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    No. 393, October 3, 1857.] THE LEADER, ^...

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    A SERMON TOR. THE FAST-DAY. Is "Wednesda...

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    MANIN'S EXAMPLE. The great and good man ...

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    Travelling Emperors. Once Upon A Time Th...

    the Empress of Russia meets Min as an equal , but not as a s . ister . The Principalities were also discussed . Trance , possibly , had to tell IRussia that their design of a union of ihe Principalities must be given up—after the manner of the surrender of IBolgrad . For Turikey , England , and Austria —old and wily in the game of politics—are too cunning and too powerful combined

    to be checkmated by the new empires . Trance and Jtussia wished a foreign prince on the throne of tlie united province , but there is as much chance of such a potentate as of an Ameer in Hackney , or a ! N " awab in Hammersmith , . A union , administrative , commercial , iuid financial , there will be , but no complete political union . We simply record this as a piece of news . for readers curious in politics .

    No. 393, October 3, 1857.] The Leader, ^...

    No . 393 , October 3 , 1857 . ] THE LEADER , ^^ 951

    A Sermon Tor. The Fast-Day. Is "Wednesda...

    A SERMON TOR . THE FAST-DAY . Is " Wednesday to be a mockery or a reality ? Do the words in which the Queen" has proclaimed a day of ' solemn fast , humiliation , and prayer , ' mean "that the people of this country are expected really to obey that command ? If there could be such earnestness of religion , or even of conscientiousness , that

    the whole body of the people could mortify its spirit and concentrate its mind upon the sins committed , which have brought about the calamities in India , we should have arrived at a pitch of greatness not witnessed amongst us in these latter days , and we might acquire the strength of soul to turn over a new leaf , and open brighter days for England as well as India . . But who believes it ? Who

    • will fast on Wednesday next ? Who will rise ¦ with the dawn , chew the cud of sweet and bitter fancy all day , and nothing' else , and go to bed without a meal ? Who will humble Limself ? It is quite true that the calamities which have befallen , us in India could not Lave happened save for some violation on our part of ' the laws of nature and of the Grod of nature , ' as an able preacher said on a former fast-day ; and , if we were to look back into our own conduct to find the causes of our misfortunes in such violation , we might mend our Ava } r s and restore our empire .

    It would be a ste ^ n duty . The first business of the Church would be to turn round and look upon itself in its enfeebled and degraded condition . A command such as that uttered by the Sovereign , ' the Defender of the Faith , ' ought to be addressed to a national church ; but where is the national church ? Oji Wednesday next we shall sec the people of this country lilec a vast flock divided into many pens , well knowing that if they were folded together they would quarrel amongst themselves like wolves . Eaoh church will he

    addressing its Divine head with some kind of implied reflection upon all the rest . The Eoraan Catholic , through Cardinal Wiseman and the prnyers which he dictates , ' forgives ' its Protestant fellow Christian- in a manner that reeals a long tally of grievances . The Protestant turns round upon the Cardinal , and

    accuses him of sympathy with the enemy . And the Dissenter turns round upon the Protestant , Should that window bo opened which Beuatsgek , has imagined to afford a view of humanity here down below , the nation on Wednesday ' next would exhibit the Bcen 0 > of Christian divided against Christian , each invidiously praying' aimi ' iist the other . ¦ Ii

    national unity wore ' restored to the Uiurc h—if we assembled under one vault ; as ^ Iwistmna and as Englishmen—the clergy could not bo better engaged than in chastvwnpr ua for those faults which wo linvo committed , and in pointing out how we may purgo our « olves of our » u \ by mending our Khya . But how -is the clergy to lift the ooourgo against wrongdoers if those

    wrongdoers stand in liigh places ? "With the one ' established' half dependent upon the favours of the very classes whose conduct has to be challenged , and the other nonconforming half invidiously marked out as inferior , the clergy of this land possess neither influence nor spirit to be the instigators of the English people . They preserve the form of censorship only to waive the substance of it ; and Sunday after Sunday ministers of all persuasions may be seen 3 in order that they may retain

    pew sitters and pew rents , conveying an inverted flattery to their * flocks , under the thin disguise of spiritual remonstrance without practical end or purpose . We have no clergy that can do the duty of "Wednesday next ; and the first words of remonstrance from any earnest pulpit should be against these theoretical and metaphysical divisions ¦ which render the teachers of the people impotent before their very flocks . If , indeed , we did possess a Peter thie Hermit exalted to the level of the crusade

    of our day—a John Knox sufficiently taught to recognize the sinner before him- —there would be grand duty for the preacher ; for there is both humbling and fasting in the events which we have to contemplate on that solemn , day . Humiliation , —for our flag has been disgraced ; our public men have been proved incapable , blind , and trivial ; our own blood has been reduced to the lowest

    indignities ; and all through mistakes that might have been easily obviated . However men may on that day put on their Sunday clothing , and employ the day of ' solemn fast' as a day for feasting and holiday-making , they are humbled in the events that have happened , and their degradation is the greater in proportion as they feel it less . For if the individual is ridiculous who is ' incapable of his own distress , ' how low lias that nation gone which cannot understand its own degradation or the further indignity that awaits it !

