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Leader (1850-1860), 17th May 1856, Edition 2 of 2, Page 13, ^ j^ttillir ^ltnir0» I * ?

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      Jllay 17,1856.] * ¦ The Ij E Ad Er, 469

      JllAy 17 , 1856 . ] * ¦ THE Ij E AD ER , 469

      Notices To Correspondents. No Notice <Wi...

      NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS . No notice < wi be takeu of anonymous communications ¦ Whatever is intended for insertion must bo authenticated bvthe name and address of the writer ; not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of his good faith . It is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we retseive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press of m atter ; and when omitted it is frequently from reasons quite independent of the merits of the communication . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications . During the Session of Parliament it is often impossible to find room for correspondence , even the briefest .

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      Saturday, Mat 17, 1856.

      SATURDAY , MAT 17 , 1856 .

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      pnblit & Mxb . —«—

      There Ia Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...

      There ia nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . — De . Abnoid .

      The Bead Not Dangerous Classes. The Supp...

      THE BEAD NOT DANGEROUS CLASSES . The suppression of the bands in the parks , on Sundays is an insult especially levelled at the working classes . It is also an insult to the middle class , but we know that ifc was not intended to offend them , nor is it expected that they will take offence . The calculation has befll made , that those persons who attended the performances of the bands belonged to a class of society which is not given to make a disturbance , and that the recreation which had been voluntarily offered to them might therefore be safely retracted without the fear of exciting open violence . This means that the middle classes will be content to be treated like children , by the offer of an amusement and its retraction , and that they will as cheerfully put up with the privation as they accepted the boon . We have asserted that our governing class is ignorant of the feelings of the middle class : we now find that it is ignorant of the very appearance of the working class . It has been supposed that the attendance in the parks , which last

      Sunday amounted to 258 , 000 has consisted exclusively or chiefly of the upper classes For the governiug class i snot able to recognize the industrial orders of this country in their Sunday clothing . Those who know the men and women , individually , as some of us do , are able to attest the fact that very lai'ge numbers ; seven out of ten , says the Times —consisted of the workers , with their wives and families . So the insult falls upon the working classes , Vhich are supposed to be dead , and therefore in a fit state for being kicked .

      The affront is aggravated by tho plens in favour of tho retraction . One of the shining lights on this subject is Mr . Baines , of Leeds , who believes that "largo numbers of persons of both sexes" cannot be collected together " without vice and actual contamination of the young . " " Among the crowds arrayed in tho Sunday finery , thousands of young girls and young men , with no more than tho average amount of vanity and weakness , will be brought into circumstances of extreme

      peril , " and will enter on " the downward path of vice . " Tho incumbent of a metropolitan parish containing 25 , 000 souls explains , in a letter to tho Times , what the working classes do whon they do not go to the parks . They do not fill the chiu * chcB , —thoso nro empty . They fill the public-houses . As Mr . Baines says , " everybody ia fond of music . " That art , of all others , ia tho best to commence the softening process of civilization , since it appeals leas to tho intellect , and more readily enters tho feelinirH of tho rudeat . The

      Incumbent believes that the churches would be fuller if the hearts of the rude were first softened by the influence of music , which replaces gentle , natural , and regulated feelings in lieu of fierce , gross , or violent passions . But perhaps Mr . Baines thinks it less wicked , or less in "the downward path , " to crowd the public-house than to crowd the park . He holds it less perilous to be dressed iu the squalor , which will do for the public-house , than in the " Sunday finery , " which is necessary for the park , and which is the premium upon cleanliness , the virtue " next to godliness . " Mr . Baines , perhaps , would get at the godliness , without the cleanliness .

      A saint of this order has given us a very short cut to the morals of the subject . A man was placed in the Guildhall police-court on Tuesday , charged with having robbed a chapel of hymn-books . A memorandum-book found upon him showed his engagements . " There 13 one mitigating circumstance in your case , " said Sir Peter Laurie , after reading extracts of this notice of Sunday engagements ; " you were not , as far as appears

      from this book , at any of the parks where the bauds were playing . " No ; William Smith went to the House of God , and -whatever the purpose that took him there , be is less wicked in the eyes of Laubie than those who went to the park , whatever their motive . We need not wonder , therefore , if Baines thinks those who haunt the public-house less wicked than those who listen to the strains of Beethoven in the breezes of

      Regent s Park . Lord Shaftes-Bitry and the Protestant Alliance , and the other religious bodies that meet at Exeter Hall , hold that it is godly to spend the Sabbath in endeavouring to exclude all temporal affairs , to shut out all the blessings that Providence has endowed us with ; and because they think it godly so to do , we must do the same ! It would be much more reasonable if , because the gentlemen that go to Exeter Hall think it desirable that men of their principles should wear a white neckcloth and a black waistcoat , a sumptuary law shoiild issue , commanding the men of London to wear white neckcloths and black clothes .

