On this page

• Text (3)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    jjjie man' is sent to restrain a number , his oj&y chance is to awe the number by reckless fipjence of conduct , and the half-tutored splice know that philosophy as well as ai ) v : man who has been called upon to f-pifront a multitude . Sir Richabd Maine Mows it ; Sir Gkobge Gbey ; knows it . gji ? G-eobgkk had an experience of a similar kind in 1848 ; he has now- reversed the lesson . On that day a ridiculous conspiracy of a few brainless knaves was

    pretending to force upon the English comuumitya sanguinary burlesque of continental revolution . There was nothing but insincerity and mischief in that movement , from «; hjeh the elite and great body of the working classes held aloof . The common , sense , the right feeling of the nation protested firmly aad conclusively against an importation of revolutionary theatricals from abroad . The nuisance was emphatically put down . The Hyde Park rebels in 1855 were , however ,

    perfectly in the right , for their object was , not to prevent a conscientious and voluntary Sabbath observance , but to arrest a legislation in their own name which they repudiated for its hypocrisy , and repelled for its injustice . Lord Robert , assisted by Sir Geokge Gbey , persevered in misrepresenting the people , until blood was drawn , and then the whole sham of legislation broke down . The Home Office and the Sabbatarians will carry their measure by blood if necessary , but they can

    be frightened out of their dictation . That is what the result of the civil conflict has proclaimed to the people . The aristocracy were not frightened ou the 10 th of April , not only because Welxington was there with his army , unseen , but ready and decided , but because the tumult itself was a fraudulent pretence of a popular movement . When the people have truth on their side * and are determined , the aristocracy are frightened ; and that is the way to arrest the course of weak and violent legislation .

    Untitled Article

    THE SOLUTION OF THE SUNDAY QUESTION . The philanthropic but mistaken author of the Sunday Trading Bill having displayed the better part of valour , the Sunday question is apparently at rest for the present , and , therefore , now is the t ime for wise men to prepare their solution of it . It is pretty clear what 6 prfc of feeling is growing up upon the subject . even in Presbyterian Scotland , where Sabbatarianism is so large a part of the national religion . The toiling millions will ^ ot submit much longer to have their one day ' fjf > recreation destroyed by a tyrannical superajpttioh . Still less will they submit to this ¦ iyranny when they know that the classes who fipose it are ablo virtually to emancipate pmselves from its effects by their private jroans of enjoyment , and make the poor gjjmer the martyrdom while they give them-. sffives the praise . vjif $ 9 are a f rai ^ there is some truth fl ^ ' tfie allegation , though coming from a I Wil ful source , that the Ultra-Sabbatarian \ action , consists not so much of Patrician , j ^ chbishops and their order , as of the Puritan jjud&e classes . Lord Dkhmy and n number oT j diatinguiahed fashionables are said to have J $ 8 P , in Hydo Park last Sunday to sec the Wmpnatration . No doubt the middle classes , ffif $ i $ more religious , arc more superstitious | wii the rest . To thorn has descended what regains among us of the faith ami spirit of jj ^ &WEix and Bujstyan , linked unhappily KHify , their tyrannical Bibliolatry and religious Swoiii . But the middle classes , at least , » Wy keep the Sabbath themselves , though »| tf jres ] pectablo houses , good dinners , and Wo w ^ aclierB ^ make Sabbath-keeping a very wffljroh't thing' to thorn from what it is to the

    poor . If they prescribe dulness , th . ey are scrupulously dull themselves ; if they denounce smiling on the Lord ' s day , they never profane the Lord ' s day by a smile . In Scotland , the austere children of the kirk draw down their window-blinds , and drink behind that veil of the domestic temple a considerable quantity of whisky , according to the returns ; but they punctiliously eschew a walk in the fresh air , and we will venture to say that , penetrating into the back-parlour sanctuaryyou might find an elder fuddled ,

    , but you would not find him gay . The members of the House of Commons are they who , if the expression is Parliamentary , behave like cowardly hypocrites on this question , and having piously closed by immense majorities all places of innocent amusement to which the poor can have access , drive off to relax a statesman ' s cares in the Sabbath enjoyments of a suburban villa . It ttjay be said they do this at the bidding of middle-class constituents . This cannot be true of the county members :

    and if it is true of any , it saves their sense at the expense of their honour . Heaven forbid that we should impugn the observance of the seventh day as a day of rest , or assail any who wish honestly to legislate for that object . May the time come when the Sabbath in that sense shall be kept throughout tlie world , and all humanity enjoy its respite from toil together . Political , moral , physical science prove the need of such a respite for the mind , spirit , and

    muscles of man : and the State is perfectly justified in enforcing the observance of it against the lust of lucre , and securing it to those who , being under the tyranny of Mammon , might not be able to secure it for themselves . But the day of bodily and spiritual rest , of recreation , happiness , and thankfulness to God is one thing : the day of religious gloom and formality is another . The first is the privilege of humanity : the second is the dogma of a sect . The first ,

    society is bound to guard : the second , no Sabbatarian has a right to impose on those who are not Sabbatarians themselves . Give us a reasonable Sunday Trading Bill by all means , if the better way of general agreement and spontaneous respect for the needs and rights of humanity will not suffice to guard the day of rest ; but accompany it with another bill for freely throwing open everything that cau . make the day of rest one of innocent recreation and as much healthful enioyment as the lot of man perntits . Let

