The Press.
London, England, 1855-07-21 00:00:00

SATURDAY,

antrtspoithntt.

LORI) DUNDONALD'S PLANS.
TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS."
Sir,—lt is now certain that the Baltic fleet will not
be able to do more than establish a blockade. The
Government have refused to furnish the necessary
matiriel for destroying the forts in the ordinary way,
and have declined to afford Lord Dundonald an
opportunity of doing so by the extraordinary means
which, beyond all doubt, he has in his power.
The object of my present letter i 3 to throw out a
hint which I sincerely hope will be taken up and
acted upon. Is it not possible to get up a public
subscription to the amount which Lord Dundonald
may deem necessary, and place it in his hands so
that he may have an opportunity of doing private*
(with the consent of the Government, of course)
what they refused to allow him to try at the public
cost?
If you approve of this idea I hope you will advo-
cate it strenuously ; but no time must be lost, as the
season is fast approaching to a close.
There are many here besides myself who believe
and know that Lord Dundonald is not the man to
promise more than he can perform. The present
fleet confessedly can do nothing, and peace is as far
off as ever. The destruction of their strongholds in
a few days by an unknown agency may bring our
enemy to terms which it would be madness for him
then to refuse.—l am, 4c.,
AN OFFICER IN THE li4DTIC
H.M.S. —, off Cronstadt, July 9th, 105.

DI. CROLY'S SPEECH AT THE MANSION
HOUSE.

TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PRESS."
Sir,—ln your Journal of the 7th instant you report
a speech of the Rev. Dr. Croly at the Mansion-house
on the occasion of the presentation to bim of a testi,
monial by his friends and parishioners. In that
speech the learned and reverend gentleman makes
the strange assertion that, "in the last century, no
Irishman was supposed capable of wearing even an
Irish mitre."
That English clergymen were unduly preferred in
the Irish Church lam not prepared to deny • but
Dr. Croly will allow of no exception to the rule of
exclusion of Irish ecclesiastics from the Episcopal
Bench. That there were very many such exceptions,
I know; but I will content myself with citing the
names of the members of one Irish family which
furnished no less than five prelates to the Church of
Ireland, besides deans and archdeacons :
George Synge, Bishop of Cloyne, died 1643 ; his
brother, Edward Synge, Bishop of Limerick, after-
wards Bishop of Ardfest and Aghadoe, afterwards
Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, died 1678. One
of this prelate's sons was Dean of Kildare, the other
was Edward Synge, Bishop of Raphoe, and after-
wards Archbishop of Tuam, who died in 1741. He
was the author of many theological works not yet
forgotten, and some of which are republished by
the Society for the Promotion of Christian Know-
ledge. His " Gentleman's Religion" is, perhaps,
the best known of his works. Thirty years ago he
was still remembered at Tuam, where he was in-
variably spoken of as "The good Archbishop."
One of his sons, Edward Synge, was successively
Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacbduach, Bisho of
Cloyne, Bishop of Terns and teighlin, and Bishop
Elphin. He was a friend and correspondent of
Dean Swift. He died in 1762. His brother Nicolas
Synge was Bishop of Killaloe. He died in 1771.
His grandson Sir Samuel Synge Hutchinson, Bait,
who died in 1846, had refused a bishopric. He was
an Archdeacon.
Whether there was not an undue exercise of epis.
copal nepotism in the promotion of so many mem-
bers of this family to bishoprics, I am not prepared
to say. At any rate, they all seem to have been
exemplary prelates. But this is not the point. My
object is to show that long before " the last fifty
years"—the date fixed by Dr. Croly for the installa-
tion of the first Irish Bishop—in the last and in the
penultimate centuries, Irish birth was not deemed
an absolute disqualifcation for the wearer of a
mitre.—l am, sir, your obedient servant,
July 18. HIBERNICUS.
PS. It was not because he was an Irishman, but
because dear, good Queen Anne had not wit enough
to see that, despite all his levity, he was the very
man to put a diocese in first-rate order, that Swift
only received a deanery for his services.
es,* We are compelled from want of space to. OM
further postpone the communication el " Xclih,s"t
upon the Purification of the Thames."

A DUEL was recently fought between a Russiaa
and an Englishman in a dark room in San Francisco.
The Englishman, not wishing to have blood oo
hands, fired his pistol up the chimney, and, to IA
horror, down cap* the bissisik