The Express.
London, England, 1866-02-09 00:00:00

some future General Council,
really to accept the decrees of ,
and interpret the Thirty-nine_
Church of England by them. But this proposal ;;., >u
,sot
to do. The admmietratgoo, which oliposee the
to " conatitationalize " the POPE is simply abhor- amendment, accepts its principle as obvious ; and whatever
rent to the Archbishop. The decrees of Trent diCenitill• Ida fancy, English doggednesa, or party finesse
are merely the fixed roots of a system which is might WIWI late the debate, the whole discussion means
full of life and growth. The POPE speaks the nothing more—toss leas-
living mind of the Church, and all interpretations The Star thinks
it must have. been obvious to every
observer that all the debates which have recently taken
emanating from pontifical authority are infallible. piece en Irish alien have been exceedingly creditable in
Theologians in Dr. POSEY'S situation must not tone and feeling, and that of last night is another Mesita.
look for concessions and explanations to make the Lion of the remark. There can be no doubt that, rightly
decrees of the Church tolerable to them. " Such approached from both aides, the Irish question may be
" a course simply indulges and confirms the beneficently don't with, and the speech of Mr. Gladstone
" habit of private judgment." To receive a eye-
indicates what a field it presents for discreet and practical
tem of doctrine because it agrees with your "te'maneblP•
judgment is to subject the authority of the
Church to private judgment, and to ask for an
authoritative interpretation without engaging to
submit to it ;s to play fast and loose. Let this
declaration be well noted :—" To receive the
" whole Council of Trent upon the principle of
" private judgment would make no man a Catholic.
" To receive the Connell of Trent only because we
" critically believe its decrees are infalliole, is
" private judgment. We should not be sub-
" mitting to them, but approving them." And
lest any one should say he is ready to submit
to the voice of the Church to be declared by a
Council on the points not decided at Trent, the
Archbishop says that, " the appeal from the
" POPE to a futnra General Cornell is described by
" cazionista as the crime of sacrilege against the
" primacy of the SOVEREIGN PONTIFF."
To many persons it will seem that time is
worked in thus placing in evidence dispositions and
tendencies of the Roman Church which have been
demonstrated a thousand times in history. Others,
considering how many persons of eminent ability
are employed to recommend the same system, and
how strong is the tendency to believe without in-
quiry that what has the sanction of highly intellec-
tual men must be in harmony with the reason of
the age, and the mistakes into which even divines
so eminent as Dr. POSEY may fall as to the
extent of the surrender of judgment required
of converts, may rot think it superfluous
to call public attention to what are now
set forth on the highest authority as the
claims of Rome. Dr. Marrispia is at pains to
show us that his Church does not seek converts
who require to be first convinced of its doctrines.
They are not to judge of the tree by its fruit, bat
to take the tree first, and then to acknowledge that
all the fruit is nutritious. The distractions of the
age and the perplexities of devout minds are no
doubt very great, but they must be greater before
we can be reduced to this extremity.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIB DAY.)

CONVOCATION AND TIN " CONSCI WIC CLAUSE "

The Times rains ridicule upon convocation. It is an nn-
couth, misbrand, colourless shadow which stern on
the opposite wall when parliament meets ; it depends on
the breath of Lord Russell's nostrils ; it does not
possess a beadle's staff, a candlestick, a broom. or a door-
mat ; the great majority of the church of England have no
I more to do with it than they have with the " British Col-
lege of Health,* and its true picture might be found in a
I German tale insoribing a parliament of the disaffected, the
outlawed, or the doomed. But it is jadieloos, perhaps, to
let material that might be dangerous run off somewhere or
other. If anything worse comes of it, Lord Russell
holds the extingalsber. The Lower House has been
demanding immunity from the state for forcing the church
catechism down the throats of dissenting children. Baffled
by men, it flies at babes and sucklings. It is needless to
say its efforts will be in vain, and that ao British pezlia-
meet ever will plant our poor village folks in the painful
dilemma of either leaving their children wholly unedu-
cated, or bringing them up in the use of words and forms
which in their one have no meaning, and can only make
them hypocrites. Convcoation tries to keep up the ilia.
sion of an independent spiritual legislature; but for what
good! Nothing comes of it, exoept demand, and 'acres-
Mona that excite the smiles of the world and the sorrow of
the serious. Is it for the good of the chenh, er t, its
greet damage and lose, that It is kept up on its present
ridiculous footing

