The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, iVONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 8, 1869.

NEWS.

Reformation, he still-thought the _English Church
to be a part of the kingdom of God. The Church
had a perfect right to suppress monasteries, to drop
the issue of indulgences, to allow the clergy to marry,
and to alter her creed. The question therefore was
whether Archbishop Parker was properly conse-
crated, whether through him the Church received
apostolic succession. No denial of her apostolic
succession was raised until seventy years
after the consecration, and we have historical
evidence to prove that Archbishop Parker was
legally and canonically consecrated by four other
bishops who were themselves consecrated by the Pope.
They might, therefore, boldly declare that the Church
of England possessed apostolic authority. Nor was
the Church guilty of heresy, seeing that she held the
Nicene Creed. Moreover, as to Christian worship, the
Church—as such, and distinguishing it from the
State—had never abolished vestments, lights, the
mass, or the other practices of the Universal
Church. It is difficult to conceive of that state of
mind in which the right of the clergy to teach the
Word of God and to administer the Sacraments was
thought to be dependent upon the decision of
antiquaries as to whether an Elizabethan prelate
was properly consecrated or not. If the Church of
England depends solely upon the solution of that
question for the validity of her mission ; if she has
established no claim upon the affection of the people;
if she can shew no proof of the soundness of the tree
in the shape of the fruit, the sooner she is cut down
as a cumberer of the ground the better.

Father Ignatius has greatly scandalised the Roman
Catholics, by stating that he has lately received the
Holy Communion at the hands of a Roman
Catholic priest in a Roman Catholic church.
The " Father " rather gloried in this achieve-
ment, we presume because he considered
it a step towards the reunion of Christendom. We
can see small occasion for gratification. Mr. Lyne
must have known well enough that no Roman
Catholic priest would have dared or wished to
administer to him, if it had been known that he was
not a member of the Roman Church. If he com-

municated he did so under false pretences, and how
that will advance reunion we fail to see. At Glasgow
a similar piece of deception has led to a rule by which
every intending communicant is obliged to exhibit
a ticket signed by a priest before he is allowed by the
vergers to approach the rails.

deny that it would be advantageous to seriously conk-clef
the policy of accepting the Paris declaration. But they
urged that their previous line of conduct was such as to
place an unconditional submission out of the question, and
they therefore offered their resignation. Several attempts
were made to find a set of politicians who would be willing
to take office and adopt a conciliatory policy ; but
such could not be found. The King made another
appeal to the patriotism of his Government. A compromise
was the result, and Delyannis was instructed to draw up a
reply which should give explicit adhesion to the declara-
tion of the powers, and yet preserve for the future the
national rights and aspirations of Greece. But the repre-
sentatives of the Powers, sounded apparently beforehand,
declared this reply inadmissible. Theymight have urged that
acquiescence in a condemnation of the Greek violators of
international law, accompanied by a reservation of the
right to violate such law in future, was a contradiction in
terms. The Ministry have again offered its resignation,
and King George was compelled to at cept it. This state
of affairs is not necessary. All the members of the Cabinet
were not opposed to apolicy of peace; the Minister of Finance
especially was decisively in favour of such a course, and
the inability of this statesman to form a Peace Cabinet is
incomprehensible save on the supposition that public
opinion is with the warlike Bulgaris and his followers. In
18G4 the Cretan malcontents offered to rise on condition
of receiving the secret but effectual assistance of Greece.
The courage and prudence of some Greek politicians
secured the rejection of this offer. What has become of
this pacific element ?
Later advices state that the difficulty of forming a
Ministry is so great that a further delay of eight days has
been granted,

SPAIN.

The Spaniards are suffering from the embarrassment of

too rapid progress. In the early days of the revolution a
mob assembled in Madrid and burnt the garotte apparatus
with great enthusiasm. Now the instrument of capital
punishment is required for the benefit of the Burgos mur-
derers, all Spain cries aloud for justice. As the perpe-
trators of the atrocity might have foreseen, the deed has
served only to strengthen the hands of the Provisional
Government, which is now receiving hourly telegrams
expressing the confidence of the people in all parts of the
country. These manifestations daily fill several columns
of the official paper. Nor are they confined to expres-
sions of adhesion ; with one accord they demand full
punishment of the murderers, direct and indirect, of the
Governor. Capital punishment has not yet been repealed,
and there is much reason to believe that this great
revival will give it a new tenure of existence. The

murdered man was exceedingly liberal to the poor, and

some time before his death had announced his intention
to divide his salary amongst the starving inhabitants of

Burgos.
Don Henri de Bourbon seems to have a delight in
advertising himself in the gazette of political bankrupts.
He is now getting up a wretched correspondence, in which
he alternately bewails the adversity of fortune, and vilifies
the Orleanist family. Of these latter the Duke of Mont-
pensier, according to Don Henri's account, is the
general utility villain—guilty of clap-trap, sleight-of-hand
politics, machinations, mercenary ambition, and all the
other offences which can be hit off by Don Henri's bound-

less vocabulary of bard names. A quarter of a century
ago this Spanish prince was the Progressists' candidate
for the hand of Isabella. He did not obtain that
choice prize, and he attributes his failure to the
Orleanist family. The eldest living representative of the
Orleans family writes from Teddington to deny this,
asserting that the error of his family consisted in treating
Don Henri too well.

The Times correspondent says that the Progressists are
gradually lending their support to the Duke of Montpensier.
Every day some Progressist organ which was vehe-
mently opposed to the Orleanist candidate on the
day before comes out as his uncompromising advo-
cate. This change does not arise from choice so
much as from necessity. If Progressists do not have Mont-
pensier, they must almost perforce join the Repub.

licans. Serrano has been in favour of the ex-Queen's
detested relative from the first, and if Prim's party join
him, three-fourths of the Cortes will then be secured. On
the other hand, a large party of Democrats, Republicans,
and ultra-Drogressists hope to defeat this scheme by bring.
ing forward Espartero as dictator.
The correspondent of the Star telegraphs that a clause
in the draft of the new Constitution prohibits slavery in
the Spanish possessions.