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186 THE STAR OF FREW1. l L^to 3o
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rj.m.M.,.. ,i..... ! ...hi im > U.-.IU i...
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GUIDE TO THE LECTURE ROOM. Literary Inst...
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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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Wanted A Party. There Are Many Great Men...
and the odds and ends of what is called the liberal parliamentary part } 7 , for the purpose of , among other things , getting for the people something much short of what the people are properly entitled to . Fearful lest so important a proposition should not meet with the respect it deserved , Mr . Collins betook himself to the Parliamentary Directory , and favoured sundry members of Parliament with slips of his " leader" accompanied by a personal note of introduction . Among the gentlemen so privileged was our old friend Joseph Hume . "What the others said to it we know not ;
perhaps the Irish members wrote confusing replies as became their own confused position of priest-ridden patriots .. Perhaps some snubbed it , perhaps others " begged to acknowledge its receipt ;" possibly the majority handed it in silence to the waste basket . All lhat is wrapped in the obscurity which befits so solemn a mystery ; but Joseph Hume , wanting a party , took up his pen and indited a long letter to Mr . Collins , who forthwith put it in print so that the world might have the benefit of the wisdom of the Nestor of economists . On that there hangs a tale , the tale upon which we are now engaged .
To misunderstanding that letter , wei in common with the limes ( with which we do not often have anything in common ) , must plead guilt } -. After stating his opinion in very plain terms about the " liberal party" lamenting their errors and castigating their bacMidings—hinting that the Irish members particularly were more characterized by love of profit than patriotism , the veteran pretty plainly intimated that he declined the honour of marching
through Coventrv with such a crew . Yet somehow there was a hesitation—a sort of faltering—an " I would and I would not " tone about it , which finally resolved itself into this , that if a party could be found—a party that would bear discipline—that would keep its ranks—obey the word of command—follow its leader , and listen to the voice of experience , then , in that case made and provided he was the man for that party , which was just such a one as he wanted . Such a party he would recommend if formed to—
-Here there is a lapse in our narrative . We understood Mr . Hume to say , " to take one point , say the ballot , and exert themselves to car ' rv it . ' ' Of course we were wrong , but we can plead strong justification for our mistake . The ballot seemed to be rising in favor , especially in Ireland . Mr . Bright had just spoken out that the ballot was the point . Mr . Cobden was pretty notoriously of the same opinion ; and lastly , the words of Mr . Hume ' s letter certainly did seem to us to bear that meaning . However , it was an error ; Mr . Hume has denied it ; disclaimed any such
construction , whatever he said being fastened upon him , and we give up the point . Mr . Hume has had the misfortune to be misunderstood and we the calamity to misunderstand him . As we haye said the Times misunderstood hiin too , and was very wicked upon the subject . It made merry with Mr . Hume ' s portraiture of the Liberals , the fancy sketch drawn by one of themselves . It held it up to them as confidently as though ifc had been a daguerotype saying , " here , gentlemen look here , see w hat you are like , when one who knows you does you to
the life . A rope of sand , inconstant , malcontent , crotchetty , violent , unreasonable , place-hunting—those are a few of your most prominent features , what a . party to regenerate a nation ! " and then for poor Joseph himself , tbe limes had that bantering pity , worse than direst insult , which it so well knows how to deal out , " Poor old man , the Lear of politics with the Tories for Regan , and the Whigs for Goneril , and never a Cordelia : servant to both in turn , by both in turn cast off . What an end to an Iliad of forty years of economical
action of candle-end retrenching , clerk-docking , and Chancellor of Exchequer worrying . Without ahold on either of the parties that are , "without the power to form one that is not . Reduced to hunt for liberty in a ballot box hoping to light on her by chance in his gropings in the dark . " Well , we should not perhaps have liked to have said as much of Joseph Hume , for the sake of old memories , particularly of that special memory , that he was one of those who assisted at the birth of Charter , but when we read that brilliant banter , we thought of
a sentence which Mr . Hume probabi / learned at school , * ' it IS well to learn xvisdom , even of an enemy , " Me . Hume was not the man to put up tamely with a cuff of that sort . If he is a Nestor , his blood is hot yet ; so he took np his pen again , and this time addressed the Times . He is not , he says , one of those who lament the scant fruit of their labours . He exults over the accounts , the retrenchments , the altered representation , and free trade . He rejoices in those things as " ample success . " But he desires further
