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will surely not show less gratitude than the faithful , though humble , Brown . We have a precedent for this conviction . Which House would honourable gentlemen prefer P " You pays your money , and you takes your choice . "
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THE MORAL OF THE " RAPPERS . " We are told , and we know it to be the fact , that the Rapping Spirits excite great interest in the " higher circles . " At the approach of that deluge which we call the French devolution , Count Cagliostro was the idol of the " higher circles" of France . The faith in Cagliostro , no doubt , was a reaction from the devouring materialism which was preying into the vitalg of " good society "—a reaction as unhealthy as the malady it antagonized . But the belief in Cagliostro among the " higher circles " was , after all , only the politer form of that stupendous atheism which astounded Europe during the brief reign upon French earth of the " Goddess of Eeason . "
The eager belief in rapping spirits among our higher circles of Belgravia and Tyburnia , in this peaceful epoch ( fourth year of the French Heaction ) , cannot be said to be a revulsion against materialism like that belief in Cagliostro , nor can it be said to be paralleled in any form of popular atheism like that of the " Goddess of Reason ;" but it has its meaning and its significance .
This belief in rapping spirits is powerful among those leisurely classes upon whom our sacred institutions in Church and State repose . This morbid yawning after an unseen world which familiarity makes contemptible , is powerful among the easy people who build churches , blacken the sea with Bibles , multiply bishops , and indulge in all the freaks of ecclesiastical dilettantism . The believers in " the resurrection
of the body , the communion of saints , and the life everlasting , " are the very people who sit gaping round tables , while a STankee lady , with an air of fatigued indifference " raps" up their respectable ancestors , who , they had been taught to believe , were in heaven , or , from table , floor , and wainscot , without any more ceremony than a polite request to " be so good as to answer the questions put to them , and to be quick . " And be it observed , these aristocratic and leisurely raisers and rappers of the dead ( such is the
effect of familiarity ) treat the apparition as a matter of supremely indolent recreation , with all the nonchalance they would bestow upon Ravel or Ronconi . We ask , then , positively arid most seriously , do these amateur intruders into the world of spirits believe in the resurrection they are taught in their churches , or in the resurrection they are taught in Queen Anne-street P They cannot accept both . We shall bo glad to know whether of the two—the resurrection or the rapping P
Does not this hankering of an ennuy 6 and effete society after such blasphemous and impudent burlesques betray the starved sterility of the existing " systems" of religion , and the decay of all real faith and reverence , which " establishments " can never replace ? For mark , it is wo , the heterodox , forsooth ! whoso sustaining faith , whose intenscr reverence , and whose eternal hopes have been charitably denied altogether by the comfortable votaries of creeds and churches
that have bo many " secular advantages" to prop their decaying fabrics up—who find ourselves compelled , in the name of all that in decent and morally healthy , us well as in the name of all that is sacred and divine , to vindicate the dignity of the life here , and the mystery of the WOrld DEYONl ) .
