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    we shall have to pay for the gunpowder it is a pity it didn't go in annihilating the Russian fleet , and , with her fleet , her prestige in the East . " Mr . Hume is a man with a talent for common sense ; so that if the Aberdeen Cabinet calculated on the , Spithead show to give dignity to their excessive peace policy they have blundered . Mr . Hume ' s calculation was the universal one ; and even for the perpetual peace society people the show was a dangerous one . Quaker pulses beat higher as they felt the pomp and circumstance of ( more or less ) glorious war . It is Lord Aberdeen ' s saying that England can afford tobear more provocations than other

    nationsshe has such consciousness of power . Very true . It j . ? cowardly to use a giant ' s strength with dwarfs But the Aberdeen theory illustrated in Russian negotiations seems to be that because we have a giant ' s strength we should , therefore , behave like dwarfs to giants . In the Aberdeen point of view , the show at Spithead was to this effect : " We have behaved meanly in the face of Russia ; but then , see how nobly we could have behaved if we'd liked ! " " We have sacrificed Turkey , for Russia has gained her object in exhausting Turkey and arousing Turkish civil wans ; but then , are you not convinced that , had we preferred it , we could have saved Turkey ?"

    Members of Parliament felt , of course , patriotically proud when they got back ; but the majority of them , perhaps , half sea-sick and too weary of brine and champagne , and British egotism ^ to assist in making the House that was not made much before midnight—opening with the other night-houses , but less amusing . Lord Palmerston had intimated that there was nothing to do ; and , in fact , the Commons are now only killing time , and waiting on the Lords till prorogation . The House was made at Spithead that day , on board the Bulldog ; ' for our Revolution annals tell us that Parliament is not brick and mortar , but flesh and

    blood , and is locomotive , ifnecessary ; andnot improbably various informal resolutions were come to on foreign and other affairs . The noble contentions of party are at rest on board ship , where there is no available chance of lobbies—where familiar opponents must make strange acquaintances , and where the coalition purpose of the age is compulsorily forwarded by inevitable groupings ; and under the circumstances of Thursday Lord Aberdeen very likely , therefore , did a good deal to get rid of the routine and exploded theory of " government by party . " The " ins" must have looked so superior to the oufcs on

    Thursday , that inward convictions were possibly felt of the desirableness of always being of the party of the Government . A young Englander is said to have made that remark on board the Bulldog ; and to have suggested to a friend , what a capital thing it would have been if Mr . Stafford had been employed to tear up the rails , intercepting the returning trains to town , and if Mr . Disraeli had gone down to Westminster , made a House of his staunchest friends , and forthwith , in due order , at 10 , moved and carried u vote of no confidence in the austere intriguer ! The minglings of Thursdny climaxed the disasters of

    Derbyisni : Lord Aberdeen makes politics social gatherings ; completing , in grand , what ho effected in little when ho accomplished tho broiul-bottom Government : and on a fine day , with a sanatory breeze , and amid a distinguished gathering , tho most intrepidly independent member could hardly avoid the conclusio n that really , as Lord John said at Christmas , British politics were distinctions without differences , and that it would be pleasantor to shake hands nil round , shorten tho session , and get up such fUes more frequently . Lord Aberdeen may not , after all , have thought about Russia when he went to tho Nab . Ho

    limy lmvo simply been working out his own theory , that the House of- Commons is to bo managed , not as a Senate , but as a club ; and ho is taking the right course hi throwing members together , so polishing down abstract angles , and getting tip tho practical conviction that thero ' H nothing like coalition . At least nt homo ; tho thunders of Spithead leavo it an open question to lundsmcn not Iosh than to sailors , whether ho is right in attempting a coalition on tho continent—a coalition in whic h ho insists on including Russia !

    Ah to tho Lords , thoy lust night attempted , affecting vij-iihty , and reall y looking . less corpsc-liko , us . tho Commons' oyes are ' closed , to force on a debate on thin < l"o *|; ion—that is , then ? wove woven old Poors pnisent , wh : > wanted newH to oxcito an appetite for dinner ; but !' ., ( J () v < innnont , experienced administrators , wore not "Koly to H , M ) ii u pleasant arrangement with Russia by iiulmm > . d , allnyments of a wham anxiety . Lord Mulmos-> "ry made hiH npeeoh merely to improve his own rulu" » ns with Louis Napoleon , whom ho complimented for "irking K "ff l » n < l against Turkey ; and Lord Clarendon »»« le Iuh Hpeneh—bungling in style , boobyish in man-- snnply because , knowing little , or nothing of what « h going on , ho was assured ho could not commit

