The Express.
London, England, 1866-11-29 00:00:00

,--
ment has remonstrated with the Swiss Federal
Council, and requested it not to admit any more. I
Of course Switzerland will not listen to such an un-
j Inbe Glereclud
thDuchy of Hesse the elections have
gone in favour of the anti-Prussian party ; still, as .1
half of the country belongs to the northern bund, it 1
is impossible for the other half to join the southern. I
As Baden is equally unwilling to join, a southern 1
confederation will never come into existence, and
probably things will remain in suspense as long as
political affairs take a smooth course. The demo-
cratic party has just met at Stuttgart, and made an
appeal for money and moral support in their en-
deavours to keep the south free from Prussian
bonds ; but the cause is desperate, and the appeal
will not be responded to by many persons.

Dlt. PUSEY ON CONFESSION.

Dr. Posey has addresed another long letter to
the Tines on the above subject. This practice, be says,
was learned bythose who for may years past have used it,
from the Prayer-book, and was the result of the voluntary
workings of people's consciences, and all be desires is that
both clergy and laity should be free to do what they seve-
rally think right, not abridging the liberty of others. The
power of absolution by the clergy they believe in its plain
and literal sense. It has been transmitted by the Apostles
to their successors, though it would be of no
avail to anyone who should seek it without re-
pentance and purpose to amend. The state.
ment in the Homilies is plain, that " absolu-
tion bath the promise of forgiveness of sins,"
and the canons framed by convocation in 1603 imply that
confusion to a priest was an existing practice. Appealing
to other authorities, Dr. Puny contends that in the four
changes which the English Prayer-book has undergone
since it was first framed the formularies which relate to
authorative absolution by the priest have remained un-
touched. He also quotes Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley,
Archbishop Usher, Bishop Berkeley, Chillingwolth, and
many other noted divines, who he says taught with one
voice the forgiveness of sins through absolution. The
responsibility of retaining sins by refusing to pronounce the
absolution is left with the clergy, for„he adds, " without
this power we might be compelled to absolve the flagrantly
impenitent or those who purpose to return to their sins."
But they have no occasion to retain sins. " Since confes-
sion of sins is voluntary, no one who is not sorry for those
wherein he had offended God would use confession at all.
During the 28 years in which I have received confessions,
I never had once to refuse absolution.' lever in
my life did I refuse absolution; and I ant,Tfti,re
that for every English priest as well as for
myself it would be utterly abhorrent to allow
any one to think that the sat. ty of their
soul depended upon their receiving absolution from any
one of us in particular. The church has given us no ex-
clusive authority towards any soul, for she has set her
children free to 'open their griefs' to whom they will.
In sickness, when death and judgment stand before
the conscience, she assumes that confession, if
made at all, would be sincere, and bids us
' absolve him, if he shall humbly and heartily desire
it.' So long as those words of Our Lord, Whose sills
thou dust forgive, they are forgiven,' are repeated
to us when we are ordained, so long will there be
confession in the church of England. Their removal
would break the church of England in pieces, but it would
nut diminish confession; the same persons would confess,
only they would confess elsewhere. Meanwhile your
readers will judge which is the most faithful to the church
of England, we, priests or laity, who take solemn words of
hers in their literal meaning, or they who agitate to have
them removed."
In a postscript Dr. Piney lays he has not entered into
the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist because he does not
see what explanation is required. " Our own freedom to
believe as we do," lie says, addressing the editor, " you,
sir, I am sure will not question, when people are free to
de7y Hell or the truth of God's Word."

WEATHER REPORT.-(THIS DAY.)

THURSDAY, NOYEDRIB. 48, 8 A.m.

B iT.II W.

_
V. Extrema ;Ses
W.I B. ,1 Lo
, 12 F.; D. ' 9.

