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be able to know how much land has been laid out in com %$$ & other produce ; we shall then learn from the character of the ' census more nearly the amount that we are likely to obtain at home ; when the harvest is reaped , be it good or bad , we shall knovy nidre distinctly which is the case ; if it is reaViy ShoTfci the farmer Mil obtain his Just pfcice ; if it is deficient , he will nave his profits out of the quatfiaty , wni ^ e the co nsumer will not be deceived ;
it be told how he enriched his country's literature but Tramivit benefaciendo will be the truest epitaph . The Sunday League-has held a great meeting ia St . Martin ' s-hall , and has really debated the Sabbath question . "Ehe object of the League is to rescue the sieventh day from any sectarian dictation whatsoever ^ The debate was rational ,
the Sabbattt bbs * ervan' 6 e view was well supported 5 bu % fft waa teegattved by an overwhelming majority 5 and thosfe members in the feouse of Commons who support Ssir JosfetUA WalmsISy were cheered for their manliness in standing forward where hypocrisy is so > common and so safe . It is not at all to be understood that if the seventh day were freed from sectarian dictation , it would necessarily be given up entirely to temporal pursuits . We believe that the
tendency would be the very reverse . Preachers who > aim at conscience would cease to rely on statute law 3 would throw a little more earnestness and true religion into their appeals , and they would draw the people to church better than thejr can drive them now . The absurdity of protection the vitality of freedom , are perhaps not to be illustrated in commerce alone . At the annual meeting of the Royal Literary Fund Corporation on Wednesday , the war of last
year was resumed . The "! row , " as that classical Caledonian , Lord Chief Justice Campbelid , would say , began with a vigorous assault by Mr . Dilke . Mr . Dickens supported the assault with a slashing onslaught upon that worship of titles which is the social religion of middle-class England , which is for ever foisting a spurious
patronage upon independent efforts of self-help , and converting 1 many a charitable institution into a paradise of flunkeys . Our readers will be at no loss to imagine with what pitiless wit Mr . Dickens , one of the hardest of Utters , denounced , the * canlta of this lord-loving propensity . No man has a better right to do so than Mr . Dickens , for among our men of letters
no man more uncompromisingly represents the true dignity and independence of his calling . Mr . John T ^ orster followed on the same side "with his usual Olympian suavity . That there was something to be said on the other side was evident when a genuine man . of letters , aaid one so esteemed as Mr . Robert Bell , rose to defend the status quo , which found another considerable apologist in Mr . Monckton Mulishes . Mr . Milnes stated with perfect fairness and temper what we believe to be weighty and sincere objections to a change in the constitution ., and administration of the FundThe tc l like
Literary . literary word , " every other " world , " has no doubt a tendency to split into sets , and is not more free than , any other habitable world from petty jealousies and enmities . It is , therefore , quite conceivable that si literary man in distress might shrink from appealing to a committee composed of litcrarj brethren ; whilst he would have no hesitation in accepting assistance from a body of men fur removed from his own path in life . It is quite easy to imagine such a case ; . and Mr . MilnKs , as a man of letters , of fortune , and of liberal sympathies , was w / jll qualified to state it ns he di < l , with excellent taste and feeling .
The preservative party in the Society deny the analogy of the Artists' Benevolent Fund . That is a mutual institution , got up within the profession ; the funds regularly distributed to easily-identified claimants , according to set rules . Not so the Literary Fund , whose revenues are derived from the public ; — whose aid is given for the occasion , whether temporary or recurrent—whose help is to be sought at all seasons—whose " charity " must be given with a secrecy that forefends social loss
of caste , and with a tenderness that soothes mor ~ fication . It must , therefore have a fixed habitation , to be found at all seasons ; n secretary to lo for it the benefactor—a gentleman , -not a common clcrlt . And , say these champions of the Fund ' s presont constitution , to copy the model qf the Artiat ' s Fund , would be to attempt for literary men that kind of self-supporting Provident Society which has been so often attempted nnd never succeeded ; while it would certainly annihilate tho Literary Fund , as it has been , and as it baa lasted
as if he were the lowest of creatures , because he cannot keep a Pacha in order ; and we are at fault with a contractor ! The discussion called forth some of the Conservative members , who rather affected to take the part of the contractors , thinking that Ministers exaggerated . Thus challenged , die officials came Qtife With stronger details ; and we haVe evidently another case for inquiry . Properly treated , this fraud in the manufacture of cannon ought to go before the Adulteration Committee how silting ; for it is only the same sin in another form .
