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    understand tqe fact distinctly ,. —that statesmen of all parties—Kussells , Peels , Stanleys , Harrises—have gradually taken to themselves t | ie settlement of all tliese things in the name of " England , " and regard consultation with England herself in the most important matters of all aa a supererogation .

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    JUDGE TALFOURP'S LAST WORDS . Thebe was a time when one Englishman felt disposed t (> aid another because ha also was an Englishman ; when one man ovrned it his duty not only to help but to cheer and solace another , because he worked under the same roof . If we have cultivated " the virtue of self-reliance" it has been too exclusively , and at the cost 6 ¥ that "brotherly "Bofad . K few more years , and the country might have "been

    galvanized , as it were , by that artificial mechanical life into a con glomeration of separate atoms , instead of being * that which , it o ^ g to be—an organism with some unity in . its life , and some' common feeling in all its members . XuokUy , the circumstance of an attack upon our country and our national honour has suddenly given the challenge to more generous feeling ^ has given birtli to a new memory tjiat Englishmen are Englishmen , and that a common country ought to endow us with a Kind of brotherhood .

    dess threw a supernatural voice into his cry ; but it needs no fiction in this case to recognise the presence of a Divine power while the Judge was rallying his countrymen to their duty . The words of truth were the last which Gtalfourd uttered ; as though fate were envious that any less . sacred should fall from the same lips . Maiiy have Wen envied the manneT of their death ; but he who expires uttering words which , serving truth , at once serve justice , man , and God , attains a fate which the most illustrious might envy .

    It is to tbe want of that brotherhood , —to the negleei ; of the duty which belongs alike to the p iety of patriotism and to the sense of Chwstianityy'that inuch of our social evil is owing . This iact has been eloquently declared from the seat before which crime is brought fot judgment . With the prisoners before him , Mr . Justice Talfourd has turned round to society , - in the true spirit of his Master , and has shown that the man arraigned

    was not the only culpable . In his charge to the grand jury at Stafford , he was observing the number and degree of the crimes on the calendar , and was pointing to the chief cause , —not only to intemperance , not only to want of education , but to the want of that moral fostering which happier classes derive from social intercourse . The words are so good that they deserve to have been the last which the judge tittered :

    , "I cannot help myself thinking , it may be in mo small degree attributable to that separation between class and class , which is the great curse of British society , and for which we are all moTe or less in our respective spheres in some degree responsible , and which is more complete in these districts than in agricultural districts , where the resident gently are enabled to shed around them the blessings resulting from the exercise of benevolence , and the influence and example of actire kindness . I am afraid we all of us keep too much aloof from those beneath us , and whoni we thus encourage to look upon us with suspicion and dislike . Even to oar

    servants we think perliaps we fulfil our duty when we perform our contract with them—when we pay them their wages , and treat them with the civility consistent with our habits and feelings—when -we curb our temper , and use no violent expressions towards them . But how painful is the thought that there are men and women growing up around us , ministering : to our comforts and necessities , continually inmates of our dwellings , with whose affections and nature we are as ifiuch unacquainted as if they were the inhabitants of some other sphere . This

    feeling , arising from that kind of reserve peculiar to the English character , does , I think , greatly tend to prevent that mingling of class with class—that reciprocation of kind -worda and gentle affections , grapious admonitions , and kind inquiries , which often more than any book education tend to the culture of the affections of the heart , reflnemerat , and elevation of the character of those to whom they ^ are addressed . And if I werc to be asked what is the great Want of English society—to mingle class with class —I would say , in one word , the want is the want of sympathy . "

    This ia one of tlie great truths of the day , and the circumstances under which it was Uttered add a striking force to the beauty of the sentiment . In describing the power of & great hero rallying his countrymen to the battle , the poet feigns that hia tutelary god-

