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Leader (1850-1860), 20th November 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 1113, Untitled Article

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      nqueror 3 of Algiers many of them hare to the English eye something of the squat appearance , and to this day the Ligurians , those sturdy sub-* ects of the Koman Republic , are , to speak in Tjlain terms , a race of little nlfen , and we have seen their cavalry mounted on ponies . But , however we may account for the low standard of the militia-men , here and there , one fact is unquestionably certain—that these short ntlemen , ^ ^ he number of some sixty or seventy thousand hitherto enrolled , are not exactly idenof lish

      tical with the flower Eng young manhood . There are very spirited fellows we have , no doubt ; we have as little doubt that they will do their duty as occasion may arise ; but you ask for the flower of English young manhood , we are convinced you might call forth somewhat larger numbers with somewhat larger proportions . When all parties are recognizing the expediency of placing the English nation in a prepared state for her own defence , it is most desirable that the flower of English young manhood should have the opportunity of showing itself , of drilling it-— 4 « ^ t M — k ¦ KM «^ ^ J ^ V ^ V ^ ft / «« . ~* m li ~ . —« . K — I - * I ^ ¦ _ - J . _ . ¦ - ^ _ maKi mm buuuiu ant ) 10

      ^^ self and ug reau ^ . v see that flower . It would be a beautiful sight . The mere sight of it would be a political event , and might even go to supersede the necessity of callins the right hands of the people into action . For national defence there is nothing like arming the people . No class fights so well in defence of its own country as the people itself . General Sir Charles Napier has nobly testified to the advantage which a commander of regular forces would derive from the support of an irregul ar force , impelled by national motives . Lord Hardinge has oorne excellent testimony to the conduct of the short young gentlemen , who have been foremost at the call of honour : and

      he , aided by the great Indian commander whom Wellington nominated as his best substitute in the last Indian war , would well know how to use the national force . As opinion on this subject becomes more distinct , anda more liberal view is taken , both the necessity and the safety of making the wider appeal will become apparent . Our army approaches to 150 , 000 men in number , while we have only Parliamentary licence to enrol 80 , 000 militia out of the twenty-seven millions .

      This is more thaninverting the rule of that cognate nation which furnishes our best practical model at the present day . The army of the United States for the current year is set down at 10 , 129 , " all told ; " the commissioned officers being in number 896 ; non-commissioned officers and men , 9 , 233 . We are quoting the official reports for the current year . The militia and volunteer force amount to the total number of 2 , 180 , 486 . Thus , in a population of many millions less than ours , the national force exceeds two millions . Of

      course it would be a joke to talk of conquering the United States . It is true that tho volunteer force of the United States is , in great part , self-supporting , as all really v olunteer forces will be ; especially where , as in the United States , permission is given for tho spontaneous enrolment , as an alternative to an enlistment in tho militia . It is true Ihat this species of army is neither so costly nor so available for aggressive purposes , as a regular armjft ; that it is , therefore , much more harmonious with peacefu l intentions . At the same time , the politician will perceive , at a glance , that tho two or tlireo million soldiers , which the allied despots of ¦ a -y — ¦ « - - * - uvivtl \> iLij IT J 11 V 11 UJIAV ^ «« J » » j . vyv * \» vw i / w « w ¦• - *¦¦ .

      • Europe might possibly bring to boar , can nover , Ousted , as those citizen-soldiers can bo , for l "o faithful defence of their own soil Tho Jugular soldier is a bettor tool for tho despot , hough it may break in tho hands of that despot ; V ! ^ m not for tho true defence of nations . ° w the success of tho experiment which has j . ' : 11 1 T } ado in tho English militia , appears to us 0 Justif y tho extension of that experiment ; and ™ doBiro to hc « tho review of <> 0 , or 70 , 000 yo uiifr Tnen > folIowtKl up by a rovicw of tho ovvoi ^ of England ' s young manhood : that would 0 J m i mposing spectacle for England , and her ""¦« niu « n ought not to delay it too long .