The Post does not blame Archdeacon Denison and others
who are leadindthe opposition to this clause, but thinks
they ought not to set their faces spinet &compromise. As
to the objection, that it involves a breach of faith with the
church, let the, clause be brought before parliament for its
&motion, and, if it passes, that objection is disposed a.
As to the second, that it is not forced upon other religions
bodies, let churchmen claim that it be forced on
the consciences of Romanist, as well se protestant', and if
the Romanist' accept it there will be no unfairness ; if '
they reject it churchmen will know what to do. Then,
thirdly, as to its practical working, let it be confined to
parishes In which there are already some dissenters, and
let these in which there are none bo exempt from it. If
these exceptions and compromises cannot be made, then
let the church accept it under protest, and petition parlia-
ment incessantly till they get a hearing ; bat is the
meantime let them do nothing to stay the pewee of
schoolbnilding in the ru-al districts.

THE O'DONOGIUTZ'S auseinuani.
Presuming that in the O'Donoghue'e speech last
night we have a full exposition from his point of view of the
wrongs of Ireland, the causes of Fenianism, and the re-
medies neossam7 to restore affection for British rule, the
Timer proceeds to contest seriatim that hon. gentleman's
positions. The "people" of which he speaks is made up
entirely of sn illiterate sad impel/dye clue whose own
statements show that they do not desire legal reform, and
that the constitutional removal of grievances would fail to
satisfy them. Not one of them, from Stephens and
O'Mahony downward., but would laugh at the O'Donogbue
and his conailintory measurer. The Fenian. desire simply
to overthrow what they call English rule in Ireland,
and to gavots the country by means of the artisans
and peasantry, who alone are their follower.. They would
willingly join with the most fanatiosi Orangemen if by so
doing they could avert any reform which might tran-
quillise those whom it is their policy to excite. Of the
O'Dotoghne's remedies, the may ones of any real political
importance are those relating to the Irish church and
tenant right, and, however much may be said on
these questions, the Times does not believe that
any man who knows Ireland will allege that the aboli-
tion of the establishment or the extension of tenant
right would content the clam of men who have produced or
who sympathise with the present movement. The cure for
Feoiauism is in the vigilance and just severity of govern-
ment, and the extension of industry and prosperity among
the people. Much may remain to be done for Ireland by
legislative means, and much, we hope, may be done even in
the present esesion, but until the loyal and industrious are
assured of their adety the best *ruled measures will be is
vain:

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE.
The Times publishes a letter from its special
correspondent at Kingston, dated the 15th ult.
The legislature was to meet at Spanish Town
on the 17th, in order so empower the Royal
Commission to compel the attendance of wit-
nesses and administer oaths, the session not being
' expected to last more than a day or two. "It is
difficult," writes the correspondent,—
To c nivey any adequate notion of the cootictlnq end coo-
tradictory rumours and statements which meet one here. I
have listened patiently to much that has been told me in
proof of excesses of authority by British officers, and cruelties
committed by subordinates during the rebellion or after it
was stamped out ; but while some of these stories ve horri-
fying, and will, I believe, be given in evidence here-
after, it would be manifestly unjust to repeat them
until they have been properly sifted and subtentisted
on oath. An expression used pretty frequently
among a few of the whites and coloured people
in that 0104 the new governor's arrival they have felt
themselves " unniuseled," and will now speak out. The
arrest, among others, of Mr. C. W. Gordon in Kingston,
of Mr. Levien in Montego Bay, and their conveyance to
Moreot Bay, seems, indeed, to have created the greatest
alarm among all who were liable to suspicion, or who
thought that they might be suspected, for using seditious
language. It is possible that these persons may find
representatives in the House of Assembly who on Wednes-
day will take the opportunity of discussing the policy of
the government. But the general feeling is that at this
I juncture and pending inquiry such a discussion would be
time wasted. _ _

