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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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species of clearing house should be established in London , for journals of conflicting opinions to meet , and reciprocally exchange communications specially unfitted for themselves and well suited for their contemporaries . In this way much of the suppressed literature might find a path to the light . All literary offences might , by a new statute , be amenable to summons at the police-court , and an editor might be charged for want of impartiality in suppressing an argument ; for false logic in his own writing ; for diffuseness , occupying
the whole space due to a valued correspondent , or for general want of merit . For our own part , we might view such a statute with considerable alarm ; but many of our contemporaries , we have no doubt , would rather hail such a test to their talents and distinguished qualities . We should only stipulate , in such case , that if there were a jury , not more than one-half of it should be composed of rejected correspondents ; and that the magistrate should not be , as sometimes happens
now , an unsuccessful author ; for , dependupon it , of all cruel judges , the unsuccessful author , with an offending editor before him , would be the most tremendous . Another plan might be adopted . Let there be opened in London a museum , for the deposit of rejected communications , open to the public , with the manuscripts of the current month accessible for immediate perusal . Probably , such a house of entertainment would be much crowded .
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THE JUDGMENT OF HISTORY ON THE PROCESS OF REVOLUTIONS . " Watchman , what of the night ? " is a question which at every ebbing of the waves of progress is involuntarilyasked . Are we wrong in thinking that the Historian is the Watchman of Time , who throws the light of history over the world of events ? If not , the following passage from Niebuhr ( whose penetration and honesty cannot be questioned ) has a pressing application to certain prevalent moods of political advocacy : " Europe , " says Niebuhr ( as rendered by Chevalier Bunsen in his Hippolytus and liis Age ) , "is threatened with great dangers , and with the loss of all that is noble and great , by two opposite but conspiring elements of destruction—despotism and revolution ; both in their most mischievous forms . As to the former , the modern state despotism , established by Louis XIV ., promoted by the French Revolution , and carried out to unenviable perfection by Napoleon , and those Governments which have adopted his system , after having combated its author—is more enslaving and deadening than any preceding form ;
for it is civilized and systomatised , and has , besides the military force , two engines , unknown to tho ancient world or to the Middle Ages . These are , first , tho modern stategovernment , founded upon a police-force which has degenerated into a gigantic spy-system ; and , secondly , a thoroughly-organized and centralized bureaucracy , which allows of no independent will and action to the country . So , likewise , modern revolution is more destructive of political life and tho elements of liberty than similar movements in former ages ; for it is a merely negative , and , at tho saino time , systematic reaction , against tho ancien regime , of which it made tho despotic part universal by currying out uniformity , and by autocratic interference m tho name of the State ; whereas it gives no equivalent lor tho real , although imperfect , liberties which the old system containedin the form of privileges ; and in condemning it
, such privileges , under tho sanction of democracy , destroyed the basis of liberty under tho pretext of Hovoroignty . Tho ancien rt-y imo hud , indeed , mudo a similar attempt in the lattor part of the eighteenth century Tho philosophical Catherine had mudo Russian serfdom universal and uniform ; m , too , I ' otor Leopold , tho liberal ( Jrand Duke of Tuscany , hiul swept away , lor tho love of stuto-uniformity , the last remnants <> i tho municipal independence of Tuscany ; and ! Iiim i . nperml brother , Joseph , had attempted to conhseoto the II ungar . an privileges in behoof of absolute kingship . Jet more utterly had tho French Revolution destroyed the hist living gorms of continental liberties , in the imnieol liberty All freedom which had escaped » " > irregular oppress ,.,,, of tho Huronn in the Middle Ar « h was now d . 'stroyedtolatter b roke the
pAher wHh tho privily of tho y a s . o pen . Whatever had survived tlio reaction of tho not yet Lite adult despotism of tho Roman ( utholie dynasties ft or the Reformation , and the ph . losoph . cul hbernl . H . n ol tho autocrats of tho eighteenth century among whom Froilerio the ( Jreat alone makes an excopt , on was swept away theoretically by thai , revolution . Huh universal despotism was tol >« recommended as ireodo . u by the two beautiful wordsEquality and Liberty ; that . •« to say , tho bolition of tl ... pnviloges of tho nobihty , and tho „«* .-t ion of reliiriouH persecution and intolerance . Ihohrst w hX' * «! l « HMlv confiscation for tho beno . it of tho rulers ; and the second u cheap homugo to the chums of _ , „ , ; offorod by an ago o ^^ "T ^' c ^ : ; = ; wrt ^ .. > u ^ w ^ d by „ ^ aristocracy and a hypocnticul priestcraft .
