The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-31 00:00:00

EDUCATION.

The opinions of our public men as regards educa-
tion are rapidly advancing. It took a long time to
teach them that the State had any responsibility in
the matter. But they have been " educated by
events." Only very recently Mr. Baines retracted his
expression as to " parental responsibility," as the
phrase was, and boldly declared that the State was
interested in and should provide for the education of
her children. Mr. Miall, too, is "marching on."
Not very long ago he opposed very strenuously the
suggestion that some of the schools of Con-
gregationalists should receive grants from the
Government. At Bradford the other day, following
Mr. Forster, he said : " I confess that, after the
question had been settled that political power should
reside in the great majority of the people of this
country, my main objection to what is called State
education ceased. I have no objection to the people
organising themselves under the law for the promo-
tion of education. I have no objection, if they should
prefer it, that they should pay for the education of their
children through a rating system rather than by a
system of payment for education ; and under these cir-
cumstances I accept; and I think I am entitled to accept,
what my friend Mr. Forster has said on my behalf,
that if you return me to the House of Commons, so
far from having been disqualified on account of the
opinions I held upon the subject--opinions to which
I attach great importance—from legislating upon the
question now, I am rather better qualified, inasmuch
as I have studied the dangers on the one aide, and
have been compelled by events to recognise the
advantages on the other."

THE PRIMACY.
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remarlts of mat journal as to " tne adrnlnistratrale
incapacity and blind partisanship " of Dr. Sumner,
the predecessor of Dr. Longley in the see of Canter-
bury. He states that the former prelate retained all his
faculties at the age of 82, and attended to the affairs
of his province and diocese without any assistance.
We are reminded that the late archbishop, in
his primary charge, bore testimony to the
literary and administrative abilities of his pre-
decessor in very strong terms of praise. Compa-
risons are odious. Still it is well known that
Archbishop Sumner had not the good fortune of
Archbishop Longley, who seems to have won the
affection and esteem of all. The daily papers have
chosen the first days of the Church's mourning to
bully her. All sorts of mysterious threats, warnings,
and prophecies are freely given, and they speak as if
the very .existence of the Church depended upon Mr.
Disraeli's action in filling up the vacant primacy.

TIIE CHURCH SERViCES.
Lord Ebury agrees with the Rev. Ilemming Parr
that the three offices of the Church should not be
huddled together. Ile cannot find any way of pre-
venting this without the assistance of legislation.
He refers to the commission at present sitting, to
which the consideration of the-disputed rubrics has
been referred, and he would have the terms
of the comm.ssion so enlarged as to allow all the
rubrics to be considered and reported on by it.
Then should follow the necessary legislation. The
unwary might suppose from this that an Act of Par-
liament is really necess:xy to enable clergymen to do
that which hundreds of them now do-separate the
services. Reading Lord letter in the TimeB,
one secs much snore than this. There is a sentence
about " the alteration of a few words in the Prayer-
book,"-and there is nothing his lordship would enjoy
more than tinkering the Liturgy to suit his own
views. He finishes by saying :" I should much have
desired to touch upon one or two other topics closely
allied with this, and of deep interest to the welfare
of our Church; but I have already trespassed at con-
siderable length, and must conclude in hopes,
possibly, of having another opportunity of adverting
to these subjects." Lord Ebuiy, on " things in
general," will be amusing, if not instructive.

RITUALISTS.
The Rev. Arthur Wagner, of Brighton, has at one
time come under notice as a very High Churchman,
but-his latest 2-/Altas been to rebuke his ritualistic
brethren foitliWexcesse.s: 'Tas
sight rather strange. A sermon lately preached at
his church will make it stranger still. In it the -
:preacher said that Protestantism was on its death-
bed, and that people now find out that to be member
of the Catholic Church is a safer thing than to sitin high -
places where Protestantism is. He said : " The ear of
God's mercy is closed to Protestantism. Over the
fall of such a system who can weep ? It is fast
falling, and by (od's favour soon will be at an end."
What the rev. preacher meant is not exactly clear,
especially as the vicar of St. Paul's, the' church in
which he preaches, has lately come. out ast a decided
Protestant, protesting most strongly against the
practices of the clergy at . Si. James's ,and "
Michael's. The Rev. W. Curling, of St. Saviour's,
says that he and his party; are the real original.
Church of England, and that some of his ritualist
neighbours are worthless imitators. He_ writes to
• tell Mr. Spurgeon so, but the latter won't allow it.
Mr. .Spurgeon says that he identifies_the'Ritualista
with. the Church as— much -as the Evan- •
gelieals, but that he looks upon them both -
as Dissenters who have missed their-- way,
and that if the Evangelicals came out, . the whole
„corrupt thing would come to the ground. Mr. Curling
replies that he won't desert his Church and leave het
-in the hands of the Ritualists. Mr. Curling is quite
welcothe to a post in the Church as her defender, but
. it is rather too bad that he should have charge of one
of the largest and most beautiful metropolitan
churches.

THE ricOMES OF - CLERGYMEN: -
The incomes of the clergy and their inequalit3
have repeatedly 'absorbed a great deal of publi4
attention. A correspondent of the Standard-makei
some interesting calculations, which we present t<
our readers on his authority. He was led to do sc
by. a . statement of Mr. Gladstone' that while a
clergyman in the Church of England has £2OO
a year for looking after 600 people, in Ireland ha
has £3OO a year for looking after 350. •lie reduces
by calculations and deductions the £3OO of. the Irish
clergy to £2OO, and says that for that money they
have to care for 350 souls living within an acreage of
12,741. In England, for the same money, there is a
population 'of 600 living within an area of 2,133
acres.

A TESTIMONIAL:
If lekisiators have a passion for writing testimO7-
nials they can freely indulge in it
,without getting
into hot water, like Mr. Mill. There are Professor
Holloway, the chiropodists, the dentists, and the
inventors. of patents ; all these are glad of great
men's recommendations. Better and safer than all
these is the plan of Sir John Pakington. He stays at
St. Leonards ; he goes to the-plu ; and the man who
never in coact die induced*to 'give an answer
-expllfilittilai'Which'.ltr -meaning 'could be
extracted, in a fit of enthusiasm writes the follow-
ing :—" I have seen Miss Lydia Iloward, the Little
Fairy Actress, in some of her principal parts, and I
think it a very extraordinary and delightful per-
formance.—Royal Victoria Hotel, St. Leonards."

4

SIR RICHARD MAYNE.
If the Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan
Police be about to resign his oflice, he is determined
that the last days of his administration shall not be
without glory. Having dealt with the London dogs,
he has now taken children's hoops from them, and
some thousands of these are now deposited at the
police stations. It is expected that the turn of
the perambulators will come next. The energetic
veteran has made a vigorous onslaught upon
the night-houses of the West-end of London,
and now, to relieve the monotony of busi-
ness and the cares of office, he spends his
evenings at places of public entertainment. If he
wish to see things as they are, and not as they are
put before him, he must not announce his visits
beforehand. He went to the Alhambra, in Leicester-
square, the other night, and the management having
received an intimation of his coming, were delighted
to see him, and received him most cordially. He might
with advantage finish up his evenings by a stroll
through certain well-frequented thoroughfares, and
then, perhaps, he would see more than his subordi-
nates care to tell him.