The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-18 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 18, 1850.

THE BISHOP OF HEXHAM.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY NEWS.

Sir,—A correspondent of the Examiner, noticing
the appointment of the Roman Catholic Archbishop
of Westminster and Bishop of Southwark, suggests
that the Established Church should appoint Bishops
to the same sees, and regrets that such a step to ex-
tend the efficiency of the Establishment bad not been
sooner taken. This would certainly be one way of
raising the question of the legality of the titles, and
the same act, if additional episcopal supervision is re-
quired in the metropolis, would supply it.
The same might be said of the Bishopric of Hex-
ham, which, after a lapse of a thousand years, has
re-appeared in the person of a Roman Catholic prelate.
With the exception I shall notice afterwards, there
are fewer Bishops in the north of England than there
were in the time of the Heptarchy.
The province of York represents the ancient
Saxon kingdom of North-humbria, and in the
seventh and eighth centuries, besides the Arch-
bishop of York, there were two other bishops there,
namely the Bishops of Hexham and Lindisfarne.
The first see was merged in that of York in the
beginning of the ninth century, and the second was
transferred to Durham at the end of the tenth cen-
tury. In 1113 a bishop's see was erected at Carlisle,
and in 1541 a second see at Chester, but they are so far
out of this district that they do not affect the main ques-
tion. From Darlington to Berwick-on-Tweed,
both in the diocese of Durham, is about 117 miles ; and
the population of Northumberland and Durham in
1841. was 575,000. So little elasticity has the Church
shown, as far as episcopal supervision is concerned,
that the Bishop of Durham has the same, or nearly
the same, territory in the reign of Queen Victoria
that he had in the reign of Edward the Confessor.
The Church seems not to heed that the Roman fort or
the Norman castle has become a populous town, that
the barren moors and desolate glens have been by the
march of science and the increase of wealth converted
into hives of miners, colliers, and craftsmen, that the
rugged coast and sheltered creeks are now alike the
havens which shelter a navy and the warehouses which
store the products of all parts of the world. I recol •
lect, in my younger days, when the arrival of the
Bishop of Durham in Newcastle excited almost as
much sensatio❑ as the late visit of her Majesty.
Bishop Barrington, from age, and Bishop Van Mil-
dert, from ill health, seldom visited the northern half
of their diocese ; and though the present venerable
prelate has made us more familiar with the presence
of our diocesan, there are ample room and ample
funds for the erection of another see out of the still
princely diocese of Durham. Nowhere could it be
seated more appropriately than at Hexham, and the
advisers of the Pope have been quite aware of this
when they have endeavoured to seize for the Romish
bishop the prestige conferred by the learning and
piety of the early Bishops of Hexham, who were
among the first founders of Christianity in Britain.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
HALGUTSTAD.
Newcastle-on-Tyne, Dec. 13.

WRECK of the FRENCH SHIP LA MEUSE
On Wednesday night, the 4th instant, a little be-
fore seven o'clock, the French full-rigged ship La
Meuse, of and for Havre from Calcutta, was wrecked
at Genver, a rocky coast between the Land's-end and
Cape Cornwall.
In March, 1849, she left Havre, under the com-
mand of Captain Hauvet, for San Francisco, with
pazsengers, touching at Lima on their route. Ar-
riving in the Californian region of gold, thoy disem-
barked their passengers, but their merchandise found
a glutted market, whilst there was no freight obtain-
able at any rate. From San Francisco La Meuse
wended her way "a seeking" to Valparaiso, the
Sandwich Islands, Manilla, through the Chinese
Seas, Singapore, and then to Calcutta, where at
length she procured a full cargo of general mer-
chandise, such as sugar, saltpetre, coffee, indigo, lac
dye, shellac, cotton, hides, safflower, &c., for Havre.
Soon after quitting Calcutta, in a severe gale of wind,
the crew were forced to throw overboard a portion of
the cargo to ease the ship. On Tuesday, the 3d
instant, they made Scilly, which they found them-
selves unable to pass to the southward of. On the
following day from a fresh gale it fell to almost a
calm, and being to the northward of the islands, they
nearly drifted foul of the Seven Stones light-ship.
They then, on the breeze springing up, shaped
their course up Channel, but it being the period of
spring tides, the strength and peculiar sets of the cur-
rents were not sufficiently allowed for, and when
the crew thought themselves to the eastward of, and
consequently round, the Longships, the ship was
already to the northward and westward, and from the
thick state of the weather she was actually in the
breakers before the land was seen. About six o'clock
at night she struck a sunken rock off the Land's-
end, and in about another half-hour was fast on the
shore in Genver beach, happily with an ebbing tide.
They showed lights, which are said to have been
seen by some fishermen, but at all events no notice
appears to have been taken of their signals. At ten
o'clock the crew got over the side, and finding that
the hull had been bilged, and was not likely to stand
the violence of the next floud, they got out most of
their own personal effects, and carried them above
highwater-mark, and so they were fully occupied
until about seven o'clock the next morning (Thurs-
day), when some of the neighbouring peasantry in-
formed the crew of the Coast Guard station at Sennen-
cove. Help was then availed of, an express dis-
patched for Mr. Pearce, the French Consul for the
district, and for Captain Davies, the inspecting com-
mander of the Coast Guard. They were both on
the spot as quickly as possible, and the measures
taken, as well in the salvage of the property as
in guarding effectively the coast, have been
admirable. We believe that plunder has been pre-
vented, and a large amount of property salved, and
this is entirely owing to the harmony existing be-
tween the consular and Coast Guard chiefs. We hail
this as a harbinger of a change for the better. We
understand that the captain has been uncommonly
surprised and gratified at seeing himself and property
cared for by the personal superintendence of his
consul and her Majesty's commander of the district.
At one time we counted more than 300 men, and 70
carts, waggons, and horses, occupied in the salvage,
all without the least confusion, all protected by the
Coast Guard from being interfered with. The goods
salved consist of portions of all the articles we have
already enumerated, except sugar and saltpetre. The
officers of her Majesty's Customs, :who were present
on duty, assisted not only in the protection of the
revenue but also in the preservation of order. One
life was unhappily lost, a seaman of Roscoff, called
Charles Abalait, who had been sent home ill from the
hospital by the French consul at Calcutta. He re-
fused to quit the ship with the others on the night of
the wreck, and before daybreak of the following morn-
ing the hull was scattered in fragments on the rocks.
—Cornwall Gazette.