parliamentary reform . Mr Hume is for something short of universal suffrage now ; but he is for giving the people "that share in the representation to which they are entitled ; ' ( what , then , is that share ?) " And that too , without any improper interference with the fast privileges of the House " of Lords , and the Crown . ' "' What are the just privileges ? Mr . Hume does not tell us—his explanation renders another explanation still more necessary than the first . He submits that "it is bad policy to be agitating and introducing new reforms in otir representative spstem , every year , or every few
years ; " and , therefore , ' he is for a * ' comprehensive , efficient reform bill , to prevent for many years any new agitation for parliamentary reform . ' ' That reform , he goes on to observe , should , to be effectual , include «' a large extension of the suffrage . " How large , Mr . Hume ?— " a more equal apportionment of representatives to electors , and protection to the voter , and other elements . What other elements , pray ? The other elements " tf the charter ? If sowhy not say itand why
, , not take all the elements of that document , which Mr . Hume used once to defend . As to advocating the ballot singly , he denies it altogether ; lie will support it whenever brought forward ; but he will not belong to any association striving for that alone . He sticks to his " annual motion for parliamentary reform , as agreed upon b y between 70 and 80 reformers , in which it was endeavoured to combine allthe elements of that change which is requisite to make the House of Commons the
real representation of the people . ' This is glad news indeed . There can be no " real representation , " without complete suffrage ; and your SO M . IVs have agreed to that . No , that cannot be it—we feel we are again misunderstanding Mr . Hume—he does not mean " a real representation , " or does not mean that the 70 or 80 have agreed to it . Which ? What a pity it is that great men do not write as though they had fixed principles , which would not let them be misunderstood . •; And then , and that is one of the strangest things in the letter , admitting that the ballot would not make the House of
Wanted A Party. There Are Many Great Men...
Commons what it ought to be , he asserts that Lord John Russell recognizes those rights , which he ( Mr . Hume ) seeks to promote . What , the 70 or 80 ,, and Mr . Hume , and Lord John , all in one boat , towing , of course , all Lord John ' s supporters behind ? Well , things are in a fair way at last . This is " a party" indeed for Mr . Hume to put himself at the head of . But is it so ? Truly we fear that Mr . Hume is misunderstanding Lord John Russell now . If we recollect rightly , his lordship was for the rights of intelligence and wealth , and we
had yet to learn his conversion to the " other elements , '' which Mr . Hume speaks . Beside we think it is not long since Mr , Hume spoke or wrote as follows . " I consider Lord John as riot sincere , as a reformer , both civil and religious . " ' I wish I could look on his speech at Perth , as honest and sincere , which I do not . " I would hold both parties cheap in regard to their assistance . " Oh ! Mr . Hume , did you a few short days ago write that , and do you now recognize Lord John as a man fit to be one of your party 1 Really there is a sad misuuderstandinsr somewhere : but we think ifc does not resfc with
us this time . What the Times say of Mr . Hume , is in one respect true , " at present it is impossible to get the steam up for him . " It is no use to tell us of an Association for Promoting " the Elements" with 290 branches . That cracked boiler from the factory of Walmseley and Co ,, will not get up steam for any body . Here is a problem for Mr . Hume . What is the value of 290 branches , to a rotten trunk ? The answer will be the
" tottle" of Mr . Hume ' s hopes from that quarter , and even if he did get up a party out of such materials , what the Times says of their probable future , is only too likely . " Patriots are powerless and poor . ' Joseph rebels against the law ; be wishes to form a truly patriot party which shall do something more that protest against iniquity . He wants what he will " never get . As soon as his party can do more than protest , it will do more , but it will no longer protest with equal fervency . With power will come office , and pay , and there Tf ill be an end of the romance of Joseph Home ' s partv . "
Mr . Hume , old , experienced and sage as he is , does not appear to have learned this one truth . That a really national party must be capable of including all the nation , for an evidently national object . That is the only party the steam can be got up for . Yet the temper of the age , the spirit of the people , even the one of the Times might teach him ifc . Such a party is forming will Mr . Hume leave his heresies old and new , come back to the true political faith , which he professed when the Charter was written , and join an agitation for manhood suffrage ? If not , we must even manage to do without him .
