The Express.
London, England, 1868-04-29 00:00:00

MR. HOME.

THE evidence given by the defendant yesterday
in the cause of " Limas v. Hone," puts formally
upon record the creed of the Spiritualists as pro-
pounded by their great master Mr. HOME. We
now see what it is that the boasted thousands of
believers believe in, and we have, on indisputable
authority, the tenets of the new faith. We shall
take leave to analyse these, without of course
referring to the matters in dispute. We find Mr.
Home stating deliberately in open court, " I
" have seen spirits and conversed with them
" orally. They have called to me in sounds
" audible to my ear, and I have talked to them.
" . . . . The language used by the spirits
" is exceedingly beautiful and elevated ;" and
then, as if in proof of this last assertion, " The
" •lphabe: is slowly. called or pointed at, and
" when a sound is given that indicates that •
" letter is to be taken down." It is a little chill-
ing after this remarkable testimony to the thrill-
ing eloquence of the spirits to find Mr.
Hone only " supposing" they " are as intelligent
"as mortals," particularly as the words quoted
by him as from another world, "Do not, my
" darling Jesis, say, alas, the light of other days
" for ever tied ;' the light is with you ; CHeatas
" lives and loves you," have a positively uxorious
and earthly flavour. But after learning that Mr.
Hosts and others " have been bodily displaced in
" violation of the ordinary laws of gravity," and
that "chairs and tables have been moved in the
" same way," we are told that the " useful result
" of spiritualism"—that is, upsetting Mr. Hume
and maltreating furniture—lies "in convincing
" those who did not believe in it of the immor-
" tality of the soul." The sight of the hardened
atheist, the daring materialist, and the
philosophic scoffer brought to a sense of Truth by
the gyrations of Mr. Home's mahogany needs a
second RAPHAEL to do it justice in a cartoon. But
Mr. Hone only counsels belief in the monitions
of his unearthly friends when their advice "stands
" to reason," so that the troubled mind eagerly
seeking a solution to the great problems of hu-
manity might be disappointed after all. If a
spirit told Mr. Hone to cut his right hand off be
would not do it ; if it ooinmanded him to consult
a certain doctor, he would prudently ascertain his
standing iu the profesaion. Moreover, these spirits
could not be brought into court, and too often
keep silence in the presence of unbelievers. If
You have perfect faith, the answers can be inter-
preted with such rapidity that you have difficulty
in noting the process ; but if you are an unbeliever
they decline to speak at all. Further, " there are
all kinds of spirits, as there are on earth," and
one of these, according to • rival spiritualist of
Mr. Home, • high-priestess whose worldly name
is Bssev, counselled Mrs. LYON to go to law, and
to be firm.

TILL vote of censure ou the Government which
Sir RouNDELL PALNEN will move on account of the
instructions to the GovanNos of 'Fieroma to sanc-
tion the grant to Lady DARLING, is open to much
discussion. Many eminent liberals are of opinion
that constitutional government would have
ceased to be possible in the colony if
Mr. DlAN:teas Burros had persisted, under
directions from the COLONIAL Dinturras, in
vetoing the vote of the Representative Assembly
after a general election had ratified the decision
come to in the same sense by their predecessors.
Mr. ADDERLEII has just presented &petition to par-
liament from Sir CHARLIE; DARLuto, inwhich a lucid
and effective statement of the various stages in the
dispute is given. Sir CRARLEB admit& that the
principle of making legislative grants of money or
other gratuities to governors of colonies,
subject to the approval of the Crown,
is distimtly recognised in the colonial service ; but
is presenting this que►tion to the consideration of