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LADY TARTUFK AND UNCLE TOM . Stafford IIouho is not abashed , but a great meeting is to be held for the purpose of celebrating . Undo Tom and M ' r « . liecchor Stowo ; hy binding up Hoveral volumes of petitions , which are the statutes at lurgo of tho peculiar republic there represented . It is to be a grand festival of what the Parisians call " Onclo Tomerio ; " a , , ^ p ^ conrtly parallel to the Went Indian saturnalia , ''' - * ^ . ' ^ 2 jL 5 * Med . John Canoeing . The drummer , wo suppose , /^ &Y $ * ' ^? $ f £ &M 0 Q l > 0 'JjOr ( J SJiaffcesbury—tho evangelical Don ^// i ^ f / a ^ v ^ KiSm' ^ * eoHtfetotl around him this harem L fWr' ^ n ^^ ^ -Jfty 7 lP ^ '' l () U ' ' Baechmiti . . An the relations of tho ItaKA ^ i ^ Pi ^^^ ra ^ SBSt ^ ' K ° becoming grave , our Knglish ^ M £ r ^ fag ^^~ TSvJ ^« HL / ntcnl *'" ut il decorous that tluurwivcs should 5 BB ^ EiS § ij ^ B ^ rj ^ ar llt ^ is lovo feast , which ifl to make it Boom SSS ^ fc n rrvi * T Ajn 8 ricQ - that tho Mite of tho English public Itvo 5 v *'
not only the serfs in his dominions , but all the nobles to boot . As the Czar is a very gallant man , perhaps he might be more sudden in complying with such a request than that rude fellow Uncle Sam . It is true , indeed , as we have heard , that a high Court lady—the Duchess of Sutherland of St . Petersburg—who spoke too freely on the tender subject of Siberia ,
will commit itself to an alliance with Uncle Tom in antagonism to Uncle Sam . While these amiable and illustrious ladies are together—while their hand is in , and they are inspired by the divine furor , why should they not carry their crusade to other countries in the old world , where it is even more wanted . Let them boldly meet the challenge of Mrs . Julia GL Tyler , by accepting it , and convey to the Emperor of Russia the request of " the women of England , " that he shall emancipate ,
was summoned to a private conference with a Minister , and—we grieve to use so naked an expression—whipped . But , in spite of such traits of St . Petersburg Court etiquette , we still think that so fine a man as his Imperial Majesty would hardly refuse a request from so charming an assemblage . If he would , indeed , how can they possibly expect compliance from that very inferior person Uncle Sam P
If Nicholas were to refuse , they might try their hand on a more civilized man—the first gentleman in the most civilized capital of all Europe , —the young , accomplished , and popular Francis Joseph , —the " hope of his country . " Let the ladies ask him to emancipate the Italians , or even , without making such a " prodigious bold request , " let them prefer this little petitionthat he should in future forego the privilege of whipping women in public . It appears to us that the women of England might well say that little word for the women of Italy .
But , alas ! this would be " intervention ' in the affairs of foreign countries , which the husbands of these ladies would strictly deprecate . You must not speak out for Rosa Lidner or Anna Celzera , whipped in Lombardy . It would be the height of rudeness , if any allusion were made to the domestic arrangements of Gracious Majesty in St . Petersburg ; but then we cannot understand how the bounds of international etiquette are so easily stepped over towards the
Atlantic , especially by delicate legs in petticoats . While other races are in slavery , why select for the peculiar patronage of the fair Englishwomen that particular race , whose representative is incessantly cried up as " a man and a brother P " Is contrast tho only bond of sympathy P Is it policy to repeat the phrase , until the letters fall out with wear and tear , and it degenerates into the question , "Am I not a man and a bother P "
But , above all , we repeat , why bring " the women of England" — or rather the women of Downing-street—to complicate our country in an alliance with a story-book and a sect , in opposition to that great Republic , which , with all its faults , is still the real effective champion of freedom , and tho only trustworthy ally for England P
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TO OI 7 K AMERICAN HEADERS . Two weeks ago we received copies of a Pensylvanian journal , containing , as we are informed , reports of a public meeting of several thousands of persons , in some part of the United States , to consider or reply to the articles on the " Anti-Slavery Agitation , its Leaders and Policy , " by " Ion , " which lately appeared in this journal . At tho public meeting in question , Mr . Wendell Phillips was tho chief speaker . Tho newspapers in question , b y an accident , never reached the hands of the writer , for whom they were intended . Having failed in procuring the said papers in London , we nita . 11 be obliged to Mr . Phillips , Mr . Lloyd Garrison , or to other American friends converHant with the
circumstance , to favour us witli another copy of tho reports . We mention tho circumstance because our total silence on tho subject ( at present inevitable ) may appear as an indifference to tho justificatory or explanatory opinions of tho American lenders , which neither we , nor tho writer of the articles in our paper , in any way can feel . Sympathising broadly with tho noble movement against black slavery , we should embrace any opportunity of did ' uHin ^ a just and healthy appreciation of it in this country , and of correcting , upon the authority of its true chiefs , any error into which we , judging them at this diataneo , may havo fallen .