Nuke 33 kW.
Aberdeen llOO3 30 W.S.W.
Leith
A rdrossan BO.ll 43 S.
Oreenosetle 30.04 47 B.W.
Valeutia 23.04 (.3 8.
"ape •
Liverpwl 30.24 47 B.g E.
Holyhead
Penzance.— 30.21 n 5.8 W.
Brest . 30.24 41 S.E.
. 30.20 33 L
110ch,43 30.24 37. N. E.
4
Ilym.nth :11.24 50 E.
Weymouth
Portsmouth.. 3030 41 B.
Lb.lot, ...-37.2037 7..
Yarmouth 39.30 41 N. W.
Scarborough. 30.25 44 8.5. W.
...... 30.2230 N.W.
Helder t

Fkw. : 1, l- 1 1
W. N.W. ' bI 1
W.s.W. um 1
W.S.W. o 1 2
S.S.W. oc I 2
S.W. cu 0.22 4

2 2
5 0
5 4
3 3
3.4
2 2
3 0
2 3
0 S

-
I
S.S.W. • 0 • •
r.
c • •
01 3
N. foe 4
N. K ob 2
N.E. h 2
&W. I 0
Z. I 0 3
Y. of I

W. V:{9.—
.14; K. bi
1,42

NV:

St. George's, Southwark, is among the least
favoured of metropolitan parishes. Its workhouse
is one of the worst in London, its poor rate is
cruelly high, its population largely leavened with
pauperism, and whole districts in it have been
known for years as hotbeds for disease. The Fever
Hospital has long had a regular constituency in St-
George's, and street after street could be cited from
which a constant supply of cases has been kept up.
Sharp personal discussions and frequent agitation
are the normal attributes of its vestry, and the
strong party advocating sanitary and other reforms
is nicely balanced by the conservators of vested
interests and the upholders of time-honoured
abuse. Concessions have, however, been made to
the reformers during the last year or two. Houae-
to-house inspection has been more real ; efforts to
cope with the standing enemies of the district—
defective drainage, inadequate water-supply, and
poisonous air—have been partially successful ; and
the proceedings we are about to describe prove the
public opinion of the parish and the vestry itself
to be, if discreditably boisterous, at least less
openly corrupt than would have been thought pos-
sible a few yeas ago, when a collector of poor
rates was appointed at a cost of 5001. to 6001. in
bribes.
Internal inflammation has, however, been
running riot in this community for weeks past.
Indignation meetings, public and private ; ,de-
nunciations and imputations fierce and damaging ;
paper warfare, personal squabbling, squibs, in-
sults, and what children term " calling names,"
have been its outward signs. For another colltv-
turship of poor rates has been vacant, and the ves-
try has had to decide upon the relative merits of
rival candidates. The emoluments of the post
amount to some 2501. a year for about three
months' work ; no stipulation as to the not carrying
tgi e
lc olt
lnye u
looked r r ir tl y
u•
oponsitonthiesrcocnallseitiii
poi' nmaisadeon;ea nodf tit
hi the
snuggest things in the vestry's gift. Hence a ves-
tryman thought of applying for it, not for friend or
proUge, but for himself. Ho had been " rector's
churchwarden" fur some years, and could count
on the support of many personal friends, and his
appointment would have been certain but for the
strenuous opposition got up. The reform party
opposed on principle the giving away any paid
office by the vestry to one of its own members, or
to ono who had only resigned to become a candi-
date. Years before, after two well paid situations
had been tilled by vestrymen, a resolution was
passed condemnatory of the principle. This on
being quoted was pooh-poohed as "so much
waste paper " by the vestry's legal ad-
viser, himself one of the people so appointed,
' and the matter resolved itself into a free
fight between the supporters of the ex-vestry-
,
man and his rivals. Mr. Stuart Mill was ap-
pealed to, and gave a decided opinion in
writing, thus :—" It is certainly most objection-
! able that seats in the vestry should be sought
or used as means of obtaining lucrative ap-
pointments. It is no less objectionable that seats
in parliament should be sought or used for a similar
purpose ; but I see no means of preventing either
abuse, except greater judgment on the part of the
electors. I fear that, on the scale of a vestry elec-
tion, such judgment is not to be looked for, and
that the otlice of vestryman will usually be tilled
by those who have some personal interest to serve,
because such will take most pains to obtain it. I
