The Express.
London, England, 1848-01-01 00:00:00

latter is, indeed, a nice case, that requires setae cir-
cumspection and caution to treat with fairness•

by one of his numerous °ether, which obliges him to
inform his bishop of any. unsound doctrine which any
of the clergy may utter in thepulpit. The bubo is
not, we presume, one of those clergy. If he is, when
he utters heresies from the pulpit, it will be time
enough to communicate the delinquency to him
in his episcopal character, that ho may take
proceedings against himself in due course. Surely the
dean does not set up ss an excuse for refusing to obey
the law, that it might possibly render the perform-
ance of some of hie other dulies personally dis-
agreeable. With Dr. MEREwirritEß's pathetic
recollections of the late King WILLIAM, Lord Joust
RUSSELL, the church at large, and we ourselves, have
singularly little to do. He appears to think that he
may be accused of disloyalty to the crown, and not of
disobedience to the law. Illogical loyalists' when
they refuse to Csotaa that which is C.Eseß's, always
profess their readiness to give him something which
is not C.ESAR'S. If the dean had a voice in the choice
of a bishop, we should recommend him to exercise it
in entire independence of the crown. M the rove
fi lire beam on its obverse and reverse, on its face and
in its history, the image and superscription of C.EiAR,
we think it would be more orthodox, we are certain it
would be more right, to avoid discussing the question
whether it be lawful to give tribute to C.E4AR or no.
That leading case, if its ruling was followed, would
diese of nine-tenths of the conscientious scruples
which trouble the weak minds of half-taught
moralists.
The dean's proceedings at the election were as
puzzled as his reasoning, and somewhat more puz-
zling. After a pompous speech, he voted against 1/r.
HAMPDEN, and was supported by one canon residen-
tiarv. Three canons residentiary voted in favour of
obedience to the law ; and a mass of honorary canons
nominated by the late bishop, of course voted on the
same side. The dean protested against the right of
the honorary canons to interfere—a protest probably
well warranted by law, but immaterial under the
circumstances, as the net majority of the real ea-
pitular body was on the same aide with the gross ma-
jority formed by the nominal dignitaries. The dean
farther protested against the validity of any act in
which he did not himself concur; and if the rights
of the different members of the chapter came under
legal discussion, we are not prepared to say
that a majority of the corporate body can per-
form any act without its head. In the present
case, however, there can be no such investigation,
for, after all, strange as it may seem, the dean con-
curred in the election of Dr. Hen VDEN. He himself
proposed that the usual certificates of election should
be torwarded to the crown, to the archbishop, and to
the bishop elect. The capitular seal was attached to
the documents, and the election is as regular as it
would have been, if the QUEEN had recommended
Dr. MEREWETHER himself to the choice of the'
chapter. If he is prosecuted antler the statute of
HENRY VIII., be has only to point to the seal of the
chapter. That is his legal and official utterance,
which neither he nor his prosecutors can vary by
parol. True it is, his counsel will say, that the dean
assured Lord Jwis RUSSELL that no power on earth
should induce him to elect ; but HENRY VIII. made
no law against making assertion% in newspapers.
True it is, that in the chapter-house he made a speech;
bat there is no law against speechifying. His duty was
to concur in the election. The proof that he concurred
is, that the proper documents were sealed by his direc-
tion; and no evidence can be received or suggested to
contradict his official seal. We are very glad that Dr.
MEREMETTIER is safe from the mysterious terrors of a
prerniunire and we hope he will now resume his
meritorious occupation of restoring the cathedral, with
more attention to the rules of art than he has shown
in the recent controversy. He knows that in archi- '
tecture the foundations and the lateral bearings, the
strength of the arches, and the weight of the roof must
be quietly calculated and provided, before the builder
can occupy himself with ornamental tracery.
Spreiora &bine miraeula puma.
In the business of the election, having deserted his
proper field of activity, the dean began with much
sound and fury, and ended by doing what he might
have done quietly, and what he professed that he
would not do at all. The judicious critic cannot but
observe
Qu!d dignum tanto tent hie promisor Motu!
