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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.
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S pecies of mongrel , half dog , half fox , but where the dog begins or the fox ends , it is impossible to pronounce . Is this the Liberal-Conservative ? . ' In one respect , indeed , the Liberal-Conservative resembles the lurcher : for his business is to poach upon the programme of both parties , to neither of which he . belongs ., He is either too ignorant and too indolent to have formed any principles and opinions at all , or he has principles which he has not the courage to avow , and opinions he is ashamed to confess . You "will
generally find the Liberal-Conservative to be a Tory who has his price , and the Conservative-Liberal a Whig for sale . But there is one -effectual-test for such nondescripts on the hustings . Let the constituency insist on knowing how the candidate will vote on the extension of the Suffrage or the Ballot . Yes or No is sufficient . As to the broader
questions of national honour and national safety , we have all , let us liope , Tories and Radicals alike , the hearts of Englishmen . In this old country of beef and pudding and common sense , the extreinest Radical has no fancy for a leap into the twentieth century in search of a " democratic and social republic , " the most bigoted of : Tories acquiesces in the glorious Revolution of 1688 .
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The Lipeboat Institution . —The annual general meeting of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution was held at the London Tavern on Thursday -week , Kear-Admiral the Duke of Northumberland , K . G ., President of the Society , in . the chair . The meeting wa 8 numerously attended . Prom the report , it appeared tliat the lifeboats belonging to , and in connexion with , lho institution had , sinco the last report , Baved the creTVS , consisting of 12 C persons , of sixteen wrecks , and iiad
proceeded to the assistance ) of many other vessels in reply to signals of distress . The Board of Trade return of the wrecks that occurred on . the coasts of the United Kingdom during the past year states that the total number of wrecks in that period was 1153 . Tho loss of lives from shipwreck in the same period was 521 . It was , however , gratifying to find that the number of lives saved from Bhipwreck had been unprccedently large , 2243 shipwrecked persons having been rescued , by lifeboats , shore-boats , and other means . The report of the institution was unanimously adopted .
A Nkw Paper , pok Ladikb . —Under the title of " Tho Kngliuhwoman ' s Review , and Brawing-Iioom Journal of Social Progress , Literature , and Art , " we have received tho first number of a now fortnightly periodical devoted to the consideration of all questions affecting ; tho position of women . It is edited by a lady—Miss Eleanor Duckworth ; it in published by ono of tho gentle sex ; and female employment , aaya tho proapectuH , will bo encouraged " in every department of tho journal compatible w ith woman ' s work and . capabilities . " Tho number before us ia a pleasant collection of essays , Hk « tch
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sion , as instruments for the celebration of religious rites , partake of adoration , and are Ml ~ 1 " *¦ ' illegal . The altar or communion-table must be of wood ; it must be a t a lie , suitable for the purposes of those communicants who used in old times to sit around it , and partake of the holy bread . J $ o doubt the authorities of the Church have since pronounced that that was an improper mode of administering the sacrament ; and the altar , taken back from , the middle of the church , where it served the purpose of a table as much as the table at a
tea-party , was restored to the east-end of the church , and surrounded by a rail in order that the communicants might not indecently come too near it , or use it for the tabular purpose aforesaid . Yet , such is the conservative character of English law , that the highest court of judgment now pronounces that the altar , although never moved , must be movable ; because , although only used for the purposes of an altar , it must be called and deemed available for the purposes of a
to the taste of the persons managing the church . It appears to us that this judgment is correct , both in common sense and in the spirit of religious liberty . The proper furniture , whether of a private dwelling , a place of public business , or a church , depends in a great degree upon the taste of the persons who use the place . If one man finds red cloths , golden crosses , and a "dim religious light , " fed . by the pale ray of a
tall candle , conducive to feelings of reflect ion , or even gratifying to his senso of material fitness for things spiritual , he is the happier , and the better , for having those circumstances which he desiderates . If , on the other hand , a Protestant — physically stout , perhaps , bat morally feeble—finds his contemplation of eternity interrupted by the flutter of a piece of lace , his combativeness excited in the presence of eternity by obsolete contests between Martin Ltjther and
the Pontiff , he is better without the suggestive circumstances . But what do these facts —and they are nothing but obvious factswhat do the y dictate , save this , that Liddelt . should be permitted to go into one churcli furnished to his mind , and Westerton" into another , the congenial " unfurnished apartments ? " Why "We stebton should rush into Liddell ' s spiritual lodgings in order to tear down the decorations agreeable to the Liddell family , but repugnant to the Westerion taste , we cannot understand ; it is ceitainly not conformable to the spirit of religious liberty , or the tenets of the " broad Church . "
table . Casuists may comprehend the sense of this judgment , but we venture to say that ninety-nine out of a hundred persons in church will only be amused at the concatenation of incompatible aspects in which that piece of furniture at the east-end of a church should be reverentially regarded—as a movable table which must not be moved , and must not be in the middle of the church , and yet must be considered as the thing which would be in the middle of the church .
