The Press. — London, England, 1855-11-17 00:00:00

1094 ignorance was less so. Education taught a man the necessity of labour. It taught him V) respect the property of others. ➢len were fur the most part content to toil, if thereby they could earn a fair share of the enjoyments of life. If isolated and uncared fur they became discontented and dissatisfied. The obvious remedy was to bring men as much as possible to resemble themselves—to take an interest in the same thing, and to think and feel as they did. To add to povet Ly and hard labour, ignorance, and every other degradation ; to render it impossible that one half of the community should sympathise with the other, was not the way to bring about the desired improvement in the condition of the labouring classes. After contending for a higher remuneration for labour, lower poor rates, and a better system of education, without which latter point, he observed, religious instruction had little effect, the dean con cluded with a fervent prayer for the success of the schools they had met that day to establish. LORD JOHN RUSSELL AT EXETER HALL. Ow Tuesday evening last Lord John Russell deli vered, at the request of the committee of the Young Men's Christian Association, the opening lecture of the usual winter series. The subject chosen by the noble lord was " The Obstacles which have Retarded Moral and Political Progress." Lord JOHN RUSSELL, after a passing allusion to the concluding lecture of the last series in 11454, upon the " Opposition to Great Inventions and Discove ries," came at once to his subject, and grounded his lecture upon the assertion that we should find the greatest obstacles which have interposed to moral and political progress are such as arose from misap prehension of the functions, and a misapplication of the powers, of civil government. First, considering the varied functions and extensive objects of civil government, which embraced the protection of life and property, the promotion of religion and instruc tion, ant the security of the independence of the nation, his lordship proceeded to show that the argu ments asserting the duty of governments, in addition to these functions, was to prescribe the limits of inquiry, and to guide opinion on all moral and even physical subjects, were hollow, inconclusive, and the origin of great evils to mankind. Quoting a conver sation from Boswell, in which Johnson asserted that liberty of thought did not justify liberty of speech, Lord John Russell remarked that Johnson's principles were false, and that such a doctrine would prevent all moral and political progress : Is every man who has made a physical discovery to ask the civil magistrate whether his demonstration is at variance with some ignorant interpretation of the Scriptures before be ventures to publish it to the world? But, to meet the objection in front, is be who deems more highly of his God than the emperor or highpriest of his day, to hide his light under a bushel because the civil or ecclesiastical ruler does not like to b.! disturbed? Why not permit the free circulation of truth and error—leave to truth its own all•sufficient armour, and to error its own stratagems and delusions—( cheers )—leave argument to be met by argument, assertion by inquiry? Dr. Johnson and others contend that governments have the right and duty to control their subjects, as parents control children. The friends of religious liberty content that go vernments have no such right, and have no special capacity to fit them for the task. A Roman historian speaks of the rare felicity of his time, when a man was allowed to think as he chose and to speak as he thought. This rare felicity is the common birthright of mankind. It is the source of all knowledge ; the privilege which elevates the nature of man; one of the most precious of the gifts of God— What is a man If his chief good, and market of his time, Be but to sleep and feed ?—a beast, no more. Sure he that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and godlike reason To rust in us unused. With regard to the truth of the assertion that restric tions placed upon religious freedom tended to pre serve the peace and order of society, the noble lord, in his inquiry how far history sanctioned this asser tion, quo•ed the great facts of the punishment of the early Christians, the persecution of the Reformers in the Low Countries, the religious wars in France, and the revocation of the edict of Nantes, as memorable and undeniable proofs that such restrictions rent society to its foundations, and that liberty of con science alone permitted peace among men. Al hiding then briefly to the persecutions in England, and to the question of rests ictive import duties in our own time, as one of the evidences of impediments interposed by governments to moral and political progress, Lord John Russell proceeded to consider under the three heads, of " Intemperance," Want of Education," and the " Vices of the Rich," bow far the people themselves in the present day ob a improvement. Human nature is so prone to evil, that to rely upon the institutions of civilisation alone to restrain such tendencies, the noble lord contended, was an error, and instanced the fall of the Roman Empire, and the French Revolutions, as proof that the conventional rules