The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-05 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, FRIDAY MORNING.
THE ELECTIONS.
Precisely as was anticipated, Mr. John Reynolds has
set out ou a fresh electinneeriog tour, and has this time
turned his eyes to the borough of Athlone, with a view
of obtaining possession of the seat vacated by the late
Attorney-General. Mr. Reynold,,, it is said, has been
quite successful in his canvass, and, if he be fortunate to
secure the patronage of Bishop Browne, there would be
more than a fair chaiace of his re entrance into Parlia-
ment. Upon his defeat in Dublin this very modest
gentleman assured the public that the matter was of
veey' Minor consequence to him, as there were seven
or eight constituencies waiting with open arms to
receive him, A fair proportion of this number was
put to the test, and every one of the flatterers proved
faithless. 'The Freeman. of this morning announces_
that a formidable rival to Mr. Reynolds, the "Sad
leirite" candidate, is about to enter the lists in the
person of Mr. John Ennis, Governer of the Bank
of Ireland, and chairman of the Midland Great Western
Railway. Mr. Ennis is enormously wealthy; has large
landed property iu the county of Westmeath, is in poli-
tics a .Whig, and in religion a Roman Catholic. He is,
neverilieless, not very popular with the Liberal party in
Ireland.

THE NEW SOLICITOR-GENERAL.
It is announced this evening that the Solicitor-Gene-
raldaip has been offered to Mr. Christian, Q C., who ac-
cepted the offer. The learned gentleman is one of the
first equity; awyers at the Irish bar, and no more
p,,pular appointment could be made.

SERIOUS CONFLICT.
A telegraiihic message from the south states that a
serious conflict took place yesterday at Templemore
races between the military and the peasantry. The
origin of the riot was the rescue from arrest of a female
pickpocket. Twa soldiers are stated to have died this
morning. The Bridewell is full of prisoners.

SUSPENSION OF MESSRS. SYERS, WALKER, AND CO.
—The su,pension took plt,ce yesterday of Messrs.
Syers, Walker, and Co., East India and general mer-
chants. They have speculated extensively in various
kinds of produce, and their stoppage is attributed to the
fall in prices consequent upon the peace. The amount
of their lirthilitiee has net transpired, but it is probably
Ilbgat'oo,oool,

RE,STORATION OF THE ABBEY CHU.ReII

OF ST. ALBAA"S.

Yesterday, at 12 o'clock, a large and influential meet-
ing of the nobility, gentry, and clergy of the county of
Hertford was held in the Town-hall, St. Alban's, to
cDnsider the best means of restoring and upholding the
ancient Abbey Church of that town and of investing it
with the dignity of a cathedral, with the ♦iew to its Ix-
hag constituted the seat of a new bishopric, embracing
the whole of Hertfordshire, The Earl of Verulam, Lord-
Lieu' enant of the county, wa-s called to the chair; and
among the nabletnen and gentlemen on the platform and
in the body of the hall were the Marquis of Salisbury,
Lord R. Grosvenor, M.P., Lord R. Cecil, M.P., Sir E
B. Lytton, M.P., the Mayor of St. Alban's, Mr. Abel
Smith, M.P., Sir A. P. Cooper, Archdeacon Grant, the
Rev. Dr. Robinson, Master of the Temple, Mr. C. W.
Puller, Sir T. Sebright, the Ron. and Rev. W. C. Tal-
bot, the Rev. W. R. Southwell, Mr. E. Denison, Mr.
G. W. Lydekker, Mr. S. Majoribanks, and Mr, W.
Phillimore.

