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    758 THE LEAD E R. [Saturday ^

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    THE NORTHERN DYKES AGAINST THE RUSSIAN F...

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    THE CHUECH IN" THE COLONIES. Little did ...

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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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    Cobden On The Bangocw. The Judge Who Sai...

    foot ? Thus qualified to speak in the name of the British nation , Commissioner Cobden would , of course , state the predicament in which he stood—compelled to approach , the . magnanimous governor , starts pede in uno , in order to present to him the absurd complaints of British ragamuffins claiming preposterous damages ; all of which he would respectfully submit to the better judgment of the governor . Then , the governor would utter some of those wise and humane sentiments which Mr . Cobden so reveres in the

    Burmese mouth ; and perhaps , in consideration of Cobden ' painful position , perceiving , too , the respectful manner in which he still remained suspended on the Burmese judgment , the governor would put his hand into his pocket , give Cobden five shillings , and send him away rejoicing that he could export Burmese instruction for the benefit of the English people , and save his

    country from the guilt of making war upon so estimable a people ^ In such case , no doubt , we should avoid Burmese wars , or Burmese contests of . any kind ; and we should probably also be relieved of any dependencies , with all their embarrassments ; being reduced to that workshop of the world which might so properly be governed by Foreman Cobden civilly waiting upon any customers who pleased to look in .

    758 The Lead E R. [Saturday ^

    758 THE LEAD E R . [ Saturday ^

    The Northern Dykes Against The Russian F...

    THE NORTHERN DYKES AGAINST THE RUSSIAN FLOOD . The importance of the Danish elements in the great and multiform Russian question , is nowrecognised almost universally . It is probable that the perception of the intrigues going on in the heterogeneous dominions collected under the Danish crown may have stimulated the anxieties of our own Ministers , and have thrown afresh light for their dim sight upon proceedings in the south . After using his Danish subjects to commit wrong upon his subjects in Sehleswig-Holstein , t'b . 6 J £ irig of Denmark is now attempting to commit robbery upon the rights of the Danes . Although more resembling in its character the will of the Sovereign by whom it was made—Frederick the Third—than a law ; and although relating exclusively to the kings , without bearing directly upon the people , the LexRegiaby which the succession of the Danish throne has been

    governed is of a peculiarly emphatic character ; and its adoption and observance by the Crown and State of Denmark have given to it the solidity and force of law . It cannot be altered ; it must be directly broken , because it contains a distinct and binding clause , precluding any alteration , and putting all successors of Frederick the Third under the obligation of obeying it in every particle . It even goes so far as virtually to release the people from all obedience to any king who shall in any respect depart from or alter it . Every king of Denmark , up to and including the present , on his accession to the throne , has sworn to obey it in all its provisions .

    In discussions upon this subject , comparatively slight attention has been paid to the main point — that relating to Schleswig-Holstein , although that is for Europe scarcely less im-Eortant in a political view , than the Danish ranch of the subject . We have ourselves been guilty of an inadvertence , which most of our readers may perhaps have been able to correct , in ascribing the promise that tho Duchies should not bo divided , to the late king , Christian tho Eighth , who died in January , 1848 . Such a promise was never given by him . ' It was under his reign that

    tho first attempt was made to disunito the Duchies , and to socuro a fictitious integrity for tho Danish dominions , in spite of laws and territorial boundaries , in 184 G . King Christian the Eighth issuod tho letters-patent ( Offener Brief ) already mentioned , declaring the indivisibility of tho Danish monarchy as far as tho Eider , and thus attempting to separate tho Duchies , who strenuously opposed tho attempt by all legal means in their power . Tho matter was ripo in 1848 , and exploded when tho Danes took tho 1

    initiative , by resortingto n force winch was resisted by force . Tho Duchies never resorted to revolutionary means . They never declared thomflolvon independent of the Danish king , thoir " Duke . " In all thoir acts they always took care to acknowledge him , " The Duke , " as their Sovereign . They resisted the Danish . King ; they fought his troops ; but they remained most scrupulously loyal to the Duke . Both were unfortunately united in the same person , and in 1848 and 1849 the king was under the complete

