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Leader (1850-1860), 26th November 1853, Edition Town of 2, Page 1143, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      a church door . But the Earl of Shaftesbury is strongly believed in by those who meet him at his meetings , and that is , perhaps , more than can he said of any other hero of the same scenes . He is , clearly , a man heartily and nobly in -earnest ; and though , with great faults of temperament , that forbid a graceful manner , and a rigid countenance , that suggests a champion not readily to be put down by Satan , he impresses you with a conviction that he is an enthusiast , perhaps of the Knox sort , but still a practical enthusiast . As far as any man ' s life affords evidence of purity of purpose ,

      Lord Shaftesbury ' s evidences the sincere- —shall we say i—fanatic . Men do not work as long and as hard as he has worked , without direct profit in what he would call this world ' s goods , for a whim . A " man of the world , " as the most stupid of Britons denominate themselves , when they have found out human nature , —viz ., —themselves , —has a right to suspect a bishop , who is virtuous : it is a bishop ' s business . But it may be shown , by those commercial lights which alone illumine the mind of your average Englishman , that Iiord Shaftesbury cannot be a hypocrite : for ,

      that at any rate , the hypocrisy doesn't pay . Your poor peer , in England , has various methods of inducing his order to keep up its dignity , by handing him public money . He can get a ship , or a regiment , or a governorship , or a sinecure . The lateliord Shaftesbury got 5000 ? . a-year , with great ease ; and the present Peer , being started in the governing trade , was getting on with , the usual success , and would have had his sinecure in due course , had he not d eliberately , and in the prime of his manhood , resolved to be good : which means impracticable , and

      which therefore means his exclusion from all the pleasant things going . You could not convince them at a tradesman ' s club that the Peels and Russells don't go into public life merely for the 5000 Z . a-year ; but what Great British bagman would refuse this astounding evidence in Lord Shaftesbury ' s favour—that there is no salary attached to his walk of piety ? In that extraordinary protest against civilization , the novel " Margaret , " Lord Shaftesbury is sketched in virulent colours ; he is described as a mere platform Christian , in his place on the platform , but useless elsewhere—in

      other words , not the sort of pious personage to apply to for money . Because he only preaches , and does not give , his sermons , it is suggested , very often are shams . Now , Paul occasionally had , unquestionably , to throw into his waste basket impossible begging letters . If Lord Shaftes'bury were ao blessed as to bo enabled , like his Master , to distribute interminable loaves , ho would , with the best heart in the world , frightfully derango the flour market . But if ho hasn ' t the money , and can't work miracles , should he therefore ceaae from preaching ? The world in England seems to be divided into two classes—the class who

      talk unreserved Christianity and act inevitable hypocrisy , and the class who do not talk this Christianity , but who act not a whit better than the men they attack . The defenders of Lord Shaftesbury arc met with this sort of taunt : '' Were lie a true Christian ho would share his loaf . " That is to say , ho would never have more than one to share ! How an austere Peer of the realm , with bin prejudices and his lady to connult , can get over such a technical dilemma , it in not easy to « ay , though it is clear Lord Shaftesbury ' s conscience in reconciled to keeping a decent house over

      his head , and most respectable livery servants to wait upon him . And assuredly it would bo a melancholy thing for thousands if , from a pious punctilio , Lord , Shaftonbury withheld himself from tho complacent career , in which directly , but more indirectly , ho elfecta such vast and to him unexpected benefits . It in a shame , of course , that our bishops are clean , and don ' t livo in R , a , g Fair , and don ' t siiHt . iin their spirits on polonica and Thames water : but until tho spiritual

      • I-Niwh take their places with last year ' s lawn , w « may cxeiwo Lord ttlmftesbury keeping a good coat on bin hack , and Mending tho lifctlo Ashley Coopers to Eton . A mini like Lord fthaftoHhury rh offcmi goes wrong-• in right ; but ho at least confers tliifi good ,- —he shows that Hooiety is not no hoartlesn an it in supposed to be . '" a country like England , nuoh a man is of inestimable value ; bo loads where nearly all arc ready lollow

