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Some of the American papers speak of " a panic" in the New Xork market , and put forth the most gloomy prophecies as to an universal crash . It is evident that these reports are imaginary ; instigated in part , by the love of a sensation , and in par , t , by something like personal hostility to the present Government . One fact alone will make the English reader understand how absurd is the very theory of this fiction . American houses are represented as fearing the
consequences of the demand for bread-stuffs in England . Now , it is quite possible that in the sharp trade which goes on across the Atlantic , individual houses may be more or Ies 3 hurt ; and occasionally it has happened so . But that danger to America should arise from a trade so substantial as that in bread-stuffs ; that the extension of the trade should occasion fears amongst the bold merchants across the Atlantic , are preposterous notions . Even the chance of hostilities would have one advantage , in tending to increase our trade with America rather than
"Russia ; 1 ' < "We may compare these prophecies with others , that Governor Pierce was losing ground , and that the opposite party was gaining ground . Three of the most important States , however , have returned their State officers with democratic majorities—Pennsylvania , Ohio , and Georgia . Ohio has been most frequently Whig ; Pennsylvania , sometimes one and sometimes the other ; and Georgia gives the tone very much of the South . Thsee elections , therefore , are of the first importance as indications of feeling .
The most painful event at home is the continuance and development of the great Lancashire strike centering in Preston . The men still hold out to their ten per cent ., but at the instance of a Mr . Braliam , of Manchester , they have adopted a resolution inviting a public meeting , to be called hy the Mayor , for the purpose of considering a general accommodation of the dispute . It is not likely that the dispute can be settled at public meetings ; but the men at all events show more disposition towards an arrangement than the masters , who remain obstinate in their " strike-. "
Tens of thousands—perhaps more than a hundred thousand persons—are out of work ; thousands of retail dealers are of course also out of work ; trade , manufacturing and retail , is at a stand throughout a wide district ; nothing is produced wherewith to buy food , to pay for lodging , or to replace clothing , and both parties are incurring a swingeing debt . Before this great fact many other facts of the week seem small . Mr . Cobden ' s speech at Barnsley , on the occasion of the re-opening of the Lecture hall of the Mechanics' Institution of that town ; the festival at Tarn worth , apparently
to ' celebrate the non-success of the Midland Union of Mechanics' Institutes ; Mr . liecordcr Hill ' s strictures on the Birmingham gaol disclosures ; the publication of a circular describing an instrument of torture in Winchester gaol ; Mr . Bouverie ' s rendering an account to his constituents at Kilmarnock ; and the further narrative of the deplorable loss of the Dalhousic , drowning sixtyfour persons ; with the drowning of thirty-hoven p ersons inveigled to attempt the passage of a rotten bridge over the Medway—are traits of daily life in England , ao little varying from incidents often recorded in the papers , that they invite enumeration rather than remark .
By far the most startling and important fact at home , however , is tlmt letter by Lord Palmeratoii , which lias fallen like a bombshell among the Presbytery of Edinburgh . The Presbytery Jjatl addressed to the Government a , letter re-< nueHting that a day for prayer and humiliation might be' set apart as a national fiist , on account of the Cholera . It was the Presbytery of the ^ Es tablished Church that made the request ; the request in one according to the sectarian routine , and it might have been oxpocted to extort , if not n compliance , at fill events an excusatory letter
from- the Government ; . Instcnd of that , Lord Pal morn ton sends one of his brief and pithy expositions of n plain truth , wliich is not olton plainly ¦ rocognisod . Ho does not think thai , a national fust would be suitable f ; o the present moment . The Maker of tho univorHO , he says , has entablirthed certain lawn of nature for the planet in ¦ which we live . Tho weal or woo of mrfn < lepcmd . H upon the observance or neglect of tlioflo laws . One of tboHo Ihwh conutxtn health with the diflpoiHion of guHoouH oxlmlalioiiH . And Providonoo htiH placed iUTangomonto within tho power of muu
to prevent or disperse these exhalations . It does not appear to lord Falmerston , therefore , that we having neglected these laws , and being afflicted with Cholera , it is a becoming mode of signifying our humble resignation to the Divine will , to indulge in prayerrol importunities and leave off eating food . Comte himself could not have put the truth of the matter in a more distinct fight—he could not have clothed it in
language more excellently plain and pointed . But think of answering a Presbytery with truth—with religion non-sectarian—with a more intelligent reference to the will of God , instead of the old begging expectation of a miracle , which seems to have been copied by anticipation from the expiring race of Irish cottiers . Lord Palmerston prefers other precepts and practices , higher religion , than that of the Presbytery of Scotland ; and on that score at least he is fit to be the Minister of
this country at this day . The principles which the Leader stood always alone in advocating three years ago have found their way to the Home Office . Lord Palmerston is at least a mitigated disciple of the Positive Philosophy .
