The New York herald., 1874-10-25
The Seymour Case.


The disappointment Gtwould be inaccurate
to call it the defeat) of DR.. Seymour in
that hybrid body known as the "House OF
Clerical and Lay Deputies of the Anglo
American Church is benefit rather than
disaster to the party to which he belongs
His adversaries, who now have great pride so
far as it caters to their society, in the body to
which they belong, will have reason to rue the
day when they did this deed of wrong. We
know nothing of DR.. Seymour personally or
professionally, and do not care brass far
thing-if we may venture on so homely
mode of measurement-about him or MS
opinions But we like fair play. Everybody
who speaks the English language does, and we
do not think he has had it. If, like the
Church of Rome, which in this, as IN every
thing, shows it's high worldly wisdom, the
Anglo Americans kept oil their councils Sc
cret, no one could have complained OF what
has been in this instance done. The House OF
Bishops always sits with closed doors, and
their habitual reserve adds to the dignity OF
their doings. But the Lower House, with its
al, efforts to democratize ITSELF its lay dele
cation IS votes per capita, and by orders, in
v;tes evon =. its exceptional action, criti-
cism from outside Hence, when it goes into
occasional secre. session. ~srticularly when
the object is the scrutiny Of in;slys'-,~ -. o1"'
acter and conduct and opinions, there is .
misgiving as to fair play which it,does not
require mu ch to stimulate. This SOFT OF doubt
is intensified to an almost morbid activity
mately condemned asking to be heard m his
own behalf and that request refused. So
much for the case so far as DR.. Seymour seem IS
to be the victim of this sort of injustice. There
is, however, another personal aspect Of the
matter. of which whispers only have reached
the world without. DR.. Seymour is ''Dean"
of the Theological Seminary, elected to that
post by the constituted authorities Of the
Church. He supplanted in this function the
Rev. DR.. Forbes, and one of the elements of
the opposition to the new Bishop arose from
this very relation. We do not pretend to say
that to this DR.. Forbes lent himself. There
were obvious reasons why he should not, and
we do not believe he did. But anti-ritualistlc
pro- Catholic imputations come with very
bad grace from this quarter. Less than thirty
lively more advanced churchman than poor
Seymour is now said to be. Pusey and Webb
and Newman were his trinity; Manning and
Faber his twin idols, In few years he
drifted by a most natural process into the
Church of Rome, became priest, and, under
Influences we shall not pretend to analyze
drifted out again, and as a reward for the
stability OF his .doctrinal views and professional
practices was Entrusted with the task of
instructing young men in that form Of re-
Igion in which he had been educated,
from which he had apostatized and to which
he had returned. 1t beatethe Prodigal Son all
hollow. Now it seems to us it is hardly fair
that the friends of 80 conceded theological
giroueAe should combine to,punish rival and
successor whose only fault is that his sympa-
thies and affections are directed toward one
of the several points to which the versatile
vein of DR.. Forbes once tended. Yet this
seems to have been to a certain extent the
case.
But again, disguise it as we may, it was a
''party' victory. There was one reason
among many others why confirmation
instead of rejection should have been the re-
sult but this blind party feeling refused to
consider. With one exception the delegates
clerical and lay, from the diocese
where DR.. Seymour was to preside,
supported him. Local sentiment ought to be
respected; but here it was not What cared
"party politicians 1--WE speak in q theologi-
cal sense) like Mr. William Welsh, of Penn
sylvania, who led the opposition and made
the most infammatory speeches against the
initiate Bishop, or Mr. Isaac Harkhurst whose
anti-papistical opinions date as far back as
1854 when he ran as Know Nothing candi-
date for Governor-what care they for the
local sentiment of Illinos2 Mr. Welsh pre-
fers Modoc or Sioux any day to ritualist.
II he were asked to what political party he
belonged he would renounce party sympa-
thies as earnestly as he would affiliation
TO Buddha, or the Scarlet Lady, or any kim
dred form of paganism But, in church mat
ters, if ever there was partisan he is one.
Being then party victory in every sense it is
perfectly obvious it can have no substantial
effect within, as it certainly has not outside
the Church. 1t will stand by itself q fruitless
triumph over an individual The closeaess
Of the vote shows there can be no coercige
legislation in the same direction.
DR.. Seymour is mortified, his friends
and just as many ritualistic
churches will be endowed as ever and just as
many ritualistic ceremonies practised