The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-16 00:00:00

beef and potatoes, or oxodised by an Irish atmo-
sphere, he is by extraction, both on his father's
and his mother's side, descended from some of the
oldest and most respectable famiiies in Ireland,
being first cousin and brother-in-law of Lord Ash-
town, and connected with Lords Clancarty, Drog-
heda, and Bloomfield, the Whites of Woodlands,
and several Trench families in that country. And,
what is even more to the point in the sister isle, he
is an Irish landlord, possessing considerable pro-
perty there bequeathed to him by his father. His
father, who was a scion of the Trench stock of the
county of Galway, settled in England about sixty
years ago, at Botley, in Hants, where he rendered
most valuable services in 183 5 to Lord Palmerston,
at a Shen celebrated county election. It is sup-
posed that to a gratitude for these services, as well
as to the patronage of the Bishop of Oxford, who
has always entertained the highest opinion of
Dr. Trench, the latter is indebted both for his pre-
sent promotion and for that to the Deanery of West-
minster. Dr. Trench's mother, an interesting vo-
lume of whose " Remains" was, it will be remem-
bered, published by her son last year, was grand-
daughter to the celebrated Dr. Chenevix, Bishop
of Waterford, and intimate friend of Lord Shaftes-
bury, of whom the story is told that, on King
George objecting to his appbintment to an Irish
bishopric, as recommended by his friend, then
L ord-Lieutenant of Ireland, when " the King
wished he would look out for another Bishop," Lord
Shaftesbury, somewhat tartly replied. " that he
wished the King would look out for another Lord-
Lieutenant." Such is the extraction of the man who
has been nominated Archbishop of Dublin—e cir-
cumstance which will no doubt help to allay the
fellings of disappointment of such Irishmen as may
still look unfavourably on the metropolitan see of
Dublin being twice in succession conferred on an
English clergyman. But whatever may be the
value of Irish extraction, the Dean of Westminster's
character as a scholar, philologist, and divine of
pious and exemplary life, as well as of kind and
gracious manners, is the qualification which will
most recommend him to the affection of the Irish
people ; and probably very few men could be found
better fitted to be placed at the head of the Irish
Church in the metropolis of Ireland at the present
conjuncture. The mantle of Archbishop Whately
has indeed fallen on him, and it will be no easy task
in some respects to fill the place of one who was a
very giant in intellectual strength and activity ;
but the circumstances of the country, political par-
ties, prejudices, the very aspect of things have
changed there since the day that Dr. Whately first
seized the helm to guide the Irish Church through
the greatest perils to which it was ever, or probably
ever will be, exposed. At that time, when the war-
fare of party strife i aged with its deadliest animo-
sity, a man was wanted of determined purpose, in-
domitable resolution, comprehensive grasp of intel-
lect, and overwhelming power of argument, to take
the lead—a man so devoted to truth and to the wel-
fare of humanity, that no amount of obloquy or de-
traction could turn him from his purpose. Such a
man was found in Dr. Whately, raised up as it were
specially for the occasion, whose praises future ge-
nerations will record, on account of the success with
which he preached religious toleration, promoted
the education of the people, and raised the Irish
Church in the estimation of the world. But those
days are now gone by ; the lesson of toleration has
been learned, the bitterness of controversy is fast
passing away, and the man that is wanted now is
ono who can rather throw oil on the troubled
waters, assuage the angry spirit of controversy,
compose differences, draw opposing parties together
by the links of common agreement, and promote the
unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Such a man
it is to be hoped—it is to be presumed—has been
found, and that Lord Palmerston has in his days
shown as wise a discrimination in choosing the pre-
sent Archbishop of Dublin, as Earl Grey, more than
30 years ago, did in selecting his predecessor. It is
to be hoped that his archiepiscopate, among other
good works, may be distinguished by the termina-
tion of this unhappy but protracted religious war-
fare, with all its distrust, bitterness, and vitupera-
tion ? The promotion of Dr. Trench to Dublin has
been followed by that of Canon Stanley to the dean-
ery of Westminster. The rejected, or perhaps more
truly the rejector, of Dublin, becomes the accepted
in a position of scarcely less importance and influ-
ence than that of a bishopric, affording at the same
time a learned leisure which few bishops enjoy. The
associations of Westminster, its antiquity, its gran-
deur, its metropolitan connection, and social advan-
tages thence arising, offer inducements to a man of
Dr. Stanley's cast of mind which no Irish archbi-
shopric can possess. In such a field an ample scope
is afforded for the exercise of the ability, scholar-
ship, and refined tastes for which the name of the
Oxford Regius Professor is so widely celebrated.
EXAMINER.—If any future measure of electoral
reform could give us all over the country constitu-
encies and members in such frank and cordial rela-
tions to each other as Mr. Henry Berkeley and the
electors of Bristol, that is a point at which we could
be very well content to say, Rest and be Thankful.
Nobody can read Mr. Berkeley's speech at the Bris-
tol meeting this week without liking the wholesome
English ring of the frank cordiality to which an
audience that crammed the Broad Mead Rooms re-
sponded with true heartiness. Such interchange of
goodwill between member and constituency has lasted
now for the lifetime of a generation, during all which
time Mr. Berkeley has fought the battle of the bal-
lot in the interests not of the mean, but of the poor,
to the end that every constituency in the land may
have, as Bristol has, a representative after its own
heart, who has not bought it, and who can keep its
suffrages only by a frank and faithful independent
service. The Liberals often hurt their cause in local
contests by carrying their principle of independence
into a needless division about trifles ; and in larger
fields of discussion Liberals are often spoilt as party
men, and become hindrances to the due rate of
political growth by a philosophical indifferentism
based on the too quiet certainty that the right ad-
vance in the right time is inevitable. We are rather
apt, therefore, to go on wearing an out-grown poli-
tical garment till we split it, and so come at the
final argument for renovation. But on the whole
that which is thought the source of weakness in the
Liberal party belongs to its life and strength.
