The southern press., 1851-04-10
The London Lsadsr's Attack ON Mrs
0rundv.


asserts what BYRON had proclaimed before, Of
Great Britain, that " the prtmum nsobiIe is CAN'T
cant moral, cant social, cant political-and
cant religious" CARLYLE, il his rugged prose,
has preached the same truth in utterances of
bitter and scathing scorn-stripping off the
shams and formulas" in which the social phari-
sees of our own day cover themselves and their
sins, as with an ample cloak. His Latter day
Pamphlets probe deeply these fostering sores of
the body polite, though the instruments of his
surgery are uncouth and as awkward as the
hand that so mercilessly wields them careless of
the infection of pain--laying bare the seat and
source of the disease, but suggesting no remedy
offering no hope of cure.
With much ofthe mad frenzy and painful con-
tortions of the ancient Sybils, CARLYLE is ami
mated by much of the fierce inspiration toe He
Is possessed and maddened by the mighty truths
SO clear to bis conception, but which he so vainly
strives to unbosom and embody-and his utter
ances come forth in disonted and broken frag-
ments, like the dreams Of a sick man. Still,
next to JEREMY BgSTHAM, he may be regarded
as the great pioneer of the modern revolutionists
who refuse to reverence the husks and hulls of
things once potent and useful--and who prefer
substantial realities to shams and semblances
however consecrated by habit, usage, and that
mighty but mysterious shadow of name,"
Public Opinion, the popular Juggernaut.
These rugged pioneers removed some of the
old OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES their way through the
old forest Of Cant, and then resting from their
work, substituted for the old jargon new one
of their own. But the spell Of prescription was
broken--that work they had accomplished
the paths Which they opened others have trod
with more certain destination. The new school
of reformers in England, of which the West
minister Reuiew was long tho radical organ
among the Quarterlies, and of which the Lon
don Leader is now the weekly exponent, made
war upon practical abuses and humbugs, and
descended from vague generalities to specifca-
tons of particular wrongs that ought to be
rghted
1t is indeed, an herculean task to cleanse the
Augean stables of governments and communi-
ties of the accumulated impurities and abuses
of ages-a work not to be accomplished speed
lily if done successfully ly-yet the gradual removal
of small portions ut a time purifes and improves
the moral atmosphere: and plain speaking and
faith in public perception of truth, remove
mountains Of difficulty when fairly put in mo-
ton.
There can be no doubt that at the present
time the most potent fulcrum on which to rest
the lever of reform, is the public Press-and
there can be as little doubt of the sad truth that
this fulcrum is too often under the control of
those too incompetent or too corrupt to at
tempt to guide, instead of crawling after the
thing styled Public Opinion, which generally
means the aggregate of popular prejudice and
ignorance, cunEingly wrought by designing
knaves, (whether royal or republican, into a
shape substantial enough to serve as platform
for their own personal elevation.
This false Public Opinion; the idol of all DEM
agogues and their dupes, is the great stumbling
block of all real progress the incubus under
which the true public sentiment of commu-
nifty is hag-ridden and smothered: the great
conservator and consecrator of lies, worn thread
bare, and which every cultivated intelligence
cognizcs as such and rcvolts from respecting
even in form.
There is wit as well as bitter truth in this
scornful allusion to the shortcomings and the
cowardice of the Press, generally, in this re-
spect, which we extract from the English print
above referred to- and we would indeed rejoice,
did truth enable us to say that it could not find
as fit application on this side of the water as on
the other.
1t is scarcely necessary for US to add, that in
giving the Leaders views of the influence ex-
erted by Mrs. GRUNDY, and the evils which
arise from it, we are not to be understood as
endorsing the political views, or the faith which
it desires to propagate. We give the specula-
tons and the assertions which close the article,
as significant indications of the spread of the
new ism" in the very heart and focus Of Brit
ish conservatism-the city of London. The
greatest proof of British wisdom always has
been the license allowed the Press, of which lat
terly, they have availed themselves most lber-
ally. Smothered flames are always more dan
gerous than those which are permitted to blaze
up brightly in the face of day.
From the London Leader.
MRS. GRUNDY AND THE PUBLIC PRESS.
uThe land where girt with friends or foes
A man may speak the thing he will"
! SO sings Tennyson Of England. Yes, man
may speak the things he will, but miH he In the
face Of friends or foes he is brave enough TO do
so, but not in the face Of his superstitions John
Bull will brave his foes but seldom his customers.
Every religion has its attendant shadows
superstitions. Beside our healthy, moral, social
respect for public opinion, there is queasv,