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\. SIGNS AND • WARNING S. V ¦: Foe now n...
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•SPIRITUAL LORETTES iN BELGRAVIA-. Tub S...
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THE THAMES PESTILENCE. A gigantic flood ...
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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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Settlement Of The Amertcan Bifeiculty. C...
sense . A [ greater , qrjroe , or / i greater folly , could mot be committed , ' than that of imperiling a war with tfce Urlited States by the Quixotic asaertion . of a fancied right s the existence of which has-been-thus denied ia terms , by tlie greatest , and certainly not -the least tenacious , of the English , expounders of international i & vr . - " . , ; . .. ;¦ ¦ ' . ; ' ¦ ; ¦ ¦ ¦ '¦ ¦¦ .. / And it concludes an article , written entirely in this spirit ; , by saying : —
" There are few things which could 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 be claimed without a violent stretch . of authority , nor asserted without a constant ra 3 c of war . " These manifestations are sufficient ; to show that English opinion is as strong as American against Lthe outrages perpetrated W English
cruisers . It is the fact that Americans have considerable . confidence in the present Grovernnieiit , and generally in Tory Governments , which , they say , are more friendly to America than Libeial ( Governments ; and the estimate is confirmed Jn the present case . We believo we shall not be wrong if we express our belief that the question will be found to have been settled to the satisfaction of , bqth Governments .
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\. Signs And • Warning S. V ¦: Foe Now N...
\ . SIGNS AND WARNING S . V ¦ : Foe now nearly a half-year the public lias heard , from various directions and with constantly increasing _ vehemence , auxioiis warnings that France 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 French ! 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 theyliavc been reiterated .. after the most attentive consideration has been given to the question , and mast now be admitted to toe worthy of serious notice .
The French armaments appear to be of two different kinds . They are permanently endeavouring to raise their naval 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 as an excuse for the concentration of a large force in . the Channel ; the arsenals of Toulon and Brest have been exhibiting remarkable 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 in the Atlantic , and nobody is sure Avhithcr it is going , or what amount of troops it has on board .
'If we had no cause of quarrel with France , or rather if the -French Government did not think it had a cause of quarrel with ' us , we might be content to watch these movements with no more than an ordinary amount of vigilance ; but under present circumstances , it would certainly bo most culpable neglect on the part both of the public press and the Ministry-to proceed on the supposjitionthat friendly assurances should exonerate us from the duty , of making the most ample defensive arrangemcuts . 1 ; kno \ v with whom we have to deal . It has
always been tho 'habit of the French JEmpcrpr to proceed by surprises . Setting aside the great act ot perjury , winch excludes him fropi honourable society , ho lias . always been accustomed to prepare tor a strong act by making innumerable little Pledges m tho-opposite direction . This tendency lias been so remarked , that diplomatists arc boginning to be always alarmed for the success of a cause ¦ which has his Majesty ' s especial patronage or which receives the support of hia press . His promises and his explanations arc almost universally considered by the public as move formalities . Never , perhaps , was sovereign of n sfnJn mm ^
r amlully . liumrtintcd than he has been tUis last week ivy tlie quiet incredulity with . which line " denial in the Moiuteur wns received . We must not , however , be led away to suppose that , because France i 3 getting veady ' . lor war , and is particularly earnes t in saying that . such is not Uic ease , we arc certainly to expect a piratical attack .
'Suoli does not : appear to be the policy of the 'Emperor . At least , we are willing to believe , until ^ absolute proof be given , ihat he is not positively insane . Of course , if he were to conceive and carry out a landing without a declaration of war , as our Government does not seem to have been alarmed in time , he could do us infinite damage . There can be no doubt about it . Unless Hodge were to rise en masse , we might see French bayonets twinkling somewhere hi the neighbourhood of London ; and some partv of bold mounted Chasseurs might dash forward and bathe their mous-• taches gratis in the ale of the'Elephant and Castle .
But that castle , the only one it appears in a proper state of defence they would find on their way , would probably be the limit of "the supposed military excursion . Although 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 a & wintagesof the expedition would be so do-abtful , aaid would render a long and bloody struggle with England so inevitable—a struggle that could onl y be ended by the extinction of the Emperor , that it is not to . be . supposed that he is dreaming of . aixy such abnormal act .
The warnings , however , which Iiave been circulated do not all point to such extremities as these . The best-informed persons believe that the object of the Emperor is rather to humiliate us without fighting by the display of an overwhelming force than to indulge in the bai-ren pleasure of an attack upon oxir 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 the grenades of Orsini were flung , and lighted up the ruinous condition of the pjedestal . on which he 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 3 at least , to obstruct any plans of aggrandizement which Eran . ce may entertain . It is his object to show that lie is able to meet us on our own element , 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 . Public opinion has heen affected . It is said abroad that we feel incompetent any longer , drained as we are supposed to be by the necessities of India , to uphold the position of a first power in Europe . The most comical humilit y is sometimes attributed to us . This turn in opinion is justified by many small circumstances which may be great in their
consequences . The indifference with which we have beheld the commencement of the military occupation of Egypt by the lauding of a body of French gendarmes to act as police , is a striking proof that we are somewhat bewildered by the crowd of our responsibilities . A lew years ag-o the Press and the Parliament would have rung with complaints on the subject . Now , no one seems to know or care about it . We arc allowing the French to resume the slave trade , and to pursue everywhere a policy not . only independent of ns , 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 .
