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

    eye ,, and lie . indulges m sangitme talk . about the Ottoman . Empire ben ^ in tersected with radwaya lite those of the United Kingdom or the United States ^ There is indeed no reason why lines like that from ATdin to Smyrna , or from Stamboul to Adrianople , should not be made ere long by dint of French or English enterprise . But nobody knows tetter than- t £ e veteran diplomatist how little of native spirit or perseverance is available in Turkey —we do not say for gigantic undertakings like the ramified railways of the civilised West , but for the

    most ordinary works of public , improvement .- It is tout too dear , from the guarded but stern expressions in \* hieh : Iiord Stratford alludes to the nnan < aal conduct and character of the Forte , that even he , has . ' little confidence in its fidelity to the promises of retrenchment and reform on the faith of ¦ which it raised , several millions of money the other ^ ay By way of loan in England . Faroe it from us to blame Lord Stratford for trying to the last to keep his own belief , and that of others , in the eventual redemption of a race whom he has so nobly served . It would spoil the heroic completed the

    ness of the splendid part he has playein ^ iiistory of his time werehe to show any disposition to give way , especially while as yet there ^ seems , no immediate cause to despond . " We rejoice moreover at the buoyancy of temperament which bids him look forward to participation in the discussions that may hereafter arise in Parliament on foreign affairs , in general . Lord Stratford has not hitherto been distinguished as a successful debater ; and it is hardly probable that at his time of life he will suddenly become so . But his speech at Smyrna is full of tie best characteristics of a thoughtful , lucid , ^ nd concentrated style ; and the House of Lords will be always ready to listen with attention and regard to whatever he may think it his duty to say on a subject which he has spent the matured prime of his political life in mastering .

    Untitled Article

    JOCULAR POLITICS . One unmistakable tendency of the " men of the time" is to adopt with emphasis Sir Walter Scott ' s advice to the young writer of his period—to "be , above' all things , amusing . " Every one acts upon the presumption that this enlightened country must not merely be instructed , interested , and governed , but that it must be tickled ; and in Parliament and oil-platforms ' very , dull gentlemen , utterly destitute of wit , and . completely " insensible to humour , awkwardly force themselves , as a matter of public duty , into deplorable facetiousness .

    In one direction these new tastes of a society , which does not like to bo lung serious , are likkly to be amply gratified . After the treaty with-China comes . Mr . " Albert Smith from China : after the war we arc to have ail " entertainment . " The wag . is an inevitable addition to the camp followers of our day . First the shouts of triumph : next the roars of laughter . Each century has its own methods of celebration . In other ages they took . a campaign tragically , or sentimentally , as the case might be . When the despatches announcing the glorious victory had been read , ' the Pool Laureate was scut for ,

    that he might be enthusiastic to order . Or , sometimes the Laureate was not equal to his work , and we know what , great results followed to literature from the Minister ' s trudging up those innumerable stairs to Mr . ' Addison ' s lodgings in the Hay market to procure the celebrated " copy of verses" in honour of Marlbrough , and the '" ins whom the Duke covered with profitable parly glory . The China war , with the China treaty , lins not as yet , suggested anything more enthusiastic or emotional than a pro-missionary speech from the Bishop of Oxford . JN o talk of illuminations , monuments , &c . Not even waggons of silver rolling it is tdt

    through the City to the Mint . Perhaps that the victories were too easy and smooth , ana that conquerors who met with no resistance might bo made ridiculous bv promotions or decorations . At any rate , those who have held the opinion that the war had its absurd side in rather too strong relief , and who consider that it was uiuUTUiK . cn in a spirit of volatile savagery by a lrivolous Minister , will seo but n legitimate science hi " comic" materials being drawn lrom U lor tho behoof of the metropolis by the witly g ; | P ™ who so long at tho Egyptiuu Hall h f obliged us with farcical views , taken from Mont Wane and