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LORD PALMERSTON ON PRAYER AND FASTING . The Moderator of the Edinburgh Presbytery of the Church of Scotland addressed Lord Palmerston a few days ago , stating that the Presbytery had in view the propriety of appointing , on ecclesiastical authority , a day for prayer and humiliation , within its bounds , on account of the re-appearance of Asiatic cholera in this country . Considering , however , that it was likely that a national fast would be appointed on Royal authority , they begged respectfully to ask whether such an appointment was in contemplation . The following letter from the Home Office , in reply , was read at the monthly meeting of the Presbytery on Wednesday :- — " Whitehall , Oct . 19 . " Sik , —I am directed by Viscount Palmerston to acknoledgfi the receipt of your letter of the 15 th . instant , requesting , on the behalf of the Presbytery of Edinburgh , to be informed whether it is proposed to appoint a day of national fasting on account of the visitation of the cholera , and to state that there can be no doubt that manifestations of humble resignation to the Divine Will and sincere acknowledgments of human unworthiness are never more appropriate than when it Las pleaded Providence to afflict mankind "with some severe visitation ; but it does not appear to Lord Palmerston that a national fast would be suitable to the circumstances of the present moment .
" The Maker of the Universe has established certain laws of nature for the planet in which we live , and the weal or woe of mankind depends upon the observance or the neglect of those laws . One of those laws connects health with the absence of those gaseous exhalations wliich proceed from overcrowded human beings , or from decomposed substances , whether animal or vegetable ; and these same laws render sickness the almost inevitable consequence of exposure to thoso noxious influences . But it has , at the same time , pleased Providence to put it within the power of man to make such arrangements an will prevent or disperse such exhalations so as to render them harmless , and it is the duty of man to attend to those laws of nature , and to exert the faculties which Providence has thus given to man for his own welfare .
" The recent visitation , of cholera , wliich has for the moment been mercifully cheeked , is an awful warning 1 given to the people of thin realm that they have too much neglected their duty in this respect , mid that thoso persons with whom , it rested to purify towns and cities and to prevent or to remove the causes of disease , have not boon sufficiently active in regard to such matters . Lord Palmerston would therefore suggest that tho best courao which the people of this country can pursue to deserve that the further progress of the cholera ahould be stayed , will be to employ the interval that will elapse between tho present
tune and tho beginning of next spring in planning and executing measures by which those- portions of their townn and citira which arc inhabited by tho poorest cIuhhoh , and which , from the nature of things , muwt moot need purification and improvement , may bo freed from those cauHCH mid sources of contagion which , if allowed to remain , will infallibly hvoiiil penfilonee , arid be fruitful in death , in spite of all the prayers and fuHtingn of an united but inactive nation . Vv lien man linn done his utmost for bis own wafety , then ih the time to invoko tho blessing of Heaven to give effect to bin exertions .
"I am , Sir , your obedient servant , " llKNKY FlTZROY "To the Jtov . W . II . Gray , Moderator of tho Trcttbytwy of Edinburgh . " On tho muling of tho letter , Tho . Kovorcnd Dr * Clark expressed bin total diHBonl ; from tho Hoiitimente oxproHHed in the letter , and Haid ho would not wiwh to be a sharer in tho rcHpoiiHibilit y of those who rofiiHod or declined to give her M ' ajonty ' H HiibjoctH an opportunit y of mooting for prayer in regard to ho fearful u visitation . Tho K , ovoiond Dr . Muir mud , ho thought there could bo but ono uiimingled feeling of pity entertained by them thai ; hik : 1 i -a document nhould omanato from a profeHHedly Uhrifdian Government .
