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    ful should be done . " And so long as they maintain this position , —so long as they abstain from political intrigues , and from basing expectations on political combinations , — so long as they demand their rights as Churchmen , and abstain from seeking temporal as Well as spiritual dominion , —so long , and no longed , will they gradually and victoriously advance , towards the loal they aim at , until , in the fulness of time , they attain it , and with it , its immense responsibilities . Convocation cannot be much longer denied . There is a righteousness in the demand

    which will ensure its success . The best and the bravest , the most upright and consistent Churchmen , are among its champions ; and it is the intrinsic honesty of their cause which commends it to our advocacy . Here we take our stand , and to this point we limit our exertions . We will not tolerate , for one moment , any attempt to set up an e cclesiastical tyranny . There must be equ al recognit ion of all sects and persuasions , and the rights accorded to the Church must be equally accorded to all . And we venture to preach thatif in the hour of success the High Church

    party attempt to transgress ther limits which they have themselves laid down in the reports of the London Church Union , and which we have from time to time favourably cited in our columns ^ the moment they grasp at secular * as well as spiritual Sower , that moment will be the signal for their ownfall and destruction . It is necessary for us to state this distinctly . Yet are we bound in fairness to state also , that at present we see no signs of any such attempts , and that we are willing to accept the word of honest and serious men

    as a sufficient guarantee for their future conduct . Our own views on this subject we have stated many times . We believe that no truly religious development can take place , unless liberty be given lor all to work out what is in them , free from i ; emporal State restrictions- ; it is on the " broad ground of equal recognition for all , equal defence by each of the rights common to all "— - tlie ground we took on opening this questionthat we claim for the Church the right and the liberty to show herself honest , and to do what she can _ for the benefit of mankind . But what we claim for her , we claim for All .

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    ROEBUCK AND COPPOCK . "Why was there such a shout of satisfaction at Mr . James Coppock ' s exposure of Mr . Roebuck P Why is it felt that no reply can " explain away " Mr . Roebuck ' s false position ? Because the Member for Sheffield is a purist who has been harsh in his construction of others ; because he is one of the shining lights of a utilitarian school relentless towards the frail ; and thus the public is as pleased to see him pilloried as it is when a

    prude is detected in a peccadillo . The facts as he puts them in his rejoindor to Mr . Coppock are by no means incredible . He had declared that " ho for one had had nothing to do with Mr . Qojppock in any one of his elections , and that Mr . Coppock would never have dared to como where ho was a candidate protending to be on his side . " These assertions , as they stand m tho report of the Times , prove to be the very reverse of tho fact : Mr . Coppock had dared to

    como wlioro Mr . Roebuck was a candidate , namely , at Bath , in 1841 ; had not only pretended , but had acted on Mr . Roebuck ' s side ; and had ( lone so by Mr . Roebuck ' s invitation I Mr . Coppock produces a letter by Mr . Roebuck , disclosing tho stato of election matters in Bath , and urging his correspondent to como down to manage the cooperation of tho Whigs with tho Radicals , and espocially to speak to six " wilful , vain fools , " throe entitled " Mr .. , " and three " Dr . , " AVUO aoimpracticabilitv ovidnnl . lv noenn ' mnod mimii

    disquiet to tho Bath Oato . Coppock did go down i < o the rescuo , with Lord Duncan—and is now ^ njuinoliously disclaimed . " fiii - ° ebuclc ' 8 explanation is , that ho had totally forgotten tho correspondonco relative to tlio Bath oloction of 184 , 1 ; " and wo heartily bo"ovo that ho did forgot , in spil ; o of appearances . Y , W > stion to Mr . Coppock , indeed , that ho Hiuruw como down Bcorotly— " inooff . mind "—is

    , nu mvlcward accompaniment to tho subsequent aiaelaancp . Bui ; uppoarancos aro of little force against character , and tlio vory dofocts of Koo" ucics character help to explain tho awkward oouvioii . Ho commonly fas tons upon one view oi a subject , and forgets ovorything but what is seen from that view . Iu May , 184 . 1 , the idoa was to get in for Bath , with " a Whig , and

    something more ; " in 1852 , the idea was , to denounce corrupt election : now there is no belief that Roe ? buck liad any thing to do with corrupt election ; for the nonce he was regarding voppock as the impersonation of the St . Alban-s system , and that was the thing he was disclaiming ; B . ath . belonging to a category of ideas totally out of his field of view at the moment . The fact remains , that Mr . Roebuck has profited by the aid of the contemned Coppock—has solicited that aid—has suggested that it should

    be given " incog . ; "' the fact remains that that money for his expenses had passed through the hands of Coppock ; the fact remains that the " chevalier sans peur et sans reproche , " as he implies himself to be , stood in fear of failure , and invited the complicity of the Whigs " to keep out the Tories . He now claims and deserves liberal constructions ; but what liberal constructions did he allow to the members whom he charged with sitting by purchase , in that dramatic scene with which he startled the Commons out of its monotony , and which led to the Corrupt Elections Committee ? Those members now laugh to see

    Mr . Roebuck admitting the main facts which he vainly endeavours to explain away , and obliged , after all , to fall back upon the good construction of gentlemen . Mr . Roebuck is a stern patriot , a realist in politicsj a philosophical Radical : what business , then , had he in getting up alliances with the Whigs to manoeuvre the representation of a city ? What business had he to join in the canting pretence of "keeping out the Tories "—that wretched pretext which has kept in office the most inefficient ministry of England ' s history ? Why does he now speak as if it were less discreditable to deal with a Whig secretary when negotiating , than with the agent of that secretary in the same affair ? Surely the difference of rank makes no difference in the act .