    elsewhere , of tho nineteenth century . ., Our only fear is Unit the oomic caterer to tuo public craving to grin , may bo too extravagant m the exuberance with which ho is' likely 1 o revel m tho fresh field for fun . Having " douo M ropo , and got into Asia , with nil its mysteries ami sanetitics to bo travestied nml parodied , lie may « £ sprightly in oxooss . Now , unconsciously , , no » having a " purpose- " in his tumblings , and w about to be a public lonelier in spito of himsell . " ,, V ; all disposed to bcliovo that tho " flowery liuul " crowdcdwiMi tho most ridiculous race umlur iuu sun , and it may bo tmiil that wo lm ™ , " » oj " own fashion , vory-iinperlVclly conquered them , urn , in duo manner , nud in .. proper IV-mii ^ i » Jj imi

    we daro make " ginno " . of them , w < "„ , * Elgin to take thorn down , though tho grout ^ " ^ ] J * perhaps got at by , tho rigours of a dip lonialicCwbniwu operation , not being horn quite in tho WiU \ m \^ Iand now wo have Mi \ Smith to tnko Iho Ct-lts mw " oil" Ho luis doubtless brought homo tho cibuoa * costumes and nroncrUcH—things which way conic *

    Untitled Article

    upon legislation , llie impression is . gaining . gr ound that-we . have had almost enough legislation" for the Church ; they must rely upon tlieir own action They are not to look to him for sanctioning the doctrine that they can make the sacraments of the Church " superstitious charms , " or . arroga tm * authority which would imvice the clergy despots over-tlie laity-. The whole spirit of his discourse is summed up in a passage on-the general position of the Church , in terms which , show that if the nationality of . the . Establishment is to be regained it must be worked out by men who invoke Its action ia the spirit of Bishop Tait : —

    disputes which have taken , place , _ like that between Mr .. Ijiddell and Mr . Westerton ,- Mr . Poole and IVIr . B ' eal , have brought as much ridicule and discredit upon , the movement as would qiiitc suffice to extinguish it ,, so rar as any general influence could go * Still , Liddell > and Pbole , and gentlemen , of that colour , warm the heart of Wiseman and of lome by the zeal which they display and by the ability with which they manage to keep up certain alien pageantries under the . shelter afforded by the letter of our law . On the other hand , exemplified principally by the eastern extremity of the metropolis , we have immense crowds who . never

    enter a church , for the simple reasons that there is no room for them ; that they cannot dress to go there decently ; that when they go , they feel humiliated by oeing reduced to an humbler position ; an . d that the mission of the clergy has heretofore been conveyed to them chiefly in a jargon with which they had little sympathy , and not at all in the simple language of the great founder of Christianity or of common human feeling . Our readers will remember the attempts made by many men of earnest conviction and social influence to open the special services , and we remember the manner in -which Mr . Edouart , of St . Michael's , used Ills parochial authority to forbid the opening of Exeter Hal ! on the ground that it would compete with his

    own shop and carry away his customers . We . have ¦ a . state of things , ¦ therefore , in which the elerg-y wlio are zealous have deviated to Rome or have close corporations of their own peculiar circles , while indifference lias been shown to the non-pewpaying public , and some of the ten thousand g entlemen in black have resisted the direct menus for opening the Cliurch of England as a kind of free trade which will interfere with their own connexion . A Bishop of London at such a juncture lias to take a clear , ' ' unmistakable-, and practical course , with reference to the Romanising reaction , to rally the established clergy in favour of the mission to the multitude , and to reconcile the doubts of selfish interest with the zeal for the interests of . the Church and of the nation . He has to undertake

    THE BISHOP JDE LONDON'S CHARGE . Whateveb regrets may hang around the memories of Charles James London , there is not the slightest doubt that Archibald Campbell Tait is the man for the day . The English people believe in the Bible , desire to render their lives more Christian in spirit as well as in literal observance ^ but equally dislike the extremes of spiritual subjection and theatrical display winch , are . borrowed from Rome , and the repulsively cold , over homely bringing down of the Church , which is exemplified in Scotland . England is neither Puritan nor Papistical . It believes itself to have derived its Christianity from

    the earliest sources , and to obey the spirit of the faith more than some communities who convert their religion , into a sort of mystical pantomime , -while their lives in the outer world are uninformed and uaelevated . JTrom his Primary Charge to the clergy of his diocese we gather that Dr . Taifc is exactly a , bishop for the British people—the more ¦ so from the circumstances of the time * The three great aspects of the national religion we conceive to e these . We are more than ever open to the sarcasm of the French satirist , who said that iu

