CLIPPINGS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2416, 19 September 1868, Page 3

CLIPPINGS.

*■ [lrom th Spectntor.) English Bevenue Officers have no ■vote. Mr Monck thinks they should lave. So does the House of Commons, which on Tuesday committed the Bill, in the teeth of both Mr Disraeli and Mr Gladstone, by 79 to 47, The argument is that their votes will be so valuable that the Treasury will not be able to keep its officers in order; but it belongs, we think, rather to the old-world order of things. Individual votes were valuable yesterday, but today, under Mr Disraeli's Eeform Bill, "the individual dwindles, and the crowd is more and more." Mr Coleridge carried his University Tests' Bill through its second reading, by a majority of 58,-198 voting for it, and 140 against it. The adjourned debate was not very interesting; but Mrßentinck made a speech curiously snobbish, and meant to be very contemptuous towards Dissenters, in which he Baid that "Dissenters generally belonged to the lowest class of society," and that" the great bulk of the intelligence and education of the country, as well as a large majority of those who wanted to send their sons to the University, belonged to the Church of England," though even Dissenters would be very glad to send their sons to the University if they could afford to pay for it." For the sake of such persons as these, who, from their poverty, would not be able to avail themselves of the Universities even if they were opened to them, it certainly was not desirable to pass a measure which was part of a " great projected system of disestablishment, disendowment, and confiscation." In short, Mr Bentinck treated the Dissenters with the scorn of purseproud caste, and shewed by doing so how exceedingly little Trinity College Cambridge had been able to do in the way of true culture for him. Convocation has been engaging this week in its usual bigoted and impotent shrieks—chiefly on the old score, the deposition of Dr Colenso. This time the theme was introduced in the form of report from a Committee of the Upper House—dissented from by the Bishop of London—which affirmed that whatever the legal effect of the Capetown trial, substantial justice had been done on the Bishop of Natal. Against this affirmation Dr Tait strongly protested, declaring his belief that the Bishop of Natal was in every intelligible sense as good a bishop as any of their lordships, and asserting, that, in his opinion, many of the doctrinal assumptions made in Dr Gray's judgment, deposing him, were unsound, and would not have stood discussion in a proper Court. The report of the committee was, however, carried, and was ordered to be sent down to the Lower House of Convocation, with the Bishoj) of London's paper of criticisms and protests. The Upper House of Convocation has, however, not limited itself to expressing illiberal views on the Natal question. It has taken up the Irish Church, the Bishop of Lincoln having moved and carried an address to the Queen, "praying that her Majesty would be pleased to take such measures as might be thought advisable to prevent the disestablishment and disendowment of the Established Church in Ireland." The Bishop of Salisbury alone appears to have .expressed any

doubt. He warmly vindicated thecharacter of Mr Gladstone, spoke of his genius and purity of conduct, and expressed nw belief that Mr Gladstone would be "faithful to the end to God's truth," and said that the course taken by Mr Gladstone had raised in his mind grave doubts whether there were not sufficient reasons for the step he was taking. There were times when the Legislature was "bound to take care to meet the feelings of the people,"—a wonderful and most liberal admission for a Bishop, explicable, perhaps, by the fact that his son is just going to contest a borough iu the Liberal interest. The address,—which seems to us not only mischievous iu aim, but dangerous in form, as being addressed not to either House of Parliament, but to the Queen herself,—was agreed to. The same address was taken up in the Lower House on Thursday, when the Deaa of Westminster, with his usual couragei moved a rider to it, expressing the opinion (1) that no anomalies of the existing Irish Church should be redressed—which was, oddly enough, as it seems to us, negatived (for we did not think that even Convocation was in favour of these anomalies); and (2) that the Catholic Church should be eudowed-a proposal on which the discussion was adjourned. Canon Heavyside seconded tile Dean of Westminster's rider, and advocated endowment of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Archdeacon Sandford, while speaking against the Irish Church, protested very warmly against endowing the Koman Catholics; and no doubt the House will endorse his view on this point, as it has rejected his view on the other. But for the Bishop of London, and the Dean of Westminster, and one or two others, Convocation would be little more than a society for defining, from time to time, the exact shade of bigotry most conformable to the feelings of the average English clergyman. Morida has returned two Radical members to the United States' Senate. Iu South Carolina sixteen districts have returned Democrats against fifteen Eepublicans. As the Democrats are now determined to accept a platform which differs only iu its choice of a personnelbom the Eepublican platform it is pretty evident that the South will, on the whole, give a great additional strength to the ideas, if not to the party, hitherto called Eepublican. Mr Ingham, the Magistrate at the Wandsworth Police Court, emulates the wisdom of Solomon, and really not without some pretenceof a Solomonian calibre. Recently George Herbert was summoned before him by one Eunice Coe, for detaining a parrot, her property. The defendant stated that it was his wife' parrot, which she had lost, and which was restored to her on the 16th June. Eunice Coe, on the other hand maintained that it was her parrot, which she had lost on the 16th June. Mr Ingham, emulating Solomon, decided that the parrot should itself testify. He ordered the defendant's wife to take it out of the cage, which she did, amidst much shrieking aud many signs of opposition and dislike from the parrot, who made great attempts to peck Mrs Herbert; but on being placed in Mn Coe's hands, it ceased from struggling and shewed great signs of affection. So Mr Ingham ordered the bird to be •given up by Mrs Herbert to Mrs Coe.

