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Leader (1850-1860), 15th October 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 15, POLITICAL FORESH ADOWI2STGS.

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      The Cure Of Souls. The Bon Well Story Is...

      practical power of removing Bim from a post he is in any case , unqualified to hold . . The bishop has nominal power of suspending any incumbent in his diocese , who has been found guilty of immorality by the ecclesiastical tribunals , End of sequestering part of his income . This power , however , is seldom exercised . In the first place , the clergy , from the natural esprit de corps , are most unwiffing to drag before the public the delinquencies of a brother clergyman . -V » again ? the ecclesiastical tribunals are uncertain , tedious , and expensive ; and lastly , the cost of the prosecution falls practically upon the bishop - ± he consequence is , that such a case as Mr . Bonwell s is by no means singular . We ourselves were acquainted with an instance of a clergyman wlurhad a r > har « re of eross profligacy brought against him ,

      The charge was investigated privately by a committee of clergymen , who reported that there was ground for further investigation . The suspected clergyman could not , or would not , abide the result of the inquiry . He left the diocese ; the charge was dropped , and after a short time , he obtained duty in another diocese , and , before long had to leave again , in consequenee of open

      immorality . Any one acquainted with country life would be able to mention some case or other of a clergyman , who led notoriously an immoral life , and remained entrusted with the cure of souls - We do not say that such cases are anything but the rare exception . The evil worked , however , by one such case is astonishing , and the scandal given to religion outweighs the influence of hundreds of clergymen who do their duty well and manfully .

      The evil is a crying one , but the remedy is obvious . A clergyman charged with immorality should be tried by a lay tribunal empowered to remove him from his post in case of conviction . It is rank heresy to say so , but after all a living is the property of the congregation , not ^ of the clergyman . There can be no such thing as a vested interest in the cure of souls .

      No. M- Oct. 15,1859.1 The I.Eapeb. 1155

      No . m- Oct . 15 , 1859 . 1 THE I . EAPEB . 1155

      Our Consulships. There Are Few Departmen...

      OUR CONSULSHIPS . There are few departments of British misgoverninent in which patronage is more frequently mis- ' used than in the appointment of consuls , and it is impossible for any one to travel , or have transactions with foreign ports , without becoming acquainted with instances of lamentable incompetency . It might , on the other hand , be remarked that there are likewise many cases in which gentlemen of great ability and aptitude fill these situations , but even here the system merits condemnation , as from the demarcation between the diplomatic and consular services they are excluded from honours and emoluments which are their due . It is well known that consuls and

      consuls-general are often , and sometimes continually , employed in v diplomatic work , but nevertheless their seclusion is maintained , in order that the superior appointments may be reserved for fortunate members of the privileged order . The whole system needs revising * but pending the introduction of a reformed scheme , every appointment should be jealously watched , and none tolerated in which the interests of commerce and the dignity of the country are sacrificed to considerations of family advantage and political jobbing . _ .

      As an illustration of the class of appointments we condemn , we may mention that a most important commercial port was recently supplied with a British consul , who did not know the language of the country to which he was accredited , and to the day of his death never took the trouble to learn it . Perhaps it was fortunate for all parties that he was usually away from his post for nine months out of the twelve ; but being afflicted with chronic impecuniosity , oven his aBsenco from the scene of duty did not succeed in preserving the credit of his country unimpaired ,

      Such facts as these cannot be unknown to the Government ; and the mercantile community will have good ground for dissatisfaction , if any more appointments are made without consulting then * views . No one ought to hold the office of consul in an important town , who has not already proved bis oapacity , and acquired the confidence of the mercantile class ; and where duties have been well performed by subordinates , they should bo preferred to the ohief office when it becomes vacant , in preference to strangers , whose only recommendation is their relationship to some family , able to command the attention or the ministry of the day .

      Assassination Of Colonel Anvit1. The Dis...

