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    1038 THE LEADER. [Saturday ,

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    INFLUENCE OF THE "LEADER" IN AMERICA. As...

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    WHAT IS MEANT BY "WEAKENING" THE ESTABLI...

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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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    Belgium, Cuba, And Turkey. In Three Quar...

    of the [ French ambassador . The old Turkish party and Russia took alarm : the Khoran was invoked ; the Ulemas raised something like an insurrection in Constantinople ; the Turkish ambassador threatened ; the Sultan gave way ; the Cabinet broke down ; the loan is repudiated , and the French ambassador threatens to withdraw . To France and . Russia , perhaps ,, the affair , ¦ whatever lengths it may attain , is of no great importance ; each may expect to get something out of any general disturbance : but to

    Turkey , peace or commotion means existence or destruction . Broken up as she is in every portion of her frame-work , Turkey cannot outlast a disturbance very long . If she opposes Russia she will be destroyed . If France threatens her , Russia will " pi'otcet" her , never to give her up . The stains quo in that quarter is not so vitally important to England as it is to Turkey ; but it is important to several English interests , more valuable than the Ionian islands : we need only

    allude to the highway to India , ahe disturbance , however , would transfer the rule from our old ally to one or other power less friendly to us . AVhat , then , is England doing in this new affair —where she might interfere , and might lend her voice and influence with great advantage to herself , to her ally , to the peace of Europe , and to the right distribution of power ? Unlike her own example in Cuba and in Belgium—so says the Post—in Constantinople she is maintaining a strict neutrality ! '

    1038 The Leader. [Saturday ,

    1038 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

    Influence Of The "Leader" In America. As...

    INFLUENCE OF THE " LEADER" IN AMERICA . As we know that fanaticism will drive men to excesses of faeetiousiiess unknown to any other species of mania , we might think the deception put upon the New YorJc Herald had been intended as a hoax . The hoax would be peculiar indeed , because the authors of it seem to have subjected themselves to a loss , and to be , as it were , the A ietims of their own practical joke ; which is not the usual course with hoaxes . But your fanatical agitator is very apt to be the victim of his own artifice ; designing to take in all the world , he takes in none but himself ; and the present is a capital instance . A letter , signed " " Williams and Lockhart , " has been transmitted to the Editor of the New York Herald , proposing to bribe that journal for the purpose of combating the election of General Wallbridge . Who Messrs . Williams and Loekhavt are , ayo do not know ; and until avc have published the present . statement we do not care to know or to inquire . There is a practical reason why avo do

    suppose them to have deceived the usually acute New York Herald , —for some hallucination evidently there i . s . The sfatement in this letter is , that ( rencral Wallbridge is an adventurer , dabbling in (';> lifbrnian . shares ; andthat lie was present at the July banquet of Mr . George Peabody , Avlieiv , notwithstanding the presence of " hundreds of ladies , " he became " boastlj r intoxicated , " and " insulted nearly e \ ery English gentleman present , hv declaring that the Government of t lie . United Slates intended to add

    Ireland to I ho number of the United States , and that if he A \ as . President he A \ ould be d—d i ( England should not fighl ; or declare herself independent of the other allied powers of Europe . " Now this statement in itself is u complicated problem . Jnthc first place it appears , from very credible testimony , that General Wallbridge is ) iot in the habit of indulging in intoxication , but so much I lie re verso thai , be is peculiarly temperate , addicted rather to water 111 an to any other

    species of excess . Secondly , we should like to have sonic insight , into t bat , peculiarly discriminating style which describes " -nearly every English gentleman" as having been insulted . Who were the exceptions ? What " English gentleman" avuh there who would be the reverse of in-Hiillc'l by Hum species ol declaration ? Possibly there might be English gentlemen of the IV ; ice parly , who were not amenable to the . sensation of insult .

