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^December 27, 1856.] THE LEADER, 1237
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THE DITCHER DECISION. Theke are a few qu...
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LA.ST CHRISTMAS-DAY. We wore at war last...
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THE CASE QJbVMu. HENRY COUT. "The injust...
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R . I 1 1 '. '. ' I : , , - E - , In ". ...
bility of securing a real Liberal representation , and the serious demoralization implied by the undervaluing of political oaths , we cannot see any course for the party to pursue except of persisting in a solemn refusal to identify itself with the institutions of the Empire .,,
^December 27, 1856.] The Leader, 1237
^ December 27 , 1856 . ] THE LEADER , 1237
The Ditcher Decision. Theke Are A Few Qu...
THE DITCHER DECISION . Theke are a few questions we should like to put without , however , the faintest hope of getting a satisfactory answer , and , among others , these : — Are the parties who stirred up and promoted the suit that led to the sentence of deprivation against Archdeacon Destison satisfied with the present issue of the contest ; and can they , with quiet consciences , look upon their work and say it is good—for the
Church of England ? Does Mr . Ditcher feel more comfortable ? Is the Venerable Archdeacon Law of opinion that the Bath Judgment is likely to lead to that acme of perfection in conditions ecclesiastical— ' Repose ? ' The Vicar of South Brent may smile complacently on his work ; but his secret partizan , the Archdeacon of Wells , if we do not misjudge human nature , must have some odd misgivings respecting the part he lias played—preaching the doctrine of repose , practising the doctrine of contention ! .. . '
Meanwhile , as quiet , onlookers , we may be permitted to point out some serious aspects of the question . If the principle of the Bath Judgment is affirmed , it will be a precedent , a signal for further strife , a declaration of open war betweeu the two great parties in the Church ? If it be not affirmed , then the dictum of a Prince of the Church respecting
the doctrine of the ^ Eucharist will be overruled and set aside , not by a council of ecclesiastics , but by that temporal court the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council . How great the scandal ! The fact that the Church of England is a ' compromise , ' that it is a temporal institution resting on a basis of expediencv , will be more than ever manifest .
But if it be affirmed , if it should turn out that there is 110 appeal from the . decision of the Archbishop of Canterbury , the consequences may be even more momentous . According to the Bath Judgment , except in cases where the language of the Articles clearly admits of more than one interpretation , the clergy of the Church must accept the Articles absolutely and without appeal to Scripture . Dr . Luskinoton , on behalf of the archbishop , distincth / laid it down that the court could admit of no reference
whatever to Scripture or the writings of great lights of the Church to prove the soundness of dogmas contrary to the clear meaning of the Articles . This being so , what becomes of the right of private judgment—that Protestant charber of freedom for which so many have died in martyrdom ? Mark the effect . The assumption is that the learned divines who drew up the Articles had performed a finnl analysis of Scripture , and the fruit of their labours is hung like a millstone round the necks of the clergy of our Established Church . Well may the ltev . Pkedurick
Maurice say , in his letter to JPrascr ' s Magazine , that " the circumstances of this [ the Deshson ] trial force the whole question of our subscription to the Articles , and of the allegiance to the Scriptures which those Articles demand , upon our understandings and consciences . " Clearly that is so . Which shall it be — Articles or Scriptures ?—in other words , Papacy or private judgment ? And how curious it is that the parties who have raised this case against Mr . Denison should bo identical with those who abhor the Papacy the most , and laud private judgment to the skies !
Two eminent members of the Church have spoken out on this question—the Bishop of Exeter and the Eeverend Frederick : Maurice . The clergy of Exeter are uneasy and alarmed at the Bath judgment ; and they have appealed , as beseems them , to Henry , the pillar of their faith . He is a courageous person and not easily alarmed , ¦ so . " . that he does not share their trepidations . But what does he say ? He stands fast by the penal statute of Elizabeth , " provided ' it be fairly dealt with" — that is , dealt with so as to secure the ascendancy of his party . But
here his conservatism ends . He questions the authority of the Bath court , he questions the validity of the Bath judgment ; he is almost , if not quite , of opinion that it is no court at all . If it be a court .. it is an ' . inferior one , and . Mr , Deniso ^ may be turned out of one diocese to find a place in another . And he does not seem to see the scandal of such an alternative . A clergyman may be condemned for teaching false doctrine in one district , and preferred for teaehiug it in another ; and in both be a member of the Church of England !
Mr . Maueice does not take the same ground as the Bishop of Exeteb . Far from it . In Ins eyes the Church is wide enough to hold Dekison and Ditcher . He Arould take both the Articles and the Scripture , and read the one by the light of the other . But if lie arrive at a different conclusion from that expressed in any Articles ? Then lie would leave the holder in quiet possession of his opinion ; nay , he would permit him to
teach it ; but he would not permit him to impose it as a test upon others . It is well known that Mr . Denison applied his opinions as ordination tests . Mr . Maurice objects to that ; but short of that he seems to favour liberty of opinion within the Church . To us , however , this looks very like a doctrine that would destroy the Church of lEngland as an ecclesiastical preserve , and throw its gates very wide indeed . But , then , what becomes of the Articles ?
