The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-09 00:00:00

VIE LAST OP THE ELECTIONS.

The Scotch universities decline to follow the
example of the Irish university; they object to be
temporary resting-places for Conservative lawyers
on their way to promotion. During the last Parlia-
ment Dublin University changed its representatives
nearly half a dozen times. Glasgow and Aberdeen
had been asked id accept a Conservative Lord
Advocate in esse ; but while he was undergoing his
election he ceased to hold office, and his opponent,
the Liberal Lord-Advocate in posse, was named as
his successor. The result is that, Mr. Moncreiff
has beaten Mr. Gordon, a very able man, by
forty-seven votes, after a very clime run, iu
which both candidates polled over 2,000 votes. It
is a remarkable fact that the Scotch will never elect
a law officer of a Conservative Government. The
outgoing Solicitor-General for Scotland, Mr. Millar,
has never yet entered Parliament ; Mr. Gordon sat for
Thetford ; Lord Justice Clerk Patton sat for a short
time for Bridgwater ; and Lord President Inglis
represented Stamford. With Mr. Moncreiff's election
the new House of Commons is complete. It has
taken exactly three weeks to elect, the first member
having been chosen on November 10, and the last on
December 7.
The defeat of Mr. Gordon adds another to the list
of leading Conservative lawyers who have been un-
horsed in the electoral tournament. The English
kttorney-General and Solicitor-General, the Scotch
Lord-Advocate, Mr. Huddlestone, Mr. Gorst, Mr.
Garth, and Mr. E. K. Karslake are among the slain.
nue() yens KO tho Conservative benches wero

The process of " bottling " has attained to the
dignity of a science during the recent elections. The
evidence taken in the case of the Bolton election
riots revealed the steps adopted by some enthusiastic
politicians to make a convert. A man was drinking
with some Liberals at a hotel, and when lie got into
the street his senses left; him, end after a time he
found himself in a mill. A number of Irishmen
surrounded him, and objecting to his leaving, they
took the precaution of knocking him down upon- some
hay. They then brought soinerum in a gill-pot, held his
hands, and poured it down his tfiroat. lie was not
allowed to leave the building until he had promised
to vote for the Liberal candidate, and two or three
men escorted him to the booth. Other evidence of a
similar kind was given, one witness stating that rum
was poured down his throat to such an extent that
his voice had been injured ever since, while another
said he was knocked down in the street as ho
was on his way home, and carried into the mill.
The much-desired possession of the franchise has in
some cases proved anything but a boon, and the man
who, according to a comic contemporary, had a vote
for the first time during sixty years, and announced
his intention of " keening it.' was wise in his way.
‘4 SOFT REBUKES IN BLESSINGS ENDED."
A Rev. Dr. Moss has been drinking tea at a Con-
servative meeting at Christchurch. He made a
speech, and in the course of it remarked that he had
lately been to town on business, and passing the
Reform Club, saw there an illuminated legend. Ii
was " God save the Queen." He again looked, and
saw another "illumination," "Gladstone and Bright?'
The reverend gentleman was much moved thereat,
and his heart was hot within him." He said to him.:
self, " God save the Queen when she has got into
such company. She requires to be saved, because
am quite sure she is in danger. I want you all to go
home to-night, and pray God save the Queen.' And
I may say God save Bright and Gladstone, because
I believe they are running into much danger. I
have such an affection for them thatlam quite ready to
say, God save John Bright and William Ewart Glad-
stone." Doctor Moss is evidently under theimpression
that these statesmen are going down avery broad road,
and are anxious to take her Majesty for company.
As a loyal subject, his first thought is for the Queen ;
as a Christian, he next prays for these wicked men.
rather than give them a kick to accelerate them. We
can well imagine the scene at the tea-fight : the
women under nervous emotion, generated partly by
a hot room, partly by strong tea, and partly by the
doctor's oratory, shedding sympathetic tears ; the
Conservative working men listening with open mouth
and eyes of horror. To complete the picture, we can
imagine the rev. gentleman taking refuge behind hie
pocket-handkerchief, not to weep, but to repress a
choking tendency to burst out into laughter.
AN ES-MINISTER ON THE NATAL DIFFICULTY.
The Duke of Buckingham appears to have been
supported by his under-secretary in resisting the
consecration of Mr. Macrorie. Mr. Adderley writes
to the Times—on the eve of the S. P. C. K. meeting
—protesting against the proposed grant. The letter
is very strongly worded, and if it had appeared before
the elections, the clergy would scarcely have worked
so hard for the late Government as they did work.
Mr. Adderley says : " It is the special folly of certain
Churchmen to suppose that Convocation, or any body
they may institute among themselves, has any legal
authority or power beyond their own internal
relations. Dr. Colenso is de facto Bishop of Natal.
His letters patent remain uncancelled, and
no valid decision has been judicially given
either against his doctrine or authority. For
the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge to
• grant out funds entrusted io it for that purpose to
enable a rival bishop to exercise episcopal functions
within an unoccupied see is either to ignore and
usurp authority, or to treat Christian knowledge as
synonymous with schism," He adds that under
whatever name Mr. Macrorie may disguise himself,
it is his intention to trespass episcopally on the occu-
pied see of Natal, and that if this is to be done
at all it had better be done openly, for
" the mask will not even hide, still less excuse,
the violence clone to Constitutional authority and
Church principles, nor mitigate the injury caused to
the permanent interests cf the Christian religion. The
condition of the Church in Natal is deplorable, but its
wounds will not be healed by precipitate remedies of
violence to its very life. Rival authorities, Church
committees, and hostile congregations are not the
best-means of arriving at a condemnation • and
extirpation of heresy."

TIIE EPISCOPATE.
The Bishop of Salisbury is seriously out of health,
and has to lie by for a time. Dr. Hamilton is CO
years old, quite a juvenile, in fact, as bishops go.
The two westernmost bishops, Exeter, and Bath and
Wells, are to all intents and purposes non-existent.
The second is 69, the first 91 years of age. The
Bishop of Winchester, who is in his 79th year, has
so far recovered from the dangerous illness which
he suffered a few months ago that it is expected,
he will be able to resume his confirmation tours.
The Bishopric of the Mauritius does not appear to
have been filled up yet, although it was stated that the
Duke of Buckingham would nominate to it before
resigning office. Perhaps the ex-Colonial Secretary
could not find any clergyman willing to undertake-the
supervision of that fever-stricken diocese. The
Bishop of Dunedin, according to the Church _Review,
has actually embarked for his diocese, after
lingering in England for nearly three years. We
shall not believe • that he has gone out to
his see until we hear news of his arrival there.
The Rev. W. K. Macrorie leaves by the Cape mail-
steamer Briton; unconsecrated, however; the Duke of
Buckingham's Fabian -policy having prevailed. Mr.
Macrorie goes to Capetown in expectation of being
consecrated by the bishop of that capital, and is
accompanied by the new Dean of Capetown, Mr.
Alder. Dr. Claughton, Bishop of Colombo, in
Ceylon (brother of the Bishop of Rochester), is on
his way to England, and will shortly be added to the
list of " the colonial episcopate resident here in
England."