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    Arair, 20, 1850.] Wfyt &tH\*tt* 75

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    Histotty Of The Week. The Stomp Duties B...

    The paper-duty is an . increasing one ; last year it produced £ 810 , 000 , a proof that it does not interfere injuriously with the manufacture . The duty on newspapers also is an improving one ; that and the advertisement-duty produced about half a million sterling . This makes altogether £ 1 , 300 , 000 ; a sum too large for him to sacrifice , at a time when the Ho use w as so much disposed to vote for the repeal of taxes , without regard to the revenue : —

    " He hoped he was not more nervous than other Chancellors of the Exchequer on subjects connected -with the revenue of the country , bnt he could not look without anxiety to the course which the House seemed disposed to pursue ( or at all events a considerable portion of the House ) on these questions . Last year the finances had improved , and he had been enabled to announce in the annual statement he had made to the House a surplus of about £ 2 , 000 , 000 , and the balance sheet to which he had referred last night showed a balance of 24 millions . This was satisfactory ; but , looking at the character of the present and other motions which had been made , or of which notice had been given for a similar purpose , it almost appeared to him that the credit of the country was in greater danger now than when they had a deficiency instead of a surplus . "

    He called upon the House not to place the country in a position in which the question of repudiation ini ^ ht be raised . It would be most discreditable to the country to vote away £ 1 , 300 , 000 of revenue without providing a substitute . Mr . H ume was as little in favour of repudiation as any one , but there is no danger of that . Only let Ministers apply the surplus revenue they possessed to the repeal of the duties in question , and there would be no very great deficiency . le

    Mr . Ewart supported the motion on princip . Mr . Aglionby opposed it because , if correct , it would damage Government . Colonel Thompson was anxious to see the taxes on knowledge abolished , but could not vote for such a motion till the exchequer could afford it . Mr . Roebuck warned Ministers of the danger of letting the people remain without sound political information : — " The people were about to have political power in this country . He had always supported a large franchise in this country ; but in doing so he hoped that the Government would not at the same time put themselves in opposition to the education of the people . If an ignorant and in

    excited people determined to possess power regulating the affairs of this vast empire , they must obtain it ; but he trembled for mankind if they did . " Lord John Russell did not think that cheap newspapers were the best safeguards against revolutionary excess . No one can say that the present state of France is owing to the dearness of newspapers , or to the want of instruction among the people . In reply to the charge that he and his colleagues cared for nothing but holding on to place , he said they were ready to submit to it from a consciousness that it was unfounded : —

    " So long as we can maintain the principles on which we think the greatness of England has been foundedso long as we can keep her in the pursuit of that path which has been placed by Providence for her course , so long it will be a matter of pride to us to be the foremost advisers of our Sovereign . If it should please this House to take a course which we should disagree with , which we should think humiliating or disgraceful to the country to which we belong , then our names must be severed from the possession of power , and we could only lament that the House had taken a course which we thought unfortunate . " Mr . Disraeli treated the question simply as a proposition to surrender £ 750 , 000 of revenue . He contended that the vote of the previous evening virtually negatived the Stamp Duties Bill , so that Government was in possession of a surplus more than sufficient to make up for the loss which would result from abolishing the duty on paper ; a duty which it is not only desirable to remove on special grounds , but one which shares the objections to all Excise duties . He declared his intention to vote for the motion . The House having divided , the numbers were—For the motion 89 Against it 190 Majority against 101 The other three resolutions were then put and negatived without a division . Mr . Sla . net moved for a select committee on Tuesday evening to consider and suggest means of removing obstacles and giving facilities to safe investment for the savings of the middle and working classes . At present the working man who wished to invest his small savings , in land , for example , could not do so safely without paying a heavy tax , owing to the stamp-duty , the investigation of title and the complexity of conveyance . He did not ask the Governmentto give anything . All he wanted was to let the working classes have fair play . The motion was agreed to after a slight alteration proposed by Mr . Labouchere .

