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    October 16, 1852.] THE LEADER. 993

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    LOST, STOLEN, OR STRAYED—THE ENGLISH PEO...

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    TAXATION REDUCED TO UNITY AND SIMPLICITY...

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    The Spiritual Insolvency Of "Thfc Church...

    duty " , when , as sentinels on the watch-towers of society , we signal them to our fellow men . We admit that there is something in England called its Church , which is respected and reverenced ; which , thousands of men would cling to at the peril of their lives : there is something , but what is it P That is the question which puzzles U Judged by its pretensions , the Church is an institution which claims the entire guidance of the human being . When we are born , the minister steps in to baptize us ; as we grow up he claims to control our education ; when our young men and maidens arrive at maturity , the Church must marry them ; when , they die , the Church must bury them . If a Will is made , the Church

    takes possession of it ; if a couple sin one against the other , the Church alone can divorce them . Haunting us from the cradle to the tomb , with the menace of eternal burning for misdeeds , the Church alleges that it alone holds the key which can open the portals of heaven and save us from the horrors of hell . Moreover , this Church claims to have a unity of doctrine , claims to be " one and indivisible , " deriving its rights mediately from Chriit himself , and standing before us as his vice-gerent on earth . It pretends to have doctrines immutabl y true ; it has a creed of Thirty-nine Articles ; it has rubrics , and liturgies , and prayers , and canons . All these are set down in black and

    white ; and all are said to have for their object the salvation of souls , " peace on earth and good will to men . " Described by " X ., " a correspondent of the Times , the Church , is " that institution , so admirably adapted for good , whether temporal or spiritual , so favourable for charity , comfort , and teaching , so purchased by suffering , so established and continued by learning ; " and another writer , a clergyman , calls it the " poor man ' s church . " To carry out these aims to which it is said to be " so admirably adapted , " and so " favourable , " it has a vast hierarchy , and a regal revenue . Has it carried them out ? Is it solvent P

    Certainly not . But the negative does not settle the question : for in , the belief of many , it may still carry them out . That reflection leads us to what is one of the most portentous questions of the day , —Is the Church in a condition to carry them out ? If , again pardoned , for she has been convicted more than once , can she start fair and fulfil her promises P There is only one possible , one honest way , the way we have always pointed out . and it lies through Convocation , heartily aud earnestly carried out to its utmost consequences . No other is honest ; and it is doubtful whether thr * conditions unrler which

    Convocation would bo called into activity would enable it successfully to make the Church at one with itself and the people . For there are signs of decomposition thrust upon our notice" * * daily , which startle belief . Strangely as it sounds , an incredible amalgam of discordant opinions is ranged , like an army of mercenaries , under tho banner of the Thirty

    nine Articles . When we spoak of tho Church , what do wo mean P Upon what particular section , is - the mind brought to bear P Is it tho Church of Lord Derby , whose principle is " compromise" —compromise in a matter which involves eternal felicity or eternal torment ! or ot ' Whately , tho '' juste milieu' churchman ; or of Samuel Oxon . who is as much at homo in tho

    Court as in the Synod ; or of tho Times , which Rays , "the Church , like all other institutions in thiH ngo , will be judged by the quantity of good « he can effect , and that will again depend , like tho wipital of any private enterprise , upon tho amount of work slio obtains in return for tins capital she employa "— -reducing the Church to tho level of a railway company ; or of Godolphin . Osborno , who advocates a " coinmon-seimo view of things ;" ° r of Bishop Philpotts , the rigid Ijiiudian , who H P ]) Ortfi Jiori ] I )» vrliv flw > viirid Cnmni-diniHi'i or "upnortH lionl Derbythe riid CompromiHer ; or

