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    THE ACTUAL POSITION OF THE CON VOCATION ...

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    HINTS TO NEW M.IVS. MY AN KXl'liRIENCKO ...

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    * Boo leader, Nou, lib, 1JJ0.

• Transcript

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    For Instance, There Are No Less Than Fiv...

    the day , " declines to interfere between workman and employer , " and altogether abdicates the function of an aristocracy . It retains the post without performing the duties . It consents to be the tool of an inferior class , the middle class ; and , without question , when that middle class shall have attained its full power , it will throw away the class above it with as little scruple as it would foreclose a mortgage . In a natural view it is Dot the existence of aristocratic or family

    influence which is the true evil , but the existence of that influence without a corresponding performance of the duties . When our men of family become once more public men more than official men , when they appeal more to national than to class interests , their influence will be not weakened but strengthened—not propped up by external aids and devices , but invigorated with renewed organic life .

    Ar01506

    The Actual Position Of The Con Vocation ...

    THE ACTUAL POSITION OF THE CON VOCATION QUESTION . _JJecent elections have placed the demand for convocation in a decidedly prominent position . However , the agitation may have been regarded as a duty by one party , and as vexation by another , during the past twelvemonth , it is now a " great fact ; " and whatever may be said or believed to the contrary , it has in it a vital force which no amount of opposition can withstand . The success of the High Church party in the elections for representatives of the diocesan clergy lias been both great and unexpected . The

    meetings of constituents have been larger than they have been for many years ; and the duty impressed on the clergy by their leaders has been acted up to with high spirit and determination . In the majority of contested elections they have been successful—so successful , that their opponents have raised the cry that the apparent victory is only a surprise . This may be true ; but it is one of the privileges of activity that it outstrips inertness ; and one of the rewards of alert vitality , that it is sure to succeed against apathetic indifference .

    Since we last wrote on this subject , great progress lias been made in clearing the ground , and defining the actual position of the opponents of convocation . They do not now pooh pooh it , treat it with contempt , or pass it over in silence . It has been discussed in other daily journals besides the Morning Chronicle , and other weekly journals besides the Leader and the Guardian . The Times has ventured upon it , a sure sign of its prominence ; the Spectator and Examiner have dealt with it , certain indications that it is a

    _rising topic . These journals descant on the " difficulties" attending the revival of Convocation , and deal with the question as to its expediency , not as to its justice or necessity . But wdh these wo have nothing to do , further than to mention them as proofs of the growing fortunes of the agitation . We aro concerned with a sign far moro important on » _this topic than a casual leader in a newspaper , —an archidiaconal chargo , delivered hy the Reverend J . Garbett , archdeacon of Chichester , on tho 3 rd and 5 th of August . It is in this masterly survey of tho question that wo find a tolerably accurate definition of its actual position .

    Mr . Archdeacon Garbett contends , that either the internal disruption of tho church of England , or her separation from the State , would inevitably follow the revival of Convocation ; but while he confesses that there are doctrinal controversies of the most vital character raging in the church , KOino of them tending directl y to " papal Romanism , " and while he admits the existence of discord , doubt , and porplexity , without end , ho nevertheless infers that it is far bettor to maintain tho " status _ouo , " and endure " all our evils

    ai jd delects" " with such palliations as practical wisdom can devise . " This places beforo tho idnucli of England fhe fair alternative , either to _"iHist on ho ,. j gi , t , | , Convocation and its _eon"cquonce , honourable defeat or victory in the ordeal of reformation ; or endure the shame ol opposing it for the sako of a hollow peace and a «( 'enun g unity . The reverend gontloman who _J'vclnimod tho other day at ono of the elections , i _£ uiota non movoro , ' uttered , it seems , tho _™ _-hword of his part

    y . lia l _'" ** _lu'al , ! 0 n _i _" . —eun Churchmen lay thoir fin i < m ' < ' il' lu ) llvi ' » l , id say , —we are eonscionit 11 V t _£ XlBliod wiU _* tl" > state of the Church as r JNo , they cannot . Even Mr . Archdeacon

    The Actual Position Of The Con Vocation ...

