The Express.
London, England, 1851-01-07 00:00:00

ender the 4:dreamt/Anse. seeing that the starch in
England was the object smiled by the Pore and
his Cardinal, but apparently very inoffensive in re-
geed to all external releases. There is, however,
alma ! no pleasing eraybillOpe
Archbishop Smarts is probably the mildeat,
gentlest, kindest, most •ess, times and °oscillatory of
men (to say nothing of ecclesinsties)i tu the Caoria's
realm. Teem is little (excerpt a surliest of great and
leadieg prineiples) he 'meld leave undone, or not do
at all, se occasion required, to secure unity, peace, and
concord. So, thrice did iris Grace write and re-write
the Episcopal Address to the Throne; until, by
omitting a strong passage here, and leering out a
telling word there, it at lut became so tame and un-
suggestive a document, as to equally commend
the assent of six out of the seven of our tractarian
bishops, and the signatures of all the rest, but one, of
the prelates who, to the infinite satisfaction of Cardinal
WISEMAN, oscillate from the dizzy heights of Bishop
Mosix's chnrchmanehip to the law-provokirg depths

of Bishop HAMPDEN's Sabellariantem.
But even this triply-prepared end thrioe-exorcieed
document could not catch all the Eog'sh bishops:
despite its archiepiscopal humility, it equally offended
Bishop PHILLPOTTe pride and Bishop THIRLWALL'ES
charity. So the one attempted to foist on the QUEEN
a long rigmarole of prelatical nonsense of his own,
which Secretary Sir OROROIt GREY returned him by
the post, for, as the lawyers in equity have it, imper-
tinence peculiar to himself; and the other wrote a
brief and sensible letter to his metropolitan, giving a
satisfactory reason for his dissent. And here, it
might have been expected, the misfortunes of an ad-
dress, evidently not clothed in language of triple
braes, would have terminated.
Vein hope! What Dr. PHILPOTTS violently repu-
diated and Dr. THTRLWALL politely turned aside from,
has alarmed the entire bench of Irish bishops. Its
very title has thrown them into a cold shiver ; for
there they find the prelates on this side the Channel
describing themselves as " the archbishops and
bishops of the church of England;" forgetful of the
' Ignited church of England and Ireland, es per 39
and 40 Geo. 111., e. 67; oblivious, as most
people hers are, of its provinces of Armagh and Dub-
lin. So thereupon they have addressed a remon-
entries to Primate Swann, reminding him of the
statute in that case made and provided, complaining
that its spirit is no longer to be found embodied in
imperial legislation and is fast evaporating from Eng-
lish episcopal lacguage, and entreating that they may
still be deemed and dealt with and spoken of as pre-
lates of a common establishment. To which remon-
strance Dr. SUMNER kindly and soothingly replies
that, though it did not appear "to any of the
bishops" consulted that the co-operation of the Irish
prelates could be invited, still, fir his own part, he
acknowledges that the document would have been
more correctly worded bad it been written in the
name of the church of England and Ireland. "It
would have been better," he adds with characteristic
amiability, "to have indited inharmonious sen-
tences than to have given ground for the apprehensions
expressed in your Grace's letter."
Such is the peck of troub!es that have turn-
, bled on Lambeth Palace in constqunce of this fa-
Inoue address.
Bat have the Irish prelacy acted discreetly in so re
monstrating ? This may be doubted. in the
midst of an ecclesiastical hubbub and sgitation here
in England, its best policy is silence. Its existence
may be prolonged by escaping, but not by attracting
attention. It cannot Resist, and it may very easily
hurt the English episcopate. The Act of 39 and 40
Geo. 111. c. 67 says the Irish Church is united with
the English Church ; let the Irish prelacy be content
with that enactment, for in that its only safety. lies.
Let it not obtrude itself on our notice, or force itself
on our embraces ; for churchmen here love it not as
an establishment, and have too many difficulties of
their own in hand to be indnc,d to connect the fats
of their church with so ricketty an institution ;
for when the storms come and the winds blow,
it must go; and the English Church has neither
inclination nor need to go with it. As a volun-
tary church we promise everything to it ; but as
an established and compulsory, and insulting
church, we must be permitted to give it the "cold
shoulder." Primate Suatent, in spite of the law
of the land and the courtesy of his nature, is, there-
fore, cautious and circumspect in his language; " in
all cues," he says, " where co-operation is practi-
cable, we shall be ready to act as an united body ;" that
is, we shall be ready in reference to any revision of the
ritual, in any expurgation of old rubrics, in unifor-
mity of services, and such like " matters," as Bishop
BLOMFIELD would call them. But to blend together
or to intermingle and render inseparable the fates and
existences of these two churches, however agreeable
it might be to the Irish, would be madness in the
English episoopate. We English protestant' can't
afford such an union ; so the Irish prelacy must be
content with their act of parliament. What its
worth may be without our guarantee, time will show
the Irish episcopate.
And that the Irish church has not as an establish-
ment the guarantee of the English people for its ex-
istence in that character, is Just what its prelacy
never will understand. The Union Act united the
churches, bat it could do no more; it could not, and it
did not, enact that their union was to endure for ever.
Posterity was not thereby restricted from reconsider-
ing the question of ecclesiastical establishments in
either country by such an enactment—from abolishing
the church, as a national establishment, in one island,
and retaining it in the other; ill that was meant war,
or that is binding is, that eo long as the two existing
churches shall be national establishments they shall
be united. Butwhen one ceases to be established, their
union es necessitate terminates, without any breach of
faith. For were it otherwise, the last generation
would by this accidental provision have inhibited all
succeeding generations from abolishing church esta-
blishment' either in England or Ireland : a power
that no generation hes a right to assume or can be
permitted to exercise, and which if exercised is not
binding on those who follow.
But, so to reason this question is tireless'. Utility,
as evidenced by the assent and se,..eptatioe of the
majority of a people, is the only possible foundation
ea which to rest a church establishment. Now
the Irish are, despite the union, a people • and the
question is, is the utility of the church of England in
Ireland so evidenced? If it be, the Irish prelacy is
safe without the aid of the English episcopate. if it
be not, no claim to be considered and treated as a
member of one great ecclesiastical community can
dive it security or safety.
And in the presence of this alternative, the Irish
remonstrance against English ;episcopal neglect was,
we submit, not merely a great indiscretion but a
huge blunder.

