The Press. — London, England, 1858-06-12 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JUNE 12, 1858. THE WEEK. Orrz quarrel, which might easily have set all Europe by the ears, has been most successfully terminated. It was announced last night by Lord MALMESBL'RY in the House of Lords, and by Mr. DISRAELI in the House of Commons, that the King of NAPLES has acceded to our reasonable demands ;—has paid, without hesitation or condition, the sum of 3,0001. as compensation to the two English engineers ; and has given up the Cagliari and her crew, who, before this time, are safely moored in the port of Genoa. So vanishes at once one of those "alarms of war," which have long weighed upon the minds of the fearful, both in England and on the Continent. We do not wish to grasp with eagerness at the credit which naturally attaches to this success. The people of England will not need to be told by us that this important negotiation has been well and skilfully conducted by her Majesty's Government. But we must add our sincere doubt, whether the Cabinet which was broken up in February last, would have succeeded in bringing this matter to an equally favourable termination. Lord MAtancssußy's success has surpassed most men's expectations ;—that a like good fortune would have attended Lord PALMERSTON, we do not for one moment believe. Mr. LYONS, whose zeal and talent have been so signally manifested in the conduct of this difficult affair, receives a substantial proof of her Majesty's approbation, by being appointed to the Mission at Florence, recently left vacant by the resignation of Mr. HOWARD. It is always a very difficult thing to draw the line between caution and suspicion. The most astute of mankind must always run the risk of either offending an innocent person or neglecting a coming peril. In the case of individuals, knowledge of character will of course go a long way in modifying our opinion of facts. But in the case of two nations it seems dangerous to allow ourselves to be guided by any but general rules. A statesman, especially, who is acting in behalf of so many millions of his fellow-creatures, is not entitled to indulge in the luxury of generosity to the same extent as if only himself were concerned. We cordially sympa thise with the spirit in which her Majesty's Government is disposed to construe the policy of the French Emperor. We dislike as much as any one can do those half-confidences and lip-deep loyalty between great Powers which diplomacy stamps with its approval. But we may rush into the opposite extreme. And we are induced, as well by the conversation which took place in the House of Commons last night as by a circular that has recently been placed in our hands, to in quire whether our attitude towards France at the present moment does not verge on that excess? It is unfortunately notorious that both the army and the navy of our already too warlike neighbour has, within the last few months, been largely augmented, while our own has, from various circumstances, been proportionately weakened. The flower of our soldiers are in India, and we cannot procure sailors. The answer to the uneasiness, which this state of things is not unnaturally calculated to excite, is this : that England and France were never more cordially united than they are at the present moment, and that the Emperor's good faith is unimpeach able. Esto perpetua. But we must nevertheless. be permitted to suggest, that there is a substantial token of that goodwill to be afforded us which would be far more satisfactory than all the courteous phrases of the French Ambassador. At least, let the noise and bustle and menace of the Impe rial preparations no longer proceed almost within earshot of the people of this country. If the Emperor must have his 600,000 soldiers and 70,000 seamen, at least let him keep them as much out of sight as possible. If he means no harm to this country, no danger would arise from our ignorance. But with Cherbourg and Boulogne staring us in the face, we cannot hold the public anxiety to be altogether inexcusable. The least which the Government can do under these circumstances is to forbear from weaken. ing our defences any further, and not to choose the moment when our own home force is so small and that of our neighbour so powerful, to discard the only substitute we possess—the embodied Militia. tIF"r ( Tqr` For some time past a few of the Pimlico clergymen have not only been making a determined attempt to revive the practice of auricular confession, hut in the instances where they have succeeded in doing so have con ducted it after a fashion involving some of the worst abuses of which the system has ever been accused. The innovation, howev l e4 has met with an equally determined resistance from at least one individual, and mainly, it appears, through his efforts, the Bishop of LoNDoxhas been induced to interfere in a manner which it is to be hoped will prove effectual for the future. The meeting which was held on the subject in St. James's-hall yesterday morning was, as it was natural to expect, most numerously attended. Attacks upon any imitations of the Romish system are always exciting to a British audience, and the abase was one which "comes home to the business and bosoms" of the great part of the community. The Hon. and Rev. F. Banitto, whowas introduced to the meeting by the chair man, Lord CALTHORPE, stated that the Rev. ALFRED POOLE, a curate of St. Barnabas, had been . in the habit of inducing girls and married women, by the bribe of pecuniary or other assistance, to confess to him as a pre paration for receiving the Communion. Three cases of this sort were de tailed. The *buten were taken into a dark roorn,- and there subjected to a series of questions which we cannot pollute our pages by recording. It will be enough to say that they related principally to . the seventh c ommandment, and that they were precisely of the kind prescribed in that very " curious " work, the " Theology." of PETER DENS. Whether the female respondents had ever wished to commit adultery seemed to have in each case formed one of the reverend gentleman's interrogatories ; and this is