We do not feel disposed to compliment either the I
clergy and laity, who have addressed Dr. llampden,
for the appropriateness of their language, or the
bishop elect, for the good taste of his answer. The'
charge against him being founded on the Hampton
Lectures, his supporters actually fail to express their
opinion that the charge is unfounded. As far as they
are concerned, the positions of their opponents are I
conceded to them, while they compliment 1/r. Ham,- 1I
DEN on the possession of virtues which have not been
disputed, and on a period of his teaching which no one
has impugned. Dr. HAMPDEN on the other hand is
determined to be a martyr to a supposed persecution,
as the Dean of HEREFORD is to an imaginary tyranny.
" The cause in which you are engaged,' he says, "
is
a much greater one than anything simply relating to
an individual." "Congratulations are due to you for
your strenuous support of the true protestant church.
In other words, "the opposition to me, Dr. HAMP-
DEN, is a mere outburst of Popery, Poseyism, and
heresy ; and the archbishop. the 16 bishops, the ma-
jority of the Oxford convocation, and all the clergy
over the country, who have been alarmed at my elec-
tion, are guilty of the crime of heterodoxy, with which
they sought to charge me."
We regret that the odium theologirum should blind
all parti_s in this conte-t. We utterly disapprove of
the charges against Dr. HAMPDEN ; but we are not
prepared for the excommunication of all, who may
have approved of them, or even joined in them.
When Dr. HAMPDEN is cooler, perhaps he will see
that the errors with which he was unjustly charged
had nothing to do with popery, or with the disputes
between high and low churchmen. It is true that
the Puseyite party joined his opponents; but it is not
true that they farmed the mass of the party with which
they acted, or that the points at issue were those in
which they took an exclusive interest. The bigotry,
the narrowness, the ignorant timidity of the English
clergy and people on doctrinal points, fully account
for the misunderstandings which have thrown Dr.
lAMPDEN on the down bed of episcopal martyrdom.
It is pleasant to turn from the recriminations of
partisans to the share which Archdeacon HARE has
taken in the discussion. Instead of bandying charges
of heresy he has studied the Hampton lectures, on which
the charges against Dr. HAMPDEN were founded, and
delivers an approval of them which is entitled to the
weight which belongs to hie profound learning, and
to the universal respect with which his character is re-
garded. Agreeing, we believe, in opinion with the low
church party, and well known for his religious earnest-
ness, Archdeacon HARE stands almost alone among
those who hold similar opinions in literary, philoso-
phical, and theological knowledge. Au intimate ac-
quaintance with the abatruser parts of learning, with
philoloey and with metaphysics, enables him to judge
of the merits of a work, which, like that of Dr.
HameDEN, was intended entirely for a philosophical
purpose. "It is," he says (and we have, as
our readers are aware, frequently said the same,
though less fully and with far less authority).
"It is a historical more than a dogmatical
work—a work of historical and philosophical criti-
cism, applied to an important point in the develop
ment of Christian theology, professing in its title to
consider the scholastic philosophy in its relation to
Christian theology, that is, to point out how that
philosophy, which exercised such power in the church
for several centuries, modified the development of our
theology—how it led to the construction of systems,
in which at one time one doctrine, at another time
another doctrine, was wrought out with great subtlety
into all its logical consequi flees, and bow the traces
of this philosophy, even so long after it has been
exploded, are still discernible in our symbolical books,
especially .in their terminology." Those who are
really swoon, to coe to a sound decisicn as to the
merits of Dr. HAMmPDEN, must refer to Archdeacon
HARE'S pamphlet. In the meantime, his name and au-
thority will probably satisfy many that they have been
imposed upon or deceived. We hope this tiresome
controversy has stow reached nearly its last stage, and
that, in a short time, all parties will be satisfied that
it would have been better if it had never been begun.
The relations of the Church to the Crown are highly
expedient, and beneficial in their workin7. It is
much better not to foil .et them out into all their con-
ceivable consequences. I":.ere is no c titution, and
no considerable portion of any conatitation, which
does not contain within itself, in a latent form, the
possibility of a dead look. It is only by a judicious
adjustment and occasional oiling of the wheels that
the machinery continues to do is duty tolerably.
