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926 ®t)t 3Lea&er* [Saturday ,
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dDrgnramtintiB nf ijrt I^flple,
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POLITICAL AND SOCIAL. National Charter A...
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v [In tiiih dkpaktment, as all opinions,...
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There is no learned man but, willconfess...
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T () GUI S K 1' P K MAZZIN I. September ...
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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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
A Plea For Sunday Reform. We Want Reform...
organ during the week , by making it their occasion for hearing Handel and Haydn , or the Masses of Mozart set to Scripture words , or any other among the great achievements in church music , which our poorer brethren have ears to listen toyes , and hearts to feel—if you give them the chance . Is no sacred music ever played by a wife or a daughter on Sunday evenings , to family audiences of as estimable and as religious people as England can produce ? We all know that ( here is plenty of such music played and hearkened to by good Churchmen and good Churchwomen . Why refuse the harmless privilege to our poor brothers and sisters , who may like music as much as we do , though they may have no pianos , and don t know one note from another ?
Other Sunday evening amusements , at once harmless and useful , might be added to the oratorios ; such as dissolving views , representing important scenes in history , to be briefly and plainly explained during their exhibition ; moving panoramas , which might , in the same way , be made productive of information about foreign countries and their inhabitants . There are plenty of other means of innocently occupying an idle
Sunday evening which I might mention ; but I have said enough for my purpose ; enough to show generally what I mean by Sunday Reform , what I think might be advantageously offered on Sunday to Mr . John Styles and the large working class that he represents . My proposals may be incomplete enough ; but how are they irreligious and dangerous , in the highest and truest meaning of the words ?
I do not ask you this question , Dives . You are a bigot and would set up your own small prejudices ( if need be ) against the largest convictions of the whole world beside ; but I ask you , among my readers , who are good men and moderate men , what is there to scandalize you in what I have written ? You object to shortening the Church service , for anybody . I answer , that I only propose to shorten its length , to increase its influence ; to give it time to persuade , and deny it time to weary , the " weaker brother . " You object , that what I propose is against the spirit and feeling of the nation . I answer , that it may be against the spirit and feeling of an exclusive party among the
nation ; but that you do not know that that party represents the whole nation , and cannot know until you have tried my experiment . You object , that my plans , if followed out , would empty the churches and pander to the non-devotional feelings of the people . I answer , that I have already provided a good chance for filling churches in the morning , with an extra congregation that does not enter them now ; and that 1 only want to empty the gin-palaces by an innocent counter-attraction in the evening . Moreover , as to the " pandering " you speak of , I am only aiming to cultivate , on the only day when I am able to cultivate them , tastes and faculties which ( iod has given to man to exercise : and which are . therefore , tit tastes for to exercise ; and which arethereforetit tastes for
, , God ' s day . You object , that if my proposals were carried out , many working-men would still prefer their gin and their public-house parlour , their idling and their drunkenness , to my picture galleries and my cheup oratorios . 1 answer , in the first place , try them before you are in such a hurry to decide ; and , in the second place , I tell you that your objection infers that a vast body of your fellow creatures are so determinately and instinctively fond of what is bad , that ; nothing good , however alluringly presented , can be welcome to them . This is what you have no right to say , on any religious principle—no reason to say , on any philosophical principle , of any man whateverwhite or black—that ever ( iod created . No ! No
Object as you please , this fact still remains : — Your present Sunday observances do not answer the purpose with the lower classes—do not repress the drunkenness and vice on Sunday evening which they ought to repress . You cannot prevent ( lie working-man from thinking his Sunday a holiday ; and yet you will not try to make it an innocent and a useful holiday to him . You try to follow an utterly impracticable middle course between a Jewish Sabbath and a Christian Sunday ; you
will not . prohibit as a Jew would ; you will not persuade n » a Christian might . ; you let a gin-palace and a brothel open their doors on Sunday , and insist on picture-galleries and music-halls closing theirs ; you will have no rules but your rules , no religious observances but your religious observances , no Sundays but your Sundays . Does tint * Htate of things need no reform?—m it absolutely incapable of improvement ! Am I , and are those who think like me , to be culled i nfidels and
anarchists , because we suggest the propriety of some change in our present Sunday observances ? and because we doubt the infinite and eternal wisdom of certain lords and gentlemen who have made these observances ? I think not . I set out by saying that our Sundays need reform ; and 1 repeat it here ; conscious of no other wish than to speak in the best interests of religion and morality , and of that other all-important virtue of chanty , without which religion and morality are alike of no avail . * "• ** * ^*
926 ®T)T 3lea&Er* [Saturday ,
926 ® t ) t 3 Lea & er * [ Saturday ,
Ddrgnramtintib Nf Ijrt I^Flple,
dDrgnramtintiB nf ijrt I ^ flple ,
Political And Social. National Charter A...
