The Sun.
London, England, 1869-10-04 00:00:00

ME? ROPO LI TA_V GOS6lP—Saturday.

The announcement which I made a little v hile ago tl at
the Bishop of Carlisle was dying has been justified by the
event. Though he rallied for a little, he sank at last, and
died yesterday afternoon at the comparatively early age of
52. His episcopal career has been a remarkable proof of
the fact that great intellectual attainments may coexist
with a most narrow mind. He took a double first
at Oxford, and he was the most bigoted and petty-
minded of all the bishops. It is.supposed that he will be suc-
ceeded by Dr. Miller, who, though also a Low Churchman,
is a man of very different calibre from Dr. Waldegrave.
Dr. Miller is, perhaps, one of the best parochial organisers
in the kingdom, and his conduct at Birmingham, when
the Bank failed, and a large number of the working classes
who had invested in it, seemed in danger of
ruin, was most admirable. Of course his claims upon the
Government are very considerable.
Mr. Mackarness, who has been mentioned for Exeter,
was among the clergy present at the reopening of St. Asaph
Cathedral on Thursday. Sir -Stephen Glynne, Mr. Glad-
stone's brother-in-law was among the chief of the laymen,
and of the speakers at the lunch, and I believe that Mr.
Mackarness was his guest. This circumstance gives additional
probability to the elevation of the rector of Honiton to the
episcopate. Should Mr. Gladstone agree to divide the
diocese of Exeter it is scarcely likely that he will on that
account postpone the appointment of a bishop—but such
appointment will be made subject to the division. The
change cannot be made without an Act of Parliament, and
therefore cannot take effect for six months at the earliest.
Still on episcopal matters, I grieve to relate that some
very serious scandals have occurred, reflecting upon two
bishops, not of the English Church, but in communion
with it. The name of one has already been mentioned,
and the charge is only too true. In the other case, the
name has not been mentioned, and I therefore refrain
from giving it publicity. But the offence was of a very
grave character, and was proved in a continental court of
justice, before whom the Bishop was brought. He wa3
sentenced to imprisonment, but afterwards got the convic-
tion quashed on a technicality, and was discharged after
being three weeks in prison. He has now resigned his
charge. Dean Ramsay, author of " Scottish Characteris-
tics," has refused the Bishop-coadjutorship of Edinburgh,
vacant by the resignation of Bishop Morrell.
It is rumoured in political circles that the rain of
baronetcies is not yet over. lam told that a gentleman,
well-known both in the political and in the railway
world of Devonshire is alive to the possibility of his being
" Sir-ed."

The death of Earl St. Maur reminds me of the strange
career of that young nobleman. At one time he was the
adopted Liberal candidate for South Devon. But the
fracas into which he got at Naples, and which led
to his appearance as a defendant in the Court
of Queen's Bench, blighted his political prospects
in that direction. Whereupon Lord Palmerston, who had
bestowed a Garter and a Lord-Lieutenancy upon the Duke
of Somerset, added to the honours showered upon that for-
tunate nobleman by giving him an earldom, in addition to
his dukedom, and by raising his son to the peerage as
Baron Seymour. He was, however, best known as Earl St.
Maur.

There is another Insurance smash. A petition for wind-
ing-up the " Imperial Guardian Assurance Company " has
been presented and will be heard before Vice-Chancellor
James on the first day of petitions. It is quite a new office,
only two years old in fact, and only £2,810 of capital was
paid up.
A new paper, the British and Foreign _Mechanic, made its
appearance to-day. It is very neatly got up, and abounds
with illustrations. The first number of the Academy will
contain Mr. Murray's own account of the burning of the
Byron autobiography, of which Mr. Murray was himself an
eyewitness ; also an authentic document by Lord Byron re-
lating to his separation from Lady Byron Professor
Max ➢hiller, Sir John Lubbock, Professor Huxley, and Mr.
Matthew Arnold will be among the contributors.

THE SOCIAL SCIENCE CONGRESS.
BRISTOL, SATURDAY.

There must have been more Ulan 2,500 genuine working
men in the body of the Colston Hall last night, wHie the
platform was filled with the more prominent members atid
associates of the Congress. The Mayor, whose popularity
appears to be great, did fitting honour to the occasion, by
appearing, not in civic robes, for such do not seem to be
worn in Bristol, but in a court coat and golden chain
of office. His appearance on the platform was greeted
with much apparent satisfaction. It was, however, reserved
to Mr. Morley, one of the city members, to awake the
enthusiasm. Cheer after cheer rang through the hall far
some time after the hon. member had taken his scat.