Since Tyranny has received now developments an those , carried out by Uu . fimfc Uupolwrn , and , liirthur fititl by modem " Htiiio K ovcrnmontH , it ih nectary that tho £ Me * ce of Liberty should make moro than
corresponding advances . The element of revolution , or , as we would rather say , of radical and , at the same time , rational and practicable improvements , should recast its policy , where necessary , so as to supply , with the utmost distinctness , the positive quality which Niebuhr ( who calmly and judicially passes sentence on the Present , his hand on the page of the Past ) regrets to have missed in his searching historical inspection . One lesson is evident from Niebuhr , —namely , that Tyranny , both of Church and Crown , creates despair , and we know Despair invites excesses , and then , as we have recently seen , from these very
excesses , Tyranny takes new life , and bolsters tip a reaction in the name of that very " order" which itself had made a falsehood and a curse . We believe that the " cessation of persecution and religious intolerance " was not owing to " religious indifference , " but rather to a manly and conscientious sense of equal justice . But , both the intellectual and the political intentions of Revolutionists have been overcast and obscured by the excesses which the intolerable cruelties of Tyranny had invoked , but could not justify . As the established power is commonly the strongest—if its excesses are suffered to beget excesses on the popular side , the victory will , by a series of alternations that makes good
men despair , fall into the hands of constitutional and systematic Oppression . " They dig their own graves who make only half revolutions , " was an exclamation often now repeated , and ascribed to St . Just ; but , had St . Just lived thirty years longer , he would have seen reason to have said , " they lury themselves who make whole revolutions , " after the favourite abstract fashion of the politicians of theory and impulse . An ardent love of freedom , and a manly and heroic moderation , patient to suffer the convictions of the majority to grow , are the true qualities that advance the science of Freedom . At least , so all History , as well as enlightened political philosophy , teaches- Ion .
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SPIEIT-KAPPING AND FORTUNE TELLING . The indefatigable reader who studies his daily paper as a duty , will have seen recently a case in which a woman , of plebeian origin and unascertainable residence , was sentenced to a very unpleasant penalty for obtaining money from servant , maids by the pretence that she could tell them their fortunes ; and he will also , when quietly enjoying his Household Words , have perceived that an American lady , who dwells in the quasi-aristocratic and highly respectable neighbourhood of Portman-square , has for some time past been taking from the more prodigal and curious of the " upper" classes the sum of one guinea as
a consideration for introducing them to a Spirit . Perhaps it would be hard-hearted to suggest that a Detective should be provided with 21 shillings , and requested to get up a conversation , through the " medium , " with his grandmother —supposing that female to be deceased , or , preliminarily , to have had any existence ; we only draw attention to the fact that a certain number of people tiro , day by day chatting , at one pound one the colloquy , with members of the invisible world j and that though gipsies , and persons of that stamp , notwithstanding their knowledge of stars , and their Egyptian descent , are perpetually picking oakum in consequence of the vigilance of the police , no rccreutum of
the kind seems yet to have been recommended to those ladies from America , who undertake , at any moment , to make a quiet , old'Spirit , that would have boon ashamed of Huch frivolities while in tho hVkJi , hnirmier away , Jiko a drunken carpenter , at the dinner table or on the wall , and oiiio nil the way from its quarters in the next world , to respond in a coherent and instructive manner to whatever absurd questions shall bo put to it- by silly people in this . Spirit-rapping may , or may not , be an imposture ; hut as it belies our experience , and is inconsistent with our religion , suppose wo employ the secular arm , and try a little harmless persecution . Let us call the heresy " false pretences , " mid send an inquisitor in a blue coat , to hand the professors over to the civil power .
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Bkkokh tiik VVkdimnu . — Wo hud l ; o wail , in the vestry for the officiating clergyman . All the gloom and dampness of the day seemed to be collected in this room—a dark , cold , melancholy place , with one window which opened on a burial ground steaming in tho wet . The rain pattered monotonously on tho pavement outside . While Mr . Sherwhi exchanged remarks on the weather with the clerk ( n tall , lean njiui , arrayed in a black gown ) , I nut silent ,,- near Mrs . Nherwin and Marat tho white
garet , looking with mechanical attention surplices which hung before me in a half-opened cup-1 )<) linl ufc tho bottlo of water and tumbler , and the long-shaped books , bound in brown leather , which were on the table . I was incapable of speaking— -incapable even of thinking—during thai , interval of expectation . At length tho clergyman arrived , and we went into Urn church—Uio church , with its desolate array of empty powrH , and it" chiU , heavy , wcok-day aUnOBnhore . — Collinb ' S Jiasil . .