    Lord Aberdeen , by expressing his opinions in answer to Lord Malmesbury ' s taunts . Lord Beaumont and Lord Clanricarde wanted to make a debate : but a debate to seven old peers ! Altogether it was an undignified proceeding in the House of Peers to look thus inquisitive with no results—redeemed only from offensiveness by the British manner and hearty common sense of Lord Hardwicke , who described the whole diplomacy of the business in a few clenching words : —England had invited Russia , the burglar , into the house—England

    undertook to watch , and the burglar was naturally astonished , after quietly taking possession of the premises , to be told that if he didn't quit , he would be thrown out of the windows . Only , how admire Lord Hardwicke ? This was Lord Hardwicke in Opposition ; but had he been in with Lord Derby , Lord Derby would probably have done what Lord Aberdeen has done , and Lord Hardwicke would have been as quiet as that eminent bold Briton , the Duke of Newcastle , has been . "A Strangee . " Saturday Morning .

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    THE EMPEROR OF THE CLYDE . NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENT IN GLASGOW . Our Scottish neighbours have their little peculiarities , which they by no means seom disposed to put under a bushel . The drunkenness and piety of the descendants of the Covenanters are both matters of history and criticism , but , though whisky and the Assembly ' s Catechism are not very instructive companions , Scotland is not to be judged by them alone . Though Sandy has a dirty wynd he has a clear head : and if he forces upon you a narrow sermon , he will first give you an excellent breakfast , and pause , as in the hotel where I write , to send up your butter in elaborately wanton and sensual curls—apiece of " work" not done on the Lord's day in London ; and if he chooses to build himself a good house , he will make a more perfect and convenient feat of it than his bungling contemptuous brother on the warmer side of the Tweed . If the streets of Glasgow are filthier than those of Manchester , they are graced by Omnibuses far more elegant and commodious than those execrable and dismal vehicles which run down the Strand . A Scottish Omnibus is preferable to an English Cab . Glasgow , too , has a nobler river than London . The Clyde is more majestic than the Thames , but the Scottish Church is against its people , and no poor man may breathe the air of Gourock , or gaze on the beauties of Dunoon , on Sunday , while , from Richmond to Gravesend , the London artisan may take his

    choice of watering-places on the Sabbath . The Scotch are , traditionally , a brave people , but the utter cowardice of their Christianity is passing belief . It trembles for its congregations . The idea of a Sunday Excursion is more than it can bear . The jubilee notes of a trumpet , blown by a happy pleasure party , on a Sunday morning , in the Trongate , would have an effect on the Glasgow Churches , like that which trumpets had of old on the walls of Jericho . What a miserable state for religion to be in—to have no friendly or affectionate hold upon tho people ! What a humiliating punishment for its cold and heartless asceticism ! All tho eloquence of all its preachers is forsaken for Punch and Judy , and its solemn presbytery cannot compote with a Penny Show !

    A movement has been in progress hero , for some time , of which little or no notice has been taken by tho English press , but which will intensely interest tho English people , and probably ero long occupy tho attention of the English Parliament . No recognizable legal impediment existed to prevent a steamer running Excursion journeys on the Clyde , on tho Sunday , but nobody would undertake it . Wellwishers to ge nial morals and tho social improvement of tho people wont so far as to offer a guarantee fund to any steam-boat proprietor who would run a vessel on tho Sunday . It was thought that tho boat might

    be made unpopular by tho Presbytery , and people deterred from sailing in it on tho week-day . So low is public spirit under Kirk-rule , in Glasgow , that this influence was . sufficient to discourage any attempt of tho kind . At length several gentlemen united together , and bought tho ' Emperor steamer , and ordered it to sail on Sundays . Thin was tho right stop to . take . Hundred )* of thankful and grateful passengons have crowded to it , and have since enjoyed the faco of Na-( , uro on tho l ><»<> r man ' s only day of rent . The popular

    interest in tho event was marked by tho workingpeoplo themselves subscribing several hundred pounds to guarantee tho proprietors against ; loss . But of loss there will bo none—very much tho contrary . Tho Emperor is crowded on tho Sundays , and quito popular all the weok , out of gratitude for its noblo Sunday services ; the Proprietary will i \ nd themselves , as they on " lit ; to do , gainers by their honourable and spirited proceedings . Tho Sentinel newspaper i « improving its substantial

