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June 30, 1860.J The Leader and'Saturday\...
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• SPURGEON AT-BADEN. ITIHE Conference of...
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THE LAST OF THE BUOXArABTES. SOME men ou...
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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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Faith -And Ftlthy.Luchk. The Caso Of Tho...
religion now shone forth with great brilliancy . He ^ actually presenfed Master Vajhhttabt with six shillings more . But he might want a shilling or two extra—something to get pinner on the way , and pay his omnibus in London . Had he nothing else about him that ? Oh yes , Master Vansittaiit had a silver pencil-case . " Capital / capital ! " It was his own too . Ah ! Mr . Behawould buy that What did Master Vansittakt want for the silver pencil-case ? would half-a-crown- . Yes—half-a-ciwn would do . And the vourur proselyte is now in possession of the sum of one
pound fimr . He had still , however , to receive a parting gift from the munificent canon . This consisted of a letter : to Father Thoiias and a little relic of the immaculate conception . What this latter could have been it entirely passes our ability to conceive . But here the progress of this drama—this miracle play of thrilling interest—is rudely interrupted by the arrival of a policeman who rescues Master Vansittatit from the clutches of his Jesuit friends , just as lie is preparing to set out for the abode of
Father Thomas in London . . Such u-as the original story , on the strength of which a charge was preferred against the llev . Canon Dalton and the Messrs . Beiia of conspiring to assist iii keeping Master Vaxsittakt from the care of his father after he had run away from school . As might have been expected , a good deal of fiction is found to be mixed up with fact in the boy ' s relation . On cross-examination before the magistrates of Norwich the lad was obliged to acknowledge that the story about the priest in the blue cloak was a fabrication from beginning to end . The fact is , the boy ran away from Mr . Hodgson ' s of his own accord , and trumped up this tale
to excuse his conduct . In no other particular , however , does his statement appear to be impugned . The existence of such a person as the priest Clery has been denied by Mr . Bo wye it ; but here is Mr Cleut writing letters to the papers , showing all the world —while attempting to exculpate himself—that he did , by secret and underhand means , attempt to corrupt the religious belief of this weak-minded boy ; and more than that , that lie actually aided and abetted the lad in running away from , school . The charge against Canon Dalton and the Behas has been dismissed by the
magistrates of Norwich , owing to difficulties connected with the case , both in regard to law arid evidence ; but no attempt has been made to deny that Canon Daxtox - enc 6 urageH ~ the boy to absentjiimself from the control of his legal guardians , and also that he used means to conceal him from his Father . Whatever may be the law of the case , we have no hesitation in saying that the means employed by the priests Dalton and Cleey to entrap this poor boy are . highly discreditable ; and we are sure that the respectable Catholic community will view their conduct with repugnance and disgust .
June 30, 1860.J The Leader And'saturday\...
June 30 , 1860 . J The Leader and'Saturday \ Analyst . 609
• Spurgeon At-Baden. Itihe Conference Of...
• SPURGEON AT-BADEN . ITIHE Conference of Baden will be memorable for one fact at any J- rate , and that is , the presence of the Rev . C . H . Spubgson . Baden-Baden and Spubgeon—the two ideas are hard to reconcile . One could as soon have thought of Jonah going for a day ' s excursion to Nineveh , or Jeremiaii pausing in his lamentations to have —^ Kttle ^ lrcerful-eonversfttion ^^ naughty pleasant little home of Roulette and Rouge ctNoir . Our only conception of Mr . Spuegeon is formed from the dreadful print which used to stare at us from every shop window , with the extended arm and the rolling eyes . It is quite a comfort to reflect
that this posture is not perpetual ; that Mr . Spuegeon out ot the pulpit is much as other men are : listens to the band on the promenade , runs after the crowd to get a sight of an Emperor , drivesoverto Strasburgto see the fun , peeps—we dare say looks—into the ball-room and the salle dejeii , and takes his cake and ale cheerfully , like aii honest man . In fact , if we learnt that the great popular preacher had been seen smoking a cigar behind the kersaal , or even , when Mrs . S . was not looking :, had slily slipped a gulden on that enticing green-covered table , where the ball keeps spinning 1 round from morning to night—well , we should think decidedly the bettor of him . Apollo does not always stretch his . bow , and even Mr . Spuugkon need not always have a text in his mouth and a
homily on his tongue . Between the intervals of sight-seeing and roulette , Mr . Spukgeon found time to send an account of his journeys to a paper called the British Banner , which is , we bolieve , the organ of the Wcsloynn connection . It is on this letter thnt we wish to comment . Mr . Spurgeon is sv clever man , and therefore in his new character ns " our own correspondent" ho has picked out from his observation several facts which are worth relating . He does not profess to bo acquainted with foreign politics , and is therefore excusable in looking at everything from the received anti-N"APOLEONic view , which , whether right or wrong , is the fashion of the day at homo . The only fault wo find with the reverend correspondent ol
the BrUish Banner is in the remarks of a serious or semi-religious character wifcir " w 1 iicli'li ? luM » "t 1 » 6 u 8 : lit "" it "'' nccoMary "' tQ intetlurd his intelligence . After telling whut ho has to toll sensibly enough , he evidently feels that a little religious bunkum ia expected of him , nnd this expectation is not to be disappointed . So hereupon follow a number of disjointed sentences , such as , " Who can toll what were in the heart of the mighty P Who Bliall fathom the depths of the thoughts , of kings ? Muy the Loud , rule and overrule , and out of every evil may his glory spring ! " & o . & . ; and so on ad nauseam . Now , in plain English , this nil moans that neither Mr . Spukokon nor any ono elso knows what is to happen , and therefore the beat thing we can da is to trust in TiioviDUNOE ,
