The Sun.
London, England, 1869-10-22 00:00:00

METROPOLI7AN GOSSlP—Thursday.

The first Cabinet Council takes place next Tuesday, but
Mr. Gladstone has not thought it necessary to wait until
then before declaring his intention not to release the
Fenian prisoners. There was no reason why he should
wait. The case was clear enough. It was that of men
who had been taken with arms in their hands, which
they had raised against the Queen, and who were, after
a fair trial, sentenced to imprisonment, instead
of to death, as they would have been a few years
ago. During their imprisonment they have expressed not
the smallest penitence. They have, on the contrary,
gloried in their crime, and would repeat it if they had the
opportunity. They have, moreover, not ceased to vilify
both the Government and the prison authorities. Certain
sym:lathisers of theirs have demanded their release with
menaces, promising no amendment on the part of the
prisoners if they are set free, but vowing all
kinds of vengeance if they are not. In fact,
Tennicl's earthen in this week's Punch. repre-
sents the situation exactly. A Government that
yielded to a request so worded, movie by and in behalf of
such persons, would Lave been criminally pusillanimous.
Mr. Gladstone has therefore given a definite and decided
refusal. The only cause of regret is that he did not send
his answer before the Amnesty agitators had become so
noisy. Some of them, perchance, have blustered only
because, they thought that bluster would be successful.
They would have been silent rather than have incurred the
reproach of failure.
It was generally believed at the last general election that
Mr. Disraeli lost a good many seats because on the very
eve of polling-day he translated Bishop Tait to the
Primacy. I doubt very much if, were a general election to
take place to-day, Mr. Gladstone would be found to lose a
single seat. Dr. Pusey is the only remarkable seceder
from the Gladstonian ranks, and he has been followed by
scarcely a single person of any consequence. His allies
are not the High Church Liberals with whom
he has acted hitherto, but High and Low Church
Conservatives like Archdeacon Denison and Dean
ISPNeile. The first wore excluded from yesterday's meeting
in Cockspur-street. On the other hand, the threatened
alliance between Lord Shaftesbury and Dr. Pusey has not
taken place, for Lord Shaftesbury declines to accede to it.
One would like to know, therefore, who authorised the
advertisement announcing this alliance, and denouncing Mr.
Gladstone and Dr. Temple? The manager of the Times re-
fused to publish the notice, because it was an insult to both
Premier and Prelate, and returned the money which had
been paid for it. But it was not only insulting ; it was un-
true. The meeting was a signal failure ; noisy enough,
vehement enough, as Dr. Pusey's words " horrible
scandal" shew, but quite resultless. The truth
is that the violence of such men as Dr. Pusey
and'Archdeacon Denison produces the very opposite result
to that which they desire. Extravagant charges always
cause a reaction in favour of him against whom they are
directed. There has been no attempt to prove the charge
of heresy against Dr. Temple. Not a single word that he
has said or written can be brought against him.
And the sight of Dr. Pusey and Archdeacon Denison,
themselves actually condemned for heresy, accusing
Dr. Temple of heresy suggests the oft-quoted
epigram about the Gmcchi complaining of sedition.
So far as I can see at present, I do not think that there is
any prospect of the Dean and Chapter refusing to elect
their bishop. Dean Boyd is said to be very fierce upon
the subject, but I have special reasons for knowing that
a large number of the members of the Chapter will
not only not vote against Dr. Temple, but will vote
for him. Among them is one member whose support
will occasion no little surprise, seeing that he was elected
proctor last year in opposition to Mr. Mackarness, and on
the Irish Church question. Canon Cook, the most able
member of the chapter, and himself on the high road to a
bishopric, will also support the bishop designate. I could
name many others.
Something has been said against Mr. Gladstone's selec-
tion of political supporters for the episcopate. As a
matter of fact, there is very little truth in the charge.
Dean Goodwin, who has been selected for Carlisle (rather

than Dr. Miller, who ?vas one of Mr. Gladstone's sup-
porters), was a Conservative, and owed his deanery to
Lord Derby. Lord Arthur Hervey belongs to a Con-
servative family, and his selection for Bath and Wells
is certainly not due to any active part in politics.
Dr. Moberly, though one of Mr. Gladstone's Oxford
committee, was never a political partisan. The Bishop
of Oxford opposed the Irish Church Bill. There remains
only Dr, Temple who has taken anyleading part in politics.
But even if it had been otherwise, who could blame Mr.
Gladstone? At the last election the great political ques-
tion of the day was a religious one, and the clergy, no
shame to them, took sides with more or less vehemence.
Was Mr. Gladstone to pass over those who sided
with him ? Was he to overlook an able man
merely because this able man had given him
material support ? Let the admirers of Dr. Phillpotts,
who owed his elevation to the see which Dr. Temple is
now about to fill, entirely to the political help which he
gave to the Duke of Wellington on the Catholic Emancipa-
tion Bill, reply. It must be remembered, too, that Dr.
Temple has long been marked out for promotion.
While the Prince Consort and Lord Palmerston were
alive, his elevation to the episcopate was urged upon
the second by the first, and was frustrated only by the
interposition of Lord Palmerston's conscience-keeper, Lord
Shaftesbury. It has been urged again more recently by the
Queen, and Mr. Gladstone attempted to meet the royal
wishes by offering the Deanery of Durham to the Master
of Rugby. Dr. Temple felt that he deserved something
more than to be laid upon the shelf, even though his ease
should be combined with any amount of dignity. The
offer of a bishopric then became inevitable, and it
will be carried out in spite of the outcry of those
men who last year were clamouring in behalf of the Queen's
supremacy, but who, now that it is exercised in a way
which they do not approve, and now that one bishopric
out of six is given to a Broad Churchman, are calling upon
the Dean and Chapter of Exeter to defy that supremacy,
Still on this subject, I may mention that Dr. Temple was
originally, I believe, like another Broad Church dignitary
Dean Alford, a disciple of Dr. Newman's. Both recoiled
from the practical logic which their leader displayed in
carrying out his principles, and found it necessary to
throw them over if they would not " go over."
It is not yet known who will be the new Dean of Ely,
but I should not be surprised if the post were conferred
upon Dr. Lightfoot, one of the most accomplished theo-
logians whom Cambridge has produced. The present Dean,
Dr. Goodwin, has written no fewer than twenty-three
volumes of sermons and other works ; but Dr. Lightfoot's
contributions to ecclesiastical literature, if not so
numerous, are more important. The rumoured appoint-
ment of the principal of Clifton College to Rugby, is an
error; no appointment can be made until the trustees of
Laurence Sheriff's will have met and examined the testi-
monials of the various candidates, who, no doubt, will be
numerous. The testimonials are to be sent in by
November 6, and the election takes place at the close of
that month.

