Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 11th October 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 967, Untitled Article

Page 967
Page 11
11 of 24

On this page

  • Text (6)
  • Transcript

    • 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.

      Untitled Article

      THE GOSPEL OF TEMPERANCE . ACCORDING TO CRTTIKSHANK . At the late Temperance Festival , a gentleman in the body of the hall shot a " poser" at Mr . George Cruikshank , in the midst of a speech , in which that estimable gentleman had proved , to the satisfaction of all persons present ( or , more strictly speaking , to his own ) , the divine duty of Teetotalism . The interruption of this impertinent questioner , was in the shape of a request to Mr . Cruikshank to explain away the recorded fact of the Miracle at Cana , in Galilee , where Jesus not

      only did not order the wine to be removed , but when the supply was running short , went out of his way to turn ( by a miracle ) the water into wine . We have often heard this intemperate objection raised , and , we are bound to add , never satisfactorily disposed of . But Mr . George Cruikshank is too old and experienced a proficient in the logic of Total Abstinence , to be so easily discomfited . His reply was instant and exhaustive . " Was there any proof , " he is reported to have said , " that our Saviour ever partook of wine ? ( No , no . ) The question is answered . " Mark well the

      process of Temperance logic : it proceeds Irom the negative to the positive . Jesus Christ is not recorded to have partaken of wine ; therefore we ought not to drink wine . Not only all that He did on earth is to be our rule of guidance , but all that he is not reported to have done is to be avoided as a sin . Our catalogue of sins , large enough already , will be positively devouring . Four hundred Gospels would not contain a rule of life in which all that we may partake of , and all that we must abstain from , is set down . It would be equally

      cogent and , some will say , equally absurd , to argue , that because we have no proof that Julius Cesar ever washed his face—ergo , no person who emulates that " noble Roman " will be guilty of facial ablution . But has Mr . G . Cruikshank forgotten that one of the accusations most commonly brought against the great Teacher of Humanity , by the Pharisees of that day , was that He lived with winebibbers . Is it wicked or presumptuous to suppose that He may h ; ive practically taught the use , as distinct from the abuse , of his Father ' s gifts ?

      But did He never partake of the juice of the vine ? How do we find Him at the last and most solemn festival partaking of the bread , and of the wine , with all his disciples ; and in a sacrament of perpetual remembrance making wine itself one element of grace . But we beg to remind Mr . George Cruikshank that the Gospels are not edited by Dr . Culvcrwell : they do not profess to teach us " What to eat , drink , and avoid . " Nor

      was Jesus the founder of a sect , but the Prophet of Humanity . The whole tenor of His life and doctrine was instinct with the largest human . sympathies . To enjoy thankfully , wisely , modestly , the bountiful gifts of the Creator . The man who knows no mean between total abstinence and abuse is to be pitied , but surely not to be accepted as si lawgiver . We honour his conscientious heroism , and we drink the fruit of the vine to his better health . But Mr . Cruikshahk ' a

      new Gospel test of things lawful , reminds us of the old lady who refused to believe in the sailor's at < yy of a flying fish ; but when he ( old her that in weighing anchor in the Red Sea , they had fished up one of Pharaoh's chariot wheels , she exclaimed joyfully , " Ah ! well , that I can believe ; that ' s hi Scriptur " /

      Untitled Article

      VOX HKOK AND DKitllA . Mr . Bkntlky bus publinhed a pamphlet containing a narrative of the life of the " Baroness von Beck" at Birmingham , her arrest , and death ; and a number of letters addrcBHed to her by vurioufl persona . As we know none of them , nor the circumstances under which they were written , we cannot dceitle upon their value an

      evidence . That this lady wan known indifferently as Bin-ones * von Beck , and ltucidulii by the ofHcers of the Hungarian army , is clear ; but it in not clear that the B ;« ronenn von Beck was more than a » py , nor that « he w ik not a spy in Kngland . Her career , and habitu , and busini'HH in Knglnnd , are an myHterioiiH as ever . Lord 1 ' iilmeinton could uupply , perhaps , a few documents to Kettle the question .

