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Leader (1850-1860), 19th June 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 591, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      sense . A greater crime ; er a . greater folly , coiild not be committed , than that of imperiling a -war -with ; the TThUed States by the Quixotic assertion of ; a fancied ri'gttt , tbe existence of which has "been thus denied ' temiff , by the greatest , ' and certailily not the- least tenacious , of the Ehglisti' expounders of international lawv" - ' . .. ;¦ : . ¦ . . . . . : . And ifc concludes an-article , written entirely in' this spirit , by saving :-

      —" There are few things which coald be more satisfactory to rational politicians on both sides of the Atlantic , than to receive authentic assurance that Great Britain has finally consented to waive the exercise of a power which cannot b& claimed without a -violent stTetohr- of' authority , nor asserted ¦ without a constant risk-o £ wan . " These manifestations are sufficient to show that . English opinion is as strong as . American against the outrages perpetrated by English

      cruisers . It is the fact that Americans have considerable confidence in the present Grovernnient ^ auid generally in Tory Governmentsj which , they say , are more friendly to America than Liberal Governments ; and the estimate is confirmed in the present case ; "We "believe ve shall not be wrong if we express our belief that the question will be found to have been settled to the satisfaction of both Governments .

      Untitled Article

      SIGNS ANT ) WARNINGS . Foe bow nearly a half-year the public has - heard , from various directions and -with constantly increasing vehemence , auxidus warnings that Eran . ce is preparing ,, actively and steadily , to set her military strength on some particular occasion face to ; face with ours , and provoke , at any rate , a comparison which it believes will be favourable to itself . These warnings , it is ,, now shown ; were not the mere

      random utterances of alarmists . They began to circulate just at the moment when , the Ifrencli Emperor conceived he had just cause of personal offence against us ; and so far may be considered to have been rather conjectural than positive . But they liavc been reiterated after the most attentive consideration has been given to the question , and must now he admitted to be worthy of serious notice .

      lhe French armaments appear to be of two different kinds . They arc permanentl y endeavouring to raise their maval force to a level with our own , or rather , to a position of superiority ; and at the same time they are pushing : forward naval and military preparations , as if for an immediate expedition . The inauguration of Cherbourg , which was not to have been finished till next year , has been hurried forward' an excuse for the concentration of a large force in the Channel ; the arsenals of Toulon and Brest have been exhibiting romarkahlc activity during the whole season ; and there is now actually a powerful fleet , consisting of nine sail of the line and- three frigates , at large iut the Atlantic , and nobody is sure whither it as going , or what amount of troops it has on hoard .

      If we had no cause of quarrel with France ,, or rather if the French Government did . not think it had . a , cause of quarrcLwith us , we might be content towatch these movements with no more than an ordinary amount of' vigilance ; but under present circumstances , it would certainly be most culpable neglect on the part both of the public press and the Ministry to proceed on the supposition that friendly assuranocs should exonerate us from the duty of . making the most , ample defensive arrange menta . We know with whom we have to deal . It has always been t ] ie habit of the French . Emperor to proceed by surprises . Setting aside the great act ot penury , Tvhich- cxcludos him from honourable

      society , he has always been accustomed to prepare lor . a strong act by making innumerable little pledges in the opposite direction . This tendency lias been so remarked ; that diplomatists are beginning to be always alarmed for the success of a cause which- has his Majesty ' s especial patronage , or whioh receives lh « support of his press . itis promises and his explanations arc almost universall y considered by tlie public as mere formalities . JNcvcr perhaps , was soverei gn of a slate more painfully humiliated than he has been this last week by , the quiet incredulity with winch the "denial " in lac Momtcur was received We must not , ho wever , bo led away to suppose that because Prance . a getting ready for war , and is miticulnrly earnest m saying that such is not the case , we arc certainly to expect a piratical attack .

      Suob 1 does- not appear to be the policy of the Emperor . Aifr least ; we are 1 willing 1 to 1 believe , tntfaT absolute proof be given , that he is not positively insane . Of course , if he vereto conceive and carry out a landing- without a declaration of war , as our Government docs not seem to have been alarmed h \ time , lie could do us infinite damage . There can be-no dbubt about it . Unless Hodge were to rise en masse , we might see French bayonets twinkling somewhere in the neighbourhood , of London ; and some party of bold mounted Chasseurs might dash forward and bathe their moustaches gratis in the ale of the Elephant and Castle .

