The Press. — London, England, 1858-08-14 00:00:00

e L • 1 1 I ti r h tl n 1 fi r r e 1 1 1 1 THE PRESS, AUGUST 14, 1858. creasing majorities against a scheme condemned alike by the instincts of good faith, the conclu sions of reasoning, and the results of experience. It is doubly gratifying to learn that this " pro gress " has taken place in the teeth of an elaborate movement, organized by practised and unscrupulous agitators. The triumph of " secret voting," the millennium of shufflers, the apo theosis of mendacity, is now, we trust, postponed sine die. And we again tender our acknow ledgments to Lord PALMERSTON for the aid which his speech at the last "Meet of the Berkeley Hunt " rendered to the Conservative cause. We wish our prospects were equally clear with regard to the Church-rate question. But it would be dishonest to affirm that there also the " progress " is in a direction opposed to the wishes of the Movement party. The agitation against Church-rates is organized in pretty much the same manner as that against open voting. There is an Abolition Society, with central board and provincial branches; there are declamations in Parliament and "leaders " in Radical and Dissenting prints; there are lectures gratuitously given wherever a hearing can be gotten; we should scarce be surprised if the " Educational " line were followed to its utmost point, and a new Nonconformist's Decalogue published substituting for the eighth commandment the somewhat antagonistic prohi bition " Thou shalt not pay Church-rates." So far the two agitations seem much alike. But it is in the practical character of the local proceedings that the anti-Church-rate con spirators have an advantage over the Ballot Society, who are but agitating for a theory. We recently noticed a paragraph suggesting that wherever in any country parish "an anti- Church-rate spirit exists," an application should be addressed to the Central Board (or some equivalent phrase), who would, in reply, send aid and " instructions " to the local malcontents, teaching them, in fact, how to agitate most annoyingly and effectively. Now, on paper this seems but little formidable. "An anti-Church rate spirit" is merely one form of the very common reluctance to pay what is due_; and as ratepayers only can vote, it seems at first as if the instructions could only refer to periodical orations in the vestry, to the mitigation of Elder Jedediah Woeful's snuffle, or the rearrangement of Farmer Growler's IPs. But the actual working of the system in some quiet and hitherto contented rural parish is a grievous evil. The Dissenting minister or close-fisted farmer of the place, who have hitherto contented themselves with an occasional grumble at the trifling illipost which they know they are in fairness bound to pay, are exhorted to a systematic resistance, and initiated into the sublime mysteries of " agita tion." They are stimulated by high examples to beat up recruits from house to house, and enlist them by the bribe of a prospective three farthings in the pound to be saved out of the repairs of the parish church. Pride is appealed to as well as cupidity. What a glorious thing it will be to muster a majority on the poll, after the example of the dissidents in the neighbour ing manufacturing town, to floor the parson and astonish the churchwardens ! And not pride only, but " envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness" are called into play. What a chance for paying off grudges ! The minority is swelled by a dozen angry men—from the apothecary, whose wife was omitted from the Squire's last dinner-party, to the labourer, whose son was whipped for lying at the Rector's school. Whether the resistance thus reinforced prove successful or not, the parish is divided and dis quieted, and the Anti-Church-Rate League are in their glory. They point to the unhappy com munity which they have convulsed, in the one case as " the latest triumph of the Voluntary principle," in the other as " a distressing instance of the baneful influence of Church-rates." The old " Church-rate martyr " dodge is worn out. Since some canny, decorous Quakers devised the notable scheme of leaving out a few silver spoons, or the family teapot, to be seized by the collector, and receiving them back from the nearest silversmith's brighter than they went, with a small bill for " cleaning plate," the soi disant sufferer for conscience-sake attracts no sympathy even from those who believe in con scientious frauds. We have now not martyr dom, but persecution ; and MI ALL and Co. are accomplished persecutors. 771 Now, though it is most true that Churchmen are not to blame for this abominable system, they must, we admit, be prepared to put an end to it even at some sacrifice. And we trust to Lord DERBY'S Government to show itself truly Con servative by finding the means of doing this without abandoning the great principle of a recognized legal provision for the maintenance of the fabrics of the Church. The Whigs forgot, or purposely forbore, to pass such a measure, when it would have been a far easier task than it is at this day: it is for the present Government again to stand in favourable contrast to their faineant predecessors. We trust that while with drawing from political Dissenters all ground and opportunity for future agitation on this subject, they will not take an exaggerated view either of their numbers or of their influence. It does not require much of either to create a nuisance. BurixE's admirable simile of the " half-dozen grasshoppers under the fern" is as true as ever—we might say truer. Facilities for itine rant agitators—cheap circulation for puff or slander—what are they but additional echoes in the field which " rings with the importunate chink" of the "meagre, shrivelled, insignificant, insects of the hour!" THE ROYAL VISIT TO CHERBOURG. THE Cherbourg festivities, fireworks and all, have "gone off" brilliantly. The weather has been fait expres, the spectacle a ravir, and countless international attentions have been offered and received a raimable. The only con trelems of which we have heard has been in the case of sundry M.P.s, who for want of the Go vernment stamp (there seems no ground for im puting the want of address) got, as it were, into the dead-letter office. The only foul play was in the case of " Banshee v. Frederick William," where, we trust, the damages were not heavy. Good humour, kindly feeling, hearty enjoy ment, seem to have been the order of the day. What