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90 The Leader and Saturday Analyst. f Ja...
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M. yiLLEMArN" AND THE PAPAL QUESTION/* <...
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* La Fjcftnoe, l'Bmpiro, ot la Papaute, ...
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GOG AND MAGOG,* WE are not ashamed to co...
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* On/; and Mas/off t tho Ghlantn in Gn!M...
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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.
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Peers An> 15akqnets. Mr. Bright Has Late...
a false notion of liis power , his importance , or his honour , and cannot be offended when he has to exclaim , — " Eh quoi ! J ' apijreiid 8 que Ton critique . '» L « de q ' ue precede mou nom . " ,. ¦ . It is one of the great privileges of oitr peerage that its ranks are from time to time recruited by new men , and these new men , judiciously selected , do add to its strength and lustre . Beyond these soldiers and law lords , the assembly is composed of large-acred squires , gentlemen of noble birth , with handles to their names , lyho are hereditary legislators , and who , by their place and station , and by their weight aiul example , do certainly refine us , and win us from the mere worship of worldly success , money , notoriety , and other base ends to which , a country without a higher class seems always to run . If we cannot bow down ; as many do , to mere rank , remembering- not , with Disraeli , that the best blood of the country runs in the veins of its peasantry , but that we , too , are men of good lineage , and , above all , Englishmen , we may still regard the
peerage with some deference . We should be as far from the senseless animosity of the demagogue , as from the wholesale subservience of the sycophant . We , too , have our class . If we sometimes hear of silly lectures being * given by lords ,, and of silly mediaeval retrogressive speeches being made by them , of sentiments avowed by them , which make it an anomaly for the same feudal baron , with feudal title and feudal pride , to travel on a . railway invented by one of the people which he despises and would trample on—we must remember that others of the class are men of very high bearing , patrons of learning , of liberty , and of art ; that that very feudal pride , aided us against the tyranny of priest and king ; that it is still the natural element of an important part in pur constitution , keeps us from many whimsical and popular follies , a ' rid gives the world a living proof of the love of order and law possessed by the people , and of the stability of our England's institutions .
Let us also remember that if the forms of greatness change from age to age , that the spirit in those forms remains the same , and that the warrior of former times re-appears as the great orator of the present day ; and as in the really pure race of Stanley , the neit generation may iurnish . a true statesman , who , combining the tastes oft he aristocracy " with the large-hearted , and wise liberality of the people , may greatly help the nation on to a cpmpleter civilization .
90 The Leader And Saturday Analyst. F Ja...
90 The Leader and Saturday Analyst . f Jan . 28 , 1860 .
M. Yillemarn" And The Papal Question/* <...
M . yiLLEMArN" AND THE PAPAL QUESTION /* << TT 7 " HY should I play the Bom an fool , and die on mine own W sword ? " These words of -Shakespeare might be very appropriately put into the mouth of M . Villemain , and in fact of all the French " liberals who are indiscreet enough to espouse the cause of the Pope against the Emperor , and to maintain the illegality or iniquity of ' any atteinpt to wrest from the Father of the faithful the government of a people whose liberty he unceasingly represses . M . yillemain , in his antipathy to the present rule in his own country , draws his sword on 'behalf of the troubled Pontiff upon the Emperor , and forgets that if . 'imperial despotism is pernicious and detestable , papal despotism is far more so . He is evidently conscious of all the 1
evils in Prance which may be justly tracedto want of freedom , and yet would prevent the recovery of freedom , by the oppressed Italians . Here is an opportunity of overthrowing one tyranny at least , and we should have anticipated that the liberal party would have eagerly seized it ; but on the contrary , we have now before us a pamphlet by one of its most learned and distinguished members , in which is set forth an elaborate advocacy of the papal pretensions . Perhaps ifc is only another instance of the recognised truth , that distress makes the sufferer selfiali and envious . If France cannot bo free , then lot Italy too remain enslaved . The mistake of this policy is apparent . The sooner Italy is liberated , the sooner will France share its liberty . , . ^ Tho object of the writer's attack is the famous brochure of . " Le
JPavo ct le Conqrhs ; " and the line of argument which M . Villemain Pwpo ct le Congrbs ; and the line of argument which M . A ^ llemain tnkes up is . that siny interference with the extent of the papal dominions is illegitimate , us being an infringement of nil principles Of international law . If the territory of the Hply See , ho argues , is not inviolable , ' what guarantee has any Power that some stronger Power or combination ot Powers rany not strip it of its most valuable possessione P The title of the Pope to the sovereignty of the States of the Church is as ' well founded and as indisputable as that of any potentate in Europe to his hei'oditary crown . Whence have certain powers derived the most important territorial augmentations ? From treaties . And whence has the Holy See received its
temporal aggrandisement P From treaties . Why then , oaks M . ViUomnin , shall tlxiso treaties be regarded in one case as sacred and inviolable , and in the other as so much waste-paper P Such is the general bearing of the writer ' s argument . It is specious enough , nud it is supported , as might hnve been expected from so erudite mi author , by a vairicty of quotations from historians , philosophers , and ecclesiastics , from Animianus Murcollinua down to Pius VII . Tho spirited resistance of tho last-named pontiff to the first Napoleon , and the fearless demnnd for his restoration to liberty made by tlio National Council of French bishops iu 1811 , are described in toniiB of zoiiious admiration , and sundry allusions to ^ Gregory VII . piay give rise to t ^ o suspicion that M . Villomain intended his pamphlet to be not only a controversial reply to " Le 3 ? , qpq ct le Congrds , " but also an exhortation to thp Holy Father to lxola his own ( or rather what is not his own ) with an immovable
obstinacy , not inferior to that : with which Pius VII . opposed Napoleon I ., and Gregory VII . the Emperor Henry IV . On . the whole , we may consider this reply inadequate to ¦ " Le Tape et le Cdngr ' es" in spite of the inconsequential and singularly imperfect character of the" latter production . M . Yillemain has failed to demonstrate the proposition on which his whole argument is based , and the reader remains unconvinced that the Pope has any right whatever to hold a sway repugnant to the entire body of his subjects ; and he has failed equally in showing that what a Congress has given a Congress may not take away . In one point he takes a very allowable opportunity of administering a rebuke to . the cant-
for we can call it little else , coming from such a source—of the author of the obnoxious pamphlet , who , it will be remembered , urges that a large state ought and must give room for the " generous activities of public life , " to which M . Villemain thus retorts : "This is a theory of by no means constant application We might ask , in fact , whether political life exists for all large states , whether it is thriving amongst them , whether they all have those ' generous activities of public life' to which the author alludes ; or whether there are not , on the contrary , some very great states in which this public life is peculiarly repressed . " ( p . 13 . ) This is hard hitting . . '¦ ¦ ¦ '
M . Villemain ' s pamphlet is an indication that an entire imd sweeping abolition , of the temporal power of the Holy See . would not ' encounter more determined opposition than will its partial deprivation proposed in . " Le J * aj > e et le Congres . *'
* La Fjcftnoe, L'Bmpiro, Ot La Papaute, ...