      But that castle , the only one it appears ma proper state of defence they would find : on their way , would probably ne the limit of the supposed military excursion . Althougli our " roughs" are not heroes , it would require something more than a corps sent over by surprise to occupy London . We might be disgraced by the affair ; but we should not be much injured ; and , at any rate , the advantages of the expedition would be so doubtful , and would render a long and bloody struggle with England so inevitable—a struggle that could only be ended by the extinction of the Emperor , that it is not to be supposed that he is dreaming of any such , abnormal ¦ ¦ ¦

      act . : ¦" - ¦ . - ¦ ' ' . :, - . .. .. The warnings , however , which have been circulated do not all point to such extremities as these . The best-informed persons believe that the object of the Emperor is rather tp humiliate us without fighting l ) y the display of an . overwhelming foxce than to indulge in the barren pleasure of an attack upon our ill-defended shores . He has great objects to carry out in Europe . He wishes to be acknowledged once more , as he was tacitly acknowledged until tlie grenades of Orsiui were flung , and liglrted up the ruinous condition of the / pedestal on which lie had been raised to be the arbiter of peace and war—the real chief of this " Western seat of

      exhausted civilization . We are the only impediments to the realization of his ideas . We have still the reputation of being able , at least , to obstruct any plans of aggrandizement which France may entertain . It is his' object to show tliat lie is able to meet us on our own clement , and , perhaps , force his way to our shores . Already the announcements that have been made of his preparations and of the weak , though amiable confidence of our Ministers , have given him many diplomatic advantages . P ublic opinion has been affected . It is said abroad that we feel incompetent any longer , drained as we . are supposed to be by the necessities of India , to up-1

      hold the position of afirst power in Europe . The most comical humilit y is sometimes attributed to us . This turn in opinion is justified by many small circumstances wliich maybe great in their consequences . Tlic indifference with which we have beheld the commencement of the military occupation of Egypt by the landing of a body of French gendarmes to act as police , is a striking proof that we arc somewhat bewildered by the crowd of our responsibilities . A few years ago the Press and

      the Pan Lament would have rung with complaints on the subject . Now ,, no one seems to know or care about it . We are allowing the French to resume the slave trade , and to pursue every where a policy not only independent of us , but hostile to us . All this is because we will not pay for a Channel fleet . Next month we shall , perhaps , be convinced that the conspiracy against our prestige has been well laid ; and we may endeavour to repair our mistake in a blundering hurry . But there arc advantages that can never be recovered :

      Untitled Article

      SPIRITUAL LO 11 ETTES IN BELGRAVIA .. The Scarlet Lady is said to have taken up her lodging in Bclgravia , living under a vail of inco gnito so thin thai ; no one can he deceived any moro thaa by the alias of travelling royalty . The secret , like all other illustrious secrets , gets whispered abroad , and spiritual Whigs arc scandalized . A zealot of this order gets some information which enables him to ferret put a telling scandal against a gentleman who is said to be a favourite master of the ceremonies to the Scarlet Lady ; and he sets to work . We only state the facts as wo find them . The Hon . and Rev . Frederick Baring abominates Home and all her etceteras , and- he goes about seeking whom ho may devour . In his pious pursuit he K ' iills in with six . women , who arc debtors to the spiritual friends of the Rev . Alfred Poolo for sundry groceries and other charitable helps ; and liave thus been qualified to bear witness against'their neighbour . The women arc ; of divers nges , van £ in « - between nineteen and fifty . They have something to

      tell . It is very scandalous , bidf pijtobrtiofiftbly availaT > le : for Protestairfr' purposes . Theft ?' , story amounts to a categorical' accusation against tlift Rev . Mr : Pdole , not only of using- Popish ceremonials ; but of * practising the * confessional ; and of pushing-its inquiries-beyond the verge of'decorum . In their details the whole-six cases strongly , resemble ea&h other . There- are , it ? appears , in'the'dis * trict of St . Barnabas , Pimlicoj certain , "ladyvisitors , " among whom is a Miss Joy . This lady ; according to the representations of < several of the women ; pressed them to wait upon the ' Rev . Mir . 1