see nu hopes of impforttncht :n the vestry aysteli
short of its abolition..
Such were the Pre nrirmaries leading up to the
faction fight of Tuesday evening ; for no other
phrase so fully expresses proceedings which in-
cluded fist-eler.ching and shaking, 'personal alter-
cations and incriminatious, and a general imputing
of corrupt motives in the discharge of a public
trust. After some preliminary skirmishing, in
which the folly of employing grown men to till pa-
rochial (Aces when buys could be obtained at 401. a
year, the necessity of "money being asked for in the
way money ought to be asked for, ' as if it were a
holy thing, and only to be spoken of with bated
breath • confessions of " extreme jealousy at any
office being opened at this highly inflammatory
time ;" protests against " creating another scene
of discord, when the parish had enough on its mind
to give it ill thoughts for at least a year to come ;"
after turbulently offensive speeches, common-sense
speeches, and amiable speeches full of grandilo-
quent bombast, the meeting began to Bettie itself
steadily to its work. That " every labourer has
his 'ire, ' was the aphorism upon which ono piece
of choleric oratory revolved. " Can the present
collectors collect arrears 1" had for answer, " They
can, and whether they can or not they must,"
from a vestryman whose Irish accent was nut ap-
parent. Another speaker, with a self-devotedness
- - ! ! which reminded one of Mrs. .Nlicawber's outspoken
el:m AI:K. ; determination nut to foisako her husband, re-
Barometers on the western coasts are falline, with high tern- ' marked with great empluisis and feeling, " As long
posture and apparently increasing Potato:l,y a Inds. On the
as I find
eastern (-slats tho winds are still light and extremely variable. parish officers a' doin wet I think right,
with ratter low temperature and minds toe In the north of I'll stick by them and and fast, come what
Scotland the temperature is 24 de,orees I..wer than at Vett:MM. will." Anuther, whose disposition was, on his
-- -- --- - - - I own showing, as compliant as Sir Anthony Abr.(/-
PRESENTATION TO THE COUNTESS OF DUDLEY.— lute's,
said : "I tinier with no man who acts in
It will he remembered that in addition to the vase pre- accordance with lay opinion ;" while the suspicions
seated formally by the mayor, on behalf of himself and of others and the freedom with which such words
many other citizens of Worcester, to the Countess of Dud- as " degradation," "corruption," and " demoralise-
ley on her reception at the Cru:blliall last year, the corn- thin," were applied, gave a stranger a lively notion
mittee of sulworibers decided that a work of art of Worces-
a parochial amenities. ' It was not so much that
ter manufacture should be designed and executed expressly
for l,r ladyship. A dOjeT set was accordingly designed halt a dozen of these gentlemen row at once ;that
by Mr. Binns, and executed at the Worcester Royal Ponce- the same gentleman frequently spoke three or four
lain Works, and was lately on view for a short time, as timn the same motion ; that irascible genelemen
already mentioned in our columns. On Monday last Mr. jumpes oed up chronically with " I rise to b order' "
Nuns acconipanied by Mr. Alderman Southall. as chair- as an agreeable interlude in the interstices of
man of Of the committee of subscriber), and Dr. Williams, as
their hon. secretary, conveye this beautiful work of art vective ; that the vestry clerk, on being called upon
to the countess atry.
Whitley Coourt. It will be gratifying to for advice, gave a reply, in unctuous tones, which
all to know that the earl and countess expressed their un- to
had as much do with the question as Chinese
qualified admiration of the dejegner service, and their desire metaphysics, or the politics of the moon ; that the
to convey to the citizens of Worcester their grateful app-
spectators and listeners in the gallery cheered and
ciation of the kind feeling which led to the gift.— Wre
urcez-
terAl ire Chre.,t;:le. hissed their favourite performers with as little core-
'tin-m.lam. —We are glad to learn that a move- mony as if they looked down at s dog fight or a rat
