Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 13th August 1853, Edition Country of 2, Page 15

Page 15
Page 15
15 of 24

On this page

  • Text (2)
  • Transcript

    • 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.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      "A Stranger" In Parliament. Tiim Only Pn...

      we shall have to pay for the gunpowder it is a pity it didn't go in annihilating the Russian fleet , and , with her fleet , her prestige in the East , " Mr . Hume is a man with a talent for common sense ; so that if the Aberdeen Cabinet calculated on the Spithead show to jjive dignity : to their exeessive peace policy they have blundered . Mr . Hume ' s calculation was the universal one ; and even for the perpetual peace society people the show was a dangerous one . Quaker pulses beat higher as they felt the pomp and circumstance of ( more or less ) glorious war . It is Lord Aberdeen ' s saying that England can afford tobear more provocations than other

      nationsshe has such consciousness of power . Very true . It is cowardly to use a giant ' s strength with dwarfs . But the Aberdeen theory illustrated in Russian negotiations seems to be that because we have a giant ' s strength we should , therefore , behave like dwarfs to giants . In the Aberdeen point of view , the show at Spithead was to this effect : ' We have behaved meanly in the face of Russia ; but then , see how nobly we could have behaved if we'd liked ! " "We have sacrificed Turkey , for Russia has gained her object in exhausting Turkey and arousing Turkish civil wars ; but then , are you not convinced that , had we preferred it , we could have saved Turkey ?"

      Members of Parliament felt , of course , patriotically proud when they got back ; but the majority of them , perhaps , half sea-sick and too weary of brine and champagne , and British egotism , to assist in making the House that was not made much before midnight—opening with the other night-houses , but less amusing . Lord Palmerston had intimated that there was nothing to do ; and , in fact ; the Commons are now only killing time , and waiting on the Lords till prorogation . The House was made at Spithead that day , on board the Bulldog ; for pur Revolution annals tell us that Parliament is not brick and mortar , but flesh and

      blood , and is locomotive , if necessary ; and not improbably various informal resolutions were come to on foreign and other affairs . The noble contentions of party are afc rest on board ship , -where there is no available chance of lobbies *—where familiar opponents must make strange acquaintances , and where the coalition purpose of the age is compulsorily forwarded by inevitable groupings ; and under the circumstances of Thursday Lord Aberdeen very likely , therefore , did a good , deal to get rid of the routine and exploded theory of " government by party . " The " ins" must have looked so superior to the outs on

      Thursday , that inward convictions were possibly felt of the desirableness of always being of the party of the Government . A young Englander is said to have made that remark on board the Bulldog ; and to have suggested to a friend , what a capital thing it would have been if Mr . Stafford had been employed to tear up the rails , intercepting the returning trains to town , and if Mr . Disraeli had gone down to Westminster , made a House of his staunchest friends , and forthwith , in duo order , at 10 , moved and carried a vote of no confidence in the austere intriguer ! The mi nglings of Thursday climaxed the disasters of

      Derbyism : Lord Aberdeen makes politics social gatherings ; completing , in grand , what ho effected in little when ho accomplished the broad-bottom Government : and on a fine day , with a sanatory breeze , and amid a distinguished gathering , tho most intrepidly independen t member could hardl y avoid the conclusion that really , as Lord John said at Christmas , British politics were distinctions without differences , and that ifc would bo pleasanter to shako hands nil round , shorten the session , and get up such / cites more frequently . Lord Aberdeen may not , after all , have thought about Russia when he went to tho Nab . He

      may have simply been working out his own theory , that the Houso of Commons is to bo managed , not as a Senate , but us a club ; and ho is taking the right course iu throwing members together , ho polishing down abstract angles , and getting up tho practical conviction that thero ' H nothing- like coalition . At least at homo ; tho thunders of S pifchoad lcavo it an open question to landsmen not less than to sailor * , whother ha is right in attempting a coalition on the continent—a coalition in winch ho insists on including Russia !