      poole for the purposeof auricular confession ; and to some extent ? she coerced them by the threat that , if they did not confess to Mr . Poole , certain small charities in the shape of grocery would be -withheld from them . It is a sort of infinitesimal rack , undergone optionally within ecu optional Inquisition ! The women state that' tiey were conducted into a . dark ox darkened rooni in the parsonage j and tihere subjected to-a series of questions calculated not only to draw forth , in detail , their conjugal relations , but also theiraberrationsin thougnt as well as in fact , and any conceivable improprieties of which they might have been guilty . In

      possession of this -valuable information , the Hon . and Rev . Mr . Bating carries it—to what- authority ? To a public meeting in St . James ' s Hall ; amd there , m an ex parte statement , obtains a verdict from Judge L ^ nch . ~ Now , what is the state of ' the ' facts ? In the first place , Mr . Poole has already been arraigned before a competent tribunal—the Bishop to wit . Secondly , he has undergone 'judgment , and a sort of deprivation , namely , of his curacy : Thirdly , tlie proceedings in this court have not been reported , but there is good reason to believe that Mr . Pooie has been found guilty ; not of the proceedings charged b y the Worn en , but upon certain - ¦ admissions made' by

      himself , with reference to his opinions and conduct in the practice of the confessional . Alid fourthly , Mi \ Poole has appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury . It is in tMs- stage , pending an appeal , thai ; Baring—there is no bearing this Haxiag- ^ -toleraKs a- non toierando—brings forward the -evidence of the lialf-dozen willing :-women'before a-public- meeting , " a Shaftesbury aiding and abetting / 3 It is . a strong example of the extremes to which men wall be carried by \\\ q odium theologicum . Tlie Hon . and Rev . Mr ; Baring is a respectable matt ; no doubt ; yet Tve find liim associated with a set of women who , oil their own showing , subjected themselves ; ,

      tor the sake or a lew pence worth of tea and sugar , to an ordeal that women with the least self-respect or decency of mind would shrink' from with unconquerable disgust ; and we find him- taking their evil report against a brother clergyman ; and hastening before regiuar judgment to snatch , on . one-sided evidei ] ice , a judgment from Judge Lynch . THie Hon . and Rey . Mr . Baring and the'paxty with whom he is acting—although he denies tliat he has airy connexion with any party—are spoiling a good cause . No church ever made its'ground good by making alliance with scandal , or embezzling the-rights of the judgment-seat . Appeal should be made , not to a public meeting-collected'by the exciting advertisement that " only gentlemen are

      expected' to attend ; " the disclosures , of- course ; being " unfit for publication , " but * on the- much broader ground of public opinion—on-fche merits of the question at issue . Pseudo-Papacy in Belgravia is clearly in a false position ; it is trying-, to > buy itself in by donations of tea and sugar ; making converts of a few stray sheep ; and' equivocating between England and Rome . It will never- get much- forwarder , while-left to its own means and contrivances ; but when- Protestant zeal makes common cause with' scandal , and reaorts to- measures such as drove- tlie- ^ # < j-and Stetirisfr news * - papers into the world of extinct monsters , it rouses Enprlish feeling- ar / ainnt Protestantism- to the 1 dc * fence of injured- and aspersed Papacy :

      Untitled Article

      THE' THAMES PESTILENCE . A g igantic flood of poison swells daily and nightlV in tlic metropolis . The Mississippi \ k tlie Father of Waters—tlic Thames is the Mother of Stenches . Putrid and noisome , our- river rolls the filth of London to within a fev ' v miles of the sea ; the sefc drives it back in an aggravated stage of decomposition , and bore the abomination floats between the Thames Tunnel and Battorsea , hourly blackening rotting , and steaming with vast escapes of contagion . Members of Parliament , and inudlarfcsj pprtcrs on piers and passengers by steamboats , sicken

      Untitled Article

      1 ^^ 4 ^ ^ mm ^^ lBS&q- / T ' H / E' L ^ A ^ Eim gjf

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 19, 1858, page 591, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2247/page/15/