The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-04-28 00:00:00

LORD PALMERSTON'S BISHOP'S.

Lord Palmerston's new bishops are one of the jokes of
the day. - His principle of selection is obvious enough.
He cares nothing for High Church or Low, and probably
. not much for any church at all. He does care for being
Prime Minister of England. A bishopric, then, is to him a
fortunate chance for areeg hening his position, and the
chance is used accordingly. Very wise in his generation
is Lord Palmerston. He first buys Lord ehaftesbuty's
influence, by appointing none but Evangelicals. He
then buys the support of the noble families of
Ashburton, Clarendon, Chichester, and Langdale,
by choosing his EvangeliCals from their aris-
tocratic houses. Meanwhile this buying and selling
of bishoprics, this " Simony" on a large scale, is not
without its disadvantages, Villiers and Pelham, Baring
and Bickersteth, are all excellent men, no drat' t. They
are certainly evangelical ; undeniably influential ; and
have all, we believe, good loud voices. Voila tout I They
are in theology narrow and bigoted ; in practice narrower
and more bigoted still. Their leading?, idea of the gospel
is that it preaches the destruction of the papacy ; and, like
Cato of old, they wind up evefy peroration with an elo-
quent " Delenda est" As for their learning, they are, too
Rtaunehly Protestant to read the Fe hers of the Church, and
Bossuet, Massillon, and Fenelen are included in their
copious " Index Expurgatorius." Nay, one of them (we
will charitably conceal his name) is reported to be unable
to construe a verse of the Greek Testament; and Dr.
Vaughan, of Harrow, the other day aes fired the Harrow
boys that, with this example befve them, " any —the
idlest, the sizepidest—had now a chance of being made a
Bishop." And se, to give bishoprics to men like these,
has Lord Palmerston shelved to deaneries Trench, the
Christian scholar and poet, and Henry Alford, whose
Greek Testament is the best git which for many years
the English Church has centribited to Christian literature.
sld.man, too, the historian, so reverent, and yet so fearless,
why is he passed over ? And Dawes, and Elliot, and
Sydney Godolphin Osborne, why are they forgotten ?
Lord Palmerston is inflicting a cruel blow on the Church
of England. It were better for him to be branded, as he
has been " Pelagian," or " Gallio," than to receive from
the Record the profane title of th 3 "Man of God," for
stifling his conscience and meking a p ditical gain of an
effseted godliness. Often as we Unitarians must of
necessity be brought into collision with the English
Church, we yet recognise in her the strongest
bulwark Against the despotism of Rome ; and, while
we would reform and purify, we wenld not try to
weaken her. But weakened she must and will be if her
destinies are entrusted to greedy, self-seeking politicians,
and if illiterate evangelicals a"e her only spiritual leaders.
Were the Qneen really, as well as nominally, the fountain
whence spring ecclesiastical appointments, we might hope
for better things. Dr. Tait, the new bishop of London,
was her own—her one—appointment ; and in him alone
of the new made bishops can we trace any of those fea-
tures which once male the Church of England glorious
in Tillotson, in Jeremy Taylor, and in Kenn.—lnguirer.

At Dardzic the privileged pirters a few days ago struck
work to ob:ain an augmentation of about a half-penny a
load, on account of the dearness of fojd ; and the syndics
of commerce are taking meAures to dispsnse with their
servic-s.

A REPORTER'S REvnNuE.--In connection with the
luncheon toll.iwecl the opening of the Bishop Ack-
land Branch Railway last week, the Mayor of D.lrham,
according to the statetnent•of the Durham Chronicle.
committed some act of diicoutesy t i that raper, which
its reporter ayotigel by giving his warship's speech
exactly as 'delivered. -A
most excellent mode of re-
taliation.

FiIIGHTFUL ACCIDENT IN lIYDE-PARK.—On Sunday
morning Mr. Wllliem Oliver, of No. 16, Grey-street,
Oxford—street, expired in Oxford Ward, St. Ge-rge's
Hospital, und, r the following melancholy circumstances.
It appeirs that on Thursday evening about four
o'clock tha unfortunate min was riding a high sprite
horse in liyd+•park, whrfri it hecfine restiv-, and the
deceased was thrown from the saddle, f :Mpg with I,i, had
on the stones in the road. Police constable No. 512 A,
havieg procured a stratcher, he was picked up in u state
of insensibility and conveyed to the above institution, but
he never rallied.