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Leader (1850-1860), 27th November 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1277, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      now seized upon the pillars of the constitution , to hurl XTwUh his giant strength , at thelords temporal and the lords spiritual . He advocated the ™» I ^ « g £ lification . It might be thrown on one side . The first principle he ( Mr . Akroyd ) would adopt would be the Slratfng franchise as one / The next was one to which no one would object ; he was willing to transfer the 40 s . franchise to boroughs . He alluded to the ballot and the duration of parliaments , and then came to ^ the subject of electoral districts . He was in favour of that principle . Huddersfield had now one member , and great injustice Tvas done them . He thought they shoUl d have two members , and at the same time , an extension of the Isli ngton . -- Reform meeting was held on Thursdav with Mr . Cox , M . P ., in the chair , and at which , as the custom now appears to be , the assembly appended

      manhood suffrage to their demand for Reform . Mr . Cox gave in his adherence to this principle , and was careful to explain that he had no * become one of those who accepted the peace-at-any price doctrines .

      Untitled Article

      THE EDUCATION MOVEMENT . The Bishop of Manchester . —On Monday evening a public meeting in promotion of the objects of the Droy 1 sden Educational Institute was held . The Bishop of Manchester presided . The right rev . chairman said in dwelling upon the objects of tliis institution , he would entreat and implore the working men to be particularly careful and painstaking in mastering the elementary portions of instruction . It had been a mistake that could not be too much deprecated—a folly that could not be too much condemned—for the sake of mere transient applause , to delude the student by leading him into the Temple of Knowledge , without making him pause long enough to contemplate and to master its elements at its

      portals . Unless good reading and legible writing were acquired—without the beauty of being able to enunciate with fluency and expression the great thoughts of the great masters of thought , as handed down in their works —there was neglected one of the most choice p : srts of the superstructure upon which was afterwards to be erected the whole fabric of the reasoning powers . He would particularl y recommend to students in- that institution , the study of geometry , as a general rule , in preference to that of arithmetic . And *> r this reason : the study of geometry required , if properly carried on , that every step should be accurately depicted and represented in the mind of the learner . He could assure

      his hearers thatrione who rightly entered upon the study of geometry would ever be" disappointed . These things ( he said ) brought out the reason as well as exercised the memory ; and making the one ancillary to the other , it raised the possessor in the enjoyment not only of intellectual pleasures , but higher still in the reasoning powers and faculties . Why should not -working men enjoy those things ? They had like abilities , like interests at stake . These were points for which tlioy ought , to contend ; and if they contended—as they were doing , and rightly—for an increased share in the political power of the country , they were bound—nay , they were traitors otherwise to their country—to contend for increased knowledge and power of opinion .

      Loki > Ward . —A meeting in connexion with the progress of industrial art was held at Worcester , on Monday , nt which his lordship said , vwth regard to the Worcester school of design , that if ho had any doubt of the excellence of tlie institution ,, he would , on visiting the schoolrooms , have been obliged to dismiss it _ , for he found thero an atmosphere of art , and he considered it a fair model for the other schools of design in the kingdom . It was the- artisan class these schools were intended to teach , and he was sure that they would not fail to value the benefit which had been done them in having their hands strengthened by that intellectual culture which enabled them to compete with foreign artificers in every brunch of industry , and also maclo

      them better and move moral men , It was not tho artisnn only wlio was benefited by such teaching ' , for it told on tho community in general . They were , in fact , doing tho paramount work of the day , about which so much was said , but of which so little was done . They were providing for the education of tho masses , and , as far as art was concerned , they hoped to be able to turn those who were now only lookers-on and censors into adherents and partisans . Entertaining thoso views , ho hoped aoon to see the School of Design self-supporting | but ho would not part with tho uid from Government , because he . thought the Government inspocllou most valuable , as , wore they left to them ., selves , they might bo content with a lower standard of merit than would satisfy a stranger .

      Ecclesiastical Items

      the Bishop , public attention has bean very much directed to its operations , and it is anticipated that with an increased income its usefulness will be greatly extended in the thickly populated portions of the metropolis . British Columbia . —The consecration of the Rev . George Hills , the newly-appointed Bishon of British Columbia , will not take place before Christmas ; he has announced his retirement from tho ministry of St . Nicholas , Great Yarmouth . Miss Burdett Coutts endowed this bishopric with 15 , 000 £ , a . munificent act which probably led to the erection of the see . The CoNFESSioxAt ,. — -A meeting has been held at Norwich to consider the propriety of forming an association to resist the introduction of the confessional and other Romanising practices into the Church of England . The names of one hundred gentlemen , lay and clerical , were enrolled .

