The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-22 00:00:00

LOIVDON, TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 1869.

Earl GI:EY, in this matter of the Irish Church, is
determined to thrust himself to the fore. His amend-
ment in regard to the preamble he announced be-
times last evening. As to his opinions in reference to
the measure generally, it will not readily be forgotten
how very obtrusively those were forced upon the con-
sideration of the House of Lords, and, through the
House, upon the notice of the country at large. So
obtrusively that Lord GREY'S insistance upon his
right to resume the discussion, upon the renewal of
the debate after its first adjournment, involved in it
the greatest possible disappointment to the House of
Lords itself, and afterwards to the whole community.
One thing Lord GREY is always resolved upon—
though as a rule little or nothing ever comes of it—
namely, that he must be heard. Scarcely a soul in the
Howe is ever found to agree with him. He identifies
himself with no political party. He sits significantly
enough upon the cross benches. And whereas some-
body has said jocosely, that if two men can make a
political party Lord GREY seems always to be de-
cidedly of opinion that to that end one person—him-
self—is clearly sufficient. His position in the House
of Lords is peculiarly and conspicuously isolated. He
stands so alsolutely apart from all the rest of the
peers that one might almost fancy the only effectual
way to induce him to abandon any one of his own
crotchets.would.be to agree with him in it. Directly
he finds himself trending towards concurrence with
anyone, he is instantly and instinctively—
off at a tangent. The facility with which
he can, in this way, at any moment, diverge
from his own line of argument, so as to maintain at
all hazards his complete isolation from everybody
else, arises, as one might say, from his never remain-
ing in any of the old grooves. The flange of his
erratic wheel of fortune, to speak fantastically of it,
as though it were actually like Herr SCHNIZERL'S one-
wheeled velocipede—the flange of his wheel of fortune
never drops into any one of the old ruts, but leaves
him as free in movement, as ready in deflection, to
the right or to the left, as the most practised skater,
as one capable at any moment, either upon the inside
or the outside edge, to take the back turn or the front
turn at his own free will and pleasure. So little
is he in accord with any one that his administrative
exp:rience may be referred to, now, as remote—
though, during its continuance, it was in somerespects
various. Since 1852 he has had no seat in any Cabi-
net. Immediately prior to that, he had been Secre-
tary of State for the Colonies. Ha first held
office as Under-Secretary of that department in his
father's Administration. For a brief period he
occupied the position of Under-Secretary for Home
Affairs. And in 1835, on the formation of the MEL-
BOURNE Government, be had been nominated Sec-
retary at 'War. Under his courtesy title as Lord
Hawses, he represented successively in the House
of Commons —in 1826, Winchelsea —in 1833,
High= Ferrars —in 1831, Northumberland —in
1841, Sunderland. Within four years after the last-
mentioned date, namely in 1845, he took his seat in
the House of Peers (upon the death of his father) as
the third Earl GREY. It was in the year following,
namely, in 1846, that he was appointed Secretary of
State for the Colonies, upon the formation of Lord
JOHN RUSSELL'S first Administration. Resigning with
his colleagues about six years afterwards, that is in
1852, Lord GREY published in two volumes an elabo-
rate Vindication of his Colonial Policy. Since that
time he has never taken his seat in any Govern-
ment. Even upon the construction of the celebrated
Cabinet of All the Talents, Earl GREY was over-
looke 1. He was conspicuous by his absence from it.
Lord ABERDEEN gathered together his hetcrogeneou s
forces, but among the varied leaders of those forces
Earl GREY was nowhere discernable. Especially,
and peculiarly since that date, it is that Earl
GREY has fought for his own hand in the
Parliamentary lists. De bon sereir le roy is
the loyal motto of his house—emblazoned under
the device of a scaling-ladder. If not crest-
fallen, his device leads nowhere— and as for
his motto, it might now, in his own instance, De bon
vouloir, servir luimeme. We cannot pretend even to
conjecture what good there is in an insolated "poli-
tical party," such as is formed by Lord GREY'S own
individuality. It simply expresses the odi ideas of
one man. But it has at least the merit of expressing
those right out and quite unreservedly.

THE clergy attracted so much attention to them-
selves last week by their speeches in the House of
Lords that those which they delivered in their own
peculiar assembly, the two Houses of the Canter-
bury Convocation, have been overlooked. And yet
their debates in this latter bodywere worthy of notice.
Two very different subjects were broughtbefore them :
one a matter affecting the faith, another a matter
affecting morals. The first was the Athanasian
Creed, the second was drunkenness. Concerning
the first, there is little new for us, at all events, to
say. We have again and again expressed our dis-
like of this creed, and our belief that it is doing the
Church irreparable harm. We have pointed out
that this document has really nothing to be said for
it ; that it was not written by the great man whose
name it bears ; that it was not accepted by the
Church for many centuries; that it was im-
posed in direct defiance of the decree of the
great Council of Nice, which condemned by
anticipation the framing of any additional creeds;
that it is not imposed by either the Scotch or by the
American Episcopalian Church ; that no one can
possibly believe it, least of all the High Church party,
who, at the same time that they are most zealous in
retaining it, wish to- enter into communion with the
Eastern Church, whose members this very creed
consigns to eternal damnation. It is with satisfac-
tion, therefore, we find that even some of the bishops
think it would at least be wise to render the
reading of this creed optional. We would far rather
see it suffer the fate of the three State services,
and be expunged from the Prayer-book altogether.
But the proposal to leave the use to the discre-
tion of individual clergymen would probably before
long lead to a general disuse. Most of the clergy
would gladly be released from the burden of reading
this creed ; and as for the rest, they cannot afford
to disregard the all but unanimous wishes of the
laity.
Turning to the other matter which Convocation
has been discussing, we cannot but congratulate the
reverend members that they have at last put them-
selves in accord with the nation by taking in
hand a matter which so deeply affects both the
ar tal: en
temporal and the spiritual welfare of the people. It
is, perhaps, scarcely too much to suppose that
Archbishoptlie actiN-e
p in t
this sblhjyte h
act Romanas led the
Anglican Catholic
e
Anglican clergy to see the importance of it.
t
When Archbishop MANNING is received
with
raptu-
rous applause by six thousand working men in Pro-
testant Manchester, it is time for Archbishop TAIT
and his suffragans to look to their laurels. At
present, indeed, the temperance question has been
taken up only by the Lower House of Convocation,
but it will no doubt be shortly brought before
the Upper. That it has been introduced into
Convocation at all is due mainly to the
untiring exertions of the Archdeacon of
COVENTRY. Few persons know the labour involved
in getting up the report which has just been pre-
sented to Convocation by the committee of that body
over which he presided. Few persons can peruse