of society were insufficient to subdue the vicious inclination of mankind; and that, as to the rules of Christian morality, we can alone look for a higher and better social organisation than has yet been reached in the history of the world. THE PRESS. In conclusion, Lord John Russell addressed him self especially to the "Young Men" of this country To each one of us—to you young men of the United Kingdom more especially— belongs a portion of the noble task of speeding our country on her great and glorious way, by walking steadfastly in the full light of such truths as we already possess, and by hastening the noonday bright ness of such as are only dawning. Let it not be the reproach of any one of us that, born in a land where the laws acknowledge that thought and speech are free, we have yet ever lent the helping hand of custom, folly, or intoler ance to extinguish one spark of that divine flame which we call the soul, or ever turned away from a righteous and peaceable endeavour to loosen the fetters that still bind it throughout the world. You have many dangers to en counter. Of these I will only mention two. One is the danger of allowing the Bowing waters of Christianity to be embittered by the gall of sectarian and polemical con troversy. Your chances of achieving good would be destroyed by such an error. Another danger is that which has attended so many noble attempts, so many great institutions, so many pious undertakings. The first ardour of zeal abates; difficulties which at first were molehills, grow into mountains, enthusiasm subsides into apathy. Avoid these errors; go on improving; faint not in a good and great work ; the blessing of God will reward your enterprise. - - - • - - - The noble lord then resumed his seat amid loud applause. After a vote of thanks moved by the Hon. and Rev. M. Villiers, and carried unanimously, the Doxology was sung, and the assembly broke up. The hall was densely crowded in every part., and Lord John Russell was received warmly. Lord Shaftesbury took the chair, and Lord Panmure and Mr. Vernon Smith occupied prominent places on the platform. MR. GLADSTONE ON THE COLONIES. MR. GLADSTONE, at Chester, on Monday evening, delivered a lecture upon the Colonies—the same subject he chose a short time since at Hawarden. Alter briefly referring to the importance of the ques tion, and quoting the emigration returns as an indi cation cf one reason why this subject was worthy of attention, Mr. Gladstone proceeded to discuss briefly whether, it was desirable England should possess colonies at all, and at some length, if it were desir able, in what manner they should be founded and governed. "A desire for the acquisition of gold" was the original motive, Mr. Gladstone asserted, which led men to found colonies ; and he regarded it as a wise dispensation of Providence that the delusions of men were made the instruments of the advance of civilisation. After examining the various prevalent ideas on the advantages of colonies, Mr. Gladstone asserted as his opinion that colonies were alone desirable because they created and developed trade, and because under a wise system of colonisa tion they were devised to produce moral and social results eminently calculated to benefit mankind. On the true principles of colonisation Mr. Gladstone observed en passant that the Greek systenwas about as perfect as their age admitted, and that ours, in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and part of the eighteenth centuries, was conceived in the "true spirit of British freedom." This age, when, in the words of Burke, " through a wise and salutary neglect, a generous Nature bad been suffered to take her own way to perfection," he regarded as the Golden Age ; that which immediately preceded and followed the American war, when commercial monopoly prevailed, he classed as the Silver Age ; while from 1783 to 1840, when an obnoxious interference with the local affairs of the Colonies was the custom of Downing street, and the affections of the colonists alienated by a system of oppression and petty jealousy, he classed as the Brazen Age ; and from that date to the present hour, when more liberal notions pre vailed—when the local affairs of the Colonies were administered by themselves, and English institutions no longer forced down the throats/of the colonists— he looked upon as indicative of a return to the true principles of colonisation:— The Colonies must feel no yoke on their necks, but let them understand that the relation between them and us was a relat-on of affection, and they might rely upon it that a great reward would be reaped in the posseAsion of that affection unbroken and unbounded, and in all the grandeur which it would add to the renown, already so great, of this country. Defend them against foreign aggression; regu late their foreign relations ; these things belong to the colonial connection with this country. Of the duration of that colonial connection let them be the judges. I say, and, moreover, I predict, that if you leave them that free dom of judgment it is hard to say when the day will come that they will wish to separate from this great nation. (Cheers.) Depend upon it they ought to have a share of your fame. There is so much public feeling in Parliament and throughout the country upon this subject that now I trust we shall see to the constant extension of these prin ciples ; and, for my own part, I shall rejoice in having lived at a period when a change in colonial government has been brought about which promises much advantage to a country having such claims upon mankind as England—a change of system in which we have really made a transition from misfortune, Irom folly—almost, in some cases, from mad ness and from crime—to the rules of justice, of reason, of nature, and of common sense. A vote of thanks to the right hon. gentleman having been moved and passed, the proceedings terminated. SATURDAY, giution 3ntelligtiut. LONDON.