"A STRANGER" IN PARLIAMENT . It is not the first placed people who are Premiers and leaders , or there would be frequent national scrapes and bizarreries . ThtTFrench fashions will not "be ruled by the French Empress , —there is sumptuary liberty yet left to the ladies , which As a vety significant political fact any wife , on good terms with a milliner , can put her husband in possession of ; and the English nation may , iu the same way , be permitted to refuse to identify itself with the English Parliament in regard to such moral matters as the Petition Committees are iust at present adjudicating upon . Eugenie has too
long a waist , which justifies sartorial revolt ; and the House of Commons Las too expansive a conscience , — and though we accept their measures , we must decline their morality . At least , it is to be hoped that the respectable classes , when they meet or write to members , are making such mental reservations as amount to a belief that the existing House of Commons , as it turns its silver , or sometimes golden , lining , in the committee lobbies , is not at all events representative of the average honour , honesty , purity , and independence of the remarkably enlightened British people . The unenfranchised certainly are entitled to rejoice
that the 1 , 000 , 000 men who have votes are exceptional persons , and that England is not to be held responsible ( 'twould be so awkward after our eternal contrasts of ourselves with other nations ) for the figure of Cloacina being substituted for that of Liberty in those market places where hustings are most erected . For the talk on the matter , more particularly among the " people ' s party / ' is of the most unreserved description ; and there is an indignant eagerness , because so many members are being unseated , and so much corruption eliminated , to take for granted that the
rottenness is universal , and that the whole imperial constituency is given to drink and imbecility in the rumpling presence of promises of 51 . under the hand of Matthew Marshall . Whether so comprehensive a deduction from the proceedings of the committees , even as illustrated in Mr . Cobden ' s way , by reference to Dod , —and by recalling such a correspondence as that of the Marquis of Londonderry about his treasure in the County Down—is not somewhat unsound , may be a question ; but how the gentlemen and the journals who believe all this of their race and land can find it in
their faces to give themselves airs—for instance , in the criticism on Franklin Pierce ' a grand appeal to the States , and can go on smirking in the jog-trot faith that we are heading civilization , and that the French are contemptible , may be allowed to bewilder the brains of persons who were not brought up by the Times , and who have a weakness for facing all sorts of facts , and first of all those under our noses , such as in the committee rooms Cloacae . How , indeed , in such circumstances Mr . Spooner can think it worth while to devote himself to stoppingthe wayof the people to Sydenhum on Sundays , instead of arranging for a rush to Australia out of the way of the sulphuric visitation which lesser crimes called upon as go od cities as London ,
is a question which only those are capable of answering who can appreciate the psychological phenomenon evidenced in men insisting on sanding sugar before calling to prayers , and remaining innocent of any consciousness of inconsistency . You see Mr . Spooner , who is a thorough man of business , of keen brains , and great tact , sitting in his committee-room , Group O , and getting from witnesses e vidence which only tho agent behind knows to be perjury , but which tho impressionable Birming ham banker is convinced does demonstrate that the smaller shopkeeper and disengaged " freeman" class in Great Britain arc rogtiea ; and you would think that a knowledge of that fact would have norno eflect on Mr . Spooner ' H views of
public life . But no ; you watch him pass jauntily along the lobbies , looking good-naturedly and happily at all mankind in his way ; and when you get into the gallery you are just in time to sec a yellow-faced little man rising , who , you subsequently find , is this very same chairman of Group () , expostulating with tho Senate upon their indecent tendency to allow tho Briton that never shall bo i \ hIiivo to go to Norwood on a particular day called Sunday ; or Ht ill more vehemently entreating tho patrons of Mr . Coppoclc , at pre-Kent the Government , not to unchristinnizo the
Legislature and the age by admitting inside tho bar ( lie is always outside—ho it ' . s a quotation of threw feet ) « , largenosed , fat-eyed , unonergetie man , who is a Hebrew , but who alno hits tho host French , and therefore Christian cook , in London . When you read or hear Hucb confiiHflioiiM about tho voting classes in England as wero umdo in tho course of tho Bridgonorlh and Bluckburno debates on Tuesday , you would expect , M a matter of com-wi , to havo a resolution iu favour of national mourning , or national prayers , or of tho fcipeakor taking 1 to sackcloth and aaliefl , of « topping all legislation and all action until something is done to
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380 THE LEADER . [ Saturd ay ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 19, 1853, page 280, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1978/page/16/
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