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Key 439, August 21,1858.] THE LEADER. 83...
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ITALIAN AFFAIRS. the return of Count Cav...
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THE CONFESSIONAL. The propriet y of the ...
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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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British Consuls And British Commerce. Tu...
in-able plan of consular regeneration . The 3 st way of helping the subject will be for all the ling towns to take it up , and call upon their resentatives to do their best to promote the > ct of the select committee .
Key 439, August 21,1858.] The Leader. 83...
Key 439 , August 21 , 1858 . ] THE LEADER . 837 —— " '' ' • " ~ ¦¦¦ - ¦ - — , _
Italian Affairs. The Return Of Count Cav...
ITALIAN AFFAIRS . the return of Count Cavour from his recent t to Plombieres , much curiosity was expressed ill hands as to the purport of . his confidential with Louis Napoleon . The marked considerashown him fcy his imperial host , their long etings , and the confidential relations known t-o t between the Governments of Piedmont and nee , all conspired to stir the spirit of popular jecture in the peninsula , and to fan the embers uspicion on the part of Austria . The Sardinian Liarhent not being in session , the Minister could
her be interrogated nor taunted into revealing , t manner of vision he had had during his stay lie watering-place Court of the French Empire ; the tentative suppositions put forward in the . mns of the press have not been able to extract ; hing definite from the wary and reserved polilii . " There is , " however , as Carlyle has it , " a ice which is more meaning than any speech . " 1 M . Carour anything useful or agreeable to say rd ing the result of his visit , we may be sure he Id have been only too glad to have said it . His tion as administrative head of the Piedmontese
erhment is anxious and critical . He has , year r year , contrived to hold in hand the imence , ambition , and resentment of his country ; he has only been able to do so by peic ' al renewals of splendid , though vague , pn > es .. of * ' an Italian policy , " to be worked out : n the proper time should come . He lias n had hard work of it , tranquillising the jtionary passions of the few , without quenchthe ^ enthusiasm of the many , and promot-¦ a ' n excuse for hostilities on the -part of Austria > re he could be sure of the aid or even tacit
¦ ntenance of Trance and England . Haunted by spectral-memories . of Novara , he has sworn to iself never to risk a second day of discomfiture . humiliation for Sardinia ' s arms . Frequently he been heard to exclaim , " When next we draw sword it must be for the last time ; and that it not sheathed at the close of tlie struggle in eat and ruin , we must wait for one infallible ? ortunifcy . " No doubt lie fancied at the termina-1 of the Russian war that the longed-for hour I tolled -when the Western Powers would fulfil hopea they had held out so lavishly at its
comncement regarding the constitutional renovation Italy . But days , weeks , months , and now years r e been allowed to pass , and neither of them are pared to move , liumour even seems to be the binger of worse than immobility . The English rinet meditate , it is said , sending a Minister to Court of Naples ; and the French Government tot prepared to refrain from doing likewise if 1 rulers lead the way . Satisfactory assurances on ) point were , we may be certain , sought by the dmontese statesmen at Plombieres ; if they were rded why are the organs of Ins administration te ?
t is , we fear , only too probable that the despot the Two Sicilies is about to liave a complete imph over the unreliable professions of the jstern Powers in favour of Italy . We all rcmber the pompous denunciations of his merciless tern of misrule uttered at Paris , in the spring of 50 , and the notice then publicly given that , if t . speedily amended , the delinquent mormrch uld be placed under the ban of diplomatic intcr-: t . King Bomba scoffed at the rebukes and reats ot M . Wnlewski and Lord Clarendon .