a rer y moderate specimen of the kind of inquiries his prurient fancy suggested to him, and which were such as not even the most co n fid ent i a l medical adviser would think of putting to his patient. Mr. BARING proceeded to say that the evidence had been laid before the Bishop, who immediately suspended Mr. POOLE from his functions, and after due inquiry revoked his licence. The practical object of the meeting (the culprit having already been punished) seemed to be, in the first place, to overbear the attempt which is said to be made in some quarters to palliate Mr. Pootz's conduct ; in the next place, to warn the public that though Mr. POOLE is the only convicted offender, there still remain other curates in the same district by whom similar practices are kept up, and that:the "lady v i s i tors " of the district are the agents in inducing and influencing the poorer female parishioners to submit to confession. The names of these parties were for the present withheld, but sufficient evidence of their having acted in the manner imputed to them could be obtained. We doubt whether the meeting was completely unanimous ; and it may be suspected, from the disturbances which occasionally arose, that some partizans of the accused side were disposed to make a demonstration in Mr. POOLE'S favour. The Chair man, however, having said that the meeting had been convened, " not to make speeches, but to give publicity to facts," declared it at an end, an d the species of discussion and declamation which usually arises on these occasions was thereby precluded. Mr. BARING, who stated that he had never before addressed a public meeting, got through his work in a manner with which the audience seemed highly delighted. We think that it would have been in better taste to omit the sarcasms and pleasantries with which he seasoned some parts of his statement. The facts were weighty enough, and the gravity of the occasion certainly demanded that the discussion should throughout be conducted in a tone of befitting seriousness. With this exception, there was no fault to be found with the proceedings; and we trust they may have their intended effect on that portion of the public which is under the spiritual guidance of the Pimlico clergy. That Detraction is ever attendant on greatness, that " Envy doth merit, " as its shade, pursue," are favourite dicta, especially with those who, find ing themselves envied or slandered, assume ex converso that they are great and meritorious. Yet there is but a limited amount of truth in such say ings—or rather they exhibit one side only of the truth. The fact is that over-praise on the one hand leads to over-blame on the other—the minute blazonry of merits to the microscopic scrutiny of faults. And in this respect authors fare much like other men—" plastered " by one critic (to adopt Paul Clifford's vocabulary), they are " slashed " by another, and in the upshot a sort of rude justice is done to their literary talents. Authors who are regardful of public decorum are rarely the victims of personal slander. We have been grieved to learn that Mr. DICKENS has been made an exception to this rule—that some domestic trouble of his, of long standing, has been made the occasion of false and cruel misrepresentations. We had not been accustomed to hear Mr. DICKENS'S family relations much spoken of; but what we have heard he might himself have heard with pleasure. He had been spoken of almost invariably as the centre of an amiable and affectionate domestic circle, graced by more than talents and at tractions. Of the " misrepresentations" in question we heard for the first tune last Monday, from Mr. DICKENS himself! An article headed " Personal" was printed in the Times, the Standard, and (we believe) sundry other papers, in anticipation of its appearance on Wednesday at the head of the Household Words. It was almost obscure enough to be sublime — telling in the vaguest terms, first, of the existence of the long-standing trouble, "of a sacredly private nature ;" secondly, of slanderous misrepre sentations of such trouble by some means unexplained or inconceivable, by some person or persons unknown, and concluding by a statement, for the benefit of those to whom Mr. DICKENS is not known, that the lately whispered rumours touching the trouble so glanced at are abominably false, and that whoever repeats them will "lie most foully before heaven " and earth." We question the good taste of this manifesto, of which we save endeavoured to reduce the bulk and mitigate the phraseology, but our object is not to criticize the form of the denial. It is rather to assure Mr. DICKENS that it was needless and superfluous. A sensitive tempera ment has led him (we must suppose) to exaggerate the circulation of some ill-natured gossip, and to commit the not uncommon error of accusing himself by an uncalled-for defence. When he says, " I doubt if one " reader m a thousand will peruse these lines by whom some " touch of the breath of these slanders will not have passed like an " unwholesome air," he mistakes not only the extent to which his private history is matter of public interest, but also, which is more immediately to the point, the extent to which malignant comments on that history have found reception. He has invited the public to acquit him on some charge or charges unknown ; and we believe they will do so freely and unreservedly - . For ourselves, we can assure him that we are prepared to disbelieve the slanders breathed against him when they reach us ; and that meanwhile we doubt not that his slanderers—to borrow one of his own inimitable phrases—are "booked for something unpleasant." In return for which assurance, we trust he will accept a friendly hint, even though it assumes him for once to have used his pen unadvisedly. We would urge him, as he values the well-earned favour of the public, to send firth no more mysterious protests—to suggest no more inquiries into matters of sacred privacy. Let him trust the public, and they will trust him ; Jet him lice down obscure slanders , and leave the " personal" department to thos e have not wit for anything beyond personalities, .‘t common I