The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-28 00:00:00

cellor—without remonstrance.*

In 1834 he was elected Professor of Moral Philo-
sophy : the five electors being among the
chief officers of the University—still with-
out remonstrance.
In 1836 he was nominated Regius Professor of
Divinity by the head of the Whig Go-
vernment. Then it was that microscopic
malevolence detected heresies, till then in-
visible, in the Bampton Lectures of four
years old ; upon which, a vote of censure
was carried in Convocation, by a mon-
strous coalition of Tractarians and anti-
Tractarians, who merged for the occasion
their theological differences in their com-
mon political rancour. But, notwith-
standing this,
In 1842 he was elected, by the Heads of Houses,
Chairman of a Theological Board of Exa-
miners, without, as far as we are aware,
the slightest opposition.
Prior to 1836, therefore, the University, by its
silence, virtually declared him to be
unworthy of a vote of censure.
And subsequently to 1836, the University, by a
public act, virtually rescinded its vote
of censure.

Such is a brief and succinct statement of the case
of Dr. Hampden. Nor is this all. Of the hostile
majority who procured the vote of censure, one sec-
tion afterwards endeavoured to cancel it ; another
protested against the competency of the very tribunal
before which they had dragged Dr. Hampden, upon
being cited before it themselves in the person of Mr.
Ward; and a third went over to the Church of Rome.
It is not impossible that on the day of election to the
bishopric of Hereford the Reverend Mr. Newman
may reach England with the bishop-making bull
lately given to his charge by the Pope, and described
as the greatest papal document that has reached our
Wand since Cardinal Pole announced from his place
in Queen Mary's House of Lords the happy recal of
England to the embrace of Rome.
Another circumstance, especially deserving of
notice, we must not omit from this recital. Doctor
Hampden holds the rectory of E welme, which is
attached to the Regius Professorship. Now every
clergyman, previous to his being admitted to any
benefice, must make an explicit declaration of his
loyalty and orthodoxy, by signing, in the manner
following, these three articles :-1. The Royal Su-
premacy. 2. Assent to the Book of Common Prayer.
3. Assent to the Thirty-nine Articles. "I, A. 8.,
do willingly, and ex animo, subscribe to these three
articles above-mentioned, and to all things that are
contained in them." From which it clearly appears
that the only ecclesiastical authority that could
legally take cognizance of Doctor Hampden's theolo-
gical opinions in the year 1836 was his diocesan, the
present Bishop of Bath and Wells ; and that, by
admitting him to the rectory of Ewelme, this prelate
certified to the world his conviction of Dr. Hampden's
orthodoxy. On what grounds this same Bishop
should now have joined the remonstrant prelates, is
not for us to explain.
We proceed to speak of the charges themselves ;
not assuming to deliver any critical judgment upon
them, but in the hope that some doubts respecting
them may be cleared up for the general reader. It
would be as sarcastic a compliment to the body of
clergy who have joined the movement against them,
to suppose that they understood the recondite ques-
tions of historical and logical disquisition involved, as
it would be to the University of Oxford to accept
without question its judgments of heresy. We have
but to recal the days of William and Anne for proof
of the value of such judgments, and of the compati—
bility of a most active hatred of Protestantism with
very zealous professions of upholding it. What the
Convocation of Oxford is now, in respect to Iligh
Church principles, the Convocation of the Clergy
was in those days ; and the condemnation of Dr.
Barnett's "Exposition of the Articles" (on the ground
that "it allowed a diversity of opinions which the
articles were framed to avoid ; and contained many
passages contrary to the true meaning of the Articles
and other received doctrines of our Church") is the
parallel to Doctor Hampden's condemnation. Bur-
net's book is nevertheless not only now received, uni-
versally, as a correct statement of the doctrines of the
Church, but commonly recommended by the Bishops
as a companion to theological studies.
The object of Dr. Hampden's Bampton Lectures
-was avowedly to " inquire into the effect of the
Scholastic Philosophy on the language of certain
formularies of our belief." It was a task involving
the utmost niceties of philosophical reasoning, and of
necessity the frequent use of terms and phrases some-
what new to religious discussion. Eminently it was
a task which imposed upon all that should sit in
candid judgment on its execution a liberal and cha-
ritable interpretation of the obscurities and difficulties
incident to words. Yet upon words involving none
of the essentials of faith has the entire charge of
heresy been trumped up.
We cannot undertake to say that Dr. Hampden is
a very clear writer, or that what he thus proposed was
even capable of satisfactory treatment ; but it it our
farm belief, not lightly taken up, that there is not a
syllable to be found in his 13ampton Lectures, by any
'one who keeps their purpose honestly in view, incon-
sistent with the detailed and full confession of ortho-
doxy contained in his letter to Lord John Russell
published a few days since. His duty in the one case
was negative, in the other is positive : in the one,
error was to be confuted; in the other truth is
deposed to ; and here lies the
difference. The one
was a nice criticism on the formulas by which the
writers of the various crekeds and dogmas of the
Church have sought to
of the Bible ; the otherrna a science of the theology
pro-
fession of entire belief :in is
ant
unhesitating
feet faith in the divine ar. theology, of per-
it,oainglnof and obligation
of the dogmas founded upon trustingf adhe-
sionhh to every practical principle or religious
the inventors of those dogmas (however confusedlyctwle
i-nperfectly) desired to protect. This being the caor
—can anything be conceived mere monstrous than
that what Doctor Hampden has expressed in his letter
to Lord John, namely, the full and real nature of his
religious views and feeling., should have been sought
for in lectures delivered with the limited and exclu-
sive purpose we have named ? Yet this is what has
been done. The fact of the Bampton Lectures not
containing what never came within their design, is the
whole foundation of this monstrous cry of heresy.

