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Leader (1850-1860), 28th December 1850, Edition Town of 2, Page 951, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      right : in other words , that the good of man , and not the will of God , is the point of view from which the question is regarded . That these two are substantially one and the same —that the -will of God , rightly understood , always is the good of man , does not affect the present question ; for , though either road , rightly followed , will lead us to the same practical result , yet our disposition to undertake the enquiry , as well as the spirit in which it is pursued , will greatly depend on which of the two modes is indicated to us . Now , the mountain road of abstract right , it seems to me , is always a safer one than the meadow path of practical expediency . At least , I know this much : I would rather lose my way

      in seeking to discover the right , than stumble upon it in an attempt to find the profitable . Hence I cannot help wishing , when the question of Divorce is under discussion , to hear more of it on the divine side , and less on the human ; to see the matter handled now as it was handled by such a man as Milton . I grant that his first step was to bring all the power of human reasoning and eloquence to show the necessity and desirableness of a change ; but , no sooner had he established this point beyond controversy , than he passed on to show the harmony between " Reason and Revelation , and to prove that what the good of man required , the will and law of God sanctioned and confirmed .

      Hence it is a matter of some surprise to me that our arguments are so exclusively borrowed from the " Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce " ( the highest , and , to my mind , the strongest—being least often referred to ) , and that so little use has hitherto been made of the Tetrachordon . It may argue a weak mind , but I am free to confess that all the reasonings of the former treatise would have failed to change my opinion , had not those passages of Scripture , which appeared at first unfriendly to Milton's views , been so effectually cleared up by his commentary as really to serve the cause they appeared to oppose .

      The object of the present letter will now be evident . I wish to invite the attention of all who are devoutly studying this vital question to a consideration of its abstract merits , rather than its practical tendencies . Whether a change in the Marriage Laws will be productive of distant or even of immediate good , is not , to my mind , the question to be solved ; but whether such a change ought , on moral and

      religious grounds , to be made . Once settle the question of absolute right , and practical difficulties will take care of themselves . What should be will be , whether ¦ we oppose or favour it : but , though it matters little to the truth on which side individuals range themselves , it matters very much to the individuals themselves . Let us all , then , enquire into the grounds on which we advocate or oppose Divorce , and let there be a full and free discussion of the religious side of

      the question . In the hope that these imperfect remarks may elicit something bettor , i \ o matter on which side , I am , VL'ry respectfully yours , I ' . E . ( J .

      Untitled Article

      SOCIAL REFORM . London . Dob . 21 , 1 S . "; O . Si u , —Poor Kip Van Winkle ! I could not but think of him when I read the letter signed \ V . II . Barton , inXo . 39 of the Loader . Seo how he writes upon the oft-repeated Malthusian theories . The italics are Mr . Barton's : — "In Mr . Forstcr ' s fourth letter he appears to attribute the excess of population over production to deficient agriculture , when the fact surely is that this evil arises from the limited extent of the earth ' s surface . While land does not encrease , and population is continually encreasing , there always ? nust be an excess of population over production , unless some means be found to keep down the former . "

      Now who would suppose , until he saw the thing in print , that a writer in the present day would advance these fallacies , fallacies refuted by his own existence , without appending one word of proof or of apology for its absence . Mr . ' Jiarton . must , ere ho wont to sleep , have been one of those cool , clever men , who assume their promises and dispense with proofs , and he evidently thinks that the world is where it was when he went to sleep .

      human being left as the celebrated remainder of the Kilkenny cats . Eight persons , doubling geometrically in periods of twenty-five years from the days of Noah till now , would give a number so enormous , that , though the figures might be placed before our eyes , no terms have yet been invented by which an idea of its immensity could be expressed . I give Mr . Barton the benefit of the assumption that the deluge was general . I here give Mr . Malthus ' s illustration of his theory , for the sake of the request I shall append to it : —

      " A man who is born into a world already possessed , if he cannot get subsistence from his parents , and if society do not want his labour , has no claim of right to the smallest portion of food , and , in fact , has no business to be where he is—at Nature ' s mighty feast there is no vacant cover for him . " Will Mr . Barton reconcile this with the benevolence of the Creator , and tell us if it is just to punish a creature for coming into the world , seeing that he is not consulted , and could not take the census , nor count the covers if he was ?

