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    office from one to another and back again , simply because the great mass of the people of England permit it . Tfce middle class , who stand between the people of England and those few self-elected managers , assist in keeping up the eliquery , because they hope occasionally to have a stray crumb or two . When they are mortified , they are silenced by shame ; and hence we seldom Lave explanations so perfectly direct and explicit as that which Mr . Strutt has given to ns . If the English people had any sufficient spirit , Mr . Strutt ' s statement would hare roused it .

    But the House laughs at first , is just enough roused to cheer a little towards the end , and —" the subject dropped . "

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    CHURCH RATES . THE OSUEOH JVtUST BELONG- TO THOSE WHO PAY FOR IT . " The Church "—that is the fabric—is the abode of a " national , and established religion , "—such is Mr . Gladstone ' s phrase . Different sections may object to payments for national objects , argues Mr . Groulburn ; the peace party may object to pay for the expenses of " carrying military baggage ; " but the Church must be maintained in order to give " gratuitous religious instruction" to the poor .

    Mr . yernon Smith declares that he never in his life saw a working man , in his working clothes , in a parish church ; and , with some few exceptions , he is right . Hie very few working people that go to church disguise themselves in the clothes of the middle class , and , in fact , belong more to the middle class than to the poor . The idea of maintaining the present church for the poor is therefore a farce .

    When it is a question of rights this plea of national character is put forward for the Church . Speak of its obligations , claim for the nation the right to dispose of its machineTy , and tlien we are told that the property of the Church is Church property , private property . In short , the Church is national in its rights ; but private in its obligations . The Church ought to be compelled to make its choice—eitlier to be a private corporation or a national establishment . If it were to

    choose the private character , it cannot claim to levy rates upon the nation . It must then retire upon its estate , make the best it can of its property , compete with other sects for official appointments , and 3 in short , be nothing more than a rich corporation . There ia , indeed , a very different course open to the Church , if there were in it men at once possessing a sufficiently catholic spirit , genius of intellect , and strong physical energy , to grasp the core of religious truth , to show that it resides in the Church called

    " of England , " and to adapt-tlie institutions of that Church to the actual state of the country and of our knowledge psychological and scientific . The impulse to effect that great work does exist within the Church , and many enthusiastic churchmen are under its throes ; but the strength ia wanting . The third course , less ele \ ated than the

    second , more generous than the first , would be to adopt the national character , and to declare that the fabric belongs to those that pay for it—namely , to the church-rate pavers . x $ ut then would arise the question , Why should the minority of a parish which pays its way in church matters , hayo exclusive appointment of the parish churchman ? Admit that payment is proof of property , and a Wesleyan parish -would claim to appoint for its parish church a Weeleyan minister . And why not ?

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    June 24 , 1854 , ] THE LEADER . 539

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    MARGARET REGINBAL . ^ " The case is exceptional" —such is the exclamation constantly made when any trait of society , as it actually exists 3 is described in . plain terms . Husbands who are poisoned bv wives have learned to hate them , and to wish them on the other side of Lethe ; parents speculate on the burial-fees for their children ; wives are slaughtered bv the brutality and cruelty of husbands ; police courts and criminal courts drag out these cases , and we are told that they belong to the uneducated classes ; or that , as social traits , they are exceptional . Call them extreme , and the

    qualihcation would be trae . It is not every brute of a husband , every Madame Xiaffarge , or every speculative parent that gets into police courts , nor is it every criminal of this class which proceeds to such lengths as to render himself liable to prosecution . Still these are representative cases , the specimens of whole classes- ; for if the classes dtd not exist there could not be these extremes . Nemo repente fuit turpissimus , and as there must be something to lea . A up to actual crime , so criminals are not wholly and -widely isolated from the classes to which they belong .

    Again , notwithstanding the obstructive machinery of the Ecclesiastical Courts , they are constantly occupied with , cases of separations and divorce on * grounds which render marriage intolerable . It has been proposed to improve these courts , and to facilitate suet procedure . One class of objections is based upon the belief , tha . t if facilities be extended the applications for separation will be multiplied indefinitely . It has been proposed to give the business to the Court of Chancery instead of the Ecclesiastical Courts . The

    court , cry the Conservatives , will be overwhelmed with business — unable to g-o

    on . It has been proposed to grant to the wife divorce upon the same grounds as those upon which it is granted to the husband . Grant that , cries the IJord Chancellor , supported by many of his confreres , and you open the door to indiscriminate divorce . Husbands cam and will provoke actions for divorce , against

