The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-14 00:00:00

BISHOP TEMPLE'S PERSONAL
EXPLANATION.

On Friday, in the Upper House of Convocation,
Dr. Temple, Bishop of Exeter, made a personal explana-
tion to the assembly. His lordship said ho wished very
much on the previous day to make a personal statement
with reference to an announcement which appeared in one
of the papers, but ho was obliged to delay his statement
until this morning. The announcement to which ho
referred was that he did not intend on any future
occasion to re-publish the essay which he once
wrote in the "Essays and Reviews," and, from the
way in which it was announced, it was possible
that it might be supposed that that announcement was'
intended to be made in Convocation. He should have pre-
ferred making no personal statement, because it was almost
impossible for a man to express in mere words what his
feelings were on a matter like that. He must let his life
and actions speak for him. Now he would address to them
words which must be interpreted as they best couldte. Ile
could not help regretting that an unfortunate blunder of his
necessitated his explanation. With regard to the announce-
ment he wished to state that it had no reference whatever to
Convocation. A little while ago he had occasion to tell an
intimate friend (a layman), whose opinion he valued
highly, that he had come to the conclusion that he would
not re-publish his essay. His reasons were that he found
the volume (" Essays and Reviews") was, whether with
good reason or without, the cause of serious distress,
anxiety, and perplexity to a very great many good people.
That distress and anxiety was to a very large degree
what he might call contagious. It was not because
people had read the book, but because they saw the alarm
and discomfiture of others who had read it. He felt
very certain that was the case with a very large number
and h.,) believed with the majority of those who felt any
agitation in the matter. Clergymen who had signed the
memorial against him said privately to Lim that they had
not read the essay or anything else he had written, but
they felt themselves constrained by the general expres•
sion of odinion. He did not think that feeling was right,
or quite defensible. He did not set himself up as n
judge of others, but he confessed that he did net think
the Bishop of Lichfield was quite justified iu
the part he took the other day, when he said he
had not read the Look, and did not intend to read it. It
scorned to him in such cases that the duty of those who
acted at all was to act with a full knowledge of all the
circumstances. It was quite certain, then, that a great deal
of distress and alarm did exist among some who had read
the book, and as long as there was any legal right at stake
it appeared that he ought not, directly or indirectly, to
sacrifice that right. He was appealed to make some
declaration on the grounds of charity, and he was almost
threate sod that if ho did not do so there would be such
opposition made as to keep him out of the office to which
he was appointed. But he did not think it right to give
way on either ground, especially on the latter, as it was
clear to his mind that if such opposition could be success-
ful the matter ought to be fairly tried. On the ground of
charity he would not yield, because one man might yield
on that ground, and another man might be called upon to
yield on what might be called the ground of charity, when
really it was compulsion. Therefore, as long as there was
any legal ground at issue he thought it right not to do
anything. But after he had become Bishop of Exeter, and
when the matter was pressed upon him very earnestly,
by some who certainly shared with him the conviction of
the necessity of great liberty of opinion, he thought he
might do as he had done without injustice to any one, and
that he rugl.it yield to the wishes of these who
felt so keenly, and withdraw the publication of the
essay from the public. This was intended as e
satisfaction to those who were unhappy about
the book, and who were not quite in a position to answer
it—who were distressed, and who would be more dis-
tressed if such a book were connected with the name
of a Bishop of the Church of England. When he told his
friend his intention he did not for one moment think of
Convocation, and he did not think the announcement
would be made daring the sitting of Convocation and
give rise to a discussion. Of course he ought to have
been very much more guarded, and to have prevented
such an announcement being made at the time, particu-
larly when Convocation was sitting. The right thing
for him to have done would have beento have said nothing
about it. He had made a blunder and was sorry. One
other misconstruction he had to speak about was this—lt
might be supposed the withdrawal of the essay was some
sort of condemnation of the volume or the writers, or a
retractation of what ho had himself written. He did not
intend to make it either one of those things, It did not
seem to him fitting that he should express a judgment on
the writing of others in the "Essays and Reviews," al-
though it was almost impossible toprevent the appearance
of having intended to express such an opinion. The course
he had taken might be liable to be challenged, but what
he had already announced he intended to do, and it was
as well to tell the plain truth in such a case. He meant
no such retraction and no such condemnation, nor did he
mean it to imply that he had done wrong in letting his
essay appear with the others. He did not intend, on that
point, to express an opinion. He felt that the publication
of an essoy amongst others that would be allowed to
Frederick 'Temple would not be allowed to the Bishop of
Exeter. The Bishop of Exeter would be required to bo
more guarded in everything that he did, and would not
only be required to see that only his own publica-'
tion but the writings of others were approved by
him when his name was associated with them. The Bishop.
of Exeter's position would give a book a kind of authority
it would not have of itself. He had always held himself
responsible for his own essay, and for the statement made
at the beginning of the volume, and if the circumstances
were to come over again he should do precisely as he
had done before. His great and chief reason for with-
drawing his essay he had stated, his second was that
he thought the volume had done the work it was
intended to to do. Whether he acted wisely or rightly ie.
the past was a matter of opinion upon which he would
say nothing. When he was asked to join\ in the writing
of such a volume, his reason was that ho could not help
being very much struck with the extraordinary reticent)
which prevailed among the younger university men,
especially at Oxford, and which seemed to 11* to be
doing serious mischief to their characters. ManYiwere
unwilling to say that their opinions differed from thew
ordinarily expressed; if they had a doubt, they were
unwilling to express it. Such doubts and perplexities,
when kept in, always give a kind of importance to a
matter, and a greater magnitude than it really deserves.
He was quite certain that in a large number of cases the
result of open speaking was the way to get rid of those
doubts and perplexities, which could in no other way be,
got rid of, and thought men should be encouraged to
speak out. He wished to join in a movement that
would further this, and that men should speak
out, and since the publication of the "Essays
and Reviews" men had spoken out more freely.
A great many men had received a great help from this
change in tone. When the matter came before him
in the beginning of the year, he had to con-
sider the whole subject, and he thought that the work
had been done, and ho acted on that opinion, and he felt
he was no longer justified in allowing his name and
position to be used in forcing that book upon public
attention. It was not his place to pronounce judgment
on the book itself, but if he had done mischief, (which lie
was not prepared to deny,) yet it had certainly dona
great deal of good. The speaker at great length defended
eed
himself, and referred to religious subjects of interest
in
the course of his speech.

Dean Stanley is to lecture next term on the Eng-
lish Church for the new theological schcols at Dallied Col-
loge, Oxford.
Mr. Fawcett will move, on the 25th inst., t, that
in the opinion of this louse the Government shoul, with
the least delay possible, introduce a measure,
of effect
of which would be to apply the principle of open com-
petition to appointments in the Civil and Diplomatic
Barviecit!"