POLITICAL AND SOCIAL . National Charter Association . — At the meeting of the Executive on Wednesday , a letter was read from Mr . Reynolds , resigning his post on the Executive , on account of ill health , at the same time announcing his intention of retiring from all outdoor and active exertion in the popular cause for the same reason . He handsomely makes the association a present of £ 20 due to him from them as treasurer , and also of one guinea towards the tract fund . Mr . Robert le Blond was invited to stand for Bradford , on the withdrawal of Mr . Reynolds . New Association . —We understand that a meeting of the smiths and hammermen in London takes place at the Progression Coffee-house , Leicestersquare , for the purpose of framing laws and rules which shall be the basis of an association .
Thomas Cooper ' s Lecturing Tour . —We understand that several of our readers are perplexed by the rapidity of Mr . Cooper ' s movements . It is a very simple affair . Letters intended to reach him on Monday or Tuesday next should be addressed , " Care of Mr . J . Watson , Clayton-street , Colne , Lancashire "; on . Wednesday or Thursday next , " Care of Mr . J . Hyslop , draper , Church-street , Wigan "; on Friday next , " Care of Mr . John Cottom , Hope-street , Oldham " ; on Saturday next , or Sunday , October 5 , " Care of Mr . Abel Hey wood , bookseller , Manchester . " Surely there is no difficulty in that !
Redemption Society . —A camp meeting will beheld on Woodhouse-moor , Leeds , on Sunday next . Messrs . Green , Arandall , Shaw , Campbell , and Henderson , are expected to take part in the proceedings . Moneys received for the week : —Leeds , £ 1 17 s . 14 d ; Liverpool , per T . Sands , 4 s . 6 d . ; Burslem , S . Hartshorn , 2 s . ; Driglington , per S . Clayton , 16 s . ; Gildersome , ls . 8 d . Building-fund : Leeds , 4 s . ; Liverpool , 2 s . 6 d . ; Driglington , 4 s . 6 d . ; Adwalton , 3 s . Propagandist-fund : 3 s . Hid . —J . Henderson , Secretary .
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V [In Tiiih Dkpaktment, As All Opinions,...
v [ In tiiih dkpaktment , as all opinions , howkvku kxtrkmk , auk ai . lowki ) an kxl'ttksmlon , tiih kimtor n kckhhakily holds himsklk hksl'onmi hi . k i'oh nonic . ]
There Is No Learned Man But, Willconfess...
There is no learned man but , willconfess he hath much profited by readme conlroverBifia . his senses awakened , and his judgment sharpened . It , then , it- be profitable lor him t-f ) ' read ' , why should it , not , , at . least ,, be tolerable lor Ins adversary t . o writ , *; .- —Milton .
T () Gui S K 1' P K Mazzin I. September ...
T () GUI S K 1 ' P K MAZZIN I . September i *; J . " lHr > l . KiuicNi ) and BitOTincit , —I address you by _ these sacred titles , which were once in familiar use amongst us , because , sifter long estrangement , I « m aware of no alteration in my feelings towards you . You are Htill in my eyes what you appeared a Hcore of years ago , when first w « fell in together in the land of exile : the loftiest mind , the purest heart amongst living Italians . You ore one of those rare men , I think , moulded more immediately in God ' s image , and lilted for the fuller development of God ' s views . Godlike , however , though you maybe , you aro not God ; not omniscient , not omnipotent . I may fail to understand you , for yours is inspired language , too often myHtie , inscrutable ; but , in ho far hh 1 can catch your meaning , 1 often lind reason to differ with , sometimes even to protect against , you . Hear me , Mazzini ! You have often called mo a " man of little faith , " becauHo I could not look upon our national prospects with « B sanguine an exneotu- I
tion as your own warm heart inspired you with But on my devotion to my country , on my love for truth , there never fell a doubt in your mind . Your love , perhaps , I never won ; but , I am sure , you coul'd not withhold your esteem . In our many years ' intercourse , we never went beyond the cold , stately Voi .- the Italian mode of intimate address was never adopted between us . I was , owing to these very circumstances , a privileged man in your party ; 0 « whose heart you could always rely , in spite of my stubborn wrong-headedness . You allowed me mv own way of thinking , and bore with me , although almost every word I uttered or wrote was almost always in sheer contradiction with the tenets you made imperative on your believers .
