The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-14 00:00:00

My Lord, the name of Russell ought to bo—ov___..— er....... will
be, lam sure, in yeur reflecting hours—a security to us
against the application by you of a phrase so sect ed as
" the rights of the Crown, to a matter so foul m; the
provisions of the statute of which I am writing.
My Lord, the Crown has no right, can have no ri,3ht,
(I trust, too, that it will be found to have no power) to
force a bishop on the Church, whom the Church had
just right to reject as a " setter forth of erroneous and
strange doctrine, contrary to God's word." True, my
Lord, the statute 25th Henry VIII., C. 20 (the Magna ,
Charts of Tyranny) does give to t,he Crown a power,
which your Lordship has been pleased to call a "right,"
to condemn to prison, and to penury, any dean, or anr,
chapter, which may refuse compliance with such a,
mandate. But no statute has the power to effect the
execution of the mandate itself; no statute has the
power to make an honest and conscientious chapter to
elect, or an honest and conscientious prelate to conse-
crate to the office of bishop, such a person as I have
described above.
Forbear, my Lord, while you have yet time. Persist
not in your rash experiment. The bands of your
vaunted statute will snap asunder like withes, if you
attempt to bind with them the strongest of all strong
-Tien—the man who is strengthened with inner might
inst the assailant of his Church.
11P,,,, • Lore, do not imagine that I am one of those,
w
'llyit 't we're within their power, would deprive the
CrhoolN,m().l.
h. ny portion of its rightful supremacy—espe-
' legitimate, Christian influence in the
cially of its jug t,
appointment of out bishops—an influence which I firmly
believe to be necess, -try to the peace, and, Therefore, to
the efficiency, of the
-lurch. Let the Crown continue
let it exercise this right, which
l.
to nominate them; but . -
almost all considerate M. ,rchmen wish it to retain, with
caution, with discretion, „.i,h due regard to the feelings
and the conscience of all con,lerned• Depend upon it,
my Lord, the remonstrant Bisho,ls spake to you a. sound
and pregnant truth when they told you that "the nomi-
nation to vacant bishoprics is a very delicate, as wail as
a very important, particular of the royal suprem Icy."
But I will not enlarge on this matter. Again, I im-
plore you to forbear while you yet have time. He trace
ma
n,
every steps—and be assured every honest and good
every prudent and sound adviser—above all, youru
n.
n own
a
conscience, though not, it may be, your present
feeling—will applaud y'our forbearance.—l h.
vre
thesie honourt
to be, my Lord, your Lordship's most
_c_bl 'e-

client servant, H. tXETER.
The Right Hon. Lord John Russell.
POSTSCRIPT.
27, Conduit-street, Dec. 13.
My Lord ,—I have just seen a copy of your Lord—
ship's answer to the address from the lay members of
the Church (very many mid very distinguished members
as I have heard), on oocasion of Dr. Ilampdgo:‘ ap-
pointment.
Connected as this address is with the subject of my
recent letter, I may be permitted to add a few words in
reference to it, as a postscript to what I there wrote.
Your Lordship states "your belief that the appoint.
ment will tend to strengthen the Protestant charact,n. of
our Church, so seriously threatened of late by many de-
fections to the Church of Rome."

I give your Lordship full credit for the motive to
which you ascribe this appointment ; but I must frankly
say, that I should esteem any act a poor, and worse, them
worthless, compliment to "the Protestant characbsr" of
our Church, ay, and a real weakening of that Protestant
character, rightly understood, which tends to maker that
character less Catholic and less worthy of the conficlisnee
if the sound portion of the Catholic Church throughout
the world.
But I have pleasure in stating to your Lordship that,
not only in my own diocese, but in many others, the re-
solutions, addresses, and petitions, on this occasion, have
been subscribed by the clergy of all shades of religious
opinion, among them by those who are most strenuous
in the cause of Protestantism.
I also feel it my duty to state to your Lordship that I
have been assured that there was great reason to fear
that if this appointment had taken place without strong
resistance from all who could resist, and without re-
monstrance from those who could :only remonstrate,
there would have been a fresh and more deplorable, as
well as far naore numerous " defection from out
Church," which would then have seemed tacitly to so'
quiesce in its own degradation, and so to have almost
unchurched itself.
Tour Lordship is pleased to condemn the course tgk"tt
by the University of Oxford in 1836, and confirmed id
1842, as " an unworthy proceeding."
Without presuming to question the right of your Lord.-
ship, as an individual, to condemn any public set of any
body of men whatsoever, I yet may take the liberty of
saying that I cannot recognise the fitness (I am )0,11"
ling to use a stronger word) of the First Minister 01 tb•
Crown thus publicly and officially holding up to indig-
nation a solemn decree of one of the most eminent.; Ands
venerated bodies, not only in England, but in Europe.
I must also venture to suggest a question whether thint
be the happiest mode of testifying that " charity" which:
I doubt not your Lordship feels, but of which you de-
plore " the sad want" in others; or of allaying those
" feelings of bitterness" which your Lordship, in common
with all good men, must sincerely deprecate.—l have
the honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's most oho-•.
dient servant, H. EXETER.
The Right lion. the Lord John Russell.

