On this page

• Departments (2)
  • 
  • 
• Pictures (1)
  • 
• Text (7)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    At the (Drgarajota nf tl)t ty wfit, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    (IDpra Cntraril, —^—

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • 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.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    organ during the week , by making it their occasion for hearing Handel and Haydn , or the Masses of Mozart set to Scripture words , or any other among the great achievements in church music , which our poorer brethren have ears to listen toyes , and hearts to feel—if you give them the chance . Is no sacred music ever played by a wife or a daughter on Sunday evenings , to family audiences of as estimable and as religious people as England can produce ? We all know that there is plenty of such music played and hearkened to by good Churchmen and good Churchwomen . "Why refuse the harmless privilege to our poor brothers and sisters , who may like music as much as we do , though they may have no pianos , and don t know one note from another ?

    Other Sunday evening amusements , at once harmless and useful , miglit be added to the oratorios ; such as dissolving views , representing important scenes in history , to be briefly and plainly explained during their exhibition ; moving panoramas , which might , in the same way , be made productive of information about foreign countries and their inhabitants . There are plenty of other means of innocently occupying an idle

    Sunday evening which I might mention ; but I have said enough for my purpose ; enough to show generally what I mean by Sunday Reform , what I think might be advantageously offered on Sunday to Mr . John Styles and the large working class that he represents . My proposals may be incomplete enough ; but how are they irreligious and dangerous , in the highest and truest meaning of the words ?

    I do not ask you this question , Dives . You are a b'got and would set up your own small prejudices ( if need be ) against the largest convictions of the whole world be-ide ; but I ask you , among my readers , who are good men and moderate men , what is there to scandalize you in what I have written ? You object to shortening the Church service , for anybody . I answer , that I only propose to shorten its length , to increase its influence ; to give it time to persuade , and deny it time to weary , the " weaker brother . " You object , that

    what I propose is against the spirit and feeling of the nation . I answer , that it may be against the spirit and feeling of an exclusive party among the nation ; but that you do not know that that party represents the whole nation , and cannot know until you have tried my experiment . You object , that my plans , if followed out , would empty the churches and pander to the non-devotional feelings of the people . I answer , that I have already provided ; t good chance for filling churches in the morning , with an extra congregation that does not

    enter them now : and that 1 onlv want to empty enter them now ; and that 1 only want to empty the gin-palaces by an innocent counter-attraction in the evening . Moreover , as to the '' pandering " you -speak of , I am only aiming to cultivate , on the only day when I am able to cultivate them , tastes and faculties which ( Jod has given to man to exercise ; and which are , therefore , fit tastes for God's day . You object , that it my proposals were carried out , many working-men would still prefer their gin and their public-house parlour , their

    idling and their drunkenness , to my picture galleries and my cheap oratorios . 1 answer , in the first place , try them before you are in such a hurry to decide ; and , in the second place , L tell you that your objection infers that a vast body of your fellow creatures are so det . erminately and instinctively fond of what is bad , that nothing good , however alluringly presented , can be welcome to them . This is what , you have no right to say , on any religious principle—no reason to say , on any philosophical principle , of any man whateverwhite or black—that ever God created . No ! No !

    Object as you please , this fact still remains : — Your present Sunday observances do not answer tl ) e purpose with the lower classes—do not repress the drunkenness and ^ ice on Sunday evening which they ought to repress . You cannot prevent the working-man from thinking bis Sunday a holiday ; and yet you will not try to make it an innocent and a useful holiday to him . You try to follow an utterly impracticable middle course , between a Jewish Sabbath and a Christum Sunday ; you

    will not prohibit as a Jew would ; you will not persuade as a Christian might ; yoU let a gin palace and a brothel open their doors on Sunday , and inHist on picture-galleries and music-hulls closing theirs ; you will have no rules but your , rules , no jeligiouH observances but your religious observance ^ no Sundays but your Sundays . Does tins slate of things need no reform P—is it absolutely incapable of improvement ! Am I , and are those who think like me , to be called infidels and

    anarchists , because we suggest the propriety of some change in our present Sunday observances ? and because we doubt the infinite and eternal wisdom of certain lords and gentlemen who have made these observances ? I think not . I set out by saying that our Sundays need reform ; and I repeat it here ; conscious of no other wish than to speak in the best interests of religion and morality , and of that other all-important virtue of chanty , without which religion and morality are alike of no avail . " " •* - '