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"PICTURE-CLEANING" AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY . { To the Editor of the Leader . ) 27 , Soho-square , Jan . 13 th , 1853 . Sie , — I should feel obliged by your publishing the accompanying notes relating to the inscription on Claude ' s recently-flayed picture , representing the " Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba , " their writers having authorized me to make what use of them I might think proper . The evidence they contain will , if I am not greatly mistaken , be considered fully as trustworthy as that of Mr . Wornum . I remain , Sir , yours obediently , Moeeis Mooee .
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Kemp Town , Brighton , 12 th Jan ., 1853 . My dear Mooee , —With reference to the now halfobliterated inscription on the picture of the " Embarka * tion of the Queen of Sheba" by Claude , in the National Gallery , I can most positively affirm , that until the last vacation , the words " La Heine de Saba va trouver Salomon , " were perfectly legible , without the aid of spectacles or catalogues . No picture in the gallery has been more rudely and wantonly defaced , with the exception , perhaps , of the " Plague of Ashdod , " by Poussin , which appears to have been scrubbed with a brickbat . Yours faithfully , William Coningkam .
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Inner Temple , 13 t . li Jan ., 1853 . Mr dear Mooke , —I liavo read your letter in the l * ost of the 10 th inst . You therein speak of " other witnesses" to the removal of part of the contested inscription from "the Queen of Sheba . " If it be any satisfaction to you , I shall be happy to add my testimony to that fact . ' Hcfore the picture was cleaned I could read that inscription ; since the cleaning , 1 have striven in vain to make it out . Hut how discouraging that the question of tho destruction of that work should be made ! to hang on such an isolated . fact !
Why , I , a casual observer , can put my finger on many parts of the picture , from which the colouring of Claude has been removed , and can , if if . would servo any purpose , on oatli depose that the lights and surfaces of individual objects were visible before the cleaning , but exist , no longer . Hut all this is idle . Von can easier turn back tho tide than stem the madness of modern folly , yeleped " art . " Always yours truly , ( Ikouuk Au- 'JtKD Auniov .
JV 1 . Moofe , lOsq . j ' . S . — . 1 . should add , that 1 only knew of the inscrip tion from having seen it on the picture itself" ncvei having read the catalogue in my life .
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NOTKJ 10 H TO < : <> URKHI'ONI > I 0 NT , S . VV . I . who wril . ru nlxml , I . Jin ^ rntlor of ihouho , Ihim niifuiiulwr-Htoc d tli <» K rinnii » iir . Thrro liruif , ' n din 1 . iii < -l . iu , i <>< " hux -i . e ., t \ iiulIo mourn * mid a funialo mourn * doh-nnincM tlio k * ' 1 " 1 "' " < l « common . Wo miy it I'onrraUy of a mouse ... tinnply boraiiNo tho t ^ x irt not . obvioim . Kilt wo miy it of a lml > y u * oftoii < ih hi : or uhn . Uornmiw , indoiid , muko tlio Imliy nmiWir ; but tlioy uluo jiuilic tlio moUHO toiiiiniiio . Will tliii " Knulmli <)] H « rnl , ivn" comply with our nxmiromont , mid Hi-nd liiH iiaiuo mill iwldreHrti '
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January 15 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 63
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I ' ltHAdiiiNU yiik ( iom'ior ,. —Some years ujjro , L know u piously-brought-up Methodist child caught . Hp ' mnmg a cockchafer , and Hipping him with his finger to malm him wpin , Buying ut ovtuy Hip , " I'll make thco preacU tho gOHpol !"—JiCackwood's Magazine for January .
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There is 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 least , be tolerable for his adversary to write . —Miltoit .
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[ lIT THIS DEPARTMENT , AS AIL OPINIONS , HOWBVEH EXTEEMB ABE ALLOWED AN EXPRESSION , THE EDITOR NECESSABILY HOLDS HIMSELF BESPONSIBLE FOB NONE . ]
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 15, 1853, page 63, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1969/page/15/
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