•Spiritual Lorettes In Belgravia-. Tub S...
• SPIRITUAL LORETTES iN BELGRAVIA-. Tub Scarlet Lady is said to have taken up her lodging in Belgravia , living under a veil of incognito so tliin that no one can be deceived any more than 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 out a telling scandal ngainst a gentleman who is said to lie a favourite master of the ceremonies to the Scarlet Ludy ; and he sets to work . We only state tho facts as we find them . The Hon . and Rev . Frederick Baring abominates ' Rome and nil her etceteras , and he goes about seeking whom ho may devour . In bin pious pursuit lie falls in with six women , who arc debtors to the spiritual friends of Hie Rev . Alfred Poole for sundry groceries and otlior charitable helps ; and have thus been qualified to bear witness against their neighbour . The women arc of divers ages , ranging between nineteen and lil ' ty . They have something to
tell . It is jvery scandalous , but proportionably available for -Protestant purposes . ' Their atory amounts to a categorical accusation , against the Rev . Mr . Eoohvnot only of using / Popish , ceremonials , but of practising the confessional , and of Justing its inquiries , beyond the verge of decorum , n their details the "tfhole six . cases strongly resemble each other . GPhere are , it appears , in the district of St . Barnabas , Pimlico , 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 . Mr .
Poole for the purpose-of 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 woidd be withheld from them . It is a sort of infinitesimal araok i undergone optionally within , an . optional Inquisition ! The women state that they were conducted into a dark or darkened room in the parsonage , and there subjected to a series of questions calculated not only to draw -forth , in detail , their conjugal relations , but also their aberrations in thought as well as in fact , and any conceivable improprieties of which they might have been guilty . In possession of . this valuable information , tlie Hon . and Rev . Mr . Baring carries it— -to what authority ? To a public meeting in St . James ' Hall ; and
there , in an ex yictrte statement , obtains a verdict from Judge Lynch . 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 , the proceedings in this co urt have not been reportedj but there is good reason to believe that Mr . Poole has 'been found guilty , not of the proceedings charged by the women , but upon , certain admissions made by himself , with reference to Ilis opinions and conduct in the practice of tlie confessional . And fourthly , Mr . Poole has appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury . *
It is in this stage , pending an appeal , that Baring—there is no bearing this Baring—4 olerans a -non tolerando—brings forward the evidence of the half-dozen willing women before a public meeting , " a Sliaftesbury aiding and abetting . " It is a strong example of the extremes to which men-will be carried by the odium Iheologicum . The Hon . and Rev . Mr . Baring is a respectable man , no doubt ; yet we find him associated with a set of women wliO i on their own showing , subjected themselves , for the sake of a few pence worth of tea and sugar , to an ordeal that women with the least self-respect
or deceucy of mind would shrink from with unor deceucy of mind would shrink from with unconquerably disgust ; and we find him taking their evilreport against a brother clergyman , and hastening before regular judgment to snatch , on one-sidea evidence , a judgment from Judge Lynch . The Hon . and Hey . Mr . Baring and the party with whom he is acting—although he denies that lie has any-connexion with any party— -are spoiling a good cause . No church ever made its ground , good by making alliance with scandal , or embezzling the ri ghts of the judgment-seat . Appeal should be made , not to a public meeting collected bythe
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 the merits of the question at issue . Pseudo-Papacy in Belgravia is cl early in a false position ; it is 'trying to buy itself in by donations of tea and sugar ; making converts ot" 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 veaorts to measures such . as drove the Age and Satirist newspapers into the world of extinct monsters , it rouses English feeling ar / aimt Protestantism to the defence of injured and aspersed Papacy .
The Thames Pestilence. A Gigantic Flood ...
THE THAMES PESTILENCE . A gigantic flood of poison b wells daily and nightly in the metropolis . Tlie Mississippi is the Father of Waters—tlie Thames is the Mother of Stenches . Putrid and noisome , our river rolls the filth of London to within a few miles of the sea ; the sea drives it back in an aggravated stage of decomposition , and here tho abomination floats between tho Thames Tunnel laid Buttcrsea , hourly blacjceniug-, rotting , and steaming with vast escapes of contagion . Members ol' Parliament and mudlarks , porters on piers and passengers by steamboats , sicken
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 19, 1858, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19061858/page/15/
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