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crete rather than the abstract form , and makes it turn upon the article of dress . The same solicitude is observed in a still higher court of law . On the Queen ' s birthday , some barristers , and it is even said some judges , so far violated our constitution as to appear , not in court dress , and not in full-bottomed wigs , but in gown and trousers , and the usual horse-hair head dress . It was not so , at least , on the bench in the Court of Common Pleas . One or two barristers , indeed , did appear in
ordinary dress and wig , but they were not suffered to " move ; " and they were deliberately charged by the Chief Justice with " neglecting to do honour to her Majesty ! " One of the barristers , no doubt , is a gentleman of extremely liberal opinions— " subversive" opinions , it appears from the turn he gave to his wig ; but he stands rebuked . Her Majesty , it appears , is sensitive on the subject of wigs on the heads of barristers in the courts of law ; but she has a Chief Justice who can protect her heart and dignity .
This branch of State craft is preserved in its full perfection in China . They have just introduced Christianity into that land as an auxiliary in war , but the dress philosophy is of long standing . It is a charge against the degenerate Tartar Government , that it grants official dignities according to pecuniary considerations , instead of literary attainments , —a weakness which is found in other governments besides that of China . But a charge much more conspicuously made agrainst the barbarous Government is that
of having violated " the ancient regulations of Yaon and Shun "—of having departed from the antique standards of music , of falling short in ceremony , and of neglecting " the attention which has been paid , from the earliest antiquity , to suitable apparel . " " Heaven , " says the proclamation of the Christian pretender in China , " favours the virtuous , and all men naturally possess a certain degree of talent . For China is governed by such precepts as we find in our copy ooks . Its mind is softened by a music in whose
gamut one of the intervals equals three semitones , and it is retained in the paths of virtue by " suitable apparel . " Could " the party of order " limit the literature of the people to such wholesome classics as the precept that " evil communications corrupt good manners ; " could they have maintained beavers on the ancient standard , instead of wide-awakes and Calabrese hats ; the people would not attempt to move out of the rank which Providence has assigned to them , and the paternal Government would have as little trouble as it had in the best days of China .
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CHURCH MOVEMENTS .- OLD AND NEW . Foe many weeks we have not felt called upon to speak out upon the state of the Church of England . Calmly and smoothly her affairs have , to all appearance , glided on . The May meetings have been hold ; the debates on the Carfada Clergy Reserves have passed over ; scandals regarding doctrine , as in the dioeeso of Ripon , have peeped above the surface ; but , all things considered , the affairs of the Church have rippled pleasantly along , compared to the storms of preceding years . _ __ _ _ _
Yet how treacherous all this seeming has been ! In and around the heart of tho Establishment lurked confusion and anarchy . While tho world looked on , aroused only to laughter by stories like that of the episcopal sportsman of Durham , tho old leaven of corruption was eating into tho vitals of the Establishment . Wo have ono or two striking proofs . First , there was the re-assembling of the i ork Convocation last week— -grimly dramatic , and sadly earnest . Summoned by Dr . Miusgrove several clergymen assembled . They had , through Archdeacon riiorpe , previously memorialised tho
Archbishop Jor permission to proceed to pass an address to tho Queen . Dr . Musgrovo had refused to boo that a precedent was a precedent ; aud resolved to stand upon the ancient ways of imliff ' orentism and timidity . The servants of God assembled ; and the servants of the archbishop mot fcliom . Some desired to proceed to business—a critical and reflective audience looking on . But Commissioner Dixon , a lit man for Hiieh a purpose , melodramatically and rudely put hin veto on all business , and amidst laughter , which must have- sounded strangely in the consecrated precincts , proceeded to read an ordinary document which , the more wo reflect on , the more wo
are amazed . "While in the act of proroguing the synod , while proclaiming that it was " lawfully authorized and rightfully and duly proceeding , " he continued thus : — " We do pronounce all and singular persons contumacious who are obliged to appear and have no wayappeared in this Synod or Convocation ; and in penalty of such their contumacy—( laughter )—we decree to proceed further in this holy Synod or Convocation , their absence or contumacy in anywise
notwithstanding . ( Lau < j 7 tter . ) But we reserve the penalty of such their contumacy to and until the 28 th day of September next ensuing , between the hours of eight and twelve in the forenoon of the same day ( if occasion require ) ; and we continue and prorogue the said Synod or Convocation to and until the same day , or any other day betwixt this and that day ( if there shall be occasion ) , admonishing all and singular persons now present , whom by this writing we do admonish , here again to appear—( a laugh )—in this Synod or Convocation , to proceed and attend the proceedings therein , as the nature and quality thereof require . "
There can be but one opinion of this : it is a shame and a disgrace to the Church which permits it , and tacitly consents to the * periodical performance . Either the rights of the Church should be granted , or the sham of freedom should be abolished . Either those who support Canon Dixon and Dr . Musgrove in their Erastian policy should come out boldly frombeneaththe mask of free forms , wearing jauntily their chains ; or
they should cease to oppose those honest men who hold that a benefice— -even a canonry—implies far deeper obligations than preaching occasional sermons , and scientifically consuming the fruits of other men's toil . If Erastianism , if meek subservience to the State , is to be the creed of Dr . Musgrove , Dr . Sumner , and their adherents , then let them make the fact and the form coincident . It is clear , however , they have not the courage of their opinions .
