Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-10-15 00:00:00

OCTOBER 15, 159.

In that Shire-hall of Wakefield ? No wonder
that Mr: BRIGHT manifested such keen resent-
ment at the censorious doggedness of Mr. ROE-
BUCK, who insisted on the necessity of a Corn-
Mission. Would it have been believed, that a
meek and stedfast follower of Mr. BRIGHT should
have been actually guilty of the worst offences of
the "selfish four hundred ; " of those very
Mmes for the which . they now rest under
11Ir. BRIGHT'S final sentence, and for the which
Mr. UATriAm is to join in their punishment
and overthrow ? Convict one of the family
of BRIGHT of using improper influence and
coercion! It is too true. Mr. LEATHAM—who
told it by degrees, and as if every word were a
drop of blood from nearest his heart—Mr. LEA-
TIIAM had to confess to his having in several
instances withdrawn his custom from tradesmen,
Who had done him the marked indignity of with-
holding from him their votes ! The lowly but
once virtuous family of BRIGHT is henceforth
stained with the lordly vices of the aristocracy ;
awl, judging from the ill-concealed vanity of its
,chef, we should think would now hold up its
head and cast in its lot with the ruling class.
There was but one thing necessary to complete
the equality so much vaunted at Huddersfield.
Mr. BRIGHT had already all the wit, all the beauty,
all the Physical strength, all the refined and inex-
pressible tone, all the learning, and all the genius
°f the aristocracy. He can now boast that a
BRIGHT can also withhold his patronage with as
1111'01 arrogance, and resent the insult of a
tradesman pretending to have a will of his own
ith as much severity and decision, as the proudest
x
°l'm", of them all.
Yet we are getting to pity these detected char-
latans.e Surely they have been tortured long
eli °ugh. They have been stretched upon the rack
f
this rough Commission until almost the last
g
~ of self-respect strips off. Cannot the manes
of Vakefield' unseated and humiliated candidate
be `
Row left Ito rest ? Cannot the family of BRIGHT
for the
atio residue of a parliamentary recess be
v, ed.
'sleep in peace?
-LO-

j114)1/IcanottAm's opening address to the Social
_Spence
have r,;,.
~
Association, the other day, appears to
v wdei.`e' a good deal of remark. Of course,
Ila'
-Vet upon which that noble and learned
Lord's „4.-.1
"Ltents are brought to bear, is sure to be
made interesting, however barren it ;might be in
41ny other hands. Indeed, it is as surprising as it
i 8
gratifying to see the octogenarian, with all the
Thn
-Lental fire and energy of earlier days, yet tem-
"Pered 1,....y age and moderated 133 experience, ap-
-I)l3ring himself to the social amelioration of the
1,
'reatlamily of mankind, of which, in the ordi-
rtarY'e°urse of nature, he cannotilong continue a
Th
einber• He inaugurates his address by remark-
g,in the words of Lord BACON, long ago, that
‘PIN)PosaI has wings,
One•is apt to be disappointed that even well-laid
Plans are se sl pp
fulfilled, and that the evils
rwhi'eh thty are
gradually re intended to correct are only very
moved by them. Net even though
933' this our expectations are disappointed, it is
uot.without some advantage and one remark
tf Lord linotTGßAm's is especially commendable
lo`the consideration and reflection©f those whose
warmth of disposition, an d impulsive temper-
athnient, may lead them to seek to reform every-
comes under their;review at once
---nan'elY, that "reasonable men are satisfied
wi th
athe postponement af the thing they so
:"°uslY desire, by the reflection that all
“ -411*, to be safe, must be gradual, and to be
:an iTh__
, -"provement must be the result of expe-
rteuce.l the teacher,but sovereign c0r-
,,,, great
"nr, Which not only =lst preside over the
or,„
''
----`l4°ll of our plans, but guide ~us in their
"‘tr",,e:ntiBn." Then, after reviewing the indirect
awed- which this Social Science Association has
z -' even upon foreign countries, .where, it
,LlPears, ita operations are watched with careful
mention, .more particularly is Russia;; and ad-
virtt lug to the voluminous correspondence it has
80ciet1es abroad ; his Lordship Proceeded to
121411
tattle so
rae most pertinent remarks orittli Sani-
stlaws iintroduced into Parliament .by Lord
ArclEstuitr.
test' me
+ •
oi,, -nony of one of such exten§ive-alitain-
t -I* 'and of such matured experience, as Lord
1:17"41NI, deserves to be received with -the ut-
thl4‘ C4ll3l3idOrEttioll ; and that which he bears to
e 4stacter ;and condition of the worltiag
tociaB3" 4 mgt salient, and most seasonable. Only
justl
this ln_
h -. , and too correctly, does he say,ctf
``t al,...4e;lnnereus and important body, that "if not
r ~ perni Itesetting sin, certainly their =oat
"in ,„ e°llB failings, are improvidence and
~ trnitteranee ; :and as there can be no
~ theater evil than what proceed from
'rem sources, it is fortunate that a
``pos e'Y
can be applied, certainly to mitigate,
two sibly
evils„ even to effect an absolute cure." These
skatei, then, there can be no doubt, are intl.-
~
04, 3" e°llllected together. " The great problem
1,,,, s°cittl eeonom ~ • • well said by Mr.
-"nixt , Y, it is
4' Wovir; `-'l-ARKE in 1857, " is, how to help the
--...in,„,
LI own moil
CiaSSeS to keep themselves with their
notion Pt eY,"
tud----to instil into them provident
--,
'tab' to enable them to acquire provident
"8.
?ennY 13 k
have
among other expedients,
been ejita an 8, .
turio,
~,_, , bushed; and in populous manu fac-
the
pwuin Lriets have been found to work well :
of bein 3' has been saved and deposited, instead
arid, altg wasted
and dissipated at the gin-shop ;
c h"gb. the sum is not frequently allowed
OD 'rem_ .
a.in long
eve" in hand, yet something is gained,
"if the visit to the public-house is only post-
poned' The next period of return may be nior e
protracted ; and thus, it is to be hoped, a good
habit
,has been substituted for an evil one, even
although its practice may have been of short dura-
licm. The present Rector of Warrington, the Rev.