186 The Star Of Frew1. L L^To 3o
186 THE STAR OF FREW 1 . l L ^ to 3 o
Rj.M.M.,.. ,I..... ! ...Hi Im > U.-.Iu I...
rj . m . M .,.. , i ..... ! ... hi im > U .-. IU i . » jhu -j . in ii , . . jL .-un . ii ¦¦¦ ¦¦ ^ CATHEDRAL TRUSTS . " Prove all things : hold fast that which is right . "—Pa tjl . To ihe Editor of the Star of Freedom . Sir , —Were St . Paul now alive , and were he to write a book on " Cathedral Trusts and their Fulfilment , " and therein , to prove peculation of the grossest kind to be the practice of the clergy , some worthy like unto the Bishop of Rochester wpul f l be found to gag him . I make this remark in consequence of the late decision of that Bishop to reinstate the Jlev . Robert Whiston in his office of schoolmaster of the Cathedral seminary . This judicial decision ( I will not say act of justice ) will come into force ( conditionally , that is ) on the-1 st day-of ' January , - 1853 , an & that school which as to
scholars has been nearly innocent since the 19 lh of October , 1849 , will again be under the management of the talented and truthful author of * ' Cathedral Trusts and their Fulfilment , " who has sacrificed so much for truth's sake . The clergy of the Episcopalian Church are in no wise different from all other priests ; and like the Pharisees of the time of the Founder of the Christian religion , Avhen law is against them , they quote the injunctions of a higher power , and venture to speak of morality and justice ; while , when law is with them—that is , in ils letter—they ignore morality , justice , and equity , as coolly ' as they
who say , Be thou filled , or Be thou clothed , without ever dreaming of themselves parting with a coat or a cloak , though they may probably possess sufficient garments ' to start an Episcopalian and orthodox Moses and Son . These priests would fain compel Robert Whiston to " hide his light under a bushel ; " they drive , or attempt to . drive him to " bury his talents " in the earth , " that , when his Master shall call him to account , he may merely return what he had given him , without fructification or increase . But as , in the parable , this was not deemed a wise , or a virtuous course , so it is equally odious now . Priests must remember that , while we have a ' press even nominally free , any printed truths are as indestructible as
eternity . Against whom did Robert Whiston take up this most uneven warfare on behalf of the uneducated of Rochester ? Answer the Dean and Chapter . Whom did he accuse of peculation in the administration of the Cathedral funds ? Answer , the Dean and Chapter . Before whom was the investigation carried on as to the truth of his charges ? Answer , before the Dean and Chanter What tribunal ruled his charges were false and libellous Answer , the Dean and Chapter . And the reverend inquisitors accordingly removed him from his officei He then appealed to courtwho referred
a higher , him — to whom ? To the Bishop , of Rochester as Visitor . of lhe Diocese , ' i ask you Episcopalians , who love religious truth , morality , and virtue , Are these men a samp e of your spiritual pastors and masters ? -will you tolerate that this semblance ; this mockery of justice and outrage upon equity , be passed over unreproved and unexposed ? What says this precious document ?— "And the Visitor having observed ihat the charges unjustly made against the Dean and Chapter in the before-mentioned pamphlet have been repeated in several subsequent editions , published since the first commencement of these proceedings , thinks it right earnestly to caution the appellant
against the repetitioni of these charges in any subsequent publication , as the appellant will not have the same excuse of his having been misled as to the legal nght of the Dean and Chapter , which has been the mam reason , why the Visitor lias been induced to mitigate tho sentence of removal & c . & c . Now , be it known unto the Dean and Chapter of Rochester , and I hope it may be a balm to the wounded feelings of Mr . Whiston , that this quarrel is now a national one , beyond the power of bishops or convocations ' suppress . All the documents contammg the charges ; the defences , the exposures , in hey belong to the
are print ; public . If Mr . Whiston were to be roasted by the priests of Rochester to-morrow , his writing are a living testimony ol his-truth , and all the powers of — - Rochester cannot prevail against it . The . revelations are now printed , and the matter can be quite taken off Mr . Whiston ' s lipids , as far as publication goes , and the Dean and Chapter may and will still be proclaimed morally ( even if they have their own made law to justify them ) a body ot peculators , who individually would sell his brother Joseph to Egyptians for lucre , and , as a body , are a race of Esaus .