    A day of fast it will be for many , by a tolerably direct process . The observance has been fixed for a working day ; industry will l ) e arrested , wages will be stopped , and numbers of the working- classes will be compelled to fast for the sins of their betters . And there is more fasting behind . The bloody wars which are now costing us so many lives will in the years approaching cost us millions upon millions of money , which the working classes will have to pay , and will have to starve for . ! Fastin < r and humiliation

    does Wednesday neixt involve , but not for those who have decreed the observance , or for all who will go to church . Could the preacher on that day be strengthened to carry home shame to wrongdoers , there might be some use in the sacrifice . Wo sustain these terrible sufferings in India becauso we have administered that Empire unjustly , fallaciously , against reason , and in violation of our own senso of responsibility . The- events are illustrating in how many ways

    we havo played with firebrands where we should have been sagacious rulers . AVe Christians have constructed an army mainly of barbarian caste ; we have framed that army as if we designed an instrument for the intrigues of our Mussulman competitors . Amongst the latest reforms were now laws intended to patch up a magistracy without the materials for magistrates , and while wo

    neglected to post competent European judges to administer European laws , wo subjected freo Europeans to the judgment of corrupt ; and barbarous natives , exempting the civil servants from the same jurisdiction . Hn short , wo English , who b uist that ' every man is equal before- the law , ' and that our freedom resides in our ndminiistratiou of justice , are establishing throughout that

    immense empire a wholesale mockery of justice . Ihe entire administration was a system of favouritism . We kept up a salt monopoly to extort a huge tax by depriving every poor man of his salt . The great Company which governs the land grew opium to poison the Chinese for a profit . If a local Governor , here and there , attempted to administer his government according to the laws of common sense and English justice

    he was reproved for setting up the spirit of English justice above the rules of red tape and official foolscap . And if lie then , tried to introduce European discipline in the army , he was reprimanded for so mistaking the spirit of Indian government . And above that system of misrule we recently set a Postmaster-Greneral , to carry on the system of idolatry among the natives , of mutiny in the army , and abuse in the civil service .

    The crisis comes upon us . The empire is at stake ; the Government rallies Britons to the rescue , and the Britons do not come forward . Why ? Because in this country we have constructed an army in which caste prevails , though money can purchase the privileges of "birth . We pay for the expense of the war by taxes imposed upon disfranchised classes who , alienated from the Government , are cool in their national spirit ; and at this very moment our Government is reckoning upon combinations "between the Emperors at Stuttgard or Weimar for

    retaining the peace of Europe , and permitting England to retain , her position upon sufferance . These are the very sins that occasion great imperial calamities ; and if we had a clergy capable of exercising its duty , Wednesday next would see one great national rebuke to this wholesale sinning upon earth . The rule has lately been put forward only for a scoff , that the true principle of Government is to post * the right man in the right place . ' Certainly , the events in India have shown that

    if occasionally there is the right man in the wrong place , there are wrong men everywhere . The leader of the country at the present day , Lord Palmerston , lias admirably denned dirt to be nothing but matter in the wrong place : it Avas a prophetic censure of Indian administrhtors .

    Manin's Example. The Great And Good Man ...

    MANIN'S EXAMPLE . The great and good man who has been lost to the cause of liberty , has bequeathed an exam pie to all the aspiring patriots of the Continent . No one was more sincere or more devoted than Daniel Mantn . When an opportunity seemed to have arisen for setting Italy free from the Austrians , he entered bravely into the struggle , and by his defence of Venice acquired a renown which will for ever brighten at least one page of

    European military history . But he was not more wise as an administrator than gallant as a commander . He maintained order , and he never encroached upon freedom . The Venetians loved him while he was their dictator , and now that he is gone , if at any time they regain their independence , the first monument they erect in front of St . Mark will bo to tho memory of Majiin " . More than this ; even by his enemies lie was respected . Had btzky , of course , had it been , in his power would have hanged the friend of

    Italy ; but Austria governs by tho gallows in 1 jonibnrdy , and her generals have neither heart nor conscience . 3 Sy all others , however , the name of Manin was held in honour . In JSngland , those who sympathized least with the revolution , havo admired tho persistency , tho modesty , tho generous dignity of his character . Not a breath of reproach has sullied bin career , so untimely interrupted . In Venice , when at tho height of authority and reputation , he won golden

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 3, 1857, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03101857/page/15/