New-York tribune., 1892-01-02
LONDON NOTES.
-, - n,p.r.cAuCUs AND MR.. HoRNBLowEk
'' cnI-MR sCHNADHoRST AS STAGE
MANAGER TO HODGE-NlR GLAD-
STONE IN PARIS AND SIR
EDWARD WATKlN"

London, December i0'
ri. Norconformist Conscience has found -
4,i,os A pious gentleman VINO f'Jo'
.,a,o ~ ITornbower Gill IS the he" NJ , -.
;ooa .io There is fitness in his being eo' -
porscicnce. Nonconformist or o'heI' 49, h,o,v.r
ho,tor instrument TO play upon. MI 'n.rt.
w" =, ;ndeod something more than an lnS'ru,eno
-, ho. a, instrument of his own wlich 10 '"' 49,
10 is q hard he is Laureate To iioosc'
uc sings of Hodge in the Gladstonlan 'is~
manor once Liberal, then for Home h".', '..,on
sunnosc for Rural Rule nave d 80 , ur,-
%p. Mr Uornblower Gill is the Reverend iior.i-
,IS,..r Gin bnt I cannot be sure. "he'hcr ~
- ~ NO, the spirit of the NonconforInlst Is s'ione
.,ithip him. Il can call to mind, says MI W.
poyorcnd Mr) IIornblower Gill, no Feoun'
nolitical meeting so deeply perVaueo oS Lf', VIZ
ious snirtn The lyrical vein in him Is agfee@oS
blended with the religious: c ~
aiaoo orv nublic event has yielded me such pui'
and lively pleasure, has filed me WIN sucn i.apry
homo as the Rural Convention. Inc "u'n
bo soes in this uprising OF Hodge the bowman =,
n hated Church. The lmptuencc Vi oeo.
d - :.;o, ,,,bicb nervadcd the assembly was
yer, remarkable, especially as, far from peih9
insnred by hostility to religion, IL was accoip'0
, iii, ,nanifestation Of religious feeling
Inc. an You NAV hate the Parson, you may
hot. the Church, and the more you hate ootn
tba stronger the proof Of your rellslouS zcai anu
your devotion to Dissent. The Anglican CLERGY
arc no better than-l was going 10 say DO many
Roman Catholic priests, but stopped mSseN Ju9s
=; time The Roman Catholic priest, we all
lnow is now the trusted ally of the Engnsn ruri@n
Divine: of the Nonconformist CONSCIENCE itseii
Tn. destinies of Ireland may be safely hus.eo
in his hands. There is no such tnlns as NO
ponerv the cry is dead the Protestant has gone
* n
keonnc and Mr.. Gladstone is of opinion that
tbs noltical regeneration of Ireland depends upon
tbo nrests: and upon boycotting. This is whso
Nr UornhIower Gil calls - the combined cause~
of nolitical and spiritual freedom Political ac-
tiyitv in the shape of boycotting, inspired py
RELIGIOUS faith in the shape Of hatred 70 the
Church"
Hodge is to have his share of the credit Of this
banicnant reform when ft comes. lie has really
been one of the great figures Of English history,
if we only knew il. His wrongs, his virtues, ms
aspirations inspired the first great uttcrance
of the English tongue, the Vision of Piers
Ploughman TIE hero Of that admirable poem Is
the godly husbandman." lie has filed the CEN
turcs SINCE has Hodge; he swelled the host of the
Marian martyrs, in the West he rose at the sum-
mons of Monmouth against Popery and slavery" (.
a reading of history which Mr. Hornblower Gill is
the first to offer 10 the general public
He IS however, indiscreet in pronouncing tha
word Popcry; the Irish Papists are susceptiblca
the Irish Priests and Bishops regard the very word
as hateful Mr. Gill ought to speak of the Roman
Cainolio religion. But there is 10 be new Piers
Plouqhman The creed of Piers Plough man in
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is the creed
Of Piers Ploughman in the nineteenth tho very
end of the nineteenth The lowliest and lofticst
figure in early English literature bids fair to be-
come o potentate in the English political life Of
these later ages" The lyrical Gill has many
more sentences not less beautiful than these {;
which nothing but considerations of space pre-
vents me from transferring to your columns. Buo
| cannot part from him without expressing the
hope, the fervent and pious hope, that Mr.. Gill
will write more letters 70 his organ, and that
may be permitted to give you some further ac-
count of him and his lyrical exercises.
These admirable rhapsodies Of Mr.. Gill make il
the moro painful to alude TO the doubts which
have been cast upon the composition Of the Rural
Caucus Doubts ere cast upon everything in
these too sceptical. too scientific, days; When
ths first demand on every subject is for evidence.
There were Tory Thomases who said ao the tme
that some Of Mn SchnadhorsC's delegates were nou
of strictly bucolio type. THIS implied no re-
Election upon Mr. Schnadhorst, OF course Thai
astute wirepuer would be incapable Of practising
upon tho credulity Of his revered leader, and OF
providing him with audience OF spurious rus
tics No doubt, if any OF them were spurious Mr,
Schnadhorst himself was imposed upon; his child.
like nature is almost as contding as Alr. Glad
stones.
lie did the best he could He collected-and il
must have been no light tasll-from various parts
of England as many good Gladstonian hborers as
were to be found or as many he thought adapted
to his purpose and presentable to the limited public
which assembled in tho Memorial Hall in Earring
don-st and the more limited public which came 10
breakfast next morning at the Hefoorn Restaurant
lie distributed their parts like the accomplished
stage manager he is; some TO wear smocR-rociSi
some TO make speeches; some 10 listen TO the
speeches; all to listen NJ. Gladstones speech.
| do not see how any Tory with the least taste for
the picturesque the least sense of humor IN poll
ties could be so heartless criticise spectacle
so well conceived so carefully carried out. so origi
nal as to bc in fact unique. But there are people
| who will criticise anything.
General imputations so for little; they
rightly set down by the faithful TO mere Tory eal
| ousy and the spirit of calumny; OF which last no
whisper is ever heard in the Gladstonian ranks. Had
the matter rested there, might all have believed
this. But there are prying persons who seek 10
| find out facts, and even publish them, careless
| whether they fit in with the Gladstonian theory
or not. They have given instances; they have
discovered deficiencies in the agricultural quail
ncations OF some of the delegates; they have
| even published lists which do to lack some
of the favor of the soil. 1t seems if Mr..
| Schnadhorst had somebody about him who does
not keep his secrets. Some of the bestkept
secrets about the Rural Conference are coming out,
some of the smocl-frocSs are being stripped off.
1t is the list of delegates from Suffolk County
| which has been published; county so little re-
markabe for intelligence as TO be called silly Suf-