      Ah to tho Lords , they last ni K ht attempted , nffecting vitality , and reall y looking less corpse-like , as tho U > mmons' eyes aro closed , to force ou a debate on this question—that is , there worn seven old Peers pnjsent who wanted nowH to excite an appotito for dinner ; but tlu , Government , experienced administrate )™ , wore not iHvoly to Hpoil u pleasant arrangement with Russia by indiscreet allaymonts of a . sham anxiety . Lor < 1 MtdmJ-> ury made hi * Kpcoi ; li merely to improve his own relat ions w , th jJ ( mls N » voh ]( m > whom ho « o ini > runontlMl for **«« RHk , d ^ hlgt Turkey ; and Lord Clarendon •< l < hiH speech—bungling in stylo , boobyi « h in inimoi---H , mplv because , knowing little or nothing of what ««« going on , ho was asourod ho could not commit

      Lord Aberdeen , by expressing his opinions in answer to Lord Malmesbury ' s taunts . Lord Beaumont and Lord Clanricarde wanted to make a debate : but a debate to seven old peers ! Altogether it was an undignified proceeding in the House of Peers to look thus inquisitive with no' results—redeemed only from offensiveriess by the British manner arid hearty common sense of Lord Hardwicke , who described the whole diplomacy of the business in a few clenching words .: —England had invited Russia , the burglar , into the house—England

      undertook to watch , and the burglar was naturally astonished , after quietly taking possession of the premises , to be told that if he didn't quit , he would be thrown out of the windows . Only , how admire Lord Hardwicke ? This was Lord Hardwicke in Opposition ; but had he been in with Lord Derby , Lord Derby would probably have done what Lord Aberdeen has done , and Lord Hardwicke would have been as quiet as that eminent bold Briton , the Duke of Newcastle , has been . " A STEANGEE . " Saturday Morning .

      August 13,1853] T H E L E A D E R. 783

      August 13 , 1853 ] T H E L E A D E R . 783

      The Emperor Of The Clyde. New Social Mov...

      THE EMPEROR OF THE CLYDE . NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENT IN GLASGOW . Otte Scottish neighbours have their little peculiarities , which they by no means seem disposed to put under a bushel . The drunkenness and piety of the descendants of the Covenanters are both matters of history and criticism , but , though whisky and the Assembly's Catechism are not very instructive companions , Scotland is not to be judged by them alone . Though Sandy has a dirty wynct he has a clear head : and if he forces upon you a narrow sermon , he will first give you an excellent breakfast , and pause , as in the hotel where I write , to send up your butter in elaborately wanton and sensual curls—a piece of " work" not done on the Lord's day in London ; and if he chooses to build himself a good house , he will make a more perfect and convenient feat of it than his bungling contemptuous brother on the warmer side of the Tweed . If the streets of Glasgow are filthier than those of Manchester , they are graced by Omnibuses far more elegant and commodious than those execrable and dismal vehicles which run down the Strand . A Scottish Omnibus is preferable to an English Cab . Glasgow , too , has a nobler river than

      London . The Clyde is more majestic than the Thames , but the Scottish Church is against its people , and no poor man may breathe the air of Gourock ^ gaze on the beauties of Dunoon , on Sunday , while , from Richmond to Gravesend , the London artisan may take his choice of watering-places on the Sabbath . The Scotch are , traditionally , a brave people , but the utter cowardice of their Christianity is passing belief . It trembles for its congregations . The idea of a Sunday Excursion is more than it can bear . The jubilee notes

      of a trumpet , blown by a happy pleasure party , on a Sunday morning , in the Trongate , would have an effect on the Glasgow Churches , like that which trumpets had of old on the walls of Jericho . What a miserable state for religion to bo in—to have no friendly or affectionate hold upon tho peoplo ! What a humiliating punishment for its cold and heartless asceticism ! All tho eloquence of all its preachers is forsaken for Punch and Judy , and its solemn presbytery cannot compete with a Penny Show ! A movement has boon in progress here , for some time , of which little or no notice has been taken by tho English press , but which w ill intensely interest tlio English people , and probably ore long occupy the attention of the English Parliament .

      No recognizable- legal impediment existed to prevent ft steamer running Excursion journeys on tho Clyde , on tho Sunday , but nobody would undertake it . Wellwishers to genial morals and tho social improvement of tho people wont so fur as to offer a guarantee fund to any steam-boat proprietor who would run a vessel on tho Sunday . It was thought that tho boat might bo made unpopular by tho Presbytery , and peoplo deterred from sailing in it on tho week-day . So low is public spirit under Kirk-rule , in Glasgow , that this influence wan sufficient to discourage any attempt of tho kind . At leng th several gentlemen united together , and bought tho ' Emperor Htcamer , and ordered it

      to sail on Sundays . This was tho right ptop to / tiikc . Hundreds of thankful and grateful passengers have crowded to it , and have since enjoyed the face of Nature on tho poor nmn' . s only day of retfi ; . The popular interest in the event was marked by tlio workingpcoplo themselves subscribing Kevernl hundred pounds to guarantee tho proprietors against loss . But of Ions them will bo none—very much tho contrary . Tho J ' Jmparor is crowded on tho Sundays , and quite popular nil tho week , out of gratitude for H . n noble Sunday serviccw ; the Proprietary will find themselves , an they ought to do , gainers by their honourable and spirited proceedings . Tlio Sontinel newspaper ia improving its Hubstantial