though , by the way , this implicit faith in Providence is somewhat reflected on by the consolation Mr . SprRCrJiON derives from the idea that the Emperor cannot live long enough to do much mischief . Then follows a short paragraph of that mild ; mocksolemn facetiousness for which we understand the- prophet of the Surrey . Hall is famous : — ' " ' ¦ - ¦ " I like not to see either thieves in company , nor kings in conclave . Eagles come not together unless they scent the prey . When the wolf inspects the sheepfolds and dines with the shepherds , the silliest of the sheep are troubled at nightfall . ' . '
Now the first sentence is a very poor appropriation of Cobdktt s famous example of nouns plural , viz ., " House of Commons , den of thieves , etc . ; " and as to the metaphor at the end , we can only say that other people besides the silliest of the sheep would be startled at the occurrence of such a " lusus naturae . " Mr . Spurgeox , however , as a sentimentalist , a humorist , or a maker and marrer of metaphors , is in every way preferable to the same individual meting out God's judgments . ' The conference was held on a Sunday . This mav have been undesirable omot , but the idea that there was
any sin in so doing probably never entered the head of anj- one of the persons who -took part in it . Little did they know , those " silly sheep , " that by this act the thunders of Spurgeonic wrath would be let loose upon them . If LomS Napolkon , or the Prince Regent of Prussia , or even the Grand Duke of Baden are ever bilious and begin to think of their sins , we are afraid they never will think of their Sunday meeting . Strasburg , and Heidelberg , and Rastadt would suggest to them far other and blacker memories of broken oaths and dark bloodshed . But no , their
especial sin from the Spurgeon point of view is that " they usurp God ' s peculiar day , as if they were lords of the Sabbath , or irresponsible to the laws of Heii % 'en . " '' What , " we are asked , " but confusion can be the result of such councils ? Will not the Lord be avenged on such a people as this ? Surely there are chains ot darkness of unusual weight reserved for these ringleaders in rebellion ? " To all these questions we can only answer in the Italian phrase ; " Chi sa ? " Certainly neither Mi \ Spurgeon nor ourselves ; and , in our opinion , if Louis . Napoleon were to turn the tables , and indulge in speculations as to the future state of Mr . Spurgeon , the inquiry would not be more unprofitable or more profane . ¦ - V -
: . „ ,, After the recital of the requisite amount ot cant , for we can call it by no other word , Mr . Spurgeon resumes the ordinary style of literature , and tells his readers simply what he knows about the departure of the Emperor . It is a melancholy sign of the state of public feeling in the religious world , that a sensible man shmild feel himself unable to write a straightforward letter without ^ inserting an adequate amount of pious common-place , and that his readers would think his letter worldly minded if not spiped with religious censures . There are other tyrants besides imperial ones .
The Last Of The Buoxarabtes. Some Men Ou...
THE LAST OF THE BUOXArABTES . SOME men outlive themselves , aiid Prince Jeromk Xal'olicon , sometime King of Westphalia , whose death wu record this week , was one of them . As far as years go , he had not reached extreme old age : the fatal three-score years and ten had not long
been passed in his life ' s diary ; b ni iT we coimt ^ Ie ^ Trp ^ rnf-trnTe by facts and not by figures , then the late Prince Intperml , Marshal of France and Governor of the Iuvulides though he was , has been dead and buried , and forgotten scores of years ago . If . suerns hard , almost impossible , to renlizu , that the Prince who died but yesterday was the baby brother whom the great Napolkon may have played with , while lie himself was yot a boy , in the . island ot Corsica . , , , What memories , one fancies , must have floated throng . ! the old man ' s brain , as he lay for days , speechless , in his dying stupor What a life panorama to look bac ' . c upon ! His earliest recsulloctions may well have been of the time when Louis XVI . was still in her and
King of . France , and Marie Antoinette was pndu . beauty . Surely the outburst of the first revolution , the execution of the king , the reign of terror must have left some record on the mind even of a boy of twelve , living far away from the wicked city . Or perhaps nil memory of the ' period , was to him embodied m the sight of the first epaulets of the elder brother , serving then n * the " silent siillow lieutenant of engineers" in the armies of the republic . Henceforth around that one figure must have grouped his memory tor years . Muuat and Josevjcine , Foucjir and Talleyrand , JJkrna-DOTTI 3 uiul MouKAU , and a thousand others , who became famous because the very fact of their contact withNAPOLUON guvetlium fame , would pass before him ; not as wo see them , mere " shadows oi a name , " but as living men of flesh and blood , invested with mi » uy a
quaint memory of the bright time of his youth , when Napoi-eon reignod in France . Then the battles of Eylau nnd of Friedlund could scarce have fuilod to iluali . across ovon si dying moinory ; or ho \ v Priiflsin was dismembered , and the King-maker formed from its broken fragments tho-kinjjdiM" of WostphuUn ,. ttiad .. HuininangclJus brother , lifctblo more than a boy still , to reign « s king over tho lands whore Fkederick tjxk Great had reigned witlnu memory of living men . Even six years' timo of voyulty , inglorious um tlmt royalty " inuy have been , is u thing not to" be forgotten , and Uio marriage to a royal princess , tho sister of the pwwoiit King ot Wurtemburg , oldest of Biiropoan sovereigns , may liayo l « lt huliina , wo trust , a vet more pleasing inumory . And . tlion , tin * thmi wasn , tho retreut ' from Moscow , tho consequent overthrow oi tho Wostnhuliun kingdom , tho ¦ iibUiuuLioii of the Lmperor , tho lust dv n £ struggle of the hundrod days , tho defeat ut Wuterluo , and the eulo to
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 30, 1860, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30061860/page/9/
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