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    July 22, 1854.] THE LEADER. 685

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    PUBLIC REWARDS. Oira of our national mis...

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    HOW TO MAKE THE CRYSTAL PALACE SUCCEED. ...

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    The New Public-House Law. The Plan For D...

    hearts of their hearers , and the churches also will be crowded . That is , if no attempt he made to drive the people into them . Let grounds he kept free for the public , —let , for example , no Hampstead Heath be built over , by fabricating upon old manorial rights new proprietary rights , and such places will continue to be crowded by the working class . But it is not to be done by compulsions and prohibitions . " Working men' will not be driven into church as a pis alter .

    Try the same process with any other class , and see if it will succeed . Xet any man even of the upper class walk to church in the morning , walk to a rational museum or intellectual garden , in the afternoon ; lounge amongst the beauties of nature in the intervals and afterwards ; and he will discover that the enjoyment of life is hungry work , and thirsty work too . Let him , then , when his after-church walk is over , go to the

    convenient public-house , and be told that it has just closed , or that there remains ten minutes for him to eat his dinner in , —or rather let him be told that he cannot drink anything " on . the premises" at all , but that 3 ie can only buy something , and eat it on the next milestone if he likes , if the policeman does not tell him to " move on ; " — -let him be told these things , and he will discover that the new law relating to public-houses is vexatious and intolerable . Let him ask the reason for

    these restrictions , and be told that it is concern for his morals ,- —that very benevolent persons in authority have resolved that he shall be only rational in hia recreations , Sabbath-observing , and sober ; and lie will feel , we venture to say , sentiments tbe most revolutionary towards those authorities , will feel anything but conciliated towards Sabbath-observing or , perhaps , even sobriety . It may be objected that the new lawwill not be exceptional , would include all

    classes in its control . Possibly , though we will not believe till we see . But , at all events , it refers most especially to the inn accommodation of the humble . "Will the genteel class really suffer any restriction from tlie new regulations ?—will the place of dining , the dinner-hour , the amount of champagne , or anything else , be subjected to a new stint . Gentlemen , it may be answered , are not addicted to drunkenness , and therefore there is no necessity to restrain them by preventive

    laws ; they are better educated , and they can vent the energy of their nature in recreation more varied than drinking ; besides , if they do wish to get drunk , —which happens sometimes , it is said , with Parliament men , —they can do it at home , or on any other day except Sunday . So , after all , the now law is intended to force upon the working class virtues with which the other classes may capriciously coquette ; yet the virtue of those other classes is entrusted to the keeping of education and good taste , with the policeman to keep in check only

    flagrant excesses . It appeal's to us that the same influences might suffice also for the working classes : begin with good education ; extend every conceivable opportunity for rational enjoyment ; strengthen the policeman , to collar the actual drunkard and prevent brawls within and without the public-Louso ; and then leave the working classes free to arrange their amusements in their own way . Trust to the benign influences you preach , and to free trade in morals as well as m material goods .

    July 22, 1854.] The Leader. 685

    July 22 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 685

    Public Rewards. Oira Of Our National Mis...

    PUBLIC REWARDS . Oira of our national misfortunes , which tho public perceive ae plainly as those who servo tho public experience acutely , i » , that we are without any organisation for rowardmg public Bfsrvicoa . Whon a groat character turns up wp give him a Blenheim , or a

    Strathfieldsaye , and a grand parliamentary present ; and we can knight Lord Mayors ; and we can get rid of , by sending up to the House of Peers , successful , but exhausted , statesmen . These are the great things we can do ; but we have no machinery for testing our gratitude or our reverence for less conspicuous , but still eminent , men . This is the disadvantage of a monarchy surrounded by republican institutions ; for a monarchy has a small civil list , and a narrow court , and the republican institutions are entirely engrossed in " reforming" themselves—so as to compete with the minor eminent men .

    IF or instance , Thomas Hood , who gave the tone and the impetus to the modern phiLvnthropy of the rich , who are being startled by the horrors of competitive civilisation , died , according to Monckton Miktes , in such dire poverty , that that gentleman , a poet too , was under the necessity of seeking in the private munificence of Sir B . Peel the means of deterring bailiffs from clutching at the bedclothes of the expiring humourist . Still , he dies : and someyears elapsed before a hero-worshipper , seeking the . heroics in Kensall-green Cemetery , observes , hastening to

    communicate his discovery to the public , not yet tired of-singing the " Song of the Shirt , ' * that the Yorick of our time lay in a grave destitute of the slightest memento . The appeal of this discoverer was fortunatel y responded to , for private enterprise exceptionally undertook to immortalise a g ^ reat poet—the State , of course , though it arbitrates in the controversies between , rival printing machines , not seeing : the necessity of doing any honour to him who had given so much employment , with , so much benefit to the world , to so many such machines . ¦

    Hood is one of a large class of minor great men who obey their intellectual instincts and wlio forego such claims upon the world as may arise from winning a Waterloo , which in a few years is resultless , or from making a fortune which blesses mankind only by a politicoeconomical accident . Doubtless great writers are not the less morally great because they never demand Strathfieldsayes or large pensions : but when they are dead—would a Pantheon cost much ?

