Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-01-18 00:00:00

position in society.

It is truly disheartening indeed to know that,
with the exception of a very few instances on
record, that are remarkable for their very singu-
larity, the vast debt which the world owes to its
greatest and best benefactors—the men of genius
who have illumined, delighted, and adorned it—
should be paid in the cold and profitless :obla-
tions of posthumous renown. " This sort of
tribute," observes a writer, " good for nothing but
testifying the unavailing reverence, the tardy
regret of the survivors, must be gathered in mere
anticipation by the living philosopher and poet,
whose mental second-sight may reveal the orient
glory beginning to tinge the horizon in the dis-

tance, but it also descries the death shroud wrapped
and wreathed about his own spectral form inter-
spersed between the seer and his visionary triumph.
The prophet must perish before that glory is
realised." Such are the hard conditions, generally
speaking, on which genius is content to pursue
its own proud and solitary walk through this
dark and selfish work] towards the home of its
rest, and the pure and eternal fouutain of its

inspirations.
TO treat the public journalist scurvily is to
commit a grievous error, and to perpetrate a
decided wrong. He wields a power that can
affect any man's happiness• and peace of mind.
The Queen is• neither above nor is the beggar
beneath its influence ; and public indifference or
contempt may warp the current of honest intention,
and make its conductors the tools of those who
would corrupt the people. But with a free, an
honest, and a strictly moral Press they may defy
the most Machiavellian intrigues of despotic
ambition_ " Give me," said one of the , most
. eloquent men that ever adorned the House of
Commons, `Give me," said SHERIDAN, " a Press
conducted on these principles and I will give to
the minister a venal House of Peers—l will give
him a corrupt and servile House of Commons—l
will give him the full sway of the
patronage of office—l will give him the whole
host of ministerial influence—l will give him
all the power that place can confer upon him
to purchase up submssion and overawe resistance
—and yet, armed with the liberty of the Press, I
will go forth to meet him undismayed; I will
attack that mighty fabric which he has reared
with that mightier engine; I will shake down from
its height corruption, and bury it amidst the ruins
of the abuses it was meant to shelter." A public
Press, having truth and morality for its aim, is the
people's champion and the country's benefactor;
if managed on opposite principles, it becomes a
PUBLIC CURSE.

THE question of Parliamentary Reform, in the
House of Commons, like every other public
question that is taken into consideration :there,
must of course be decided by a majority of votes.
The character of any measure of Reform that is
brought forward, will of necessity have to- be
adapted to the will of a majority. Should the
Bill of Lord DERBY. be an insufficient measure, it
is the majority that must make it sufficient ;
should it go beyond the' ideas of the majority—not
at all a, probable thing,.. we admit —it iss they that
must modify it. We are only reminding onr
readers, in saying this;. of what they all very well
know already. But it is necessary to, bear it in
mind,. in forming any correct estimate of. the

chances 'there are of such. a Reform Bill being
passed as will be generally acceptable to. the
country. There are;.however, two infitences that
will.be brought into, operation upon the question,
—the. direct one of: the Members of Parliament
themselves ; and the indirect one of public opinion.
And; certainly, judging -from what is taking place
in, all parts of the kingdom, there• is little, or
nothing to lead one -to .contelnde, that any-thing-but
a, very constitutional —perhaps we- might say a
very conservative measure; will be• voted' for in
Parliament at vesent.. The Ministerial portion of
the House will,. as a matter of course, vote only

for such a Bill as Ministers themselvesnaay bring
forward, which, here is no reason, to, suppose will
be otherwise than, constitutional and conservative,
—only too. much so, a great many stanch
Reformers will be very likely to, think. Then
there is the mare moderate portion of what is
commonly considered the liberal party : they, it is
evident,. from all we can gather from their recently
expressed/ opinions, will not be disposed to go one
iota beyond what is constitutional and conserva-
tive,—they may not event go so, far in the direction
of democratic progress. as, Lord DERBY himself.
And, certainly, from, all that appears sa far, a

large proportion of the country would Rena to be
lieu much of the same mind,—liberal, and

desirous of an improvement in the representation
of' the people, such; improvement to include a large
extension of the general suffrage;, but not a
measure that would run the risk of upsetting the
balance of the constitution, or deranging in any-
wise the legitimate position of the three estates of
the realm. They who would go further than this,
will certainly be a minority in Parliament; and,
though not, perhaps, in numbers, yet in influence,
they are apparently a minority in the country
also.

The opinions expressed by that distinguished
member of the liberal party, Lord PANMURE, at
Brechin, a few days since, are doubtless those of
the more moderate section of that party, when he
said—" so far as Reform is carried out on the
principles of the great measure which was held at
one time to be a second Magna Charta of the
liberties of this country---so long as Reform is
continued on the principles of the Reform Bill of
1832, I am ever a steady, progressive, and deter-
mined Reformer;" adding, however, this most
emphatic modift•zation and warning, that " when
schemes of Reform are projected which strike at
the very root of our united constitution—when I
see new organisations are sketched out before me,
which are to do away WWI some branches of our
constitution, gr to V;:fe to one, at least, thc rittpre.

macy —then I confess I shall pause at that road to
Reform, because I do ,not think it a safe one."
Here, then, is an unmistakable conservative tone,
adopted by a very decided liberal, of high stand-
ing with his party, and of considerable influence
with his countrymen.

