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U92 THE LEADER, [No. 299, Saturday,
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OUR STATE KELIGION. We mentioned l;«st w...
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A CHARNEL-PIT IN HOLBORN". At a meeting ...
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AVAR WITH THE DEAD. The following letter...
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Transcript
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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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Public Meetings. Sill Stai'l'Oud Nuuvilc...
the non-commissioned officers and privates of the Wesea troop of the Staffordshire Yeomanry Cavalry ( of which body he is captain ) , and of course made a speech on the war , in the course of which he stated his opinion that peace , is not probable , and , if negotiated by Austria , not desirable . He denounced the conduct of Austria as treacherous , and as cloaking a real hostility under an appear mnce of friendship ; and he concluded by saying that we must not be satisfied with " the Four
Points , " but must retain possession of the Crimea . Messrs . Langton , Floyer , Newdegate , and Spooner have also made speeches in favour of the war—the two former to their constituents , the last two at a meeting of the Rugby and Dunchurch Conservative and Agricultural Association . Mr . Spooner also advocated , as the best means of maintaining the " sinews of war , " a repeal of the Bank Charter Act of 1844 .
THE GLASGOW AVSEXMVM . SOIREE . The third grand soiree of the Glasgow Athenaeum took place on the evening of Thursday week in the City Hall . The chair was occupied by the Earl of Eglintoun , who delivered a long and able address , in which he described the immense advantages , in the way of intellectual and moral improvement , which are sure to result from such institutions . The meeting was also addressed by the Lord Advocate , Mr . M . S . Stewart , Professor Swinton , Mr . Alexander Hastie , M . P ., Mr . Walter Buchanan , f 5 ir Archibald Alison , and Professor Blackie , the last of whom , in moving a resolution declaring " That in addition to the more direct advantages
resulting from literary institutions , they necessarily tend to elevate the taste of their members , and lead them to an appreciation of the high and ennobling influences of literature , the fine arts , and science , " remarked that it was literature , and not science , that cultivates men ' s humanity . Too much time and attention , he thought , is given to politics and money-making , and too little to the study of literature . Men who could keep their souls in their shops for six days , and go once aweek to church , were very shabby Christians . He therefore urged young men to study literature , to get out of their shops , and to expand their human souls .
CA . BDIXAL WISEJIA . N ON THE PERCEPTION OF NATURAL BEA . UTIES . Cardinal Wiseman , on Monday night , delivered , in the Hanover-square Rooms , a lecture " On the Perception of Natural Beauties , by the Ancients and Moderns . " The main tendency of his discourse was to show that the classics , with all their genius , had not the same intimate knowledge of Nature that the modern poets and artists possess . Yet he admitted that the ancients were by no means deficient , in this quality ;—•
Who could doubb the perception of naturalbeauty anioug the ancients when he contemplated the glory of their templea , and who could road their poets without feeling in every page that their eyes seized on the beautiful in Nature , whether exhibited in the grandest scenery or in the minute graces of the flower ? Then * pastoral poetry was full of descriptions the most vivid of all that is delightful in rural life ; and yet there was one ingredient wanting to make their descriptions of natural beauty perfect : ho did not think they entertained more than , an admiration of Nature—it hardly rose to the point of love . Their gordena combined the idea of a viuoyard , an orchard , or an olive-ground , being ever connected with the
profitable cultivation of the earth . No Bylvau grandeur , no richness of flowers , no natural streamlets , but the atill watercourse for purposes pf irrigation , enlivened their pictures . That they had landscape painters and flowor-painfcera , vvo could not doubt ; but the walla of Pompeii attested the all-absorbing taste for figures . Ho believed that Nature's boautiea had found more real love among the moderns than among the ancients . Au intense love of the beauties of Naturo was observable in Chaucer , the father of our poetry . ' Narrow ae was the limit of his knowlodge or the range of lua observation , ho had an inethiotivo perception of Nature ' a gifts in all that ho saw and know . Spenser , too , was full of this love of Nature . "
The superiority of the moderns to the ancients in this respect , the Cardinal attributed to the deep religious feeling inspired by the Bible , the beautiful ' and sublime descriptions of natural scenery in which he pointed out to his auditory . Ilia Eminence exhorted all hie hearers to study and revere the wdrlts of Nature and of God , and especially commended thorn to the wonders' revealed to our perceptions by the microscope .
U92 The Leader, [No. 299, Saturday,
U 92 THE LEADER , [ No . 299 , Saturday ,
Our State Keligion. We Mentioned L;«St W...
