The Express.
London, England, 1849-01-30 00:00:00

tends.' munificence that great part of the attractiots
of the college is owing. And on its masters be placed
his Barest dependence for the due fulfilment of his
trusts. He benefited the society by a series of exhi-
bitions; he distinguished its masters by, bequeathing
to them his perpetual confidence. And their return
for this bounty to the college and for this standing
compliment to themselves is—disregard and neglect
of the true!.

The charity suffers because the college is benefited.
For what its management most requires is, as we
shall show, a trustee having no personal interests, no
local prejudices, and susceptible of no Durham in-
fluences—a trustee who would supervise and control
the arrangements of caste and of family which now
bear away.
The first improvement then that we suggest is,
that Dr. RADFonn. the present master of Lincoln,
should do his duty as a trustee; should take some
active share in the trust; should endeavour to in-
troduce some system into its management; should
open its benefi*s to the intended objects of its
dorer's charity; and should occasionally visit the
estates. lie will, he may be assured, ficd Bambo-
rough Castle a pleasant residence during the long
vacation ; for, in addition to all its local uttractioss, it
has a fine library of the elder Divines for learned
leisure.

The other four trueees are self-elected : their only
qualification being that of holy orders. And it is difficult
to say whether the qualification or the mode of elm-
tien is more injurious to the charity. The ecclesiastical
qualification deprives it of lay ability and business
experience of the highest order: perhaps, also, of that
publicity which is so indispensable to good manage-
ment and to good repute. And the right of self-election
has confided its administration to a particular class
amongst the clergy ; that class being the one dis-
tinguished for the possession of pluralities, of cathedral
sinecures, and of livings with monster incomes; dis-
tinguished, too, by its insensibility to its own posi-
tion and to public opinion ; having no fear of jobbery
before its eyes; bat fondly, traditionally devoted
to snug family arrangements.
As, however, the trustees must be clergymen, our
second suggestion in tie way of improvement is tha'
on the next vacancy a poor curate, instead of a rich
rector, be elected. The charity won't suffer by the
personal acquaintance of its managers with poverty.
And in the diocese of Durham, the spirit of its former
apostle, BERNARD GILPIN, is more frequently to be
found amongst its needy clergy than in the dignitaries
of Durham.

The present acting and self-elected trustees are-
1. The Rev. DAVID DURELL, Vicar of Mongewell and
Prebendary of Durham; 2. The Rev. W. N. DAR-
NELL, Rector of Stanhope, with 5,0001. a year ; 3.
The Rev. C. THORPE, Rector of Ryton, Archdeacon
of Durham, Prebendary of Durham, and Warden of
Durham University ; 4. The Rev. H. G. LIDDELL,
Rector of Euington, worth 1,3001. a year—a brotherl
of Lord RAVENSWORTR. All four are, of course,
high tones and high churchmen; Mr. DARNELL and
Dr. THORFE oceasioually soaring in.° the mists of
P usey ism.
Two only, it will be observed,are at present plural-
ists and cathedral dignitaries. But it would be injus-
tice to Dr. DUBELL: and Dr. THORPE not to state,
that when Mr. DARNELL was elected a trustee,
he had those qualifications in more than ordinary
vigour. For he was then a prebendary of Durham,
vicar of Norham, and incumbent of St. Margaret's,
Durham. Sub-equently he shed those benefices in a
manner, for a purpose, and with a result, worthy of
Durham in its very worst, or, as opinion may ran,
in its very best, days. Even • tory House
of Commons would not, it may be recollected,
allow that meek prelate, who is said to bo most li-
bellous when most pra3erful, Dr. PrithLrorrs, to
hold Stanhope in commendani with the see of
Exeter. So to assist Dr. PHILLPOTTS into a stall at
Durham,Mr.DARNELL consented to resign all his plu-
ralities and to be content with the single benefice of
Stanhope. And by this very characteristic arrange-
ment he assumed the responsibility of 5,000/ a year,
and the cure of half as many souls ; without, how-
ever, disqualifying himself for this trust.
Bat, stranger still, at the time of his election, D.
LIDDELL was neither a pluralist nor a dignitary ; and
though, happily for society, pluralists are fast dying out,
and reformed stalls scarce worth sitting in, this breach
of precedent did not arise from any want of pluralists
in the diocese. The practice had been to elect the
archdeacons of the diocese trustees. Dr. BOWYER, Dr.l
ROBERT THORPE, and Dr. SINGLETON, archdeacons
of Northumberland, in succession, were al trustees.
Dr. PROSSER, archdeacon of Durham, was a trustee;
Dr. CHARLES THORPE (this family has an here-
ditary affection for Bamboreugh Castle and its
sea breezes) is a trustee. But then these " eyes "
of the bishops were all tory "eyes," high church
" eyes." Times have changed ; now there is (and,
alas! not at all for the better) a whig bishop; and he
has whig "eyes," low church " eyes. Such, of course,
are Archdeacons RAYMOND and %ohm. But whiggery
and low churchiem are sad disqualifications for Lord
CREWE'd trust; so when Dr. SINGLETON died, Dr.
LIDDELL was elected.