    circulation by a manly defence of the step . The Scottish Guardian and other journals behave infamously in the matter , denouncing the Excursionists , men and women , honest , moral , and respectable , as " scum , fops , and infidels / ' No spirituous drinks are allowed to be sold on the Emperor on the Sunday ; the order is excellent ; and though the Excursionists ., are , subjected to all forms of rudeness , insult , and annoyance , the best humour and the highest propriety obtain . No congregation in Glasgow can exceed in point of character , personal worth , or conduct , the passengers by the Emperor ; and these are the persons designated " scum , fops , and infidels . " Strange to say , men may roll through the streets of Glasgow drunk—men may spend their nights in brothels , and these Kirk-stricken

    newspapers will not denounce them by name ; but if Mr . Andrew Paton takes a personal care of the crew and Excursionists , for whose welfare his co-proprietors are responsible , the name of that gentleman is held up to public reprobation as a " Sabbath-breaker . " What a striking illustration of the difference between religious morality and rational morality ! Mr . Paton is a Churchman who believes it to be " lawful to do good on the Sabbath day , " and rightly counts that it must be more acceptable to a Moral God to confer health and innocent pleasure on the poor man , than to coerce him into vicious formalism , into practical vice and positive disease ; and being a gentleman as well as a Christian , Mr . Paton is not to be intimidated in the wise and benevolent course he has chosen to take .

    Will the London public believe that one Major Darrocks , resident at Gourock , was driven in his carriage ( breaking the Sabbath himself inexcusably ) down to the pier , to prevent the passengers by the Emperor from landing ? Yes , carriaged , opulent , and intolerant , this Major turned out from his own suburban home—free himself from the miasma of a Glasgow Sunday—to address the wan weavers of the city as dogs , and seek to drive them back to their kennels—and Scottish newspapers could applaud this act—and publish the humble artisan as " scum , " and the tradesmen ( as respectable as the major ) as " fops . " And the Guardian advised acts of opposition on the part of the ignorant populace , which might lead to loss of nfe—the consequences of course to be charged upon

    the Excursionists . On Sunday , as the Excursionists returned , a crowd of people , sent through kirk influence and agitation , were assembled to yell at those whose critne consisted in leaving Glasgow without permission of the clergy . What a degraded mob ! The amusing part is , that this vulgar and bigoted " yelling" is not " Sabbathbreaking "—this is considered acceptable service to God . But the Daily Mail , which gives a highly-creditable notice of the Emperor ' s return last Sunday , qualifies the report by saying that only a few persons disgraced themselves by " hissing . " And the Glasgow Chronicle styles the person a " miscreant" who has just attempted to sink the Emperor by opening a " sea-cock" in the bottom of the vessel . * ff the Press here will do its

    duty , all will bo well . Tho Presbytery represent that this Excursion oxperi ment is an " outrage" on the feelings of the people , when they are doing all they can to stir up the people against it , who , so far from finding uny " outrage" in it , are , on tho whole , glad of it . All classes of people , gentry as well as artisans , of all religious persuasions , as well as of no persuasion except that of Secularism or Morality , are looking with approval on this wise step . Receiving youf instructions to examine into this matter , Mr . Editor , I can aver that there is no truth in tho representation of tho Presbytery , that this muchneeded movement is any " outrage . " Quito tho

    contrary . Nor will the perverted influence of tho Presbytery , disgracefully exercised on thin occasion , succeed in making it unpopular . Excepting tho Rev . Mr . Maclcod , who has nmdo a vigorous and m anly speech against tho step , this Presbytery is endeavouring to resuscitate 200-year old Acts of Parliament , to put down , by fines , this social movement . Who cannot bo excused for saying that tho clergy are alien from the people , when tho priesthood thus conduct themselves ? They have written to tho Admiralty , to press thorn into the service of thisMisroputablu intolerance . I "in glad to find that a public mooting lias been announced , Hi into consideration

    which th 6 people of London will tidco this question . « Tho KiirHhIi workmen , sympathising with tho improvement In the Sunday comfort and morals of their Glasgow brethren , will pay the fines incurred by tho proprietors of tho Emperor . Depend upon it , sir , that while tho Kmi » rorrt of RusrIu imd Franco are at ; this hour without ; J » n atom of British respect , tho Emperor on the Clydo in tho » most popular of potentates . Long may he reign Imperial Sunday Monarch of the Lochs , fry in tho lirootnioluw to tho IsieH of Bute ! I or * . OliiHgow , Aug . JO , 18 i > iJ .

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    August 13 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 78 S

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 13, 1853, page 783, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1999/page/15/