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    nm TdgrBi h m & iw3»r ,pfrg«i * BfcTOttf...

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    THE PETTIFOGGING CHURCH INQUISITION. Tkf...

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    Indian Finance. At The Eleventh Hour Mr....

    i & tiyities ; : told in the jargon peculiar to ^ Mulla' * ^ Pucka , " and " Qui Hyes , is by no means surprising . But it ia passing strange that the Government and administration of the finest possession of the British Crown should fail to awaken the attention and sympathy of those who represent the wisdom and sentiments of the British people . Some allowance , perhaps , should be made for the natural repulsion produced by Sir Ohabxes Wood ' s dull facts and dreary manner on the

    same occasion in the last session—an excuse , however , that cannot be made for those who have listened unprofltably to Mr . V . Smith ' s unusually interesting statement . Still , it is not only desirable , but just and necessary , that , for the future , the subject of Indian Finance should he submitted for discussion at an earlier period , and allowed to take precedence of party squabbles and struggles for

    place . The accounts now laid before the House , come down no farther than the official year 1852-53 , at which date there was a surplus of income over expenditure to the amount of nearly half a million . Unfortunately this state of pecuniary plethora no longer exists . Instead of an excess of income , we find an excess of expenditure in the estimates for 1854-55 , and to an extent very little short of three millions . This result , we are told , is to be attributed to the increased outlay for public works instituted

    in obedience to the expression of public opinion at home . There may be some ingenuity in tlrus shifting the burden of responsibility upon that small section of speechifiers and journalists who are held to represent the people of England . But , on reference to the actual estimate , it appears that the increased expenditure for public works , buildings , & c , very little exceeds that under the head of military charges : in either case it is less than one million . And of the

    amount ascribed to permanent improvements one-tenth has been employed in the construction of the electric telegraph , a very useful aid to the Government , but of equally doubtful benefit to the natives . What these really require is facility of intercommunication , and canals of irrigation . These two means will greatly diminish the ravages of famine ^ even if they do not render that affliction almost impossible . And much good might also be done by making an escape for the waters of

    the Jheels , or marahy lakes , which might thus be diffused in fertilising rills through a barren and thirsty soil . Various temporary causes may no doubt be assigned for the increased military charges , among which may be placed the annexation of Pegu , and the unsettled state of our relations with Ava . It is not our intention to discuss the policy of the last war with Burmah , but it may bo incidentally remarked that Mr . Bbight appears to have overlooked the real motives which

    induced the Q-overnor- Q eneral to undertake the conquest of Pegu . It was not for a paltry claim of 900 Z ., or to avenge a childish slight , but to prevent the Stars and Stripes from waving over the walla of Rangoon . Brother Jonathan likewise had established a grievance at the hands of the somewhat insolent governor of-that port , and the next step would assuredly have been the presence of

    an American squadron in the waters of the Irrawaddy . It is needless to inquire what would be the probable consequences of an Ajtncrican settlement on the eastern shores of the Bay of Bengal ; but it is a fair subject of congratulation that the contingency baa for the present been averted by the expenditure of ft few millions . ' Ifo one who possesses any actual knowledfte pf India can desire to behold the

    slightest wductdon . of the army dnring the existence of the so-called Independent States , which' are so many elements of discord and confusion : Of these protected or indepen dfent states there are one hundred and eighty , varying in extent from a single square mile to ninety-five thousand . In all there exist the same frightful abuses , the same grinding oppression of the people , tempered only by the greater or less restraint imposed by the British Government . It would demand more space than we can now afford to consider the justice and expediency of

    gradually absorbing the whole ot this vast territory . " Sooner or later this result is inevitable , and for the interests of humanity it is desirable that such a joyful consummation may not be long deferred . The expenses of Government would then be sensibly decreased , because ifc would be no longer necessary to maintain so large an army . The consolidation of our empire would also enable the authorities to direct

    their undivided attention to the amelioration of the people and the general improvement of the country . One entire system of police — perhaps eventually of law and revenuemight be established from the mountains to the sea . And , in addition to these manifest advantages , an increased revenue of thirteen millions sterling would enable the Government to introduce Free Trade in its largest

    form , and gradually liquidate the debt that now absorbs too large a portion of the resources of our Indian Empire . We shall then never again have to lament a deficiency of three millions . The greater the expenditure , the greater will be the income , for even at this moment the real wealth of India is an unexplored mine that requires only peace , enterprise , and capital to pour forth an abundance surpassing the dreams of Oriental fabulists .

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    The Pettifogging Church Inquisition. Tkf...