    , g ? his opponent , Gorham ; or of Sir Robert "gun ; or of Uie snowy bands and adorable vhwkorH which appear in MuvVVchI . End pulpits ; r . J , ioiu' « l ' t , who dolightH in "histrionic prae-K'eH ; " < of Blomlield , who condortuiH the liin-I ° « while trimming with his party ; or of the PI'u-aliHts , like all thoProttymaiiH . and the Mourns , w » o preach Cln-isl ; , and practice' M ' agus ; or of ., n K » l <\ y and Maurice , who advocate Christian 'wciiuiHin , and nobly illustrate it in their lives ; J ° « lNiHoy and Sewell , all rigid doctrine , but ; }| no all prayer and gentleness , all purity and wiHoicnco ; or laatly , of " W . 13 . " and thoEBBOX

    Trullibers , who hate the " rabble , " love their tithes , follow the hounds , and excommunicate labourers who are discontented with seven shillings a week P The Church may be " adapted" to all that " X . " avers ; it may be a " poor man ' s Church , " as Mr . Godolphin Osborne defines it , and as we fail to see it ; but facts are indisputable , and sadly impair these beautiful definitions . What is doing near Plymouth P Low Church battling with High Church over the confessional ; rectors and laymen refusing to send children for confirmation to the Church appointed by the

    Bishop . What has been done at Oxford we all know . What is doing at Erome we know ; and what has been done in a parish churchyard in Cornwall Mr . Sidney Godolphin Osborne has described in the Times . There the clergyman insisted on burying a lady according to the strict forms of the rubric . Two sons and some ladies nearly related to the deceased followed the body to the grave . The clergyman intoned the service , and kept the mourners at their mother ' s grave while that grave was being entirely filled in , suspending the service meanwhile ; ana when entreated to continue and close the service , he

    replied , " You can leave if you like it . " This has excited great indignation , and has begotten a host of complaints , which show to what lengths distracted laymen and clergymen are disposed to go . One innocent person asks , " Are we to have peaceful congregations , or are we to suffer these youthful innovators to introduce discord and

    dissensions , desolating our churches P" And he , fatal man , even decries obedience to the " letter of the rubric" in favour of obedience to the " spirit of the Church , " which surrenders the question ; for what is the spirit of the Church ? These remarkable signs are followed by a strong demand for the intervention of the laity to save the Church ! The Reverend Godolphin Osborne says

    roundly" I have no hope in the clergy , they are too divided , or in the bishops , as a body , they are far from united —individuals among them might as well be cardinals , or act as members of the Propaganda . " And he " sees no refuge 1 for the truth in this struggle but in the expressed voice and energetic action of pious laymen ; " but lie admits , at the same time , and offers to prove , that " the laity are fast weaning in heart from the established Church . " Are not these strong symptoms of disease in one of tho most important organs of our national life ?

    Nor can we see but one alternative for all honest Churchmen . Either to accept tho real literal teaching of the Church , painful though it may be , as it shall be declared by convocation ; or to adopt the suggestion which " Catholic " broached some time since in our columns , and , frankly admitting its spiritual insolvency , throw the Church open to all without restriction , by localizing Church property .

    October 16, 1852.] The Leader. 993

    October 16 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 993

    Lost, Stolen, Or Strayed—The English Peo...

    LOST , STOLEN , OR STRAYED—THE ENGLISH PEOPLE . Where is the . English people P Wo see groat crowds about the streets indeed , and persons are to be met with on every highway ; but tho people which once made itself so conspicuous amongst nations , seems to have retired into private life , it is so totally absent from public affairs . Wo are inclined to fear , indeed , from the behaviour of

    the persons who are seen in English streets that the people has departed altogether , perhaps emigrated . The people which has nothing to say for itself can say nothing also for others . Tho peoplo that no longer eares to stand up for its own rights is also not , to be found , as it used to be , standing up for fair play . The report from Lambeth I ' olice-odieo supplies a disgusting exam p le of what we mean . At Camuerwell there lias lived a certain

