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Leader (1850-1860), 7th August 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 756, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      especially of the pecuniary kind , is singularly fatal to military efficiency . Independently of these baser abuses , however , the system has more serious disadvantages . In other countries it frequently happens that young men make a choice of a temporary service in the army , as a field for manly training and experience of the world ; a practice which is beneficial in several ways . It returns into the body of the citizens a class of men who have travelled , and

      who bring home ideas to be sown amongst other untravelled friends . It also promotes a ready influx of men more or less fitted to military service , and deposits a class in permanent service whom experience proves to be best suited for it ; the others returning principally to civil life . By our plan , the difficulty of purchase excluding a very numerous class from ready access to the army , the separation of civilian and soldier is much more marked and widened ; hence the flow and reflux Of candidates for military commissions is not so free , and in consequence many a man remains in the army who would rather leave it , if custom afforded the facilities . On the other hand , disconnected with the Army , civil citizens have but little sympathy with their military fellow countrymen , and throw every impediment in the way of provision , even when it is just , for the well-being of the soldier . The soldier ceases to be national in his relations , and the civilian regards the soldier as an alien . These distinctions are strengthened by the fact , that the system of purchase limits the selection of officers either to those whose families are so strongly connected with the Army that every pecuniary sacrifice

      becomes necessary which helps to retain a footing there , or , as happens in the more favoured branches of the service , to families above the average in point of means . Broadly considered , the distinction between soldier and civilian coincides in a great degree with that between rich and poor . These facts may count , on the one hand , for the unpopularity of the Army ; and on the other , for the overbearing demeanour in soldiers , which is so often the subject of complaint . On the other hand , a Standing Army , alienated from the people , is an instrument which may be convenient to the official clique for the time being , but is dangerous to national independence and internal freedom . Nothing could so tend to

      restore the connexion which ought to subsist between the Army and the nation as a reform in the system of purchase ; and it is to bo hoped that the gross abuses which our contemporary points out may expedite that revision .

      Untitled Article

      THE MOVEMENT IN THE CHURCH . WnicTnuK Lord Derby advise the Queen to grant Convocation a royal licence for the transaction of business or not at the opening of the New Parliament , will have little practical effect on the grand question . A year , more or loss , of delay will only strengthen the earnest advocates of a

      real Church Parliament m the / strong position they liuve laboriously won , and persevcringly maintained ; and certain it is , that every yearnay , every month—will furnish its quota of dissension , anomaly , and grievance , demonstrating the necessity and the rightfulness of a revival . The idea is far too deeply rooted in the minds of the active section of churchmen who advocate it ,

      to sull ' er by delay in its realization . Plans will bo matured , convictions fortified , consistency tested , and adherents gained . Honesty and logic are suro to triumph in the long run ; and the Church will have to stand or fall by the amount of honesty and logic sho can command . Her strife is for unity—unity of belief and ol practice ; without unity . she in an imposture ; without unity her secular and religious -claims

      arc insolent pretensions ; the establishment of unity is incumbent on nil true believers in her divine institution . It is a matter of national morality as well as individual right . Nominal concord , and actual discord , in a body like the clergy of the church of England , who wield such a pervading influence , both by teaching and example , is a national disease . The men ? fact thai- they all . receive state-pay , while they loach mich discordant doctrines , is of itself sullicient to

      demoralize * t ( . J ? d | V > tB-r > illi < ' characteristic of the age is , thaHtjSneft p j jfe * " * ' ^ nomuml < ' <> ' « victions , and . iwT ^ BWP ^ ft ^' ' ^ ' < 'l « ureh ' »» that it ^ WwfcP « C * rV ^ W ^^ Wg < youH practice of its f " ii ( ^ "iw <^ S 9 mE 0 ^ r \ yW ' M r -. ! * () rlllllu and l ^ ' ^^ W ip ^^^^ &psOTMi ^ JpJ * ' same diocesewhile ^^^^^^ te ^ Jt ^ wE ^ JWi ^ hiiiely are

      members of the same church , who is there that does not see something worse than logical inconsequence , on one side or the other ? In the Church , above all places , should we look for a coincidence of practice and principle ; yet in the Church , above all places , do we find it in the least degree . For this there is but one remedy , — Convocation with full powers , embracing laity as well as clergy , and elected by the widest practicable constituency . Hence our interest in its revival , because it is not only an evidence that there are some among the clergy ready to stand by their belief and accept its consequences , but because it is a measure essential to the national health .

      And the progress made during the past year is immense . We now see the effect of the provincial and London meetings in favour of diocesan synods , and the exertions of the London and provincial unions in church matters . The Bishop of Oxford has presided over a synod convened to elect proctors . In York , strenuous exertions have been made to take away from Dr . Musgrove all excuse for locking the doors of the convocation-house , and keeping the keys in his pocket .

      At the meeting of the Archdeaconry of Lewes , Dr . Phillimore seemed to imply that real work would be done at the ensuing meeting of convocation . The numbers of the clergy who have attended the electoral meetings is itself significant of the rising spirit of the clergy ; and the way in which the proposition for reviving the dormant rights of the church has been received , proves that they are by no means inclined to act upon the worldly maxim Quieta non movere—Don't wake a sleeping dog .

      But the most striking symptom is the awakening of the working clergy . We have before pointed out that the present movement in the church is a democratic movement . More than one stipendiary curate has tendered his vote for proctors , and when refused he has registered a protest . Obviously the tendency of convocation would be to restore the church to the people who form the main body of its adherents . The gain would be to the working clergy—the loss to the dignitaries . The church would be less aristocratic , if it survived the ordeal of real representation ; and its ministers would be more the friends and servants of their flocks , and less the shives of the privileged classes .

