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    3To. 395i 0OTOBBK17, 1857..J fll Ii E A ...

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    KING FREDEBICK-WILLIAM. The death of the...

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    THE SOCIAL CONVENTION. At length it has ...

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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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    The Mystery Op The Murder. Even So Far A...

    dasness by their neighbours . Strange speo tacle for the recording angel to witnessnumbers of anxious scrutineers , scanning' the features ; , measuring the voices of elderly women , in hopes that by denouucing them they may gain some money . This is one part of tlie way iu "which civilization is doing its work . "While the police are thus inquiring in all directions , while the jury are ' sitting on the

    body , ' while the surgeon is looking into the carpet-bag and closely scrutinizing every particle of its contents , piecing together the relics of the story , the recording angel will see another group as anxiously watching . One is the man who has done the murder , and who is wandering about somewhere in this great town , or perhaps off by rail to take holiday in the country . ! Few amongst us ask for the Times with so fevered an

    anxiety . And the woman , too , some few of ¦ whose gentle hairs fell upon the body as it was mangled , is reading to see whether agony and disgrace are to come home to her , or whether concealment is still possible . And of all the group a , that woman who conveyed the bag to " Waterloo-bridge asks for the latest

    news about the murder with the greatest solicitude . She feels conscious as she goes about—even as if her back had eyes to see the glances that are cast upon her , and to learn whether the police , whether her neighbours , and whether Ejibin ghost the tollkeeper , are at that moment seeing and identifying her .

    3to. 395i 0otobbk17, 1857..J Fll Ii E A ...

    3 To . 395 i 0 OTOBBK 17 , 1857 .. J fll Ii E A 1 > E * R . 9 gg

    King Fredebick-William. The Death Of The...

    KING FREDEBICK-WILLIAM . The death of the King of Pjbussia would open no question of immediate importance . Still , it would not be a commonplace event . Diplomatically , Frederick- William has " been The State . His successor mig-ht be The State with a different policy . Jb ' itEDEeick-William could not help being the representative of a cultivated nation which

    Iionour 3 intellect , art , and learning . He is limself , i scholar of the pedantic class . His court reflects the lustre of much erudition , and , as a translator would say , of the ' beautiful letters . ' But no King in Euroj > e has heen more fatally enslaved by the doctrine of paternal authority than his Majesty of Prussia . It was he who , when the burghers asked him for a constitution , vowed that no written leaf should ever come between him

    and ' his people . ' He had to recant his oath and accept another , but ho avenged the first by violating the second . Fuederick-Willlam has not been a fostering King of the Germans . " With one of the finest armies in Europe he has ( wisely ) stood aloof from military enterprises . The little principalities of Hohenzollern fell to his share as a reversion ; otherwise ho wilL leave the territory of Prussia as ho inherited it , minus JNTeuf ch & tel . It has not been his fortune to erect a "barrier on the Ithinc , or to obtain securities from Sweden or Denmark for his frontier alon <» -

    thesea . The truth is , that the cloudy day of Jena destroyed a largo part of that which 3 ? beDiejuck TJU 3 Great had built up , and the restoration has been attempted in vain by subsequent monarchs . Prussia is liable to bo rent by any continental war ; her provinces hang loosely together ; lier state policy is inconsistent with itself . It is a combination of Protestantism and divino right , of Miltcw and Salmahius , of an army that crushes genius and n church that defers to

    conscience . 1 < jiudekick- William was wise when lie refused the imperial crown at Franktort . Ho was not born to be Emperor of Germany . And yet ho is out of place in the conclave of Catholic sovereigns . A prince Who would Hpuru a Concordat has no natural ailmit / y with the members of a Holy Alliance .

    Stein , Sch ( em " , and HABDEirBirBG could not have been the ministers of Austria . It was their influence , acting upon the pride or fear of his predecessor , that produced the Stadtordnung , which gave self - government to the towns , the abolition of serfdom , the act assigning these serfs an independent state , and the other decrees which , before 1840 , had

    been falsified , in every detail , by Feedehick : III . That King died , and left a military despotism to his successor , who would allow no c written leaf ^ to part him from the people ; but he parted from them in bloodshed in 1848 , and , while the Berliners were loading their muskets , pronounced ponderous orations about the wickedness of thrusting paper documents ' between our Lord and God in

    Heaven ( otherwise Eeederick- 'William TV . and his country . ' Schosn" addressed the public , and Fjbederick-William talked about high monarchical duties ; Simon wrote , and the king went on with his discourse ; Jacoby circulated his prohibited appeals , and every city in Prussia began to bleed for the love of liberty . The sovereign had a choice between the Germans and Russia . He preferred Hussia ; she was his sister . All his generals , all the officers of his army down to the second lieutenants , shared his sympathies .