IN the rapid and unprecedented rise in the price of
silver there is one reason which inclines sue to attri-
bute it rather to a sudden and temporary demand
for special purposes, than to a depreciation in the
price of gold. For the last three years or more the
current of silver bullion has been through England to
the continent, flowing in a regular and copious stream;
the French revolution and the generally disturbed
state of foreign countries, created an additional
demand, caused by the scarcity of coin which follows,
as a law of nature, on all revolutions; yet during
this period no perceptible appreciation could be
weed in the pn.ce of silver. The demand wee
great and continuous ; but so were the supplies. Not
only South America poured out its treasures, but
favourable exchanges brought rupees from India, and
Seem silver from China, in great abundance.
Now the tide seems to have turned. Along with con-
tinental demands for temporary purposes, there is a
demand for silver from India, and these two concur-
ing causes are quite sufficient of themselves to act
on the market, and enhance the pries. We fully ad-
mit that this would not be the imie in ordinary times,
because we have observed that no perceptible appre-
ciation of price followed on the French revolution;
but then when we consider th►t 4,600.0001. of gold
can is withdrawn, or to be withdrawn from circula-
tion in Holland alone, to be exchanged for silver, and
eventually converted into coin, we can have no diffi-
culty in assigning a satisfactory reason for the
present anomalous state of the bullion market.
When governments enter the market as buyer, of
silver on such a soak as this we must anticipate a
still further derangement of metallic values: for, un-
like trading bodies, the pries to be paid for such an
article beoomes a secoudary consideration. When
our government is required to coin silver, in ceder to
supply the public exigencies, the question of the mu-
km price of bullion is one which u rarely if ever en-
tertained; and, when the demand is considerable, an
upward movement of the market generally follows.