      St . Paul ' s . —The Dean and Chapter propose to open the cathedral for special evening services , as an experiment , from Advent Sunday , November 28 , to Easter in the following year . The service will commence at seven o ' clock . . The public will be admitted at the two western side doors from the area facing Ludgate-hill . The north door will be closed , in order to give a fair trial to the warming process , not yet completed . The south door will be open to the L . ord Mayor and the authorities of the city , the clergy of tbe cathedral , and the committee with tickets .

      The Church-Rate Question ' . —On Tuesday Dr . Lushington gave judgment in the case " Medland and Brown v . Payne , " a suit instituted by the churchwardens of St . Neot ' s to enforce payment of a church rate which had been refused by one of the parishioners . The learned judge pointed out various informalities in the mode of assessing the rate in question , which he said was a difficult matter at all times , and though sorry to disturb a rate which had been approved of by a" large majority , and which was small in proportion to the rental , he was compelled to pronounce against the claim of the churchwardens , with costs .

      Schism , —Some of the leading members of the Tracr tarian party have intimated their intention , of withdrawing from the " London Union on Church Matters , " on the ground that it " has not been sufficiently active in repelling the aggressions which have from time to time been made on the rights and liberties of the Church . " A large amount of money was subscribed for the purposes of this " Union , " but all its proceedings have been conducted with secrecy , and the rigid exclusion of the press has always been one of its fundamental rules . The new society which is to be established will adopt a more straightforward course , and w ill conduct their proceedings in the full light of day .

      ECCLESIASTICAL ITEMS . LoNnoJ * Diocesan Home Missiow .-r . Thia institution , which waa spoken of so highly by the Bishop of London in liis recent charge , id about to commence a series of Advent aery Ices for tho working daises . Bothnal-greon will bo one of the fields of tho society ' s operations . In that large pariah there will be special services at intervals , during Advent , in the churches . In consequence Of the strong recommendation of tlio Homo Mission by

      Tue Rev . Alfred Poot . e . —In tho Court of Queen's Bench a motion has been made on behalf of this gentleman , who has been dismissed by the Bishop of London from the stipendiary curacy of St . Barnabas , in consequence of his confessional practices . The motion was for a rule nisi , culling upon the Archbishop of Canterbury to show cause why he refused to hear Mr . Poole's complaint against the Bishop of London , founded upon the Church Discipline Act of 1 S 39 . Mr . Bovill stated the case , amid bench interruptions , for Mr . Poole ; and after referring to several authorities , it waa decided that a rule should be granted . Tho Lord Chief Justice was present , supported by Justices Wighttnnn , Earle , and Hill . Their determination appeared to have been unanimously formed , and without any difficulty .

      Untitled Article

      which his inferior officer made . M . Cordouen accused M . de Montalembert of having praised England for the express purpose of disparaging France by contrast . No Englishman , he said , would have been capable of drawing any such contrast to the disparagement of his own country . He indulged in a few common-places about parliamentary government having broken down in France , the immense popularity of the Emperor , and the necessity of a strong Government . No young dynasty had ever been so liberal , so moderate , so indulgent ,

      as that of Napoleon III . France , although not parliamentary , had representative institutions , which constituted a free government . He concluded by apostrophising M . de Montalembert as a man having lost the feelings of a Frenchman , and said : —" You have laid France prostrate at the feet of England ; you have struck France in the face ; yes , struck her in the face ^—unworthily struck her in the face . " This he repeated three times , " Vous Favez frappe ' e au visage , frappe ' visage , indignement frappe ' e au visage . "

      M . Berryer , who defended the Count , described the prosecution as " unjust , unfounded , ill-advised , and , he was going to say—rash . " The spirit of the article , he said , was not an attack upon anything French , but a genuine admiration of English free institutions , produced by hearing a splendid debate in the English Parliament on one of the grandest questions which ever occupied a deliberative assemblj-. He here pronounced a most tloquent eulogium on the English Parliament and nation , and said that M . de Montalembert , whose whole life had been passed in parliamentary struggles for religion and liberty , as he understood them , must naturally look back with regret to institutions which France had but very recently lost .

      On M . Berryer saying that to affirm that France did not now possess liberty was not an attack upon the Government , but merely the assertion of a notorious and undeniable fact , he was interrupted by the President , Who said : " Maitre Berryer , you are now going too far ; you are repeating at the bar the very offence with which M . ' Montalembert stands charged ; and that cannot be permitted . " . M . Berryer . — 3 Inst I then throw up my brief ?