The special mission of which I spoke last week is likely
to prove very successful. Already forty four London
churches have agreed to take part in it. Bishops Jackson,
Wilberforce, and Claughton have given it their coun-
tenance. The services will take place from November 14th
to the 25th.

The new Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the
constitution of the law courts and the administration of
the law, may at first sight seem superfluous, seeing
how short a time , it is since Lord Cairns's Com-
mission reported. The truth is that that commission did
only half the necessary work. It inquired neither into
the working of the highest nor that of the lowest court,
neither into the Final Court of Appeal nor the local courts
of bankruptcy and county courts. The object of the present
commission is to embrace the whole of the courts,
with the view of ascertaining if it is advisable to establish
great legal centres in the provinces, at which a cause
may be carried through all its stages (except in the
last resort) without bringing it to London. The
Commissioners will probably take a year or two to com-
plete their inquiry, and thus the much-talked-of law
reform will be postponed for at least that time. No doubt
this will give Mr. Lowe his desired excuse for postponing
the erection of the now Law Courts. He is deter-
mined not to have them in Carey-street ; and they must
be very resolute persons who will be able to make him do
what he does not mean to do.

Among the bills which will be reintroduced next
session, and with every chance of success, is Mr. Lefevre's
Married Women's Property Bill. This measure, for which
women are indebted in a great measure to the wife of Mr.
.Tacob Bright, M.P., was the subject of rather a warm con-
troversy at Bri;tol. The "goodies," .with Miss Carpenter
at their head, refused to let it be discussed at the
Ladies' Conference, altbow,ll it was in the programme, cn
the ground that it was a political question. But the
," Liberals" including Lady Bowring, Lady Amberley,
Mrs. Jacob Bright, and Mrs. Lucas succeeded in bringing it
before the Conference, though Miss Carpenter declared it
dissolved and threw up the presidency in a rot. Mr.
Gladstone, I am sorry to say, is little favourable at
present to the concessions of political sights to women.
Mr. Disraeli, on the other hand, strongly favours the con-
cession, and would, if he conp have had his way, have
embodied the female franchise in his Reform Bill. Ife
and Mr. Mill are in this matter agreed ; for just as Mr.
Mill's high idea of women is due in great measure to the
ability of his own wife, Mr. Disraeli's is due partly to the
Pale happy relationship, and partly to his remembrance

of an only sister, a very clever woman, who died m ny

years ago.
Mr. Childers, as all the world knows, lately gave sail Ts in
the Royal Navy the same liberty which he has assumed
for himself—the right to wear a beard. One would have
thought that the sailors would gladly have availed them-
selves of this permission, considering that shaving in a
rolling ship is not a pleasant operation. Nevertheless
any one who visits our naval ports will be struck by the
fact that there are nearly as many smooth chins now as
there were before the present hirsute First Lord took
office. The explanation of the fact is to be found not
in the admiration of the sailors for the razor, but in
the conservative instincts of certain commanding
officers. Every naval man knows that sailors like
to be selected for the captain's gig, because it gives
them greater opportunities for going on shore. But
it has been found in one port, at all events, that the Esaus
are nearly always passed by and the Jacobs selected. The
consequence is that the new-grown fringe has
been razed off, for though sailors love their beards
much, they love liberty more. The other clay, Mr.
Childers was visiting Dcvonport, and it was with
the greatest difficulty that a crew of bearded men
could be got together to man the First Lord's yacht.
Fiercely blew the wind on Tuesday while we assembled
together at Kensal Green Cemetery to do homage to the
memory of Leigh Hunt. So bitterly cold was the Northern
gale that we took refuge in a mortuary chapel, and there
Lord Houghton delivered an eulogium upon the dead poet-
critic-journalist which was absolutely perfect both
as to eloquence and as to style. We then ad-
journed to the cemetery, and there Lord Hough-
ton uncovered the bust of Hunt, and gave it in
keeping to Hunt's son, Mr. Thornton Hunt, editor of the
Daily Telegraph. The bust is an exquisite work of art by
Mr. Durham, who was presented to the spectators. The
motto, taken from one of Leigh Hunt's own poems, is