    control of the then all-powerful revolutionary party , whom he subsequently , like all other kings , sent about their business . The declaration of King Christian the Eighth was openly repeated by the revolutionary leaders in Denmark , in 1848 . It was against those revolutionary leaders that the Sehleswig-Holsteiners rose in arms , and "it was by" a mob-coercion at Copenhagen that the assent of the present king was extorted . Troops were ordered to march into the Duchies , ¦ ' . then , and onlythen , the Duchies rose , were at first defeated , then

    victorious , then aided for a time by Prussia and the German Diet , till the revolutionary party of Denmark obtained the help of Russia , Austria , and England ; and the German forces , sent to the Schleswig-Holsteiners to assist them , actually did all they could to prevent the Danes from being beaten j thus converting their help into something worse than a sham . Having beaten the Schleswig-Holsteiners by the help of trimmers and absolutist allies , the king , as we have already saidjSenth ' isrevolutionarycoadiutorsabout

    their business , and fell back upon the support of Russia and England . The share which England has bad in the transactions of Denmark make it desirable that the British public should understand a little more of this question , especially in the Schleswig-Holstein branch . In 1466 , the representative powers of both Sctleswig and Holstein , then united , the assemblr of nobles , by their own free choice , elected the King of Denmark their " Duke , " under the condition that the Duchies should for ever remain united

    •— " Scholde ewiff tosamen bliven ungedeelt , " as the low-German text of the covenant says—that their laws and institutions should remain unaltered ; and that the agnatii principle should rule the succession of their sovereign . It was , in short , a relation exactly upon the same principles as iJiat in which formerly England stood to ffaiiover ;""~ Th"e 8 e '"' c 6 n"diti 6 ' ns"Were " sworn ' ^ 6 ~' "by '

    the then King of Denmark , as they were sworn to by every one of his successors down to the present king . They are now acknowledged , fully acknowledged , by the Powers , as is shown by the London Protocol ; and more emphatically by the recent notes interchanged by the different Governments ; and they are especially recognised by Russia in Nesselrode ' s note to Baron Urgern-Sternberg , dated May 11 , 1853 .

    But it is found expedient to alter them ; it is found requisite by the " Powers , " and by England , too . We need not dwell upon the motives of Russia , which we have already defined . That Austria should support them is but natural . Prussia has no principle but that of a dog bullied or coaxed into obedience . France does not understand the question at issue , and is always ready to support any measure tending to restrict and lower any truly national German state , be it

    a republic or an empire . England , it would appear , has not heretofore deemed it convenient to oppose Russia in anything ; and so for the mistakes of this diplomatic England of Downingstreet , real tax-paying , working England , has to pay , now that , after all , the Great Bear must be muzzled . For wo did not speak unadvisedly when wo said that Denmark is tho Turkey of the North ; and tho Duchies offer the only opportunity to prevent Russia from converting the Baltic into a Russian lake . But the Sultan of

    this Northern Turkey , unlike his Southern prototype , is one of tho traitors content to bo the tools of Russia . It would bo superfluous to draw inferences from all this . They are patent to everyone who has followed Russian policy during the last ton or twenty years . That policy is slow , but sure . " Have you bought a Russian dictionary yctP "

    is tho question asked by ( ho German patriot of tho SehleHwig-Holsteiner or the Dane . Tho auestion for an Englishman is , whether these imposition ' s of states , this shuffling of territorial authority , which lias proved bo profitable to throe or four men , the crowned bullies or tho crowned fools of Europe , is to continue . " In the present epoch , " said our contemporary , tho Daily JVetvs , a fow years back , —

    " in ilio proHfiiit epoch thoro is no wny of founding ompiriiH and of Hottling countries—thowo at least which arc within thirty or forty hourw of London and of Vixv ' m —Hiive by rejecting tho rightH , consulting tho intoresfca , and // aitiin // the adhesion of the people of tluwo eountrioH . Partitioning and parcelling out of countries , like a Christmas cake , between King This and King

