The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-14 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIA IA ENT

HOUSE OF LORDS—Tilts EVENING.
The Lonn CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack at
five o'clock.

PETITIONS.
The Marquis of WESTMINSTER presented several peti-
tions against the use of clerical vestments. One from
Boulogue-sur-31er, in France, from English residents;
another from Essex; and a third from St. Saviour's,
Chelsea.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.
The Farquharson (of luvercauld) Estate), and Halifax
and Overden Junction Railway Bills were read a second
time.
THE CLERICAL VESTMENTS (No. 2) BILL.
The Earl of SHAFTESBURY, iu moving the second
reading of this bill, said that the question had
been so long before the public, and had caused -so much
agitation, that it should at once be settled. lie thought it
his duty to adhere to the bill which he had proposed, al-
though he had no objection to a commission being ap-
pointed to investigate the subject. It was necessary
that the matter should be settled at once. He
wished to be embodied in an Act of Parliament
what had been the usages as far as vestments were, con-
cerned from the period of the Reformation. To know what
satisfied our forefathers, our ancestors, and our fathers,
and had also been approved by the gravest prelates and
divines.• Ho had carefully founded the bill tie proposed
upon the 58th Canon, which contained the ancient
practice as to the assumption of robes by the clergy from
the earliest times of the Reformation. He must detain

them for seine little time while lie traced by documentary
evidence what had peen the robes used by the clergy from
that period till the present time. In the time of Elizabeth
it was enacted that the officiating clergyman or curate
should wear a "comely surplice" white, and with a black
hood. In 1569 Archbishop Parker inquired into what
kind of vestments were .used, and ordered that the white
surplice should be worn, according to the Queen's enact-
ment. During many succeeding years of that period the
question was put by the various archbishops and bishops,
when the clergymen went forth apparelled according
to the Queen's command. It was also further enacted that
no garment should be worn except that which distin-
guished the Master of Arts. He would like to call to their
lordships' attention the great amount of injunctions and
commands which were laid upou the clergy against
aoy assumption of ritualistic garments. Bishop Oosens
who held the see of Durham especially laid such injunc-
tions in 1662. The noble earl quoted the names of several
other prelates during that century. He would like now to
direct the attention of the house to a resolution which was
passed in the House of Qonvocation at York, held only in
the March of the present year. It was to the effect
that the innovation was entirely inadmissible, and
that this was the opinion of both houses. The American
bishops in synod at New York had been also of the same
opinion, and the Canadian bishops assembled in convoca-
tion at Montreal. They considered that no alteration
should be made, or any innovations introduced, in opposi-
tion to the practice of the Church of England. There
was upon this question a legal doubt, and it was one
which struck the eye and went deep into the hearts of the
English people, and which ought, therefore, to be
settled. If they objected to the bill he trusted that
they would provide some other. There was an
objection that he (the noble lord) proposed
to proceed by bill instead of by commission, but let the
bill precede the commission. It was not till the bill had
been sometime upon the table of the house that a commis-
sion had been proposed. By commission it would be doing
exactly what the ritualistic party desired; it would pro-
tract the question, and allow it to be still further intruded
upon the minds f the people, and this would enable the
ritualists to make hay while the sun shone. There were
no less than 2,000 churches in England which had lights
upon the altar, which was quite contrary to the rubric of
the Church of England. He thought that he had shown
their lordships that everything demanded that this bill
should be carried out, inasmuch as it would controvert a
great schism which had arisen in the land, and which
tended to subvert the religion of the country. The noble
lord commented upon a book which he said was entitled
"The Church and the World," and this book he stigma-
tised as most disloyal to the Church. He then quoted
several passages from that work. It advocated Ritualism
and the celibacy of the cleigy, and stated that our worship
must be the system of the theatre. Then the simple wor-
ship of our Church was to degenerate into the gorgeous
machinery used in attracting crowded audiences like the
spectacular scenes of a theatre.
!LEFT SPEAKING. 1

HOUSE OF COMMONS—THIS EVENING.
Tho SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock.
NEW WRIT.

On the motion of Colonel TAYLOR, a new writ was
ordered to be issued for the election of a member for the
University of Oxford, in the place of the Right Hon.
Gathorne Hardy, who, since his election, had received the
appointment of one of her Majesty's Principal Secretaries
of State.
TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN.
Mr. FAWCETT gave notice on an early day of mov-
ing a resolution to the effect, that the scholarships in
Trinity College, Dublin, should not be exclusively con-
fined to members of the Established Church.
THE ABYSSINIAN PRISONERS.
Mr. WYLD asked the Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs whether it was true that the King of Abyssinia
had refused to comply with the Queen's request that he
should liberate the captives; whether in consequence the
English engineers who were engaged to enter the King's
service had returned or were about to return to England;
and whether, any and what further steps were being taken
by the Govei nment to obtain the release' of Mr. Rassam,
Consul Cameron, and the other captives.
Lord STANLEY said, in answer to the bon. member,
he could not say that the King of Abyssinia had refused
to liberate the prisoners, because lie had received no an-
swer to the communication that had been made to him.
He knew that the King had received the letter of the
Queen some time ago, yet the prisoners 4ere still detained:
With respect to the return of the engineers, Colonel Mere-
weather had thought that, in consequence of the delay of
the release of the prisoners, it would not be safe for them
to proceed into the interior at present, and the Government
had agreed with that suggestion. One of the chiefs of the
engineers bad been taken ill shortly after his arrival at
Aden, therefore he had been compelled 'to return to Eng-
land under any circumstances. He (Lord Stanley) had
written to the King on the 16th of April, stating that
unless the prisoners were released the presents which had
been prepared and sent out would not be delivered. He
was not in a position then to give any further information.