• "I happen to have means of knowing that when
Lord Grenville appointed Dr. Hampden to St. Mary's
Ilan, he was not acquainted personally with him, but
collected to the best of his power, the opinion of the
University at that time, when Dr. Hampden 's lectures
had alread been for some months before the public.
(*opinion was greatly in his favour.
ve since been most bitterly violent
, . •
misicibd I believe that no disapproba-
:t* ' xproset (AV the publication of his pamphlet
_ Caf
44/67 --the, of Dissenters to the Univer-
i'4 1-- ,-. ofM. Ptth of Sutherland to the Rev. Lir.
,(..14.

For this the charities and decencies of discussion have
been outraged, and a good and pious man subjected
to a system of persecution without parallel in even
religious history.
There is a name that few men utter without vene-
ration and regret—that of Arnold of Rugby. Let
us see what he thought of these Lectures and their
writer. " Hampden is a good man," says Arnold, in
one of the letters published by Mr. Stanley, " and an
able one; a lover of truth and fairness, and I should
think that the wholesome air of such a man's lectures
would tend to freshen men's faith, and assure them
that it had a foundation to rest upon. Hampden's
Bampton Lectures are a great work, entirely true
in their main points, and I think most useful." In
another letter he is more emphatic ; and this was
written while the original Oxford persecution was
in its full fury. " Hampden is doing what real
Christian reformers have ever done, what the Pro-
testants did with Catholicism, and the Apostles
with Judaism. He upholds the Articles as true in
substance, he maintains their usefulness, and the
truth and importance of their doctrines ; but he sees
that the time is come when their phraseology requires
to be protested against, as having, in fact, obstructed
and embarrassed the reception of the very truths
which they intend to inculcate. He is engaged
at the same battle against technical theologi-
cal language to which you (Rev. J. Hearn) and I
have, I believe, an equal dislike ; while he would join
us thoroughly in condemning the errors against
which the Articles were directed, and holds exactly
the language and sentiments which Cranmer and
Ridley, I believe, would hold if they were alive
now.

