The Press.
London, England, 1857-09-12 00:00:00

Greek Church are very circumscribed, but to one of these must the
honour sooner or later appertain, unless ambition tempt some latitu-
dinarian Roman to prefer temporal dignities to his spiritual welfare.
It is nothing less than natural that the Queen of GREECE should feel
an interest in the nomination of the royal personage who is to suc-
ceed her present Consort ; yet it does not necessitate that she should
use undue influence to instal any particular personage. One thing
is clear, that the future king, as belonging to the Greek Church, will
in all probability bo a connection more or less distant of the Imperial
Family of Russia, or he will be a flagrant apostate ; or a congress of
Europe—or rather a portion of the sovereigns of Europe—will attempt
to violate the law of Grecian succession, in which they will probably
not succeed, for France must prove the impediment to such violation
of compact.

In the reitent speech of Mr. FELLOWES in Huntingdonshire we
observe with pleasure the utterance of many opinions congenial with
those so uninterruptedly brought forward by ourselves. Lord PAL-
MERSTON is dangerous fro:n his weakness. He would not injure the
Constitution of this country of his own accord. But he would sacrifice
nothing to preserve it. He probably has a respect for the Church of
England as a sort of decent, gentletnanlike institution ; but he does
not scruple to corrupt her for his own support, and to insult her to
please his followers. From a statesman with such exclusively per-
sonal aims the public knows not what to expect, and should therefore
be doubly on their guard. The Church of England especially will, we
are confident, ere long stand in need of all her strength, both within
and without, to resist his undesigned assaults. We are glad that a
Member of the Conservative party should have spoken so well upon
the subject.

The circular issued by the Commander•in-Chief, declaring his in-
tention of awarding commissions to all gentlemen capable of raising
one hundred recruits, can scarcely meet with any objections. It is in
itself a good and useful proposition. We would, however, remind our
readers that in a very short time there will be a body of 12,000 or
15,000 disciplined men, raised to a great extent by the exertions of a
special class of officers who do not receive quite fair treatment in the
matter. Of course, we allude to the Militia. In the last war sub-
alterns in that service were presented with a commission in the lino
on their bringing a certain number of recruits. No doubt these young
men would all make good officers. But there is a wider difference
between many of the militia captains and the subalterns, than between
captains and subalterns in the line It is proposed still to continue
the system of recruiting from the Militia—a system we believe
to be highly objectionable ; it had better be done effec-
tively at once. Let whole companies be transferred to the line—
officers and all. Imagine the difference to a regiment thinned by
active service between such a reinforcement as this and a hundred raw
recruits who have never acted together. As an experiment on the in•
fluence still capable of being exerted by the gentry upon the people,
we applaud his Royal Highness's intention. We have little doubt it
will be successful. But we still maintain that the claims both of the
public service and of a large body of meritorious officers should receive
the consideration they deserve.

Some letters relative to the recent statement of the Bishop of
MELBOURNE, and the comments of the leading journal thereon, afford
us an excuse for treating this subject under the present week, though
in reality belonging to tire past. The Bishop's publication is supposed
to have raised the question of the comparative merits of Establishments
and the voluntary system. And the Times has undertaken to explain to
the world the rationale of the former on the authority of the learned
Bishop TOMLINE. " The principle of an Established Church," says
the writer, " is nothing more than the plan of getting paid before-
" hand for work which would perhaps not be paid for afterwards." We
know not what feeling could have prompted any journalist to pen so
transparently disingenuous an assertion. Whatever may be
the value of the argument for an Establishment, that
argument is notoriously quite different from what the Times alleges.
A clergy independent of their parishioners are enabled to utter un-
palatable truths with greater freedom than those who are dependent
on the goodwill of their audience. When this is the case the clergy
must appeal to certain of the lower emotions—either to superstition.
to vanity, or to theological exclusiveness, alias spiritual pride. Ex-
perience confirms what reason would have declared inevitable. We
find that the fact is so. "Popular Preachers," whether Churchmen or
otherwise, have long been the butts of popular satire ; and the volun-
tary system has a much greater tendency to produce such " plants of
grace " than Establishments. The majority of these orators live by
their pew-rents. First the seats must be filled. Doctrine is a second-
ary con sideration.

" An Old Soldier " suggests in the Times that the field
officers of the Militia should be appointed by Lord PANNICIRE, instead
of the Lord-Lieutenants of counties, for the sake of avoiding " aristo-
" cratic sympathies and influences." A certain honest and unsuspect-
ing simplicity have been held to be ingredients of the military cha•
ratter in all ages. Here is a truly remarkable specimen of that virtue.
Our old friend the veteran perceives some evils as he thinks resulting
from the present mode of appointments, and straightway demands
that they be placed at once in the hand of that great potentate her
Majesty's Minister for War. The fine old veteran cannot for a
moment suspect that so elevated a functionary as Queen VICTORIA'S
own Minister should share in the weaknesses of common men. He
has, doubtless, a true martial contempt for newspapers, and has there-
fore, perhaps, never read a certain famous anecdote about a certain
gallant Major who now enjoys a reputation which is, at all events,
uncommonly wide spread. In one sense, no doubt, the old soldier