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    women in the Armenian Church , who chose to obdxU God rather than man . They were summoned befijK . ' . the patriarch , one b y one , and peremptorily ordenp ^ V to subscribe , tb-eir names to a creed which had hiilQ ^ prepared for the purpose , on pain of the terrii ^^ anathema , with , all its barbarous consequences . ' Iplli the course of a week or so they were ejected fraBiP their shops and their businesses . Men , women , afistii children , without regard to circumstances , wi | p || compelled to leave their habitations , sometimes \ i » iii

    the middle of the night , and to go forth into tuP || streets , not knowing whither they should' go , < Mm where they should find shelter . The bakers werf ^ prohibited from furnishing them with breaaV toffi the water-carriers with water . Parents were force ^ ptl by the patriarch ia cast out eyen their own childrea who adhered to the Gospel , and to ^ disinherit , Jflienqfp The patriarch , and his party ; resorted to eVexy fe $ c& € §| p of oppression without theleast scruple or pity ; « nd ^ i £ -was evident that want of power only preventeelp theaafrom cutting off h . « ads . The brethren , ; cfi ^ il | i not pass through . the stteets without be ^^ /^ u splp by all kinds o £ filthy language / spit u ^ n , and stpi ^ jdl

    a few were cast into prisoa , and for severiol Sunday » S the churches resounded 'With :: whSj k ^ j ^^^ g ^ a ^ followers of the- newsect . It was iat i | ni » isriiMJF . tl » ls § the bitterness of persecuiti ^ n was ^ airef ^^ ircim ^ a ^ quarter whence such , aa interference mgfit ¦ ¦¦ mf ' JM % been least expected . The Turkish Goveriin ^ nt in- g terposed to stay the tempest of ewlesiwticai furyj- and protected the incipient reformaiiob , . ^ $ 3 % f |^« 3 menian patriarch , summoned before rLeiiflcbi ^ -JPiM ^ I ^ the Minister of Eoreign Affairs , w ; as-cha ^ ed ^ by ^ lyyte ^ l to desist from his oppressive course . Tt ; ' w ^ ' | www ^ i the influence of Sir Strat ^ rd Ganribg , Whose mt ^ ^ arid persevering efforts to secure in I ^ rkey ^ Jibei 43 r > 1 of conscience are above sill praise ; th ^ this r ^ itut / '

    PROTESTANT ALLIANCE WITH TURKEY , Before the war actually commenecs , we are progressively arriving at more distinct conceptions of the object entertained on either side by those who make the war . The two objects are equally distinct , but totally" diverse . On the si < Je of Russia the object is of a

    socalled religiousjrind ; on the side of England it is- ^ entirely political . It happens , indeed , that political considerations strengthen the purpose of Russia , and it also happens that religious considerations ought to strengthen the purpose of England ; but this does not vitiate our statement . - ¦ •¦' ¦ ¦ r ¦

    It is some time since Mr . Layard distinctly declared the object of -Russia , in ' . explaining that there exists in thft Greek Church of Turkey a species of Dissent or Proteatanism , which it is the object of Russia to ' but'down . It will be remembered that the Greek Church did not arise from any doctrinal dispute with

    the jRomish Church , but was rather a casual splitting of one Church into Wo branches , — - the Eastern and Western branches , under the circumstances attending the decline of the Roman Empire . By most of the fcests tfnich could be applied to such a subject , the Romish Church must ba considered to have

    remained 5 n possession of the Apostolical succession , of the most authentic traditions , and of the better-authenticated discipline and rule ; the Greek Clmrch , therefore being schismatic , not in virtue of any doctrinal revolt against the authority of the Ifope , "but by reason , of having drifted accidentally into schismatic and erroneous customs , which were

    afterwards supported through th e pride belonging to all human nature , and peculiarly developed in all clergy of dissentient and schismatical creeds . The Greek Church is still recognised by the Pope as belonging to his own domain , only lying in . a certain remote and . outcast condition ; and the Sovereign Pontiff " , in one of his latest acts , busied himself ia the endeavour to regain the lost

    province . The Greek Church , however , has not produced that host of great churcTimen , that army of distinguished statesmen , authors , artists , and . men of science , whom the Church of Rome can reckon amongst her sons . In the great protecting empire of Hussia , the clergy are for the most part in a socially low condition ; and , in short , the Greek Church ia essentially as inferior to the Church of Rome , intellectually , socially , and politically , as it is doctrinally . It is necessary to -bear in view tliia relation of the Greek Church to