OUR STATE KELIGION . We mentioned l ;« st week tlmtDr . Lushington had given judgment in the main in favour of Mr . Westerton and bis friends , in the great cross , altar , and altar-cloth question . We now reproduce , from the Morning Post , an analysis of the very long and elaborate address of the ecclesiastical judge , as an edifying specimen of our national conceptions of religion , " as by law established . " A more humiliating spectacle of the sacrifice of the spirit to the letter-of essentials to nonessentials—than the whole case presents , viewed from either side , it would be difficult to discover .
The point to be decided was the lawfulness or unlawfulness of certain ornaments in the two churches of St . Paul and St . Barnabas respectively . These are described aa consisting of—1 . " An altar , " " high altar , " or " piece of church furniture whereon to celebrate the Holy Communion , with the cross elevated thereon ., and attached thereto ; " 2 . Gilded candlesticks and candles therein ; " 3 . "The credentia , preparatory altar , or credence table ; " and 4 . " Several divers-coloured altar coverings . " Thus much relates to St . Paul's . What refers to St . Barnabas differs in detail , though involving the same points of law . The objection lies against , 1 . A certain communion cloth _ , trimmed with lace ; 2 . The chancel screen and cross thereon , and bronze gates attached thereto ; 3 . The absence of the Commandments at the east end of the church .
On the stone altar question Dr . Lushington follows the judgment of Sir Herbert Jenner Fust , in the celebrated case of Faulkner v . Litchfield . He has no choice in doing so , being bound by the decision of the Court of Arches as the Superior Court- What Mr . Westerton calls a high altar , turns out to be only a massive wooden table . The law decides that the material shall not be of stone ; but it does not determine the exact pattern and shape . The communion table at St . Paul ' s is , therefore , not open to legal objection because it is of wood ; but that of St . Barnabas , being of stone , i 3 , by the decision above referred to , illegal ; as are also the credence tables in both churches , and they are accordingly ordered
to be removed . Thus far Dr . Lushmgton ' s task was easy—the Court above having decided for him . But in the matter of the crosses , the altar coverings , and candlesticks and candles , the matter was not so simple ; and a wide field of inquiry , of an intricate and difficult kind , lay before him . In pursuing this he has taken for his guidance : —1 . Parliamentary sanction ; 2 . The canons in force ; 3 . The ecclesiastical cpmmon law ; 4 . Judicial decisions ; 5 . Usage and custom . Dividing the appointment of a church into —1 . Articles of necessity and utility ; and 2 . Articles of ornament , —he placed the cross in the latter category , and proceeded to apply to it the law respecting ornaments . At the first glance , it would appear that
nothing could be simpler than to follow the notice m the Prayer-book , that " such ornaments shall be lawful as wore in use by the authority of Parliament in the second year of King Edward VI . " But the difficulty consista in the fact that there is no legal evidence of what was so in use at that period . As Dr . Lushington said— " I am . ordered by Act of Parliameut to conform myself to what has been prescribed by authority of Parliament , and nothing has been prescribed by that authority . " The voice of Parliament being mute , tho evidence of contemporaneous exposition of law and usage is all that re nains ; and , in interpreting this the distinctive principles of the Reformation , and the known opinions and practices of the Reformers , as being nearest tho period referred to in ( bo Prayer-book ,
must be taken into account . After citing various instances in support of the historical presumption that crosses wore not in use by authority of Parliament in the second year of Edward VI ., and that they wore disallowed by tho principle that tho Reformers abolished whatever was abused to superstitious uses , Dr . Lushington decrees tho lvmoval of the crosses from both churches . Passing on to the question of tho divor , 3-coloured altar-oovoriugs , ho decides that thoy are not in accordance with tho notice , in the Prayer-book , the Rubric boforo tho Communion office , and tho 82 nd Canon , and ho ordora thoir romovnl accordingly . Tho cnitcllostiolcs and caudles remain to bo disposed of . Thoso boing , to a great oxtent , articles of utijiity , and having tho sanction of usage in outhedralB , roynl chapels , and colleges , arc allowed to remain .
The Morning Post concludes by hoping that , tis the ecclesiastical law has spoken , the Puscyites ( whom it rather pats on the bnck ) will behave like good boys , and obey their betters ; adding that tlie Supreme Being will not bo offended nt tho loss of the altars , table-covera , & c , but , submitting to the decree of tho Court of Archea , will tnke the will of Mr . Liddell and his followers for the deed 1 Lest it be thought we arc scotrlng or exaggerating , we refer the reader to the leading columns of tho Morning Post of Monday . .
