"THE REFORM KING."

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 62, 12 March 1873, Page 4

" THE REFORM KING."

.; Me. Edward [Je¥kins lately d.elivered'^ a lecture on i'-'ieform"!vat-r)arlin»t6n' in ' England, the following extracts from which are taken from the Darlingtonand Stockton Times :— - ~ , : In looking for, an example of argenuine Reformer —^^not one of. i\pae, voluble professors who; were ;kicking^ their heel 3 about our doors, and putting their noses in at our windows, and dogging us in our walks i abroad, and making our newspapers the 'most' uncomfortable reading in the world — it had struck him that he might take with advantage; one with whom they had all been^familiar from their childhood, and i yet whose qualities as a-socialand political reformer had not been so much studied as his strangely 'supernatural history. He ajkided to King. Hezejs; jab. , „ , : ,/ j This king came to" the throne earnest :* sincere, and" wise; a reformer, that was, an... enemy of abuses, a rational and inveterate^ foe to wrongs'^ iilolisms, blasHphemies, and shams. .Such men, as men, were rare, as --. kings)they ,were curiosities^ and/ seeyafe. i men or kings challenged tbe admiration of all ; age ; s.rVrhe condition of the people „pf. • Judah •' 6h J H?zefeiah J s*a'ccessiob is •s-pictpre of almost any society into which rottenness, is. eating its way. ♦-- Wickedness amofig the rich and consequent depravity among the poor; great wealth alongside of great suffering; rich usurers wringing tlieif. /wealth*, from the sinews of the poor, grinding the orphan, and heartless, tq^ the. widow; !no . beneficial law or wise economic policy de- . vised bythe leaders of society to instil into downtrodden classes the hopes of humanity; the ambition of statesmen gifts and rewards; the very prophets and preachers shallow, pretentious, pharisaical, driving a brisk holy trade among deluded people by assuming falee spiritual powers —^sobtheayers like the Philistines ; wantonness with wealth ; idols with atheism ; ; even the priests, sorry and sordid, following instead of leading the age. These abuses the king was" determined to sweep away, and he began the task in the first month of his reign. Without' waiting for a parliament of. priests and princes; without preliminary debates in the, vast chaotic wordiness whereof his reform projects would have run the risk of being stifled, the; enthusiastic king ordered tbe doors to be thrown open and tbe temple cleansed. He appealed to the people in burning words, which cut"' to" 'the heart. He appealed to their national, pride ; to their national history; to their present; condition; to their own consciences r/iand,. the ; appeal, ; having in, it the element 6f" | truth and earnestness, went home.'. :: The Reform King was i no ,,.'man of compromises. His principle was thatjright, and justice, and truth can-never compromise with wrong and . lics,r -soi.be :: swept < away; ; the heathen i r establishment' iand[degraded, the heathen hierarchy. There -is no lesson needs more fSpeedy learning by the reformers of our day. There has appeared in some quarters j whence better "things were to be hoped" for, a disposition to temper the forca andlimit: the extent of great regenerative messur.es^ io- orcier'to gain an insidious facility in accdmplishinV legislative success. But this, is bought'wlth'., imperfect measures and a perilous delay of final settlement.'. .My- ; ::i:'\ \ ; The Reform King; was no man of com-* promises. -Right and truth could hold out no hand 'to erro.rjand wrong.. 1 ! A Ttrue re- , rformer could not be a timeserver. He must be above and beyond his. agei Nor was a reformer a blatant and oflicious agitator for mere political chaipges.'' But faie was 'a if man with definite ,! clear, , ideas, 'Vpf'-gopd'.tot) be dpne,Vo^eyil to be abolishedj ofitwrongsr to be. remedied, and with a candid desire' to work- out the reform best-adaptedto'thei' circumstances irrespective i i: of .himself.-v' " : '''^ : Kings now are ceasing^ among ;;bs to have-, anyjjspecial leadership 1 'either conceded of/ of G-odrpr. believed, in "by man. The re-" Bponsibili^y from them, and j ; on whom has it fallen ? On the people. -ilf wejare.toflpofc'for a Reform KihgVlthaK! king is; . ypaT&elves. f i^Thus.^ hasibeen. heldi , up tQ^yPjU^he^ejsftnjplja off the Reform 'Kingii of another constitutiony anOthe'pera, another, race, and of rdiffererit; circumstStfces, whp used his power , with t such transcendent honesty- andikilT. ° /■''.■ ''^-- il _ ■• 'jks';'^s& '■'. . jl f we-^the Rjfpr,ni ?iipg pf^thesiiltime^' —twill recognp^ ; and ;;human^ embodied > 3 by «tbat ,;.Itef6rm . King >jinyhia wjp^hfetiwj d^hjis^pefiplfiffi jhis-j . .Joryi^we^'may^aaji^Wust^itr^ %biety^ V^k^his>tirae^f^^

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