On this page
-
Text (3)
-
-No. 439, August 21,1858.] THE LEADE R ^...
-
ITALIAN AFFAIRS. On the return of Count ...
-
THE CONFESSIONAL. The propriety of the w...
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.
-
-
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.
British Consuls And British Commerce. Th...
admirable plan of consular regeneration- The surest way of helping the subject will be for all the trading towns to take it up , and call upon their representatives to do their best to promote the object of the select committee .
-No. 439, August 21,1858.] The Leade R ^...
-No . 439 , August 21 , 1858 . ] THE LEADE R ^ 837
Italian Affairs. On The Return Of Count ...
ITALIAN AFFAIRS . On the return of Count Cavour from his recent visit to Plombieres , much curiosity was expressed on all hands as to the purport of his confidential talk with Louis Napoleon . The marked consideration shown him by his imperial host , their long closetings , and the confidential relations known t-o exist between the Governments of Piedmont and France , all conspired to stir the spirit of popular conjecture in the peninsula , and to fan the embers of suspicion on the part of Austria . The Sardinian Parliament not being in session , the Minister could neither be interrogated nor taunted into revealing what manner of vision he had had during his stay at the watering-place Court of the French Empire ; and the tentative suppositions put forward in the columns of the press have not been able to extract anything definite from the wary and reserved politician . " There is , " however , as Carlyle has it , " a silence which is more meaning than any speech . " Had M . Cavour anything useful or agreeable to say regarding the result of his visit , we may be sure he Mn ,. Ll Ivnwm V \* 1 * k * - \ SVWll « 7 + /**/""* f > l * 1 f \ t f \ ll fl V /* Qfllfl It" , HK tv / i ¦
WUIA 1 M . * lt * V & Ul / UU Vlll J giuu « v » * w . * v w «» w »*'—— — position as administrative head of the Piedmontese Government is anxious and critical . He has , year after year , contrived to hold in hand the -impatience , ambition , and resentment of his country ; ¦ bu t' he has only been able to do so by periodical renewals of splendid , though vague , promises of " an Italian policy , " to be worked out when the proper time should come . He lias often had hard , work of it , tranquillising the reactionary passions of the few , without quenchin <* the ; enthusiasm of the many , and promoting an excuse for hostilities on the part of Austria be 01 uie aia iu
before he could sure or u-ven uu , - countenance of Trance aud England . Haunted'by the spectral-memories . of Novara , he has sworn to himself never to risk a second day of discomfiture aud humiliation for Sardinia ' s arms . Frequently has he been heard to exclaim , " When next we draw the sword it must be for the last ti me ; and that it be not sheathed at the close of tlie struggle . m defeat and ruin , we must wait for one lnlalholc opportunity . " No doubt he fancied at the termination of the llussian war that the longed-for hour had tolled when the Western Powers would fulfil the hope * they had held out so lavishly at its commencement regarding the constitutional renovation of Italy . But days , weeks , months , and now years uauiw wi i
Jiaye oeen auowea 10 puss , uuu- uu ^* » . ~ prepared to move . Humour even seems to be the harbinger of worse than immobility . The English Cabinet meditate , it is said , sending a Minister to the Court of Naples ; and the French Government is not prepared to refrain from doing likewise if owr rulers lead the way . Satisfactory assurances on this point were , we may be certain , sought by the Piedmontese statesmen at Plombieres ; it they were afforded why are the organs of his administration mute ? ...
It is , vc fear , only too probable that the despot of the Two Sicilies is about to liave a complete triumph over the unreliable professions of the ¦ Western Powers in favour of Italy . We all remember the pompous denunciations of his merciless system of misrule uttered at Paris , in the spring o 1850 , and the notice then publicly given that , H not speedily amended , the delinquent monarch would be placed under the ban of diplomatic interdict . Kin * Bomba scoffed at the rebukes and ii i _ _ iP - \/ r fxr-i 1 vl .. eV ; mwl T . nrri Clarendon .