      11 the object of the pamphlet published by Mr . Bcntley be the exculpation of M . Uerra , ithab certainly nucceedcd ni clearing him from the charge of conspiring with Von Beck ; the only charge that we kn 6 w , which han been publicly made against him .

      Untitled Article

      SOCIAL REFORM . ] " notes of a social ceconomist . " the cooperative associations of england . IV . " Can the ( Irish ) landlords use their lands so as to drive the natives from them ?"— Cobbett ' s Legacy . " If any would not work neither should he eat . "— St . Paul . More , the Utopian and idealist , died with a jest upon his lips and the philosophy of a Stoic . He was beheaded on the 6 th of July , 1535 ; but " Utopia * ' was beyond the reach of any crowned Jack Ketch , for the marvellous tales of Raphael Hythloday had been immortalized by the press : the eirea * T € pocvr * of modern literary heroes . Before resuming the thread of my narrative I must endeavour briefly to recapitulate the history of land inclosure in England , as it may serve to explain the origin of John Bellers " proposals " for raising a College of Industry , which were published in 1696 , in a quaint little pamphlet , and reprinted by Mr . Robert Owen .

      Inclosures , says Lord Bacon , in his history of the reign of Henry VII ., began , in 1489 , to be more frequent , whereby arable land was turned into pasture which was easily managed by a few herdsmen . This bred a decay of the people , and in remedying this inconvenience the King ' s wisdom and the Parliament ' s was admirable ! Inclosures they would not forbid , and tillage they would not compel ; but they ordained thatall houses of industry ,

      with twenty acres attached , should be kept up for ever , with a competent proportion of land in no wise to be severed from them . By these means the houses and the proportion of land being kept up did of necessity enforce a dweller , and that dweller not to be a beggar . This statute was renewed by Henry VIII . ; and every person who converted tillage into pasture was subjected to a forfeiture of half the land till the offence were

      removed . In a law of the 25 th of the same reign , it is set forth that many farms , and great plenty of cattle , particularly sheep , had been gathered into few hands , whereby the rents of land had been increased , and tillage very much decayed ; churches * and towns pulled down ; the price of provisions greatly enhanced ; and a marvellous number of people rendered incapable of maintaining themselves and families . Therefore it was enacted , that no person should keep above twothousandsheep , nor hold more than two farms . In the third of Edward

      VI ., a bill was brought in for the benefit of the poor , for rebuilding decayed farmhouses , and maintaining tillage against too much inclosing , and in 1 ( 538 there was a special commission from Charles I ., for enforcing the statute of the 30 th of Elizabeth , by which no cottage was allowed in any country place , without at least lour acres of land to it , to prevent the increase of the poor , by securing their maintenance ; nor were inmates ( lodgers ) allowed in any cottage , in order to secure the full cultivation of the land , by diffusing the people more over it . By an act in Cromwell ' s time , no new house was to be

      built within ten miles of London , unless there were four acres oceupied by the tenant . This policy , which was intended to discourage inclosing and engrossing , upon the same general view of their depopulating tendency , madu it , prirnd facie the interest of the landlords , to have as few of such establishments to keep up as possible ; and though the increase of trade and manufactures , and the rapid accumulation of personal property , have to a certain extent diminished the evils arising from the

      engrossing Hystein , yet no country can be considered in a safe or healthy condition where the population—especially the agricultural—is divided into two distinct classes with such conflicting interests ; the proprietors and the paupers ; the grandees and the serfs— " adscript ! glebaj . " The monopoly of the land , which was engrossed by the privileged orders , made it prim A facie , the interest of the landlords to raise prices at any cost , even at the rink of ntarvation to the conmiinerfl—for low n ; nts and high taxes must ruin the landowners . f

      " Kent facias ; rent llecte si pmsis ; si non , quocunque modo rent . " Hut the rate of agricultural wages , from the year 1514 to the commencement of the present century , had not advanced in anything like a fair proportion to the increased expenses of living ; and it is of greut importance to show that the * By a statute of Henry VIII . it waa enacted that no ;>«»•*«» «> r Hjuritual person Hhall Uke farina or leaned on pam of forfeiting £ 10 & month . t Graham'a Com ana Currency . ]

      engrossing and depopulating system adopted by the feudal lords of the soil in the time of our forefathers was checked , however inadequately , by the active interposition , both by statute and by ordinance , of the Legislature ; the Crown thus proving itself more solicitous for the safety and welfare of the People than the ruling high caste Whigs of the present day , who , while advancing three millions of public money to the landowners , at hree per cent , interest , to be retailed to their enants at f ive , have tacitly allowed a social War of extermination * to be carried on in