We believe this to be true ; we thoroughly believe
that it was his agreement with the promoters of the
" accursed Reformation" which made Dr. Hampden
so hateful to the originators of this persecution ;
and we are convinced that the temperate views
of such wise and good men as himself and
Arnold has been those of good and sound divines in
the Church of England's "giant days." We would
therefore earnestly entreat no man, how unlearned or
unpractised soever in theological discussion, to suffer
himself to be turned aside from the real points at
issue. They are these. First—that an entire belief
in the substantial scriptural truths of the Church is
compatible with a belief that the dogmatical language
in which they have occasionally been conveyed is
perplexing. And secondly—that an entire belief in
the substantial truth of the Thirty-nine Articles is in
no respect impugned by an attempt to account his-
torically for the origin of the technical language of
those Articles, " and to separate it from the divine
truth intended to be expressed by it." It is the duty
of all of us, in all conditions of life, and in all call-
ings and professions, to clear our minds of what tends
to obstruct and embarrass truth. Curious subtleties
may puzzle every man, but they profit no man.
"Avoid them," exclaims Jeremy Taylor, "for not
these, but things practical, are the hinges of immor-
tality." Doctor Hampden's language may not have
done him justice, but his intention was orthodox and
noble. _

The Minister feels this, and is firm. He stands
upon the right of the Crown, and the right is indis-
putable. If the eonge d'elire is disobeyed, letters
patent issue, and the person therein named must
be " invested and consecrated in like manner as if he
had been elected by the Dean and Chapter." But
here a difficulty arises, of which it is said advantage
will be taken. The Act which the Bishop of Exeter
calls the Magna Charta of tyranny left the ceremo-
nies of confirmation and consecration as it found
them ; simply substituting for the pope the arch-
bishop of the province, frolli whom it "required" con-
firmation, and giving the king his remedy. against the
archbishop in case of refusal. Thus, confirmation and
consecration are essential to the episcopal functions ;
and though the Crown can punish the archbishop for
not confirming, its bishop wanting that ceremony is
not a bishop complete. The question now is, there-
fore, what view the archbishop will take of his duty
in the matter; and it is believed that the object of
certain intended proceedings and citations in the
ecclesiastical courts is to give him the opportunity of
pleading to the Crown the propriety of delay till the
question of orthodoxy is legally set at rest.
Such is an impartial narrative of the Hampden
persecution and the present intentions of its pro-
'rioters. These are quite in keeping with the rest of
the narrative. To put Doctor Hampden on his trial
for supposed errors committed fifteen years ago, would
be a worthy carrying out of that malignant spirit
which fifteen years' teaching in the highest offices of
the University, with unquestioned learning and
unimpugned purity of doctrine, has been unable to
subdue. And who are to be the Judges ? One sec-
tion of the Bishops has prejudged Doctor Hampden ;
another declares its belief in his orthodoxy ; and a
third tribunal, in which reasonable confidence might
be placed, the Heads of Houses in the University of
Oxford, not only sat and judged, but give in their
verdict, when they placed the accused in 1842 at the
head of a board of theological examiners. We say
that Doctor Hampden has already undergone his
trial ; and we defy any one to suggest a fresh tribunal
that would not now be a delusion, a mockery, and a
snare.

But let the true friends of the Church of England
see the question as it really is. It is not alarm for
Doctor Hatnpden's orthodoxy but the hope to try a
successful fall with the Crown. An unseemly
struggle ; which can only have results to be deplored
and deprecated by moderate men of every shade of
opinion. Let the persecution of Doctor Hampden
succeed, and an agitatiGn is begun to which no man
sees the end, and which is fraught with inexpressible
danger.—Examiner. .