      Have-I lost my reason and conscience ? Do I understand what the court means ? Can it be that a counsel is to be construed , as attacking the Government because he will not say that black is white ? Why , it is the boa 9 t of the Government that it has bartered liberty for order- —and it lias done so , it says , with the consent of the French people ; and that I am not here to deny . Yes , France has repudiated her own liberty . It is not rational to hold it an offence in any one to state the simple fuct that liberty does not now exist . "

      M . Berryer then examined the heads of the accusation , and argued that no one of them was borne out by the article . Coming to the most important count in the indictment , that of an attack on " the rights of tbe Emj > eror under the constitution and the principle of universal suffrage , " he Avould prove to demonstration , that there was no scrap of law to support it . This accusation was entirely based upon a law of 1849 , passed to protect from attacks and insults the constitution of the republic with a president for four years . How could that law be applicable to the empire ! In 1848 a

      law was passed for the protection of tho constitution ; and when , in 1819 , the form of government was again changed , though not in any such radical manner as it was subsequently in 1852 , another law was passed to meet the circumstance . If tho present government had neglected to renew that low , it was their own fault ; but that was no reason why they should dispense with , all law , nml , acting upon purely arbitrary principles , condemn a man merely because ho was obnoxious . He concluded by a brilliant ami impassioimto peroration , and sat down amidst loud and simultaneous cries of " Bravo . "

      TRIAL OF TIIM COMTE DE M 0 NTALEMBEIiT . 1 ' itp , trial of Coin to de Montalembert and M . Douniol , of the Coi'resjwndant , charged with having published a seditious libel entitled "A Debate on India in the English Parliament , " took place on Wednesday . At live minutes before twelve , Com to de Montaleinbort entered tho court , accompanied by the Due de Broglie and M . Odilon Barrot . Tho President , M . Berthclin , called on the defendant Douniol , who said merely that he was tho responsible editor of the Corretyo / ulant , and that he hud no observations to offer .

      M . de Montnlembort , after the usual preliminary questions , answered all tho questions put to him with the greatest frankness and tlio most perfect wng-froid ; never fora moment shrinking from the responsibility of anything he had said in Ins article , and never failing to detect tlio import of any insidious suggestion made by the President , lie admitted that ho admired the present political institutions of . England , and regretted that Franco hud lost them ; but he donicd that lie had " attacked " French institutions in any sonso forbidden by tho law . He admitted that when he spoke of his joy at n temporary cscnpo in England from " pestiferous inlasmaancl corrupt atmosphere , " ho alluded to miasma and atmoaphoro in France , hut ha totally denied that ho moant to say that he and his friotuls alone 'were honest men , and that tho eight millions of Frenchmen who hnU voted for the Emperor wero cowards .

      The Proourour Imperial M . Cordouon ' s speech for the prosecution was weak beyond description . M . Chalx d'JEst-Ango , tho 4 < l'rocurour GC'ndral Imperial , " looked vexed beyond meaeuro at tho poor exhibition

      The ProcuriMu- Impdimrs reply was oven loss effective than hia opening . speech . Ho scarcely touched the specific charges of tho iirosocution or tlio powerful answer that had boon made to them . He reiterated his assertion that French institutions were bettor than English ones , and that it was anti-French to say tho contrary . M . Dufuure , after a few words of excuse for M , Douniol ( a mere working tradesman , who was lately a compositor ) , on tho ground of his good character and actual ignorance of the article for which-ho was responsible , severely reproved tlto Procurour Imperial for the levity and incoinplotcnOfls of his speeches for the prosecution . Ho could lhul nothing in them seriously deserving of an answer . He recapitulated

      ami roinforcou with crushing logic tlio arguments of M . Berrycr , showing that tho law of 1849 could not bo applicable to tho present imperial constitution . He referred with humour to ( lie capricious mituro of universal suffrage , which in tho course o ( a very fovr years had sanctioned a ronublio with < i sovorolgn chamber , a republic with n chamber and a president for four years with concurrent poworo , a modified republic with a president for ton yours , and lluiilly tho present empire Ho observed thnt tliero wad not a word In , tlio article , contrary to tho Kmnoror ' a policy as rogArila England . IHs rogrot that tlioro waa not a groator approach to similarity in tho institutions of tho two countries only showed that ho wished to see tho alliance established pft a lasting basis . So for from Ms being nntl-1 'Yoncb , h *

      Untitled Article

      ' ' ' . . ' No . 453 , November 27 , 1858 . ] . THE IEADEB . 1277

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 27, 1858, page 1277, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2270/page/5/