Austria whispered in his car , " Heed them not ; they mean not what they say . " And he has found tlie whisper true . No amelioration of any sort has taken place in the system by which the south oi Italy is enchained , debased , and prostrated . No change is pretended . Journalism is extinct . Jwtu- 1 cation is wholly in the hands of the priesthood , bociety is infested everywhere with spies , lhc nclvocate who dares , in the mere exercise of Ins calling , to defend a political offender , is hunted down to ruin . Imprisonment on suspicion , without trial , is of cvery-day occurrence . Lifo is rendered insupportable ; and even the mercy of rapid and easy < leath is abolished . Those whom absolutism at Naples desires to destroy are sentenced to the most protracted suecies of gradual execution winch the
perverted ingenuity of man lias " been wicked enough to devise . Dungeons hewn out of the rock , or constructed of impenetrable masonry , in remote places , far below the level of the neighbouring sea or laiid , loathsome with filth and pestilent with humid exhalations , varying in depth , dreariness , and darkness , but uniform in the pitiless purpose to which they are devoted , —these arc the abodes of the most enlightened , brave , and virtuous subjects of the " paternal sovereign of the Two Sicilies . " Is the Queen of England about to send an ambassador to this man , authorised to greet him in her name with the courtly style of " brother , " and instructed to assure him of her renewed friendship , amity , and esteem ? Had we . never undertaken to lecture him , the case would have been different . Had we never pronounced his cruelty and oppression unendurable , we might be held to stand blameless of morally fomenting resistance among tlie victims of his sway . Had we never with solemn face told Europe that the state of things was a source of common danger , and must therefore be suppressed , we should not deserve to be laughed at . But as matters stand , to send an embassy to Naples would be an act as discreditable as detrimental to the best interests of the country , and if Lord Malmesbury commits the mistake , it will only remain for the people , through their-press-aud Parliament / to correct it . ,,.-.,. la Lombardy , the youn 2 ; Archduke Maximilian
the community . He has been vainly endeavouring to win the . goodwill of the Milanese nobles by hospitality , bonhomie , and attention to science , art , ami material improvement . He has sought from the Cabinet of Vienna important modifications of the direct taxes which have long pressed ¦' -heavily upon them and upon the wealthier classes in the towns . To propitiate the intellectual classes , he has undertaken . to reform universities and schools ; and to benefit the masses , he has recommended some considerable mitigations of the rigour of the conscription . How many of his -sugjihj ^
o-estions wm eventually , ue auujjiw , un . c < - « . « - tell . But be they many or few , they will accomplish nothing of the political purpose to . vrliich they are currently attributed . The antagonisniof race cannot be extin g uished , and tlie-love of liberty cannot be destroyed by any amount or multiplication ot creature comforts in a . people like the Lombarclo-Venctians . Were the recollections of the past and the dreams of the future equally shut out from the popular mind , tlie spectacle of Piedmont , proud , free , prosperous , and happy , daily present and suggestive of intolerable comparisons , would of itseLl suffice to render abortive all the ameliorating projects of the vice-regal Government of Milan .
The Confessional. The Propriety Of The W...
THE CONFESSIONAL . The propriety of the well-known college sobriquet of Samuel Wilberforce , Bishop of Oxford , has received another confirmation recently . lliis Hight Reverend has been giving tlie folks at Windsor . a taste of his peculiar episcopal qualities , ol his special fitness for the post of spiritual " overseer , aiid of his shifting and dissolving views 111 relation to doctrines and prac tices the people ot England 10 b
have ever been taugnr . xcgiuu « s w '»»» - "" broad line of demarcation between Church ol Jinglandism and ltomnn Catholicism . A curate named West , a neophyte of the Kev . Mr . Gresley , doing spiritual duty near "Windsor , is reported to liavc indulged in obscene questionings of a poor woman on the eve of her confinement , and in the absence ol' her husband , justifying himself on the ground tlint by the rubric of the Church of England she . was commanded to make to a priest plenary confession of great and little peccadilloes . ooi iu
by the last exposure w masor . The question to decide first is this , Is " contession , " such as unveiled to us in the practice of Mr . Poolc and Mr . West , whom we regard merely . as tools in the hands of those who have ulterior designs to accomplish , part mid parcel of . the doc triucs of the Church of Kngland ? If decided 111 the , affirmative , and we may be sure how " & . Oxoa would decide it , then ive have no manner ot doubt that the doom of the Church of England is sealed r ™ . « ,: « .. r riif > nnonln rat . larcrc would proclaim their jlhw — ff
