The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-29 00:00:00

curred? How has Dr. MEREWETHER been quieted?

How have the refractory been silenced ? Knowing
that according to the express provisions of the
rubric the votes delivered in on such an occasion

by the Dean and Chapter must be unanimous, or
that otherwise the election is null and insufficient,
it certainly becomes a matter of considerable in-
terest to discover how the difficulties of the case
have been evaded. As far as the proceedings of the
Dean of Hereford, of the canons residentiary, and
of the prebendaries of the cathedral can be
comprehended—obscured as they are by the quarrel-
some and almost belligerent dispositions evinced by
several of their reverences—Dr. MEREWETIIER has
persisted boldly and conscientiously in his opposition
to Dr. HAMPDEN, and has only subscribed his own
name and that of his associate, Canon ritINTINOFORD,
as a form of ecclesiastical etiquette. We are com-
pelled to arrive at this conclusion from the solemnity
with which the Very Reverend the Dean yesterday
enunciated his objections to the Bishop elect in the
Ladye Chapel, "in the sanctuary of the MOST
HIGH GOD." Language could not be more explicit
than that employed by Dr. MEREWETHEIt. He pro-
claims, in the most explicit manner imaginable, that
his opposition has originated not merely in the cir-
cumstance of the condemnation of the University, but
in the conviction that the decree pronounced by the
Oxford Convocation was pronounced in justice—a
conviction produced by a careful perusal of those
writings of the Regius Professor of Divinity which
had been declared to be heterodox.

Satisfied: as we may be that the opposition of the
Dean of Hereford has sprung from an erroneous in-
terpretation of certain metaphysical passages in
the "Bampton Lectures," we ,are nevertheless
impelled to regard the course of that distinguished
ecclesiastic as in every way creditable to him as a
minister of Christianity. His conscience is evidently
implicated in the discussion. His whole career is
an attestation that he speaks now out of the zeal of
his heart, and in obedience to the dictates of his judg-
ment. The insidious rumour that he has been in any
manner influenced by motives of ambition or avarice,
we treat with the contempt and derision to which it
is entitled. The position taken up on this unfortu-
nate occasion by the Dean of Hereford is can-
did, is comprehensible, is manly, is peculiarly and
throughout consistent. We believe him to be in
error, but we respect- the line of conduct which he
has from first to last pursued, because we are satis-
fied that a sense of supreme and imperative duty in-
stigated his objection to the appointment. " Here,"
he exclaimed yesterday, " here, in the sight of GOD,
in the midst of His temple, and in the performance
of the priestly office, I solemnly protest that it is no
deficiency, in the smallest degree, of loyalty
and humble devotion to our SOVEREIGN ; it
is the dictate of my conscience, the conviction
of my mind, which constrains me so to act in avert-
ing the progress of infidelity, mockery of religion,
and profanation." Contrary as our opinions are (in
reference to the fitness of Dr. HAMPDEN to the office
of the episcopacy) to those entertained by Dr•
MEREWETHER, we do conceive that he is entitled to
the respectful consideration not only of every lesser
dissentient, but of the Noble Statesman himself, who
penned such a laconic answer from amidst the festivi-
ties of Woburn Abbey.
Whether the pertinacity with which the Rev. Dean
has clung to his opinions will eventually subject him
to the penalties of premunire, or whether the election
of the chapter is altogether so miserable a farce that
a mere pretence of unanimity will be deemed
sufficient, must be shown immediately after
the re-assembling of Parliament in February.
Vhatever may be the ultimate decision of the Legis-
lature, it seems to us that some instant modification
of the statute 21 Henry VIII. is become absolutely
necessary. Is it, we ask, in accordance with the
generous spirit of our constitution—is it, in fact,
consonant with the doctrines enjoined by our religion,
that a man should be subjected to the cruel penalties
of premunire, because he will not declare in the
presence of the DIVINITY that he is willing to aid
in raising an individual to the august and holy respon-
sibilities of a bishopric, whose opinions he believes, in
his conscience, to be heretical and blasphemous ? To
be plain, we cannot perceive any earthly or unearthly
use in an ecclesiastical election, by exercising the
imaginary rights of which a voter plunges into the
perils of outlawry, subjects his goods and chattels to
confiscation, and his body to perpetual imprisonment !
It obliges a man in Dr. MEREWETHER'S position
either to perjury himself on the consecrated floor of
he cathedral, or to rival in his sufferings the most
:amour confessors of antiquity !

The Irish remedial measures are to be brought
Forward immediately after the recess. The most im?

portant of these—that which must be placed upon a
satisfactory footing with the least possible delay, if
we desire to restore peace and tranquillity to Ireland
A-4s that for the improvement of the relations between
landlord and tenant. It is mainly owing to the
unsettled state of this question, to the- existence of a
custom in one part of the country which affords pro-
tection and encouragement to the occupants of the
soil, and induces them to expend their capital and
labour in the permanent and lasting improvement of
their holdings, without a fear of being de-
prived of the fruits of their industry, while in
the other less favoured districts no such security is
afforded, that the small farmers and cottiers have
entered into illegal combinations to obtain for them-
selves that protection which the law does not afford,
and to extort from their landlords' fears those
equitable and reasonable terms which they cannot
obtain from more honourable motives. It is unneces-
sary to say that whenever there is a departure from
the restraints imposed by the law—no matter to what
it may be attributable—many additional outrages
will be committed, which were not originally con-

templated by the conspirators. The confederacy,
solely organised for the purpose of regulating
the letting of lands, and carrying into effect
an agrarian code framed in direct opposition to
the free exercise of the rights of property, will be
used for many other purposes. Evil-disposed men
will through its instrumentality be enabled to gratify
their vindictive feelings, and to wreak their deadly
vengeance upon those who may have incurred their
displeasure, and there is no description of crime that
will not be increased by the existence of such a body.
The concession of a just and equitable law, by which
the real grievances would be removed and a system
introduced that would be mutually beneficial to all
parties, affording protection to the tenant, and per-
mitting the landlord to enjoy the fruits of his estate
and to exercise all the rights of property which a fair
and upright man would be disposed to claim, would at
once dissolve these secret conclaves, and deprive
the miscreants, who are already outlawed for the

offences of which they have been guilty, of the great
source of their power and influence, and restore peace
to the country. Nine-tenths of the outrage: and
offences perpetrated in the sister kingdom may he
traced to an agrarian origin. If the causes are
removed it is only reasonable to suppose that the
effects which result therefrom will also cease. The
great object, therefore, is to ascertain what enact-
ments will be sufficient to effect that purpose; and
in entering into this consideration the difficulty of the
task must not be slighted or underrated.
A much slighter measure of reform would probably
have answered every purpose, if established a few
years since ; but the question has now gained
additional strength, and demands are put forward far
beyond anything then contemplated. A compensa-
tion for the unexhausted improvements actually
effected by the tenant, as suggested in the able
report of Lord DEVON and his fellow Commissioners,
If granted before the agitation had assumed so for-
midable a position, would have put an end to every
dispute. Now fixity of tenure is insisted on, and that
the
occupier should never, under any circumstances,
be disturbed in his possession, but that he should be
at liberty to sell or dispose of his tenement to whom
he pleased, without the consent or approbation of his
landlord, who would remain a mere rent charger,
without any power or influence over that which w's.
nominally his property. Probably this, if carried to
the extent of the wishes of some of the parties,
would be found almost as mischievous, although in a
different way, as the present system; but there is
a just and intermediate course, which has
already been tested for a long' series of years,
and proved to be most efficacious, and which has
produced prosperity and tranquillity in every locality
in which it has been recognised. This is what is