DR. HAMPDEN'S APPOINTMENT.
ADDRESS TO DR. HAMPDEN.
The following address, signed by between 600 and
700 of the clergy and laity, was yesterday presented
to the Rev. Dr. Hampden, at Christchurch, Oxford,
by a deputation of clergymen from London, accom-
panied by the Rev. Dr. Jeune, master of Pembroke
College, Oxford :
" TO THE REV. RENN DICR.SON HAMPDEN, D.D , REGIUS
PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF
OXFORD.
" Reverend Sir,---We, the undersigned clergy and
13ity of the Church of England, beg to offer to you
our sincere respects and. good wishes, in the prospect
of your advancement to the see of Hereford.
" Called by his late Majesty to fill the dignified and
important office of Regius Professor of Divinity in the
University of Oxford, in trying times of the Church,
and under circumstances of singular perplexity, you
have, in our opinion, discharged the duties of that
office in a manner which has completely justified the
confidence then reposed in you.
"The public announcement of your religious views,
which you made when entering upon your office, and
the sermons which you have preached before the
University as Regius Professor, and subsequently
published, as well as your other official acts, hive, in
our judgment, fully evidenced the soundness of your
theological opinions, and your high claim to the pro-
fessorial chair.
" We possess the fullest confidence that, under the
weightier responsibility of the episcopal office, you
will maintain the genuine principles of the Chnrch
of England, and exert your utmost energies to pro-
mote the cause of scriptural religion in this realm.
" Whilst we thus rely on your integrity and zeal,
we cannot but feel how weak are the purposes of man
without Divine guidance and support. We, there-
fore, join with you in prayer, that you may be
enabled to evince your fitness for the episcopal office,
by the efficiency of your endeavours to advance the
spiritual welfare of your diocese and of the universal
Church of Christ."
To this address Dr. Hampden returned the follow-
ing answer :
"My Lords and Gentlemen,—Your address is
peculiarly gratifying to me at this moment of so
much anxiety and trouble.
"Pray, then, accept my heartfelt thanks for this
kind and welcome expression of your feelings.
"I am far, however, from regarding this address
as a mere matter of personal concern to myself. The
cause in which you are engaged is a much greater one
than anything simply relating to an individual. Con-
gratulations are much more due to you, my Lords
and Gentlemen, for your strenuous support of our
true Protestant Church, the doctrines and principles
of which, as faithfully handed down to us by our
Reformers, and maintained by our standard divines,
I have in my place, as a minister and teacher of the
Church, earnestly endeavoured to set forth and incul-
cate.
" I heartily join with you in prayer that the hearts
and hands of all may be strengthened by the Holy
Spirit to the defence of that pure faith which we
possess through the teaching of our own apostolic and
scriptural Church. And I venture to hope that the
benefit of such prayer will not be withheld, and that
He who gives the will and the hearty desire to pray,
will both bless your exertions for the truth, and my
humble endeavours to serve Him truly in the high
office in His Church to which He has called me.
" I have the honour to remain, with the greatest
respect, my
Lords and Gentlemen, your very faithful
humble servant, "R. D. HAMPDEN. ,
" Christ Church, Dec. 27, 1847."

ARRIVAL OF THE EAST INDIA MAILS.---SOUTIP.
AMPTON, DEC. 27, Six O'CLOCK, P.M.—The Oriental
Company's steam-ship Hindostan, Samuel Lewis com-
mander, arrived here from Alexandria, at five o'clock
pot., and landed her mails, under the charge of Lieu-
tenant Brady, RN., Admiralty agent. Her dates are—
Constantinople and Alexandria, Dec. 9 ; Malta, 14th ;
Gibraltar, 20th. Her cargo consists of Indian silk piece
goods, bales of silk, spices, 100 casks of gum, barrels of
dates, cases of bitter apples, oranges, eleven packages of
specie (5,000/.) The Hindostan brings a full comple-
ment of passengers. The Marchioness Breadalbane,of
en
route
Penintsou
Alexandria.land Oriental

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, Dec. 27.