istria whispered in his car , " Heed them not ; ay mean not what they say . " And he has found e whisper true . No amelioration of any sort has ten place in the system by which the south of & ly is enchained , debased , and prostrated . No ange is pretended . Journalism is extinct . Edution is wholly in the hands of < he priesthood . So-Hy is infested everywhere with spies . The advote who dares , in the mere exercise of his calling , defend a political offender , is hunted down to in . Imprisonment on suspicion , without trial , is every-day occurrence . Life is rendered insup-> rtublc ; and even the mercy of rapid and easy sath is abolished . Those whom absolutism at aplcs desires to destroy arc sentenced to the most : otracted species of gradual execution which the
perverted ingenuity of man lias been wicked enough to devise . Dungeons hewn out of the rock , or constructed of impenetrable masonry , in remote places , far telow the level of the neighbouring sea or laiid , loathsome with filth and pestilent with humid exhalations , varying in depth , dreariness , and darkness , but uniform in the pitiless purpose to which they are devoted , —these arc the abodes of the most enlightened , brave , and virtuous subjects of the " paternal sovereign of tlie Two Sicilies . " Is the Queen of England about to send an ambassador to this man , authorised to greet him in her name with the courtly style of " brother , " and instructed to assure him of her renewed friendship , amity , and esteem ? Had we never undertaken to lecture him . the case would have been different . Had we
never pronounced his cruelty and oppression unendurable , we might be held to stand blameless of morally fomenting resistance among the victims of his sway . Had we never with solemn face told Europe that tlie state of things was a source of common danger , and must therefore be suppressed , we should not deserve to be laughed at . But as matters stand , to send an embassy to Naples would be an act as discreditable as detrimental to the best interests of the country , and if Lord Malmesbury commits the mistake , it will only remain for the people , through their press and Parliament / to correct it .
In Lonibardy , the younx Archduke Maximilian is trying all he can to conciliate the confidence of the community . lie has been vainly endeavouring to win the goodwill of the Milaiiese nobles by hospitality , bonhomie , and attention to science , art , and material improvement . He has sought from the Cabinet of Vienna important modifications of the direct taxes which have long pressed heavily upon them and upon the wealthier classes in the towns ' . To propitiate the intellectual classes , he has undertaken . to reform universities and schools ; and to benefit the masses , he has recommended some considerable mitigations of the rigour of the conscription . How many of his
suggestions will eventually be adopted ., time only can tell . But be they many or few , they will accomplish nothing of the political purpose to Avhicli they are currently attributed . The antagonism of race cannot be -extinguished , and tlie-love of liberty cannot be destroj'ed by any amount or multiplication of creature comforts in a people like the Lombarclo-Venctians . Were the recollections of the past and the dreams of tlie future equally shut out from the popular mint ] , the spectacle of Piedmont , proud , iree , prosperous , and happy , daily present and suggestive of intolerable comparisons , would of itself suffice to render abortive all the ameliorating projects of the vice-regal Government of Milan .
The Confessional. The Propriet Y Of The ...
THE CONFESSIONAL . The propriet y of the well-known college sobriquet of Samuel "Wilberforcc , Bishop of Oxford , has received another confirmation recently . Tins Right Reverend has been giving the folks at Windsor a taste of his peculiar episcopal qualities , of his special fitness for the post of spiritual " overseer , " and of his shifting ana dissolving views in relation to doctrines and practices the people of England have ever been taught to regard as forming the broad line of demarcation between Church of Huglandism and ltoinan Catholicism . A curate named
West , a neophyte of the Hcv . Mr . Grcslcy , doing spiritual duty near "Windsor , is reported to liavc indulged in obscene questionings of a poor woman on the eve of her confinement , and in the absence of her husband , justifying himself on the ground that by the rubric of the Church of England sue was commanded to make to a priest plenary confession of great and little peccadilloes . Now , in the case of Mr . Poole , charged witli the same kind of indecency in Bclgravia , we refused to side with those who appeared to be hounding on the unreflecting mob against , the alleged delinquent ,
because we had no sulhcicnfc prool that the practices in question had been committed , and because t he ex jwrte story looked very much ns if coloured imd intliicnccd by sectarian animosity . But on the question of the " confessional , " especially with regard to its influence and operation on the morals of women , we apprehend there is but one feeling in English society , and that is the feeling assertci by Bishop Wilbcrforco to reign in his episcopal bosom , a feeling of the " deepest horror . " Let us be clearl y understood in this matter . Tho " confessionn ) , as an established and integral portion of
a particular religion , may be justified on various grounds , no doubt , and in a country . professing an opposite religion ought to be tolerated . For instance , no one has a right to object to the Roman Catholic priesthood insisting on the practice of auricular confession being adopted by male and female Catholics . "What is it to the world—provided tlie husband consents , or considers it Ms duty , or his interest , not to object—that the Homan Catholic priest , in
tlie discharge ot the powers of his priestly office , chooses to question wives or maidens on matters respecting which no one else would dare to allude to , and to demand plain and ample answers on pain of refusing absolution ? Persons of a d iffercnt creed arc entitled to do no more than to hold an opinion on these practices . Certainly no one has a . right to dictate to the Roman Catholic layman , or to the Roman Catliolic priest , what acts or savings shall or shall not constitute the Roman Catholic creed .