We have already dilated too far to do justice to the
prelates of Sarum and Oxford. The conduct of the

THERE is, we understand, no doubt that the subor-
dinate officers of the various military departments
have received instructions for, and are now actually
' engaged in, the preparation of estimates involving a
considerable increase in the strength of the defensive
services of the country. We do not, of course, pro-
fess to know whether these estimates are intended to
inform ministers of the actual coat of the increase
recommended for their adoption, or whether they are
meant for submission to the House of Commons as
necessary to carry out those measures of national
defence which they may have resolved to propose to
the legislature. But of this we are very certain, that,
notwithstanding the alarm of the weak and the fore-
thought of the cautious, the present is not the time for
any avoidable addition to the public expenditure. I
A few days will show us how much the national
receipts have in the last year and quarter fallen short
of the like periods in 1846; and ere the lapse of
another quarter the CHANCELLOR OF TIER EXCHE-
QUER will, in all probability, have given us some no-
lien of the manner in which he intends to make up the
deficiency that is believed to exist between ordinary
receipts and expenditure ; for the whigs, with the ex-
perience of 1840 and 1841 before their eyes, will not
tolerate the existence of that deficiency, even though
the income-tax must be increased to fill up the
vacuum that diminished national and individual
means have produced. In the meantime, the right
hon. gentleman's inventive or suggestive faculties will
be occasionally, diverted from this stern duty by
the annual claims which are about this season
introduced into the Treasury for the reduction of
various taxes. Liverpool and Manchester will bring
the duty on tea under his notice : the metropolis will
wait upon him with fresh details of the inconve-
niences of the window-tax ; sanitary associations will
show to his assenting mind how much health would
be promoted by the abrogation of the duty on soap.
Scotland generally has very special objections to the
excise ; and every man who smokes, snuffs, or chews
tobacco regards that weed as much too highly taxed.
Sir ROBERT PEEL, too, when parliament assembles,
and finance is referred to, will not fail of impressing
on the CHANCELLOR the importance—the absolute
necessity, in reference to foreign affairs, of keeping
large Ireeaury balances. And Ireland is already
clamouring for other millions to be spent—in food,
in labour, or in any other way in which money
is or can be misspent in that country. It
is at such a time and with such prospects before us
that government ie urged to adopt measures which,
according to the wildest propositions, will involve an
extraordinary expenditure of five or six millions
sterling, and which, even in accordance with the more
rational proposals, will render a very handsome addi-
tion to our yearly expense unavoidable. hereupon
arise two questions : can we at present afford to make
any addition to our expenditure for such purposes—
and do the circumstances is which we are placed
require that even if we can afford, we should do
so ? That we can afford, in the face of an increase of
taxation to meet ordinary expenditure. to expend any
considerable sum of money on objects of extraordinary
expenditure, appears to us simply impossible:
we may certainly borrow and tax ourselves
to do so, but such a course appears to us
far more impolitic and dangerous than to wait
uutil we can afford from ordinary sources the
outlay. To run taxation, in a period of great diffi-
culty and depression, up to its maximum point, or
even to stretch our fiscal capabilities, is we think more
calculated to weaken the country and to render it
more obnoxious to hostile attacks, than to neglect for
a few years, and until " things come round again,"
fringing the coast with martello towers, fortifying
the Channel, embodying an army reserve, or annoy-
ing the whole population by calling out the militia.
Just now we are not a little put to it to complete
those great material works which must, when done,
as Sir ROBERT PEEL has predicted, greatly augment
both national and individual wealth ; every shilling
we can spare is required to finish those railways the
completion of which in themselves adds to our
means of national defence; and by every six-
pence that we are additionally taxed, by so
much the less shall we be able to complete them. It
is doubtless always desirable to be as safe as we can,
but it is a wise old saw that we must cut
our coats according to our cloth; and when, for thirty
years, we have been at peace with Europe, and in the
course of that period have run fur greater risks of its
rupture than any which exist at present, the prudent
course, we repeat, seems to be to wait until we can
expend millions, before we enter on the expenditure.