Mr. Commissioner Shepherd was the only Commis-
sioner sitting to-day, and the cases heard before
him were few in number, and of an unimportant
nature.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MANSION-HOUSE.
Ferdinand Meyer, a German, who has been for
some time travelling between his own and this
country as a sort of agent, and who pretends to I
barter pigeons for poodle dogs, was brought before I
the Lord Mayor, charged by an officer of Customs
with having been unlawfully concerned in unshipping
certain goods liable to customs, namely, 541 b. of
tobacco (cigars), contrary to the statute, by which he
forfeited the sum of 1001.
Mr. Beverley attended for the Customs.
The defendant pleaded not guilty.
The case was one of those in which ingenuity was
exercised in the concealment of the contraband goods.
Mr. Samuel Muliens, an officer of the Customs,
said, I was on duty on Brewer's-quay, in the im-
mediate vicinity of the Customs, on Friday afternoon,
when the prisoner came to me and asked me to exa-
mine a case of pigeons which had arrived by the
City of Rotterdam steamer. I told him he
might have the case landed, as I had the entry
for it, and that I would examine it for him. The case
was afterwards landed without my knowledge, and
conveyed to the warehouse, and he applied to me sub-
sequently to go to the warehouse to examine it. On
going into the warehouse, I found that it was stowed
away in a dark corner, and my suspicion was excited
' by that fact; and I ordered that it should be brought
out for examination. When it was brought out, I
saw the defendant and his friend who accompanied
him were walking away, and I sent after them, and
directed a constable to take them into custody if they
did not at once return. They did return, and the
defendant produced a letter, written in the Dutch
language, to, it is believed, an imaginary person, re-
siding
at the vague address of No. 96, Pimlico,
stating that the pigeons were consigned to the de-
fendant, and expressing a hope that he would be
amply recompensed. The letter also stated that
poodle dogs were expected in exchange for the
pigeons. I proceeded to examine the case, and found
that in the interstices of the back and sides 541 b. of
cigars were carefully deposited. The defendant de-
nied all knowledge of the tobacco.
The defendant—l had no idea there were any
cigars, or anything but pigeons in the case.
The defendant was fined 1001.
Five young women, who have been long hangers
on at the City of London Union, were charged with
having severely beaten one of the officers of the house
in Cannon-street.
Upon being asked why they assaulted the poor man,
they burst into laughter, and swore they would, as
soon as they could get him properly in their power,
completely demolish him, as they did not wish him
to be in their way, or in any way to meddle with
them.
Alderman GIBBS said he should commit them for
the assault.
They said they would take care that the Alderman
should come in for his share of punishment, when
they were dealing with the other.
Upon being sent to prison, in which they had been
all frequently locked up, they set up a screaming
concert, in which they were joined by the laughter
of the rabble, who always are ready to urge offenders
of this sort to acts of violence and outrage.
Mr. Thwaites, one of the relieving officers of the
union, stated that the lives of the sub:,rdinates in
office were in constant danger from such women as
had just appeared before the Alderman.
CLERKENW ELL.
CHARITY.—Our reporter is requested to communi-
cate that Earl C. has forwarded his accustomed
donation of 51., through:the Commissioners of Police,
in aid of the poor-box funds of this Court; that
"M. F." has sent 31.; and "A Gentleman," at Pen-
tonville, 11., for the same benevolent purpose.
MARY L EBONE.
John King, a boy, sixteen years'of age, was charged
by police-constable 43 S, who stated that on Friday
evening last he saw the prisoner climb over the rail-
ings of the house 38, Stanhope-street, Hampstead-
road, and go down the area steps. Witness having
knocked at the door and procured a light, went into
the area, and in a coal-vault there he found the priso-
ner, who, upon being questioned as to why he had se-
creted himself, there, replied that he was seeking for his
cap, which another boy had, as alleged by him, thrown
over; his object was, in witness's opinion, that of
stealing something from the safe, which description
of robbery by boys was of very frequent occurrence
in the neighbourhood. The prisoner was a well-
known thief, and many of his companions had been
committed.
The Magistrate sent him to hard labour in the
House of Correction for a month.
Henry Atherton was charged with the following
assaults :
It appeared, from the evidence, that on Friday
evening last a female, named Mary Ann Price (a
widow), went into the Gardeners' Arms, Crescent-
street, Euston-square, accompanied by another
woman, her friend, to partake of a little refreshment,
when the prisoner grossly abused her (Price) without
any provocation, and knocked her down twice, by two
violent blows, upon the eye and mouth. She bled
profusely ; and three of her teeth were, by one of
the blows, loosened. The prisoner was subsequently
taken into custody, when he assaulted police-constable
347 S.
Mr. BROUGHTON convicted in two separate penal-
ties, one of 405., or six weeks' imprisonment, for the
attack upon the woman, and 205., or one month, for
that upon the officer.
He was then locked up.
Sarah Jones, a miserable-locking woman, was
charged with having stolen a soup-tureen, the pro-
perty of Mr. Tuck wood, No. 22, Homer-street, New-
road.

