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¦ mQ : THE LEADER ; [ Nq . 294 , Saturday .
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DISMEMBERMENT . The dismemberment of Russia is not an object ; of the war , as defined from the most liberalor democratic—point of view- What would be the advantage to liberty , and what would not be the loss to civilization , that would arise from such dismemberment" ? The Poles have a clear right , if they have the power , to restore themselves as a separate nation ; and , once restored , they might present an example of free institutions and social culture to the less developed races around them . Some of the Scandinavian kingdoms , if they coalesced against the Qza . ii , would require , and could not well be refused , the restitution of certain territories . In the East , whether by the establishment of new states , or by the redemption of conquered districts , the Russian Empire , if the war be carried on clcsj ) erately , and with prodigious success , may be fractionally diminished ; but whatever bo the result , Russia must be left united and powerful . An immense and compact dominion must remain . When wo speak of a general revolt of Europe against Russia , it is not to propose the dissolution of that incorporated mass of communities which constitutes the Russian Empire . The Empire must live ; it has the vitality of youth . If it wore to be decomposod into a multiplicity of Mongol , Cossack , Tartar , nnd Lithuanian States , if the Slavonian world wore to bo redistributed , or isolated , so as to create now political frontiers , what would humanity gain ? It is official Russia—the Russia which sways by intrigue as far as the Mediterranean , nnd by its protection of German princes as far as the Rhine j—it is this Russia that ombodio 3 despotism , and must be dc-
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Most certainly the Dean of Bipon , the Earl of JLlbemarle , and Sir John M'Neill , do not mean to call forth any subversive movement of the working class . They do hot intend a revolution ; and what is more , we do not believe that they will produce a revolution ; and yet , taking what they say together , it is impossible not to say they are assisting in the very movement which has been called revolution ; and what is more , they are combined in a work which tends to supersede not only the Established Church , but other churches , unless the orders of all hues—black , white , and grey—take a thought , and mend . We pointed out two missionaries of the new vocation last week , the Dean of Ripon and Lord Grey , bnt we cannot explain the true magnitude of the movement , its thoroughly spontaneous cha .-a * acter , its drifting tendencies , and probable effects , unless we take all the workwen together , and see Tyhat they are doing . The Dean of Ripon places the working-classes in possession of two powerful and pregnant ideas . The first is , that practical science has not only subdued innumerable substances and natural agencies to its service , but iias shaken down the old presumption that changes cannot be at once vast and rapid . We live in a world , says the Dean , totally unlike the world of our immediate forefathers , with our railroads , our gas-illuminations , our steam navigation , oiu' electric telegraph , our practical chemistry— the last alone enabling us to test the variety of things we consume , and teaching us how to cure the vice which we detect . The second idea taught by the Dean is , that by the extension of intelligence down to the humblest class , a continuous way is formed from those lower classes to the very highest in society ; admission even to state employment is made conditional upon merit alone . It is true that we may have corruption in the highest official ranks ; true , that we have not yet extorted national education from a reluctant state , but the workingclasses now know what they may have . They have it on the authority of the Dean of Ripon . They know that , wise , practical nien like him , are not afraid , jmd for some of the good fruits resulting from this knowledge , we need not wait the slow steps of education and school to issue . Instinct jumps to the appreciation of a truth , and the man who understands the relations of fellowcreatures to each other , as the Dean of Rijpon understands them , will expect , or give , that aid which one brother expects from the other—that equality of help , although the distribution of their knowledge may be unequal . Then came Earl Grey , teaching the benefits of union , and telling the most commercial classes the falsity of the trading dogma that one man ' s gain is another man's loss . It does indeed happen , in some stages of our manufacturing activity , that numerous clashes are enticed away from wholesome fields to diseased towns , and are made to lose the very salt and savour of their lives , if not life itself , for the gain of the manufacturer ; but this is becauso the manufacturer has been as ignorant as tho worker , in not knowing that to secure his profit in tho most endnring and most profitable form , ho must consult and foster the welfare of the workers also . As Lord "Gutsy says , tho true exchange of commerce , whether it be an exchange of labour for wages or of money for goods , can never bo thoroughly bonoficial to either side until the exact equivalent of tho benofit be given to the other side . When a workman is made prosperous , comfortable , able to command a progressive improvement in his own condition , then tho manufacturer will never bo obstructed by strikes or driven to glut tho market with over-make , or tremblo for the safety of the mill whence ho and his workpeople draw thoir subsistence . ' ., ' Then wo havo Lord Amiemakle starting up in . Norfolk , not only to tell tho labouring classes ,
