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    are almost inclined to join the mob orator , and exclaim : — " England remembers what manner of man was the Eirst Gentleman , in ! Europe . We may live to see the day when the people will follow with "brick-bats to his grave the very last gentleman in Europe . " Most of our readers have no doubt been disgusted in the course of this war with appeals coming from certain quarters , public and private , to the effect that we must not speak harshly of our enemies , that we must

    be kind and considerate even to the Emperor of Russia . The Paris police—very gentlemanly also—has recently arrested various individuals for selling songs reflecting on the personal character of Nicholas . If this moderation were urged in the name of Christianity , or on any broad and general principles , we should admire , and regret not to be able to imitate it . But it is a mere question of politeness directed to the station of the man or men whose feelings we are

    required to respect . We are not called upon to be merciful to our enemies , but to princes and emperors . The classes that now affect to be so gentle are tlie same that exhausted the vocabulary of invective and calumny against the Beoublicans of France when we were at war with them ; and who even at present think no atmse too ferocious , no insinuation too bitter , no lie too cruel , to vomit against the partisans of liberty whereever they may venture to show themselves We are to crawl before crowned lieads even

    if they call up the last resources of their empires in order to injure and destroy us : we are to spit upon shoeless patriots even if they offer to "become our allies . This is the gentlemanly view of politics . Are we not right in saying that we must have new men to carry out new ideas ? The fact is , that at the bottom of all this gentility lurks a very clear view of

    self-interest . _ The great feature of the present times is a growing indifference for rank , titles , and worldly distinctions of all kinds . People are not quite so much led away as of yore by mere names . The "process by which this result has been arrived at has not escaped the observation of our governors . They begin to understand that the advance of England towards -freedom has consisted of ... a series of

    very small steps , each debated on principles that would have legitimately involved complete reform . The roj r al prerogative was long attacked by those who wished to limit it , from premises that might have left us no royalty at all . Parliamentary reform was based on doctines from which universal suffrage might have been deduced ; the people did not follow those who denounced rotten boroughs , but those who told them that " taxation without representation is tyranny . " In each of those great discussions something was gained in practice but more in theory . Attacks on a particular king

    diminished the veneration for kings in general ; attacks on aristocratic abuses diminished the veneration for aristocracy . It is now felt that a little more stirring in the public mind in this way will be dangerous . The great debate is between liberty and authority . One question is being stated in an infinite variety of ways : Do thore exist persons and classes who , in spite of all blunders and every kind of incompetence , have a natural right to conduct the affairs of agnation ? Ought not the nation -which suffers by these blunders and this incompetenco to choose other men from other classes ? Common-sense

    replios "Ay ; " but there is a lingering respect for old customs —> a certain shabby tendency to believe in' the wisdom and capacity of old and young lords becauso they are lords , wliich says " No . " Make it clear to tho public tUat no veneration should go where there is no

    virtue—do in . politics what the Reformation did in religion , that is , make reason a pEe-Hminary to faith , and we shall at oaaee hav ^ a new set of rulers . To avert this inevitable result the supporters of authority weakly « n-. deavour to keep up the spaniel . veneration . for place and power . They even repeat the fantastic absurdities of past times , and try to throw the halo of beauty and elegance round the persons of all who wield . authority ,

    Lowever iniquitously . We used always to h « ar of the majestic person of NicaoiAS i wenw hear of the manly grace and beauty of Alexandeb . But only women give their allegiance to bright eyes and broad shoulders . The world is sufficiently advanced to choose its leaders , on other grounds . The English aristocracy cannot by such acts lead our sympathies with theirs . They must abdicate , ajad let others grapple with the crowned apoatles of barbarism and slavery .

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    HUMILIATION " EX-OFFICIO . " In no aspect does this country ajppear so unworthy of itself as when it receives the dictation of the official clergy in matters pertaining to religion . The Queen in Council has ordered that a day of fast , humiliation , and prayer , before Almighty Grod , shall be observed throughout England and Ireland ,

    on Wednesday the 21 st day of March . The purpose of tliis prayer is " to obtain pardon of our sins , and in the most devout and solemn manner send up our prayers and supplications to the Divine Majesty , imploring His blessing and assistance on our arms , for the restoration of peace to her Majesty and her dominions . " ~ ~

    The motive which suggested this observance is one that merits respect , and will command the sympathy of considerable numbers ; but it will not command the sympathy of the nation . It suggests , indeed , very awkward associations , and still more awkward discords . It presents England as a State , curiously competing in importunities with Russia whose