    THE PETTIFOGGING CHURCH INQUISITION . Tkfi defective energy in . the official administrators of the Church of England has its usual results in cruelty and injustice . The episcopal body neglect their true office , of overlooking the administration of the Church , and seeing that it be correct according to the rules ; they leave the correction of error to that most unchristian of all tests , litigation ; they submit the control of the material

    machiuery designed for spiritual purposes to the temporal courts ! This is certainly reducing Protestantism ad absvrdmn ; and it shows how depraved has become the state of an establishment , which is neither true to its own standards as a corporation dictating the faith of a people , nor faithful to what would be its more enlarged duty , of conforming itself to the actual state of intelligence and belief in the country , and becoming the Church of the People of England .

    A contemporary , not remarkable for any innovating tendencies in Church matters , points to this state of the Ecclesiastical Government , and especially to four cases , now disturbing the peace of parishes in as many dioceses . Knight abridge is awaiting the docision of Dr . Lushinoton on the- dispute

    between Churchwarden Westkiitok and Pastor L « iPDKr , Tj , respecting the old question of cross , stone altar , and candlesticks . At Frome ^ Mr . Bennett is vindicating flowcra , & c ,, against the attacks of a lay parishioner , and the epistolary disapproval of fcho Bishop Off Batjh and weils , who throws cold water on the flowers . The Hildebrand of Exeter

    refuses to institute the Hevcroncl C . 0 . IiAYARD , who haB been presented to tho living of' Escot by Sir Joim Kenwawatt , on the ground that the presentee is unsound in doctrine — according to tho rubric of

    Exeterj / w & ich < unhappily is not thcr same as . the ; rubric o £ Canterbury . At Bedminster there is a new church recently built by the munificence of a resident in the neighbourhood , assisted by some other amateurs . In the church is ^ a reredos , or screen , representing the , nativity , the crucifixion , and the ascension , not , iu picture ,, which has often , represented these events to Protestants , but in sculpture ; and some Protestantly sensitive eyes have discovered that in the sculptured representation of the crucifixion there is a crucifix ! The Bishop op Gloucester visited the church , did not

    disapprove of its ornaments , and all seemed to go smoothly for consecration . The screen had been presented to the church by three gentlemen in the neighbourhood—one of whom is a Unitarian , another a Dissenter—as a mark of respect to the friend who was principally interested in building the new church . It is pleasing to witness thia union of men belonging to different sections of the great Catholic Church in an act of respect for a friend , embodied in a permanent

    tribute to the Father of all . Some persons , however , who call , themselves Christians , use this very gage of Christian union as a means of discord ; and they addressed a letter to tho Bishop , so bitter , so wanting in personal respect , so evidently designed to produce " strife and contention , " says the Bishop , " and to wound the feelings of the donors— three of the most respectable citizens of Bristol , who never were suspected of any papistical bias "—that the Bishop has been obliged to condemn the screen on the

    score of its inexpediency . He also has some objection on the score of" imagination ; " the artist not having been sufficiently accurate in the representation of the events in question . Evidently there is wanted a tribunal to settle what is or is not the \ isage of the , Church of England in such matters—what can or cannot be allowed—wliat is or is not

    the final authority for reference . We frequently see Bishops compelled to do that of which they disapprove , or to disallow that of which they approve , while we see other Bishops in mutiny against the law of the land , and called to account before the civil courts for matters strictly within " the discipline of the Church .

    In revenge , as the French say , they take ifc out sometimes upon sonie less fortunate member of the Ecclesiastical body , who serves as scapegoat or whipping-boy , because he does not manage to arrange his mutiny according to the established rules which have grown up under the instituted litigation of the Christian Church . Archdeacon . Denison " is one of those bad boya . Ho has already been called to account , and he is now about to be subjected to a mandamii * from the

    Court of Queen ' s Bench . If there were a proper tribunal , Georgt : Anthonv would be called before it , ordered what to do , punished for disobedience , or expelled from the Church if finally mutinous . It might bo arbitrary , but it would bo regular , spiritual , and episcopal . Failing oitber to assert or enforce its authority , tho Supremo Administration of tho Church lenvea its duty to any beneficed Dissenter in disguise , and suffers a son of ita corporation to be persecuted , acthe

    cording to tho modern English fashion , in purse . Ho is wot put to " tho question " ho would have been in tho Inquisition , but bo is subjected to the torture of lawyers ' bills . Such is the Holy Office as ifc is ndminiHfcered by our sacred and orthodox Church ! It is a moan exercise of power ; and , without approving tho spirit or tho conduct of a Denison , wo proteafc in tho etrongoat manner that wo can againol tho pitiful form of such a persecution .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 11, 1855, page 768, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_11081855/page/12/