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Leader (1850-1860), 2nd August 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 724, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      of them , named Delbrouck , was condemned to fifteen months' imprisonment , to 500 francs fine , and to be deprived of his civil rights for five years . Instead of resorting to decided yet moderate and legal measures of repression , when needful , and thus endeavouring to gain strength , by a gradual development of constitutional principles , and by a wise toleration of public discussion , this caricature of Imperialism has only prolonged a reign of terror and violence . Three millions of electors have been insolently disfranchised , as felons and vagrants ; the

      education of the people deliberately sacrificed , in order to propitiate the priests and Jesuits , headed by Montalembert ; and a regular crusade proclaimed against the press , or rather against the organs of the Republican party . Of course , with such a select company of jurymen , convictions follow each other in rapid succession , and fine and imprisonment has been inflicted by these mild , papal , propagandists for an article against capital punishment . Such is the novel form of constitutional government in France at this moment , which has received the support of an influential portion of the English press .

      But , consolidated as it were by the pressure from without , these adverse circumstances seem to have imparted additional vigour to the cooperative principle ; and the associations , by their own internal strength , have been enabled to resist the blind fury of the political storms which threatened these industrial edifices with destruction . Thus , in defiance of papacy and absolutism , France —the great experimental laboratory for all new social an 1 political theories—having , in 1848 , initiated a vast political movement , which must ultimately absorb all the Continental poweis of Europe , as into a vortex , is now silently but actively engaged , with her myriad-handed people , in consolidating her republican institutions , by means of a peaceful social movement— " The self-organization of labour . "

      \ Y hy , then , are you , the people of England , so apathetic on all social and political questions ? Absorbed in your present prosperity , have you lost all recollection of past sufferings r Do you not anticipate the possibility of future calamities ? For you political action has become a moral duty , because it is so inseparably connected with your social emancipation . In loed , the enfranchisement of the adult ir . ale popul ition is valuable only as a step to other organic and social reforms , among which I regard as the most important , in connection with the cooperative system , an improved distribution , and largely

      increased subdivision of property—especially of Ian / led property , and ; i : i amended law of inheritance—the abolition of primogeniture . Land , in tr . is , is different from other kinds of property , that it uas thcorigina ! inheritaiieeof the human race ; and though public reasons exist for its being appropi i . ltd , yet the modeof its distribution is a matter of li'inrm ins : itiuion . This , therefore , depends on t 3 ie laws and customs of societv , and the rules by which it is determined are very different in different a ^ cs ; in d countries , and may be still further altered ; i' » d improved whenever society chosea . The vnst accumulation of wealth in a limited number of hands

      has a tendency t generate luxury and extravagance ; iiiid while one class of the community is engaged in irippljing wants thus artificially created , a ? id ° their luh-iur div . ri ; : d fiom its legitimate channel of useful product ! > n , a-iothi r large class is deprived of even that " proper nouiis ii : ne : it and convenient clothii g " which the stateowes to every citizen , and ha * to endure n kind of life altogether incompatible with health . But as Mr . Mill very wisely says , " It is not the subversion ( f individual property that should be aimed at , but the improvement of it , and the participation of every member of the community in its benefits . The principle of private property lias never yet had a

      fair trial la any country ; and !<•; -s t-o , perhaps , in this country than in some others . The social arrangements * of modern Europe : commenced from a distribution ot properly which was the result , not of just partition , or acquisition by industry , but , of conquest and violence ; and notwithstanding what industry has been doing for many centuries to modify the work of force , the system / still retains many traces of its origin . The laws of property have never yet conformed to the principles on which the justification of private , property rests . They have , made property of things which never ought to be property , and absolute property where only a qualified properly ought to exist . They have not . held the balance' fairly between

      human beings , hut have heaped impediments upon some to K ' adv . ullages to ' others ; they have purpoHcly fostered inequalities and pievented all from starting fair in the race . That all should indeed atari on perfectly equal tcniw , is inconsistent with any law of private property ; but if the tendency of legislation hud been to favour the diffusion , instead of the concentration , of wealth ,---to encourage ( In ; subdivision of the large masses , instead of sliiving to keep them together , -the principle of individual properly would havo been found tohave no nceesaary connection with tho physical and social evils which have made bo many minds turn eagerly to any prospect of roliof , however desperate . The Lecturer wound up with a brief account of the T'ttKUnh AaaociatioiiH