      Queen Victoria ' s dominions against her defenceless Irish subjects . But such crimes as these can never be perpetrated with impunity , and fearful retribution awaits every nation that systematically violates the laws of the moral , which are as stable as those of the physical , world . State interference , however , produced little improvement in the social condition of the English People ; and the Lord Chief Justice Hale , " that great composition of learning and virtue , " in his Discourse for Employing the Poor ,

      saith" The want of a due provision for education and relief of the poor in a way of industry is that which fills the gaols with malefactors , and the kingdom with idle persons , that consume the stock of the kingdom without improving it ; and that will daily increase , even to a Desolation in time . And this error in the first concoction is never remediable but by gibbets and whipping ; but a sound , prudent method for an industrious education of the poor will give a better remedy against these corruptions than all the gibbets and whipping posts in this kingdom ; but as necessitous and . uneducated persons increase the multitude of malefactors will increase , notwithstanding the examples of severity , j

      The year 1696 was a memorable one in English history ; and according to Mr . Hallam , " the vessel of our commonwealth has never been so close shipwreck as in this period . " It claims our particular attention on account of the sudden expansion and rapid development of the dominant principles which , ever since that " period , " have governed the state policy of England ; Continental war and standing armies ; taxation eked out by

      loans ; public measures carried by the most shameless parliamentary corruption ; and the whole system bolstered up and secretly nourished by means of a gigantic trading monopoly ( the Bank of England )—a million money-power engine imported from Venice—which was indispensable to the success of the ambitious schemes of William of Orange and his successors—schemes in which the blood and treasure of the English People counted for nouuhfc .

      Dr . Hugh Chamberlayne ' s rival project of a Jjand-bank , supported by the Tory parly , completely failed , leaving a deficit of £ 800 , 000 . lint never were more vigorous measures taken to maintain the credit of a . Government , never was a Government served by more enterprising and unscrupulous agents ( Messrs . Montague and Co . ) , than in this memorable year of \( Vdi \ and history

      as well as experience will inform John Hull " what are the inevitable consequences of being too fond of (/ lory—Taxes . " First , War , then taxation , and finally , pauperism , ignorance , and crime , in regular succession of cause and effect : social evils which the workhouse , the ffuol , and the huntjman failed even to palliate . It was to remedy this frightful ' -state of the nation , " that benevolent John Bellers issued his modest

      " Proposals for raising a Colledge of Industry , of all useful trades and husbandry , with profit for the rich , a plentiful living for the poor , and a good education for youth , which will b » : advantage to the Government , by the increase of the people and their riches . "

      Untitled Article

      Oct . , 1851 . 1 BUe ILtaittt . ^ 967

      Untitled Article

      * The nbiiHi'M of lii . ili luntllordiam cannot Mtuud tho <> xpoauro of lh « C ">> nsu : flee uIho tho Nation nowHuaper , t } t >\> tembvr 27 , I * ' - In f < mr yeuri 1 288 , 000 houHcs have been Intellect to the ground . .

      Untitled Article

      Hy John 15 km , i : kk . MOTTO . " Iii'lustry brings plenty . The HhiKxard shall ho olouilud with nifj ^ . s . He that will not Work , aliull not Eat . " " London , printed and . sold by T . So » v / f , in White-hart-eourl , in GracioiiK-sfrrrf , 'HUM . " " Such « f the Thinking ainl Publick Spirited as are willing to forward Lh . is ninJ < Tfnking , may enter their Hul ) scriplioii 8 with Etlwnrd Skeaf , at William Reynolds * * , Goldsmith , " < ll'e Cup and Star , near Fleet-bridge , in Vlct-t-Htn-et ; or Herbert Springe ! , Attorney , in Gi .-orge-yanl , in Lumbanl-streel , r . oiidoii . "

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 11, 1851, page 967, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1904/page/11/