The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1874-11-14
The British Royal Family and Religion.

One of the interesting phases of the struggle
going on in the English Church between the
High, Low, and Broad parties, is the position o-
cupied by the Royal Family in regard to the
questions at issue. At present the Broad Church
party has the advantage of holding the sympathy
OF the Queen, who is the head of the establish
ment. Victoria leans very strongly, as her hus-
band leaned, toward the utmost broadness, Her
tavorlte dlVInes have been such men as Stanley
and Kingsley, while the late DIR. Norman Mcleod,
a minister of the Scotch Church, was an especial
favorite. She is O source of much anxiety to the
Rituallsts, and seems to have systematically ar
rayed herself in nntagonism to them by her con-
sPlegHns d %F E for I hSiy days ayyfs and g{1s sef PRe kr and
Church party a strong position against the High
C~hurchmen. Positions may be changed, how
ever, In the event of the Queens death. What
the attitude of the Prince of Wales is does not
appear to be known, nor is it evident that he
takes any unusual interest at all in the questions
involved. In the latter case his accession to the
throne will certainly cause q turning of the tables
ecclesiastical, for his wife is a devoted Ritualist
and would undoubtedly work with o will, as
Queens seem generally to work, for the religious
interest to which she is so heartily united. Still,
it is possible that the Prince has decided opinions
of his own, unexpressed at present, but so de-
cided that when the time comes for their express
sion there will be a marked effect. Judging by
the attitude of the family generally on religious
questions, 1T Is reasonably safe to infer that the
Broad party will lose no vantage ground by a
change of rulers. The family is German, and it
seems to lean toward German thought. Princess
Alice, of Hesse, was a patron of the late DIR.
Strauss, whose lectures ON Voltaire were written
at her request, and delivered at her tea parties at
Darmstadt. The Crown Princess of Germany is
also understood to be an adherent of the free
thinking school of theology. If the women of the
family are thus bold and broad in their religious
opinions the men are probably just as much so,
and the Prince of Wales is not so subject to his
wife as to allow her to influence him greatly one
way or the other, unless he regards religion as a
matter to be relegated entirely to the feminine
mind. In that case, as already stated, there will
be an opportunity for the Ritualists when the
comes to the throne. While no public
expression has been made of such hope, it is
more than probable that the High Church party
has a great hope centred in the future Queen.
There is probably just enough of Jesuitry in that
party to have begun already, through Alexandra,
such operations upon the mind of the future King
IS will either array him on that side, or lead him
10 such thought on the matter as will place him
even more decidedly than his mother stands on
he broadcast platform possible. One thing is
certain, namely, that in the coming ecclesiastical
evolution in England the Prince of Wales will
play a highly important part.-BOStOR Journal.