    A really independent member could have had no legitimate vocation in such a work , but still we will extend to the embarrassed truth-teller the liberal construction -which he is so slow to give . He may have thought it so desirable for Bath to retain its Radical member , that it might also consent to have that patriotic Whig who has triumphed over the window-tax ; and we think that it was desirable . But it was not desirable that an independent member should commingle with Treasury manoeuvres to dispose of seats : it was not desirable that the stern critic

    of other men's morals should fall in with a plan which drives so much of England to seek its representation through a Coppock . A man has no right to assume the office of censor , while dallying " with the instruments of that which he censures . But in his own untoward position , perhaps the historian of the Whigs may learn a great lesson—that men of the purest intentions and highest ambition may be betrayed into equivocal courses . We will not say , therefore , that he has forfeited the self-appointed office of censor ; but we will express a hope that , strengthened

    by this adversity , he will Jiave outgrown that office . There is yet work for so able and truly honest a man to do , if ho could only awako to the truth , that ability is not linked even to a Sheffield Cato—that honesty is not attested by harsh constructions—that true chivalry looks to the spirit rather than to tho letter of any law , and that true patriotism should promote a brotherhood of action among tho best men of a country , rather than an isolated exaltation for no purpose more practical than that of parading talent in a general onslaught of disparaging criticism .

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    AN IRISH AMNESTY . A movement is going on in America and in Ireland which attracts vory inadequate attention in this country—a popular effort to obtain a free pardon for tho political exiles who shared in tho insurrection of Smith O'Brien , and in his punishment . Tho foeling that dictates this movement in , tho two countrios is somewhat difForont ; but ih both it . dosorves respect . ,

    In Ireland , tho fooling is , that the oxilos have undergonej > uriishmeni * enough for anything but rovongo . Even thoir friends now acknowledge that thoir attempts' at insurrection wore indiscreet ; ovon thoir enemies admit that the disorder was a natural product of tho long misrule to which Ireland has boon subjected , which lont to government tho proatigo neither of affection nor reason , and whioh still subordinates justice to oxpodieiioy . The days of violence in Ireland are

    passed ; the reverses of the patriots have crushed the hopes of triumph by force . The famine and its concomitants have left no strength for any insurgent schemes ; Ireland is subdued by the heavy hand of fate . There remains for her to be subdued by generosity- —an appeal to which the Irish are peculiarly amenable , both by their nature and by the fact that , in regard to that emotion , Ireland is still the virgin handntaid of England .

    In America the feeling is more complex . It is well known that the vast proportion of the immense emigration from Ireland is directed to the United States . By that long-continued process , the republic is rapidly and steadily acquiring a large Celtic element . One town , Boston , has been virtually abandoned to the Irish ; the true Americans retreating to the suburbs . The " native American" movement attested the growing strength of the element which it was designed to check . Considerable changes , however , are observed to have come over the Irish mind in .

    America . In the first place , it is a remarkable fact , which We note without attempting to explain it , that the children of Irish immigrants for the most part become Protestants . Another remark , in the truth of which we have much faith , is , that the anti-British feeling which especially distinguished the Irish citizens of the Union has materiall y abated , and is giving place to animpression thatif the English people were better understood , it would be better both for Ireland and England . Americans as well as Irish are beginning to draw the requisite distinction between Downing-streefc and England . But the inclination to a closer alliance with England unquestionably awaits some proof that England is disposed to act with generosity towards the sister community .

    JN " otr , we have never extenuated the conduct of the Irish insurgents , nor upheld their claim to leniency . We believed their rebellion to be a miscalculation , criminal , because the elements of success had not been secured—because the people were hurried into a conflict which could not but end in failure . We have declared our conviction that men who brave the laws , must count upon incurring the consequences of failure , and have no right to beg off . But the past has gone by , and is cut off from the present by the terrible changes in Ireland to which we have alluded .

    Even the recent change of Government in this country contributes to the severance of the past from the present . Meanwhile , as to the wishes o £ the Irish majority , and of very great numbers in America , there can be no doubt . It has not been usual , of late years , to conduct public affairs on a principle of generosity ; it is thought more " practical " to stick to harsh utilitarian calculations . France detains Abd-el-Kader , and " England , "—that is , Downing-street—temporizes with Louis Napoleon ; but the results are not quite happy . The Governments which act on that mean spirit do not possess the moral influence which is attained by a more courageous generosity . We have the strongest faith in such an influence , though not in its appreciation by a

    Whig Government . The Whig Government , however , is numbered with ^ tho errors of the past ; and we have a right" to expect a more generous rSgime , if it were only because we cannot expect a less generous one . We daily look out for signs , too , that tho Government of tho Empire has reverted to some regard for national feelings , and some ambition to load tho nation , rather than to treat Government merely as an affair of police In such hope we cannot holp desiring that a generous trust in tho Irish people , and an , express deference for tho wishes oi tho American people , could induce our Government to grant tho dosirod boon , by extending to tho Irish exiles , freely and without stint , a national forgiveness .

    Many discreet and judicious politicians might think it desirable to accompany tho gift with a condition , that men who have shown so little scruple in exciting tho passions of a people , should not return to Ireland ; but wo do not think that such a condition would , bo desirable . In tho first place , it would not bo necessary . Thrico dec } mated , as tho manhood of Ireland has

    boon , by tho famine , tho pestilence , and tho emigration , — dispirited , enfeebled , crushed , — conditions against that country at this day would bo needless—a mockery of hor woaknoss . Conditions , too , take from a boon half its value . Probably tho men who havo expended so much of thoir youthful fire in a disastrous mistake , would not return to tho scene of their error , but would

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    March 1 ^ 1852 , ]> ^ g | : ^ : | A |> li ; B .. 249

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 13, 1852, page 249, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1926/page/13/