The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-15 00:00:00

1- hating Atix.

LoND+ iN, SATURDAY. JANUARY 15, ,818

Measures were ye,terday adventured upon for the
purpose of ensuring a legal investigation into the
conduct of the Vicar- General of the Archbishop of
CANTERBURY, in refuting to accept the objections
of certain ecclesiastics to the appointment of Dr.
HAMPDEN to the epincopal see of Hereford. It will
not have been forgotten that when the ouponents of
that Right Reverend Pre4ite attempted to stay the
ceremony of confiro ation, in compliance with the
ir.vitation of the Apparitor- General, they were
peremptorily ordered by Dr. :7•IIERRARD BEAUMONT
BURNABY and his colleagues to withdraw their
obstructions, and to behold in complacent si-
lence the confirmation of the Bishop elect. Dr.
ADD. ms and several other sacerdotal advocates,
learned in ecclesiastical etiquette and theological pre-
rogatives, maintained, even within the precincts of
Bow Church, the adequacy of the objections raised
against the continuance of the ceremonial ; but in
opposition to those very authoritative opinions, the
Vicar-General of the Metropolitan persisted in his
refusal, being in terror of exposing himself to the
penalties of premunire. Yesterday the quest ion was
brough.t under the consideration of the Court of
Queens Bench by Sir FITZROY KELLY, and a rule
nisi was granted by the Lord Chief Justice DENMAN,
in obedience to which rule the Primate and his Vica-
r will have (in the event of the conditional
order for the writ of mandamus being made absolute)
to hear the arguments of thevoilr
artriornusatdioirtients who
were silenced on the day of e
A prospect consequently presents itself of such an
investigation being commenced in the courts of law
as will necessitate so scrupulous a sifting of the
arguments employed by the different disputants, as
will revealhe the trues merits of this deplorable contro-
versy. T Hamn quarrel has anything but
terminated. The antagonists are now being drawn
nay
more closely together, so that a better oppoeu •
will present itself for estimating tneirrelativestrength,
and the proportionate integrity of their principles. The
circumference of the ,-,rena is being narrowed, and the
lay multitude may safely anticipate the spectacle of
a very vigorous contention between the twist redoubt-
able of the clerical athletes of our generation. One
the most remarkable of these gladiators of the
Church—and certainly one of the most extraordinary
logicians of the age—Archbishop WHATELEY, to wit
--has already buckled on the gauntlets of discussion
(in re llAmPhit:s) and evinced no very trivial amount
of intellectual pugnacity. According to the pamphlet
of the Archbishop of DunLiN—a pamphlet entitled
" S:atements and RA.,ctions" on the Hampden Con-
troversy—the Prime, Minister is not only to be de.
Glared sinless in making the selection of the Regius ;
Professor of Divinity, but the Noble Lord is said to
have merited fur himself the admiration of all orthotha
t--stands, by the dignii-d resoluteness With which
he has advanced Dr. HAMPDEN to the see of Here
ford, in the teeth of the most reckless and viruleat
Wnen a man of such astuteness and
as ~scbbtstl -p WI HATELBY commits himself
decidedly Or:Stitch an opinion as this it is impos-
sible to reerf4„itie party clamour raised against the
MMHG? ofPAirins:rz, new tha Archbishop of
•