The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-02-08 00:00:00

I UNIVERSITY AND CLERICAL NEWS.
....__.. _ _ _ _

The Bishop of Manchester has cheerfully accepted the
office of vice-patron of the Church-Pastoral-Aid Society.

The Rev. B. H. Grove has been appointed a canon'at
Worcester Cathedral.
The Rev. Samuel Flood Page, late incumbent of Farn-
ham, Suffolk, and chaplain of the jail at Ipswich, has been
presented to the incumbency of St. Paul's, Preston.
The Bishop of Exeter has contributed £l,OOO, and the
funds now reach £4,000, for providing against the spiri-
tual destitution at Davenport.
The witnesses for the prosecution against the Vicar of
Harewood, charged with slandering several of his congre-
gation, are members of Lord Harewood's family, his ser-

vants, and tenants.
The following gentlemen who appear in the list of
Wranglers this year at Cambridge were formerly students
of King's College, London, viz.—Messrs. Barry, Twis-
den, Lyde, Leake, Dunn, Demon, Carr, Hardy, and
Caldecott.
POWER OF THE PRIMATE.—We very much doubt whe-
ther, in a strict point of law, the Archbishop of Canter-
bury has not fuller powers than ever claimed by Thomas
a Beckett. Becket was not independent of appeals to
Rome ; but the present Archbishop of Canterbury is. He
is, in fact, ex officio, in regard to the canon law, a legate ;
a privilege enjoyed in addition only by the Archbishop of
York, and the Archbishop of Rheims, in France.—
Morning Chronicle.
HEAD MASTERSHIP OF BIRMINGHAM SCHOOL.—The
Governors of King Edward the Vl.'s School met on Wed-
nesday to elect a successor to Dr. Lee, now Lord Bishop
of Manchester. There were 17 candidates, but of these
the claims of only three—viz., the Rev. S. J. Rigaud,
M.A. senior assistant-master of Westminster School ;
the Rev. E. H. Gifford, M.A., Second Master of Shrews-
bury School ; and the Rev. G. E. L. Cotton, M.A., one
of the Masters of Rugby School, were submitted to the
ballot. Mr. Gifford was duly elected.
UNIVERSITY HONOURS AT CAMBRIDGE.—Out of the
whole 38 wranglers, Trinity College has as many as 12,
amongst whom Lord A. Compton has earned for himself
a proud position ; and St. John's, the next greatest
college. has no less than ten. Amongst the wranglers we
perceive the names of Mr. A. E. Watson, of Birkenhead,
and of Mr. Chilton and Mr. Ripley of this town. Among
the senior optimes is a son of Mr. T. A. Dale ; and among
the junior optimes is Lord Stanley's eldest son. Mr. T.
Humber and Mr. J. Pearson, of Preston, and Mr. J. W.
Hernaman, son of the proprietor of the Newcastle Journal,
are amongst the wranglers.
THE CONGE D'ELIRE.—The Rev. C. Benson, late
Master of the Temple, and one of the deepest thinkers
of the day, has published a pamphlet on this subject, in
which he says that he considers the election of Bishops
as a matter of form that each canon knows he will have
to go through when he accepts his canonry, and against
which, if he feels it as a burden to his conscience, he
should protest then. He takes his canonry cum onere,
and has no right afterwards to Lomplain. It may be a
disagreeable form, but so are many others which one has
to go through in life. This view is very cleverly put for-
ward, and seems worth attention. As to consecration,
Mr. Benson is less satisfactory. He admits that cannot
be a form, and may often be a mockery ; but he sees no
remedy but, in an extreme case, the Archbishop resigning
his see, for which, he thinks, most Governments " would
afford facilities." Likely enough : but this is hardly a
solution which will meet with general acceptation.
The Lord Chief Justice, in delivering judgment in Dr.
Hampden's case, said,—" By whose authority have these
proceedings been sanctioned in the present instance, and
of whom is complaint made ? In the first place, of a
prelate entitled to the unbounded respect and confidence
of all men—of that of the venerable primate of England,
who has been a bishop during a quarter of a century, and
Archbishop of Canterbury during nearly a similarly long
period, and who must, therefore, in that long career, par-
ticularly as metropolitan, have taken a leading part in the
confirmation of almost all the prelates in his province now
on the episcopal bench, and who, in the most trying times,
has ever displayed the utmost uprightness, prudence,
moderation, and circumspect care, whose mind and under-
standing are not impaired by age but matured by experi-
ence and reflection. The other party of whom complaint
was made was a person whose mind, learning, and judg-
ment are as well established as is his high character in all
other respects."