    themselves , without departing from their ordinary habits . Alice Leroy escapes from a house occupied at a high rent in a respectable street , the house itself known for being well conducted after its fashion . She escapes to the police , discloses the circumstance that a

    distinguished Marquis , a Greek Prince , and others of the same stamp , habitually resort to tie mansion ; . and the answer is , that it is an exceptional case . UTemo repente ! we reply ; such cases do not occur without there are others to lead up to them . [ Establishments of the same kind teem in the metropolis and increase in number . At the time of tlie great fire , there were , said Pepys , as many taverns destroyed as there were churches left standing , " which it is pretty to observe . "

    But at the present time the churches , we suspect , are outnumbered , not by the taverns , but by other establishments sucu as those in which Alice Leroy was lodged . And if tlie churches are empty , those establishments are not . Look diligently enough and you shall find ; and accordingly this week comes another case ; that of Heginbal versus Mnrmaysee . It is evident from the orthography of these names that the traffic is in the hands

    of very ignorant persons ; but it doos not appear tliat the customers "belong to an equally l < 6 w clasa of society . The traffic is reduced to a kind of system , and the heroine of tliia drama exposes it . She is brought over from France ; is only one of a class sufficiently numerous to repaj a systematic importation of such

    girla . She is lodged in a house' where she finds everything very comfortable ; she keeps a regular day-book , which fulfils in some degree also the function of & ledger ; at all events her accounts are . squared every Sunday , —so much for herself , so much for the speculative master , so much for the expenses . Twenty-three pounds in one week are put down as her earnings , and they may

    be instructively contrasted with tlie earnings of virtuous women at the business of washing , sewing , or tailoring . Note also , that , as in this country , social esteem goes mainly with wealth , there is every chance that a Margaret Reginbal , or an Alice Leroy wlw > does not revolt , will be able to secure infinitely more social recognition than , a poorsempstress or waistcoat-maker . Follow either one of

    them to aji inn , and see how the dingy woman will be turned out , while the Margaret Beginbal , except in very starched establishments , will be admitted with delight , and waited upon with distinction . The case confirms what had been stated at the time of Alice Iieroy , and what Has been discovered subsequently in Holland and Belgium : there is a regular exportation of such merchandise from Belgium , Holland ,

    and Prance , for the . consumption of the English , market . There is a similar export , it is said , for the American market ; but , ais far as we can understand , there is some difference here . We speak , indeed , under correction ; because , as even , " the Vagabond *' whom we have dismissed does not profeBs to belong to the established order of society , we cannot suppose that even he is experienced in those systematic arrangements ; and for ourselves , we know them only through French

    rteratu-re and the reports of certain charitable institutions . There is a certain routine , whether it is in going to the clergyman before noon , attended by the usual allowance of bridesmaids , carriages with blinds , servants with rosettes , breakfast , and so forth , or in calling upon Monsieur Marmaysee and Madame Caroline , and tendering the usual fee , from one to three pounds . Statistics show tliat there is as much regularity in the one as in the other class of alliances . The difference between the American and the

    English consumption , however , is this : it is avowed , not without some evidence , that in New York , the principal American emporium , the traffic depends principally for its . patronage upon loreigners Tesident there . We suspect , indeed , * that , however the traffic may originate , it d oes , since it exists , find custom even amongst the Native Americans . Still tkere is evidence to show that originally

    and to its chief extent this traffic ^ n -IST-ew Torlt ia foreign : with us it is naturalised , and the foreign , element is imported chiefly as the variety . It is conducted upon commercial principles ; it is recognised in the af ter-dinner conversations of society , though it is disclaimed by those for whom it is carried on . It has become the subject of investigation in our law courts , but * ' the veil of propriety" is , to some extent , thrown over it ; and even when it comes into court , Mr . Serge-ant Miller endeavours to hush it Tip ,

    by suggesting that " the court should be spared these disgusting details . " Disgusting as they are , the details can be performed hy or on behalf of , respectable men—for none but respectable men can spend one , two , 01 three pounds at once . Undoubtedly , how ever , it is n "well understood custom of so ciety not to talk of them , or , when they ar < found out , to declare with emphasis that ' *¦ th < case ia exceptional . " And thus does Englisl soci&ty preserve in its heart , sacred agaiaa profane invasion , the demon idol of He ginbalism .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 24, 1854, page 589, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2044/page/13/