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Oct. 26, 1SSO.] $$*&*&&*¥* 737
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POLITICAL UNION. 56, Smith-street, Stepn...
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Knowledge.— Accurate knowledge is not of...
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ICthntttm
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Critics are not the legislators, but the...
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No man commits a sin with impunity. The ...
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The Royal Exchange bears this inscriptio...
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THE LOMBARD INSURRECTION. Royalty and Re...
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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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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Letters On Tjnitarjanism. Letxek. Iii. O...
always live the longest whatever its other demerits ; the moral system which recognizes the most emphatically man ' s claims as a free agent will always be the most rapidly and radically powerful , however defective in other respects ; for , as regards both spiritualism and free-will , even , the exaggerations are exalting and invigorating . Priestley , therefore , was choosing deadly and unavoidable disaster for his theological principles by being so strenuous a champion for Materialism and Necessity . He could appeal to his brethren by nothing higher than .
that which they saw , though there was an incessant appeal to something higher in the orthodoxy that he sought to banish from the earth .. He spoke to them as the slaves of an inexorable and horrible Pate , though every word of these books which they held sacred honoured while it strove to persuade them as the free sons of God , the free heirs of the Universe . The deep instincts of the human heart will eternally prevail . Men , conscious that they were free , and no less conscious that they were spiritual , turned away unconvinced and unconverted from the then Preacher .
The legacy , then , of Priestley to TJnitananism was "Want of Imagination , "Want of Enthusiasm , the Doctrine of Materialism , and the Doctrine of Necessity . Even if he had only bequeathed the last of the four it would have been enough to be fatal to the fortune of a sect . On the Unitarians its effect has been to make them believe that God's decrees must all ultimately prevail , and
Unitarianism as a consequence thereof . They , therefore , are content to let things take their predestined course , sure that it will be all right in the end , and that it would be a work of supererogation to encounter needless risks , or to enter on missionary enterprizes to accomplish that which God , if left to himself , will in his own good time achieve much better than any puny mortal can . With this curse of Turkish fatalism on it , the marvel is that
the Unitarian sect has been able to prolong its existence at all . That incapable , in addition , of influencing men by imagination , by enthusiasm , by spiritualism , it has still continued to live , is a proof that it has seen , however dimly , though it may never have strongly felt certain great and holy truths , which must ere long have triumphant manifestations , though , for the moment , all around us we behold chaos , abomination , and despair . Atticxjs .
Oct. 26, 1sso.] $$*&*&&*¥* 737
Oct . 26 , 1 SSO . ] $$ *&*&&* ¥ * 737
Political Union. 56, Smith-Street, Stepn...
POLITICAL UNION . 56 , Smith-street , Stepney . Sir , —The proposition of Mr . Creed in last week [ s Leader , for the formation of societies for the dissemination of progressive principles among the masses , by open-air addresses , is eminently deserving attention ; myself and friends have held meetings in this district during the past summer with most favourable results , and articles from the Leader have occasionally been read and descanted on in the presence of hundreds of working-men ; now , by an union of those -willing to assist , a complete staff of propagandists might be formed , and , as I have already practically adopted your correspondent ' s suggestion , I am prepared heartily to assist him in its extension . Yours respectfully , John P . Adams .
Knowledge.— Accurate Knowledge Is Not Of...
Knowledge . — Accurate knowledge is not of human but of Divine origin . If man intents notions and stylos them knowledge , that does not give them the character of real knowledge . They remain human inventions or errors as much as before . But whenever man discovers a truth , either in physics or philosophy , either by accident or by design , he is certain that God is its author , and that if seen in its true relations to himself and to creationit will be found characterized by the wisdom ,
, power , and goodness of its divine source . Nothing can / shake him in this belief . Stigmatize him as you will , his faith will remain firm and unhesitating , because he knows the attributes of God to be unchangeable and eternal . " Godless education , " forsooth ! It is an absolute contradiction in terms ; and those who obstruct the progress of religion by such an outcry have much to answer for , and little know the evil they are doing . — From the Life of Andrew Combe .