The thanks of both Houses of Parliament were voted to Sir Eobert Napier and the officers and men of the Abyssinian Expedition. The Premier moved the vote in the Commons in a speech which would have been thought eloquent in the Court of Louis Quatorze, in which he spoke of Sir Eobert Napier as having " planted the standard of St. George on the mountains ofßasselas," and,"led the elephants of Asia, bearing the artillery of Europe, over African passes which might have startled the trapper and appalled the hunter of the Alps." Trappers catch beavers, and beavers live in water, and trappers are consequently not good authorities about mountains; but never mind. Mr Disraeli's special point was the diplomatic ability the General had displayed in managing the native Chiefs without giviug inconvenient pledges. His motion was seconded by Mr Gladstone in a speech of rare gracefulness, in which he cordially acknowledged the merit of the Government, and specially of Sir Stafford Northcote, in the management of the Expedition. The speeches in the Lords were not so good, Lord Malmesbury, who led, being strictly official; but the Duke of Cambridge pronounced a hearty eulogium on the Expedition f, Lord Ellenborough carefully acknowledged that his anticipations of disaster had been falsified, declared that the campaign had no parallel in history, and enforced as moral the conclusion that we should respect native Indian soldiers ; while the Earl of Derby, claiming much credit for Government as well as for the Army, told the best Btory which has yet come back from Abyssinia. A soldier had been told that he was inarching upon the tableland ot Abyssinia; whereupon he rejoined, "The table must have been turned upside down, and we're a marching over the legs," Of course, the votes in both Houses were unanimous, as will also, we hope, be the votes for the grant to the General and allowances to the troops, "We are informed, upon seemingly good authority that Sir Stafford Northcote does not go to India, and the Viceroyalty is therefore open to competition. A strange rumour is at the same time afloat among Indians that Lord Stauley is willing to take the office, a rumour we are wholly unabletobelieve. Hewouldbetheabsolute best Viceroy India could get, and India never does get the absolute best Viceroy. Tying Lord Stanley's hands when once possessed of full local knowledge-and he has been in ludia —would be difficult work, so difficult that the country would probably govern itself, for the first time since Lord Dalhousie's retirement. The division of the Lords on the Irish Church Suspensory Bill took place at 3 a.m., and shewed a majority of nearly two to one against it,—con-

tents, 97; non-contents, 192. All the Catholic Peers present voted for the Bill,—Conservatives, as in the case of Lord Denbigh, included,—but Lord Arundell of Wardour stayed away. Twenty-one prelates voted against the Bill, including, of course, the three Archbishops of Canterbury, York, and Armagh, iifteen English Bishops), and three Irish Bishops (Killaloe, Kilmore, and Meath). No Irish Bishop who was entitled to vote was absent; but nine English Bishops were absent, and none of them paired against the Bill. The Bishop of Exeter is too old and infirm to be present, the Bishop of Peterborough is very ill, and the Bishop of Winchester probably, still too weak to attend. There may be others perhaps too old, as the Bishop of Chichester, and possibly of Bath and Wells (Lord Auckland). But the Bishops of St. David's (Dr Thirlwall), of Chester (Dr Jacobsou), of Norwich (Dr Pelhani), were, probably, absent from design. It is a disappointment to us that the first of these did not add to the many great services he has done the Church by voting and speaking in favour of the Bill.