a particular religion , may be j ustified on various grounds , no doubt , and in a country . professing an opposite religion ought to be tolerated . For instance , no one has a right to object to the Itoman Catholic priesthood , insisting on the practice of auricular confession being adopted by male and female Catholics . What is it to the world—provided tlie husband , consents , or considers it his duty , or bis interest , not to object—that the Iloman Catholic priest , in the discharge of the powers of his priestly office , chooses to question wives or maidens on matters respecting which no one else would dare to allude to , and to demand plain and ample answers on pain of refusing absolution ? Persons of a different creed arc entitled to do no-more than to hold an opinion on these practices . Certainly no one lias a , right to dictate to the Roman Catholic layman , or to the Roman Catholic priest , what acts or sayings shall or shall not constitute the Rom an Catholic creed . We know that confession , and its complement absolution , are the right hand of the Roman Catholic system . Strip it of those irresistible agents , . and tlie whole structure crumbles away . But the question assumes a -widel y different aspect when viewed in connexion with , tne Church of England . As far as the personal ministration of that Church is concerned , whatever may be its pretensions , we know practically that the English clergyman plays a very subdued part in domestic 1 life . ' His -visits are few and far between- The
direct intercourse between the clergyman and the families of bis flock is mostly confined to the walls . of the parish church on the seventh dayj and to those periods when death , or sudden calamity visits a household . The Englishman determines to consider his hoiise as his castle—he ' will tolerate no : master there . -In the case of the Roman Catholic , the master of the house rind family , especially of the female portion of it , is there when the priest walks in . The depository of family secrets , even of the most intimate relations between husband and wife , carries tlie ' real sway ; this is notorious , . ind needs no confirmation . ' The secret of this
at power is the confessional . It is true that the Roman Catholic priest , in defence of the confessional , asserts that the Roman Catholic woman has a safeguard in the Roman Catholic religion able to shield her mind from contamination , when , questioned on matters which would call a blush to the check of the veriest liarlot even to name . This may be so ; but this we also know , that the English woman , niatron , or maid , has no such safeguard in the Protestant religion , and it would be idle to deny that mental and physical pollution must follow that course of teaching-in which are involved tlie revolting inquiries of the co nfessional , even in the mild form presented to us by recent revelations 111 Belgravia , by previous revelations a . t Exeter , and
I 1 U 1 \* 1 VjI jiwuj ; ~ a m immediate , emancipation , and the Protestant priesthood , bisliops and all , must cither find other ilocks , or yielding to the cry of public indignation , give plncc to those whose teachings arc more in harmony with what lias hitherto been held to be the true oflicc and proper duties of the Reformed religion . We do not attempt to deal with tho sophistry ot the Bishop of Oxford in this matter . 'Hie people of England will not be deluded by douUcmcanhue words , and by seeming condemnation , . I _ . i . . " „< . ««« .. ^ ,, « l nt 4 W flrminrs of Mr . W CSt .
Now , in the case ot Mr . l ' c , cnargca wun « same kind of indecency in Belgravia , we rclused to side with those who appeared to be hounding on the unrcflectinir mob against the alleged delinquent , because we luid no sufllcicnt proot that tlie rmio-I 1 ices in question hud been committed , and because the fit- warfe story looked very much as if coloured und inllwcnccd by sectarian animosity . But on the question of the " eonfoasional , " espccmlly with regard to its influence and operation 011 the morals of women , wo apprehend there is but one feeling in English society , und that is the iceling asserted by Bishop " Wilbcrlbrco to reign in his episcopal bosom , a feeling of tho " deepest Jiorror . Lotus be clearly mulerstood in this matter , 'lhc " confessionnl / 1 as an established and integral portion ol
| A broad and delincd issue has been raised , and that issue must be determined one way or the other lor ever That issue is—Are the women of Junglanfl to be subjected , like tlie women of'Kpmau Catholic countries , to the questionings and consequences ot I the " confessional ? " We believe the Archbishop Canterbury 1 ms power to interfere ; but it is not interference in the petty form ot su spending a delinquent that will satisfy the country . Iho p n question to determine i « this , " U tho coiifeauonal to be considers ! us part mid parcel of tic ntuu of iho Establishcil Church , or is it . to be caat out as nn unclean thing , insidiously devised by ^ pilaterfor the spread and ealargcniciit ol then tcmpoial : I power ?"
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 21, 1858, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21081858/page/13/
-