We know that confession , and its complement absolution , are the right hand of the Roman Catholic system . Strip it of those irresistible agents , . and the whole structure crumbles away . But the question assumes a widely different aspect when viewed in connexion , with tlie Church of England . As far as the personal ministration of that Church is concerned , whatever may be its pretensions , we know practically that the English clergyman plays a very subdued part in domestic life . His visits are few and far between . The
direct intercourse between the clergyman and the families of his flock is mostly Confined to the walls of the parish church on the seventh davi and to those periods when death or sudden calamity visits a household . The Englishman , determines to consider his housei as his castle—lie ' will tolerate no master there . In the-case . of tlie Roman Catholic , the master of the . house and family , especially of the female portion of it , is there when the priest walks in . The depository of family secrets , even of the most intimate relations between husband and wife , carries the real sway ; this is notorious , and needs no confirmation . The secret of this
power is the confessional . It is true that the Roman Catholic priest , in defence of the confessional , asserts that the Roman Catholic woman has a safeguard in the Roman Catholic religion able to shield her mind from contamiuatioii . when , questioned on matters which would call a blush to the check of the veriest liarlot even to name . This may be so ; but this we also know , that the English woinan , matron , or maid , has no such safeguard in
the Protestant religion , and it would be idle to deny that mental and physical pollution must follow that course of teaching-in which are involved the revolting inquiries of Uie confessional , even in the mild form presented to us by recent revelations in . Belgravia , by previous revelations a . t Exeter , and by the last exposure at "Windsor . The question to decide first is this , Is " confession , " such as unveiled to us in the practice of Mr . Poolc and Mr . West , whom we regard merely as tools in the hands of those wlio have ulterior
designs to accomplish ^ part and parcel of the doctriucs of the Church of England ? If decided in the affirmative , and we may be sure how " S . Oxoiv " would decide it , then -we have no manner of doubt that the < loom of the Church , of England is scaled for ever . The people at large would proclaim their immediate emancipation , and the Protestant pricstlood , bishops and all , must cither find other flocks , or , yielding to the cry of public indignation , give place to those whose teachings arc more in harmony with what has hitherto been , held to be the true
office and proper duties of the Reformed religion . We do not attempt to deal with the sophistry of the Bisliop of Oxford in this matter . The people of England will not be deluded by doublemeaning words , and by seeming condemnation , yet secret approval , of the doings of Mr . West . A broad and deiincd issue has bee a raised , and that issue must be determined one way or the other for ever . That issue is—Are the women of Ungland to be subjected , like tlie women of ' Homan Catholic countries , to the questionings and consequences of the " confessional ? " We believe the Archbishop
Canterbury hns power to interfere ; but it is not interference in the petty form of suspending a delinquent that will satisfy the country . Tho p-luin question to determine is this , "Is tho confessional to be considered ns part and parcel of tlie ritual of the Established Church , or is it to be east out as n \ i unclean tiling , insidiously devised by priests for the spread and enlargement of their temporal power ?"
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 21, 1858, page 837, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_21081858/page/13/
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