The Borough and County Police Bill was one of the occasions for a grand parade . Members had to do duty for their constituents . In some cases there is a panic because the police force will , perhaps , be raised to the proportion of something wider one in a thousand of inhabitants , and because the Secretary of State proposed to have a superintending power over the stature , pay , and equipment of the men . We see it called " an army , " and one provincial journal , from whom we
might have expected candour , if not amenity , levels at us charges of corruption and ' ignorance " "because we tolerate Sir George Grey ' s Bill . The single proof of ignorance is taken from our remark * that the borough folks probably dislike the proposal to deprive the policemen of their votes . The police , says the provincial w . riter > are few in number , and their votes cannot be of importance . Yes they can , in a contested election , and the very proposal is to multiply the police . For our own
part , the thing which we dislike most of all in public business is inefficiency . If we are to have a police let it at least be efficient for its professed purffose . An inefficient constabulary is contemptible , and being contemptible is disagreeable even to contemplate . But there is something else that is contemptible , and that is the popular fear of a constable . What we should desire to see would he efficiency in every part of our pixblic organisation , police included ; efficiency also in the organisation
of the people , ; and the true reproach to our organisation is , not that we render the police effectualj but that the people consent to- be disarmed and so to be rendered despicable . We suspect also hat they have parted with something more important than arms , and that is the spirit of resolution and self-sacrifice * which enables a people to maintain its independence . In Norwich there is *
population of 70 , 000 ' : are we to " understand that ^ 0 policemen could keep Norwich in terror ? The very idea is ludicrous . But 70 policemen might keep the vagabonds of Norwich in check ; they might therefore do good service , Why ! if Norwich were really to be enslaved by 70 men , it would certainly be a city not worth rescuing , or even thinking about . "
To one measure we must give complete approval •^—the bill for effecting a compulsory collection of agricultural statistics by means of the Poor Law Commissioners . What we may call a census of the Tjprops while they are growing , and ^ subsequently > when they liave been gathered , will be presented tat the proper seasons of the year . Attempts have
/ been made to collect these statistics by optional < i returns , from eleven English counties , with very partial success . The importance of having them is obvious , arid it was found that in many cases tho farwiera would have been leas unwilling to supply the information if their neighbours had been made to
. BUjplyily it likewise . The collection will now be equal l 'fo *« ll . It is a mistake to suppose , however , that tho ^ ; j ^ t ^ a caw be rendered available for prying into ¦ i ^ ^ IM ^ t ^^ j On ^ i " * * " * eans ° ^ eacl 11 particular farmer . , ' . ' ' | iM % 'iW !' ' ^ M ! Wp * learn a toman ' s address from the ^ r >>® $ j # ^ & »^^ Cfec ' etyain the . anlount of his , ¦ ' V " ; properf ftbnitne ineotrie * tfcx returns . We shall
and tine only persons w&b will nave any grounds of complaint will be those agents who now gamble in the pretence of dearth when there is no dearth , and who are so often deceived themselves in the attempt to deceive the public . Even the Derbyite party is converted to agricultural statistics ; thougli we should not wonder if some ingenious persons can find out , here again , an interference with local self-government .
Local self-government ! It will be claimed next for the convict stations of Dartmoor and Woolwich I The Ticket-of-leave interest has already made its appearance on the political arena , in public meeting assembled , Mr . Henry Mayhew in the chair . It was an exceedingly creditable movement , and Some important facts were brought out . Mr . Mayhew showed that the number of relapses amongst the ticket-bf-leave men , about which so much has been said , are inconsiderable in proportion to the relapses amongst the otlier classes of thes criminal population . He also showed how difficult it is for a released convict to obtain
an honest livelihood . If he has a chance , the police dog his steps , warn his employer ; and out of sheer exhaustion of other methods , he is driven back to a trade which is more productive than the regular calling . Amongst the speakers at this meeting was one whodeclaredthathe was innocent of thecrime for which lie was sentenced ; and who shall say that such instances do not occur ? At all events the
object of the meeting was in . part attained : an association was set on foot for aiding the unhappy men to recover the means of industrial occupation . Bnt they did not ask for local self-government ; they did not claim to be allowed to manage their own thieving in their own way ; which is the claim that the boroughs put forward for the resident thief population .
The actors have at least as just a claim upon public consideration as the ill-used community of whom , we have been speaking . Why should they be ignored ? That is the question which they have asked through Mr , Webster ' s great meeting at the AdelphiTheatre , There is a proposal to reform the charities ; amongst other charities that of
Allbynk nt Dulwich , hitherto appropriated by a species of hereditary tea-party , has come under revision ; the px * operty has immensely developed , and the actors ask why in an improved distribution they should not be admitted to the benefit of a charity founded by otic of their order . The public meeting thought their claun just j and they must bo admitted .
Nothing could be more graceful , nothing- more happy , than the presence of Mr . Dickens in the chair at this meeting , convened to vindicate the just claims of the actors to the inheritance of an actor ' s charity . We all know how often to tho cause of charity Mr . Dickens has , in his own person , dedicated the " highest mastery of an art in
wluch , were he not a Charles Dickkks , ho might himself have been a David Garrick or an Edmund ICkan . The truth is that the national affection and esteem which make a household word of tho name of the greatest of our living humourists are not more due to the delightful sway of bia genius , than to the beneficent activity of a blameless life . Whenever his name shall bo writ on marble ( may the day be distant t ) not only will
Untitled Article
242 THE LEADER . [ No . 312 , Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 15, 1856, page 242, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2132/page/2/
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