The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-16 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, NOV. 16, 1868.

Altogether the news of to-day is sufficiently strik-
ing in many respects to awaken the interest of the
most phlegmatic. The vacant Primacy is filled up by
the translation of the Right Hon. and Right Reverend
ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL TAIT to the Archbishopric
of Canterbury. This is another of Mr. DISRAELI'S
judicious ecclesiastical appointments, Dr. TAIT being
very generally regarded as a " safe man" for
the post, even at this critical juncture in the
history of the English Church Establish-
ment. Another discreet promotion, it is felt by
many, is the simultaneous transference of the
Bishop of OXFORD to the see of London, vacant by
the creation of the new Primate. It is rather re-
markable, as we take it, that among the many eccle-
siastical appointments of the highest importance
which have devolved upon Mr. DISRAELI since he
assumed the responsibilities of the First Lord of the
Treasury, there is not one but has been received
throughout the country with a sense of satisfaction.
This would have been sufficiently noticable even under
the most ordinary circumstances, but at a critical
period such as the present it is matter almost of asto
nishment. And it is not by any means through the
selection by the Premier of mere respectable mediocrity
that he has contrived to evade the risk of causing dis-
pleasure among the conflicting parties in and around
the national Church Establishment. Respectable
mediocrity would be simply an absurd phrase, for
example, to apply in the present instance either to Dr.
WILBERFORCE as the new Bishop of London or to
Dr. 1 arr as the new Archbishop of Canterbury.
The former is the most brilliant and gifted prelate
on the Bench of the Lords Spiritual. While, as to
the new Primate, it is altogether beyond dispute, we
presume, that during the period of his governance
of the See of London he has shown himself in
that highest position of all under the two Eng-
lish Archbishoprics, to be incomparably the ablest
organizer and administrator among the whole epis-
copal body. Beyond which incontestable fact—a
fact which will be emblazoned, in the history of the
see he is now leaving, in connection with the Fund
with which his name will long be inextricably asso-
ciated—it is considered by a very considerable majo-
rity that he is, perhaps, as likely a man as any that
could have been selected by the Premier, to hold the
balance equably between the three great opposing
parties in the English Church—the Broad Church
standing intermediately—the High Church, soaring
towards Ritualism—the Low Church, embracing
the whole body of the Evangelicals. The position
is so far difficult that few would probably feel dis-
posed to congratulate his Grace, the New Primate,
upon his lofty elevation, more particularly remem-
bering the delicate state of his health, often hitherto
a source of great anxiety to his friends, and fre-
quently before now necessitating his withdrawal
for an interval from the comparatively easy duties
devolving upon him as Bishop of LONDON—compara-
tively easy, we mean, as contrasted with those in-
cumbent upon any one holding the highest rank of I
all in the English Church, namely, the Primacy,
weighted as the later is with so many and such
supreme responsibilities. Immediately before the new
Primate there is looming up, of course, that momen-
tous question as to the case of Mr. BENNETT before
which the memorable case of Mr. GORHAM sinks into
absolute insignificance. Upon the decision arrived
at as the result of the BENNETT inquiry, far more
vital consequences hinge than any that ctn possibly
accrue from either the disestablishment or the disen-
dowment of the Irish Church. Every one is con-
scious of that, no matter what may be his religious
opinions—whether High Church, Low Church, or
Broad Church —whether Protestant, Catholic, or Dis-
senter. Upon the issue of that inquiry will turn the
future of Dr. PusEY and all his enormous
following. For this the new Primate must
be prepared as a crisis inevitably before
him, and one that must follow very soon
indeed, after his installation in the archiepisco-
pal chair in Canterbury Cathedral.
Simultaneously with the announcement of the
nomination of the new Archbishop comes the corn-
mencement, on this very day, in the vast majority of
the boroughs of the United Kingdom, of the various
candidates seeking admission to the House of Com-
mons through a General Election necessitated by the
great question now before the country in
regard to the maintenance or destruction of
the Irish Church Establishment. Several years
have now elapsed since the Prince CONSORT'S
declaration to the effect that Constitutional
Government was then (according to the opinion of
his Royal Highness, and of hardly another man be-
sides his Royal Highness throughout the whole
British Empire) upon its trial. Somewhat the
same remark might with very considerably more
reason be now made, not in regard to Constitu-
tional Government, but in regard to Protestantism
as represented by the Church Establishment upon
either side of St. George's Channel. In Ireland the
position of that establishment is assailed from with-
out. In England it is assailed, rather it might be
said, from within. In either case it arises now as a
very striking coincidence that the same day with esses
the commencement of the General Election, and the
announcement of the new Archbishop of Canterbury.
The struggle is coming—later on—here in the House
of Commons, here before Convention : here in the
question as to the Irish Church, here in the inquiry
now impending in regard to Mr. BENNETT. Parlia-
ment has other work before it as well, and so has the
newly nominated Primate of all England: but for
all that the alternative of the maintenance or of the
disintegration of the English Church as an Establish-
ment, is coming very imminently and urgently, in-
deed, before both for their immediate consideration.

AT length, within two days of the nomination,
Lord STANLEY has announced his opinions on all the
great political questions of the day. It would be
ungracious to say that having put off this announce-
ment so long he might as well have put it off a little
longer. There is at least nothing ungracious, but it
is rather complimentary, if we express our regret that
he did not speak before. lle is one of the triumvi-
rate—a member of the Cabinet within the Cabinet.
Of the two other members, one is forbidden by the
etiquette of the constituency which he represents to
make an election tour; and as for Mr. DISRAELI, he has
nothing to say but praise of Lord STANLEY. Under
these circumstances, a speech such as that which the
FOREIGN SECRETARY has just delivered would have
been a windfall indeed to Conservative candidates up
and down the country. They have been at their
wits' end for subjects to talk about. Fearing
to pronounce upon any questions opinions
which a month hence they may have to
swallow, they have been reduced to a pitiable state
of generalising and vagueness. They have been for
" wise and well-considered" reforms in every depart-
ment, from the government of a hundred and fifty
millions of fellow-subjects in India to the regulation
of parochial politics ; but they have never, with all
their wisdom, been able to devise any of the measures
which they are so anxious to support. We
need hardly add that Lord STANLEY is in most
matters a good deal more precise than the rank and
file of the Conservatives; for he is in most matters a
thorough Liberal, rutting aside his remarks
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