meet has been commenced in C'heltenham by members of hunt ;or that dishonour and chicanery% ere assumed
the established chards, to assist in testing the legality. of as things of course, that struck a bystander as
those ritualistic practices which seem so likely to bring most painful. " I know what opposition is," said
religion into contempt. A preliminary conference was a fat speaker, " and I ask you, as an Englishman
held, we understand, last week, and the subject will, be-
fore long, be prominently brovght before the public. The and a fair-tightin' man, whether our rector should
conference was attended by a respectable and highly in- have been treated in the way he has 1" The
fluential body both of clergymen and laymen.—Cheacwienes " treatment " comprised, "So long as it's thought
Examiner. .. right to keep up such things as rectors and
THE YANKEE MALT:CT.—III a preface to D 35 churches, there's no one rd respect more when he
second series of " Biglow Papers " Mr. Lowell discusses at keeps in his position; " from a dissenting vestry-
oonsidersble length the popular 'dialect of New Elegland, -
and shows that, to a levee extent, it represents earlier forms man ; taunts as to the readiness with which 1751.
h h h d base
in English spoech. Heorseerves:—" Of theYankeepreterites had been voted to do t e c um up, an the
I find rise and rise for rose in Middleton and Dryden, dim return made by the rector in taking the chair and
et Speoser,
Co (chose) in Sir John Mandeville, give voting for his own man, and a truly humiliating
(gave) in the Coventry Plays, shet (shut) in Golding's altercation between one speaker and the clergy-
Ovid, het in Chapman and Weever's Epitaphs, thriv and
man as to the .
extent to which the latter performed
snit in Drayton, quit in Ben Jonaon and Henry More, and
pled in the fastidious Landor. Rid for rode was anciently or neglected Ins duty to the parish. The gravamen
common. The Yankee has retained something of the long of all this lay in the fact that the ex officio vestry-
sound of the ain such words as axe, wax, pronouncing men were in attendance to secure the appointment
them exe. wex (shortened from six, wait). He also says of one of their own body, and that the
hey and bed for have and had. In most oases he follows stood &soused of desiring to requite his church_
an Anglo-Saxon usage. In aix for axle he certainly. does.
I find wet and niacin. (ashes) in Peacock, is,.d exe in the warden by helping him to parish pay.
Paston Letters. Chaucer wrote bendy. Dryden rhymes When it would have been fair to suppose every
Can with men, as Mr. Biglow would. Alexander Gill, side of this unsavoury subject exhausted, and the
Milton's teacher, in his ' Lagonoinist' cites hez for bath vials of windy wrath to be empty, it was proposed
as peculiar to Lincolnshire. Sir Christopher Wren wrote to pea,ed to election. Four names had been pre-
belcony. 'Maim for them was common to the sixteenth .
_,
century. We have an example .of the same thing iw the vlownt a much longer list, and upon
y selected from , .
double form of time verb thrash, thresh. While the New one of these the vestry s choice must fall. But i
Englander cannot be brought to say instead for instid (ocan- this apparently simple matter took three-quarters
nsonly 'stid where not the last word in a sentence), be of an hour to arrange, because those present could
changes the i into ein red for rid, tell for till, hinder for not trust each other, and were afraid of being
hinder, reuse for rinse. I find red in the eld interlude of
and cheated. Such phrases as " juggling," " sleight of
' Thersytos ' tell in a letter of Daborne to Henelow,
also, I shudder to mention it, in a letter of the great hand," as well as the former suspicions and de-
Duchess of Marlborough, Attoesa herself ! Gill charges nuneuttions multiplied in quantity and intensified
the eastern counties with 'Liver for cover, and to for to. •in force. " They ask me how it's done," ironically
The Yankee pronounces both too and to like to (like the said
wa a gentleman advocating one form of voting :
tots in touch) where they are not emphatic. .In that ew ~ e, ,y A
A very simple how it's done ; you know, I
both become tu."