    |{ u t tint ' narrative contains more . Wo are told that General Wallbridge ' " obtained an introduction loour IVoniier , Lord Derby , through the . Honourable iVl r . Walker , formerly Chancellor of your Exchequer , : ind that , he negotiated Avilh bis Lordship thousands of mining shares , which Mr . W : i . lker fell , himself called upon to redeem for Hie credit and honour of Hie . American nation . " A most extraordinary transaction ; and we call upon Mr . Walker to explain how , and

    from what funds he redeemed those thousands of mining shares ? Indeed , we have some right to claim the testimony of * Lord Derby , and to ask him how it happened that , on the first interview with General Wallbridge , he concluded a negotiation for " thousands of mining shares " ? If Messrs . Williams and Lockhart were themselves under the influence of anything stronger than water when they wrote , they give a real account of this introduction , we must suppose that Lord Derby had not only dined , but that he had undergone several dinners , before he could be wrought to that pitch of mining enthusiasm and share-holding avidity .

    However , having a reify strong idea that this General Wallbridge is a 1 * ery dangerous person , from the manner in which he distributed shares in England , seduced the Premier , and otherwise perverted British influence to his purposes , Messrs . Williams and Lockhart propose to deal with the New Yorh Herald on a plan which they understand to be common . " We address you , "

    they say , " as public journalists , having understood your paper to bo similar to the Examiner , not taking sides in polities , bufc one that is used very much in the Lfaflted States to influence public opinion , and , like the Examiner and Leader in this city , very successful in popular elections . " Why our success , whether in America or England , should subject us to insinuations of this sort , avc do not understand :

    but we find ourselves in tolerable good company . Setting aside General Wallbridge , of whom we have slight knowledge , we find ourselves associated in joint co-operation with Mr . Walker , Lord Derby , and our contemporary , the Examiner . The thing that surprises us , indeed , is , that the New York Herald should have treated this hallucination as a grave affair ; but since our contemporary has done so , we must inform him that the Examiner is'byno means tobe purchasedin the manner supposed ; andthat

    itsabstinence from taking sides in politics is also , to say the truth , a delusion of mania ; since our contemporary is distinguished amongst the Liberal journals especially devoted to the late GoA ernment , —not on any corrupt grounds at all , but simply , we believe , from political sympathy . Indeed , the practice of purchasing journals , if ever it existed , has fallen into general disuse in this country ; and for ourselves , AA e can only repeat Avhat we said last avccIc , —that no journal stands more unpledged to any party or person than our own .

    There is , indeed , a substantial reason why the New York Herald should have put some kind of faith in this communication . When men ballast their aA erments with precious metal , they generally have at least some kind of honest intention in Avhat they say—some kind of purpose ; and this flighty letter from Messrs . Williams and Lockhart , Avith a 50 Z . note . Now one is apt to believe a document enclosing a 50 / . note . There is a sort of bona fides in that gage altogether overwhelming . We pardon , therefore , our New York contemporary for submitting his judgment for the moment to a hallucination thus

    substantially booked ; the more so , since the editor of Hie New York paper was authorized to draw on Messrs . Williams and Lockhart for 200 / . more ! That avc may honourably influence elections in the United States we do not question , nor are ayo surprised that a London antagonist should proceed to strike us , in this boomerang fashion , by a kind of circumbendibus across the Atlantic . If we are surprised at , all , it ; is at the discovery thai . Messrs . Williams and Lockhart profess to be acting in concert with . Mr . George Thompson , " our late Member for tbo Tower Hamlets , avIio would visit the United ttfafcH , and counsel hifl

    friends against , supporting any measure which would place this General Wullbridge in nomination . " It seems , then , that while wo are on the side of General Wallbridgo , the Examiner , Mr . ' Walker , Lord . Derby , and Home other interest that we do not very well understand , we have for our enemies , Mr . George Thompson , the Abolitionists in general , and Messrs . Williams and Lockhart ; and that the result of the contest between ourselves , with tlm allieH aforesaid , and our enemies , Messrs . Willinins and Lock hart , the Abolitionists , and Mr . (» oorge Thompson , is to have a considerable efl ' ecl . on the New York

    elections . It may ho so . Wo neither ( IikcIm . hu our position , nor our influence , nor our allies ; although wo were unconscious of a , common interest with Lord . Derby . Wo only protest against

    the bribe . We have never had the cWp The only reward which we seek in the discussion of American politics is the approbation of on friends in the Union , with whose political prin ciples we feel a deep sympathy , and whose championship of our common principles we re gard as of the most powerful augury for the future destinies of the world .