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who prefer pottage to honour . What are the facts of this ci * " """ it is not a solitary instance . Certain benevolent individ \ n an only in their generation , leave moneys for certain given an ] U ' purposes . I enter not into the question of the wisdom of ^ l- ^ priests trustees , but in this case this folly has been committM ? this is not all—these trustees ar . e too often recipients of \\ 1 } ut portion of the funds , as well as trustees , for its due adminktv ! r —and . how have they acted ? let the following figures ausw ' 1542 the dean had £ 100 per annum , while now that ver . ll trustee of a cathedral trust pockets over £ 1 , 400 ; again th G ( I bendaries had each , in 1542 , £ 20 per annum , while n 0 \ v £% ? absorbed by each of them—a pretty considerable increase i ) shewn . But let us glance at the school boys ( for whom ii ^ Whiston dared to lift up his voice—that voice the bis ] , 0 D " intends to silence ) , to examine whether the amount devoted to tj ° - education has equally progressed , and it stands thus—m u ?! £ 2 13 s . 4 d . ; at present , £ 2 13 s . 4 d . Surely such vi ! e ^ 5 was sufficient to make even an animal speak—while surelv m y ¦ ilU
, „„„„ : „„ ., ? ~ e „„«! , Jcrlnn . imilcllpo nm , U Jin ! , ! 7 ,, \ . i " 1 . 111 cognizant of such glaring injustice could hold his peace orstinnr his virtuous indignation . Is such conduct anything like an attL'f to carry out the intentions of the founders of these institutions ? ¦!' ' yet Mr . Whiston is cautioned to be dumb for the future ' h stands the case with the schoolmaster : —In 1542 he receive £ 13 6 s . bd ., and now it is £ 150 . Priests aie proverbiall y } larJ but is there a dean or prebend from John G'Groat ' s to Land ' s V ' hardy enough to assert that a schoolmaster who labours assiduous ! ' ? devotedly , and conscientiously ( as Whiston did ) in teaching-Ji only fifty boys—has not a more arduous and responsible office ail *
is infinitely more useful to , and valued by , society than a prebend ? yet in 1542 the schoolmaster ' s salary was £ 13 6 s . 8 d ., whue ^ ' prebend ' s was but £ 20—the latter being in the receipt , hut of one ! third more than the former , which probably was in the proportion designed by the monk or priest-led founder . But now tli > trustees—dean , prebends , and company—forgetting or not caring a rush for the donor ' s intentions , only-give the sclioolmaster about one-ninth as much as they take themselves . This may bo lav-.
Church law—but it is certainly not Christian equity . It m , iy be true that Parliament did decree , in 1840 that the incomes of canons & c , & o \ , should consiyt not only of the ancient allowances , but of » share of lhe " corporate divisible revenues . " But Parliament did not decree that they ( the dean , prebends , and canons ) were io be the only parties who , doing the least—and that little questionable as to its greater utility—were to be the only or nearly the only recipients of the vastly increased revenues , while the scholars and others had but the bare stipend allotted to them in 154 * 2 . Parliament never dreamed either that these revenues would be increased in some cases by the toleration of immorality , had no idea the Christian Cathedral
of Rochester " received some payment specified in their leases in consideration of the rents and profits" of a certain fair held in their immediate vicinity . The immoralities and social evils engendered at that fair are parent to all . Memorials have been numerously signed . Still that fair , and all its attendant evil >' , is carried on ior the benefit of the Cathedral funds . The Bishop says Mr . Winston's
book was false , scandalous , and libellous . In what ?—except truth be false , scandalous , and libellous . Mr . Whiston says the Cathedral funds have not been properly administered . So say the most eminent of the daily and weekly press . The founder ' s intention lias been proved to have been , that all officers of the Cathedral should have a proportionate amount according to his view of what their individual services were worth ; whereas , now , every disbursement