    Czar , Privy Council , and people , have been for some months putting up prayers exactly for the same purpose on their side . This is a part of the subject which we cannot pursue . The species of competition in importunity which ja suggested ,, is painfully profane . Peteb Pindar objects to those" witches , mounted-on broomstick nags , who

    " Gallop along the air a wondrous pace , And boldly fly in God Almighty ' s face . " But imagine two witches of the archiepiscopal order boldly running this competitive race in the capacity of beggars ! If we were to depend upon our official church representatives for success in this kind of competition , we could not feel confidence . We have not before us all the Russian forms of prayer , but such specimens as wo have received are imbued with an

    earnestness direct to its purpose , and have a barbaric eloquence . Tug Czar boasts that he lias the Almighty by his side , assures his people that they are fighting for the Cross , embodies before them a power so wide and great that in tho very strength it seems almost divine , and speaks a language intelligible to multitudes . This is thoroughly genuine . Not so our polite humanitarian bishop .

    He seeks aid in " this time of peril and perplexity , " but he doos it rather with the air of a member of tho Peace Society , or an old lady , than as the spokesman of a nation seeking victory as a judgment upon , the right . Ho confesses to having deserved the divine anger , and " justly fears chastenings ; " aa if England dreaded the war , and regarded it , not as a chastisement which she inflicts , but as one that she endures ! He beseeches the Divine Judge to " enter not into judgment , " though that judgment could indeed be the

    only legitimate object of prfty ^ r ; bu * he ptfayg Provide **®* to " direct ; o \ xt Gtfftciottr BoHrereign , ''—of corarse eo * through -judgment , but by some " favour /' - * - " to tl «» preservationof tranquillity at . home and the preservation . : df peace throughout the world . " In other words , tlae Arehfeishorp ptsys ? for" protection , deprecates judgment , and ask » for n species 61 partiality on bekalf of " Eaglamd an * Wales

    and Ireland . " The Czar tells his people to march forth , and fight for Russia and the Cross . " Let nothing , " says * our Archbishop in his . lawn sleeves , "be done through pride , malice , or vain glory , " but to " teach us to be merciful , tender-hearted , and fully compassionate . " Read by the Czar ' s countrymen , this is the prayer of cowards ; read by Englishmen who know the decorations bestowed

    upon staff-ofEcers , it is the prayer of hypocrites . It is worse . Read by Dissenters , it is the prayer of one sect dictating , to the rest ; and read by the working people , it is the prayer of the rich who belong to that one sect , and who keep up these mummeries not through sincere piety or reliance in the divine justice , but through a belief that the mummeries are an indirect means of sustaining the monopolies of rank and office . In the parish of St . Andrews , Holborn , the local Incumbent of the Established Church claims to read prayers

    over the bodies of all " persuasions ; " although , as a contemporary observes , some persuasions , such as the Roman Catholic , verily believe that the prayers of the Protestant clergymen are a viaticum expediting the soul of the departed on the journey to eternal perdition . The Archbishop will not allow us to pray for war and victory , but his " form" teaches us , with its oily twang , that we must pray * for peace and favour ; and numbers even of the conforming sect stand by and sneer at the pretenee , which others TRsist na a dictation and an interference .

    It has aroused the working classes m several parts of the country . A day of fast and humiliation is to them a reality . To the other " persuasions , " besides those of poverty , it only means the addition of fish and egg sauce to the usual dinner , with a closing of the place of business , as if it were Sunday . To the working man a " fast" means stopped wages and the want of dinner- . IS ow . working men object to go without their dinner , in order that the Archbishop of and

    Cantebbtjet may , in the chapels churches of a particular sect , approach the Throne of Divine Grace with his insincere and unworthy prayer . It is not for the want of such a form in particular chapels and churches that the knives and forks of all the community should stand still . The working classes would gladly sacrifice a day ' s wage for a worthy object . If the money were really needed for the benefit of the sick and wounded , for the supply of the tlie

    soldiers , or for the prosecution ot war , they would give it . We know they would , because they have . done it already . Many a working man has given a day ' wage to the Patriotic Fund ; but ho does not feel that a day ' s wage taken from him for the sake ot the archiepiscopal flam will correct blunders and retrieve'disasters , or in any manner help to set this country atraight before tho Divine Judge .

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    WANTED A GENERAL OF CAVALRY . Tiieius is no reason why Great Britain should not produce a corps of cavalry second to aoae that ever rode upon tho iield of victory . All the material requisites for the composition oi au overwhelming force , exist in these islands . We have horses , certainly tlie equals tor spmt , bottom , ai > d speed , of any la the world ; w have men , who have always shown . that tbey

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    March 17 , 1855 . ] _ THE LEABBB , 251

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 17, 1855, page 251, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2082/page/11/