know, we all know," and so on. At last the final
vote was taken by consent, the ex-vestryman
losing the appointment by three, amid the up- .
roarious cheers of his opponents. The conventional
vote of thanks to the chairman of the night was'
supplemented by a storm of hissing, varied by
counter-cheers, and by an aged vestryman shaking
his clenched fist at the rector, with the parting
compliment " and I hope we shall never see him
here again."

AN EPISCOPAL PHOTOGRAPH.

For the last few weeks a photograph of the
Bishop of Oxford, differing in some striking features from
those previously in circulation, has been on sale at the
shops. In this production the Bishop was represented
standing, attired in his episcopal habit, holding a pastoral
staff in his left hand, his right being raised, and held with
two fingers extended, in the peculiar manner which may be
seen in pictures of the Pope in the act of bestowing
his blessing. We believe that most sensible pereonswho
saw this preposterous representation mime at once to
the conclusion that the photograph was a a ork of construe.
tive art, and had been produced by the use of a lay figure
in connexion with one of the many genuine portraits of
Dr. Wilberforce. Such liberties are frequently taken .
with public characters, and the process by which they
are effected is a familiar one. Either some anti-ritualist
had thought this method admissible in ecelesimunical war-
fare, or some speculative photographic publisher bad de•
termined to earn an honest penny at the expense of the
bishop. So when "S. G. 0.," in a letter to the Times,
adduced this photograph as showing the sanction which
k the bishop gives by his example to ritualism, when he wrote
' "It is quite clear he stood for his likeness in the act of '
giving the blessing, awl the whole representation is
; episcopal ritualism from life," it was commonly sup-
; posed that he had fallen into an error. In feet, the Diem&
of the bishop made haste to prove that that writer, ih

his rustic simplicity, had been victimieed. " Now, sir
—wrote a correspondent of the ti. G. Us!
victim of a most transparent' skit,' as the enclosed photo-

graph will prove. Its oue of a series issued at the time
of the bonaearation of M. Michael's, iShoreditch, and is
' made up' in a way that is familiar to everybody, except
apparently • .8. G. 0.,' whose ' proofs' are usually just as
reliable as this one. It is • Episcopal llititalism from
life,' says' 8. G. o.'; the enclosed photograph proves to
any ordinary eyes that it is a clever view of a lay figure."
In like manner oar serious high church contemporary the
Guardia* says the photograph is a caricature, and
th►t the letter of " 8.0.0." will only provoke a
smile. The face of mattcra, however, is entirely changed
by the publication in yesterday's Tiuus of a letter
from Mr. J. M. Davenport, secretary to the Bishop
of Oxford, in which he strenuously objects to " a great and
gifted man " being held up to ridicule, states that the
bishop las been " shiguLuiy importuned to sit (stand) for
his photograph," and then admits the genuineness of the
representation. The " pastoral stall " is that which this
bishop always uses, and the posture it that which " every
bishop occasionally assumes when invoking a blearing."
Mr. Davenport adds, quite superduously, that lie writes
this letter without having had any communication with
the bishop. The wiser friends of the bishop might fain
hope that even after this letter the matter may be other-
wise explained ; that Mr. Davenport has written upon
imperfect information, and may be corrected by the bishop
himself ; and finally, that it is nut to go forth to the
world that the bishop is not only in the habit of assuming
a theatrical attitude iu his ministrations, but consents
to reproduce it, simulating the supreme act .1 his sacred
office, to make a picture. We find, however, in last night's
filobr an account of his proceedings at linekingliatu on
Tuesday, in which it is said that " at the conclusion of
the service the bishop, holding the pastoral 'tag in Lie
left hand, gave the benediction in the manner that has so
grievously offended • 8.0.0.' "
ra