    Garbett admits that there are evils , anomalies , differences , discords , and " traditional parties among ourselves , " beside the dreaded " leaven of Romanism fermenting among us . " He admits the evil , he denies , and steadily combats the proposed remedy . And wh y P Because , he says , the difficulties are great , the hazards greater , the possibilities , —nay , the probabilities , of ineffable disaster greatest of all . Convocation would break up the church , cut through the bonds which connect her with the state , and involve the clergy in an internecine war with the laity . He foresees , on the granting of Convocation , nothing less than an " ecclesiastical revolution . "

    Yet even Mr . Garbett is prepared , all difficulties overcome , to agree to some kind of convocation which should be pretty tightly tied down by the royal licence to definite objects , and in which doctrinal discussions should be disallowed . But is not this veto which so many , even friends , are anxious to place upon theological discussion , a sign ominous of the internal state of the Church ? What shall we say ? If Convocation be forbidden to discuss doctrinal points , there must be some ground for the prohibition ; the danger of disunion we presume to be that ground . Therefore the opponents of Convocation , and even some

    friends of the movement , thus publicly confess that actual , but unofficially expressed , discord is preferable to a declared severance of opinion . But where is honesty meanwhile ? Is the Church one or many ? If one , whence the fear of discussion P if many , whence the honesty of her claim to be one ? There are false pretences somewhere . She comes before us officially with her full legal titles as One ; for is there not the Act of Uniformity ? She . comes before us unofficially , but with not the less influence and power , as more than one ; as , in fact , Exeter and Gorham , Blomfield and Eddowes Gladstone , to the great scandal of the nation . Is any one prepared to assert that simony does not exist in the Church ? Is any one prepared to assert that known " infidels" do not find lodging in the Church ? Is any one prepared to assert that Nepotism—Moores and Pretymans to wit—does not exist ? Are not the Canons , as Archdeacon Garbett confesses , " a mass of practical absurdities ?" Is tho rubric accepted by all as satisfactory ? Are the thirty-nine articles themselves allowed to pass unquestioned , not by" students anxious to enter the Church , but even by those who have taken hol y orders P Is Church property on anything like a satisfactory footing , either as regards thc clergy or the nation ?

    . These are a few of many interrogatories which require to bo duly answered before tho great auestion of thc necessity for Convocation can be isposed of on the ground that it will break up the Church ,-or separate it from tho State . One word more . Archdeacon Garbett , in defending the supremacy of tho State , gives a fatal Erominence to tho value to tho Church of what o calls hor " territorial recognition . " Hence the question arises , —Can the Church of England stand without the crutches of " territorial

    position , social status , endowment , " supplied by the Stato ? Is "territorial recognition " a " vital" condition of the existence of the Church , and without it would tho " gospel become a mighty abstraction , a theme for eloquence , a philosophic theory ?" If so , let us have tho assertion confirmed bymoro competent authority , if possible , than the word of Archdeacon Garbett . So far gone , indeed , is the good Archdeacon in his love for tho State , that ho regards its protection as " the protection of Almighty God himself . "

    Hints To New M.Ivs. My An Kxl'liriencko ...

    HINTS TO NEW M . IVS . MY AN _KXl'liRIENCKO " _BlltA-NGlOU . " I ' ll . * Gkntlkmkn , —Tf I have induced you to agreo with mo that those men who go to tho House of Commons only with a view to givo gratification to thoir constituents are almost certain to bo dead failures , I may rely upon your approval of the rules I would lay down for Parliamentary success . It is certainly awkward that you cannot afford altogether to forget your constituents , inasmuch as you havo to keep your eye on your re-election ; and , to a certain extent , I am bound to _adviso you to endeavour to please them . The nature of tho compliment muBt be entirely do-

    Hints To New M.Ivs. My An Kxl'liriencko ...