The CHAIRACIN, in opening the proceedings, adverted
to the encouragement be had received in the shape of
direct countenance and of promises of liberal contri-
butions wherever he bad propounded . the project of
restoring the venerable and magnificent fabric of the
Abbey Church of Sr. Alban'e. He proceeded to say
that, if the report of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners,
made a few years ago, which recommended the erec-
tion of a new bishopric in that neighbourhood, had
remained untouched, it might not have been neces-
sary for the county of Herts to move in the matter ;
but since that time the Cathedral Commission had issued
a report which ignored the recommendation made by the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and it was now therefore
imperatively incumbent upon the inhabitants of Hert-
fordshire to make a great effort to elevate the Abbey
Church of St. Alban's into the rank of a cathedral, ad-
mirably adapted as it was for that purpose, and to con-
stitute it the seat and centre of a diocese. (Cheers.)
The present relationship of the county of Herts to the
diocese of Rochester, of which it was now a part, could
not be more aptly described than in the words of a friend
of his, who asked what could be more undesirable and
unsatisfactory to the people of Hertfordshire than to
have their cathedral on the other side of the Thames, and
their bishop living near the German Ocean ! (A. laugh.)
They had now the remedy for that lamentable state of
things in their own hands, and he was sure the meeting
would not separate without inaugurating the restoration
of an edifice erected on the spot where the proto-martyr
of England died, and in which the Crusaders had knelt
in devotion. (Cheers.) lie appealed to them to sup-
pelt him on that occasion in his efforts to divert from
himself and them the opprobrium allowing a fabric so
rich in, architectural beauty and grandeur, and so re-
plete with historical associations of a stirring and en-
nobling kind, to rot on the ground, until in the lapse of
time, it became only a heap of rubble to indicate the plaee
where a temple had stood. (Cheers.)
The Rev. Dr. NICHOLSON, at the request of the chair-
man, read an elaborate and interesting report, drawn up
at his (the chairman's) instance by Mr. G. G. Scott,
the eminent ecclesiastical architect, in reference to the
present condition of the Abbey, the grounds on whist.
it ought, to receive the dignity of a cathedral, and the
works necessary for adapting it to that purpose. "The
qualifications," Mr. Scott stated, " which would entitle
- a church to lay claim to selection from among others for
the dignity of a cathedral were, a commanding historica•
interest marking it out pre-eminently among the churches
of the proposed diocese as the first and most distinguished
among them ; its own magnitude and dignity and the
architectural beauty both of the fabric and its accessories;
and the suitableness of its plan and structure to the
actual practical uses of a cathedral. He pointed out the
historical interest attaching to St. Alban'e as the successot
of the great Romane-British city of Terularn, and the
Beene of many of the greatest events in the early history
of our island. Founded in the days of Constantine the
Great, in honour of England's first martyr, and withie
ten years of his martyrdom, it was probably the earliest
of any church now existing in Britain, and possibly
the only instance of a church clearly proved to be the
lineal successor of one of those built on the first este
blishment of Christianity in our country. The church,
as built by the early Norman abbots, was of vast dimen-
sions and of a beautifully symmetrical plan. The nave
in the western arm of the cross alone measured inter
nally no less than 270 feet in length, and the total length
of the.church appeared to have been as much as 450 feet.
It had no less than six apsidal chapels, besides the great
apse, containing the high altar and the shrine of St.
Alban, and its dignity externally was enhanced by-
three vast towers, one at the intersection of the cross
and two on the western facade. The whole edifice- in
its perfect, unaltered state must have been dignified and
noble in the highest degree, though being built entirel3
of Roman brick and covered both within and without
with an incrustation of plaster, its beauty was the result
of:outline, proportion, and vastness, rather than of ar-
tificial details. In the 13th and 14th centuries great
alterations and extensions were made in the architecture
of the church. The church thus extended exceeds io
length any other church or cathedral in Great Britain,
and though in other dimensions itfalls short of York and
some other of our great churches, it, as a whole, would
rank in point of extent among our principal cathedrals
During its whole history as an abbey church it was from
time to time enriched by accessories such as monumente
and screens, so that even in its present condition it is a
perfect study of the architecture of the middle ages,
posieesing Specimens of the most remarkable kind of
every period of English ecclesiastical architecture. The
report then described the building in detail, and ad.
' verted to its having been despoiled of its costly accee
sories at the dissolution of the monasteries. It esti
mated that the total cost of arranging and repairing the
