emigrants had so gratefully received, and so affectionately remembered'?

Again he asks,

Is it wonderful that they should wish to see a clergyman; that they should wish to be near a church?" (p. 15.)

Lord John Russell will therefore undoubtedly desire that all in this land should be near a church, and not only near such a building, but entitled to enter therein, and to kneel where they may profit by the services. He will therefore endeavour earnestly to multiply the number of our churches, and to give all free access to them.

Further on we have proof that the premier is not insensible to the importance of episcopal superintendence.

'None can blame us,' he says, if we wish to see the Church of England (in the colonies) organized, as it should be organized, in all its subordination of ranks, with the assistance which the clergymen derive from their Bishop, with mutual co-operation and mutual degrees.' (p. 16.)

We may therefore calculate on finding in him an advocate for giving clergymen among ourselves really, not nominally only, this assistance, by such an increase in the number of our Bishops as can alone enable them efficiently to perform their allotted tasks.

6

Finally, Lord John expresses his confidence that the noble conduct, the devotion,' the simplicity,' the humility,' and the 'faith' of those 'excellent men,' the Bishops and other clergy at present labouring in the colonies, will tend to make the Church of England more esteemed, and will cause its influence to be more and more established. This confidence, this hope, this earnest desire, how does it contrast with that unworthy jealousy wherewith the late premier regarded the extension of church influence! Lord John Russell's words, we may be sure, are not words of course. -are not words without a meaningwords which the lips uttered while the heart disclaimed them. He does desire that the Church of England may be more esteemed, and its influence more established.' His character assures him against any, the least suspicion of insincerity. This, then, is his heartfelt desire.

And he sees the way to effect his desire, at least to some extent. First, he sees that the Colonial Church is of the utmost importance in the matter-he sees that which we pointed out at some length in our last number; viz. that the self-devotion, the zeal, the labours, the endurance of hardship, which are so conspicuous in the colonial Bishops and clergy, do tell on behalf of their

* Article on Colonial Episcopacy, pp. 352-4.

brethren at home, with whom they are fellow-labourers in oue and the same church, and increase men's reverence and respect for the Church of England and its ministers generally. Secondly, he is aware of the great value of the Colonial Episcopate, and so (we may trust) of the Episcopate altogether, and therefore of such an Episcopate as is adequate to the burthen of duties laid upon it. Thirdly, he knows that churches must be brought near to people, and clergymen brought into contact with them, if any real good is to be done. Fourthly, he admits the claim of every Englishman upon the state to furnish him with a church to worship in, and a spiritual guide to instruct, sustain, and comfort him. He allows this even with respect to emigrants; much more, then, must he grant it, as regards those who dwell in their native land. We may gather, then, from the single speech of Lord John Russell's which we have selected for special examination, that he will advocate church extension in its three most important points-more Bishops, more clergy, more churchesand this triple increase, not at home only, or abroad only, but both abroad and at home-in England and in the colonies.

These, then, are the grounds on which we make our appeal to churchmen, to all whose chief endeavour it is to increase, by every means in their power, the efficiency, and extend the influence of the Church of their baptism-that they will cast aside prejudice and antipathy, and even the remembrance of one heavy blow and great discouragement,' and cordially greet the new ministry. It is time for churchmen to have done with party, the very worldlings are sick of it. We live at an era when the whole political world has been upstirred from its inmost depths by a series of violent shocks, and now the strata lie intermingled and confused, and the names that they once bore are no longer applicable; lines of demarcation are obliterated; there is an entirely new fusion of materials; the masses are settling into new shapes. To carry on into such a state of things our old feelings and prejudices, is as foolish and wrong-headed a proceeding, as it would be to keep unchanged our geological nomenclature, after the breaking up of the crust of our present earth, and the formation out of a second chaos of a new planet. The old High Tory party is no more; Conservatism has degenerated into a wretched system of alternatei rrational resistance to all alteration, and timid concession to the most insane demands when urged with sufficient noise and violence; Whiggery is quite other than it was; Protectionism has started into being as a distinct element in the political sphere; Young Englandism has raised its head, and is looking about wistfully, feeling its own weakness, but doubtful to what party it shall join itself. Under these circumstances it will well become the Church to set an example of that freedom from prejudice, and superiority to the

trifles of party names and party associations, which it is evident this age and country is tending towards; it will well become the Church to proclaim, by her organs everywhere, that she refuses to be hampered and trammelled any more with party ties; that she will know but of two sorts of statesmen, but of one criterion of fitness in a ministry to receive her cordial co-operation, and that that shall be the bias of the ministry towards herself, its disposition to thwart and cramp her, or to allow free play and full scope to her energies. Let no one say that this is a selfish course. The ends of the Church are not selfish. She does not aim at her own aggrandizement; she does not seek wealth, or power, or worldly honour-she does not ask to have more of her rulers placed among the high aristocracy of the land-she does not require larger incomes for her dignitaries--she does not covet any of the περιμάχητα αγαθά, she seeks but to be allowed to put forth her own powers, to develop her own resources, to adapt herself to the present circumstances of the empire. Some pecuniary aid she may need, but not for the purpose of enriching any one, but simply of affording a bare maintenance to new labourers, curates, missionaries, and schoolmasters, whom she would gladly employ in far greater numbers than her present scanty means permit. Thus she cannot lie open to the charge of selfishness. Her only desire is to diffuse the blessings which she alone can give more widely, and to be able to offer to all the subjects of the Queen of England a sound religious education, opportunities of frequent public worship, the parochial ministration of a zealous and sincerely religious clergy, and an easy access to all the spiritual benefits which Christ's ministers have to bestow.