THE CHURCH OF KNIGHTSBRIDGE AND THE LUTHER OF B 11 OMPTO 3 ST . "We have a new judgment , higher than any yet obtained , in fact , the highest , in the matter of the furniture and millinery of the Established Clnircb . The cases of " Liddelx versus Westerton , " and " Lidbell versus Beali , " have been decided by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council , on appeal , first from Sir Johk Dobson , Dean of Arches , then from Dr . Lttshingtof , his superior . Both those learned , men wex-e so
ultra-Protestant in their feelings , that the very emblems of Christianity itself excite revulsion and anger in their minds , because those emblems have been used by the Catholic Church . Sir John Dodson pronounced the cross to be " a monument" of—what ? The whole Christian world , from time immemorial , has considered it to be a monument of one great sacrifice . Tom Paine and some others have pronounced ib to be , what Sir John Dodson calls ifc—" a monument of
idolatry and superstition . " And Dr . Lush-INGTo : n \ , alluding to the " cross amongst other decorations of the Knightsbridge churches , launches out against " meretricious" ornaments . Of course Dr . Lushington knows the meaning of that word " meretrix , " but how does he associate it in any way witli a cross reverently used ? He might associate it with a box of ointment , but even then reverence would make him hold his tongue . These two judges wholly and totally condemned the
decorations of Knightsbridge . They go along with Westeuton , and would reduce the churcli to nothing better than a waslihouso . Against their successive judgments Mr . Ltb » ell now appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council , where the case was completely reviewed ; Mr . Pemberton Leigh delivering judgment , and , in consideration of the doubtful state of the question before , dividing tho costs between the two parties litigant . It is impossible , therefore , to have a more solemn
decision , and now let us see what tho effect ia . The Judicial Commitl . ce pronounces that crosses , as ornaments of churches , arc permissible , and in fact strictly legal . Tho law arid immemorial usage haA'e sanctioned the cross as the emblem of tho Christian faith . The cross on the chancel screen of St . Barnabaw ia admissible as a mere architectural ornament , Crosses used in divine service , or in
procoa-The credence-tables are allowed , Dodson and LusHrNGToir notwithstanding . These are side-tables , on which the bread and wine are placed toefore consecration . Protestants ism , it appears , objected to the side-tables ; but the Judicial Committee , which is rather broad , church in its tendency at present , admits thern . Westertok , indeed , appears to have laboured under the idea thatLiDDELi induced his congregation to adore the side-tables But it is obvious that Protestantism , sensitive as it is , cannot be endangered by the presence of dumb-waiters .
The altar must be of wood ; it must be capable of being covered with , a cloth ; and therefore a cross fixed upon the altar must be removed , because it prevents laying the cloth . The French laugh at us for the superstition with which we English stick to dinner parties , and there is something singular in this distinctive fidelity to the table and tablecloth and the smoothness thereof .
By the Judicial Committee , it appears , Protestantism tolerates more than one covering on the table—a decision still borne out by the national analogy ; thez-efore Protestantism tolerates " altar cloths . " But there is one thing it will not tolerate . The cloth of " fair linen" used at the communion must not have lace or embroidery . The lace is
dangerous to Protestantism ; embroidery excites the feelings oven to tho extent of turbulent protestation in church . We may question the solemnity of a creed which considers lace essential to its completeness ; but where is the strength of that creed which is troubled by lace ? Imagine a poorlacc-makcr constituting either an auxiliary or an adversary to the faith !
Thus it happens when tho best and most earnest men erect trivialities into a matter of importance . The truly pious clergyman , -who resta his authority upon the shapo of a tablecloth , or upon tho use of lace , subjects himself to the rudo handling of any ' materialistic churchwarden . The judgmont , however , is really useful . Whilo ' diHtinctly pronouncing that some few modes of ornamentation are not permitted by the canons of the Protestant Church , it leaves many other minor matters or trivialities to bo adopted or not , according
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TORY CASUALTIES . PoiiiOwnsra the example of the metropolis ? the counties and boroughs are ejecting tlie Derbyites by scores . They are likely to gain a few seats from the Liberals , on account of family changes in various parts of the country ; but , upon the whole , their losses are severe . In many places their nominees have declined the engagement . In fact , it is pretty well known that the Carlton Club , on account of circumstances over which it has had no control , is disposed to be somewhat stingy . Toryism , to say the truth , is not in a particularly solvent condition . Fifteen county seats surrendered in one day represent a terrible falling off since the palmy days of " Conservative corruption . "
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Harch 28 , 1857 . ] THE LEADEB . 303
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 28, 1857, page 303, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2186/page/15/
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