      *¦<> lollow . ill t . lio n \ A r » f uiiunrv 11 in ( ! lllinlj ; uiit . v «> , —in tho aid of misery . Him Christianity "Hiy not bo absolutely neeurato , but , it would Hoom , 'he b , > n | , Wo cau ^ ^ J ( 1 U | JlH mmi . , ; ,, ppron , oh ; ih l » oNsiblo to tho Hiiblimo impracticability of the A poutolio poriod . Ho < louu put up pinyom to Provi ^

      dence to arrest the cholera ; but he does cleanse the sewers too , so far as he can . In looking thus at his character , we are considering Lord Shaftesbury solely under his aspects as the social reformer . Lord Shaftesbury , the Protestant , is doubtless an illogical , because a parochial personage ; ' and how the social reformer who is perpetually pointing out what a dead failure is Protestantism , can so eloquently urge the necessity of looking after the heathen , who does not seem physically so badly off as the Christian , is a perplexity which must be left to the solution of those

      learned in Exeter-hall ethics . A Protestant gentleman who demands religious toleration in Italy , and insists on an Anglican State Church in Ireland , and demands that Roman Catholie bishops shall be in partibus in England , is in an unsyllogistic state of mind , in wHch , if he be a good , and well-meaning , and earnest man , it is best to leave him , no logic being likely to have the slightest effect where Protestantism 13 mere parochiality . But watched in his parish , Lord Shaftesbury becomes admirable . So far as he has seen his way , he has accomplished miracles .

      The parish is in a frightful condition of social anarchy , and he has not set all to rights yet . But he has insisted on a recognition of the facts of our appalling civilization , and that was a good deal to do , which none other than a Peer and crack Christian could hope to do ; for who would attend to an infidel mentioning that Christianity had broken down , or to a Radical suggesting that our enlightenment was a swindle ? Lord Shaftesbury could afford to admit the hideous truths he encountered in English life , for he had no system to substantiate , no principle to

      defend , no theory to manipulate , and he does not concern himself with either causes of the misery or effect of his remedies of it , —he only wants to get at the immediate , swift remedy . Reckless of politics and of political economy , he sees suffering , and he makes his appeal to meetings , to literature , to Parliament : and he says " Let us subscribe . " And the answering subscriptions have been grand . He has flattered the rich by appearing to believe in their interest for the poor ; and the interest has turned out to be a fact . The divisions in the social scale in Great Britain are awful ;

      the " two nations" are terribly distinct . But the rich did not master the poor by treachery , and do not remain the rich by a conspiracy . Equally victims , with the poor , of the rush and crush of the " progress" of " civilization , " the rich lament the anarchy , even more than the poor—perhaps because the rich are men , and men in the mass are sympathetic and noble—but partly also because the conviction deepens daily among the rich that it is not their interest to have this anarchy . If the successful could see their way to put the failures on their legs , there would be no suffering in the world ;

      but there is political economy , inexorably warning off sensitiveness in life ; and tho profoundest cynic must recognise , from his daily experience of the latent holiness in tho most careless , that oven those who gain most rapidly , by existing social disorganization , lament that that organization is so dismally inchoate . As men grow rich they refine ; poverty is odorous ; misery is ugly ; and the front streets do not prefer tho back streets as backgrounds—would revolutionise choleraic towns into valleys of peace—if they know how . But they don't know how ; and perhaps tho truth of aman ' s

      apathy , which grows gradually into blind hardness , in the presence of nineteenth century horrors , is- *—despair . Tho Christians who go to church in grand clothes , and eat a good dinner , arc not necessarily hypocrites ; all men are struggling to keep their places in the crowd ; not being- oven sure that tho devil would take the hindmost , wo must keep our places an near front an wo can ; and tho true interpretation of tho good Samaritan story iH—fc ] m , t all tho other passers-by had appointments and couldn ' t , wait . Wo , men of tho world , Englishmen , enduring IneturoH upon our villany , on ono side from

      ShafteHbury and on the other from Carlylo , aro not by any moans so bad as wo Hatter ourselves we aro . Testing national virtue by national sacrifice , we aro a magniiioont race . Charity properly < : <> vern a multitude of flius ; we have timo to give , but not timo to remedy ; and in public charity England oxpondH tho revenues of a first-rate empire . Our poor law may ho a blunder : ih an organization ; but in principle and in intent it iti a tmhliiuo institution ; it would be butter not to eraito the poor , but tho next bout thing , after tho creation , in to help in Homo mush way . And the poor-law in two demanding chanty ; but M . duizofc

      said trul y that our " voluntary contributions" were our glory . And that is not all ; ceaselessly would the affluent give if they knew to whom , how , or when ; ceaselessly do they give , pity , sustain , struggle , and legislate when a Shaftesbury presents himself to lead ¦ " ; to do Samaritanism by . " association ; " to undertake Christianity by contract . There is no faith in private charity ; not only does political economy condemn it , but we ourselves observe its mischief . " Voluntarycontributions , " associations , benevolence , are not justified by political economy ; they do also a vast