But . a more serious movement towards Erastianism has shown itself . We only point to the fact , as another triumphant evidence of Church anarchy . ] STo doubt , upon strict Church principles , the famous " management clauses" are wrongful ; invading the just rights of the Church , and imposing a yoke upon her ministers . The true Church of England men will insist , as in duty bound , that public grants shall not be clogged with humiliating conditions—conditions impossible for an honest clergyman to fulfil The Church of England is not a " sect "—at least in theory . It is her duty to do all she can to
grasp and absorb the education of the children of the State in her own views , because the theory still is , though the fact still is not , that the Church and the State are ono ; even as it is our bounden duty , holding different principles , to do all we can to rescue the people from the Church , and frustrate her attempts . We prize any institution which honestly is what it pretends to be ; we despise any institution which , either through weakness or dishonesty , is not what it pretends to be . Well ; the Erastians of the National Society—honest , no doubt , after the hn-Aj manner of Erastians—are enamoured of the
" management clauses ; " they are hostile to the National Society . Good : what do they do P They meet , and get up a new Education Society , based on principles of Whig Churclinianship , under the pretence of being neither High Church nor Low Church , but Church of-England . They split from tho National Society on this obvious compromise and sham ; they demonstrate anarchy . there debate
Then , on Thursday night , wa . s a on church rates . A ^ o have our own opinions as to the right fulness of levying church rates , but we have only one opinion respecting the duty ol tho Church of England . It' tho Church of England given up church rates , who HurrenolVrs un ancient right . If her lay members connive at that surrender they aro untrue to their church . Young politicians like Lord Stanley may bo friends of the Church as a political institution ,
calculated to prop up the aristocracy ; but they can hardly be called friends of'the Church , as a church . It is not our business to reconcile the doctrines and practices which go to make up the Church of England , with what is right ; but it is our business to point out whero right , and < loetrino , and practice diverge . They diverge on this question . It is not right to levy church rales on everybody , as the facts are ; neither is it right for the members of the Church of England to consent to give up their old privilege .
Hence the question brought home to us by three facts—the Church must become a " sect , " like any other , with the enormous disadvantage of receiving State pay to which it has no right ; oi * it must fight to the last gasp for that right ; or its members must abandon it . Anyway there is anarchy , which the staunchest honesty only can cure ; a feat which we doubt whether any honesty or ability extant can accomplish .
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RESUME . RUSSIA'S INCREASED POWER - POLICY OF 2 TECESSITY—IMPERATIVE DEMAND FOR A CHANGE IN OUR POLICY . Lettek III . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sie , —The policy of England for many years past has been a very ill-defined one . Too much calculated upon principles , and not sufficiently founded upon well digested necessities , it has been throughout a trading , temporising , timid policy . I must confess , sir , that this seems of
grave moment to me , when I remember that every great commercial power has perished , and that we are the last sole remaining illustration of a gigantic commercial and trading nation ruling the world by its shipping and manufacturing interests . Territorial acquisitions in Europe are certainly not desired by us ; but influence in European politics , in . the extension of tree institutions and self-government , in the acquirement by all nations of liberal and expansive ideas , these are our absolute necessities ; by these we shall be saved , or , through the want of these , we shall ignominiously
fall . The gravity then of the question is great , and to those statesmen and journalists who , forgetful of the causes of the growth of our power , look for it not in the increasing want-3 of more civilised mankind , which made alliances with us more practicable , our superior and cheaper cotton and other products more desirable , but who seek it in the favourable or unfavourable sentiments of governments and not of nations , I would say , pursue your suicidal policy . Attend , until Russia and Austria , upon the Mediterranean and upon the Baltic , ruling by the spears of the brutal
Cossack , stifling education , knowledge , civilization , with the weight of their superincumbent despotism ; with Egypt crushed , with Turkey assimilated , with Persia * enslaved , shall have closed to us the markets of the north and east , the commerce of Italy , aud the passage to our Indian possessions . Wait until the Hindoo , trembling under the contemptible Government that oppresses without educating or raising him ; wait until the Hindoo shall listen to the deceitful promises of Russia , shall receive the Russian gold , and , what we have ever refused him , high commands under the Russian power . Do not presume this impossible . Read the history of every country , without exception , that has ever
touched upon the Russian frontier ; look at Poland , look at Sweden , look at Turkey itself , look at Georgia , look at Wiillachia , Moldavia , Greece , Hungary ; arid , for tho list is not yet complete , regard her present all powerful influence in Montenegro . And where do we find our own strength aggrandisedP " We have estranged Prussia without rendering Austria grateful , " we have offended France , we have offended the rising freedonvof Italy , we are pursuing the best course to induce Turkey to distrust us ; with the one single exception of Egypt we have gained not one alliance , and effected not one of the objects to the accomplishment of which our policy has been directed . It would be waste of words were I to declaim
in the midst of such threatening and eloquent , fa ts as these . In tlie presence of the history of Russia , w e need no appeals to our passions , it is our intellect and reason that must bo called upon ; for to decide * a question so weighty aw tho present we need all our acutencsy , all our forethought , and all our past experience . We have not struck oil" the first leaf as it appeared above the ground , and the upas tree ; him now igrowri
gigantic . If we cannot destroy its root , let us at least prevent the extension of its shade , Thin doctrine ; of non-intervention , which has already cost Urt ho much , and whidi threatens to enfeeble our influence nil over the world , must no mom bo believed in as infallible . So long as other nations intervene it will not do for us to point to these doctrines and assert their enlightenment and their binding nature . " An assertion in no
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* intclligiiucn sinco arrivedlromPornin yointn toltunainu intrigues thorn .
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May 28 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 519
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 28, 1853, page 519, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1988/page/15/
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