A meeting of the Oaths Inquiry Commissioners
was held yesterday at 2, Victoria-street, Westminster.
Present—Duke of Richmond, Leal Lyvelen, Bishop of
Oxford Light lion. Rireell tittnety, M.l'., Right
Hon. H. Waddington, Very Rev. the Dean of St. l'and's ;
autl r.. 1. 11. Pattailoo, secretary of tie commission.
SOCIETY OF ARTs.— Sir ItolitHicll I'iiiaer, ALP.,
presided at last night's meeting (the second of the session)
of the Society of Arts, Adelphi. A paper was read by Mr.
N. Hawes, on "The effect of partnership.
on the progress of arts, manufacterev, and commerce."
There was a large attendance of menibere. A spirited
discussion followed, the speakers including M. Gersten-
berg, Mr. Sydney, Dr. Pankhurst, Mr. Meson, Mr. Field,
Captain Selwyn, and others. One of the speakers stated
he knew a gentleman who was a director of twenty com-
minim, receiving about 6,000/. as direct remuneration, and
some 1.1,e0U1. more front epeculationi rendered successful
, front the special knowledge he had gained et the various
' boards of directors. A vote of thanks to Mr. Hawes
closed the proceedings. The chairman offered no remarks.
THE PEABODY TESTIMONIAL. —M r. lejutyltoetl,
and one or two other gentlemen who :tee to either& of the
committee appointed ,woe time Lack t., consider the sub-
ject of the m Limitation of a testimonittl front the citizens
of London to Mr. G. Peabody, ht rvet;;uition of his mu-
nificent gift of a quarter of a million tif iiii.ney to he cm-
ployml in alleviating the distress of the pourer denies in
the nedivpoLts, 3 einerday Mel au w with the Lord
Mayor, for the purpose of havieg Lln.i% ;tide upon the
subject. It will be remembered that tt nutting took place
at the Mansion-house two or three months ago to con-
sider the matter, and it was then resolved tied it would be
advisable that it should stand over fur the present ; and
yesterday, after a short dissuasion, it was considered
better that the question should ho adjoutned for a
further petted, in order th..t au omkulimit) might lie
afforded for obtaining some additional information before
any active steps are taken in the metier.
ExrEermo THE Punrog or WALES.—The some-
what celebrated case in which the will of Madame Jumel,
widow of Aaron Burr, was attested oat the ground of in-
sanity, was decided on Monday in the Supreme Court,
New York. The evidence of Mad•ine Jewel's insenity
seems to have been very strong, and the will was set
aside in favour of the heirsait-law. A. mil ious incident
has mane to light in relation to her Et at.: of mind. She gut
an idea that the l'rince of Wales would pay her a visit.
She wade due preparations to honour her gee A. She set
her tAblu out most mctramigitutly and
would not allow a thing to hu removol, confident
that he would come some time. After in r death the
gurgeuus table was looked upon by bttengent. All that
could spoil was spoiled ; all that codid turn sour was
soured ; the rest of the articles w: re like leeks. She
waited for the coming of his Royal iliglint,s with strong
faith till her spirit departed.--eimerei Ifrrrid, Nov. 17.
A YOUTHFUL Cnitti,t.tr..—A young girl named
Martin, aged only fourteen, has just been tried at the court
of assizes of the Nord for moat atrociously- ill-treating
Gabrielle and Pauline Delrue, aged respectively two yearn
and two months, the children of her wader, a tinnien at
Lille. On the Wed of October last the younger child was
seized with convulsions, accompanied a ith a ejection of
greenish matter, and the flowing of hiie from the nose ;
the little sufferer's month was also completely cauterised,
and its tongue so much swelled that it could scarcely cry
out. The child remained in iuseatuent ilar.g,r for two
d4s, when it gradually grew better, and at hart recovered.
The following week the symptoms returned, and the
child's clothes were observed to be burned as if with some
strong acid ; the mother, however, having remarked that
the servant in whose charge the two children were fre-
quently left had secretly removed a bib from beneath
Pauline's chin in order to wash it and remove traces of
matter which had issued from the child's mouth,
accused the girl of poisoning the infar.t, and
Martin, after first denying the charge, finally
admitted that she bad on each occasion adminis-
tered chlorhydric acid, a strong corrosive substance
used by her master in his business, and to which she had
mesa. Pauline now lingered for some days in gran
suffering and then expired. The lip. of the elder child had
on one occasion presented a similar appearance to those of
the infant, and the accused now confessed that she had
also attempted to give to it some of the liquid, but that
Gabrielle had struggled violently sad refused to take it.
The girl Martin likewise acknowledges that the hail op
another occasion heated a poker, and then burnt several
spots on Gabrielle's face, in order to cause the mother to
believe that it was a commencement of small-pox. The
only motive given by the accused for those odious acts of
cruelty was that she wished to be discharged from her
situation and sent back to her grandmother, by whom she
had been brought up. On the trial the prisoner main-
tained a completely impassive and indifferent demeanour.
She refuse to answer any of the questions put to her, and
only broke silence once, when a medical witness having
declared that the larger of two spoons presented in court
half filled with the acid would be sufficient to produce
death, she remarked that she bad used the smaller one and
never " quite half filled it." The prisoner, however, ap-
in no way mentally deficient. A verdict of guilty
LTi: f been returned, she was condemned to remain 20
years in a reformatory instlodion.—Gatignani.