Turc Mosatc Sanbatii . —The fourth command of the decalogue may be rendered" Remember the seventh day to keep it separate : " and these terms convey its full meaning . The command is not , " Remember the seventh day to keep it with solemnity ; " nor remember the seventh day to devote it exclusively to sacrificial or other religious rites . The injunction is simply to keep it separate from other days , and the explanation of the distiuction to be observed is given with the text . Other days were to be working days , but the seventh day was to be a rest day or holiday . b
"VVe beg the reader particularly to note this lact , ecause all parties to the sabbath controversy appear alike to have confounded the primitive Judaical Sabbath with the Itabbinical and Pharisaical Sabbath of a later date—the Sabbath of superstition which Christ condemned , spent in fastings , and mortifications , and praying in public oratories and synagogues , of which Moses knew nothing . The Jewish lawgiver was not an ascetic ; nor was asceticism the character generally of ancient worship . Moses instituted numerous festivals , but not a single fast . Fasts were all of Rabbinical origin . —From the Westminster Review . No . 106 .
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Critics Are Not The Legislators, But The...
Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them— Edinburgh Review .
No Man Commits A Sin With Impunity. The ...
No man commits a sin with impunity . The remark is not , perhaps , strikingly novel , but occurs to tts apropos of a novel—Alton Locke . When in our review of that bold and nobly-written work we quietly indicated the presence in it of certain sins against art , it was merely to discharge our critical conscience of a burden . The faults were obvious , and to notice them was necessary ; but these faults weighed so little in the scale against the sterling excellences of the book that we never thought of insisting on them : the novel-form was so obviously
used only as a vehicle for the impassioned utterance of deep-rooted convictions that to attribute great importance to the form seemed to us useless pedantry . We were wrong . We did not then suspect that the very faults we lightly touched on could be made dexterous use of to throw ridicule on the opinions . This week has opened our eyes . The Times , by leaving out all thai in Alton Lock * makes every simple , earnest heart beat quick , fills every manly eye with tears , rouses indignation loud and deep against the social iniquities existing
by our side , —all that makes the book transcend the ordinary novel , —and by simply telling the story in a satirical manner , bringing forward its inartistic inventions as arguments against its principles , has doubtless prejudiced many a reader , and prevented his opening the book for himself . To any man who has read Alton Locke the wickedly sarcastic article in the Times will be harmless ; because he will know that even were the story so absurd as it there appears , the story is an insignificant part of such a book . In the same way De Quincey ( alas ! that
we should say it ) tried to write down Wilhelm Meister , by a satirical sketch of its contents , omitting all the real substance of the work ; but his critique was forgotten in a month , and Wilhelm Meister is not yet crushed . In Alton Locke t as in Wilhelm Meister , no one doubts that to some extent the imperfections of the story deteriorate the work ; and , henceforth , we would sternly bid those who write with a purpose to be careful that they do not leave their purpose open to attack through the avenues of an improbable story .
The Royal Exchange Bears This Inscriptio...
The Royal Exchange bears this inscription : — " The Eautii is the Lokd ' s , and tjie fulness THEREOF ;" which inscription seems to have arrested the attention of a travelling Frenchman who came to England for the purpose of enlightening his countrymen on our social condition . With a desire for accuracy , startling in a Frenchman , he wrote over to a friend in London to know where this " formula " was to be found , wishing to cite the legal authority for it . On his letter being handed to us for inspection ,
imagine the chuckle with which we learned that he had understood the phrase to mean , the Earth belongs to the nobles— "la terre est aux Lords "!—the Earth is the Lords '—that is , belongs to the Peers . Shall we confess the regret which seized us on reflecting that this mistake would be explained to him ? What tirades it will spoil ! what sarcasms on the " insolent lords" ! what political apercus of our " decline " are opened by that insolent formula la
terre est aux Lords J A pity , a great pity such eloquence should be destroyed by an explanation ! Yet , who knows ? Perhaps he will not cancel the burning pages ; but , like his countryman , who , on being told that all the facts were against his system , calmly replied— " So much the worse for the facts . " La terre est aux Lords ! Probably he imagines that the Lords and Commons mean Wands worth and Putney Commons !