    Take another instance . Two young officers of our army go forth upon the news of war just as young Englishmen used to do in the last century—chivalrously to complete their education by " a campaign in Flanders . " They seek adventures , not by insulting Turkish ladies within the frontiers of the allies' encampment at Gallipoli , Sehuroia , or Varna , but they ride straight on to the foremost posts of tho Turkish army . They are shut up in Silistria , and by the influence of

    tho physical superiority and traiued intellect of Europeans , they become , if not the accredited generals , the real leaders in the Turkish defence . By their example , and prudent daring , and disciplined skill , they represent within the Turkish fortress the morale of the British army at their back , and therefoio induce a defence which is not only in itself conspicuously splendid , hut which in political results is so important that Lieutenants Nasmyth and Butlor , whoso actions inevitably lemiud us of Don Juan and Johnson at the

    eioge of Ismail , may bo said to have turned the course of political aflairs in a European struggle . Lioutonant Butlor dies from the effects of the wounds roceived in his gallant chieftainship . Omar Puaha commands a monument to him . But in England what is it in our power to do unless we appeal to chance private enterprise—rin which case thoro would bo far smaller prospect than for an Albert statue , —to honour tho memory of our young countryman ? Butler's companion in anna survives : equal-iu braveryan 4 in . morifc , ho now represents a doable sot pf ataiine .

    But his laurels have not been gathered in routine service , and what promotion is he likely to obtain ? He will not even be so fortunate as Captain Edwardes , who also suffered from the misfortune of being young , but who did win a battle with the authority of some sort of orders , and who accordingly got his majority—which amounted , perhaps , to a hundred pounds a year extra pay .

    There are still other instances arising out of a week ' s news . Tbe other day there arrived in London two men who had done great service to England—Mr . Hargreaves , the discoverer of the Australian gold , and Mr . La Trobe , who had governed with zeal and loyalty , if not with popularity , a colony disorganised and demoralised by that discovery .

    Hargreaves had been refused by the colonists a paltry 10 , OOOZ ., which in the first instance it was proposed to vote to him as an award for his felicitous discovery : a discovery creating a new world to commerce , enriching the golony and benefiting every countinghouse in every part of Great Britain . Mr . La Trobe had taken a cold farewell of hia

    subjects , and as ex-pro-consul does not find on reaching London , that the English people have even engaged apartments for him at an hotel . Hargreaves may find some compensation for colonial ingratitude in a soiree at the Geographical Society , when Sir U . Murehison will confidentially tell him that he ( Sir U & oderick ) was the real discoverer of the gold : and Mr . La Trobe -will get a knighthood , and then probably sink into whist circles at Bath Are these the evidences of a civilised , selfgoverned community ?

    How To Make The Crystal Palace Succeed. ...

    HOW TO MAKE THE CRYSTAL PALACE SUCCEED . In spite of the episcopal benediction the Crystal Palace is not quite a success . To tak > one simple fact , which is worth a host of arguments , the shares are already at a slight discount . The speculation never won much favour with the clear-headed men who conduct the business of the world in the city of London , and the event has proved that they were not mistaken in their judgment . Of

    course , if the directors wish us to believe that theix object was to establish a school of art , at any cost and without hope of profit , criticism must hold its peace in the presence of such unexampled patriotism . But as their avowed intention was to make money , while they claim all the credit that belongs to public benefactors , it is worth while to point put the causes of their disappointment , and an , absolute duty to define the exact position which they hold . i 7

    What is the actual experience of every one who has paid a visit to the Palace ? No one denies the majestic beauty of the structure , with its gardens , fountains , statues , and courts . It is a wonder of tho world . No building , in any other country , will bear comparison with it . But , in what sense is it a school for tho English people ? True enough , there are splendid \ vorksofbeauty , and it ia not an idle boast that you may witness , almost at a glance , tho gradual development of human art . But tho English people

    —and it is to the people that the ralnco is inscribed—are ignorant of art : they' walk through their own Palace in silent admiration : they do not understand a titlio of what they see . How should they ? They luvvo never been , tnughb , and it ia quite iihpossible to educate them by a more appeal to sight and sewao . If tho Ccyatal Palinro ' ia to . inspire tho mosses with n lovo of art , there must bo some organised means of instruction . Catalogues will not servo the pnrtiofee , There niuat bo living guides to interpret ; the splendid mystery . Wo do not want an aru > y of peripatetic boros , but we think , , fchat a . show

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 22, 1854, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_22071854/page/13/