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tees of the science ( if we may venture so to call that which seems to consist of experiments ) . We can afford to overlook a mistake now and then , and even to pardon an experimental , a speculative incision , occasionally , where death was certain anyhow , and ¦ future sufferers might reap some benefit by the lesson in experience , —but there are cases , as that lately pronounced upon by a non-medical jury , of the most unmitigated blundering—an experiment of ignorance , conducted without skill or even humanity , And of which we are quite prepared to maintain the . opinion that has so aggravated our respectable professional contemporary—viz ., that such fumbling experiments are reserved for the corpora pauperum ; just as the friends of the dead pauper are compelled to pocket their prejudices against dissection , because they can't pay the burial fees .
" It will not do for our provincial friends to be oversensitive about the morality of the profession—not the personal , but the professional , honesty for the daily practice of which the fees are paid ; we can have nothing to gain by uttering slanders and vulgar calumnies , however useful such weapons may be to the professional litterateurs of the body ; but we may remind the profession of the many avenues of fraud , under the guise of skill , that are followed so profitably by so many of its members ; deliberate experiments upon the credulity of the trusting patients , when the man of skill succeeds in persuading his victim
, who is only too willing to . find he has some terrible malad y * that the ailment exists , wliile he Ttnowsit to be all a stiam : — -as an instance , we might call to mind the example of the late . practitioner at Bath , who found the same horrible disease in every one who consulted him , and that it only required Ms extraordinary skill to find it out . The sict public believed him , and he made a fortune We leave our provincial journalist to moralise on this , and the many similar schemes going on now , which will reward an exposure , even at the hands of a medical brother . We shall claim his thanks for having ventilated the question ia our own way . "
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THE DUTIES OF THE CLERGY . XTo the Editor of the Leader . ) Sib ,- —You are publishing a series of not uninteresting papers , headed " A Clergyman ' s Experience of Society , " the moral of which would seem to be that a priest or minister of the English Church must either be a sham , a pretender , an utter unreality , or find himself brought into the most direct antagonism to all the dogmas of " the faith" and . all the interests of society . Far be it from me to deny that great social evils do exist in our age and land ; and , in particular , that there is a wide and yawning cleft betwixt the artisan class and their appointed teachers . The self-educated , who are often men of keen understanding—aye , and of singular intellectual
ability—are , perhaps not unnaturally , prejudiced as a body against what may be called , what is generally acknowledged as , " Orthodox Christianity ; " and as much or more so against the Church of England , which to them presents , for the most part at least , the aspect of a moral police , paid by their antagonists to keep the lower classes in a state- of subserviency and quietude . It is quite true , accordingly , that men of this class rarely frequent a place of worship , and still more rarely the parish cliurch . It is further most indubitable that the clergy have an especial call to seek out such men as these , as your contributor alleges ; but then it is further their boiinden duty , as he does not allege , to seek to win them to
the faith which , their ordination vov ^ s have bound on their own souls . But if , sir , as this monitor suggests , their only duty be to deliver stirring " social discourses , " then in what respect would their teaching surpass—would it be likely to equal even—that of Mx . Emerson and Mr . Holyoake—the teaching which these artisans possess already , w . hoso benighted state your contributor so inconsistently deplores ? Of course I am placing myself at his point of view when . I eay this . I believe Mr . Holyoake to be a clear but somewhat shallow thinker ; sound up to a certain point , however , and decidedly sensible , Mr . Emerson I can only regard , despite his command of language and sometimes happy audacity of thought , as a fullblown specimen of maniacal transcendentalism . I suppose thero is no man living who looka
on him as a sound teachor or thinker . But now , sir , allow mo to say , in the name of at least a largo portion of my brethren , ns well as my own , that while wo trust wo arc not shams nnd pretenders , wo nro assuredly not blind to the cravings of the intellectual members of the working classes . But , sir , instead of going amongst them to repeat tlio trnnscendcntul commonplaces and inflated platitudes of Emersonianism , by which we greatly doubt if ever human heart was trained to duty—we go amongst them as brothers and aa Churchmen , na well na fellow-citizens , to defend nnd explain those fundamental verities which they have been led unfortunately too commonly to uBsociato with wrong « r » d oppression ; to solve , aa far as in us lice , their honest doubts ; in flno , whilo wo Bympathiso with their cares , and seelc to relievo their pressing wants , to teach the ono creed