Its battle is for the utmost exercise of ra-
tional liberty, its aim is to encourage everywhere
the exercise of independent thought. But the
mainspring of Toryism is a high regard for autho-
rity. It is a sort of political Catholicism, and its
necessary result is to maintain unity by many
sacrifices of individual doubts to the faith tang 'it
by its high priests. Such unity shows a broad
front, but is in England weaker than it looks; as
weak as we, in tact, know it to be. For the pre-
dominant temper of the nation is on the side of
independence, which breeds individuality, and
therefore diversity of judgment. The Liberal party
mirrors back even in its faults the national charac-
ter, its weakness is the weakness and its strength
the strength of England. There will always be a
sound body of Englishmen who lay chief stress on
respect for authority of dignitaries, great names,
precedents • and it is well for us that their common
principle of thought is one that enables them always
to work together as " a compact body of men." If
it did not, they would be a rope of sand where they
are now a not unserviceable holdfast. But on the
other side every man who vigorously acts on his
fresh, independent impalse, and labours forward,
caring less to reverence what has been settled than
to strive towards the highest right, is a power in
the country speaking the true mind of an active
section of the English people. It is this that pro-
duces the apparent anomaly in England of a Liberal
party strong though it seems loosely formed of dis-
united parts, facing a Tory party numerically
strong in a Parliament of its own calling and per-
fectly compact, while yet really so weak that it
has been able to profit nothing by the arguments
and counter-arguments dividing its opponents.
Nevertheless we must desire to see among Liberal
statesmen and politicians perhaps some occasional
sacrifice of opinion on trifles, and certainly a more
active determination to make the adaptation of laws
to the people advance at a pace fairly proportioned
to the progress of society.
COURT JOURNAL.—The Emperor has folloween
up the idea which he so ably expressed in his speeea_
by issuing a letter to each of the Eaunr:Pelo.
Sovereigns, asking them in courteousoral
EuropE an
quent terms to form part of a
Congress to meet at Paris,
which have so
seems, all the much-vexed questions
portant States
long agitated the larger and mor.ev
ce this Con-
ofart mot ran ,
Europe. That, on the p selfish or anti-
and gteondiscuss, as it
guaranteed by
y
cgornessstitwuttlilonnoati be
principlesm ad made to dervi an fully
Providence
but trained in
and the will of the Frenchis Perhaps less allowable
:eol by
these words "Called to
e the
p throethe school of adversity,e; of
her to ignore the
ofr
people."ights
If I take the
for me than any ow
"Sovereign the
1\
hht
yaeaj:enebs gtuoyltvt,leon larbstauslterereavamselps observes—"
do not yield to an
`endS o ve
initiativer
ae
impulse of yaw.
•eT h ;
credited with am ous proje-ts, eave at
gilai in but,
mostheart to prove by a frank and loyal step that my
sole object is to arrive without a shock at trthiiamvelsepaotleacetixatias--
cation of Europe." So
otht hetha ti
wnngiossth
eoasnbnludtyto ilsebagherii s purpose
that well-regulatedte
tpworeelsi bringsalys
dpaeobcpol
auuritae
sra
slewttaerr,oarscwonetlel natsioonf
his.
. speech,
pacification of Europe," and that, too, " with
shockpar t o
f" of fe preliminaryE m peThe only
a
rore only
to which we can in any way object is that. in which
he epeaks of the treaties of Vienna as things of the
pest,and not to be observed by the Powers of Europe,
Thisi is somewhat loose political morality ; for,
although it is true that men like Victor Emmanuel
(and we hear some readers • h.
Ispers like Napoleon

himself !) have not always acted in good faith when'
they first obtained possession of their present
dominions, it is none the less imperr.tive on great
nations like England, Austria, and France, to ob-
serve treaties and stipulations to w.biell
they are
pledged by the acts of their former reresentatives.
The Emperor, under the guise of a c,lMpianent
which carried under it a sting of some storpneee),c
brought forward the example of England berseli
as having violated previous parts by her cess.4E-1
the lonian Islands against the wishes of Au.itr-11
ae
and the other protecting Powers, whom she
bound to consult on the question. It was very
" generous," doubtless, to give away that which
never belonged to us. But though this country on
this occasion certainly betrayed the trust confided
to it by the Great Powers, the treaties of Vienna,
Westphalia, and many others, are none the
less
binding upon good faith and honesty, in spite of
the contrary assertions of the Bonapartes, who have
little reason to look back with satisfaction to the
year 1815. It remains for Napoleon to render thew
null by obtaining the consent of the contracting'
parties to their revocation ; and if this can be done
with safety and advantage to Europe, by all means
let the counsels of the Emperor and M. Drouyn de
Lhuys prevail in 'the Congress which is shortly to
assemble at Paris. The Emperor announces himself
" ready without preconceived system to bring. to
an International Congress the spirit of moderation.
L and justice, ordinarily the portion of those wile
have endured so many various trials." But will the
other potentates of Europe be equally inclined to
p I follow his commendable example ?