" What men like Frenchmen with such pains can err ?" It is this alacrity in error distinguishing Frenchmen which makes us relish them as travellers . A book might easily be made of their blunders ; and , doubtless , to the already voluminous mass , no inconsiderable amount will be discoverable in the Vicomtk D'Arlincourt ' s new book , about to
appear under the title of L'Italic Rouge j ou , Histoire das Revolutions de Rome , Naples , Palerrne , Florence , Panne , Modene , fyc , depuis Vavenement du Pape Pie IX . The announcement that the illustr ious Vicomte has personally visited all the theatres on which the scenes were acted , is calculated to raise our expectation of the amount of blundering . It would have been inaccurate enough had he simply
compiled his book , but from " the moment that he , brings personal inspection into play , we' know * what to anticipate . The Vicomte d'Arlincotjrt was once the romancier & la mode , his fiction ^ formed les delices of susceptible Europe ; but hjj novels having gone out of fashion with gigol sleeves , he has changed from romancisfc Mto tourist . Changed , did we say ? The word us * too strong ? the titles only of his books are changed , for to him we may apply the epigram of Lessing : — n : ~ A : (¦¦<¦ " Es hat der Schuster Franz zum Dichter sich entzuckt . Was er als Schuster that , das thut er noch : er flickt ., , ,,
which , to imitate roughly , runs thus : — " Tomkins forsakes his awl and last For literary squabbles , Styles himself Poet : but his trade Remains the same—he cobbles !" Lessing , by an obvious transition , brings us to German Literature . The most notable of recent publications is Oehlenschlagbr ' s Lebens Erinnerungen , of which the two first volumes have appeared . The poet ' s early struggles give one kind of interest to this work , and his friendship with illustrious literati gives another . Madame d e Staei * — Goethe — Schiller —the Schlegels —•
Stepfkns—Hegel , and other representatives of German thought pass in succession through these pages , mingled with pictures of Danish lift ?; - and criticisms on the Danish drama . Like most ^ German biographies it deals as much with mere literature as with life .
The Lombard Insurrection. Royalty And Re...
THE LOMBARD INSURRECTION . Royalty and Republicanism in Italy ; or . Notes and Documents relating to the Lombard Insurrection and to the Royal War of 1848 . 13 y Joseph Mazzini . C . Gilpiu ., 1850 . Joseph Mazzini is the Apostle of Principle . For twenty years he has devoted his life and his genius to a great idea . For twenty years the Unity and Independence of Italy have been the pole-star of his existence . It is good in these times , when the enthusiasm of a young generation is remorselessly chilled by the incessant cry for compromise , when the
promise of an age is blighted by the short-sighted policy of expediency , to read the words of this brave and steadfast Italian . He is an exile "wi , ih , put a country , but despair never gejts possession of his large heart . He is the vanquished of a hundred fights , but hope still beams brightly on his brow . He is the proscribed wanderer , the outlaw , a price is set upon his head , and around his feet lie the snares and pitfalls of a thousand foes ; yet the faith -which abides in him , that the Italian Nation , will one day arise and
expel the stranger , is too strong for discouragement , treachery , or defeat . And the source of this strength , whence comes it ? From a belief that the world is ruled by God , and not by the Devil , by principle not by expediency . Is there any man , who has acted a conspicuous part during the last two years of revolutionary strife , whose conduct can compare with that of the Triumvir Mazzini ^ avowedly dictated by the . most rigid principles , and animated by the most sublime faith ? The Prophet and the Chieftain of Young Italy stands alone .
Not before it was needed has Royalty and Republicanism in Italy" been published among us By the lies and calumnies of enemies yet fresh , in the public mind , the occult workings of a perfidious diplomacy , established in the seat of power , the misrepresentation and defamation of Italian Republicanism in our great periodical literature , the just
sense of the people and its national manifestations have been distorted and baffled . We have been told of revolutionary excesses committed during the reign of the republic ; and we have the word of Joseph Mazzini , who never lies , and who had the best means of knowing , that the charge is false . Wo have heard the Italians called cowards , yet was Rome defended
for one month , by 14 , 000 Italians against 30 , 000 Frenchmen . The praises of Charles Albert for magnanimity and self-devotion , have rung in our ears , yet we know that ho stultified the Italian war of independence , foreswore himself at Milan , fought for the aggrandizement of his House and from fear of the Republic . The " Good Pius IX . " has , it is true , fallen from , the pedestal whereon he had been
set up , but the party who at once applauded and ridiculed him , still do not scruple to support the continental faction of which ho is the servile representative . The King , who died of remorse and a broken heart , may call forth our pity , but cannot win our respect . The poor Pope , restored to the semblance of power by the foes of his native land , may escape from the contempt we are too apt to feel for weakr
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 26, 1850, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26101850/page/17/
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