It must come; but there
must be tenderness in the mode of producing it. The parsons must be
respected, and the great Church-of-England feeling of the people must
be considered with affectionate regard. Even the most rabid Dissenter
would hardly wish to see a structure so nearly divine attacked and
destroyed by rude hands. With grave and slow and sober earnestness,
with loving touches and soft caressing manipulation let the beautiful
old Church be laid to its rest, as something too exquisite, too
lovely, too refined for the present rough manners of the world! Such
were the ideas as to Church Reform of the leading Liberals of the
day; and now this man, without even a majority to back him, this
audacious Cagliostro among statesmen, this destructive leader of all
declared Conservatives, had come forward without a moment's warning,
and pretended that he would do the thing out of hand! Men knew that
it had to be done. The country had begun to perceive that the old
Establishment must fall; and, knowing this, would not the Liberal
backbone of Great Britain perceive the enormity of this Cagliostro's
wickedness,--and rise against him and bury him beneath its scorn
as it ought to do? This was the feeling that made a real Christmas
impossible to Messrs.
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