The whole extent of our discordance may be reduced to the mere interpretation of the word Impossible . Men of genius are ever loath to hear of it . Napoleon would have ic expunged from his dictionary . For myself , I love to give the utmost credit to the quasi-omnipotence of man ' s will ; but I think nevertheless , that it must take a prodigious amount of faith to strike Mont Blanc out of my path . You have been of late very severe upon those of your countrymen whom you designate by the name
of the " Moderate party . Whether or not I belong to it myself , I could not , on my word and honour , assert . I would fain deem myself free from some of the charges which you bring against them . But when you say that that party is " imbued with , materialism , " I fear I must plead guilty ; for , to a great extent and in one sense of the word , I am most decidedly a materialist : I believe , that is , that we have great material obstacles to contend with , and that we must seek " strength , material strength , " to
overcome them . You say , this strength we have ; it is to be found nowhere , or in the people alone . Breathe Mazzini ' s own soul into the four-and-twenty millions which constitute the Italian People , and you will see what wonders Faith can work . Nothing more true ! But then the practical question lies in the possibility of thus penetrating the Italian masses . God is great , and much has been done . None has been so eager and indefatigable , none so successful as yourself , in this work of regeneration . God has given you the language that startles and arouses . Yours is the love which never slackens , never desponds . You have
awakened your countrymen ; but have you inspired them with your aspiration , your impetus , your courage ? Is theirs an active , stirring , fate-storming faith , like yours ? It is not , God is my witness , for the purpose o taunt or upbraiding that I rake up the past ; but did the people of Italy , when called to action , ever listen to the charmer ' s voice ? Was one hand raised when in 1834 you led your band of patriots to the frontier of Savoy ? Was a sword drawn for years later to the rescue of the misguided Bandiera ? No other of the Italian movements ever originated with you : for certainly you would not take upon yourself the bloody outbreak of the Roman revolution , though you alone
threw so great a lustre on its close . Whatever power may be latent in the Italian multitude , you have not yet found the means of calling it forth . Truly you have often said , that you have no hope in the present generation : that you are throwing into a corrupt soil a seed that time and sorrow will bring to maturity . And there are moments when your language awes and silences me ; for your eye dives far into the the future , and events too often baffle the cold calculations of mere rational conjecture . Nevertheless that you , yourself have been hasty and inconsiderate—that you miscalculated the present disposition of the Italian people—the attempts above alluded to sufficiently demonstrated . It wouia be to no purpose to palliate your defeat by references to Ramorino s treason in the first instance , ana w tl 8
want of subordination on the purt of your P * ans in the second . A leader is responsible for tno c > - haviour of his subalterns ; no workman can pica ignorance of his tools in exculpation of his blunuers-So long as success attended his arms , Napoleon wu ^ never betrayed , never ulackly seconded . No . those defeats are your own , and they are the cons e - quences of a generous error ; the consequence your overweening faith in " God and the 1 cO l ; You chafe against those men that call you un P ™ ticiil . Hut it is , nevertheless , certain that you oxpt ( iod to do miracles in your behalf . How many "m - ll
do we not hear you say that the sight ot » standard on the Capitol would raise the very hi - throughout Italy , and the very dust of tno ui . - Well , against your own expectation , the n »" banner did wave from the Tarpeian Rock ; "t « too , when nil Italy was in arms and eager iorfl " , ic when the most daring combatants and most ' leaders were assembled round its walls ; wJi «; n * J geniuH-when Mazzini himself-held his arms n ott ^ call down Heaven ' s blessings on their efforts , an j the banner tell : deeds of valour were P crl ( |" ible ' doubtless , but the hand of God was nowhere visu the people looked on with its wonted stupor , anu was lost but the honour . « ,, r « rlf a With all your faith , Muxzini , you were y « ur 8 C " materialist " at Rome . The " Idea hud to stn its colours beforu the brutal strength of Ircnch Doni "
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 27, 1851, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27091851/page/18/
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