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      ( , ''HE CIlintCH'S PARLIAMENT . . ''| ' " » rnnfe , among tho symptoms of a rising iu > H i ., "A liening tendency towards a moro oarroviv |' t l ' ' of national life , wo placo tho iiid " . l ° (' ollvoo » tion . That is tho great moral I ho i | * ur"inhed by this momentous fact . In arliv ' ' ° iilUi > Convocation revivified , and llu >] V ' ^ 1 ll ° ' "" iix ofu n <; wlife , will outweigh - l > uiml of u , Wellington , or tho ratiiicution o

      Free-trade . And it is a momentous fact , and it will outweigh those great events , because it contains vaster consequences than either , and because it marks a rise in the barometer of public morality . For were not the age seriously betaking itself to make theory and practice less lamentably discordant , were not the age disposed to put an end to shams , the honest and earnest

      party m the Church could not have insisted upon the exercise of her deliberative functions , since the powers of expediency would have been too strong for them . So far as it goes , and it is a vital advance , the sitting of Convocation indicates that public opinion has at length agreed that earnestness of purpose , with open-minded honesty of belief , let it lead whithersoever it may , is preferred to the divorce of conviction from conduct .

      The Church of England has certain principles which involve certain consequences ; and it remains to be seen whether her members will follow where those principles lead , or continue that " repose" which has brought upon them the stigmas of corruption , worldliness , and an evasion of the conditions of their existence as spiritual pastors . What we applaud and assist is the movement which accepts the consequences ; what we condemn is the disastrous temporalmindedness which prompts obstruction to that movement ; what we specially rejoice in is the success of that movement .

      How it has been brought about , whether by the connivance of Lord Derby , as a quid pro quo for his Oxford election ; or by the want of steadfastness and the over - abundance of timidity betrayed by , the Primate , or by the force of events which controls Premier and Primate , it is not necessary to determine . There it is ; waking the echoes of old Westminster ; silent for nearly a century and a half . There it is ; and we wish all men to watch it , as well the foes as the friends

      of the Church , calmly but steadily pursuing its work . The Bishops and the clergy have openly consulted and acted ; the Church is organizing herself ; fair warning is given to all opponents ; and perhaps , among the best results of a revived Convocation will be the concurrent appearance of a revived people , earnest to act out whatever faith they may profess , and to fight once for all the last great conflict for pure religious freedom in thought , in speech , in writing , and in act .

      Considered in its characteristics , Convocation is very remarkable . Not one of the predictions —and they were many—has been fulfilled . It was taunted as being an effete assembly : it has proved a vivacious one . It was said that matters of doctrine would be fought about and that acrimonious disputes would convulse both Houses . Publicity has been given to their proceedings ; yet doctrinal subjects have not been discussed , neither have we heard that the clergy have torn each other in pieces . But the laity were absent ; the Church was not fully represented : these facts

      are deplored on all sides . There has been a general admission that objections lie not so much against Convocation acting at all , as against action under the imperfect conditions of its present constitution . We observe also that fears exist , as potent as ever , lest the groat sores and scandalous dtsscntions of the Church should bo made public ; as if they were not public already . Tho Bishop of Winchester and Archdeacon Garbett , tho ablest members of their party , — nay , even the Bishop of Salisbury , and possibly Samuel Oxon himself , — look with fear and

      trembling into the dim future , threatening inevitable exposures of what all seem to think is now hidden . There seems a desire to give the facts tho slip , to appease dissontions by refusing to recognise thorn , and to remedy by ignoring the ovil , which will have most disastrous results . Tho oxeosses of the French Revolution might have boon averted , if theCourt had manfully and honestly mot tho crying evils of tho time , instead of hiding them up until too late ; and tho English ecclesiastical revolution will have iHHUOH more

      beneficial to tho Church and tho nation , it grievances bo acknowledged , disMontiontt fought out , and corruption cauterized . Tho opponents of Convocation , whether in . Laiuhctlior I ' rintinghouso-Hquaro , aro like the Court of Versailles . Are they prepared for a similar fate P There lion tho whole of tho question of Synods and Convocations : gradual and matured change , whatever it may bo , arrived at by that oxorciso of th « highost wisdom , " doing right in scorn of consequence , " or *— " tho Gonorai Overturn . "

