The Press. — London, England, 1858-05-01 00:00:00

eighteen centuries, as a triumphant proof of the Divine inspiration of the books of Moses. Yet some persons seem to expect, and to de sire, that that isolation may shortly cease. The class of which we are now speaking hold that that isolation will never cease; that Israel will never lose its national character, and that its last days will be its best days. On this point many passages of Scripture seem to be mos t clear and conclusive. Such as Isaiah, xi., 11, 12:— " And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shiner, and from Ilamath, and from the islands of the sea. "And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." And Isaiah, 11., 9-15:— "Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of rarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee. " And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee : for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee. " therefore thy gates shall be open con- tinually ; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. "For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish ; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. "The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of IsraeL " Whereas thou halt been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will mike thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations." Anil if it be said that these were prophecies uttered before the coming of CHRIS:, and that in the Christian Church all these things have been figuratively fulfilled, the answer is plain. St. PAUL, writing after the formation of the Christian Church, still alludes to the return of the Jews as a great event, still future, and still to be greatly desired. He says (Romans, xi., 11, 12, 15, 25, 26) : " I say then. Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. "Now ifthe fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; bow much more their ful ness ? For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the re ceiving of them be, but life from the dead? "For I would not, brethren, that yo should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits ; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. Awl so all Israel shall be saved : as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." Thus, harmonizing ISAIAH and ST. PAUL, those who adopt this view arrive at the distinct conclusion, that a great and glorious destiny remains for Israel in their own land And, so believing, it is natural that they should not favour any plan, which, by rooting them in the English soil, and conforming them to English habits and English institutions, would tend to bind them to this "land of their exile," and to divert their thoughts from that inheritance which is inalienably and for ever their own. These views are naturally said to be roman tic, by those who have not much entered into the subject. But, in truth, every thing con• netted with the history of this wonderful people is romantic. What is it but romantic to THE PRESS, MAY 1,1858. fall into company with a gentleman, and to know, in a moment, by his countenance, that he is, beyond all doubt, the descendant of an old Eastern patriarch, who lived and died in Chaldea and in Canaan, some 3,800 years ago ? The fact is, that all the above passages of Scripture, which are read to us once or twice in each year in the lessons of our Church, are full of wondrous meaning —unless, indeed, we prefer to assert that they have no meaning at all. However, we have here described the two leading ideas which at present divide Con servatives on this question, and which it ought to be every good man's wish to reduce, as soon as possible, into harmony and union. Correspanence. "LEVELLING," AND MR. BRIGHT'S BIRMINGHAM LETTER. TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PRE SS ." Sir,—Every thing has its price. The blessings of civilization are not gifts ; they are bought by labour and sacrifice, and, like unto all precious things associated with and inseparable from the existence of society, they require continuous watchfulness. That the institutions, laws, and interests of a nation should demand the attention of the active minds of the age is, considered by itself, a very desirable feature; it is, however, not less desirable that the various projects promulgated should be subjected to discussion. In the last age there existed a class of politicians opprobriously, but aptly, designated " levellers." They did not by any means contemplate an agrarian equality; they only meant the abroga tion of certain privileges enjoyed by a favoured few, and the establishment of something in fact, if not in name, resembling a republic. The successful revolt of the American colonists, followed by the French revolution of 1789, created a discussion of principles throughout Europe which quickened thought, and long afterwards left certain sediments in British society ; among these was the theory of " levelling. I had hoped that changed times and circumstances had dissipated the notion of "levelling" es a means of national improvement. It was therefore with astonishment that I observed lately that the mantle of the " levellers " had fallen upon the shonlders of Mr. Bright, and that there exists the possibiiity of his appearing in that character before his constituents in Birmingham. " Levelling" is a mechanical pro cess, and may without much ,difficulty be under stood. " Separate the Church from the State, and bring down the Churchman to an equality with the Dissenter—that is political levelling." What then ? Those who go to chapel and meeting-house are just as particular about the rights of Chapel property as are Churchmen about Church property. Allow the Church to retain her property, and the " levelling " will not make any very great difference to the position of parties. " Turn the bishops out of the House of Lords." Be it so. Legislation in the Upper House will not consequently be more democratic than it is now. The Lord Spiritual is generally as watchful of the interests of the working men as the Lord Temporal. "Take the property away from the Church." Very well. Give the pro perty thus taken to the squire ; the rector generally spends as much of his income in his parish as any other resident. That step will fail to ameliorate the condition of the working men. "Appropriate