    Sir George Grey , on Monday evening , moved lor leave to bring in . a bill to make better provision for the interment of the dead in London and its neighbourhood . The object of the measure , which is founded on . a recent report by

    the Board of Health , is to avoid in- jury to the living , and secure decency to the burial of the dead in the vicinity of the metropolis . A suburban cemetery is to be formed , in which the burials from certain metropolitan parishes will take place , power being given by the bill to buy up and extinguish the rights of certain cemetery companies now existing . Compensation is also to be given to the clergy and other parties whom the bill may injure . After a short conversation , leave was given to bring in the bill , which was read a first time . The adjourned debate on Mr . Fox ' s Education Bill , on Wednesday evening , was a remarkable one . Mr . Stafford opened the discussion by moving that the bill be read a second time that day six months . He admitted that the great mass of the people are lamentably ignorant , but condemned such a mode of instructing them as Mr . Fox proposed , because it trampled on the rights of conscience , and would lead to the worst consequences of centralization . The bill is for the promotion of secular education ; the

    term *« secular" in this instance being , as ^ he wished to show , synonymous with " atheistic . " He denounced the Lancashire Public School scheme as " combining all the despotism of tyranny with all the confusion of democracy , " and called upon the House not to endow and give an ascendancy to * ' the smallest and worst sect in the country , the sect of the secularizers . " This is not a question of nonconformity or of church . " The principles of the

    bill are at war with Christianity , ^ people of England dare not say God speed to it . " The Earl of Akundel and Surrey , who seconded the motion , endeavoured to show the Infidel tendency of the present educational movement . He * quoted Mr . Laing ' s Notes of a Traveller , to prove , that the tendency of the Prussian system is to make a man a mere State machine , and that , in France , " all the teachers in the primary schools , in very extensive districts , are Socialists . " A system of mere secular education in England would have the same tendency . To' show that his alarm on that head was well founded , he called attention to Mr . Chapman's which he charac

    Catholic Series of publications , - terized as " books of a high intellectual character , beautifully written , and widely circulated from the highest to the lowest class . " From one of this series — Popular Christianity , by Mr . F . J . Foxton , a clergyman of the Church of England—he quoted a passage on " the futile and fallacious idea of teaching Christianity by dogmatical creeds and articles . " Another of the same series was — A Discourse of Matters pertaining to Religion , by Theodore Parker , " written in most attractive language , but containing most horrible and subversive doctrine . " He quoted several other passages from Christian Theism , Mr . Newman On the Soul , and Reverberations , all works

    belonging to the series published by Mr . Chapman , and bore testimony to the zeal displayed by the writers of them . " Those who promulgate these views are almost as zealous as a Roman Catholic priest in propagating the faith . " " Such measures as the present bill are precisely what are wanted by a school which cloaks itself under the name of Christianity . " Three centuries ago a great-Reformation , took place , and men set up the Scriptures in place of the teaching of the Church ; and now we are on the eve of another great change , in which it is proposed to lay aside the Scriptures entirely . This is the doctrine taught by the new school , and it is extraordinary the damage it is doing .

    " The present movement he regarded as that of a mere skirmishing party which would be easily driven in ; but what he called on the House to consider was that this was not the last attack , that the two armies were joined , that the battle-cry was ' religion' ' . irreligion , ' God ' or devil , ' and that the issue for which they must fight was heaven or hell . " Mr . Roebuck ridiculed Mr . Stafford ' s complaint that the bill is an invasion of religious liberty . This was a strange argument to be employed by one who

    upholds " a Church having peculiar dogmas , calling itself a ' State Church , ' and taking support from everybody , whether they belonged to it or not . " The speech of the Earl of Arundel was precisel y the same in spirit as that of Mr . Stafford . The former represents Grandmother Church , the latter Mother Church , and he had no doubt that some member would he found on the Ministerial side to represent some of her improper daughters . They are all alike ; there is a love of domination in them all ; and Swift never uttered a truer word than when he said that

    Jack is no better than Peter . Lord Ashley felt deeply alarmed at the threatening aspect of this question . We have arrived at a momentous crisis in the history of England : — " There are vast bodies , who called themselves Christians , from whose morality the whole House would dissent . For his part , he protested against the principle that the morality of the Scriptures has nothing whatever to do with its mysteries and doctrines . The moral precepts and the doctrines or dogmas of Christianity are inseparably connected . He only can receive the full force of the moral precepts of Christianity who receives tho florrmas and mvsteries with implicit belief , and in

    vain should you attempt to enforce upon the minds children the parables of the « Good Samaritan , ' and the < SnwOT ' or anv of the other beautiful and moral

    precepts of the New Testament , if you leave them under the conviction that He who delivered them was a mere man , and not the true and eternal son of the living God . " The scheme of education proposed was utterly impracticable , and , even if it could be adopted , would do infinitely more harm than good , by sapping all religious principle . . Mr . Monckton Milnes condemned the violent theological tone which the discussion had taken . He thought it was quite practicable to give the people secular education without danger to religion .