edifice so as to have all the practical requisites of a ca
thedrai, and to be in all respects thoroughly substantial,
would be about 18,000/. It added that the present star,
of the chapels intervening between the choir and the
Lady,Chapel was a standing disgrace, not only to St.
Alban's, but to the country at large. That a building
so exquisite in its design and details should, year afte,
year, be left in a state worse than ruin, and exposed t•
a wanton and ruthless mutilation till it was now difficul
accurately to trace out the design of the lovely ar
chitectural decorations once lavished upon it, and
with a footway actually carried through the midst of it,
was one of the most melancholy proofs of the low ebb to
which taste and good feeling had fatten which the writer
had ever witnessed. Reverting to the exterior of the
nave, and the older portions of the church, he expresser;
a strong feeling that in any future repairs which the)
might undergo, no attempt should be made to smarter
up the old Norman structure. There was a stern ma.
jesty about it which forbade the tampering of the model.;
restorer. He would say, repair those portions where
necessary, but attempt no restoration. Those might)
walls of Roman brick demanded nothing at hour hand.
but a few slight repairs, and any attempt to do mere
would only infringe upon their grandeur."
The Marquis of SALISBURY said he wished the test
of proposing the first resolution, which devolved upon
him, had been confided to hands more able to do justice
to the beauties of the venerable structure which it was
the object of that meeting, if possible, to restore; but the
ablo report just read to them, which treated of that part
of the subject in great detail, had rendered it unnecessary
for him to advert to the architectural merits of the edifice
or to its historical associations. All who had heard that
report, must have been impressed with the beauty of the
original structure, degraded as it now was by the dilapi.
demons which had taken place in the lapse of time. I
had long been a matter of pain to him that such a moue
trent of Christian grandeur should be suffered to fee
into decay without an effort being made by the country
at large to arrest the progress of dilapidation. The father
of the noble earl now in the chair, by great exertions
raised a considerable sum of money, which was judiciously
applied in his time to the restoration of the abbey—
(bear)—and it was owing to that restoration that the
abbey was now in a state which warranted them ie
meeting to consider whether it was now in their power,
by liberal contributions of money, to restore it to its
pristine grandeur. In so doing he felt assured they woule
meet with the support not Only of the county in whicl
it was located, but of the country at large, by which it
was regarded in the light of a national monument.
(Cheers.) There were peculiar reasons why this time
should be chosen fur making the contemplated restore.
tion. The rapid increase in the population all over the
country bad given rise to the necessity for increased
church accommodation. That church accommodatim
had increased largely in that county, and it had in its
turn entailed the necessity for a greater amount of epis-
copal supervision. He believed in no case was the want
of that supervision so marked as in that diocese ; for the
present Bishop of Rochester, zealous as he was, and
great as had been his exertions, was not able adequatel3
to overlook so large an extent of territory as was non
assigned to him. The difficulty of the task was enhanced
by ,the unavoidable' distance at which the bishop resided
from that locality, aid that circumstance entailed a heavy
expense upon the venerable prelate himself. For these
reasons it was the more desirable that:they should restore
the abbey of St. Alban's to something like its origir.a'
grandeur; and when in that way they had provided a
cathedral ' worthy of a diocese he thought they would
be in a position to demand from the Government
the creation of a new bishopric, of which St. Alban',
would be the centre. (Hear, hear.) The noble marquis
concluded by moving a resolution, to the effect that the
Abbey Church of St. Alban's was worthy of every effort
being made for its' preservation by the county of Hert-
ford and by the country in general.
Lord R. by!
M.P., seconded the resolution,
and in doing so he referred to the interest and veneration
which the Abbey Church of St. Alban's, as a stately
monument of piety and antiquity, had awakened in him
in his boyhood, as he was accustomed to pass through
the town five or six times a-year to the residence of his
family in the country. He also adverted to the lament-
able condition. into which the people of this country had
lapsedjn reference to ecclesiastical architecture at the
time when he came to man's estate, lie hoped that
that period had now passed away, and that an earnest
desire now prevailed among nearly an classes of the
people to see the erection of suitable churches through.
out the length and brcadth of the 'and. He felt that 'he
A-bh4 Church of St. Alban's was worthy of every effort
being made to restore it, and that its present position
was a standing opprebrium not only to the county of
Hertford, but to the whole country. (Cheers.)
The resolution was put, and carried with acclamation.
Archdeacon GRANT moved the next resolution—