DR. HAMPDEN'S OBJECTORS.—It WaS argued that
such a case never had occurred, because an appeal to that
court might never before have been necessary. What,
during all the centuries Christianity has existed, not one
person, some of whose opinions may have been alleged
heretical, have been elevated to the bench of bishops ?
Has there been none elevated with " spiritual pride,"
none with " jealousies," none against whom some person
or another might not have alleged some sort of " immo-
ralities ?" And even if this were so, were there no per-
sons during all that period capable of making a false
charge—of drawing a false inference ? Where were the
sons of Belial at that time—a class not extinct in these
days, and who never fail to be forward in cases in which
they take so much delight ? But, suppose opposers ad-
mitted : observe what would happen. " Come forth,"
said the proclamation, "and offer your opposition in the
case of this person to be made a bishop." The answer
is, from one, " I knew this man at college 20 years ago,
and I can tell you of some irregularities in his life."
Another would say, " This person is justly suspected by
one of hftvtingverreermeu tftelgelliVtgarknirObeite of inebriety.'''
A third might charge him with " vanity." Another
might throw a slur on the chastity of his mother, or
attack his conduct respecting his son. All that the
Pharisee blessed himself in being free from, these people
might falsely allege against the bishop, He might know
all the allegations to be false and infamous ; the arch-
bishop might think the accusers utterly unworthy of
belief, or know the charges to be false, but, nevertheless,
the inquiry must proceed, and though they should be dis-
proved, and the confirmation took place, still the fatal
calumny must remain. But how much is the case
strengthened when the charge is the unfathomable charge
of heresy, supported by extracts from books, probably
little understood, and by reported conversations, probably
imaginary, and, if real, difficult to be correctly repeated.
Thus the life of a bishop might be frittered away whilst
proceedings are pending against him, and his see might
be left without any occupant, to the detriment of the
church and of the people.—Lord Denman's Judgment in
Dr. Hampden's Case.
LORD DENMAN'S OPINION OF ARCHBISHOP CRAN-
MER.—In delivering his judgment against the issuing of
the mandamus in Dr. Hampden's case, Lord Denman
thus referred to a reflection cast by one of the counsel on
the memory of Cranmer :—" If I caught the remark, and
I believe I am correct, it was a severe reflection on that
great father of the English Protestant church, Archbishop
Cranmer. I understood it to have been said that the king
knew how obsequious an archbishop he had in Cranmer,
who would readily comply with the king's will. True,
Creamer was not a blameless man ; far from it ; for
shortly before his death he showed a great want of firm-
ness ; but I may be permitted to say not greater than that
exhibited by the apostle whom the head of the church se-
lected from among his brethren as the rock upon which
that church was to be built ; [What a pity that in so no-
ble a defence such a Romish error should be introduced.
Ed. L.S.] and his death at least might have atoned for
this fault, and have saved his memory from such obser-
vations. I must say, I did not expect in this court of law,
and in the presence of so many learned lawyers, and in
the presence of so many of the faithful sons of the Church
of England, to hear the name of Cranmer introduced for
such a purpose, and I think it shows great excitement of
mind existing somewhere on the present occasion, whether
in the clients or in the counsel who made the remark. I
will say that I feel it is doubly the duty of this Court on
such a question as this to take care that it is not led away
by such impressions, or yields too much to the authority
of these eccesiastical powers, which, in my opinion, it has
been the duty of this Court, in all ages, to watch with pe-
culiar jealousy. If Henry relied on Cranmer as upon a
mean and servile churchman, who would truckle to his
caprices, he was wholly mistaken in his man. The arch-
bishop, on more than one occasion, thoroughly thwarted
the monarch on points which the monarch was especially
bent upon carrying. He opposed him in the matter of
Anne Boleyn, and, despite Henry's utmost anger, mani-
fested himself the unswerving friend of the unfortunate
Queen ; and again, on the matter of the Six Articles, both
in and out of parliament, opposed the monarch, though it
was perfectly well known that the latter was determined
upon the extirpation of all views and doctrines contrary
to his own by torture and death.
SCRIPTURE READERS.—In the year 1844 some noble-
men and gentlemen of the highest character, warmly at-
tached to the church, and earnestly desirous of seeing its
mission better fulfilled, formed an association for the pur-

pose of employing laymen of approved character and com-
petent acquirements in this work of household visitation
and teaching. Their efforts were to be confined to the

populous pa-rishes in London and Southwark. All was
to be done in concert with the parochial clergy,—the
reader, in every case, being either nominated or accepted
by the incumbent of the parish or district in which he was
to be employed, placed under his direction, and remove-
able by him at pleasure. To avoid all suspicion of irre-
gularity, and make this new agency more effective, by se-
curing its subordination to the higher officers of the
church, the sanction of the Bishops of London and Win-
chester was asked for and obtained. * * The associa-
tion got to work, and incumbents, who began to make
trial of it, half in doubt and half in fear, soon learnt to
appreciate its value, and give to its founders their warmest
gratitude and thanks. Men were found willing to labour
for God, with hearts quite warm enough, and lips quite
eloquent enough, to set plain, wholesome, saving truth
before those to whom it was new and strange, to declare
in fitting language the saint's hope and the sinner's doom,
and to assure men weary of their bondage that for them -

selves they had tried God's service and found it perfect
freedom. It was discovered. moreover, that beyond all
expectation. they were received with patience or with

kitidness,—thata,' rude greeting at a first encounter, was
followed often by apologies when the visit was repeated,—
that the offer of instruction was taken as an act of Chris-
tian faithfulness on the clergyman's part, and of Christian
charity in his messenger. * * A hundred visits are no
unreasonable allowance for a single week. Five thousand
might be reckoned up between the beginning of the year
and the end of it. Such is the number actually paid by
some of the men we speak of. From month to month
they thread the lanes and alleys in which poverty hides its
sorrows, and where sickness often lingers in its most dan-
gerous forms ; and in such places the promise of rest to
the weary, and the offer of pardon to the contrite, will
come by surprise to many who thought themselves for-
saken of God and man. This experiment was so success-
ful, that on the Ist of July last, all the bishops, with two
exceptions (Carlisle and Exeter). gave their sanction to its
principle, by laying down rules to be observed for the fu-
ture employment of scripture readers. The Bishop of
Exeter refused to concur in the course taken by his
brethren, and published a pamphlet against it.—A Vin-
dication of Scripture Readers..