    pendent upon the character of the electoral body of which you are the soul . If you result from a small constituency , you can please them best whether you come from a Lord Londonderry or a St . Albans—by returning or continuing tho bribery they commenced : with'the individual , hy looking after the red ribbons and spare attacheships ; with the hundred or two , by activity after the heads of the excise and customs departments ; and in discharging your obligations in these directions you may console yourself with the

    reflection that while you are convincing those who bought and those who sold you , that you were worth the transaction , you are not necessarily interfering with those pursuits wherein members win the applause of other members . If you are so unhappy as to have been exposed by the votes of a great town to all the anomalies accompanying the presence of a " popular member" in an oligarchical assembly , you willassuredly have a difficult card to play : and it is in particular for such members that these hints are

    intended . There are three courses open to you ; and it may be mentioned that Sir Robert Peel first discovered the great three courses carte of statesmanship when he sat for Oxford , which is even more unmanageable than a Riding . You may take the attitude of Mr . Bright sitting for Manchester , stand up for your dignity as the voice of half a million , sneer at the country gentlemen , patronize the Minister , and get detested , accordingly . Or you may- do as Sir Thomas Birch did , sitting for Liverpool ; never intrude in debate at all , dine with the Whigs , get plenty of

    patronage , and , after seven years , get summarily kicked out . These are the two extreme courses . But there is the compromise of delicate finesse whereby to satisfy Manchester and yet manage the House ; preserving your principles and gaining a hearing , and , so , really pushing your political objects within reach of the leverage of office . Among the great Radical party , it is difficult to mention one man who fully illustrates the wisdom of the latter course : but certainly , Mr . Bernal Osborne , whose Radicalism is as little open to doubt as that of Sir Joshua

    Walmsley , sets a tolerably good example of what a Tribune should be in the Capitol . A Tribune , however , who has been in the Guards , and who got the tone of " society" in other places than the _^ Reform Club smoking-room , docs not come to hand to lead the people , every day ; and admirable as it is to see the light dragoon member for Middlesex prancing into a debate in search of liberal forage , it will occur to Mr . Wm . Williams that much of Mr . Osborne ' s

    success is attributable to his _haA'ing studied the first gentlemen in the world in their ladies' drawing rooms—in a word , to his understanding thc nature of his opponents . Yet as tho _Cobdens seek the House of Commons and tho encounter , they ought to try to comprehend tho enemy , too—by opportunities at Bellamy ' s and in Wcstbourneterraee , if " nous autres" " stem the tide of democracy" with street doors and domestic Lord Charles Russells in Bclgravia .

    What is true of one man among them is true of the whole Radical party—the liberal Irish members included . Miss Martineau , in her history , says that the glory of tho Radicals has been their individuality . But take the fates of tho men and their principles , and this individuality will be found to have been their curse . Tho Radicals have been a number of men—they have never been a Parliamentary party ; and while this has not advanced their cause , it has not even advanced themselves . As it is in our own day , so has it been since 1835—since ? the aristocracy first recovered tho shock of the Reform Bill and

    discovered that thoy were quite safe . We know what the Radical ( in Parliament ) party , sometimes so called , now is , what it can do , and what it has recently done . We know , undoubtedly , that it talks very nearly the thoughts of tho masses ; but we know , assuredly , that its legislative results , direct or indirect , are very limited . Why ? This Radical party—this number of men who would vote votes such as Whigs and Tories

    could not give—has never been Jess than ono hundred strong—or , with the liberal Irish ( na tional ) members , a fourth of the working House of Commons . Its worth and its position aro utterly disproportionate to its capacity for affectting divisions . Tho cause lies in the fact that tho big towns select a superior class of intellectual men for thoir representatives : that ,, consequentl y , thero is no rank and filo—that is , no inevitable

    * Boo Leader, Nou, Lib, 1jj0.

    * Boo leader , Nou , lib , 1 _JJ 0 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 4, 1852, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04091852/page/15/