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Leader (1850-1860), 9th September 1854, Edition Town of 2, Page 849

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      Untitled Article

      THE PROSECUTED ARCHDEACONS . Tke Archbishop of Canterbury has no doubt performed his" distinct duty , in instituting- a prosecution of Archdeacon Denison for the promulgation of erroneous doctrines ; and the similar course taken by the Archbishop of York against ; Archdeacon Wilberforce , for the promulgation of Romish doctrines in a work on the Holy Eucharist , is

      equally to the credit of that prelate- In one case , the result is anticipated by the resignation of Archdeacon Wilberforce ; who assigns as the cause more particularly liis dissent from the thirty-sixth canon of the Church , the one asserting the royal supremacy . It is not for us to anticipate in the other what may be the result of the proceeding . That the two Archdeacons hare asserted doctrines

      wholly inconsistent -with that of the Church of iEngland , as it is generally -understood , is obvious to the . most ordinary conception . That Archdeacon Denison has also asserted doctrines which are , on their premises , perfectly logical ; we admit as ' ¦¦ ¦ distinctly as We are prepared to maintain that his own conduct lias been illogical . He has insisted upon the necessity of reviving Convocation , in order not only to renew a power of legislation in the Church , but also to remove doubts as to

      the interpretation of her standards . The present Convocation , which meets to adjourn , is a mockery ¦ which indeed brings ridicule and . disgrace upon the Establishment . "What should wethink of a temporal Parliament , Lords and Commons , which should meet about the usual time , not to make laws , not to vote supplies , not to exact an account from the responsible Ministers of State , but only to move those adjournments which the skeleton of Parliament performs during the recess . In such case we should declare that such representative Government was worse than

      worthless ; that it was a disgrace to the State which tolerated it , and to the members which consented to take part in the farce . At the last meeting of Convocation , it was resolved that some . portion . . ' of the church ' s offices should be revised ;—a work much wanted ; and if we could allow that there is more than a wretched paltering in these very . small steps towards an obvious want , we should be prepared to claim for Greorge Anthony Denison , and for others his associates in sus picion , the credit of having forced Convocation to that step .

      It is not the less truo that Mr . Denisou ' s interpretation of those doctrines is inconsistent with the view entertained by the two primates at the head of the Church . If so , however consistent tho two ai'chdeacons may be in their own views as to tho duty of a clergy or the meaning of Christian ordination , ¦ w e must admit that they do not proporly belong to the Church of England . They belong , of course , to some other clrarch ; and

      as they have not joined tho Church of Ronao , they must be accounted members of some now Dissenting body hitherto unnamed . But if the Church of England really moans a definitive incorporation , if it has nny standards of faith , it cannot tolerate within its bounds men who deny those standards , or who desert them . The prosecution of two men who aro so distinguished in the ClmroW , but who are suspected of being renegades , was duo , as a , inattor of course , to tho Establishment .

      Wo must always be understood to speak ot the Church of England as a dofinito corporation , which at ono time embraced almost tho entire body ot" the clergy , and of tho P ° pt » e of this country . It ; was , indeed , n £ ? , P which . enabled tho Church to enst OU the authority of ltome , while maintaining tor itself an apostolical accession of its bishops irom tho original founders of Christianity ; « HV tho diflioulty wna overcome , and tho

      Church of England was at one time an establishment comprising the clergy of the town . As soon as the Independents had asserted equality in citizenship , the identity of the Church , of England with the Church of the people of England ceased , and ,, in recent times , the name has ~ be en no more than a title enjoyed through inheritance and privileged possession of property , by one of the many sects into which the nation is divided . In retaining possession of that property , after it ceased

      to be the Church of the people , tlie Church of England , we think , acted in a manner more consistent with the rapacity ordinarily aseribed to ecclesiastical corporations , than with religious virtue or public honesty . The property we still regard as being in truth the property of the English people , set aside for religious purposes ; the parish church ought to be the church which the people of the parish retain for their own use in their religious observances . If the Church property of England were viewed in this liglit by the people , they could Soon recover po ' ssession of it , and the archbishop of one particular sect 1

      would cease'to- have the power of arraigning or excelling clergymen ; for departing from the standards of a sect . But the English people is , of all others , the most * careless about its own property , and it suffers the property of the parish to remain the ¦ . property of one sect in the parish . The officer's and trustees of that sect are unquestionably charged with the duty of preserving its own interests , privileges , and . property j they cannot admit other sects within their pi'ivileged corporation , any more tlian the Lord Mayor of London could allow the aldermen of I ) ublin . and the to wn ^ councillors of York to sit and vote in the Guildhall . The

      Primates , therefore , were only doing their duty when they challenged men entertaining views so heterodox as those of a Wilberfor . ce or a Denison , to explain their position , to prove that they were still inenubers of the Church , to undergo its penalties if they remained in it—their heterodoxy notwithstanding—or to leave it as Baptist Noel has done , and as Archdeacon " Wilberforce has partly done by becoming a lay member , and inducing his Primate to wink at bis evading responsibility by that irregular retreat into laity and silence .