A Charnel-Pit In Holborn". At A Meeting ...
A CHARNEL-PIT IN HOLBORN" . At a meeting of the City Commissioners of Sewers , on Tuesday , Mr . Daw laid before the court a report by Dr . Letheby , with respect to the hideous condition of tho graveyard of St . Andrew ' s , Holborn . The Doctor says : — " I visited it on Saturday last , and found it to be in so unwholesome a state that I lose no time in directing your attention to it . The churchward consists of three parts or divisions . One of these is on the north side of the church , next to Holborn hill , and is but little used . The other divisions are on the south
side of the church , and they are literally crammed with dead bodies . One division—namely , that on the immediate south of the church—abuts on Shoe-lane ; and , although the soil of the churchyard is from ten to fifteen feet above the level of the road , yet it is rising higher by the daily addition of fresh bodiesin fact , very lately the grave-diggers have found it necessary to support the earth against the railings , by means of planks , in order that the soil and bones may not fall upon the passengers as they travel the public road . When I was in Shoe-lane on Saturday last the policeman on duty directed my attention to the human bones which were actually protruding from the earth , which stood high above the level of the coping to which railings were fixed .
" On going into the churchyard , I witnessed the active preparations which were being made for the next Sunday ' s burials . Several graves were already du <* , and at the bottom of one of them I noticed a coffin , barely covered with , earth . In the side of another , a coffin was exposed , which the gravedigger said had been buried only a few days . Everywhere on the surface of the ground , bones and decaying wood were abundantly scattered about , and the soil itself was saturated with decomposing organic matter ; indeed , it exhibited in a very marked degree that peculiar oily or unctuous quality which is characteristic of the overcharged soil of the London graveyards . I took away a portion of the earth , for experiment , and I place before you the disgusting foetid liquor which I obtained by a distillation of only two ounces of tho soil . This will convince you that churchyard earth is not so innocent or innocuous a thing as many have
supposed . " In all directions the ground was considerably above its natural level , and at my request the gravedigger ~ and his assistant explored it in several directions , in order that I might ascertain at what depth the coffins were buried . In several places they wera not more than three feet from the surface , and in one case tha coffin was covered with less than two feet of earth . " On the 9 th of May , 1853 , the Home Secretary
ordered the closing of this very yard ; but , with only one day ' s exception , it has remained open ever since , in defiance of the law . Since the commencement of the present yeai \ , 1 , 026 bodies have been interred within the ground , giving an average of about twentyone burials a week ; and the entire area is considerably less than an acre . A motiou , to the effect that a copy of the report be sent to the Home Secretary , whs unanimously carried . One observation irresistibly intrudes itself : —i'hB is the very place for Archdeacon Halo .
Avar With The Dead. The Following Letter...
AVAR WITH THE DEAD . The following letter has been addressed to the IWitoi of the Daily News : — " Sir , —Last Wednesday week an afflicted family wita preparing to perform the last sepulchral duties to a mother , justly beloved and esteemed by all who knew her . Widow of a Boldier who had served in Egypt , and whoso whole life bad boen one long struggle for the republican cause ; mother of one sou who died for that faith , and of another who has boon acvernl yonrrf an exile for his unassailable attachment to democratic
principles ; Madame Cauaaididro was destined to oxperionco the honours of persecution oven after death . Ifc was feared that the funoral procession , arranged tu take its departure at nine a . m ., might attmotti number of pious souls to render a last homage to an honourable and worthy woman . Meiisuros were accordingly taken by tho police . At the early hour of seven a . m ., the employ ! . * of tho undertnkor came to take av , uy tho body . The family of Madame CauHnidoro oppowuu this irregular proceeding , and only « avo way when tho overweor produced an order for tho departure oj tho procession at half-past flovon a . m ., and Lnfciinuleu that ho would employ force to carry tho order into
oxeoution . " The procession accordingly sot out , and « 'ii ; i conducted to tho cemetery by aido atrootH nnd tho lony round of tho outer boulevards . A remark being nuido upon this singular selection , of a route , tho ovoiw'fi ' replied that ho had iv right to take tho road that wn . moat convenient for him . In addition to }" ^ manoouvrea , agents , stationed in tho stroola adjaccnto the domiollo of tho dooensod , took euro to toll » U who arrived to join tho procession that tho intonnowlwaa to take place in tho cemetery of I' 6 ro-ln- ( 'lw > although tho procession proceeded to tho eomotory 01 Montuaartre— -in a direction diumotrioally oppoeitu to
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 15, 1855, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15121855/page/4/
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