    Untitled Article

    National Charter Association . — meeting of the Executive on Wednesday , a letter was read from Mr . Reynolds , resigning his post on the Executive , on account of ill health , at the same time announcing his intention of retiring from all outdoor and active exertion in the popular cause for the same reason . He handsomely makes the association a present of £ 20 due to him from them as treasurer , and also of one guinea towards the tract fund . Mr . Robert le Blond was invited to stand for Bradford , on the withdrawal of Mr . Reynolds . New Association . —We understand that a meeting of the smiths and hammermen in London takes place at the Progression Coffee-house , Leicestersquare , for the purpose of framing laws and rules which shall be the basis of an association . Thomas Cooper ' s Lecturing Tour . —We understand that several of our readers are perplexed by the rapidity of Mr . Cooper ' s movements . It is a very simple affair . Letters intended to reach him on Monday or Tuesday next should be addressed , " Care of Mr . J . Watson , Clayton-street , Colne , Lancashire "; on Wednesday or Thursday next , " Care of Mr . J . Hyslop , draper , Church-street , Wigm "; on Friday next , " Care of Mr . John Cottom , Hope-street , Oldham " ; on Saturday next , or Sunday , October 5 , "Care of Mr . Abel Heywood , bookseller , Manchester . " Surely there is no difficulty in that ! Redemption Society . —A . camp meeting will be held on Woodhouse-moor , Leeds , on Sunday next . Messrs . Green , Arandall , Shaw , Campbell , and Henderson , are expected to take part in the proceedings . Moneys received for the week : —Leeds , £ 1 17 s . lid ; Liverpool , per T . Sands , 4 s . 6 d . ; Burslom , S . Hartshorn , 2 s . ; Driplington , per S . Clayton , 16 s . ; GilderRome , Is . 8 d . Building-fund : Leeds , 4 s . ; Liverpool , 2 s . 6 d . ; DriglinRton , 4 s . 6 d . ; Adwalton . 3 s . Propagandist-fund : 3 s . Hid . —J . IIen-disrson , Secretary . — - '" -. " " ------ - ;—~ - ~ ~— "" r T ^ aw

    At The (Drgarajota Nf Tl)T Ty Wfit, Political And Social.

    At the ( Drgarajota nf tl ) t ty wfit , POLITICAL AND SOCIAL .

    Untitled Article

    926 © fitf % t * Htt * [ Saturday ,

    (Idpra Cntraril, —^—

    ( IDpra Cntraril , —^—

    Untitled Article

    [ In this department , as am , otinions , however t . xtiiemr , ark allowed an kxprk . hh 1 on , the editor nkohssahiu HOLDS IIIMMKI . K KBSI'ONXI Ill-K l'OR NONE . ]

    Untitled Article

    TO aUlSKPl ' J-1 MAZZINI . September 23 , 1851 . Fiukni > and Uhotiikh , —I uddrcoH you b y . these sacred titles , which were once in familiar use amongst uh , because , lifter long estrangement , I » m aware of no alteration in my feelings towards you . You arc still in my eyes what you appeared , a score of years ago , when first wo fell in together in the land of exile : the . loftiest mind , the purest , heart urnongst living Italians . You are one of those rare men , I think , moulded more immediately in God ' s image , and litted for the fuller development of God ' s views . Godlike , however , though you maybe , you aro not God ; not omniscient , not omnipotent ,. 1 may fail to understand you , for yours i » inspired language , too often inyHtic , inscrutable ; but , in ho far as I can catch your meaning , 1 often find reason to differ with , sometimes even to protest aguinst , you . Hear mo , Mnzzini ! You have often called mo a " man of littlo faith , " because I could not look upon our national prospects with as sanguine an

    expectation as your own -warm heart inspired you with But on my devotion to my country , on my love for truth , there never fell a doubt in your mind . Your love , perhaps , I never won ; but , I am sure , yo u could not withhold your esteem . In our many years ' intercourse , we never went beyond the cold , stately Vox ; the Italian mode of intimate address was never adopted between us . I was , owing to these very circumstances , a privileged man in your party ; on whose heart you could always rely , in spite of my stubborn wrong-headedness . You allowed me my own way of thinking , and bore with me , although almost every word I uttered or wrote was almost always in sheer contradiction with the tenets you made imperative on your believers .