      Malthus omitted the passage above quoted after his second edition , that he might not inflict verbal violence on the feelings of his readers , but he in no way retracted the spirit of it ; on the contrary , it is the essence of his system . Now , I know that if I set Mr . Barton to adduce his proof I should ask him to take more trouble than , perhaps , he would feel inclined . I therefore ask him to refute one argument against his theory first . I opine it will not be difficult for him because he is so assured of the truth of his theory that he has , with the boldness of conscious strength , asserted it without deeming a single proof necessary . Edward Search .

      In the palmy days of the Malthusian philosophy , ¦ whi ch must have boon the time when our friend fell asleep , it was not usual for the disciples of that school to prove their theory ; and our friend supposes the world is us ho left it , and he has not heard that , if the theory were true , men must have eaten themselves up ere Malthus was born . The existence of man upon the earth , and the constitution of nature , prove God ' s intention to a large portion of his creatures , that man should live upon it . It is , therefore , for those who say no , to prove it , and to account for the adaptation of the produce of the earth and tho elements to man ' s wants .

      If Mr , Barton will multiply the encrease from Noah nncl his sons and their wives upon the geometrical jatio , » issiuiiin < j food to encrease arithmetically only , ha will iind that , long before the advent of his friend Malthus , there could rot have been so much of a

      Untitled Article

      THE ART OF MISQUOTATION . Dec . 26 , 1850 . Sir , —If it would not involve a departure from your usual course , might I request you to give publicity to the enclosed parallel between a notice of " Antonina , " inserted in your columns as from an article in the Edinburgh Revieio , and the actual passages from which it is extracted ? I think it possible that your readers may be edified by the comparison and the reflections which it naturally suggests . I am , Sir , your obedient servant , The " Whiter of the Article . ( 1 . ) The descriptive style ( 1 . ) Its descriptive style of Mr . Collins is eloquent , is as eloquent , though not and " Antonina" possesses so uniformly impassioned , historical truthfulness . as that of Amymonc , while in historical truthfulness it is , at least , equal to Pericles . ( 2 . ) It is impossible to ( 2 . ) Hut it is , of course , enumerate its impressive impossible in n single sensituations and its strokes of tcnee to express with decent tragic irony . ]> f rspicuity the complication of the story , or even to enumerate the' impressive situations and the strokes of tragic irony which such materials , in the hands of a skilful workman , might be expected to produce . ( 3 . ) « ' Antonina " has ( 3 . ) Antonina has earned earned for itself popularity for itself popularity in Engjn England and a transla- land and possibly an introtion in Germany . —Edin- duction into Germany ; but hxvrgh Review . Oct ., 1850 . we should hesitate in adjudging it a more decided apotheosis .

      Untitled Article

      A Clergyman ' s Testimony . — The following is an extract from a letter , which we print because authorized to do so by the writer ; we constantly receive from our opponents testimonies as flattering , though we dare not give them to the public . The reader can imagine how theycheorus in our labours , how they repay our toil and convince us of the blessed truth that tolerance and love of out-speaking is in the present a <* e the monopoly of no class or sect , but deeply permeating through the whole public of enlightened men . The readers of the Loader are as frequently opponents of its doctrines as supporters of them ; but they all unite on the common ground of absolute freedom of opinion : —

      " You carry on the Leader with great spirit . Would I could convert you to a better creed , that is , of course , to mine . Perhaps you will scarcely reciprocate the wish , for , after all , it is very comfortable to have a settled creed , whether it be wise or no . Your defence of Bennett was very generous and kindly-spirited . I hate cant and unreality quite as much as you can ; but my reason is soberly convinced of the truth of dogmatic Christianity , and 1 have read and weighed Froude , Foxton , and Professor Newman , ay , and greater men than these . But my faith matters little ; your courage and your honesty 1 do Rrtmire , and I like plain speaking . Truth can never sutler from it . "

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      Critics are not the legislators , but the judges polic * of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh lleview .