      ASSASSINATION OF COLONEL ANVIT 1 . The dissipation of the calm which has so long overhung Italian affairs by the murder of Colonel Anviti has produced the most painful impression upon the mind of every friend to order and legality . It is , however , matter for grief rather than for surprise that the recent quiet march of events in Central Italy should be thus suddenly interrupted . For weeks past the admiration excited by the self-control of the Italians has been accompanied by uneasy fears lest it should give way under the trials of patience to which it was subjected : —subjected , as we fully believe , mainly

      for the purpose that it should so give way . That it has thus yielded at Parma is the cause of open reproach and secret exultation among the enemies of Italy , though they have but very insufficient grounds for their triumph . The universal regret and horror expressed ^ whether by friends or foes , at the commission ofa single crime of this nature during weeks and months of continued political agitataon and excitement , at least speaks eloquently for the admirable conduct pursued , in the mam , by the people and their rulers . Nor ought it to be left out of view that the crime was committed independently of political considerations , and was

      an outburst of natural indignation against a monster who was a disgrace to human nature . Without seeking for a moment to palliate the enormity of the bloody act of vengeance , we can but feel that the punishment , though irregularly administered , was richly deserved . The truth of the biblical passage—rwhich we hold to be declarative and not preceptive , — " Whoso sheddeth man \ blood by man shall his blood be shed , " has received a striking exemplification in the present unfortunate and tragical occurrence . The victim wantonly sacrificed the lives of his fellow creatures , and his own has now paid the penalty .

      Charles HI ., Duke of Parma , who succeeded to the government on the abdication of Charles Louis , in 1848 , was a prince who seemed desirous of imitating the mingled ferocity , sensuality , and buffoonery of the worst of the Roman Emperors The state , groaned beneath his tyranny and suspicion ; an immense number of persons of note were exiled or imprisoned by him on the most frivolous political grounds , and the taxes were raised to an unheard of . extent , to supply his almost fabulous debauchery . At length he carried his vices too far for human endurance . He had determined on possessing himself of the revenues of the great Lcnlfol nf Pnvmnand various other charitable vaiiu vumiuo

      rant the exaggerated indignation expressed against his assassins and the civic authorities by those who upheld him in committing wholesale murder in open day as well as in the secret dungeon , as he is declared to have done , and who applaud the conduct of the Papal rulers in the late foul massacre at Perugia . Again , it seems to us an unealled for flourish of trumpets on the part of one who has shown himself so utterly unscrupulous in the sacrifice of human life as the Emperor of the French , publicly to declare that unless justice was immediately done diplomatic relations should cease between France and Central Italy . Whj fail in

      assume that the Parmesan rulers would their duty ? Everything , on the contrary , seems to prove that the utmost promptitude was employed in endeavouring to bring the offenders tc justice . The morning , af ter the catastrophe the Intendent-General issued a most appropriate proclamation , deploring the occurrence , and inviting the co-operation and assistance of the citizens 11 his efforts to restore and maintain public order It appears equally certain that as early as eircunistances would permit , Signor Farini left Turin tc see that inquiries were instituted with a view tc the administration of justice against the real offenders . Most grievous , indeed , must it have been to him thus to inaugurate , so to speak , his official career at Parma . Scarcely more than a

      fortnight prior to the sad event , he terminated his reply to the decree o f the Assembly conferring upon him the Dictatorship of Parma by these words : — " Ours is not the cause of a party , but of a whole people ; or , rather , it is the cause of order , both moral and civil * without which States can have no firm foundation , and the European commonwealth must in vain look for equilibrium of forces and stability of empires . " Justice will , we doubt not , be dealt in due proportion to the offence , and we trust the occurrence will have taught the Parmesans , as well as the rest of the Italian aspirants for freedom , that they cannot for a moment afford to relax the most vigorous selfcontrol , or to depart in any degree from strict moderation in the future .