the Church property to national purposes." Realize this object, the distribution of the annual income of the Church will do very little towards alleviating the wants of the many. A word on the " rights of property." Can the trustees of chapels, the owners of lands or of mills, show a more valid title to pos. session than the Church ? For the present an answer is not pressed fir ; let the " levelling " pro ceed. " Abolish the House of Lords ; it is a house of obstructives." Just so. Dukes and lords, with or without titles, will continue to possess the heredi. tat) , acres, and a few of them will find their way into the ouse of Commons; the remainder will follow the pursuits most congenial to their position, tastes, habits, and desires, very much, in all impor tant respects (legislation apart), as they now do. Jews will then sit in Parliament; but as pauperism was not materially influenced in the City by London having a Jew for Lord Mayor, cateris paribus, the admission of Jews to Parliament will not operate very powerfully on the homes and hearths of the working men. " Wipe out the National Debt." Most admirable, particularly in the absence of the House of Lords, and with the Jews to assist in legislation The question of property again 413. intervenes, and possibly the fundholder may not be enabled to establish a better claim to dividends than the Church to her lands. " There is no need for standing on trifles ; the Crown had better be got rid of and its property confiscated !" " Confis cated;' that is the word. A convention is held in Birmingham to consider the propriety of removing the seat of government from London. A Lancashire delegate rises and avers that he is of opinion that the proposed change ought to be carried out—that he likes it very well. In Lancashire fashion, he gives a description of his own life, and, being from Rochdale, he refers to two generations of the Brights. John's father began the world with very humble means, and died wealthy, a virtuous old man. John and his brothers, having a good start, and being of prudent and thrifty habits, have increased the family riches. Reasonably enough, it occurs to several delegates that, under all the institutions complained of, the Brights have made fortunes—that the most striking inequality in Lancashire is to be found in the riches of a few millowners and the poverty of their "hands"! " Levelling " might then proceed in another direction. Long before these changes, and others which it is not necessary to name, could be effected, there would be no talk of emigration from Birmingham! War would be the nation's trade, and gunmaking at a premium ! Nations, not by any means under the influence of the " Peace Society," would be wishful to sack th 3 sea girt isle of her riches (it is to be hoped the invaders would not be sumeesful), and to make her the appanage of a foreign Crown ! Mr. Bright's proposal of perma nently improving the condition of the people by a reduction of national expenditure is ridiculous. In the absence of all the "levelling" surmised, any reduction of taxes would be trifling. The realization of the changes suggested would be a revolution with out a remedy. A reduction of taxes, so far as the national wants will allow, is certainly very well in its way—the saving rather than the spending of a na tion's substance. As a remedial measure for low wages and lack of employment, a reduc tion of taxes is next to powerless. To lead the working men to hope for an important and per manent improvement in their condition by reduced taxes and changes in the form of government in this country is absurd. Those who know the United States are fully aware that the luxurious habits of the wealthy Americans are often above those of the same class in monarchical England ; that the principal safety-valve of the Government and the people in the Republic has been an increased and continuous agricultural development. Neither the form of government, nor the low taxation of the United States, has saved the population from suffering and destitution. These ev►ls have been mitigated in America because of the peculiar social arrangements of that country—the conditions under which labour has been applied, and the products of labour and land distributed. Mr. Bright may exhort his con stituents to leave England, or resolve on vigorously assisting him to change the G3vernment, and reduce the taxes. Should the working men accept the former alternative, it will he proof that they distrust the efficacy of his remedy ; if the latter, then, under the operation of " unrestricted competition," they will, assuming his desires to be realized, live to repent of their confidence. Mr. Bright commits the mistake common to all his predecessors of the " levelling " school: he and they have begun at the wrong end. To "level" downwards seems at first sight desirable, particularly to those who fancy they have nothing to lose by the process. More ample reflection would show even the working men that to " level " advantageously, the better and safer course is to level upwards. To raise the poor, rather than to humble the rich; to give to universal humanity dignity, rather than to workmen a change of masters ; and, by the first-named process, to produces homogeneity of inte rests among the various classes constituting an old and varied State. This Conservative kind of " level ling " is seldom a theme of popular oratory ; its merits, at a glance, are not sufficiently apparent to gratify the multitude. In it, notwithstanding, lies the real safety and welfare of the many ; it is, pro perly understood, the only real progrt , ss —evolution and security in contradistinction to revolution with out improvement. There is as much political as worldly wisdom in the maxim of Tacitus, " Intuta quse indecora" (those things that are unseemly are unsafe).—l am, sir, your obedient servant, FAIR TRAM April 20th, 1858. CASINST COUNCILS were held on Saturday and Thursday at the official residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in Dorning.streeL The Ministers present were :—The Earl of Derby, the Marquis of Salisbury, the Earl of Hardwicke, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Secretary Walpole, the Earl of Maltnesbury, Lord Stanley, General Peel, Sir John Pakington, the Earl of Ellenborough, the Right Hoo. J. W. Henley, and Lord John Manners. ■