    That , with so much as an appanage for a son , and so much more for the dowry of a daughter , was all verywell four hundred years ago , when the people were the princes' property as much as their own dominions and chattels . But in our age , and in such longitudes , tiiis will no longer do . " We are-assured that the whole of Holstein , and the greater part of Schleswig , would never

    submit to any sucb . disposition ; and we are confldent that we only anticipate the judgment of the British public m saying , that in this country we can have no interest in forcing upon the Schleswig-Holsteiners any alien holders , least of all a Dane who is betraying his own state , or a Russian who is trying to steal from Europe its territories as well as its freedom .

    The Chuech In" The Colonies. Little Did ...

    THE CHUECH IN" THE COLONIES . Little did we believe , when we first lent our humble support to the movement in favour of honest churchmanship , when we had to chronicle the freezing antagonism of the archbishops to what we believe to be the honest , because the only logical , principles of Church polity , that the day would come when Dr . Bird Sumner and Dr . Musgrove would advocate the application of those principles to the Church in the colonies . "We remembered how hostilely Mr . Gladstone ' s bill was received : and although there were signs of

    concession during the last sitting of the Convocation of Canterbury , those signs were somewhat counterbalanced by the proceedings of a northern potentate , Dr . Musgrove , Archbishop of York . All this time , however , the two , archbishops actually had a bill in their desks for conferring , not only a constitution , but a thoroughly democratic one , on the colonial churches . Why they produced that measure so late in the session does not appear j but our readers already know that , last Monday week , the Lords passed a bill I

    ipy 1 the _/ regulat ^ Qn . _ Qf . ¦ . 4 he ^ ClLurch ; of .: Jingland ^ n the colonies and British possessions . That bill provided for the meeting of assemblies of lay and clerical representatives , members of the Church of England , elected by a constituency composed of all members of that Church who had signed a declaration to that effect , and bad attained their twenty-first year . These assemblies , under the presidence of the bishop , were empowered to make regulations for the management of their own affairs , but binding only on actual ministers and members of the Church . It was also provided that the votes of the three

    orders , as we may call them , in the Assembly , should be taken separately , and , therefore , the bishop had practically a veto . Moreover , the regulations might be disallowed by the archbishop and the Queen in council ; and the Assemblies were expressly forbidden to pass any regulations at variance with the Prayer Book , the Thirty-nine Articles , or the oaths at ordination . Thus , there were special and ample checks to the operation of the bill . The Lords , after some opposition from Lord Harrowby , agreed to the bill , and sent it down to tho Commons . But meanwhile Lord

    Harrowby had conjured up a fatal and facile enemy to the measure in the person of Sir James Stephen . Tho necessity of the measure is doscribed as urgent by its friends . In point of fact the Church in the Colonies labours under disabilities from the construction put on imperial acts , and it is unable , in consequence of doubts , to regulate its own affairs . For instance , the Bishop of New Zealand finds that ho cannot legally make arrangements for tho convenience of tho native converts in bis dioceso . Other colonial

    bishops , notably in Canada and Australia , experienco tho samr ? difficulty . Anyway , if there bo constructive imperial stumbling-blocks , common sense will dictate thoir removal . Not bo thought the Low Church and Dry Church party . They saw in tho bill an attempt to relieve churchmen in tho colonies of iho & o burdens so grievously felt at home . They saw nn effort to emancipate the Church—a groat experiment in Church liberty—and they resolved

    to frustrate- it . So Sir James Stephen was goito writo and give the bill a bad character . What did ho doP With his well known powers of sophistication ho misstated tho purport and bearing of tho measure ; ho declared that it was a * attack on tho " sacred principle of colonial self-government ; " he put forward such reasoning us this — the bill popics tho technical phraseology of royal charters , and those royal charters give law-making powers , and contain

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 6, 1853, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06081853/page/14/