of the Universal Church of Christ . The clergy do not think , however , for the most part , nor do I , that they can do men real service , however they may tickle their vanity and natter their baser passions , by fiercely assailing all the weaker points of those around them and about them—those who are more fortunate than themselves ; though this is obviously enough your contributor ' s main specific I trust , sir , that I am no bigot ; that is , I can understand honest dissent from , and rejection of , revealed religion . Having sojourned many years in Germany , during which German literature was almost necessarily nay daily fare , it has fallen to my lot to encounter the arguments of Neology and Pantheism
Hegelian and Schellingian , not in . books alone , but also in constant priyate converse with my friends : and thus I have seen that a Pantheist , a Deist , or an Atheist , might be ~ an honest man . But , sir * I cannot understand ( let the frankness of this confession be forgiven ) the honour of one , who can openly proclaim and boast that he does not hold the fundamental creed of a church of which he is an officer , sworn and paid . And , sir , to go further , I cannot admit of any possible excuse , or shadow of excuse , for the taking orders on the part of such a man ; of one who had not only no faith in his own vocation , but no faith in that of Christ's own Church . No family or other circumstances
could justify or even palliate such a sacrifice of right and truth . How should we yield sympathy to the man -who employs his powers ( whatever tliey may be ) for the exposition of what he conceives the essential rottenness of the very system to which he has sworn allegiance , and by which he lives ? But , you may answer , Does he tell the truth ? Doubtless , what he believes to be the truth ; but , as he started with delusion , how should he apprehend reality ? His notions of duty asa parish priest appear to be , that he should denounce , roughly and uncompromisingly , unlovingly too , whatever practical errors he happens to discern around him . Thus his lot is cast in a seafaring town , which exists by favour of its trade .
Forthwith money-getting by trade becomes the chosen topic of reprobation . The teacher does not essay—( Jachez moi le mot , ' ) as a broader intellect might do—to master the genius of that which he impugns . He does not commend , for instance , honest industry , valorous endeavour , hearty , earnest , resolution ( " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do , do it with thy might ) , and then proceed to insist on the necessity of leavening this spirit of earnest work Avith the love of God and man ; for making it conducive to man ' s happiness and God ' s glory . He does not insist , and affectionately insist , as a Christian teacher ought to do , on the duty of doing to others as we would be done by , of dealing kindly with those whom we
employ , of wisely spending our hours of innocent recreation , having , in toil and pleasure , the fear of God before our eyes . N " o : but what does he ? Sweepingly , unhesitatingly , violently , he denounces the very source of existence to all his hoaxers . He makes fierce and repeated onslaughts , he Isays , on their very livelihood , and then he is surprised that these good people , for he dubs them thus liimself , are not altogether gratified . Does he happen to be acquainted witli the " Ciappkio" of Mr . Browning ' s " Soul ' s Tragedy ? " But again he commences a series of social sermons by informing his congregation that he does not believe in the inspiration of the Old Testament , thereby
keenly and cruelly distressing ; them , cutting away all ground from under their feet , openly setting at nought one of tho articles to which ho has sworn a true allegiance ; and then ho makes " a somewhat fierce onslaught on vices" which he knows to prevail amongst the lower classes (" Ciappino" again ) , which everybody finds " indelicate , " not to say disgusting . Now , Sir , could anything bo more irratioual than this , on your contributor ' s own showing ? From what do tho vices proceed which were thus fiercely denounced ? From ignorance , from neglect on the part of Church and State , from social misery . And \\ oyr _ then should they bo dealt with ? Will the stirring up of a pestiferous mire have any tendency to swoop that mire away ? Remove tho social
misery , build better dwellings for the sufferers , teach them , above all , tlio practical duty of self-denial , self-conqueat—withotit which no man can bo other thnn a full-grown child—and will these fearful vices atill retain existence ? Sir , tho purpose of my present letter is to protest against tho English Church being judged on the testimony of one who seems incapable of estimating tho needs of the ago , or of talcing a comprehensive view of society as it exists ; who professes to he tho teachor of a creed which ho rejects , and tho priest of a Cliurch which ho execrates . Hia obvious duty is to resign tho oflloo which ho bo unfortunately holds ; and to this act of common honoaty I do most earnestly © xliorfc him . And so , sir , I will plainly subscribe myself , not wishing to conceal my name and character , aa your obedient hoi van t ,
Aroiikr GunNKY , Curnto of Buckingham . [ The author of a " Clergyman ' s Experience of Souioty , " has ceased to hold » ny clerical ofllce . —E » . Lea . disk . ]
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SIR B . HALL . ( To the JSdilor of the Leader . ) August 15 th . SiK ,- —If ever there was an injudicious and unfit appointment in a sanitary or in any other point of view—it is that of Sir Benjamin Hall as President of the Board of Health . I have long considered Sir Benjamin ( commonly called " Bishop Hall ") as a charlatan in politics , and an ignorant pretender . To illustrate my meaning I will relate one circumstance connected with the Free Library movement in Marylebone . Sir B . Hall is President of this socalled " Free Library , " and on my writing to him to request his support of the second reading of Mr .