      Untitled Article

      September 9 5 1854 . ] THE LEADER . q

      European Commission De Rege Inquirendo.

      _ It appears to us , however , that an expedient might be adopted for allaying that disappointment , by extending the inquiry , and rendering it yet more instructive . The great English public has been perplexing itself much , of late , with the conduct of Prussiaso weak , so vacillating , so equivocal , so dangerous in its impotency to its allies . Could we know the causes of evil , we should be half way to learning the method of producing good ; could we neutralise Prussia in

      something more than name , we should save much bloodshed , much taxation ; for her pettifogging weakness is sure to prolong the war , and to increase our expenditure under both heads . It would be very desirable if we could send out a Commission de lunatico inquirendo , in order to ascertain how the grand trustee of Prussia deports himself in his office . The Commission would ha ve to travel over an extensive ground ; it would have to examine Frederick "William on the reasons

      which actuated him in fraternising With his beloved Berliners -when they rose against his own authority / , on his purpose in joining with Austria to put down Hesse " Cassel , which it Ivas his business and policy to defend ;¦ and on the notion he had in trying to carry on an alliance with Austria for the purposes of Russia . But Xing Frederick William's motives would not be enough : we

      wantto learn what causes the motives ; and it is possible that the Commission might be compelled to push its investigation into the King ' s wine cellar , into his secret ' correspondence ' ¦ ¦ with . Sti Petersburg ; to inquire into the fact that his branch of the line of Hapsbiirg terminates with himself- —he , that seemed the main line , being genealogically jio better than a " siding" that leads to nothing .

      But an . enquiry into Prussia alone would be invidious . Prussia might justly say , I am not worse than my fellows . " \ Vhy ' investigate Frederick "William , and leave Iferdinand of Naples unexamined ? Why ask what has been done with the beloved Berliners , and leave Neapolitans or Sicilians unprotected from enquiry into the insane misappropriations of their resources , of their geographical position , and their influence f

      Verily as we travel over the tops of states , the summits of their royal mountains tipped by thrones , it seems that we encounter a population differing from those of the healthier plains , as in many high mountain regions we seem to meet a crotin population—weakly , sickly , malignant from birth . Is it so , or is it not ? A great question of our day . We arc far from adopting the idea of some German revolutionists , that there will be no peace on

      earth until thirty tyrants' heads bo cut oft "; although there are good grounds for that interesting problem . But let us first ask , if they are tyrants , or only idiots ? Aro they wicked of malice prepense , or unconscious of crime ? The examples arc in favour of tho latter supposition . There no have touched upon threo thi'ones , and tho lunatic element decidedly preponderates . Are the royal classes efficient ? Arc thoy of a grade of character beneficial to the countries over

      . EUROPEAN COMMISSION BE REGE INQUIRENDO . The poor people of Madrid are disappointed in the hope of bringing Queen Christina to trial ; and the newspaper reader , if it had been an open court , ought to be still more disappointed . Let ua imagine her Majesty , wife of King Ferdinand the Seventh , mother of the Duchess de Moaitpensicr , married to the Duke Rianzares after most of their children - were bom , sister-in-law to Don Carlos , and always daughter of the house of Naples —imagine that Italian cosmopolitan under cross-examination 1 Fancy her naked how sho got her property , whore sho lived , and who visited her ? when her children were born , and hov \ r they wore x'ogistcred ? In abort , compelled to tell , undor an Old Bailey pressure , how sho had got her livelihood ; how she had brought up her family , and why eho stood at tho bar ? It ini ^ lit have been a most instructive inquiry , and if some of tho defensive anattor thrown out had let ; ua into the

      secret of railway speculations , ol ' pnpal bulls , of Xing Ferdinand ' s melancholy and conjugal eccentricities , tho narrative might have told its more than tho natural history of a Neapolitan princess in a Spanish court . Decidedly , the reader who is fond of " causes celehres " haa a right to reproach Espartoro with having stopped tho moat interesting trial of modern U . wa ,

      which they aro placed ? Is their conduct to bo judged by ordinary standards ? Tho trial of Queen Christina has boon stoppod , but why should wo not have this moro extended enquiry ? It would not be impossible , if tho Western Towers know all the ullianooH . tlwifc tlioy might bring to forward their purpose . Wliy nol ;

      have an independent commissioner from each of tho chief Statos ol' Europe , under tho patronngo and direction of tho Wcatern Powers ? —the commission to comprise an Englishman , a Frenchman , ft German , a Spaniard , an Italian , an Hungarian , and a representative of every dictinct nationality . Such a eoin > nisPW . i might l > e ^ M out to . PXftmi uo

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 9, 1854, page 849, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2055/page/9/