"That the permanent sustentation of the building
would be: secured, and the spiritual interests of the
county in which it stood greatly benefitted by its being
made a bishop's see ; and that subscriptions be at once
entered into with a view to its entire restoration and
adaptation to the purposes of a cathedral,"
He proceeded to show that, since the time of the sup-
nression of the monasteries, the abbey had been in a
congtontatate of disrepair, owing to its hosing isolated
from that vast- and wealthy mound° sy:tctm which first
gave it birth, and which PM productive of go much

good and so much ill. The question now wag, wheo
they of the present day could take up that building°
incorporate it into our own church system, and so 13'
manently maintain it ? It was a monument of Pi°!
dedicated to the service of Almighty God ; and it gr°!
be a lasting reproach to them if they neglected to 01'
tain an edifice at once so grand ard so worthy the ye'
ration of Christians. (Hear.) It was clear that it
too large to be dealt with I,y our parochial system. I!
system had no means of providing for the perniall..
sustentation and support of suck a building ; it o°,'„
only be tiken up and dealt with by our ecoleeiagt".
system ; and be saw no way of permanently maintain!
it unless it was incorporated into a see and made'
,eat of a bishop's throne. For that an absolute aev";
sity existed in the spiritual wants of the population.,
the county, and in its peculiar relationship to w
diocese of which it now formed part.
Mr. C. W. FILLER, in seconding the resolutil
drew a graphic picture of the diocese of Rochesteroo
which Hertfordshire formed part, which, he said, °°o
prehended the whole of two counties, and extended obit
a part of a third. Its length, one way, was considers oi
more than 100 miles ; it had an area of more than 2'a
square miles, and a population of 600,000, It come ,„
hended within its boundaries 600 churches and cliaPe'y
its bishop's palace was situated in the middle of :y
county of Essex, 25 miles as the crow flew from „0
nearest part of the county of Hertford, and 50
from that town of St. Alban's. Its cathedral 10'
some remote corner of the county of Kent, and wag seer
r
rated both from Essex and Hertford by the river Tha°3o
4
He asked if it was possible that a bishop so siiono
however kind and genial his disposition, could ever
the real friend, helper, and adviser of the great body
the clergy over whom he ruled ? The remedy, be ntit,
mitted, was simple and easy ; and it was to sepol
from that vast diocese a new bishopric, co-extensive, ess
'early so, with the county of Hertford, and with
Alban's as its centre. (Hear.)
The resolution was carried unanimously, as wag sod
od
the third, briefly moved by Lord R. Curry and secon.ne
by the Rev. Dr. ROBINSON, Master of the Temple,
stituting a committee of noblemen and gentlenutk
press upon the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and irio
the Government the pre-eminent claims of the rend
n'
church in question to the distinction of a cathedra!, e 0
should their prayer be granted, to receive subscripto,
and apply them to its restoration and re-arrangenli
the committee to consist, arnmsg others, of the glum
Verularn, as treasurer; the Marquis of Salisbury,L
Marquis Townshend, the Earl of Essex, Earl Cowroj
Lord Dacre, Lord Robert Grosvenor, Sir E. B. LYtrest
Archdeacon Grant, and Mr. Puller, with Lord R°
Cecil as honorary secretary.
The meeting was also addressed by Mr. Clutter!!!
and Sir A. Dalrymple. Nearly 4,300)1. was subscri
in the room towards the object in view, of whichoob
chairman gave 500/. ; the Marquis of Salisbury, 3,
Mr. T. F. Gape, 2001. ; Sir E. B. Lytton, 100/. ;
Robert Grosvenor, 100 guineas; the Earl of Essex, 1°
Earl Brownlow, 100/. ; the Countess Dowager of ,Dn'a;
wicke, 100/. ; the Countess Dowager of Caledont
Sir Thomas Sebright, 1001. ; Mr. Abel Smith, Dl'
1001., and many other gentlemen similar sums' Vl°
The proceedings terminated with a vote of thalt
the chairman.

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