      proportion of mischief ; but it is less mischief than to leave things as they would be without associations and public dinners ; and so long as the State—the nation—will not extend the principles of the poor-law , and organize social organization , we must be grateful for the discovery of a Shaftesbury . In George Sand ' s beautiful fable of "Mauprat , " the rustic charities of " Edmee " are described in language which is universally applicable : — "On les trompaittous les jours , en leur tirant de 1 'argent pour en faire une me " chante usage , tandis que les journaliers , fiers et laborieux , manquaient de

      tout , sans qu on put le savoir . Elle craignait les humilier en allant s ' enquerir de leurs besoins : et lorsque de mavrais sujets s ' adressaient a elle , elle aimait mieux etre leur dupe que de se tromper au detriment de la charite " . De cette maniere , elle depensait beaucoup d ' argent , et faisait peu de bien . " It is a social mistake to continue the necessity of one class protecting the other : but there is such a necessity ; and while England lives on in the glorious conviction that she is the freest and most enlightened of nations , let us—it cannot be too often repeatedhonour Lord Shaftesbury , noblest of national almoners .

      May he long remain in innocence of what he ia doing . ' The Ten Hours' Act was an act of State Socialism ; the Lodging Houses Act , and the Shoeblack Brigade Association , were the deeds of a desperate communist . For his advances in this direction it would be premature and not practical to rejoice . But we may rejoice that he , more than any living man , has convicted the Church of being a delusion and our civilization of being a mockery . In time he may make us religious and rational ; and if he succeeded in that we might even forgive him for maintaining to the last both Bishops and Peers . Non-Elector .

      Untitled Article

      THE UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM . Not long ago , a Debating Society was formed among the younger members of the University of Durham . Tho Warden was applied to for n room , and , without apparent hesitation , consented that the weekly meetings should bo held in the Divinity School . Under the fostering influence of tho 8 uprcmo author ^' , the society attained considerable growth . Free discussion was promoted , and opportunity was afforded for the expression of opinion on subjects not ; included in tho general routino of University education . In short ; , the scheme was too successful . The University authorities were startled by ho rapid a development of intellectual power , and tho tender plant of thought was doomed to perish . The Warden has issued an order countermanding bin previous decision , and refusing tho use of the Divinity School on tho plea that " Debating Societies tend to the formation of opinions before young men are capable of judging an to their . soundness ! " It is impossible to impugn tho wisdom of this decision . What could bo more fatal to the existence of siu-Ii a University than to allow young men to think ' , or to extend thoir range of fltudy beyond the narrow lirni / s laid down by tho ecclesiastical wisdom of infallible ( although Protestant ) authorities ?

      Untitled Article

      November 26 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 1143

      Untitled Article

      UN 8 ICCTAK . JAN EDUCATION irOll WORK INC ! , MEN . ( To tho Mdltor of tho Leader . ) Novile-Ntroot , LdodM , JVov . ir > , I 853 . Sut , -Ah you aro doubtltisn aware , there is ' » Bouiofcy in London oallod tho " Working Monti ' Educational Union , " having- for itti object tho olovation of tho working cLimhch , an it regardH thoir phynical intolkiolual , moral , and roligioiia condition by tho following- lno .-uiH ,-- ~ lnfc , Encouraging tho delivery of popular litorary and uoiuntifie ucotuiuch , imbued wifch * rtound Christian npirit , by preparing miitabio diagrams and other aids to leeturom ; and 2 nd Bv promoting- tho formation of popular lending libraries and mutual instruction cIciwhch .

      Untitled Article

      Thoro in no loomed m .-i . n but ; will donf . iHi ! ho hath , much prci / itod by rciidin ^ co n Lmvonnm , bin r . onuon awuknnod , ; md bi .-i JLub / 'monl ; whirrf mnod . If , l . hrn it bo pi-oti c .: ibl < i Iciv him t ; o road , why . should it , rtc . t . ' uV Joiiiit ,, bo l . olnmbJn IbHiiii adversary t . o writ . o—M u / roV

      Untitled Article

      [ jff Trrra nKPAitTMimr , ah am- oitwionh , itowhvkk ktthicmk , AUK AM . OWJil ) AN 'KXI'KKHfllON , THJ 5 KIHTOlt JNJJOUHHAlUkX lt <) l , I )» IlIMMHI . lf JtltHPONHllll . lt 1 'Olt TfONK . j

      Dpjiett Cinntril.

      dPjiett Cinntril .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 26, 1853, page 1143, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2014/page/15/