—There is a rumour about that it is the intention of Lord Palinerston's friends to endeavour to obtain the return of the noble lord for the City of London at the next general election. It is even stated that arrangements are now in progress to secure that event, but at present we believe there is no ground for this assertion. SOUTHWAAK.—The writ for this borough was issued on Thursday. The sheriff has appointed Tuesday next for the day of nomination. As Sir Charles Napier is the only candidate in the field, it is pro bable that no hustings will be erected, and the pro ceedings confined to the Town-hall. MD...TH.—Dr. Cantwell and the Roman Catholic electors are likely to differ in their choice of a candidate for this county. The Bishop has declared for Mr. McEvoy, and his clergy have protested against what they call this " premature choice." Mr. McEvoy's success in canvassing, as yet, has been partial. Mr. Farrell, Mr. E. Lucas (brother of the late member), and Mr. Sharman Crawford are spoken of as about to contest the county, but Mr. Meredyth it is believed will win the election. KILMARNOCK.—The Right Hon. H. E. Bouverie, M.P., on Monday last addressed his constituents in the Town-hall at Kilmarnock. The honourable gentleman commenced his address by an explanation of the severity of the duties connected with Parlia mentary life, and of the trifling results achieved in the last session, which he attributed to the House having been "disordered by contests," and " split up into factions." He then expressed his opinion that the present war was not only just and necessary, but unavoidable, as the time had at length arrived when the grasping ambition of Russia must be checked by the Western powers for their own national security. In conclusion Mr. Bouverie flattered his constituents by eloquent allusions to the " brilliant " feats of arms we had achieved this year, and stated, as his opinion, that we had made substantial progress towards the attainment of the object of the war, though the right honourable gentleman carefully abstained from committing him self to a definition of what that object consisted. tiant. The late bible-burning at Kingstown by the Redemptorist Fathers has created a great sensation in Dublin. Many letters corroborating the tads as they were first stated daily appear in the papers, and a memorial on the 'subject is in course of signature for presentation to the Lord Lieutenant. Militia riots of a serious character have been fre quent this week, large bodies of the men attacking the police, breaking windows, and committing great excesses. The principal ringleaders have been apprehended and imprisoned fur various terms. A meeting among the leading barristers has been held to consider the proposition for raising a testi monial to the memory of the late Lord Chancellor Plunket. Mr. Beecham, the last victim in King's County, is slowly recovering from his wounds. A Government Commission to inquire into the circumstances attending the murder of Miss Hinds, is expected to be issued shortly. Several Rockite notices calling upon the " men of Carlow to stied blood and shoot the commissioner of a Liverpool firm," has been posted about the walls of that town. M. HERR VON DER PFORDTEN, the Bavarian Minis ter, whose late visit to the Tuileries has excited some remark, is supposed to have come to Paris for the purpose of arranging the affairs of Greece with France. The state of affairs at Athens, the close relationship of King Otho to the Sovereign of Bavaria, and the preparation of a separate French squadron for the Mediterranean, give colour to the statement. LORD TRURO died on Sunday last in his seventy third year, after a long illness. For the last two sessions the ex-Chancellor had been compelled to cease attendance in the Lords from increasing infir mities. More eminent as an advocate and as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas than celebrated as Chancellor, Lord Truro has descended into the grass at a ripe age, and after a life, if not of brilliant, at least of arduous services. SIR EDMUND LYONS AND THE FRENCH ADMIRAL, it is said in the camp, when off Odessa telegraphed home to their respective Governments about destroy ing the city. The replies were, from England, "By all means ;" from France, " By no means." THE AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENT, with a view to lighten the difficulties connected with the passport system which English travellers experience in Austria, has consented that a passport which is at present valid only for three years, shall be held good for another three years on being properly visid by an English embassy.