And now, before we conclude, we will venture slightly to sketch out the course which any ministry must pursue with respect to the Church to retain her confidence, and which we have a good hope that the Whig ministry will pursue, unless driven into hostility by the unfavourable disposition of churchmen towards them.

First, with regard to the St. Asaph and Bangor bishopricks, they must yield to the clearly expressed wish of the Church to retain both of those ancient and venerable sees. Before we go to press we trust to hear of the appointment of a new Bishop of St. Asaph. The Bishop of Bangor, we presume, retains his fixed aversion to the junction of the two sees, and will not be tempted by a few additional thousands a year to swerve from those principles which he has always maintained, and but a few weeks since reiterated. It will be necessary, therefore, under the law as it now stands, either to appoint a new Bishop of St. Asaph, who will undertake, if need be, the charge of the diocese of Bangor at the death of the present occupant,-a day which is far dis

tant, we hope; or else to induce some other neighbouring Bishop, Llandaff, or St. David's, or Chester, to take the duties of the see of St. Asaph during the lifetime of Dr. Bethell, and in that case to appoint at once to the new see of Manchester. We trust, if we are correct in supposing that the law allows of the alternative, that the former will be the course adopted. The see of Manchester has not been constituted ecclesiastically, or with the Church's express sanction. It would be well if this were remedied before the appointment of a Bishop to it. And there will probably be far less difficulty in escaping from the scheme of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, if no part of it be put in force immediately, than if one portion be suffered to take effect, and only that which cannot at present be put in force, suspended. The Church will receive the new appointment as an omen of what are the Whig ministers' real intentions towards her. The crea tion of a Bishop of Manchester will be taken as a sign that the Church is still to be oppressed, her laws trampled on, her wishes unheeded, her remonstrances treated with contempt. The nomination of a Bishop to the see of St. Asaph, will be considered as an indication that a nobler and fairer policy towards the Church is to be entered upon-that the ancient landmarks are not to be wantonly removed-that Episcopal superintendence is not to be reduced to a nullity-that the prayers of the Church are to be allowed to prevail-that there is to be no reduction in the number of sees anywhere, no more consolidation, but only expansion, augmentation, erection of new sees, division of dioceses.*

Having thus acted, with respect to the see of St. Asaph, it will be immediately incumbent on them to consider how that see of Manchester, which is undoubtedly so much needed, may be set up, notwithstanding the non-fulfulment of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners' plans,-immediately. And here we trust they will not confine their thoughts to the one new see which the Commissioners indicated, but will take a comprehensive view of the Church's needs, and be prepared to recommend to Parliament a scheme at least as extensive as that brought forward in the last session by Mr. Frewen, but better considered, and free from its absurdities. It will perhaps be impossible for them to make out all the details of such a scheme, and obtain the requisite consent of the Church (without which we do not wish them to do anything) by the next session; but they may easily make public the general outline of what they intend, and appoint a committee of Bishops to prepare the details of the new measure, in readiness

* Since the above was written we have seen with much pleasure the appointment to the see of St. Asaph of the Rev. T. V. Short. We congratulate churchmen upon this earnest of victory. We thank the ministers for this proof of their goodwill to the Church.

In

for the first session of a new Parliament. It is not our purpose now to put forward at any length our own views of what those details should be. We wish, however, to make a few observations on the most important points. And first, we would remark that the subdivision of dioceses with the general consent of the Bishops of the province, and the good will especially of the Bishop whose diocese is divided, is a strictly ecclesiastical and canonical proceeding, and no churchman could object to it. our own Church the Bishoprick of Ely was in this way separated off from that of Lincoln, as early as the primacy of Anselm.* And there are abundant precedents for such subdivision in the best ages of the Church. This plan, therefore, would be unobjectionable. Or district Bishops (Chorepiscopi) might be appointed, subordinate to the head Bishop, in each diocese, who might retain his jurisdiction over the entire see, using them as his substitutes in parts of it. This too was an ancient practice, and though not so satisfactory on the whole as the former, yet might obviate certain difficulties.

On these difficulties we will now say a few words. The new Bishops must be paid. From what fund? Some may think that portions of the incomes of the present Bishops should be taken for the purpose. This was Mr. Frewen's plan. If, however, the present Bishops are to retain their seats in the House of Peers, and to keep up the palaces which have been built and are building for them through the country, their incomes will scarcely admit of much diminution below the amount to which the working of the Ecclesiastical Commission will ultimately reduce them. They might, perhaps, fairly be required to contribute each £500, or at the utmost £1000, a year to an episcopal fund, in considertion of the expenses which will be saved to them by the diminution in the size of their dioceses. This, however, will produce a sum quite insufficient for such an increase in the number of our Bishops as, we trust, is contemplated. The number should at the very least be doubled; we would willingly see it tripled or quadrupled; but doubled it must be, if any great good is to be done. We must reckon then on having at least six-and-twenty new Bishops to provide for. Nor can we think of paying them less than £1500 or £2000 a year to support the expenses and the dignity of their office. Forty or fifty thousand pounds a year will therefore be needed for their salaries. But the sum to be derived from curtailing the present Bishops' incomes would be, even if they were reduced £1000 a piece, only twenty-six thousand. To make up the deficiency, we should propose that the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, from the funds in their hands, should set apart such a sum annually as would raise the incomes

* Eadmer's History, book iv.