    What Is Meant By "Weakening" The Establi...

    WHAT IS MEANT BY "WEAKENING" THE ESTABLISHMENT ? Of all the arguments used against the revival of Convocation during the past week , the most pitiful was , that it would " weaken" the establish .-ment . It is a sign of that moral cowardice , too common . nowadays , which shows itself when public action of any moment has to be taken . Our moralists do not ask whether a course be right or wrong , but whether it be pleasant or painful . There is a fatal disposition to shirk consequences , as if they could be shirked with impunity ; and an insane attempt to reach , a desired goal by setting out in a direction opposite to that marked on the finger-posts of principle . All this may be very trite , but it is very true and very much to the point ; and that such , remarks should be both trite and true of the Church of England , is sad enough ; and we are filled with a feeling akin to terror when we remember the part it assumes to play in the national education ; when we reflect on the influence it must exercise directly on its adherents , and indirectly on its opponents ; when we realize its tremendous grasp of society , and the results of its intervention on all sides . That the institution , which , above all others , should be honest to the core , is not so , but just the reverse ; that that Avhich should be real is a juggle and a sham , —these are sifrns which indicate rottenness at the

    heart of England . We tolerate it , we uphold it , we pay for it , we share in it , we are in every sense accessories to the fraud , and participators in the seeming profits . And when we are told that a consultation of the clergy , with a view to restore soundness—a consultation , mark , of those selected and appointed and alleged to be ordained of God to watch over the rest—when we are gravely told that this course would weaken the establishment , we are amazed at the blindness

    and folly of these self-appointed counsellors of the Church . We are compelled to ask—are they true members of the Church of EnglandP We are compelled to say that such advisers arc loss the true friends of the Church than we who do not accept her doctrines , and who reject her arrogant claims , but who espouse the cause of the honest minority of her children , because wo are anxious that Englishmen" should know Ayliat they do believe , and act up to the convictions

    they profess to entertain . We have always endeavoured to write tip to the highest level of the Church ' s claims . We have defined and described her apart from her secular characteristics . We have not dwelt on her great wealth , or the enormous patronage of her lay members , and the shameful practice ot disposing of tho cure of souls in tho interests ol families , or by the hammer of the auctioneer . We have uniforml y treated all tho different sections of tho Church as honest and sincere . lJUt this outcry raised by tho rumoured revival ol

    Convocation , lia » altered our views . Wo ar ° now convinced that the majority of those wJio profit by tho institution called the Church ot England , are , consciously or unconsciously , m-Hincere ; and that tho correct definition of Uie Church of England , is a corporate body of Lfi » - senterH , the several members of which agree to Hign Thirty-Nino Articles as an indisponaawo condition to enjoying the property of the coporation ; and that any measure which won make these Dissenters not virtually violato r <» l

    the Act of Uniformity , is held to bo u im ! ' j £ which would weaken the establishim '"' - in 1 ) 1 IU terms , that tho Church of England repoHeH oi the loaves and fishes—not of Christ , I »» Mammon . After till wo have written , avo *< " ' that tho views taken by tlio ( Jlobo , tlio . / /¦» < - the Daily News , and Lord Derby , are corrrf . i- ^ that tlio ' Church , iw a" engine ol politic fluence , and nothing else ; in tthort , n <*> i I n . ise , or cross , between Peter and Magi is . ^ process of milking it otherwise in Hagely A -weakening the establishment ; " « ) VI < l < l " '' rity more precious thing in tho eyes of iho n >' J J than religion itself .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 30, 1852, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30101852/page/10/