Now, Dr. LIDDELL, though a high tory and a high
churchman, is a conscientious, eloquent, and efficient
parish priest ; and does not, as we hear, commit
waste with the coal underneath his large glebe.
But, as a trustee, he only reigns ; he does not
govern. The Easington colliers give him so much to
do in his parish, as to leave him little time to attend
matters out of it. Whereas, had Archdeacon RAY-
MOND been, as precedent dictated, elected instead of
Dr. LIDDELL, he, not troubling himself with parochial
duties, could have relieved his attendance at mecha-
nics' institutions by activity and vigilance in till'. trust.
As it is, however, Dr. LIDDELL, it seems, takes
small part in its administration. Dr. Iteuronn, we
have shown, none at all. And age has incapacitated
Dr. DURELL. Consequently the CREWE trust is sub-
stantially at the mercy of Mr. DARNELL and Dr.
THORPE. They it is who alternate, in fine weather,
residence at Bamborough Castle. Over their heads it is
that the standard of England flies on " Ida's tower,
huge and square." Their sons it is for whom grouse
is strictly preserved, a shooting-box erected on, and
poachers warned from Blanchland Fells. By them are
tenants changed, farms let, rents raised, notices to
quit given, livings presented to, exhibitions conferred,
votes created, and the balance of 8,8001. aforemen-
tioned spent. They, in short, are such important per-
sonages, that it becomes interesting to know more of
them.

Both are thorough ecclesiastics—priests every inch
of them ; loving the church for its slice ; loving the
church for their own sakes. For it has made them
princes in the land ; WOLSETS in miniature at Dur-
ham and Stanhope : powerful, magnificent,
hosOtable ; blandly, conscientiously, inexorably
intolerant; influencing through the trust upwards of
90 votes in the county of Northumberland ; yet rain-
ing its blessings on Durham only. Mr. DARNELL is all
fortiter in re ; Dr. THORPE all suaviter in tnodo. No
rushes to the mouth of the one, as congenially as yes
simmers over the lips of the other. Bat, though
thus differing in personal character, they are united
by family links, welded in the perpetual curacy of
Bamborongh ; and by this union the charity of Lord
Caawa is not a little affected in its administration.
This is who and what the trustees are.

SWITZERLAND.

We have advice" from Switzerland to the 24th inst.
_ _

The Council of State of Tessin have replied to the
note of the federal council, which we some days since
noticed, that Mazzini is no longer in that canton, at
least they are nearly certain that he is not ; that the
incendiary political writings. and pamphlets are not
sent into Lorabarby by Team ; that it is not true
that a large contraband trade in arms is carried on ;
and that the only refugees who remain are either ill
or with their private friends. Before threatening the
canton with an armed occupation, the council conceive
the federal council should have satisfied itself of the
truth of the allegations made, and not have admitted
their truth on the mere assertion of Austrian notes ;
and that on such ground the federal council cannot
expect that the canton shall exhaust its resources by
establishing a cordon militant.:
By a despatch of the 20th, the Federal Commission-
ers communicated to the Council of State two letters
of the General of Division, Count de Haller, in which
he acknowledges the loyalty with which the authori-
, ties have sent away the refugees from the frontiers.,
and states that he has taken measures to prevent a
1 renewal of the violations of the frontier.

The Piedmont.se Gazette of the 24th publishes a
letter from the Sardinian government to the Federal
Council, protesting agahist the measures they have
adopted with respect to the Italian refugees, and ex-
pressing a hope that they will so modify them as to