CF-

Advising readers at home to wait for the testing
of the evidence by the commissioners, the corre-
spondent proceeds to analyse the publication by
the military authorities of the notes of Gordon's
trial. Assuming, he says, that those contain all
the evidence against the prisoner, a foul wrong has
been done him. The case against him could hardly
be weaker. Meanwhile the island remains per-
fectly tranquil. The negroes exult openly in what
they regard as the disgrace of Mr. Eyre, and have
resumed their revival meetings and religious gather-
ings. Kingston, the writer describes, as a city Of
the past, suggesting at every step poverty and decay.
But at every turn there are echoes of England,
even the coloured people claiming their share in
the privileges of British citizen life. " But for the
hateful difference of colour, Jamaica would be a

- -
thbroughly English colony ; yet other Welt India
islands less blessed than Jamaica prospered in spite
of this difference. It is impossible for an English-
man to despair of an island in which, as I write,
the Guards' Waltz' is being extracted by vigorous
thumping from a piano in the opposite house, while
a group of black children in a yard close by have
just sung, 'Lc, He comes, in clouds descending,'
and now and then I near distant snatches of a
sturdy chorus proposing three cheers for The Red,
White, and Blue ! ' "
Of the Jamaica negro we get the following
glimpse :
I do not pretend to have fathomed the negro's character;
to do so requires close study and wide obeetvation, for he
seems to haves complex character, with many good qualities,
crossed by much that requires humouring, maaagement, and
firm control. On the surface of things, however, Quasbie
appears to be a likeable fellow, good-tempered, so-
ciable, joyous. wily pleased, easily—sh, too easily—
wrought upon and led; excitable, and in that state
liable to sudden and almost unaccountable excesses
of rage; fonder of basking in the shade than of
working in the sun, and, as political economists agree, con-
tented with too little, having few wants, and these easily
supplied, and seldom caring to raise his condition. I wish
he would be more careful of bis womankind, and less care-
ful of his own ease. It is nearly Away' the women who
bring down the heavy loads to market. Sir Quashie rides
his pony or mule in dignity and saw, while the hewer of
wood and drawer of water whom he has taken to wife
trodges patiently by his side, generally poising on her head
a big basket of yams, bananas, or green oranges. How well
she poises it, too, and with what a royal air she walks. Her
lithe, shapely figure sad well-set head, the light, clean
dregs and gay turban, the basket full of tropical frait
perhaps gold-coloured, perhaps flaming red—and the good-
humoured black face, which returns your nod, and shows
the reddest (also the thickest) of lips and the whitest of
teeth, make up • study of form and colour which
would delight an academician. But, then, this
always graceful, seldom pretty, black Venus, who
toils so hard for six days in the week, is
actually fond of wearing finery on the seventh ! 1
believe she shares this reproach with a good many
of those in Europe and elsewhere who think themselves
her betters. She is a daughter of Ere, and on Sundays at
all events likes to be well dressed, according to her notion
of good dressing. Let me entire all who may be inclined
to think poorly of her in this respect that the black woman
seems to possess an instinct for dressing well, that she evi-
dently has an eye for colour, and is gifted with •
taste very far beyond that of her class in England.
Her turban is gay, ai I have said ; but its bright
Dolours contrast well with the dusky face and gleaming
teeth below. Her dram is a cool, clean, print, always
light, hardly ever gaudy. In the early days of emancipa-
tion 1 am told that the regress bought dresses of flaming
colours, but for these there is now no market in Jamaica
•—e proof that, in ma`ters of taste, the negro= is, at all
events, an improvable being. For this reams, • lady as-
sorts me, the black girls make expellent hidio' maids.
They are never tired of brushing and dressiog hair, and
are never happier than in decking out their mistress in her
beet, and in showing their taste by the choice of her dress
and the jewelry which is to help her charms.
On the 13th ult. his Excellency Sir Hem.,
Storks received the heads of the military depart-
ment at Head-quarters House, in Kingston, and
afterwards paid a visit to Admiral Sir James Hope
on board the flagship. He was accompanied by his
aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Baring, and the Secretary
of the Commission, Mr. RoundelL His excellency
returned in the afternoon by train to Spanish
town. Mr. Eyre continues at Irlamstead.

(ZWITMen

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