      Untitled Article

      TIIK ECLIPJSE OF MONDAY . The eclipse of the sun on Monday was an entire failure as an exhibition in London . ( Jroy clouds Heudded thick and fast over the sky , and the existence of the huh itself had to be taken for granted . There were Home mnai t showers in the forenoon—indeed up to two o ' clock , when the weather partiall y cleared up , and the clouds were thinner around the sun . Soon after two , the beginning of the eclipse was visible to very persevering mortals ; the sun looking much like u bill of illuminated mound glass with a piece chipped out . Hy degrees as the clouds separated , the patch of dnrkucsn assumed a more decided form ; and some time before three o ' clock , the lorui of the moon was visible , and more than half of the nun obscured . Hut after three , down came dark masses of cloud , carefully concealing tho mur and moon and everything else skyward . Smoked glass telescopes ceased to bo of tho ( slightest une . The gazers gave the matter up in despair . Everybody weal about his business with his accustomed alacrity ¦ and , in the classical language of the turf , the whole thing was a " sell . " Even tho darkness which had been predicted did not come off . On a gloomy diiv hke Monday , half a dozen iuoouh might . JmVe nil coin * : between uh and the huh and made no difference m the light . London wna dull , it in true ; [> ut then it is ho often dull Unit nobody took any notice of that phenomenon .

      In Devonshire there was a drizzle , and in Durham fine weather . The good folks of Dublin saw the eclipse to perfection . But nowhere in England was there darkness which may be felt ; and all anticipations proved erroneous . In Paris the eclipse was very visible , the suri shining with great brilliancy at the moment when the moon rolled between us and the solar rays . All Paris looked upward and saw . At Frankfort the weather was likewise fine . The whole progress of the observation was visible . Great numbers were on the look out . The darkness was not at all remarkable . At present the light was likened to moonlight ; in Germany it is called shade .

      Untitled Article

      THE LAND OF THE LABOURING MAN . Mississippi , June 12 , 1851 . My dear Sik , —I know that you have a good deal of anxiety relative to the subject of emigration , for your sympathies with the toiling thousands of Great Britain have been often and eloquently expressed in your paper ; and I must reproach , myself for having remained idle for so long a time in not communicating with you . Since I enjoyed the comfort of an English fireside amidst my friends and relatives , about twelve months have elapsed . Prior to that time , I had ample opportunity of inquiring into and making myself acquainted with the condition of the workingclasses of the agricultural districts of Various parts of England ; and as I was born and raised amongst the noble-hearted agriculturists of Lincolnshire , you will not be surprised at my fellow feeling" with that class of tne community who have to subsist upon the cultivation of the soil . Fully believing in the doctrine that " labour is the source and parent of wealth , " I could never see without regret the producers of wealth so neglected , so injured , and , I must confess , so imposed upon , as they were and still are . I had been taught to consider that it was upon the labourer and workman that we had to depend for our daily bread , for our comforts , our prosperity and happiness . It is they who till the ground , who reap

      the harvest , and who transform the rough material of Nature into some useful purposes for the benefit of the human race . "Whenever I saw a demonstration amongst the rich , there attached were the marks of the workman . At the balls , routs , and festive gatherings , where joy and mirth held undisputed sway , as " my lady" tripped with graceful ease in her superb trappings , my mind oftimes asked in what garret reclined the wearied form and aching head of the poor needlewoman who made the ornaments , or the poor weaver who spun the fabrics ? Whenever I saw a dinner given to " my lord , " and the "tables groaning" beneath the weight of the choice and

      substantial viands , my thoughts wandered to the agricultural labourers , who , perhaps , in ignorance and want , might be pining out their existence . Contrary to what , in my humble judgment , I conceived to be the just and equitable position of the working-classes , I ever saw them looked upon in the meanest light , and treated rather as burdens upon , than useful members of , society ; and thus partially obliterating every manly feeling of honourable self-dependence which they ought to possess . It is now about two years since I travelled over various portions of the county of Lincoln ; and if at that time any human being