marvel, then, that our anti-Gallican alarmists are beyond measure afflicted ! Their sage suspicions, their patriotic protests, their de clamatory warnings, not only have proved groundless, but have been cruelly neglected. No mischief has arisen spontaneously—in the broad vernacular " promiscuously,"—and they have not even been able to make any ! A recent number of the Standard illustrated, humorously enough, the unheeded pugnacity of the Univers by that of the legendary Irishman at Donnybrook. " Past twelve o'clock, and no row yet ! Will any " jantleman tread upon my coat !" This is the present mood and tone of the Times and its fellow-labourers in the vineyard of national enmities. They are not only prepared to quarrel at the shortest notice, and on the easiest terms; they are full of wrath against both nations for not being quarrelsome. According to the eter nal fitness of things, France and England ought, ere this, to have been at loggerheads. The bas tions of Cherbourg, instead of dazzling with feux d'artifices, ought to have amazed the English flo tilla with a feu d'enfer, and the guns which saluted the Royal yacht ought to have been all double-shotted. If these demands of destiny have not been satisfied, it is not the fault of our news paper belligerents. They disclaim responsibility for the failure, and have no mercy for the delin quents. England, in particular, ought to be ashamed of herself for not protesting against the completion of the Cherbourg defences as an overt act of hostility for not " considering herself as kicked." Now, a certain amount of irrascibility on the part of the Palmerstonian journal is appropriate and excusable. To have eaten much dirt gratis— to have failed in inducing the House to uphold Lord PALMERSTON or the nation to regret him— to have in vain recommended first cringing to the Emperor and then quarrelling with him— may well have raised the wrath, as it has lowered the influence, of the Times. But we are pained to see other journals of better character, though smaller circulation, taking the same line in reference to French affairs, with no other apparent object than to show that they can be more delicately abusive, more ingeniously pro voking, than the splenetic satirists of Printing house-square. Evea were it true, as has been sections with native princes has so often resem bled that of the man and the horse in the fable— we have so often, to use another old illustration, devoured the oyster for which two litigants were contending—that we cannot be surprised if our neg lect of immediate restoration should be viewed with somewhat suspicious eyes. Shorapore is as much the property of the Nizam, and by its Rajah's act is as justly forfeited by his supreme power, as was ever any fief of the middle ages. We ought immediately to return it, and to make it clear that we do so not as a matter of favour but as part of the ordinary course of our justice. And we ought to do more than this. We are not prepared to say what particular mark of ap probation should be bestowed on the Nizam in consideration of his efficient support—that is a matter which is best settled in India ; but that some signal testimony . of our gratitude should be shown, no one who is conversant with Indian affairs will think of denying. We are doing much to punish those who have wronged us ; let us hope that the case of those who have lent such efficient aid, and whose just rights are still trembling in suspense, will receive the early at tention of the Indian Government. RADICAL AGITATION. Jr we have at times expressed our indignation at the bad logic and bad faith with which the organs of the Opposition make Conservatives and Conservatism answerable for evils which they have struggled in vain to prevent, or vilify them by anticipation for measures which they are guilt less of contemplating, it was not from any wish to exempt Lord DERBY'S Government from Con servative responsibilities. We expect many real reforms at their hands which we might in vain have hoped for from men who deliberately left the nation's work in arrear, and drew promissory notes on the bank of fancy to balance actual defi ciencies in legislation. But at the same time we call on them to resist with all their energies and at all personal hazards sundry perilous changes miscalled reforms which the via inertia of Whiggery in office would have postponed inde finitely, but which Whigs in opposition will encourage or connive for the faintest chance of a return to office. Foremost among such changes we have always placed the Ballot and the Aboli tion of Church-rates. The former offers impu nity to corruption and a premium for lying ; the latter would be simply the triumph of a conspi racy to defraud. The advocates of these two measures are at present in very different positions, and will need to be encountered in different ways. They are both alike busy, both alike noisy ; but the former class, the worshippers of lying, cannot disguise their consciousness of failure—the latter, the apostles of larceny, are visibly overflowing with joyous anticipations of success. Something may be learnt tom ards our future guidance both from the similarity of their modes of action and from the difference of the results attained. And, first, as to the Ballot agitation. We inserted in our number of last week an " Address to the Public" recently put forth by the " Executive Committee of the Society for Promoting the Adoption of Vote by Ballot." The name is wonderfully sonorous, reminding us of the " Deputy -livery-stable-keeper's second assistant's occasional under-helper," and seems to promise Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatn ? Marry, to a thoroughgoing Ballotmonger the contents of the add ress mus t be rather unsatis factory. After showing that there was a majority against the Ballot in 1856 of forty, "pairs in cluded," in 1857 of sixty-eight, and in 1858 of ninety-seven, it proceeds with unintentional frankness :—" This state of things shows pro gress• (!) It is the result of the labours of the " society, of the personal exertions gratuitously 41 given of members of the executive committee, and of a systematic course of (1) Parliamen tary, (2) electoral, and (3) educational agita " tion." The " progress" we readily acknowledge, and long may it conti nue ! I t i s t h e rea l progress o f political honesty and enlightened public opinion —a progress due to the manly, straightforward character of Englishmen, and marked_ by in-