The presiding genius of the meeting was the Mayor,
and the first speaker was Sir Staffer(' North-
cote. Taking his stand in the semicircular front,
the president of the Congress, in a strong, well-sustained
voice, delivered a speech of much practical value. At the
outset he expressed his opinion of the importance of the
co-operation of the working classes in the work which the
Social Science Congress had in view. He warned his audience
against being, on the one hand, too sanguine of the im-
provements legislation would effect, and of being, on
the other hand, too suspicious of the motives of those
who were working for their advantage. The improvement
of the condition of those whom he addressed must, after
all, depend very much upon themselves. This in reality
was Sir Stafford's text, and he enforced it with arguments
which were at once clearly understood and appreciated.
How much in the way of sanitary arrangement, in
the way of education, and in the way of the
repression of crime might not such an assembly
as he saw before him effect if only earnestly devoting them-
selves to the task. Nor was the observation, said the
speaker, less true in relation to matters of economy and
trade. In the present state of England there was much to
encourage and much to warn. For England to keep
her present high position it was essential to
deal with great caution with the questions of capi-
tal and labour. With some boldness, considering
the character of his audience, Sir Stafford asked them
not to push the spirit of trades unions—which were per-
fectly legitimate within proper limits—too far, a remark
with which the meeting seemed quite ready to agree. The
cheering, as the President sat down, was vociferous.
A letter from Mr. Thomas Hughes, explaining the cause
of his absence from Bristol during the sitting of the Con-
gress, was read by the secretary. In it the prospects of
the working classes generally were spoken of as wearing a
happier complexion than they had done during the twenty
years in which Mr. Hughes had interested himself in
them.

A very happy speech, embracing a review of what the
Jurisprudence Department had done since the Congress
met was next made by Mr. Hastings and supplemented by
a few practical observations chiefly on the importance of
sanitary improvement by Mr. George Godwin, one of the
Vice-Presidents of the Health Department.

Mr. R. Torrens, M.P. for Cambridge, succeeded in calling
forth the sympathies of the audience on behalf of the condi-
tion of the agricultural labourer, to the manifest approval
of Canon Girdlestone, who was seated on the platform.
So great was the extremity to which agricultural labourers
were reduced that the hon. member emphatically declared
he should be glad to see a strike take place amongst them,
though he :did not approve of strikes in the abstract—an
expression of opinion applauded to the echo.

To Mr. Torrens succeeded the Rev. Canon Girdle-
stone, and he had to stand for three or four minutes in
front of the platform before the cheering in the body of
the hall would allow him to get a hearing. As the
Canon at the outset said, the cordial reception given to
him proved that he and those whom he addressed
thoroughly understood each other. The statement that
it was to the Government of which Sir Stafford Northcote
was a member that the working classes wore indebted for
the enjoyment of the franchise, was a sign, however,
that in all matters they did not see eye to eye. The Canon
fell foul of some of the statements made in the opening
address of the President on Wednesday, in reference to the
agricultural labourer. The principle cf the remedial
measures which that address suggested was the not
altogether reverent ditty
" Open your mouth and shut your eyes
And see what God will send.”

The next speaker was a Mr. Bastow, a working man of
the city, who was received with encouraging remarks by
friends below the rostrum, and attentively listened to
during a short address on trades unions, co-operation, and
kindred subjects.
Dr. Lankester, as was naturally to be anticipated,
was strong on the subject of health, very forcibly urging
the importance of the principles of sanitary science being
inculcated in schools, and of the people generally acquir-
ing a proper estimation of the value of pure air and clear
water.
Mr. Morley's appearance in frant cf the platform waE.,
signal for a perfect ovation. Congratulating-hi 111,1:::s
hearers on the fact that the Social ;-_:cience Ci.n.,i•csa knew
nothing of political differences, the hon. member stated
that he was not ono of those who believed that all wisdom
lay within the four corners of an Act of Parliament. It
was indeed a fact that more good had been done in & me
years past for the repeal of old than by Vie rav in; of new
Acts. He would say here as little as possible, the
people being a law unto themselves. Touching
on the subject of the poor law, he did net
hesitate to say that the system failed to a lane
extent to reach the really deserving suffering. As a matter
of history, said Mr. Morley referring to the remark ma+l.o
by Mr. Torrens, strikes had been most disastrous in their
effects. The right of workiden to combine for their own,

pozoatton to, t,-,wever, rainy admitted. Mr. Morley was
loudly cheered as he sat down.
Sir John Bowring having proposed, and the Hon. Beach
Lawrence, at ene time Ambassador from America to this
country, having seconded, a vote of thanks to the llayor,
which his worship duly acknowledged, the large audience
poured out into the wet, and by no means, cleanly streets.

Canon Kingsley, who, it had been announced, would
address the meeting, was •prevented doing so ov.ing to
slight indisposition, much to the regret of the work'ng
men.

The departments to-day were occupied entir,ly with
voluntary papers, and rose early for excursions to Cheddar
and the training-ship at the mouth of the Avon. About
sixty joined in the former excursion, and above a hundred
and fifty in the latter. The weather has been showery.