      Meanwhile let us note that the imminence of convocation is shown by the fact that the Times has thought it worth while to condemn the movement . The Times , like Lord Derby , agrees that the church is a compromise , a disgraceful fact which we havo all along pointed out ; and it thinks the clergy ought to acquiesce in that view . But the question is , not what the Church is in its present state , but what it ought to be , consistently withits fundamental dogmas andmomentous claims . A compromise- may bo convenient for leading '' interests ; " but it never can be convenient either to us who desire honesty above all things ; or to the mass of believers who trust to their church for salvation .

      Untitled Article

      Til JO I'ALACE OF THE PEOPLE . A viiUY memorable day in the annals of civilization was the 1 st of May , 1851 : scarcely less memorable is the 5 th of August , 1852 . TJho former was the solemn and triumphal inauguration of the Crystal Palace—' the- latter was the more hopeful and more glorious resurrection of the Palace of the People . The " Crystal Palace" no longer , it springs up again transfigured under a broader and more enduring title , as befits a broader and more enduring tutelage . There was something in the former appellative , apart from the inevitable corruptions of glib or cynical cabmen and costermongers , which bespoke a sort

      of hot-house atmosphere of exclusive " protection . " We do not for a moment ; undervalue , still lens disparage , the high influences presiding over the birth , the growth , and the splendid maturity of that first creation of a distinguished member of the Society of Arts : wo do but remind our readers , that the Crystal Palace was a nursling of royal fay our and princely patronage , and from its first to its last hour in Ilyde Park , little better than a tenant at will to a reluctant equest rian order . 11 lived a noble life of usefulness and beauty , gladdening , elevating , instructing the houIh mid senses of millions by the countless marvels of a shrine more marvellous than all that it contained . Hut exposed to the caprices of Sibthorpian Ministries , and to the stealthy jealousies

      of Rotten-row— -it was from the very accident of its origin unable to prolong the term of an existence sustained to the last by the enthusiasm of the coua try . Petitions unnumbered , and demonstra tions of popular sympathy unmistakable , ' could not avert its fate . But its dissolution was not death —only a migration of the soul of the place to a tenement more bright and more free . The fabric is not levelled with the sward of Hyde Park before the first column is raised at Sydenham and so to transplant is not to destroy , but to recreate . Whatever may be our political decrepitude , or our social infirmity , or our physical de .

      generacy , certain it is , that the history of tliis palace shows that England has stuff in her yet ; that her spirit is not all palsied by the shop , nor her energy by " double entry ; " that the City does not live by gold alone . For where but in England shall we find the enterprise and the boldness of the ten men to whom we owe the preservation and revival of the palace ; where snail we find a . people capable or ready to respond to the calL and to share the risk P It is a proud thought , too , that while in other countries great public works are but the monuments of a despotism , with us they are the symbols and the fruits of freedom—the people ' s labour and the

      people's inheritance . It was felt by all who were present at the festive ceremonies last Thursday , that this Palace of the People would do more to preserve the peace of the world than any peace societies ; more to humanize and to cultivate than all the catechisms of all the jarring creeds ; more to promote true order than all the bayonets of Austnanism ; more to make liberty loyal and Contented than any Conservative dogmas . When the banner of " Success to the Palace of the People" was

      upraised , and saluted by the national anthem , it was felt by many to be a grand and touching homage to the dignity of Labour , the only source of power and wealth . There were in that procession working men , and capitalists who had been working men , no $ forgetting the trials of labour in . the glories of the recompence ; there were around that table men who worked with hand or brain , but from all alike came one voice of recognition , that Labour is divine . The example of that day , when Labour , and Capital sprung from Labour ,

      were met together in a hearty spirit of co-operation , will do more to solve social problems than any formulas of empirics . May we not hope that in this majestic temple of civilization all problems shall find their peaceful solution ; for here science will expand and art refine ; antiquity will teach reverence , and the " increasing purpose" of the ages humility and hope ; classes and sects will learn patience and mutual forgiveness under the great smile of Heaven , that will pour on all its equal rays through the radiant " Palace of the People . "

      Untitled Article

      LOUIS NAPOLEON AND THE THKEK NORTHERN POWERS . It matters little whether the alleged terms of the treaty between the three great Powers , for the coercion of Louis Napoleon ' s supposed designs be textual : it is certain that they embody more or less exactly the spirit and purpose of the conferences held at Vienna and Berlin in tlio course of last spring . In the year 1852 those crowned and diplomatic Kip Van Winkles arc the same as they were in 1815 and in 1791- lliey have remembered nothing—forgotten nothing-They still aflbct to believe in the " right divine" of a mythical Henry V . ; they still adhere to the doctrine of a " right divine . " Yet there is not a monarchy in Europe which lias not sprung , at some date or other , more or less distant , from a revolution , or from a successful

      usurpation . The fatal mistake of these three Potentate , grown overbold in the insolence of reaction , in , not to perceive that the very cause , of all others , which rentiers legitimacy impossible in . France , is the recollection that it has been twice thriiHJ upon a reluctant nation by foreign ba yonets , anything could rally to the cause of Louis JN apothat

      leon the great body of the nation , » o an parties and factions should bo forgotten m tn < common camp , it would bo the sense of toroitf dynastic pressure , by menace or intimidation-Louis Napoleon woufd onl y have to declare myself once inoro son of the Revolution , and oJian - pion of the Democracy of Europe , and to ' <¦ slip the dogs of war , to tho accompaniment w that Marseillaise Hymn with which , for tlio w ^

      Untitled Article

      756 T II fe L £ AbER , [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 7, 1852, page 756, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1946/page/16/