The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1913-05-03
THE SPOILs SYSTEM
All Archbishops and Bishops Appoint,
ed Directly BY the Prime
Minister.

The spoils system in the United
States has it's drawbacks, but the
United States is not the only nation
in which the spoils system and its
evils are to be felt a striking ex-
ample of how the spoils system may
even be used in appointing the heads
of the Anglican church is cited by Z.
p. O'Connor in special correspondence
written for the Chicago Tribune. The
English prime minister who is elected
by political party, has in his hands
the appointment of all the archbishops
and bishops of the Church Of Eng
land. T. P. O'Connor says:
But outside these great departments
of state service, and in one Of them
to greater extent than have vet
j mentioned, the spoils system ,,still
largely prevails. 1t is, Of courses un-
necessary TO say that no man is ap-
pointed TO any position in the minis
try, great or small, who is not Il men,
Der of the party in power. To vari.
GUS members of the ministry, there
still remains a large amount of valu-
able patronage. The prime minister
for instance, appoints all the arch
bishops and bishops of the ANGLICAN
church. Mr.. Asquith had an oppor-
/; tunity when the archbishop of York.
the second greatest Office in the es-
tablished church, of giving place to an
old Balliol man, for Mr.. Asquith is a
Balliol man himself and Balliol is the
crack college of the University of OK
ford. The archbishop he appointed
was comparatively young man for
such a high place, we'll under fifty
when he reached the high position,
and was not a liberal, or if so, was
one Of a very moderate type. But AS,
auith knew the genius of the man and
he thought there was nobody like a
Balliol man and SO the old Balliol man
became archbishop.
This power to appoint bishops in
the hands of the prime minister has
had very curious results. IT is one of
the many paradoXes Of a state church,
Disraeli, for instance, was a Jew by
race and though he was baptized when
he was IL Years of age and norin-
ally was all his life after member
of the established church, he in his
heart remained attached to his old
faith: there was even a whisper that
he was attended on his deathbed bv
rabbi, though I doubt the truth of
the story. But whether a good Jew
or g. Christian Disraeli appointed the
archbishops and bishops of the Aneli-
can church.
Lord Pallnerston was good old
pagan, fond of horse racing, fond of
the prize fight and gay cavalier in
his day. with many conquests attrib-
uted to him: when he had to choose
a bishop, he always threw the Job on
his ',rother-in-law, Lord SALISBURY,
Il very great devotee of the low church
school of Anglicanism, and thus for
years nobody but low churchman
got to the episcopal bench
Gladstone was, on the other hand. a
devoted churchman and always wor-
ried good deal over the bishops he
appointed. On the other hand, Mr.,
Balfour and Campbell Bannerman
were Scotch Presbyterians, but, new
ertheless, they also appointed their
share of Anglican bishops. And, at
the same time, If any politician had
dared to try and appoint even VIII
lage pastor in their own communion.
they and the congregation would have
risen in revolt. Asquith began life as
an ardent ncnconformist. Like many
Englishmen he took refuge in the An
glican church later in lifc-largely be-