      The Daily News indeed reports that another force was brought to bear upon Lord Palmerston : the Scotch members threatened him . with withdrawing their support , unless he withdrew the Sunday bands . It seems , then , that in London we must adopt the manners of tho people up there in Scotland , not because wo voluntarily fall into

      those manners and customs , but because the Scotch members demand it . Ts this in revenge for the order requiring the Highlanders to discontinue the kilt ? It is about as reasonable . Are the Scotch so conscious of their own subjugation to the " Mcenister , " that they begrudge our comparative freedom ? Anyhow , English custom will revolt against adopting Scotch manners .

      Lord Palmerston was not justified in saying that the working people , or the working classes appear to be " indifferent" on the subject . They have accepted what was offered to them ; and to draw back a gift after it has been given , is ten times moro insulting than to withhold it altogether . It Lord Palmkrston cannot defend the English people from being compelled to adopt tlio manners and customs of Exeter Mall or Scotland , ho stands confessed as the Minister who would govern better if lie could , l ) ut who is too weak to do tho duty which he acknowledges .

      As the people have been taught by Sir Benjamin Hall , and the Premier to deairo music on tho Sunday , in it probable thai ; tho mipply will bo withheld from the demand . Wo shall be looking out for music from other

      quarters , and are there not places where it can be given ? There is , for example , Cremorne Gardens , a place not quite so open to all as the Regent ' s Park ; but there must be other grounds in various parts of the metropolis , where it would form a very profitable speculation to establish Sunday bands at a very low charge . We perceive from the experiences of the Regent ' s Park , that hundreds of thousands would attend .

      Perhaps , indeed , the police might attempt to " put down" this speculation . It would be very curious to see Sir Richard Maine ' s myrmidons putting down the very entertainment to the public which Sir Benjamin Hall bad offered with the sanction of Lord

      Palmerston . Do not tell us that the difference would lie in the payment ; for the public are taught to make it a boast that their recreations , their enjoyments , or their advantages , are " selfsupporting . " Perhaps those who desire to avoid exciting rather serious disturbances upon a very ugly question would not order the police to attempt the suppression of self-supporting entertainments a la Hall ? Indeed the interference has already gone so far as to look very ugly . We remember that this time last year an attempt was made to enforce a more " bitter" observance of the

      Sabbath , and we saw the consequences in Hyde Park . Lord Robert Grosvenor was honoured with a visit on that occasion ; Lord Robert having heen one of those who took a very prominent and early part in this agitation of a minority to enforce its own law on the majority . He appeared then to be unsuccessful ; but we now find that by the aid of ; he Scotch members , Mr . Edward Baines , and the Sectarianists , he has triumphed .

      Some of the immediate results are inevitable and obvious . Of the quarter of a million that were collected in the parks to enjoy the strains of music , that were by the circumstances of the assemblage compelled to put ou the costume of good society , that were drawn within some of the most civilizing influences of the day , —of that great number a large proportion will be sent back to the public-house . It is good enough for them ! But there must be some who are not content to be driven about like sheep , —drawn into the park , and remanded to the public-house ; some who can think twice , and choose to have a will in these matters . They will feel severely their helpless and servile position .

      Nothing could be more remarkable , nothing more instructive to our governing class than tho admirable order and tranquillity observed in the Parks on tho last few Sundays , and particularly on the last , when they had tangible proof of the care for their comfort . That is the way to keep the quarter of tho million , and , indeed , the whole of " tho million , " in contentment and good order . It is an old eoramon-placo , that tho people may bo kept quiet if you give them " panem ct circeusos " —bread and amusement . Hall gave them

      the " circensea ; " but now they are told that they must get the " panem" for themselves at ' cightpencc-halfponny per loaf , and go without the " circenses . "

      Jh it possible to have chosen a moro inopportune time for this affront to tho working classes ? We think not . It is notorious that after tho excitement of a war , there is usually a political calm at homo , and then a reaction of domestic ferment . Why irritate and affront the people just at such a juncture ? Nay , the imprudence is yet worse . Tins affront i . s put upon tho million just a fortnight before " tho illuminations . " Sir Hkn . ia . -min- Hall had found out the secret of

      collecting groat multitudes , keeping them in 11 pleanod humour , and making them co-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 17, 1856, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17051856/page/13/