    " Independents " and " Free Churchmen give us the benefit of their own principles . Let them keep the Sabbath in their way , and allow us to keep it in ours . Our freedom will do no Aviong to their restraint : our gaiety will not condemn their gloom . But in the meantime they are making themselves responsible for the vice and misery of millions who , not being Puritans , are driven to dens of low sensuality in honour of the Puritan Sabbath . We are dad to publish , for fair play ,

    the letter of a '' Free Church Minister ; and our answer to him is , that while ho and his Clnuvh aro content to observe the Sabbath themselves without imposing its yoke on others , we shall not have a word to saiv against them . Ho will

    scarcely deny that the Puritan Sabbath is a peculiar religious doctrine confined to certain Churches and sects . It is denied by tho immense majority of Christendom , and has been combated ( and to our minds conclusively ) oven on tho most orthodox hypothesis by u ' omo Protestant divines . Tho Presbyterians have no moro right to force it on us than Catholics or Anglicans havo to force Catholicism or Anglicanism unon them .

    Their doing bo is mere tyranny , for which they will give and can give no justification whatever . Our correspondent himself disdains to offer us any argument . He simply defies us to take his " Sabbatarian Sebastopol . " Why yes , if people are determined to entrench , themselves behind the ramparts of accumulated prejudice , it will be harder to carry those ramparts by appeals to reason and humanity than it is to beat down Russian earthworks with cannon-balls .

    But Sebastopols of this kind , when they obstruct justice and the good of people , unfortunateiy provoke in the , end the use of other weapons than appeals to reason and humanity : a truth on which we adjure the garrison , as they are good men and wise men , to reflect before it is too late .

    Untitled Article

    SURVET OF THE FAR . War , when waged in that grim earnest spirit which animates the armies in the Crimea , dares not stop for the death of commanders , not even when the lost commander is beloved by the troops as Lord Raglan was beloved . Another steps in ; the dreadful work goes on ; and one man reaps what another has sowed . The two armies , as General P . elissie : u informs us , meet over the grave of the chief , beloved by the one , respected , nay almost venerated by the other , and then return to the trenches or the camp , and the old life ,

    broken for one moment by the solemn pause of the last solemnities , renews its course , and goes on as before . And so we , turning from the momentary contemplation of the man whose high character will be better appreciated as years roll by , resume the thread of the Crimean epic , and try to record the last act in whjch the departed chief was engaged . The frustrated assault . —] STow that we have the official and unofficial documents relating to the failure on the 18 th of June before us , that failure ceases to be matter of wonder . It

    was the inevitable result of one of those accidents so common , alas , in the history of all wars . From previous descriptions , aided by the best maps , the reader no doubt understands the relative positions of the Allies and the enemy . But we may as well , perhaps , refresh his memory . The successful assault of the 7 th of June gave the Allies three commanding positions , Mount Sapoune , the

    Mamelon , and the Quarries . Each of these , positions was separated frem the other by deep ravines , the line of the attacks in w hick they form the advanced posts lying along the intervening . crests or ridges . The crushing fire of the 17 th June was directed along the whole of the eastern front , but mainly on the two strongest works . Judging by the cessation of the Uussian fire , its effect was considered to be overwhelming , and tho generals ,

    officers , and men of both armies were confident of success . Lord Raglan and General PicMSSiEit , therefore , the engineers concurring , determined to assault the place without delay , and fixed upon the morning of the 18 th . Atlirst it was proposed that the place should be cannonaded for two hours , that is , from three to five o ' clock , and that the storming c olumns should rush forward as the lire ceased .

    Deeply do we regret that this plan did not seem practicable to the French General . Late on the night of the 17 th he informed Lord Raglan that lie should not wait lor any preliminary firing , but fall ou with tho dawn . The reason given for this decision is that tho French troops would have been assembled in such numbers that they could not bo concealed . It mar bo so . Tho plan ofr General PuiaasiKii was not carried out , and so was not fairly tried , but t ? us it seems a little preliminary fins could havo done no harm .

    Untitled Article

    jfatgEjfcM ^ KJ : ., . ' ; g B . 3 » 3 B . / M BIBP . $ 4 &

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 7, 1855, page 645, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2098/page/9/