BISHOP SELWYN IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXIV, Issue 2896, 30 September 1869, Page 4

BISHOP SELWYN IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

The following sketch, of which, the Bishop of Lichfield is the central figure, appeared in the " Illustrated London News" under the title of " Scene in the small hours." : — " We will give one curious scene in the Upper House, and then leave it. Afc about one o'clock on Friday morning week wo strolled once more to the bar of the House of Lords. The house was nearly empty. The glittering belt of ladies which so lately flashed along each side like a brilliantly gilded and colored moulding had vanished. All the Bishops clad in white had departed save one ; only a few peers — perhaps a dozen — remained on the floor, and Earl Nelson was on his legs, addressing in his feeble style these tired and jaded remnants of the crowd which had so lately packed the house. A few minutes after we entered the Earl dropped into his seat ; whereupon the one Prelate, Selwyn, Bishop of Lichfield — a fine, tall, handsome man, clothed in his episcopal robes, and looking every inch a Bishop — moved the adjournment of the debate, and the grave Lord Chancellor rose and put the question ' that this house do now adjourn.' But why does it not adjourn at once P and why do those peers cluster round the Bishop, and what is G-ranville saying to him so earnestly P and is there not a slight expression of anger on the Bishop's handsome face P They seem to be pressing upon him to do something, which he resolutely refuses to do. For a time, thiß scene puzzled us. The explanation, however, was soon divined. The Bishop had, by moving the adjournment that he might, resume the debate, infringed an arrangement which had been made that Earl Granville should, as proxy for Earl JLußsell, who had gone home to bed, move the ad-

journtnenfc; and the noble Earl and others were now pressing the Bishop to withdraw his motion. It was a curious group, that cluster of Peers with the tall Bishop in the midst, evidently refusing to give way. Why should he give way P Wits lie not also a peer ? Moreover, he had stopped thus late, long after his Episcopal brethren had all departed, on purpose to more the adjournment. He declined, as we could see— though we could not hear — to give way. Meanwhile the poor Lord Chancellor, who had been on the woolsack eight mortal hours, and must have been almost jaded to death, one would think, sat erect, calm, and imperturbable as our well known friend, Patience on a monument. But see, the stately Bishop slightly bends his head. He has given way, theu. Yes, he lias given way. ' I move that the debate be adjourned,' said Lord Granville; 'That the debate be now adjourned,' says the Lord Chancellor; and then exeunt omnes. In two minutes the gas was turned off, and the brilliant scene, like an uusubstantiol pageant, vanished. This Bishop/ Selwyn, readers, is a remarkable man. He is brother of Lord Justice Selwyn, and for twenty-five years * was Bishop of New Zealand, where he did some remarkable things. It was to him that Sydney Smith, when these two were dining together, just before the Bishop went to bis diocese, said ' Bishop, you must eat a good dinner, for when you get to New Zealand there will be nothing but cold man for you.' "