The Sun.
London, England, 1849-10-27 00:00:00

CHURCH PATRONAGE.

The Whigs are fOrtunate fellows. Noted since
the Revolution of 1688 for the number of their
relatives courting promotion in the Church, they
are rarely six months in office before some pious
prelate, "full of years and good works," is sum-
moned to exchange a mitre for a celestial crown,
leaving behind him sundry crumbs of patronage
for the solacing of the nepotistic yearnings of the
members of this happy family. Hardly is the Epis.
copal see of Norwich filled up when a vacancy is
created in that of Llandaff, the next fortunate Bishop
of which is to have his income quadrupled, upon the
understanding that he leave the Deanery of St. Paul's
as a delicious morsel for some other hungry son of the
Church not yet exalted to the dignity of the lawn, the
crozier, and the mitre. The Whigs have not been a
very long time in office, and yet they have had the ap-
pointment of the two Primates—the promotion of
Bishops to the sees of Hereford, Chester, Manches-
ter, Norwich, and we know not how many Sees
in Ireland and the Colonies ! Now they have
another mitre to dispose of. Is it not time, there-
fore, that an official announcement were made of the
dignity to be conferred upon the Rev. James Aspinall,
Rector of Althorpe, in Lincolnshire ? He has rendered
the State some service, and his promotion ought not
to assume the tardy character which it now appears to
wear. Three weeks ago it was reported that he was
to be appointed to succeed Dr. Hind, the new Bishop
of Norwich, as Dean of Carlisle, but as yet we are
without any well-authenticated information upon
the subject. Why not now confer upon him the
Bishopric of Carlisle? He would be just the
man to aid the Committee of Privy Council on
Education in effectually resisting the unreasonable
claims of the Church, and to co•operate with Dr.
Kay Shuttleworth in carrying out his plans of
National Education. Few Churchmen have done
so much for the cause of National Education as

the Rev. James Aspinall. His labour has not
been confined to one parish or one locality.
Wherever there was ground ready for the
it, and
of good seed, he was prepared to sow and
by so doing to render the Church more popular
with the people. The excellent Dean of Ripon is
his only competitor in the north of England, and
the Dean's competition is of a comparatively recent
date. But while the Dean's position is such as to
reflect credit upon those who placed him in it,
Mr. Aspinall is all but buried alive in a remote
country parish in Lincolnshire. He is a candle
placed under a bushel or a bed, instead of an episcopal
candlestick, giving light to a nation. The interest
of the Church requires the exaltation of such men.
There is a sad want of a few really popular bishops—
of prelates actually conversant with the real con-
dition, and capable of manfully sympathising
with the sufferings and the wants of the
great body of the people. We want practical
business men, like the excellent Archbishop of Dublin,
for instance, and not mere theologians, or College
pedants, more conversant with the niceties of Greek
prosody than with the management of industrial
schools, the want of baths and washhouses and
the duty of providing better dwellings for
the labouring classes. Dr. Whately, Arch-
bishop of Dublin, has done more to reconcile
Catholics and Protestants, and to produce una-
nimity of action in the advancement of popular
education, since his appointment to the metropo-
litan see of Dublin, than all the Irish prelates
have done since the days of Dean Swift. The
Government may depend upon it that it is pre-
lates of this stamp that are now required in the
Church—men of great popular experience and
large popular sympathies. Unless the clergy
prove themselves to, have feelings in common with
the people they will soon begin to lose all hold upon
their affections. And this they cannot do unless they
be selected from a different class of persons than
those who have hitherto been most fortunate in
obtaining preferments in the Church. There is the
Rev. Mr. Dutton, in Kent, author of the pamphlet
" Education, What it Is, and What it Is Not ;" he
would be a most proper clergyman for promotion in
the Church. He would make an excellent bishop.
But as he is still comparatively a young man, he can
gracefully give way to the Rector of Althorpe.
Among the great number of honorary cathedral
dignities which are daily becoming vacant, we aro
sorry that none has yet been conferred upon the
venerable vicar of Hull, the Rev. J. H. Bromby.
We consider that at the hands of the Whigs we
have some reason to complain of this. Mr.
Bromby has been now for upwards of fifty years
the respectable and the respected vicar of Holy
Trinity, and during all that time he has been faithful
to the principles of the great party of Fox, Grey, and
Russell. The good vicar has taken too deep root
among us to allow us to demand for him any
promotion in the Church which would remove him
from the old vicarage. All we ask—all we
look to Lord Carlisle and Mr. Baines to obtain for
him—is some cathedral dignity which may serve
as an official and ecclesiastical recognition of the esti •
mation in which our rulers hold conduct so consist-
ent, principles so sound, and a long life so unostenta-
tiously useful as that of the vicar of Hull.
The honours which are conferred upon virtuous
old age can lead to no abuse, and, therefore,
must reflect credit upon those who bestow them.
Though apt now and then to speak hardly of the
Whigs, we are always anxious that they should so
distribute the patronage of the Church as to do justice
to the claims of virtue, learning, and true religious
toleration.—Hull Advertiser.

PLYMOUTH, OCT. 25.--Tux ROYAL MArtisEs.—At
the Plymouth division of the Royal Marines, on Tues•
day last, five of the veteran sergeants were presented
by the second officer in command, Colonel Ballingale,
ith the medals which were awarded to them for their
meritorious conduct. The Colonel more especially ex-
patiated on the services of Sergeant Archer, which ex-
tended over a period of upwards of fifty-one years, the
first six of which were passed in fighting the battles of
his country in various parts of the globe, but more
especially on the sands of
.Egypt, where, with the brave
Abercrombie, he well sustained the honour of England.
The evening was passed by the veterans in entertaining
their fellow-sergeants. The names of the veterans who
received this substantial mark, of their country's ap-
proval of their services, were Sergeant-Major Morgan,
Sergeants Archer, Yeomans, Wilkes. and Adkins, who
number among them upwards of 186 years' service,
155 as non-commissioned officers. Each medal car-
ries with it an annuity for life, ranging from 101. to 201.
per annum.
ROTTERDAM, OCT. 25.—Prince Lucien Bonaparte
arrived here this morning, by the mail ateam•ship Ocean,
from London.