bovural inoinborH oxproHHod concurrence in thono HontiuiontH . It WUH agreed to ruler the appointmen t of n < lay of humiliation mid prayer to the apnioacliing
meeting of the provincial Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale , thatthe same day " might be fixed for the whole Synod . iThe question was put whether the answer of Mr . JFitisroy shouia be engrossed in the minutes and it was unanimously carried in the negative . '
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RELIGIOUS ASPECTS . Two religious phenomena come before us : the British and Foreign Bible Society in its year of Jubilee , and Methodism in its decline . Xord Mayor Challis presided over a meeting of the society in the Egyptian HalTof the Mansion House on Tuesday , and measures were adopted for making the year of Jubilee specially memorable . Mr . Challis declared that the society had been eminently successful : — " First established in 1804 , the society now numbered in connexion with it not less than 8332 branches . When the society was first established , the translations of the Bible were not more than fifty ; there were now one hundred and fifty languages in which the society bad promoted the
distribution , printing , and translation of the Scriptures . B y the means of the society also an immense increase had taken place in the circulation of the Bible , not less than 45 , 000 , 000 copies having been , distributed by means of the combined action of the branch and parent societies , a number equal to eleven times the whole quantity which were supposed to be in existence at the time of the formation of the society . After alluding to the vast opening which the present revolution in China promised to afford for the spread of the Holy Scriptures , his lordship called upon the meeting zealously and liberally to co-bperate with the Bible Society in its magnificent design , of a free distribution of a million of ] N ew Testaments in the native language of China . " The Reverend Mr . Frost read a statement showing the " progress" of the society : —
" From this it appeared that the total sum expended by the society since its formation had been 3 , 950 , 9532 ., and that nearly 45 , 000 , 000 copies of the Scriptures had been circulated , of which number 18 , 000 , 000 had been distributed in Great Britain , and Ireland , 17 , 000 , 000 in Europe , ' 8 , 000 , 000 in America , and 2 , 000 , 000 among Jews , Mahometans , and heathens in other parts of the world . The society proposed to establish a * Jubilee Fund' for special objects , towards wMch an aggregatesum of 32 , 000 £ . hadbeen already subscribed . The objects contemplated by this fund were , the adoption , as far as practicable , of an extensive and efficient system of colportage throughout Great Britain , in the year of jubilee ; the supply of emigrants ,
together with special grants of Bibles and Testaments to prisons , schools 7 missions , and other charitable and benevolent institutions in this country ; and special grants to Ireland , in such ways as might hereafter be determined upon . They also proposed to moke special efforts in India , Australia , and other British colonies , by agencies , grants , or otherwise ; and special grants to China , and such other parts of the world as might appear open to special operations . Lastly , they proposed the establishment of a special and separate iund , from the annual produce of which pecuniary aid maybe granted , at the discretion of tho committee , to persons in the employ of the society , including * the colporteurs abroad , and to their widows and children when in circumstances to require such aids .
The Earl of Shaftesbury said that it was a great thing to have invented the electric telegraph , but tho circulation of the Bible was a grander conception ; and it might also be said that tho Biblo is " the cheap defence of nations . " Mr . Samuel Gurney , Mr . Alderman Wire , and other gentlemen spoke , and resolutions were adopted declaring the right of every man to poBBesa and read the Bible , and the especial duty of Great Britain to circulate it . We borrow from tho Morning Post a statement of the present condition and prospects of tho followers ot John Wesley . " The minutes of the laat Wcsloyan Conference have just fallen into our hands , and wo learn from them that Methodism is now a failing cause . Year by yoar there scorns to havo been a gradual decrease in the- number o its ' joined' members , and this year it is more marked tton ever . It in erroneously supposed by many that the Met jodistf ) two a large body , but it appears from tho statioucs before uh that they aro much smaller in number than i commonly imagmod . Tho total number in Great J-Jri ; is two hundred and seventy thousand nine hundreU Hixty-five . Last yo * ir it was two hundred and eighty <> thousand two . hundred and sixty-three , showing 'V , j an ( l upon the present year of ton thousand two hundred ninety-eight . on 040 in Ireland , last year 20 , MO „ thwyear 1 U ' Decrease on tho year 1 R 82 In Europe , last year i ' hj 7 „ this year ' Decrease . q Mis ' " In India , Ceylon , and China , and tho South » oa nionn , there has boon a alight increase , an follows : - ¦ HI iMV *' This your o 4 O Jurist year ___ ——. 113 Jm ; reane , "In Australia and the inlands of Polynemu :-- ^ This year 18 ' | , _ JjuhI . year ¦ ' _______ 107 IneroiiHO •••;• yff&Xr " Southern Africa whowfl an incroaHfl of H'xl *\ ° " li . W ^ erh Africa of hovoh b . nndrcd and tlurty-wovon . - " *
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1034 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 29, 1853, page 1034, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2010/page/2/
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