Ewart ' s bill , &c , fixed for April the 5 th , he replied that his time was '' too much occupied to attend to such questions . " Observe , a petition was sent up from Marylebone and presented by Lord Dudley Stuart , signed by upwards of 1600 persons , praying the Libraries Act of 1850 might be so amended as to be capable of adoption for their borough . Will it be credited that Sir Benjamin did not even condescend to record his vote on the occasion of the second reading of the "bill , and that Mr . Ewart ' s amended Act was rejected by a Liberal Government—the numbers being 88 against , and 85 for this most enlightened and humanising measure . I am , Sir , your obedient servant , Matthew Henry Fjmlde .
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THE NAVAL SERVICE , { To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sir ,- —Your insertion of my previous letter emboldens me to address you again . At the present time , when such attention is called to the bullying in the Army , when recently such ; a tumult ' was excited about bullying in public schools , it is as well that the ill-treatment of youths in the Navy should not be passed over ; for not only are they subject to such evils as those I recorded in my former letter ^ though such might seem amply sufficient for any one to bear—those are only evils to be met with on shoreon board such measures cannot be adopted—but in the gun-rooms of most vessels , a regular systematic
course of bullying and tyranny is introduced , a knowledge of wjlich beforehand would dissuade many youths from going to sea . For why do boys go into the Navy ? Many are sent by their fathers , many go to escape school , and some few are enthusiastic about glory , &c . Those who are sent against their will , do not expect to meet with any pleasure in the service , and are , in consequence , prepared to " rough it out , " and come home to their parents after their first cruize to swear , drink , and corrupt half the village in which they reside . Those who go to escape school ,
and the disagreeable system of intercourse , the faggings and the " lickings" that generally exist there , find that in the Navy there is school as well as watch , and far more thrashing and tyranny in every shape , than there existed in the school they have escaped from . Those who go from enthusiasm are very soon wearied , and find that the only means of attaining glory in the Navy is by being rich and titled . The consequence is that Naval men , generally , detest their profession , and say they would sooner place their sons in a pigsty than in a man-of-war .
At this stage I shall hear a great outcry raised , and I shall bo told that Captain Cavendish has always thought the Navy ono of the best professions that could bo chosen . Captain Cavcndlsli , being ot a certain family , has always served witli certain captains , and has always mot with the speediest promotion . His messmates know better than to bully him , and tho Admiralty know better than , to semi him to disagreeable stations , or to make him servo under obnoxious captains . If ho did anything that required notice , his conduct was extenuated ; if lie was to bo tried by a court-martial , a picked selection of captains was sent out to try liini . He has walked through the service on velvet , aiul if ho liUea it , no ono can wonder at hia taste . Other officers too havo expressed their sentiments about tho service in a favourable mnniior . Certainly they have , it is tho
custom to praise the Navy when you aro on shore . But let any ono divido tho wardroom odlcexs of any ship , or tho midshipmen of any ship , on th « subject , arid searco two out of forty will decide in favour of their profession . While in tlio Navy myself , 1 havo frequently asked messmates for their impressions of the Navy , and I have often heard tho opinions of superior oflleors , but I do not recollect hearing ono Naval man , froiu a captain down to a cadet or clerk ' s assistant , give a favourable verdict . I have heard ndmirald declare thoir utter unwillingness to Bond their sons to sen ; and distasteful indeed nmst that profession bo , that is condemned by thoso who havo earned ita highest posta . Why it should l ) u so universally dotcHtal , ia' perhaps a question that cannot lie easily answered : aomo rousona I will endeavour to suggest in u futuro lettor . Yours , &c , Late a Midwy .
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*** ¦ THE LEAPED . [ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 19, 1854, page 784, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2052/page/16/
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