      circulation by a manly defence of the step . The Scottish Guardian and other journals behave infamously in the matter , denouncing the Excursionists , men and women , honest , moral , and respectable , as " scum , fops , and infidels . " No spirituous drinks are allowed to be sold on the Emperor on the Sunday ; the order is excellent ; and though the Excursionists are subjected to all forms of rudeness , insult , and annoyance , the best humour and the highest propriety obtain . No congregation in Glasgow can exceed in point of character , personal worth , or conduct , the passengers by the Emperor ; and these are the persons designated " scum , fops , and infidels . " Strange to say , men may roll through the streets of Glasgow drunk—men may spend their nights in brothels , and these Kirk-stricken

      newspapers will not denounce them by name ; but if Mr . Andrew Paton takes a personal care of the crew and Excursionists , for whose wslfare his co-proprietors are responsible , the name of that gentleman is held up to public reprobation as a " Sabbath-breaker . " What a striking illustration of the difference between religious morality and rational morality ! Mr . Paton is a Churchman who believes it to be " lawful to do good on the Sabbath day , " and rightly counts that it must be more acceptable to a Moral God to confer health and innocent pleasure on the poor man , than to coerce him into vicious formalism , into practical vice and positive disease ; and being a gentleman as well as a Christian , Mr . Paton is not to be intimidated in the wise and benevolent course he has chosen to take .

      Will the London public believe that one Major Darrocks , resident at Gburock , teas driven in his carriage ( breaking the Sabbath himself inexcusably ) down to the pier , to prevent the passengers by the JEmperor from landing ? Yes , carriaged , opulent , and intolerant , this Major turned out from his own suburban home — free himself from the miasma of a Glasgow Sunday—to address the wan weavers of the city as dogs , and seek to drive them back to their kennels—and Scottish newspapers could applaud this act—and publish the humble artisan as " scum , " and the tradesmen ( as respectable as the major ) as " fops . " And the Guardian advised acts of opposition on the part of the ignorant populace , which might lead to loss of life—the consequences of course to be charged upon

      the Excursionists . ( On Sunday , as the Excursionists returned , a crowd of people , sent through kirk influence and agitation , were assembled to yell at those whose crime consisted in leaving Glasgow without permission of the clergy . What a degraded mob ! The amusing part is , that this vulgar and bigoted " yelling" is not " Sabbathbreaking "—this is considered acceptable service to God . But the Daily Mail , which gives a highly-creditable notice of tho Emperor ' s return last Sunday , qualifies the report by saying that only a few persons disgraced themselves by " hissing . " And the Glasgow Chronicle styles the person a " miscreant" who has just attempted to sink the JEmperor by opening a " sea-cock" in the bottom of the vessel . If the Press hero will do its

      duty , all will be well . Tho Presbytery represent that this Excursion experiment is an " outrage" on tho feelings of the people , when they are doing all they can to stir up the peoplo against it , who , so far from finding any " outrage" in it , aro , on tho whole , glad of it . All classes of peoplo , gentry as well as artisans , of all religious persuasions , as well as of no persuasion except that of Secularism or Morality , are looking with approval on this wise step . Receiving your instructions to exnmino into this matter , Mr . Editor , I can aver that tliero is no truth in tho representation of the Presbytery , that this

      muchneeded movement is any " outrage . " Quite the contrary . Nor will tho perverted influence of tho Presbytery , disgracefully exercised on this occusion , succeed in making it unpopular . Excepting tho Rev . Mr . Macleod , who has made a vigorous and manly speech against tho step , this Presbytery is endeavouring to resuscitate 200-year old Acts of Parliament , to put down , by fines , thin Hocial movement . Who cannot bo excused for saying that the clergy aro alien from the people , when the priesthood thus conduct themselves P They have written to the Admiralty , to press them into tho service of this disreputable , intolerance . I "m g lad to

      find that a public meeting ' lnw been announced , m which the people of London will f , nko into consideration this question . The English workman , sympathising with the improvement in the Sunday comfort and morals of their Glasgow brethren , will pay the fines incurred by the proprietors of the Mmpcror . Depend upon it , Hir , tlmt while the Emperors of Russia and Franco are at this hour without an atom of British respect , the JCmpcror on the Clyde is tho most popular of potentates . Long- may he reign Imperial Sunday Monarch of the Lochs , from tho lUoomiolaw to the Inks of Unto ! IV ^ , UW'ow , Aug . 1 <> . * BC : ) -

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 13, 1853, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13081853/page/15/