The Express.
London, England, 1865-08-08 00:00:00

11e erprefni.

TO 0011113/ONDANTS.
advertisements Wooded for " Swan " Lando° Viols.
,1).2:11,:tb,41.711t0rte OS" Solaverbmitreet. by Tire

HAYbILILLET.
THIS imam, THE LADY OF LYON& Ileum Fliahunee,
Nelson, Neville, Sinclair, and Welter Monenoinery Miss Heat&
—And 111oN. The Hon. Lewis Wingd•W. Mr. Robins and
nognes , Maass Maitland. Howard, Cavendish, and Pelham

PZINGIONN.
reas NVINIDM NE ANYSTILINGS AND TIDDLIkSTRINGIL
—ARRAH NA POGUE. Maws. D. Bouelcal44,2,6Droa
:
B. Yeadeshoe. D. Maher, D.
goacicsaft sad Wm M. 011ver.—And AraPLS APOLOGY.

BRITANNIA.
Tins EV1211140, THE CONFEDERATE'S DAIJOffTER : OR,
THE TYRANT OF NEW ORLEANS..—MdIIe. C. Stephan—
WHERE SHALL I DINE? Kr. J. Rion°lda—And THIRD
CLASS AND FIRST CLASS. Ilearro. Cranford and Drummond.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON-REIM&
TRW DAT Morning, SR Ms Allarnoon, 9h. 65m.
To-mozaow Morning. Ms. leni Alternaos. Sb. Mni.

LONDON, TUESDAY, AUGUST 8.

A CORRESPONDENCE which we published yester-
day exhibitstheCHANCELLortof the EXCHEQUER in a
situation and character which may have surprised
some of our readers. It appears that last winter
Mr. Giros-rose met a number of the principal
Nonconformist ministers of London by appoint-
ment, for an exchange of opinions on certain
matters relating to Church politics. One of the
gentlemen present has described the meeting, per-
haps too formally, as a "conference on certain
" ecclesiastical questions." Mr. GLADSTONE him-
self refers to it as if the discovery of some "ground
"of cooperation" had been its object. It is
probable that the various parties came together
with different views and expectations. It is not
extraordinary that a statesman in Mr. GLADSTONE'S
position should be desirous of ascertaining what
are the ideas which govern the public
action of the unendowed religious bodies,
and especially what are their feelings and
wishes with regard to the Established Church.
This is a curiosity which he could not but feel,
whether he were a sincere and attached son of the
Church of England, or merely one of its external
supporters. On the other hand, it may be sup-
posed to be a matter of some consequence to Non-
conformists to learn how a statesman who has
studied the relations of Church and State so
thoroughly as Mr. GLADSTONE regards the
efforts they are making to realise the prin
ciples of religious equality in legislation. The
Rev. 'HENRY CHRISTOPHERSON, to whom our
readers are indebted for the publication of Mr.
GLADSTONE'S views, has naturally in his own
letter given prominence to that one of the sub-
jects of discussion at the interview refuted to In
which he felt the strongest personal interest ; but
we shall not do wrong in conjecturing that the scope
of that interview went much beyond the question of
Liturgical Reform. We are indeed entitled to infer
this from the terms of Mr. GLADSTONE'S letter. At
the same time we are glad to learn what Mr. GLAD-
STONE thinks on the more restricted subject. Mr.
CHRISTOPHERSON has been anxious to make Mr.
GLADSTONE understand, that the reasons for non-
conformity are various, and capable of existing
apart, and that while a very large majority of Dis-
senters object on principle to all establishments of
religion, there are others who are only withheld
from conformity by difficulties to be found in the
Prayer Book. If certain limited alterations could
be made in the Ministration of Baptism of Infants,
and in the Order of Visitation of the Sick ; if the
Burial Service could be altered so as to exalt fewer
to heaven, and the Athanaaian Creed so as not to
consign so many to perdition, multitudes of men
would enter the Anglican communion who are now
compelled to remain outside its pale. We can well
believe it. It seems that Mr. ISAAC TAYLOR—not
the ISAAC TAYLOR, we suspect—has said that " half
" a dip of ink would reconcile hundreds of Non-
" conformists to the Established Church." Perhaps
so. and in like manner a whole dip might 'office to
amend the Reform Bill, and admit the whole army
of universal suffrage to the poll-booth. But what is
that to Mr. Lows I The ink is not the difficulty.
It is conceivable that, for the sake of unity and
peace, the rubric prescribing the periodical reading
of the Athanasian Creed might be repealed, and the
use of the Burial Service left to the discretion of
the minister ; but Mr. CHRISTOPHERSON must
know that the parts of the Burial Service and the
Order for the Visitation of the Sick, to which he
and his co-religionists object, are not casual ex-
pressions, but that they represent profound exclu-
sive theories of the nature and attributes of the
Church, which are held for life and death
by thousands of intelligent and conscientious
Churchmen. Had those passages not been inserted
in the Prayer Book the doctrines which they ex-
press might have been taught and held as the
tenets of a school of Churchmen, the Church
itself being silent as to the claims made on its
behalf ; but to strike those passages out now
would be to deliberately deny those doctrines. It
is easy enough for anyone who does not admit the
theory of the services just mentioned, with all its
vast consequences, to ask that its signs may be ex-
punged, without considering what would be the effect
of compliance with that request. Mr. GLADSTONE
observes in his letter to Mr. CHRISTOPHERSON, that
a plan of comprehension, if adopted, "would eject
"many more than it would admit." We think
there can be no doubt of it. Of course it may be
argued that there are reasons independent of
consequences for making changes in the Prayer
Book. It may be contended that the High Church
theory being erroneous, the State ought to insist
upon obliterating all traces of it from the Prayer
Book, and correct the service according to the
notiqns of tho strongest party in the country.
Such a proposal might have the support of those
Dissenters referred to by Mr. Casisrornsasow,
who "prefer some recognition of religion by the
" State ; " that is, that the State should stamp
some peculiar type of religion with its approval to
the disadvantage of all others, although we trust
that the majority of Dissenters better understand
the true principles of religious liberty. But if the
question concerns the balance of gain and loss to
the Church of England, considered as a specific
religious society, we think Mr. Gtararrows's
answer is the right one. "What are defects in
" the eyes of one are virtues in the eyes of