is out ot all proportion ; while those who are poorest and most helpless , are most plundered : as in the case of the five youngest chorister boys , whose emolument at best is only £ G a year , and , till very lately , they forfeited their first half-year's salary to enhance that of the organist . Besides all this , as the worthy Bishop of Rochester is so fond of law—that is , its letter—ignoring its spirit—a relic of the eye for an eye , and the tooth for a tooth school—which the benighted public had thought was a doctrine superseded—how is it the very statutes of Rochester are violated and departed from by these
men ( whom Bunyan , were he living , would certainly surname Messrs . Legality , Wordly-wisdom , or By-ends ) . One canon runs thus : — "In order that the minor canons and parts of our Church may diligently attend to the duties in our Church , we grant them the licence to hold one , and only one , ecclesiastical benefice , with their aforesaid services : provided that such benefice is not more than twenty-four miles from Rochester . " Now , it does appear so plain a regulation , so clear and explicit , that he who runs might read it ; and should it have been violated , surely Mr . Whiston is visited with
three years' suspension for exposing the secrets of the prison house : at Rochester—charges all true , be it remembered—a culprit violating ; in the other instance ought at least to have been compelled to lives the rest of his days according to the prescription of Abernethy , whiclu was " Live on tenpence a day , and earn it before you live on it . "' And it is a fact that , when Mr . Whiston wrote his pamphlet , no lesss than three of the prebendaries did hold livings upwards oi ones hundred miles from Rochester ; yet Mr . Winston ' s pamphlet is falsee and libellous . He must say : " They are all—all honourable men . '"
I will not upon this occasion encroach further upon your space , butt the subject is a most important one , and if Mr . Whiston is to bee driven and coerced into silence , it becomes others to take up thee question . I will conclude this letter by a quotation from thee memorial made in 1836 , when the Church feared the State wass about to lay violent Jiands on Church property ; and how far time prayer has been legally , morally , or spiritually attended to by time Church , I leave your readers to judge : — " We conclude by solemnly adjuring you to dispose of the Church ' s lands fotJesu ' s sake , as thk donors intended : let neither friends nor flatterers beguile you to ddc ;
otherwise ; and put a stop to the approaching ruin of the Church , aa you expect comfort at the last day . " Rubicon .
Guide To The Lecture Room. Literary Inst...
GUIDE TO THE LECTURE ROOM . Literary Institution , John-street , Fitzroy-squaYe - . —Friday evenings [ 8 ] a DiSis cussion . —Oct . 31 st [ 7 ] , G-. J . Holybake , " Modern Freethinliing . " Hall of Science , City Road . —Oct . 31 st [ 7 ] , Thomas Cooper , " Life and Chaw ; racier of the Duke of Wellington . " National Hall , 242 , High Holbovn . —Oct . Sits [ 7 ] , P . W . P erfitt wivii Lecture . South London Hall , Webber-street , BlacWriars-road . —Oct . 31 st [ 7 j ] Charltfto Southwell will Lecture .
Sadler's Wells discussion Society , three doors from the Hugh Middleton . - . --A Discussion every Thursday evening-. White Horse , Hare-street , Bethnal-green . —Every Sunday evening a Lectotoi or Discussion . . Tower Hamlets Literary Institution , Morpeth-street , Bethnal-green . —Oct . 31311 7 ] Mr . Beale , Life and Character of the Dnfce of Wellington . " i ., „„ ,... / -i _ or __ . Jj ' t , ' . ' . i . ^ . . « ~ . . i -iTM . it / i / ilmnpl . —EVCVCfc Coffee and ChurchlaneWhi techapel— -l ^ 'eve i
Areopagus Reading Room , 59 , - , . Sunday , Monday , and Wednesday [ 8 ] , a Lecture or Discussion . Progressionist Hall , Cheapside , Leeds . —Oct . 31 st [ G $ , a Lecture . Eclectic Institute , 14 , Gartland-street , Glasgow . —Oct . 31 st [ 0 J ] a Lecture . Mutual Improvement Society , Five Ways , Dudley . —Oct . 3 lst [ 7 ] Mr . ' . > Cook , " History of the World to the time of Adam . " " Secular Institution , Charles-street , OldGarratt , Manchester . —Oct . 31 st [ 6 p . W . mi a Lecture . Odd Fellows' Hall , Thornton-road , Bradford . —Oct . 31 st [ 6 £ J Mr . Broom v * w Lecture .
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Oct. 30, 1852, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_30101852/page/10/
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