WILLIAM QUEKETT, whilst one of the London
Clergy, successfully established a Penny Bank in
his parochial district of Christ Church, Watney-
street, among a population the most improvident
and intemperate in the metropolis. And this is a
remedy heartily accepted and approved of by
Lord BROUGHAM, as eminently calculated to, en-
gender thrift among the industrial classes. Now,
what remedy is there for the other great and
too universal social ill, which as a plague spot
is consuming the very vitals of society ? What
can be done to arrest the excessive predilection
for ardent spirits among the people ? It is the
source of crime and of poverty—of the latter it
must of necessity be, since want ever follows in
the wake of waste. Education, as generally
understood, is only a palliative,—it does not
effect a cure. " There cannot," says Lord
BROUGHAM, "be a greater fallacy than to set
" its effect in repressing crime against the
" habit of intemperance ; and it is a dangerous
" fallacy for men to rely upon the improvement
" in character, and its effect in controlling the
passions, as sufficient to counteract the direct
" tendency of intemperance, answering the call
" for repressive measures by bidding us trust
"to education. Intemperance attacks even
" persons of cultivated minds; spreads havoc
" widely- among the multitudes of our inferior
" orders ; and fills our workhouses and our gaols."

And what, then, can Social Science do for so
subtle, so strong, often so irresistible a propensity
as this ? What can any secular and scientific
means of repression do? Lord BROUGHAM
seems to think that the Maine Law may be
effectual, and points to the United States. But
it is a delusion to suppose that, either there or
anywhere else, that expedient has anything but a
precarious and a temporary effect. No : it is not
moral means alone that can suppress the vice of
intemperance. The propensity to it must be
overcome ; and for this the aid of diviner influences
must be sought, than Social Science can ever
suggest or appropriate. It is " out of the heart"
that the evil arises; and it is religious, not moral
or social means, by which the heart can be
changed. There is no sound or reliable theory of
moral or social duty that has not religion as its
vital element,—an element, however, which too
many of our Social Science professors are •apt to
ignore ; thus asserting an all-sufficiency that of
itself is utterly insufficient, and trusting to human
where only a divine operation can ever 'be fully
available. Wisdom," it has been observed, "is
"oftentimes nearer when we stoop than when
"we soar." Yet how common is it for science,—
" philosophy, falsely so-called,"—to habitually
disdain the humbler and holier, and adopt only
the prouder and more pretentious expellent !