The Sun.
London, England, 1852-09-27 00:00:00

he acquitted Mr. PRYNNE "of anything
like presumption or of holding doctrine not
in accordance with the Church of England, even of
indiscretion in receiving confession;' adding, " no
one knows how many young sinners may have been
recovered from their wickedness by that means. Be
that as it may, I most certainly think that Mr.
PRYNNE stands forth—to me most undoubtedly, and
I should hope to all present here this day—free from
all blame."

Such has been the conclusion of this
anxiously looked for inquiry—a result which
might well excite the astonishment of the
auditory. The matter cannot, however, rest
there. An extra-judicial inquiry is not suitable
to the magnitude of the occasion. An investigation
must take place before an unprejudiced tribunal, and
with every accessory that may give weight and au-
thority to the final judgment. Conscientious mem-
bers of the Church of England must now perceive
that the Establishment is not 20 much endangered
from hostile attacks from without, as from
theinsidious attacks of its own children.
There is always greater danger from treason in a
camp than from the most energetic efforts of
open and acknowledvd enemies. That principle
should be clearly understood, and if there
is no adequate mode, under the existing Ecclesias-
tical code, of freeing the Church from in-
ternal enemies, who, though nominally holding its
doctrines, are practically little better than
emissaries from Rome, the sooner the omission
be supplied, and a suitable remedy provided for the
flagrant grievance, the better. Tractarianism has
already received too much countenance from
persons holding high offices in the Church. The
time has arrived when they must speak out
openly and unequivocally, and array themselves
boldly under the banners of Rome or England. We
can respect an honest and undisguised opponent, no
matter how greatly he may be mistaken, but can have
no feeling, save that of contempt and indignation, for
a treacherous adherent, who is only prevented from
deserting to the opposing ranks by pecuniary' mo-
tives—a base and sordid hankering after the loaves
and fishes, an inordinate love for £ s. d. ti

As no personage could, by his demise, have left a
more remarkable void in the long catalogue of the
illustrious subjects of the British SOVEREIGN, than
his Grace the Duke of WELLINGTON—so there
was assuredly no one whose death could necessitate a
more extended series of alterations in the distribu-
tion of honours, dignities, emoluments, and preroga-
tives. The changes here referred to as inevitable on
the decease of the great warrior are of a nature,
moreover, such as will require their instant considera-
tion so soon as the grave has closed over the remains
of the extraordinary man recently departed. Several
of the offices held by him up to the moment of his
disappearance are of a character likewise so pecu-
liarly important, as involving the welfare of con-
! siderable classes in the community, that it
becomes a matter of immediate interest to ob-
serve the selection made among those who
are regarded as not altogether unworthy of
being nominated his successors. Foremost among all
the vacant appointments of course is that of Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Forces of the United King-
dom—a post which had been occupied by the Hero
of the Peninsula uninterruptedly through very many
changes in the national Administration. In the
appointment of Viscount HARDINGE to the direction
of affairs at the Horse Guards we have already ex-
pressed our cordial concurrence. Pending the vacancy
of that elevated and onerous post numerous candidates
for its duties were the objects of public conjec-
ture. Conspicuous among them were veterans whose
services would appear to evidence high claims to be
chosen to this responsible and elevated office. People
acquainted with the secret wishes of the profession were
not long, for example, dumb us to the distin•
guished merits of the Earl of STAIR, any more than
they were blind to the eminent services of the Earl of
COMBERMERE, or deaf to the honourable reputation of
the gallant and chivalrous Marquis of LONDONDERRY.
A different band of speculators as to the future
Commander-in-Chief of the army of Great
Britain had turned their attention with no trivial
degree of solicitude to that renowned Captain whose
fame as a conqueror was assuredly among living men
only second to that of the late Duke of WELLINGTON
—but w hese splendid achievements have hitherto
gained him little more than the glory resulting to his
arms from the great victories of Meanee and Hyde-
rabad! Whatever the ingratitude of the country
towards that renowned chieftain whose valour ren-
dered him the victor of Scinde, as his genius afterwards
constituted him its administrator—it can never be
forgotten in the military annals of England that,
at a period of extraordinary emergency, when suc-
cess seemed for a while to have forsaken our banners
beyond the southern frontiers of the Punjaub, the Duke
of WELLINGTON offered that ever-memorable tribute
of confidence and admiration to his illustrious brother-
in-arms when, on being asked to suggest three names
to the Board of Directors in Leadenhall-street, as
those of men fitted to repair the broken fortunes of
the campaign, he wrote—" Sir CHARLES NAPIER,
Sir CHARLES IN APIER, Sir CHARLES NAPIER."
Upon Lord FITZROY SOMERSET, as the military secre-
tary during so many years of his Grace the late Com-
mander-in-Chief, it was conceived by many that the
profession mantle had directly fallen from the
shoulders of the Duke of WELLINGTON. A different
class of observers, on the other hand, awaited with confi-
dent anticipation the nomination of the chief command
at the Horse Guards of no less important an aspirant
than a Prince of the Blood Royal, in the person of his
Royal Highness the Duke of CAMBRIDGE. How-
evermuch the latter suggestion might be depreciated,
moreover, by the sticklers for precedence to veteran
candidates—it must, at any rate, be admitted upon all
sides that the claims of his Royal Highness, as an in-
telligent soldier, devoted heart and soul to the pro-
fession upon which his name has been now for many
years enrolled, his services (for a time of peace) were in
no way inconsiderable, and his claims were consequently
in no respect insignificant. As to the supposition at
one period prevalent to the effect that his Royal
Highness the Prince ALBERT might, in the event of
a change such as that consequent upon the death
of the Duke of WELLINGTON, be considered eligible
to the position of Commander-in-Chief—we felt as-
sured that one moment's reflection must be sufficient
to show that the conjecture was one altogether prepos-
terous. Elevated as the post of Commander-in-Chief
undoubtedly is in itself, it could not by possibility
lend any additional lustre to the rank of one so
elevated in position as his Royal Highness the
PRINCE CONSORT -- but would, on the con-
trary, tend rather to derogate from the
dignity of the Second Personage in the United King-
dom.

Simultaneously with that necessity of selecting a
new Commander-in-Chief, which has been so hap-
pily met by the DERBY Government—the mem-
bers of Convocation at Oxford find themselves sud-

denly called upon to nominate a new Chancellor
of the University to the chair rendered vacant by the
unexpected death of the Duke of WELLINGTON.

Three claimants
.broughtr names
of that high honour have ahead;
seriously under the notice
of the members of Convocation. The Earl of
DofEatnb: bireahsisurymintibsteeripalukpoositifonNas
,First Lord
his elevated rank as a patrician,
SliArrEsnim, by his
benevolence as a .
those entrusted
the regard due to theirt
candi-
dates to the
Oxford. Added to the Chancellorship
y speedyattentionoccupancy—all
FoecificA, there are numerouswo
scarcely inferior in value or si auEdvitGhAeSTELaurl by
universally recognised
with the
demands from
responsibility of the selection
distinguished merits as
th.others, some of them
:titoionn, theof their
yths hein greattbi
this
It will be necersysaar
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requisite, moreover, that divers other dignities=seve.
ral of them in no trifling degree lucrative—shall be
re-distributed by those officially empowered to con-
duct the labour of their re-distribution—such, for in.

stance, as the rangership of a park, or the coloneicy
of Is regiment. Meanwhile the mote coveted anlOrig