So with great submission to those who think other-
wise, we cannot see, in our present situation, any
irresistible reasons for bristling fortifications in the
channel, or armies of reserve in every county. And
when a belief in the proposition that we are no longer
an island, and in the imminent danger we should
run from fogs and storms in case of war,
is the staple in which the lords and ladies who
write and frighten themselves on this subject indulge,
they are not likely to make many converts. Land
fifty thousand French on the coast of Kent, and they
would probably reach London, each Frenchman
killing two Englishmen on the march ; but the rea-
sonable probability appears to us that fifty thousand
Frenchmen never will be landed. It is a possibit
lity; but a possibility of that sort against which
nations cannot afford to ensure very highly. It as-
sumes either the inefficiency of our navy, or such a
concurrence of military and natural disasters to it as
never has occurred in its history. It assumes a want
of notice of war between the two countries such as
has never occurred; it assumes such a preparation on
the part of France and such a want of prepara-
tion on oar part ne has never occurred; it
assumes such a prostration of the rest of
Europe at the feet of France as has never
but once occurred ; in short, it assumes such a
strange combination of circumstances as reasonable
people will notassume. It is a sort of Joinrille mania,
such as common acute cannot fall into ; we have risked
it before, and we will risk it again, rather than commit
the greater folly of taxing ourselves in the hope of
preventing it. We have laughed at and ridiculed
and jeered the fortifications of Paris; and it ie now
gravely proposed by some that we should follow
this example.
Our army is, perhaps, considering the present state
of' Ireland, and the demands of our colonies on it,
somewhat too small; if, on mature consideration, such
be found to be the state of the case, let it by all means
be augmented; or, better still, let us introduce such a
system of colonial corps as would enable us to have a
much larger proportion of our troops at home. But in
the name of all that is convenient and reasonable let
us not precipitate ourselves and the exchequer into
military expenses, until we have the desirable requi-
sites of disposable funds, matured plans, and some
cause or necessity that will bear examination beyond
the scribblornania of staff-officers and newspaper
--endcnte.

=---
M. Sauzet, whose election to the presidency of the
French Chamber of Deputies we announced yester-
day, was opposed by M. Odidon Burrot, and obtained
a majority of 227 votes against 105. The election of
M. Thiers to the presidency of the eighth bureau, which
we also announced yesterday, was gained by a ma-
jority of 21 against 20. M. Thiers was opposed by a
conservative candidate, M. Dupont.
As examples of the comments of different sections of
the opposition on the re-election of M. Sauzet to the
presidency of the Chamber, we give the following from
the Conetitutionnet, and the Union Monarchique, a
legitimist journal.
The Ccnatitutionnel says :
Sanzet's majority is relat.vely inferior to that of 1846,
but we attach little value to these calculations, which are
matters of mere curiosity. In fact, the ministry possesses
its majority elways olio,i—nt, voting as it desires ; and it'll it
is so well aware of, tbu A spares no injunction nor any

caprice.
The Union Monarchiquc Las the following :
Scout has been re-elected. M. Sauzet has obtained
a triumph of 227 votes out of 363. Bravo ! that gives us
some idea of what is to follow. In this first combat, in which
the majority has merited so well from its doctrinaire patrons,
what has become of M. Dupin and M. Dufaure ? In truth
their disappearance resembles greatly an irony. We seek
their names in vain in the bulletin of the great battle. These
names, attractive of little sympathy, and which were un-
wisely hell up as railing points, vanished at the moment of
combat. It was when all was over, when the tiring had
ceased, when the dying and the dead were being picked up,
that IC Dupic was discovered, timidly squatting down behind
a group of 13 votes. As to M. Dufanre, he bas had only nine
to console him fer his failure. It is true that the left had de-
termined the evening before to set usae these two impos.ible
candidates. M. 0. Barrot it was resolved, should be the
paten supported, and in cowerturnee the leader of the
dynastic opposition obtainel an honourable minority of 105
votes. This preference at treat had one advantage ; it sanc-
tioned the reform movement iu him who for the last three