    James Cannon , a chimney sweeper , notorious for his great physical strength and for his untameablo violence . On the 13 th of last month ho began to break the windows of a public house with halfpence- from his pocket ; Michael Dwyer , a policeman , was ¦ summoned to arrest him , and Cannon at first appeared to submit quietly ; hut presently he surprised tho constable , threw him on his back , jumped threo times upon his chest and abdomen , and tried toHtranglo him ; by another dodge Cannon again threw the police - man down , ami kicked him several times with a malignant aim at inflicting tho most ingenious tortures . All thin while two or three thouHand persons

    stood round , and not a soul interfered to stop the brutal coward . Cannon , indeed , was not un * known , for somebody in the crowd called to him by name to encourage him , as you might wave a red flag in the face of a bull ; and it was only then , on learning the identity of his assailant , that Dwyer , the unfortunate badger of this bait , used his staff . . Ultimately Cannon was taken to the stationhouse by seven policemen and some " civilians , " who after witnessing the sport , now lent their officious help .

    It was not an ignorant dislike of the police , therefore , that had held them back before ; it must have been cowardice , or even a more degrading deference to the ferocity of this Camberwell savage . But while England can stand by and let its Malmesbury , by his agents , play the Maltese accomplice to Austria , while English working-men can petition the Legislature for " more statute " to protect them against employers who exact too much work , it is not wonderful that Camberwell should stand by and see a sturdy brute kick a fallen man .

    There was a time when the English people would indignantly interfere to protect the weak against the strong , and to stand up for fair play , but assuredly that people must now be sought in America , or in Australia , anywhere but in England . Indeed , so indifferent have the Englishmen at home become to the welfare of their remote relations in the colonies , so disgusting is the treatment of those distant Englishmen by the officials appointed to represent the mother country , that our brothers in Australia , Africa , and America , avowedly think of cutting the connexion .

    Taxation Reduced To Unity And Simplicity...

    TAXATION REDUCED TO UNITY AND SIMPLICITY . * IV . THE TRUE PEINCIPIES . In April , May , and June of the present year , we laid before our readers three papers on the principles of taxation . Public events rendered it inexpedient to press the subject further at that time . We resume it now in anticipation of the unavoidable debates of the coming session of Parliament , and with the advanta ge of the Report of the Committee on the Property and Income Tax , which sat during the two last .

    A brief resume of our former papers is needful . Taxation , naturally a common and duly proportioned contribution to a common expense , has descended to us from times of disorder and unregulated power , and has passed through varied forms of authorized or unauthorized violence , settling down at last into demands of the most anomalous and empirical forms . Although a most reasonable requirement , it is always met with u repugnance felt towards no other kind of expense . This repugnance arises from the absence of obvious relation between the payment and tho service , where tho taxation is indirect ; and it is increased by the

    inconvenience felt from the extreme pressure put by indirect taxational some tew articles generally used or desired . The imposts of indirect taxation arc in some cases easily evaded ; and in others , whero they cannot bo evaded , they arc often painfully oppressive . Where they art ) evaded by giving up the use of the article taxed , they allow the tax-payer to shift his share of the public expense- from his own shoulders to that of his fellows ; where they are evaded by smuggling , they encourage the fraud and often violence which it ought

    to bo the first object of society to put down ; and where they cannot be evaded they often require severe sacrifices beyond the share of the common expense duo from the persons on whom they full . Indirect taxes do not associate public feeling with the measures for which they pay ; and the quietness with which it i » assumed they may be collected is gained , if gained at all , ut the expense of that check on the rashness or meddlesomeness of ( Governments , which the direct and known pressure of the cost could not fail to supply .

    These ill consequences follow on the adoption of a principle which does not answer even its own purpose . Indirect taxation is , ut best , an attempt ; to assess a man by ineuns of ussuined measures of his ability to pay , which lire ulways uiieortain and commonly false . Taxation should assess itself on each responsible member of the state , in the proportion of the cost of fulfilling the duties of the stnlo towards him . These duties are mainly , if not exclusively , those of justice and protection ; and the cost incurred by the whole body on account of each of its members , when duly equalized on tho principle of ussuntnee , is nearly if not Hoc Leader , Nos . 108 , 111 , 115 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 16, 1852, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16101852/page/13/