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      In a review of Carlyle ' s Latter-Day Pamphlets in Wednesday ' s Times , referring to his energetic though somewhat overstated declaration that " Christianity is as good as extinct in all hearts , *' the critic makes these admirable remarks : — " But even supposing that he were right on this point , and that Christianity were really extinct in the hearts of men , he must acknowledge that it still exists to a vast extent in their heads and mouths , and fairly blocks the door against the advent of any truer faith . Why , then , does he not make it the first object of his denunciation and his attack ? Why does he waste his energy on the

      smaller and derivative ' shams , ' while this , the great and original sham , lying full in his path as a social reformer , remains unassailed ? He is a great admirer of the Hebrew piophets . Let him follow their example , and direct his thunders first against idolatry . For he may depend upon it that Vico ' s one intelligible word was true ; all civilization is founded on religion , and unless religion be ri'jht all parts and functions of society will be wrong . We call his attention as a philosopher to the ' root of the matter . ' Christianity and the Churchthese as a matter of fact are the practical questions of the day . "

      True enough , and therefore have we , with a full conviction of the absolute importance of the matter , swerved from the ordinary path of journalism , and made Religion a standing topic of discourse . We believe with the reviewer that the system of compromise and vague assent blocks out the advent of a truer faith ; and that the only way of restoring to Religion its proper healthy operation in society is by setting thought free and striving earnestly to get at the actual convictions of mankind . At a time when Christianity itself was the " dangerous

      doctrine subversive of all sound morality , " Minutius Felix , a Roman Church and State s , published a dialogue in favour of the " Religion of his Fathers , " and in vituperation of the Christians . " How much wiser and nobler it is , " exclaims QasciL . ius , the Pagan , " to accept what our fathers have taught us as a sufficient guide to the truth ! how much wiser to allow of no license of private judgment respecting the Gods—but to believe our ancestors , who in the infancy of mankind , near the birth of the world , were great enough to be worthy

      of Gods for their companions ana . '" ny if there is any sound sense in the frequent appeals to the " wisdom of our ancestors , " do not see how this argument is to be met . Here are men calling upon others to " stand by the Religion of their Fathers "—and alleging , moreover , that besides the respect due to them as ancestors , they claim the respect due to the companions of the Gods , and , consequently , as men " who ought to

      know . " It is well every now and then to remind intolerant Christians that Christianity itself was once dreaded as anarchical ; and we beg the reader not to suppose we bring it forward as a novelty by any means , but rather as a reminder . It is well to . learn lessons from the centuries , and place ourselves imaginatively in . the condition of an alarmed Pagan confronting a new doctrine , that we may know how old obstructions ever thwart the advent of new truth . But as Hohnb finely

      sings—•• There ' s always daylight somewhere in tho world "and however we may be stumbling in the shadows of night the dawn is breaking sweetly for other portions of our race .

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      This is the week of Christmas Books and Christmas Numbers , but the show is not so striking as on former years j nor do we hear of so many new publications as usual—the Exhibition apparently having usurped speculation . Two new publications , however , we will mention . The Literary Gazette is to begin in 1851 a new existence , emerging from the miserable condition of inanity in which it has so long languished j and , with new editor , new writers , new proprietors , and a new plan , proposes

      to be a really literary journal . 1 he Art Circular , published by Cundall and Addey , is more of a trade circular , but the illustrations will render it attractive and efficient as a means of advertising . We suggest , however , that criticism be cither abstained from altogether , or else done in a style superior to that of the first number : a mere statement of the nature and contents of each work , without an expression of opinion , would be far better .

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      Every one at all conversant with translations will be aware of the numerous and often ludicrous mis-

      Xitttatntt.

      Xittxatnxt .

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      A Countenance a ft B it Dbath . —A corpse seems as if it suddenly knew everything , and was profoundly at peace in consequence . — Leigh Hunt ' s Tablo-lalfi .

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      Dec . 28 , 1850 . ] 2 Tf > $ & £ && £ !*« 951

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 28, 1850, page 951, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1863/page/15/