* La Fjcftnoe , l'Bmpiro , ot la Papaute , Qu « Btlon do DrpM Public . Par M . VMomain . Mombro 4 o 1 'InatHut . Purls , 1800 ,
Gog And Magog,* We Are Not Ashamed To Co...
GOG AND MAGOG , * WE are not ashamed to confess tliafc we belong to that class of persons for whom Mr . Fairholfc has written this learned and entertaining little volumev We had , indeed , a vague notion that musty records must exist in our city-arehiv . es concerning the history of those doughty and highly painted g-iants , who from their lofty pedestals beside the clock have looked down upon so many banquets and festivals ; but we had no idea of who was Gog , who Mag-og , or whv they were selected for those eminent positions . , Mr . Fairholt . has * diligently arid long inquired into tins matter ; has sought for light .-in the " histories of other civic giants on the Continent and elsewhere ; has illustrated his subject by inquiries far and wide into the curious subject of giants , and has at length furnished us with . ' what may be sought for . in vain in the pages of Stow , Howel , Sfcrype , Northpuck , Maitland , . Seymour , Pennant , and all other Historians of London—a history of Gog and Magog . Let us at once set rid of . a popular error which the very title of Mr . Fairholt ' s book might help to confirm . The giants are properly not Gog- and Magog at all ; for although in some ancient stories their names are sp written , the best legendary -history informs us that the name of the one is Gogmagog , and of the ot ' hor Corinaoiis . So often have we gazed upoil those mysterious figures when we were boys , and Imd no better recreation in the occasional holiday of an ancient City school than to loiter in Guildhall , that we do not hesitate to say that Corinceus is the giant standing with . spear and shield upon the right hand side of the spectator as he looks towards the great western window in the Hall . Gogmagog is he who , with reverent beard and quiver full of arrows , and with a pole in his hand , at the end whereof is a chain and spiked ball , stands in the corresponding corner .
Their history is . this : According to " Caxton ' s Chronicle of England , " the Emperor Diocleaian hud three and thirty daughters , of remarkably strong minds ; for whom , to get rid of them , ho obtained three and thirty husbands . The ladies , rebelling , agreed to slay a husband apiece and be free ; which done , their-father , to punish them for their crimes , sent all to sea in one vessel , with six months' provisions . After long Sailing , they reached tin island , which , they named Albion , after the name of tho eldest lady . The island , we must suppose , tljough since become remarkably populous , was tjien scarcely inhabited : but the Evil One , feeling a-Special interest in these refractory ladies , provided them with visionary husbands , the result whereof was a numerous progeny of horrible
giants , who ruled over this land for numy a day . So things went on , according to another version , until IJruto , of . whom wo read in " Geoffrey of Mohmouth , " and in "Milton , ' . ' having got foot in England , and being preparod to improve the samo , us ' an earnest reformer , was opposed in all his schetucs by Albion , tho son of tho lady of that name , and his brother giants , who then tyrannised over the isle , a ^ d were in fact ; tho Conservatives and country party of those days . With huge clubs of knotty' oak , battle-nxes , whirllmts of iron , and globes full of spikes , the giants came on . After various fortune , the men of huge stature were by a stratagem overthrown , and pursued into Cornwall , where Corihtoug ruled . Albion was
shun by Brute , fighting hand to hand , and his two brothers , Gogand Magog , otherwise Gogmagog and Oorinreus , giants of vatit bulk , were taken prisoners and led in triumph to the place where now tendon stands . Upon those risinga upon the side of tho river Thames , Bruto founded u city , and , building * a palace whom Guild " hull stands , caused the two giants to be chained to the tfnto ot it us porters . It is in memory of this , according 1 to tho leg-ends , that their elfig'ios stand to > thisday -in . Guildhull , We must not , however , disguise the fact that history is yb « c ^» 'e and " frequently contradictory on these points . According 1 to old Geoffrey of Moinnouth , GoKma . g'og \ yns a horrible monstoi " , \ vhoinCorhi «> uH , to uimuiu thuCourt of King * Unite , slew in single combat ; and now We look again at Gog *
* On/; And Mas/Off T Tho Ghlantn In Gn!M...
* On /; and Mas / off t tho Ghlantn in Gn ! M / iaIf , tholr Honl < tn < i Letjcfldtiry History . By F . W . Fairuow . London : J . G . Hotton .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 28, 1860, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28011860/page/14/
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