      could look upon the condition of the agricultural labouring population without feelings of sympathy , I can only t , ay that such a one must have had an unnatural or marble heart . I found the peasantry working for seven or eight shillings per week , and even then begging for employment . Out of this pittance they hud their families to maintain and house-rent to pay . But how they accomplished such a feat was to me a perpetual wonder . It is needless that I should add , fathers had to eat sparingly to give their children a portion of the coarse provisions , and mothers witli tho child at the breast had often to uuffer with the requirements of nature unsatisfied ! My duty was to collect small debts from these humble- villagers , whom " hard times" and worse circumstances had driven slightly into debt . I found on one occasion an aged son of the toil ( whose gaunt limbs portrayed the great physical power that once dwelt within him ) reclining upon a bed of straw in his infirmity . In answer to my application for a debt of 2 s ., he candidly confessed— " It cannot be paid , Sir ; for my son and his wife almost starve themselves to maintain their family and myself , who cannot work , and if it wasn ' t for my ln < ly , the clergyman ' wife , we should not be able to live ut all . " On another occasion J applied for one shilling of a woman ot rather youthful appearance ; she wept , and de-« lared her inability to pay , but at the name time begged that her husband might not be acquainted with the particulars , for he had sworn rather to die than get into debt , and she did not know what ho would do if ho discovered bIio owed tho shilling . At tho end she promised to nay in a month , and at tho expiration of that time sh <> walked seven miles and paid hulf tho amount—viz ., sixpence ! Other instances I could enumerate of a similar chnnictflr , but Huch cases are too well known amongst men of small business in the country . Every xatm of rutionul underatunding can concoivo

      Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      ROMAN CATHOLIC CONSECRATION . Four new bishops have been lately consecrated , owing to the rapid way in which the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill made its way in the Lords . The first consecration took place at the Church of St . John , Salford , on the 25 th of July . There , amid a blaze of wax lights , Cardinal Wiseman consecrated Dr . Turner Bishop of Salford , and Dr . Errington Bishop of Plymouth . Persons were admitted to see

      the spectacle , by the paj r ment of five shillings , to the choir and nave aisles , andhalf-a-crown and eighteenpence to other parts of the building . The place was crowded . The ceremony was as gorgeous and impressive as Roman Catholic ritual could make it—and the accessories to the ceremony were of the highest order . Dr . Paul Cullen , primate of Ireland ; Dr . Briggs , bishop of Beverley ; Dr . TJllathorne , bishop of Birmingham ; and Dr . Wareing , bishop of Northampton , and several other prelates were present .

      But the provincial celebration was surpassed in grandeur by the ceremony performed on Sunday in the great metropolitan Church in St . George ' s-fields . It is more than three hundred years since Roman Catholic prelates were consecrated with English territorial titles ; and on Sunday there was not only the novelty of the spectacle to attract , but the unusual circumstances of the occasion invested it with additional interest . Soon after ten o ' clock mass the church began to fill , and by eleven o ' clock it was crowded in every part . Meanwhile a double row of acolytes robed in white and bearing lighted tapers , took their station along

      the aisle . Wax-lights shone forth from the altar , around which hung wreaths of flowers . Soon after eleven a procession coming from the sacristy marched up the aisle , composed of the two bishops elect , Dr . Burgess of Shrewsbury , and Dr . Brown , Bishop of Clifton , each supported by two bishops , and Cardinal Wiseman , the bishops elect in simple sacerdotal vestments , the assistant bishops and the Cardinal wearing full pontifical robes . When they had reached the altar and seated themselves , the choir , accompanied by the organ , sang tlie " Gloria in Excelsis" and " Kyrie , Eleison . " When these were concluded the " Ecce Sacerdos" followed , and the Cardinal with

      the bishops proceeded to the consecrating altar . Here the two bishops elect were presented to the Cardinal ; the bishops made confession of their faith in the Holy Catholic Church ; and the ceremony of investiture was performed . Their simple vestments were thrown aside ; and the gorgeous garments of a Catholic prelate assumed instead , the golden cross on the breast , the sandals , the stoles , and the rich adornments for the hands and feet . Then they knelt down , the Cardinal standing , while the edifice rung with the echoes of the Litany of the Saints , and when the last notes died away along the roof , the Cardinal uttered a short prayer , made the sign of the cross above their bended heads , laid on the shoulders of the candidates the Book of the Gospels , at which moment they received from him " the tradition of

      the Holy Scriptures . " Cardinal Wiseman made the sign of the cross on the foreheads of the kneeling prelates with the blessed oil , wiping it away afterwards , while the organ and choir performed the " Veni , Creator , " the Cardinal himself singing the first and second verses . Then the croziers and episcopal rings worn by Roman Catholic bishops were presented , " having been previously sanctified and sprinkled with holy water . " A gift of the Gospel and the Kins of Peace" completed the ceremonial . Thus consecrated , they partook of the holy communion , received the benediction of the Cardinal and their mitres and gloves , acknowledged his authority by three genuflections , marched twice round the church , and dined in the evening with Cardinal Wiseman .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 2, 1851, page 724, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1894/page/8/