    England we have only one sauce , but as many sects as they have sauces in Catholic France . The upper strata of the Church which still claims to be considered national are invaded by innovations from Rome ,, with the almost avowed object of recovering us for something like a reannexation to that old capital of superstition ; while , in , the lower strata of society , we nave what ; is called in the dialect of clergymen , " spiritual destitution , "—no provision whatever being made for the spiritual housing or teaching of the multitude . " What are the circumstances under which . Dr . Trait accedes to the command of his diocese ? The late Bishop Blom field had disclaimed—and we doubt not , intention of intention ot

    ^ sincerely— any encouraging tho ttinceveiy — any encouraging tuo Puseyite movement in the west end of the metropolis ; but his discouragement was so exceedingly gentle , so qualified b y something like sympathy with the grander dignities of Church ceremonial , that the publio at large undoubtedly looked upon Charles James as a man who encouraged Puaeyism by the process called winking . Since the decline And deatlt of the Bislmop , the noise made by the Puseyitea has in some degree diminished . The most influential of their leaders have either gone over to Borne or fallen off , leaving iho staff of officers much weaker ; and the

    that task at a time when Parliament is quarrelling about the abolition of church rates , which the greater part of the public desire , but which even the landowners resist . He has to do it when the whole people are calling for national education and cannot agree upon the religious clauses of their bill ; when , in short , we all of us want many admirable works to be accomplished , bat cannot agree about the means to accomplish them . He has to rule over a divided diocese , to collect the reports of conflicting parties , to steer between legal perplexities , and to unite plain common sense with undoubted piety of the orthodox

    standard . The task is so difficult , that some might have pronounced it impossible ; but few things are denied to earnestness when it is rendered perfect by full information and simplicity of mind . Bishop Tait is not blind to the difficulties of Ma course . He sees , for example , how impossible it has been to reconcile every shade of religious and political sincerity , and urges , by strong fact rather than language , that it ia for the genuine interest of the clergy , as it is their duty , to make themselves leaders in extending education , so that every ellbrt to extend education may extend their influence ; and he reminds them that they have greatly gained

    rather than lost influence by the national efforts made under the superintendence of the educational department of the Privy Council . This is true , especially when we consider tho clergy in their religious and social aspect rather than in their purely sectarian capacity . While admitting the impracti cability of settling the questionof church rates as the Church would wish ; desiring rather than expecting an endowment of tho Church which would render it independent of reluctantly conceded rates ; looki ng to the churches as they actually are , with their empty pews left vacant for persons who do not come to ohuroh , while thero is no room for the poor ,

    he asks whether , without fresh legislation * some effort could not bo made to devise a system by which unoccupied soatd might bo regarded as available for the poor ; and he points to tho groat cutbedrals under tho special sorvioos as newly opened to the most numerous classes of the people . Frona a sect , which has twisted particular passages in tho Scripturo , in the Church ritual , or in the books of our divines , he appeals to tho whole spirit of the national faith , and corrects " isolated passages " by ' the moderate sentiments whioh wo ( Ind breathing tluough the works quoted whon wo view thorn as a whole , " He tells the clergy that thoy must not rely

    " What we want rather is , to take things as we find them now ordered * and make the best of them . What we want is , that our machinery , such as it is , be worked ia the best possible way , rather than to bo striving perpetually after new experiments for altering it . After all , the Church ' s usefulness far more depends upon the conscientious discharge of duty than even upon the appliances of our ecclesiastical arrangements being adapted to the best possible theory . "

    Untitled Article

    1258 ¦¦ : ' : ¦ ¦ T H E X j E APE It . _ [ No . 452 , November 20 , 1858 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 20, 1858, page 1258, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2269/page/18/