The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-02 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

As was.s.nticipated, me the Times, the Judicial Cora- I
mittee of the Privy Council have overruled the decision
of the Dean of Arches, and have pronounced it incumbent
upon him to accept the Letters of Request from the
Bishop of Bath and Wells in the case of the Rev. Mr.
Bennett. That, under the Clergy Discipline Act, the
Bishop had power to send the Letters of Request, and
that the Dean of Arches had power to receive them, was
indisputable ; but the question was whether the Dean had
any option to refuse? There is no doubt that this con-
struction of the statute represents the intention of the
Legislature. It is certainly the most convenient con•
struction for all parties. The Dean of the Arches need
not be alarmed lest extra labour be saddled upon him,
inasmuch as every important case of heresy like that of
Mr. Bennett's which arises in his province must sooner or
later come before him for adjudication, and in minor
matters affecting their diocese it is not likely that bishops
will care to divest themselves of their judicial functicrns.
The 2'imes thinks, moreover, that in the present instance
the Bishop of Bath and Wells shewed a wise discretion in
transferring the case at once to the Dean of Arches.
These causes of heresy, we venture to say, are not proper
matters for the Court of the Ordinary. They do not,
perhaps, involve so much law as theology, but they need,
above all things, to be adjudged by persons accustomed
both to interpret documents and to lay aside personal
opinions when they sit upon the bench. This must be a
very difficult task for a bishop in a matter concerning reli-
gious belief, and it is not likely that his deficiencies will
be fully supplied by his assessors. What in the eyes of
one bishop is saving doctrine, to be clung to arid propa-
gated, is in the eyes of another a pestilential heresy, to be
stamped out before it spread in the diocese. Under such
circumstances, there must be risk lest the decision of the
bishop seem to he rather inspired by predetermined be.
liefs than dictated by purely legal considerations. At all
events, on such a matter an episcopal judgment could not
be conclusive, for what may have begun as a mere village
dispute, stirred by a single parishioner, may end in a legal
settlement of the issue between the great parties of the
Church. The cause, therefore, must be expected to come
up to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, there
to be determined by the first judges and the first ecclesias•
tics of the realm.

The Standard says that the destructive powers of nitro-
glycerine have again been exercised with fatal and tre-
mendous effect. On Wednesday evening two carts laden
with this perilous material exploded while passing along
the road from Carnarvon to Mr. Assheton Smith's
quarries at Llanberia. The consequences are described as
most terrific. The three men in charge of the carts were
blown to atoms, as were also the horses. One of the cart-
wheels was projected on to a ledge of rock fifty yards high,
and the shattered remains of the other wheels were
found mere than a mile from the spot. Car-
narvon was six miles distant, and Bangor perhaps
a little more ; but the concussion was distinctly
felt at both paces. Even the giant Snowdon was made
to tremble, and the mountain lakes quivered with the
vibration. Men three hundred yards distant were struck
down and injured. A small railway station forty yards
off was thrown into a heap of ruins, and a village in the
vicinity suffered considerable damage. It is stated that
five cartloads of nitro-glycerine were brought to Carnarvon
by a ship on Tuesday. The vessel anchored off the bar,
and the cargo was conveyed on shore, in boats. Had the
explosion taken place in the town the sacrifice of life and
property must have been enormous. So far as we can
see at present, the whole consignment might have
exploded in the midst of Carnarvon itself, with
consequences equivalent to a South American earth-
quake. That nitro-glycerine is an extremely useful article
we do not doubt ; but as it is carried about the country it
seems to menace the public with a terrific risk. We are
not always sure where it is stored, neither are we certain
where it may be travelling. An explosion of this stuff
may some day fling the Britannia Bridge into the Menai
Straits, or send the cupola of St. Paul's into Cheapside.
It is known that seventy cases of nitro-glycerine were
shipped at London on one occasion. Had one of these
cases fallen to the ground, the metropolis might have been
shaken to its centre. Again we say—if nitro-glycerine
can be made safe while in transit and in store, it ought to
be. If it cannot be so secured, it is a question whether it
ought to be tolerated. Until this matter is better under-
stood, the more cautious class of tourists will perhaps
think well to avoid the mining districts.
The Viceroy of Egypt has left our shores, observes the
Daily News, and we have good reason to hope and believe
that his brief sojourn in the capital has not been altogether
so disagreeable to him as certain too zealous friends and
admirers have anxiously supposed. No doubt his High-
ness, accustomed as he is to live and move in edifices
more spacious than the largest of our palaces and man-,
siona, to dwell in that comparative seclusion which is
one of the essential conditions of dignity and of
power in the East, and to gaze on boundless distances,
may have suffered a little from the confined interiors,
and the narrow and clouded horizons within which British
civilisation pursues its own eager and fretful existence,
and practices its solemn rites of hospitality. Probably
enough, the Viceroy may have caught a taste of that
pleasure of business and that business of pleasure which
make up the daily routine of the most prosperous societies
of the Western World. But what we should like to
ascertain would be the impressions of his Highness on
XaulH. Edict biriazgivormf suite, of the discussions in
the English papers, and in Parliament, about the proper
manner of receiving and of treating him while on English
ground. Oue can fancy his amusement at the anxiety of
his entertainers, who, while he was actually among them,
were intent upon persuading themselves and the world
that he had been received at Dover by a "fly in wait-
ing," and smuggled into the royal palace by a back door.
Surely such a sensitive national self-consciousness
must have been peculiarly gratifying to his Highness.
Happily, as a man of thoughtful ob3ervation and tilt.
veiled experience, he was in a condi.ion to know that the
good intentions of a great nation 'lad not been so grossly
misrepresented as that credulous creature " public
opinion" would fondly imagine ; and that the honest
desire of the British people to shew every respect to the
ruler of Egypt had not been on the whole inadequately
satisfied by the spontaneous hcspitalities of the British
Court and Government and the recognised leaders of
English society.

