The Press.
London, England, 1857-03-07 00:00:00

THE VOTE OF THE BISHOPS.

OF the many noticeable facts connected with
the late dcbates:onChina, perhaps none is more
remarkable than the silent vote given in
favour of the Government by no less than
eighteen of the Spiritual Peers of Parliament.

We must deplore this action on the part of
the prelates in question, not only on political
grounds, but because we arc convinced that
the Church itself cannot fail to suffer to sonic
extent in public estimation from the unbecoin_
ing attitude taken by its great dignitaries.
The Lord Primate may have persuaded him-
self that gratitude to the party which raised
him so unexpectedly to his high po,lition, and
has since given him so many congenial suffra-
gans of his own peculiar views, ought to have
greater weight in determining his line of con-
duct than the dictates of humanity or the
precepts of religion. But the working clergy
and right-thinking laity of his province will
hardly hold hint justified in this course.
The most singular feature in the
vote of the Government bishops is, that
not one of the eighteen felt called upon to
support his opinion by a speech. Was this
from some lingering feeling of compunction ?
Did they compromise with the Premier, and
say, " Our votes are at your service ; but
" even we cannot be guilty of the indocen3y
" of raising up our voices on behalf of rapine
" and murder '?

We have heard, on good authority, that
when Dr. THIRLIVALL was appointed to the
See of St. David's, an ex-Lord Chancellor pro-
mised Lord MELBOURNE that the new bishop
should never vote against the Whigs, though
he could not pledge him to vote for them
when he disapproved of their proceedings.
What inference is to be drawn from his
absence from the division the other night?
That while not less grateful to his patrons, he
was somewhat more consistent to his charac-
ter as a Christian teaoher, than his more Evan•
gelical brethren of the Bench ? Let us
hope so.
But why did not another eminent eccle-
siastic attend in his place to deprecate a
policy which it is impossible that he should
not have condemned in his heart? We do not
allude to the Bishop of liapoN. But Dr.
JACKSON, of Lincoln, has hitherto borne a
high character for honesty and piety. We
are loth to believe that he was absent out of
courteous compliance to the wishes of the
Premier.

It has long been a kind of maxim with the
Episcopal Bench not to interfere in general
polities, but to support the Government of the
day on all questions where the Church was
not specially concernel As a general rule,
we do not disapprove of this course of con-
duct. But there arc occasions on which it
behoves the Spiritual Peers to be mindful of
their high office, and to remember that when
the interests of humanity are at stake, and the
honour of the Christian faith is imperilled, they
are no longer mere assessors of the Minister
of the day, but the bearers of a Divine mes-
sage, and the witnesses to a creed of mercy.
That it is then their office boldly to rebuke
those to whom they may on ordinary ques-
tions behave with deference, and to beware of
nothing so much as affording any pretence for
people to say that the Anglican hierarchy has
abdicated its lofty functions, and grown care-
less of its sacred origin.