Another eminent liberal, Mr. HORSMAN, M.P. for
Stroud, has, within the last few days, been
addressing his constituents,—one very likely to
express the sentiments of a large section of his
party; and he, too, is ..decidedly conservative in
his view's. "He was against universal suffrage,"
he declared, " because he was against all class
legislation,. and universal suffrage must place the
Government of the country entirely in the hands
of the class the most numerous., and, from the
nature of their occupations, the most uneducated;
whilst the very object of a representative system
was to obtain a Legislature composed of men of
the highest standard of education, morality, and
independence, and to create a fair representation,
not of one class, but of all classes and interests of
the country." Still more clearly and forcibly to
demonstrate his position, he put the case• thus,—
"If they had a property class, and an educated
class, and had a numerous class, the operative
class, outnumbering the others ten to one, by
enfranchising the whole of the latter they would
swamp and disfranchise property and intelligence."
And then "he appealed to the operatives them-
selvel whether this would be a safe state of
things ; he asked, if they had reason to object toe
a monopoly of representation by the richer classes,.
whether they desired a monopoly for the operative
classes, knowing• as they did that such a monopoly
could not safely be entrusted to any body of men,
rich, poor, or educated?" This sort of reasoning
did not appear to be very palatable with the popu-
lace who heard it,—neither will it be so with the
pure democracy, perhaps, anywhere. But .it is
sound constitutional reasoning, notwithstanding.
It may be concluded, then, we think, that
the peculiarities of the case are more in
, avour of a moderate than an extensive measure
of Parliamentary Reform. The great point will
be, to take care that, although a moderate, it is
yet, as far as it goes, an effectual measure.

IT is always gratifying and hopeful to find
those who fill the higher offices of the State,
really enlightened by true principles of thought
and of action in what concerns the best interests
of that with which they are entrusted, and has
immediately to do, therefore, with their official
duty. The Earl of CARNARVON, as our readers
doubtless know, is Under Secretary of State
for the Colonies ; and he has been availing him-
self of an opportunity of expressing his views,
which are those of a right principled English
mind, as to the importance of promoting Chris-
tian knowledge among our, Colonists, and the
obligation which we of the mother country lie
under to aid in the work of promoting it
eminent divine has forcibly remarked," Christianity
has carried civilization along with it, whithersoever
it has gone ; and as if to show that the latter does
not depend on physical causes, some of the countries
the most civilised in the days of AUGUSTUS are now
in a state of hopeless barbarism." Very likely our
own most flourishing Colonies might become
hopelessly barbarous too, but for the prevalence of
that Christianity, in their respective communities,
which has happily, in some degree, more or less,
been carried into them all from this Christian land.
Human progress, indeed, in the right direction,
and to profitable ends, essentially requires its
controlling influences. It was the remark of the
celebrated Dr. CIIANNING, that " in this advanced
condition of the world, Christianity, instead of
losing its application and importance, is found to
be more and more congenial and adapted to
man's nature and wants. Men have outgrown,"
he continues, " the other institutions of that
period when Christianity appeared, its philosophy,.
its modes of warfare, its public and private econo-
my; but Christianity has never shrunk as intellect

As an

has opened, but has always kept in advance of
men's faculties, and unfolded nobler views in pro-
portion as they have ascended." The truth of this
may be tested by everyone who, with however
highly cultivated a mind, will but yield to. its
influences., And if at home we experience its.
adaptedness to our still advancing civiWation
and intelligence, and, its blessedness therein,
surely it is important that the dependencies. of
our country should participate in such inestimable

advantages.
It is only to be regretted that, until elate years,
there was so little interest felt in this, subject at
home. A system. of State religion has indeed
proved a most rotten one where such an object
was to be promoted, as the past history of our
American Colonies say deplorably, not to say dis-
gracefully, testifies. And but for the Society in
whose behalf the Under-Secretary for the Colonies
was speaking—that for the PrOpagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Parts—Christianity might have
died out in some of our Colonial possessions. As,
his lordship well observed, " England was the
spot where intelligence, wealth, power, and energy
were all concentrated ; but the strength of Eng-
land, was not comprised within the limits of her
own four seas. Her power really lay scattered
over more than fifty great dependencies, and was
really based upon them, because by them she held
her high position in the eyes of the world. This
being so, we wero bound in justice to accept the
responsibility imposed upon us." Bat then, from
our unhappy religious divisions and dissensions at
home, the duty cannot, unfortunately, be dis-
charged by the country in its national capacity.
The work, therefore, had of necessity to be done
by voluntary efforts. And, as it is done by the
Society in question, the effort is altogether a
voluntary one.

The state of the case, as ably set forth by Lord
CARNA.RVON, is simply this,—" Thousands of per-
sons are going forth year after year, carrying with
them English feelings and English institutions
into every part of the world. The condition of
those Colonies where they settled is very different
from the state of things we enjoy in England.
There is no capital, no superfluous wealth, no
means of procuring the luxuries of life ; and the
class of men who become colonists are geq.oralU'

either men of straitened means, or no means at all

—men of hard, practical tempers, men of business
habits—in some cases from the poorest ranks, and
in others from the most ignorant ; and in mall
cases going forth early in life from all access to
education and instruction." Such, generally speak'
ing, are our Colonists. And being such, and under
the peculiar circumstances of their case, they

certainly have a strong claim, not only upon our
Christian sympathy, but upon our charitable
assistance. " These," as the speaker added, " are
the class of men whom we are bound by ties a

duty to assist in procuring the means of religious
instruction, because they are the men who, if
neglected, will learn to dispense altogether with

religion ; or, at all events, its absence in the first

instance will create great difficulties in the way of

its ultimate establishment." And if such a
calamity should in any case come to pass,. as that
of Christianity being: forsaken by our Colonistai
the impalicy, not less than the undutifulness, of
the neglect would not fail, we may depend upon
it, to be visited upon ourselves. They wanted
breacL and we gave them a: stone ! By refusing. to
do.thern good,. we virtually did them evil. And is
it not true, that " curses, like chickens, come'
home to• roost r