    Should he pass away , how will the change affect Prussia and Europe ? The Crown-Prince might abandon his claim , in which case the throne would revert to the betrothed husband of the English Princess Hoyal . Probably , however , the brother of [ Fbedeeick" William would not forego the privilege of being King of Prussia even for a few years . The best that can be said of this personage is that we know little about him . He is reputed to be a mild , generous man , of feeble intellect , with despotic views . Characterizations of this sort are seldom to be relied upon . " We know

    what was said concerning the Prince Regent of Sweden simply because he advocated the great Scandinavian Idea . The young prince to whom the daughter of our Queen is affianced , is , as yet , almost a political nullity . His uncle has not taken counsel of him ; nor has he displayed any particular bias to justify an anticipation of the course he would adopt as the successor of Frederick-William IV ., who , when- the sceptre falls from his hand , will be styled ' of glorious memory , ' notwithstanding that , whatever his reign has been , it has not been glorious .

    The Social Convention. At Length It Has ...

    THE SOCIAL CONVENTION . At length it has been found practicable as well ns desirable to form a special body of men for ' the promotion of social science ' , 'a great stride in the intellectual advancement of this country . The man to move that ' the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science be now established , ' Lord Joiin Eussell ; who has thus stepped forward from the old and beaten ground of Parliamentary Beform , to that of Social

    Reform . It is not surprising that the orator who inaugurated the society should be Lord Brougham ; for although he has never , that we remember , actually and positively recognized the principle upon which all social reform must be based , he has practically assisted the development of the idea , aa well uh the practice , throughout the whole of his long and activo public life . Not distinctly apprehending the principle—for such we believe to be the real state of the case—he haa

    sometimes promoted improvements which have been only partial in their benefits , and have to a certain extent increased or revived ancient evila . In Lord Bhougham we see one great advocate of the principle oi ' cheapness * on high ground . Adam SiiiTii perceived that cheapness , the selling price

    for articles or large consumption , means facility and abundance of production , and therefore it means advantage for both parties 1 D L- i -r bargair 1 ' Oae form of cheapness which . Lord Brougham : has done so much to advocate has lain in the world of literature—of books , maps , and nrints . In

    former times it was assumed that only c the upper classes' would feel interest in history , science , and practical subjects ; very early in his public life Lord Brougham devoted himself * to acquiring personal information respecting the state of all classes in the country , including * the lower orders ; ' and he will confirm us in our assertion that there

    is more thought , more study amongst many persons of the working classes , than can he readily found among the shopkeeping class . jSFo doubt , experience of this kind was among the reasons wiry he and his friends established the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge . The publications of that Society related entirely to practical ,

    scientifical , and historical matters ; they were sold at a price which placed them within the reach of all classes ; they were consumed by all classes , and at the present day we have the results of that diffusion in a much , greater amount of cultivated understanding , of practical apprehension , and working knowledge , than in previous generations . Here one class was workinsr for- another to the benefit

    of all . Lord Buotjghtam has also done much , to improve the administration of justice , to render it cheaper and more serviceable . Hemust be held responsible for having assisted in lending the countenance of intellect to the development of our manufacturing system which has also greatly improved the condition of the working classes ; placing larger means at the service of much larger multitudes , and substituting , say , for a comparatively limited number of handloora

    weavers , on niggardly fare , hundreds of thousands of power-loom weavers , with all the attendants of a factory , in receipt of better pay for almost every member of the family . All this is clear and substantial gain , and it is all the result of a social improvement empirically worked out , and unguided by social science ; and the association inaugurated by Lord Brougham , established on the resolution of Lord John Russell , is intended to develop the science which may guide us iu its further progress .

    lor our own part , we may say that we have constituted an organ of this kind of movement years before the association was established ; and we cannot but have considerable hope the more systematic study of the sub - ject will result in bringing the promoters of the science to the principle which really gives to it vitality . We have the more confidence from some of the names which we see amongst the members of the association . There are all the practical men of the

    present day , in the Legislature or out of it , who are engaged in the investigation of particular evils , and in the attempt to reform them . There are Eussell , Pakington , Stanley , Ajdderle y , and many other promoters of education ; Stanley , Southwoou Smith , and other sanitary reformers ; M . D . Hill , Sidney Turn eh , Lord Talbot , J . J . Fiuld , Eardlky WiiiMor , and the great advocates

    of the reformatory principle ; Brougham , M . I ) . Hill , Frrzitov Kelly , Addkui . ky , Bastings , and the working reformers of fcho law ; Brougham , Carmsi . k , Shaftksijuky , KAV yilUTTLKWORTlI , FrKD 10 ItTCK MAiriUCE , and tho apostles of hotter . social and industrial arrangements amongst tlie poor ; . Toirisr Stuart Mill , Kinuhi-kv , Arthur Hhl , i > s , Brouuham . nntl tho mo . sfc earneafc

    intolloetuiil inquirer * into social economy ^ Amount these- men . there aro some who

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 17, 1857, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17101857/page/15/