The Times remarks that the Revenue Returns for the
quarter and the year exhibit on the whole favourable
features. That buoyancy of the public income which
lasted up to the eve of the fatal Friday in May 1e66 has
not yet returned, but there are signs that the period of
depression is comiug to an end. Great enterprises are
still in abeyance, but confidence is slowly returning. On
every side we see a clearer, if not a cloudless, prospect.
With a strong Government at homewell disposed to i
hus-
band the national resources, and with peace p
peaaee abroad, weave
the best conditions for au extended trde Our position
at the present time is, on the whole, hopeful. Although
vast quantities of artificial capital were destroyed by the
panic, and perished, for all mercantile purposes, as much
as if the gold which they pretended to represent had been
cast into the sea, there is no want of money in the
country. The ordinary savings of the nation during three.
years a e in themselves enough to furnish the material
for a number of legitimate enterprises, and to remove that
weakness and prostration which follow a mercantile
collapse. Our political position is also better.
The Telegraph ren sits that Mr. Gladstone's emphatic
declaration, at the Mansion House dinner, against con-
current endowment, was strenuously echoed by the Duke
of Argyll in the House of Lords on Thursday. In a joint
amendment, the Bishop of Peterborough and the Bishop
of Derry moved that the tax on clerical incomes, which
is now payable to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, should
nut be deducted from the salaries of the clergy, but made
payable to the new Church body, and used for the repair
of the ecclesiastical edifices. A sum which, if capitalised,
would amount to £200,000, would thus fall into
the hands of the disestablished Church and, in
view of that fact, the Duke of Argyll discussed the ques-
tion of concurrent endowment in terms which, when
connected with Mr. Gladstone's speech at the Mansion
House, are seen to be full of political significance. Is
there any indication, asks the Telegraph, that the public
has reversed the judgment which has heen pronounced by_
two Houses of Commons, and the electoral body of the
three kingdoms. upon. the policy of " concurrent endow-
ment ?" We all remember the fate of Lord Mayo's
scheme of " ;evening up." The preamble of the Irish
Church Ein reiterates in unambiguous language the same
principle of disestablishment pure and simple. It declares
that, henceforth there shall be no permanent public
provision fur the maintenance of any clergy or the teaching
bf any religion. Will.the House of Commons recede from
that position? Will it accept amendments which virtually
annul its work? It cannot be disputed that, if two-thirds
or three-fourths of the surplus which the Commons appro-
priated to charitable purposes are retained by the Lords
for the maintenance of the freed Church, the measure will
be so entirely recast and remodelled that the Lords must
he regarded as its principal authors. The Commons are,
in fact, asked to accept that which is a deliberate reversal
of their avowed policy respecting the Irish Church.
The Star thinks it is quite certain we shall soon have an
extensive recoinage, although people are hardly aware of
the evils to be removed. In point of fact, as Mr. Lowe
stated the other day, per cent. of the sovereigns and
47 per cent. of the half-sovereigns in circulation are defi-
cient in weight, and, therefore, not legally current. At
-first sight it seems extraordinary why, if the
.facts ere_s\o,,
the state Of the coins„.;(3 is not an everyday nuisance. 1 e
might expect every third sovereign and every other
half-sovereign we pay awszy !
to be challenge,, and
our tempers to be ruffled by petty and annoying
deductions. But the smallness of the nuisance in
general business is easily explained. It is only
certain trades and districts which suffer, and the
mass of the country escapes. Railway companies and
otheis receiving many coins in small payments, without
similar opportunities of getting rid of them, are the
greatest losers. Directly or indirectly they must forward
them in masses to the Bank of England, where the
slightest deficiency is discovered. Bankers, again, are
frequently victimised, though curious stories are told of
the ingenuity with which they put into circulation coin
which they know to be light. Partly by the course of
business, partly by contrivance, the benighted agricul
tnrist is made to receive the largest part of the had coin.
In the eastern counties the percentage of light sovereign.,
in use is as high as 44 per cent. But the grievance
though partial in its effects, is serious and discreditable.
and one which the Government must be anxious to spare
the country. It will cost 2100,000, Mr. T,owe tells us, tc
;set things strailsilt ; but the amendment will he well watt
the price.