      But , in fact , though inhibited by the address to the Crown , Convocation is so placed that it must , sooner or later , enter upon the forbidden ground of doctrinal discussion . It cannot recede with dignity or consistency , it cannot stand still by the law of things ; it must advance , therefore , under the pressure of the same law . The very fact that the address so solemnly disclaims all intention of entering upon that inconvenient discussion , forms a curious complement to the fears loudly expressed by the Winchester spokesmen , and shows that the leading minds of both houses tend strongly to one point , full discussion of the grievances of the Church .

      . Looked at by this light it is impossible to read the speech of the Bishop of Exeter and not be struck by the fact , that he alone was logical ; that he alone had no fear of consequences ; that he alone was prepared with strong faith to put the doctrines of the Church and her members to the test of , the fullest discussion . " I should deplore , " said he , " as the greatest calamity that could befall the country , and certainly not the least that could befall the Church , if ever the time should come that the Church should declare itself incompetent for the discharge of its essential duties and vital actions . I , for one , will leave that Church if ever that time should come . But

      I would not go to Rome—nothing would induce me to go to that corrupt Church , —but never , never , never , will I act as a bishop of the Church , of England , if the Church of England be placed in hopeless impotence under the feet of the temporal power of the state . " It is impossible to overlook the force of those sentences . And it is equally impossible to forget that Lord Shaftesbury has inaugurated an agitation , to which the Archbishop of Canterbury has supplied the watchword—let public opinion settle Church differences—avowedly for the purpose of abolishing the Tractarians . The reply to the Evangelical nobleman is the Session of Convocation in November , 1852 .

      Matters have arrived at a very fine point . Ministers clearly have connived at the sittings in " Westminster Abbey ; or they have encouraged them , hoping probably to make political capital thereby , and to cement the Oxford Compact , by providing a retreat among ecclesiastical fastnesses . The Archbishop of Canterbury , unsupported by Ministers , and awed by the great energy and overwhelming ability of his leading suffragans , finds that he cannot control , and only under strong protest prorogue Convocation without the consent of his brethren . And those

      brethren , acting upon the favourable opportunity afforded by the address , not unmindful of the fact that lawyers say they may transact almost any business short of making canons , and adopting the most judicious tactics , have actually carried their own address , and appointed committees , in the one house to consider a clergy discipline bill , and in the other to consider grievances .

      Therefore , though unreformed , inadequate , neither full , free , nor fair , as a representative assembly , tho Church , at last , has her Parliament .

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      THE CAPE COLONY AGAIN MUTINIES . Onck moro tho popular party in the Cape of Good Hope has placed itself in a position of direct antagonism to the Government of the mother country . " Wo do not say that it is tho popular party which him taken the initiative or upontaneonnly assumes nri aggro . snive attitude ; tho provocation exercised by tho . I Lome Government towards the colonists lias boon tho gravest and tho most exasperating . After a very long controversy—after many times discussing tho question of representative rights a Government on tho English model was spontaneously offered to tho Cape of Good Hope by Lord John IIuhhoH ' h Government , apparently as a reproof to the A . ustraliaH , who had been demanding a similar institution . Lord Grey seemed to say to tho AiwtnilianH , " You shall have what you Jbrra imi to give you ; but the £ <> od C ; ij > o settlors , who huvo made no noise , shall bo bettor nerved . " After that spontaneous offer , after tho constitution was actually granted , the local ollioors did their best to defeat its hoing carried out , practically caused its suspension , and throw tho whole colony into hot water b y raising n party to frustrate tho practical application of tho Ministerial boon . A sort of constituent assembly , summoned to discuss tho subject , was disturbed in its deliberations by tho Government and a Government

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      November 20 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 1113

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 20, 1852, page 1113, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1961/page/13/