    He implored Ministers not to throw away the present opportunity without pledging themselves to take up the question . Lord John Russell condemned the bill entirely . To establish a system of education which excludes religion would be " a grievous falling off in our duty to religion and to God . " He objected to the despotic nature of the bill , which proposes to give the Privy Council the arbitrary power of levying taxes to the extent of some £ 3 , 000 , 000 a-year , without the intervention of Parliament , and without reference to the wishes of any of the great religious bodies

    in the country . The whole of the educational systems in England mix up religion with their secular instruction . What right have we then to expect that they will submit to a scheme which would force them to pay for a system of education that entirely excludes religion ? He was sorry that he could not give his support to the bill . He admitted that there is a lamentable want of education in the country , and that something ought to be done to suppl y that want . But they ought to have more accurate information on the subject than Parliament now possesses before they took any steps for that purpose .

    Mr . Hume expressed his regret at the speech of the Prime Minister . The Marquis of Blandford expressed his high approbation of it . ^ Secular education would put a suicidal weapon in the hands of un scriptural men , and would undermine the institutions of the country . On the motion of Mr . Anstey the debate was adjourned till next Wednesday week . The House was chiefly occupied , on Thursday , in discussing the provisions of the Larceny Summary Jurisdiction Bill , which was described by Mr . M'Cullagh as taking from the humble classes the protection of a competent judge and jury . Sir George Strickland condemned the bill as

    unconstitutional and tyrannical . It conferred the unlimited power of torturing , by flogging , all persons under sixteen , upon summary conviction before one magistrate at sessions , or two magistrates at petty sessions . Sir George Grey did not think there was anything very alarming in the bill . At present the power of summary adjudication was given to magistrates in petty sessions , where the offenders were under the age of fourteen , and he believed it might very safely and beneficially extend to persons two years older .

    Mr . Roebuck , Mr . Bright , Colonel Thompson , and other members spoke warmly against the bill , and especially against the flogging clause , which was ultimately all but expunged by a proviso moved by Sir George Strickland , and carried by 170 to 89 , that the punishment of whipping shall not be inflicted on boys above fourteen , years of age . The general impression was that this made the bill useless for any purpose , as the power of punishing youths by whipping is already the law of the land ; but Sir John Pakington declared his intention of going forward with it .

    The second reading of the Pirates' Head Money Repeal Bill in the House of Lords , on Thursday evening , gave rise to a brief discussion . The Earl of Ellenborouoh spoke in very severe terms of the late " military executions on the coast of Borneo . " It never could have been the intention of Parliament to give " head money" for the wholesale destruction of a tribe . Five hundred men had been destroyed in boats , and five hundred more in the jungles , and they appeared to have been engaged ratherin international warfare than in acts of piracy . He disapproved of the principle of the bill , which left Parliament to fix the remuneration incases of action with pirates . The Earl of Ellesmere defended Sir James Brooke from the attacks which had been made upon him for

    his Bornean exploits . The Earl of Ellenborouoh maintained that the slaughter of the natives at Borneo was not a case of repressing piracy . He warned Government against taking possession of Borneo . We have colonies enough , already , and are only weakening our naval and military force by occupying places which are of no use to us . Earl Gret quoted Singapore papers received by the last India mail to show that the late proceedings

    on the coast of Borneo have been attended with the most beneficial results . Five years ago no unarmed ship could carry on trade in that region ; but now , in consequence of what Sir James Brooke has accomplished , lucrative trade is springing up , all danger from pirucy being dispelled . Ho differed from the Earl of Ellenborough as to the policy of making a settlement at Labuan . That place might bo made a secure entrepot for our commercej and it would also

    Arair, 20, 1850.] Wfyt &Th\*Tt* 75

    Arair , 20 , 1850 . ] Wfyt & tH \* tt * 75

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 20, 1850, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20041850/page/3/