as a brother tells his kith and kin , that they should mend their ways , and abandon drunken' ness , but confessing that his own class have neglected their duty in separating themselves from their countrymen . Then we have Sir John M'Neill back from the Crimea , at Edinburgh ; from the battle-field , to the lecturer ' s table , explaining the real sources of the weakness which we have endured in the East . The division of labour , he tells us , has brought the extreme of civilization back to barbarism . It has made us ' teach each worker one thing , and one thing only —to make a pin , to dig a ditch , to cany a hod , to build a wall , to spin a yarn , but has left him ignorant and helpless in the business of providing for his own life—unable to mend his clothes , repair his shoes , cook his food , or even light his fire . The helplessness of the citizen is carried by the soldier into the field ; and the sous of a mechanical and a scientific country find themselves as unable to contend with the hardships of a campaign , as if they were so many fine ladies . It arises , says Sir John , from over-doing our division of labour . " Combination of labour , , and division of employment ! " says Edward Gibb « n Wakefield , who saw deeper into that matter . And Lord Goderich :, who has studied such things profoundly , and who is actively teaching his brother-men , can tell Sir John that labour cannot be combined , and employments be divided , so that each man ' s gain shall be the gain of all , unless there be a concert between those who are carrying on the work ; and Lord Godeeich belongs to : an order who are labouring in the enforcement of that principle of concert , after it has ceased to be fashionable with Members . Lord Goderich , and his admirable friend Maurice , apply that very principle to tuition itself , and are labouring to show that the interests of the wealthier classes are essentially engaged in enlightening the working class , so as to know their position , their claims upon society , the felicities that await them , the stores of knowledge that they may command , the better life to which they may rise ; but none of these things is possible without the principle of brotherhood and concert . Given , the advancement of practical science which we have already attained 5 given , the mechanical means that we employ ; add concert , and we find not only that the individual is at once released from a state of debasement and misery , but that the body to which he belongs is powerful and successful . Colonel M'Murdo completes the moral . Describing the appliances that have been conveyed to the Crimea , the organization of the ' Land Transport Corps ; the establishment of the Floating Factory in the waters of Balaclava , ho says , that the British army could not have existed in the Crimea without tho aid of science ; but that now he has Woolwich at his hand instead of three thousand miles off , and the soldiers hold in their hands the implements of mechanical coercion , as well as tho means of their own health What havo tho military commanders been at there ? They havo brought to the Crimea tho last resources of practical science ; they have collected from thoir country tho means of subsistence for tho men ; they havo assiduously fostered the health , comfort , cheerfulness of each individual in tho force , as if tho well-being of each wore wanted to the success of all ; and what lias been tho result ? Tho result has been , that in so far as they havo dono those things , they have not only enabled ouo English soldier to do the work of five Russians , but they have applied as a vice , such a mechanical force upon tho somibarbarous strength and magnitude of Russia , that she shrinks within herself , and continues to shrink as tho vice presses its screw upon her . In all those things those men arc but teaching laws which they find at work in tho creation . They are , in fact , engaged in opening tho groat Book of Nature to tho uninstructcd . It is a
—^^^^ ^ m ^ m noble division of employment , which enables the leisurely to consume their leisure for the profit of their fellows . Air these men belong to the aristocracy . It is impossible not to see that these titled persons are performing a work which goes further than any in our day to restore the influence of " the upper classes , " to make them the leaders of the " lower , " their guides , their Duces , or Dukes . It is a new aspect of the aristocracy . But what , taken collectively , is the meaning of it ? What are they at ? They are engaged in teaching their fellow-countrymen the way to live . Thejr . are teaching the laws by which we may earn for ^ ourselves subsistence , happiness , progress , and power . They are leading thencongregation to understand the laws in fidelity to which alone we can live , prosper , and be powerful . They are showing to each man how his own work , done in workmanlike style , in sincerity of heart , and in generous desire that the benefit shall flow on to those around him , best secures his own welfare . They are teaching men how to live with men , class how to live with class , individuals how to subserve the prosperity , power , and greatness of their countiy . What is this , however , but practical Christianity ? What is this but a religion which extends beyond the narrow bounds of creed—embracing all ; for , if men lire in accordance with the laws of the Creator and the creation , they must live in harmony with the great truths of every religiondispute as men may about the distinction of creed . These men , then , whether they wear the dean's gown , the peer ' s robe , or the soldier ' s uniform , are the real effective clergy of our day . Happy is it for the Church that she is represented in that new clergy ; happier still that many of her cloth have long been in effect of the order which they have assisted to found ; happier still , when understanding the great possibilities that lie before every community , the majority of the clergy shall have enrolled themselves in this order of an universal Church .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 10, 1855, page 1080, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2114/page/12/
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