The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-23 00:00:00

ST . GEORGE'S7IIIT-TILE-BA S2'.

•
There was an impression prevalent throughout
the parish of St. George's-in-the-East, and not con-
fined to that part of the metropolis, that the Rev.
Bryan King, the rector, would yesterday have taken
leave of his parishioners, the assumption being that
it was the last Sunday on which he would appear
among them prior to his temporary retirement from
his cure. The attendance at both the morning and
evening services was therefore more than ordinarily
large, especially in the evening, when at least 1,500
people were present, a great part of them, as usual,
strangers to the district. Mr. King, however, did
not preach on either occasion. He took part in the
morning service, reading the prayers, but was not
present in the evening. The lessons in the morning
were read by the Rev. Martin Amphlett, of Church
Lench, near Evesham; Mr. Dove intoned the Litany
and preached; and the service, according to the
customary jargon, was full choral. It proceeded.
without interruption until Mr. Dove, who is especi-
ally obnoxious to a large number of the parishioners,
began the part, allotted to him, when he was occa-
sionally assailed by sneers from the Low Church
party in the congregation, who expressed their
feelings in a manner still more marked when he
ascended the pulpit. At least a score of them rose
from their seats and left the church, some slamming
the doors after them, and denoting by their manner
a strong sense of contempt. He paused for a few
miautes until this little exodus was over, and then
proceeded with his discourse, which had at least the •
rare merit of brevity, for it lasted barely a quarter of
an hour. The congregation then quietly dispersed.
Throughout the evening service the party spirit on
both sides was more than usually fierce, though it
did not express itself in any act of violence. The
responses were shouted on the one side and chanted
on the other in a manner outraging all sense of de-
corum, the savage and vindictive feeling of the Low
Church partisans in particular displaying itself to
an extraordinary extent. The sermon was preached
by Mr. Amphlett, who had taken part in conducting
the morning service, and, though the manner of the
rev. gentleman was exceedingly calculated to win.
respect, as was the matter of his discourse to arrest
and sustain attention, a number of thoughtless
people in the gallery of a low class gave way more
than once to a ribald laugh, and also sought to
interrupting him by loudly stamping the floor, not-
withstanding that the aim of the sermon was to
guard the audience against deferring repentance to
the closing stage
.of life, which he urged with
affectionate earnestness and solemnity. At both
services Mr. Rosier, the person who played a con-
spicuous part at that of the previous Sunday morn-
ing, and has since figured in the police-court, was
present, hut his 'conduct gave no trouble to the
authorities charged with maintaining order and
decorum, and there were scores of people
who behaved yesterday evening with far greater
indecorum than ever he did. From 12 to 20 of the
divisional police were posted over the church during
the evening service, under the direction of Super-
intendent Howie, and Inspector Allison; and 50
more were held in reserve in case of need, at the
stations in' King David-lane and Arbour-square.
In the novel and difficult duty assigned to them
the police have acted during the last eight or ten
months with moderation and good temper. That
they failed to preserve order within the church
was no fault of theirs; but it can scarcely be
doubted that their presence there tended to restrain
the crowd from acts of open violence, and in this
respect they have done a great public service.