    Rome , ia order to understand quite distinctly the relation of English opinion to this particular branch of the s abject . Lord Shaftesbury has taken the trouble to rake up information on the subject of the Protestantism within the Greek Church ; and his speech on Saturday shows how completely this incident of religious government in Turkey has l ) een overlooked . He produced many examples from official papers ; but one will suffice for our preaeat purpose : —

    " In the latter part of January of the year 1846 the full vialg of hierarch . it I vengeance woro poured out upon the heads of the defenceless men and

    • was obtained - ' '¦ - . ¦ ¦/ : ; ¦ . ¦ . ' .. Vi ; ¦ - : ' , i ' m - . ' "We now understand why . it- is that , J 3 u ? r Russian Government , while calling upon the Turkish Government to oj ^^' jt | ie ' .: iett ^( : ^ if ; certain old treaties about the cwftbdy of ke ^ a ^ in Syria , and the repairing of * c > iiBrc | jBi 9 i *} u Constantinople , enjleavoured to stren |;^ th ^ n ^ and enlarge her interference pnbenalf of | li § Greek Christians . ; ' ihsfc interference being . '

    always intended on . behalf of " $ h& orthodox [ Christians . ' * . Of ^ courtee it would . fc ^ * | pr outrage on the prerogative of tb © prtliQdbi lobe restrained in tfce- ' . exerpisei / oiE '' th ^ ir ' , au |] bQi- ; rity over the ui ] LrOct ^ . odo § - ^ -tlie ^ " ^ o o ^ d ^ pL . - Protestants . The ^ xigl ^ ta oj fcTiV 6 # T £ o | f < Ht included the right of tyranny ; and " in-it e *? straining th e m from , that tyranny the Tujpkisn ' Government commitbed an offence in jbhe eyes of the Christian i patron—^ Russia . W&k are not left to infer this conclttsion from the

    simple acts of war , eV&n by the light 6 f the- * information wl ^ icn M |* , JUayard . . and XiOrd Shafteshary have co > 1 lected . ,, " W ^ have y&yr . ^ the au thority of Coatii ; ONTeasBlpode , « tad the > long mernorandura " th ^ the &tyrni # bf ' St . PeterQbwyi , to prov' ^ j v $ a . % the object , ' $ t j ^ n © Turkish Governmentiwas to strengthen and , extend its right of'interference on behalf ' of the orthodox Greek Christiana . That is distinctly avowed . The object of the wa . r , ' therefore , with Russia is " religious "— -that is to say , it is a crusade to sustain the authority of the PattLarch "whose method of enforcing his authority is exemplified abovef

    Now the objects of the war on the side of England are political , although we say religious considerations cannot be omitted . The religious considerations are these . IjJnglish men will not pretend that they can absolutely determine what is the "truth ; " no Englishman would pretend to sit in judgment upon the two parties ia the divided Greek Church , and to set himself up as empowered by divine authority to give control to tlie one over the other . We huve learned better than to

    advance such pretensions even in matters of dispute between Christian and Saracen . Our process is quite different : we say that if a man conscientiously study the recorde of mankind , the labours of theologians , ia t&e works of Clod , he will gradually arrive so much the nearer to the truth ; tkat in older to promote thnt study as generally and a effectively as possible , it is necessary to set men free from any Popish authority ; and therefore it is our conviction that in order constantly to protect labour ia the search of

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    March 18 / 1854 . ] TH E L E A D ER . 2 ^ n

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 18, 1854, page 253, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2030/page/13/