and which is , at any rate , the safest course . A word to teetotalers . You see from " Ion's" letter
how much you set the " respectable" drinkers against us by bigoted language . Now do not hide one atom of the true light , but speak the truth with gentleness . We are not such very perfect people that we can throw many stones safely . Perhaps the best way in which we can learn Christian moderation is by considering wherein we offend . As our minds are not clouded by drink , and ought not to be by smoke , we should be able to see our faults rather more clearly than others ; and having given up one bad habit we ought to be strengthened to give up the rest . How can smoking , and cheating , and unchaste teetotalers , venture to denounce moderate drinkers ?
Again , do not give up teetotalism becauso your ministers do . " Ion" greatly lauds George Dawson l > ecause he has taken to drinking , for no better reason than that lie wished to " give the other thing a turn . " We have more sacred reasons for keeping our pledge . The welfare of millions , under God , depends upon it . I believe that more ministers break their pledges than reformed drunkards . They are under peculiar temptations . Some are self-seekers ; and when they think
they can gain by leaving us the y do so . Others are led by their people ; and congregations of " Ion ' s" cordially dislike teetotal parsons . Others are led by their doctors ; and rest more on the spirit of wine than the spirit of God for ( strength . Others think it a low and unchristian motive to be bound by a promise . Others are really sincere in thinking teetotalism injurious ; especially when their teetotal friends run down religion , and profess to cure all the evils under the sun by teetotalism .
If you or " Ion" wish to lienr any more from mo on toctotalism , 1 will take my stand on this ono precept which our Divine Redeemer uttered— - " If any man will come after me , let him deny himself , and take tip his cross , and follow me . " Yours respectfully , Philip P . CATtricNTisn . Warrington , Aug . 22 nd , 1 H 52 .
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TO CONTINENTAL . LEADERS . Sib , —In my former letter , I had intended to notice slightly only the ideas it contained , so that others might work them out , if their object seemed to them attainable ; but at present I will , if you will allow me , endeavour to explain more at length the views which I entertain . Aa regards the best method of influencing the public mind in England , so as to induce it to feel from conviction more interest than it now docs in the affairs of other countries , it would seem that this is better done in detail , or by individual instances , than by general assertions or facts , which are not so easily comprehended or supported . If one point , then , is kept steadily before the
attention of the public in this country , and that one so easily appreciated as the justice or injustice of the tribunals in others , the impression will bo at once felt , and will be continually increasing . The governm ents of the continent too , if they will not allow that a nation has the right to govern itself , will hardly deny that it has a right to be governed well ; if it can l > o proved , therefore , that they lend themselves c ontinually to judicial oppression , that slig ht offences are punished with the severity of great ones , that long imprisonments often take place before sonteneo ih passed , that persons obnoxious only to tho g overnment minor as if they were convicted criminals , and that politically law is but an instrument for the interest or vengeance
of a party—if this can be proved , not only by ocmisional allusions , but in an enlarged and persevering manner , and ono which will leave no doubt , it may >«" come worth the while of governments so exposed mitigato somewhat for their own sakos tho despotism which they now exercise . .. Let the leaders also of continental reform mako i . their mission to consolidate necessary instit ution ^ whilst they are endeavouring to do away with > ' ) tlHC * _' and if a government which exists by force has to bo > ' " moved by force , there will l > e less danger in their linn of those violent convulsions and of that breach ol a law which the pout up feelings of an injured nati sometimes commit when it finds itself stronger than i
oppressors . , j > Let them also in thoso countries where the Wil " nobilit y in the government bus degraded tho peop ««• lowered tho standard of public ; opinion m" 11 ol l ^ 'J " ; , ^ morals , let them endoavour to inculcate , i" . l ' (<) matters at least , tho value of truth , and what oiiff "' , bo tho impartiality of law , and they will b o Hie j benefactors of their country *—I remain , Sir , . T < respectfully ,
Ddjttit (Cram M
dDjttit ( Cram m
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[ IN THIS DEPABTMTENT , AS AX . Ii OFINTOTTS , HOWEVER EXTBEJTB ABE ALDOWED AN EXPEESSION , THE EDITOE ITECESSABILY HOLDS HIMSELF RESPONSIBLE FOK NOlfE . 1
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828 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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THE TURIJULENT CLIQUE AT THE DUBLIN MECHANICS' INSTITUTION . ' ( To tho Mditor of the Leader . ) 87 , Cfipul-Htrcot , Dublin , 10 th August , 1852 . Sin , —In your reply to a communication made by mo to you last week , you accuse me of intolerance ; and with the view . you took of my letter you would be quite right . 1 . there wished the exclusion or expulsion , from the Dublin Mechanics' Institute , of " an intolerant clique , " but not because thoy wished the expulsion of the Leader , and opposed tho oiigugumeiit of Mr . George Duwuon oh lecturer , nor for any other expression of
religious or political feeling , but on account of th * annoyance some twenty of them have given b wanton acts that interrupt the proceedings of thp Institute , snch as entering the reading-room , wallcW up and down its whole length like policemen , and car rying on conversation loudly , slandering the individuals who opposed them , within their hearing , making " faces" at them , using aggravating expressions calcu ^ lated to provoke a breach of the peace . Under
these circumstances , no one could read in the readingroom , nor even enter it , without being insulted . This conduct was not pursued merely on the nights of bringing forward motions ., but for the whole year round . The same sort of conduct is resorted to at the general meetings of the Institute , and captious opposition given to our " motions , " such as rising up to oppose them for the sake of merely delaying their being put from the chair .
Such is the conduct for which I would wish the twenty members who are guilty of it to be expelled , and not for holding or expressing any opinions , however extreme . I would not wish , nor allow , any limitation to be made in point of eligibility of membership that would exclude Roman Catholics , as Catholics , but such limitation as would exclude men for such conduct as I have here detailed , no matter by whomsoever perpetrated .
If you require further evidence than mine on this matter , I refer you to last Saturday ' s Nation , where there are four articles on the subject—one from the directors of the Institute ; one from James Haughton , its wealthy and talented treasurer ; one from Mr . C . Ferris ; and one from Charles Gavan Duffy , proprietor of the Nation , which is a . professedly Roman Catholic paper , in which even he calls them a captious clique , and refuses to receive any further correspondence from them , except signed by their names in full .
I would not , Sir , thus trespass upon yourtime , but that I was chagrined by your mistaking my view oftoleration , which , in religion and politics , is as free as your own , and which makes me a constant reader of the Leader , as being the only paper in the British empire that has thoroughly lib ' eral opinions , and properly supports that progress which is the only means of reaching the highest degree of human happiness upon earth . Most respectfully yours , James Dry .
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 28, 1852, page 828, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1949/page/16/
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