In accordance with these views Mr . Maurice asks the Privy Council , in judging Mr . Djgxisok ' s case , should it reach that tribunal , to act on the principle which they follo \ ve < l in tho case of Mr . Gtohham . The judgment in that case , he remarks , was hailed by the laity as representing their interest . Mr . Maurice is a single-minded pastor , and perhaps does not see why the judgment suited
the laity . It suited them because they include a vast number of patrons of livings , and livings are as much property as stock , and the value of livings , as property , would have been depreciated had the Privy Council sustained instead of reversing Sir Jenner Fust's decision , an . d as they will be depreciated should the Privy Council sustain instead o ? reversing tho decision of the
Archbishop of Canterbury . So , this great vested interest being on his side , Mr . Maurlck ' s views arc likely to triumph , and one more flagrant proof be given that ib is not unity of divino truth , but a common-place interest in property , that holds the Church of England together .
La.St Christmas-Day. We Wore At War Last...
LA . ST CHRISTMAS-DAY . We wore at war last Christums-day , and we are at war now . Then ib was with Russia ; now it is with her client ; . Our well-informed friend a were ¦ on that day positively assured that she would accept the Vienna proposals , and in another direction , quito as positively informed thru ; she would not ; . There was then tho samo t : ilk of a pacifying Congress na there is now . I'Ynnce was weary lifter the efforts of the war ; Naples was adulterating her monoy ; America was hesitating whether to dismiss Mr . CjtARirroN ; \\ v ? army in the
Crimea was in possession of Sevastopol , waiting for orders ; an Imperial Prince was expected . The world knows well how these matters have turned out ; how France forced us into the peace ; how Naples has not improved after our scolding ; how Mr . Cbamptok- came to England , and was followed , in due course , by Captain Habtstein , -with the Resolute ; how the Crimean army has " come home ; how the Imperial Prince has been made Lord of
Biscay , Legionary of Honour , and a military grandee . Tim e lias passed less changefully in . other quarters . Sir John Dean" Pattl and his partners have had rather more than their first year in prison ; Wili-iam Paxmer , last Christmas-day , was doubtful of his fate ; Uedpatii sat brilliantly at the head of a lustrous table , and people said , " What capital dinners that fellow gives ! how ca ? i he afford it ? " And E-obson , not then in a canarycoloured suit , Avas . lord of Kilburn Priory .
Other names have been newly stamped in the year 1856 . Last Christmas-day Lord Lucan had not so utterly broken down as he has since ; we had not heard of the unhappy Lord Cabdigan ' s dream of his lost leg at Balaklava ; we had only that week read the th . ird and fourth volumes of Mac-AUiAr ' s History ; we were still asked " What do you think of ' Hiawatha ? ' " Mr .
Waidistgtoit had not yet been driven from , the Eastern Counties chair ; General "Williams was in the hands of the enemy ; the Edinburgh 'Protestants , were tingling after the retort of D'Azeglio ;~ Earth has not made much progress . It lias . morally abolished Lord Lucan and Cardigan' it has thanked and rewarded General Wii / liams ; Scotland has attacked Mr . Macaulay ; and the Eastern Counties have discarded Mr .
Waddington . We have hanged Palmer and Dove ; we have transported IIobson , and put Snell to haxd labour ; we have Hedpaiu incustod y ¦ '; andtjhe great gold robbery is in . course of elucidation ; but we go on murdering , garotfcing , aad embezzling , capital punishments , transportation , the crank , and the general advance of society notwithstanding . We are at peace with Iiussia and at wai * with Persia . The independence of Sardinia has been strengthened , and the independence of Switzerland is menaced . Maelet is hanged , and the Dublin assassination remains
undetected . We ' keep going , ' and that is all . It is as much as we can expect , We try to do no more . When we make war , it is as participators in some miserable diplomatic scheme ; when we make peace , it is a i ^ enee that ignores the rights of nations . Our justice is sufficient to put the criminal out ot sight , without narrowing the channels of crime . We . fancy we move , but it is Time that moves ; we are where we were last Christmas .
The Case Qjbvmu. Henry Cout. "The Injust...
THE CASE QJbVMu . HENRY COUT . " The injustice done to an individual , " says " Junius , " " its sometimes of service to the public s - meaning , of course , that it arouses them to a consideration of evils which they might ollicrwiac have neglected . Whether , however , it shall have this result or not rests only with themselves . If they listen with apathy to the coin plaints of genuine sufferers , and refuse to aid in obtaining them redress , such cases may be converted into precedents , and entail the worst consequences on future
generations . Such has too often been the case among ourselves . A veracious narrative of the wrongs and disappointments with which discoverers in tho useful arts have had to eorttend in this country would be an instructive pago in our social history . The present condition of the patent law seems to prove how little Englishmen , as a body , seem to care nbout the rights of their benefactors , or to appreciate their own interest in the promotion of nieehsuueal and scientific discoveries . . They love to nbidq in the unpiont paths , and seldom re-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 27, 1856, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27121856/page/13/
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