The prisoner, on Saturday evening, walked into the
shop, took up the tureen, and made off with it. She
was pursued and captured, with the article, valued at
ss. 6d., in her possession.
The prisoner, who had nothing to say, was com-
mitted for trial.
MARLBOROUGH-STREET.
Simon Callaghan was brought before Mr. Bingham,
charged with having broken open the door and forcibly
entered the house No. 16, Poland- street, in the occu-
pation of Mr. Airey, surgeon.
A good deal of interest was occasioned, in conse-
quence of the proceedings having arisen out of a
question of disputed title, involving a very consider-
able property within the vicinity of the office. The
property in question has been claimed by various
parties, and the efforts they have made to substantiate
their respective claims have brought them for the last
dozen or fourteen years occasionally under the notice
of the magistrates of this court.
From the evidence it appeared that Mr. Airey's
lease expired on the 20th December last, and that in
the afternoon of the 21st of December possession was
taken by two men on behalf of the alleged landlady.
Mr. Airey, who did not recognise the title of the
parties in possession, caused the two men to be
forcibly ejected. On the 24th possession was again
sought to be obtained, but Mr. Airey resisted, and
the door was then broken open. The police interfered,
and the defendant was taken into custody.
Mr. Clarkson appeared for the defendant, and
argued that the defendant was justified, under all the
circumstances, in acting on orders he had received, to
regain possession of the premises.
Mr. BINGHAM was inclined to think that the pos-
session on the 21st was complete ; and, if so, the
turning of the men out would constitute a trespass.
However, as this was not the court to try a question
of disputed title, he should send the case to the ses-
sions, if the parties chose to proceed further.
BENEVOLENCE.—C. J. C. sent the half of a Si. note
for the poor-box. Also a donation of 51., from the Earl
of C—, for the poor-box.
SOUTHWARK.
William Perryman, a well-dressed young man,
was brought before Mr. Seeker, charged with steal-
ing a leg of pork, a piece of beef, and other articles,
the property of Mr. Gould, Brunswick-street, Black-
friars.
Sergeant Derrig, M division, said that on the
morning of Christmas-day, between one and two
o'clock, as he was passing in front of the complai-
nant's house, he turned his lantern down the area and
saw the prisoner concealed underneath a large meat
safe. He knocked at the dour, and having roused the
family they proceeded into the area, and found the
prisoner there, and on examining the meat safe dis-
covered that it had been forced open, and the pri-
soner busily engaged in replacing the articles which
he had previously taken out of it. When accounting
for his being found in such a situation, he said he was
quite incapable of accounting for the circumstance of
his getting down the area otherwise than by suppos-
ing at the time that he was getting over the railings
of his own house instead of those of the complainant's
house. Unfortunately for the prisoner, however,
when taken to the station-house he was recognised as
an old offender, he having been tried, and convicted,
and sentenced to transportation, which was subse-
quently commuted to five years' imprisonment on
board the hulks. Since his liberation he had also
been in custody with an accomplice, for robbing a
man of 131., but owing to some defect in the evidence
was discharged, and had been at large since that
period until he was taken on the present occasion in
the act of plundering the meat safe.
He was committed.
Two men of respectable appearance, named Robert
Lewis, described as a tailor and draper, and Robert
Mills Worst, an Excise-officer, were charged with
stealing a half-crown at the London-bridge Tavern.
Henry Williams, a waiter, stated that on Friday
night the prisoners called for a pint of porter, and,
having paid for it, they stood before the bar drinking