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    was handsome Bible , of great size , very substantiaU y and tastejTuUy bound . It was presented with , an address etophatically recording the sense entertained by the working classes of their rector ' s value ; and , at the same time , two poems , written by his parishioners , were sung to established tunes . We have here , therefore , not only that general sense- of Jfdseph Brown ' s goodness , which must take possession of-the multitude under his charge , but also a testimony from the more active , the : oratorical portion of the working

    classes , who are so apt to hold aloof from the recognition of established authority . If Mr . Brown were a man exercising authority with a more pompous and power-liking demeanour , such a result could never have been attained ; but the active minds amongst the working classes moved by the nobler sentiments which animate all men , have as gjreat , a faculty for reoognising the value of practical services and natural character as any class of people whatsoever . In this for ^ mally recorded acknowledgment from the

    working classes , however , we have a certain test of the degree to which authority discreetly exercised and personal kindness evinced with sincerity and painstaking may win over the most independent . Christchurch has been torn not only by political or even sectarian dissentions , but by those intestinal discords within the church itself , which are more destructive than any other division- to an establishment . IsTot a hundred years since , the pastor and his parishioners were at open war ; the church was deserted ; the vestry was a scene of anarchy , and the Trustees of Marshall's Trust

    were in a peculiar state of hostility towards the rest of the world , having retired into their fastnesses , and holding aloof from the public . The fund was left for the repair of the church , and for some other charges beneficial to the parish ; and its proper application , when it should be freed from the consequences of litigious warfare , would be beneficial also to the rector . In their presence at the festival the Trustees evinced their disposition to fall , in with the renewed harmony of the parish : and in expressed statements , while

    acknowledging the toast , the senior of the Trustees declared the wish of himself and his colleagues to extricate their charge from its'embarrassing position and place ifc at the service of the parish for its original purposes . IFrom the opposite extremity of parish society , therefore , We have a not iess emphatic testimony as to the power with which the new rector has drawn together the severed classes . The greatly increased attendance alone might have indicated the same thing : the presence of 2000 or more of the parish—some ^ . 1 . 1 «_ A . _ Jl xl .. -. - _ — "I « «— OK f \ f \ . t \ -v \ r 4 + T » r » r * - \ o nlftlo 4 * timated the number 2500— the manifest

    „ es epxa increase to the party in the garden , spoke clearly enough as to the general popularity of the rector ; but in the address of the working classes , and in the expressed friendliness of Marshall ' s Trustees , the two extremes of the alliance are registered in characters that place it beyond mistake . It has always surprised us that the Church of England should not have employed the vast opportunity which it possesses to retain and extend its influence . It has still more surprised us , that tho danger of the Church should not have been met bv recurring to tho natural

    sources of social power . The Church possesses an officer in every parish , it possesses local authority of tho highest kind generally , with all the instruments that it needs , includingconsidor-« iblo wealth . The minister has the power , by his position in'tho vestry , of becoming the loading councillor of his parishioners in public affuire . Being usually tho boat instructed man of the assembly , he is able to combine a comprehonsivo view of the affairs under consideration , with a certain judicial advice upon matters of detail . By moans of the sormon , and tho access which

    his offices givo him to tho homo of each parishioner , lie is able also to bo tho instructor and advisor of those who neod instruction and advico in matters of personal difficulty . If , indeed , this opportunity bo used solely to propagate doctrinal refinements and niceties of mystical dogma , the clergyman will bo welcomod only by minds suitod to such contemplations , and amongst them , most likely , by such minds alono as are trained to agree with his own . Bub if , leaving doctrinal considerations to their proper time , if in extending tho hand of holp rather than of , reproof to tho perplexed , ho brings tho

    fuculties ot his superior training and the more catholic spirit which ho ought to dorivo from his sacred studies , to tho assistance of hia fellow-creatures ,

    he will supply the most valuable service that one man can render to another , and he will be appreciated accordingly ; It appears , from the testimony to which we have already pointed , that such is the method in which Joseph Brown exercises his calling within the parish entrusted to his charge . " Whether from past errors , or the naturally republican bent of the English mind , it is no longer a question of expediency , but a matter of fact , that parishes are divided by an endless variety of sectarian organizations and doctrines .

    Through all these varieties , however , the truths which are the most- essential to the development aid satisfaction of the religious instinct are common , and are not only independent of sectarian differences but actually over-ride them . A proof of this over-riding force is seen in the attraction which ministers possess who can appeal to the instinctive feelings , even when they accompany such appeals by somewhat marked or even vehement expression of dogma ; and men like Dr . Cumming , Dr . Dale , or Dr . Ullathorne , find hearers amongst Churches

    the most opposite to their own . The eloquence of Robert Hall is full in the recollection of many high churchmen , and the sayings of Saint Francis de Sales form a text-book in the hand of many a Protestant , or even of some whom Protestants would not reckon amongst Christians . Wliena clergyman rests his most powerful appeals on those broad truths , he is able , even in the midst of our sectarian conflicts , to introduce a certain spirit of religious unity which has striking practical results ; when his voice is not confined to the Church made by hands , but he leads forth

    his flock under the roof built by God himselfwhen he speaks to them in the broad voice of nature , and teaches them to study the laws of God in the works of God—he speaks to them with an authority that can be subjected to no challenge , and in a language that canoe misunderstood b y the speakers of no dialect . It appears to us that , whatever may be the technical description of the doctrinal tenets of Joseph Brown , he has taken his degree in that great language which never will be a dead language . Assembling his parish , as represented by all its classes , in the presence of nature—speaking to them in the voice of human affection—consulting the interests of each and all for the sake of their own welfare

    —he is unquestionably the minister of no sect , but " the servant of servants . " Hence his power . In him we see the full enjoyment of that opportunity which is afforded most especially to the Church of England . If all Bishops were to make that sagacious choice which the Bishop of Winchester has made , if all ministers were to improve the opportunity as Joseph Brown has done , we should hear little about " the Church in danger . " The only danger would be , that men , thus acting , might acquire too great an influence for perfect freedom of thought . But as in the new plan of Customs Unions , combination involves freedom , so a broad doctrine , tending to religious unity in feeling , would inevitably result in a freedom as broad .