      . nospitai 01 xariua , » uu uo uuuc * , u » u institutions . The whole city was in consternation , but no redress was possible while Austrian troops held the chief citadel and countenanced him in his iniquities . In 1854 he was mortally wounded by the dagger of an assassin . When carried in a dying condition to his palace , _ the only fear apparently entertained by his subjects was that the stroke should not prove mortal ; and his death was felt by all , and perhaps most especially by his wife , as an escape from hated servitude and thraldom . The first public act of the widowed Duchess , Louisa of Bourbon , conveyed an assurance of redress to the p opulation whom he

      had so grossly outraged . The same edict which announcea her assumption of the government during the minority of her son . Duke Robert ,, notified the dismissal of the ministers most obnoxious as abettors of the Duke ' s tyranny . This promise was , however , but partially carried out . Colonel Luigi Anviti , the late Duke ' s chamberlain , was still suffered to possess almost unlimited power , until he so shamefully abused it ; that the Duchess was compelled , after the lapse of a few months , to insist upon his withdrawal from the city , when he retired to Piacopza , of which place he was a native and member of a good family . In an unlucky hour for himself he unexpectedly made his

      appearance , on the 5 th instant , upon the scene of his former cruelties , after an absence of some years . He was well known as one of the very vilest tools of one of the worst monarohs who over disgraced and tormented poor down-trodden Italy . Kecognised by one who had personally suffered from his brutality , the fact of his presence was immediately communicated to the populace . In spite of the efforts made by Colonel Doda and others to insure his safety , he was quickly surrounded by those whom he had injured , either directly or through their nearest and dearest connexions , and his life fell a sacrifice to their natural though unjustifiable rage and fury . Surely there is nothing in this isolated aot to war-

      Political Foresh Adowi2stgs.

      POLITICAL FORESH ADOWI 2 STGS .

      Redressed, We Could Not Afford To Have O...

      redressed , We could not afford to have our prestige impaired , nor our honour doubted , and he believed that the general feeling of the public would be that this unfortunate reverse must some way or other be redressed . Before he sat down he desired to do justice to those brave men who fought at the Pciho . Many of them were personally known to him , ana he was proud to be able to call Admiral Hope his friend . He had the honour of appointing him to the command in the Chinese seas , and Jie naa selected him solely because he was well known , as a man of great experience , and an ^ officer of great ability and skjll . It was unnecessary to add that he was also a man ofthemosi ; undoubted bravery . Admiral Hope had been doubly unfortunate m that engagement of the Peiho , in suffering what to a B J sh offloer was the moat painful of all things-defeat ;

      At the recent meeting of the Worcester Agricultural Association Sir John Pakington spoke of the new rupture with China : —and said Whatever might have been the cause of the great and unfortunate disaster—for it would be folly to deny that it was a great disaster—whether or not mistakes had been committed , and if so , by whom—however that might be , he hoped the British public would consider them as matters of comparatively no importance , and he hoped that instead of our policy with respect to China being , as had been heretofore , the subject of party struggles , all parties and the great mass of the British public would be of opinion that any defeat of British arms was a tiling that must be

      and also in boing himself severely wounded . Mr . Matheson , ; M . P ., a gentleman connected with the Chinese trade , and who has been in China , has in a speech made-to gome of Ins constituents , given his opinion on the present state of our relations with the Chinese . The hon . gentleman aays he does not believe that anything serious will arise from what has occurred , because , as ho imagines , when a reasonable force makes its appearance , the Chinese will vield , as they have yielded before . According-, then ; to tills view of the case , it ia the duty of her Majesty ' s Government to send out such a force as will compel them to obey the commands of our El anniversary meeting of the Norwich Eldon Coneorvativo Club was held on Monday evening . Sir Samuel Bionold congratulated his hearers on fthA ronult of the late election petition , whiqh had

      relieved the city of its former Wing-Radical representatives , and proceeded to refer to his own posi tion and that of the electors as affected by the pro-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 15, 1859, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15101859/page/15/