    The whole extent of our discordance may be reduced to the mere interpretation of the word Impossible . Men of genius are ever loath to hear of it . Napoleon would have it expunged from his dictionary . For myself , I love to give the utmost credit to the quasi-omnipotence of man ' s will ; but I think , nevertheless , that it must take a prodigious amount of faith to strike Mont Blanc out of my path . You have been of late very severe upon those of your countrymen whom you designate by the name of the " Moderate" party . Whether or not I belong to it myself , I could not , on my word and honour , assert . I would fain deem myself free from some of

    the charges which you bring against them . But when you say that that party is " imbued with materialism , " I fear I must plead guilty ; for , to a great extent and in one sense of the word , I am most decidedly a materialist : I believe , that is , that we have great material obstacles to contend with , and that we must seek " strength , material strength , " to overcome them . You say , this strength we have ; it is to be found nowhere , or in the people alone . Breathe Mazzini ' s own soul into the four-and-twenty millions which constitute the Italian People , and you will see what

    wonders Faith can work . Nothing more true ! But then the practical question lies in the possibility of thus penetrating the Italian masses . God is great , and much has been done . None has been so eager and indefatigable , none so successful as yourself , in this work of regeneration . God has given you the language that startles and arouses . Yours is the love which never slackens , never desponds . You have awakened your countrymen ; but have you inspired them with your aspiration , your impetus , your courage ? Is theirs an active , stirring , fate-storming faith , like yours ?

    It is not , God is my witness , for the purpose o taunt or upbraiding that I rake up the past ; but did the people of Italy , when called to action , ever listen to the charmer ' s voice ? Was one hand raised when in 1834 you led your band of patriots to the frontier of Savoy ? Was a sword drawn for years later to the rescue of the misguided Bandiera ? No other of the Italian movements ever originated with you : for certainly you would not take upon yourself the bloody mtthn-ak oV the Iloman revolution , though you alone

    threw so great a lustre on its close . Whatever power may be latent in the Italian multitude , you have not yet found the rceans of calling it forth . Truly you have often said , that you have no hope in the present generation : that you are throwing into a corrupt soil a seed that time and porrow will bring to maturity . And there are moments when your language awes and silences me ; for your eye dives far into the the future , and events too often baffle the cold calculations of mere rational conjecture .

    Nevertheless that you , yourself have been hasty and inconsiderate—that you miscalculated thr prosent disposition of the Italian people—the attempts above alluded to sufficiently demonstrated . It would be to no purpose to palliate your defeat by references to Kamorino ' s treason in the first instance , and to want of subordination on the part of your partisans in the second . A leader is responsible for the behaviour of his subalterns ; no workman can p lead ignorance of his tools in exculpation of his blunders . So long as success attended his arms , Napoleon was never betrayed , never slackly seconded . No ! no those defeats are your own , and they are the consequences of a generous error ; the consequences ol

    your overweening faith in " God and the Peop le . You chafe against those men that call you unpractical . Hut it is , nevertheless , certain that you expect God to do miracles in your behalf . How many times do we not hear you say that the sight of a tricolor standard on the Capitol would raise the very nt » nc » throughout Italy , and the very dust of the deaa r Well , against your own expectation , the nationa banner did wave from the Turpeiuri Rock ; at a time , too , when all Italy was in arms and eager for sacrincc , when the most daring combatants and most « o «" leaders were assembled round its walls ; when " >»¦ }? * geniuH-whon Muzziui himself—held his arms alolt . to call down Heavcn ' H blessings on tlicir efforts ; ttiul * , the banner fell : deeds of valour were performed , doubtless , but the hand of God was nowhero visible , the people looked on with its wonted stupor , ana an whs lost but the honour .

    With all your faith , Mazzini , you wero yourself » « materialist " at Koine . The » Idea " hud to atnko it « colours before the brutal strength of French bomu »

    Untitled Article

    There- is no lenrncd man but will confess he hath much profited by reading controveraifta , hia admen awakened , and his judgment . Hharpened . If , then , it be profitable for him to read ' , why should it not , at len ; it ,, be tolerable lor his adversary to write . — Milton .

    Untitled Picture

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 27, 1851, page 926, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1902/page/18/