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    THE AUSTRIAN " CUTTING DOWN " REGULATION . It is a rule of tho Austrian service , that if an officer on duty bo struck , he must cut down tho man that strikes him , smiting even unto death . Inasmuch aa the officers of the Austrian army arc men—although English prejudice may admit tho fact with difficulty—tho rule mostly operates to make them pacific ; for few men hko to slay thoir fcllow-eroaturos wantonly . On the othor hand , it operates to make their civil Opponents submit at onco , when they find themselves confronted by an officer sword in . hand ; and tho rolish for marching through yielding crowds is so strong , that tho soldier in tho black and yollow livory inevitably becomes puffed up with insolence . Hence much of tho arrogance which disgusts Englishmen , unused to military interference ; henoo tho contempt of Badetzky tor civil testimony . A civilian is nobody . Wo have boon assured by working mon , that ladies of rank will do tilings ' before thorn not usually transacted beforo men ; and tho uniform explanation is , that being only of tho "lower ordera" they are thought to bo no more than inferior animals or furniture . Wliftfc tho working man is to tho English fine lady , tho civilian is to tho Austrian officer . Somo humane persona in England scruple to smash a beetle ; eomo Austrian officers draw a distinction

    between cutting down weeds and cutting down civilians . There are parallels in all conditions of humanity . _ . The rule is not exactly conformable to English ideas ; but it is a sound rule , Sound , that is , from a particular point of view . We hold it to be essential to the standing army . A standing army is quite a distinct thing from a national army . It is a force not only under the command ,

    but at the service of the executive government ; implicit obedience is necessary to render it effective in that relation ; the civilian has no authority ; if civilian and . soldier clash , one must gjnre way ; and the soldier must execute ordera without hesitation . The soldier on duty must not criticise his orders—any Duke of Wellington will uphold that canon ; he must not question orders—his sole business is to execute them . To " ShoTer hupp , " to bring the middle finger smart down to the seam of the trousers , or to

    cut down civilians , are equally duties to be performed at the word of command ; and the Austr ian drill is excellent . A soldier who takes opinion of counsel before obeying the word of command , or discusses constitutional scruples , is not fit for the service . To obey , and to abolish obstacles to obedience—these are his two essential duties . Without the Austrian rule no standing army is perfect in its organic action . Mr . Erskine Mather was only the corpus vile siye Anglicanum , on which Austria tried satisfactorily the true temper of its steel .

    There is , indeed , an idea that a " standing army" is the only kind of " army . " Military men and ( strange conjunction !) Manchester men repeatedly talk of * ' the army" as something contradistinguished from a mih' tia or volunteer force . But this is quite a delusion . The greatest military states have not dealt in standing armies except to their decline . The Boman army , with its social distinctions and class legions , in spite of the allowances for its support , was more like our militia or volunteer force than anything which we now call an army . The men that won at Cressy and Poitiers were a local militia , "

    mobilized . " Nor is it a question of chronology : the armies which conquered in Mexico were mostly volunteers , on a footing very like the old Boman militia , only wore republican ; yet Franklin Pierce can tell how they behaved at Cherabusco 3 for he was there—can tell how a fraction of an army took " impracticable" fortifications from manifold greater force . Armies arc not necessarily " standing armies : " it is a modern idea , in part borrowed from oriental despotism , only much enlarged . The distinction is , that a national army is the people—the fighting men of the people ; a standing army is the liveried corps ofservants for tho sovereign , in tho fighting

    department . Division of employments reconciles Englishmen to the modern monstrosity of Absolutism , naturalized amongst us since English and the Continental Courts have been too closely allied ; and trade does not see how to revive the stimulus to the use of arms amongst our sedentary population . Yet nothing would be easier . A Saturday's half-holiday is already half conceded , in banking-house , counting-house , and factory . A premium of 50 ? . to tho best rifle shooter in each county and one of 1000 J . to tho best of thenso

    best in all England , would call forth all the young mon that want to shin © " before the mouths of their fathers" or their sweethearts , all who would like a littlo something to sot up in business and matrimony ; and the rifle would bo tho trustiest friend in ovory household . To have a national army is a thing so easy and cheap , that it would bo a porfect pleasure to furnish it . We have loft nationality to our younger brothers in Amorica , and have ' submitted to hayo a standing army put over us to dofend tho official routine that overruns our institutions .

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    IRELAND'S OPPORTUNITY . Our presont Ministers have tho Rtrangost fancy for timing their public acts , that wo ovor saw in public mon . Their very entry into office aa Protectionists , precisely when they themselves had ripened to a knowledge that Protection was no longer possible , was a singular selection of public attitudes ;( but their subsequent achievements have grown more and more fantastic . After declaring that Lord John Bussell ' s Anti-Papal letter from Durham was a mistake , the Promier of the now Cabinet rather ostentatiously confesses to an . Anti-Maynooth bias— -just before

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• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 26, 1852, page 609, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1941/page/13/