The following is the correspondence to which the
postcript refers.
" My Lord,—We, the undersigned lay members of
the Church of England, beg leave to represent to your
Lordship the deep concern with which we have heard
the report of your intention to recommend Dr. Hampden
to her Majesty as the future Bishop of Hereford.
" We have seen and heard enough of the strong feel-
ing, both of layme❑ and of clergy, on this occasion, to
convince us that the appointment, if persisted in, will
stir up feelings of bitterness, which it would be impos-
sible soon to eradicate, and which would probably lead
to consequences which your Lordship would deprecate
as earnestly as ourselves.
" We fervently hope that these, or other reasons,
may induce your Lordship to reconsider the case, before
you finally advise her Majesty to recommend, for elec-
tion to the vacant bishopric, a person who has been•
solemnly pronounced by his own University to be un-
worthy of its confidence as a teacher of Christiati
truth.

" We are, my Lord, &c. &c.
" To the Right Hon. Lord Jokn Russell, M.P."

Chesham-place' Dec. 10, 1847.
My Lords and Gentlemen,—l have had the honour to
receive your representation on the subject of my recom-
mendation of Dr. Hampden to the Queen for the see of
Hereford.

I am aware that there exists a strong feeling on the
part of some laymen and clergymen against Dr. Hamp-
den ; but that the appointment should excite feelings of
bitterness is, I hope, an error, as it would show a sad
want of Christian charity on the part of those who would
indulge such feelings.
The consequences with which I am threatened I am
prepared to encounter, as I believe the appointment will
tend to strengthen the Protestant character of our
Church, so seriously threatened of late by many defec-
tions to the Church of Rome. Among the chiefs of
these defections are to be found the leading promoters
of the movement against Dr. Hampden eleven years ago,
in the University of Oxford.
" I had hoped the conduct of Dr. Hampden, as Regius
Professor of Divinity, and head of a theological board
at Oxford, had effaced the memory of that unworthy
proceeding.
" I have the honour to be, my Lords and
" Gentlemen, your obedient servant,
" J. RUSSELL
" To certain lay members of the Church
of England."

THE BISHOP OF NORWICH AND
DR.
PisitlAaclie,PNDoErwNich, Dec. 1, 1847.
My dear Lord,—On maturely considering the me-
morial which has been forwarded to me, against the
appointment of Dr. Hampden to the see of Hereford; not
on the ground of any general unfitness for the office, or
on any specific charge of heterodoxy, but because " the
University of Oxford has affirmed, by a solemn decree,
its want of confidence in the soundness of his doctrines,"
I feel I cannot conscientiously sign it for the followirrg
reasons :
lst.—Becaus• I conceive that by such proceeding we
are giving to an University censure an authority which
in no way belongs to it, and which many of its most
devoted friends have disclaimed. And further, that I
can attach little weight to a decision emanating from
Oxford on that occasion, bearing in mind that the move-
ment against Dr. Hampden originated with a party,
suspected (how justly subsequent events have fully
proved) of entertaining a strong
.le.aning towards the
Church of Rome. That the opinions, moreover, of
many of those members of convocation who opposed Dr.
Hampden were manifested with a bitterness of party
spirit little creditable to them as members of a Christina
community and a calm deliberative assembly; and that
there is good reason for believing that the majority was
obtained by votes given by many individuals who came
up expressly for the purpuse, though it was notorious
that they had never read the works which they professed
even if the censure of 1836 were deserv-
ing it was virtually repealed by a statute ie
to
2d.—That
nt_tdeeTnmtbinint
the early part of 1842, which expressly appointed Dr.
Hampden to the office of Examiner in the new Theo-
logicale ta
members
of h
Examination,te and which was, by several intla-
nUniversity, understood to cancel
the previous censure; and that, in the summer of 1842,
an attempt was made actually to repeal the censure of
1836, which very nearly succeeded, supported as it was
114 Y some
of the most distinguished members of the Uni-
versity;amongst others, I believe, by no less than 15
out of 17 of the heads of colleges, and that it was op-
posed by a large portion of those well known for their
Tractarian tendencies.
3dly.—Because I believe Dr. Hampden to have been
very unfairly treated, judged as he was by extracts se-
parated from their context, and many of them obscurely
worded on points involving deep metaphysical reasoning,
requiring unprejudiced and dispassionate investigations
to decide upon.
4thly.—i3ecause I consider that on other occasions,
more especially in his inaugural lecture, he has shown
clearly and unequivocally, and beyond all controversy,
that his sentiments on those particular topics on which
ho was supposed to be unsound, were in accordance
with the formularies of our Church and with the Holy
Scriptures.
Such are the reasons for inducing me to withhold my
signature to the memorial proposed to be presented
• by my Right Rev. Brethren, expressive of their disap.
probation of Dr. Hanipden's appointment to the vacant
see of Hereford.
• I have only to add, though indeed I consider it scarcely
necessary, that did I suspect Dr. Hampden in the slight-
est degree of holding opinions impugning the doctrines
of the Trinity or the Atonement, I should not have hesi-
tated a single moment in requesting that my name might