Monmouthshire Merlin

LAWLESSNESS, CABALLING, AND SACERDOTALISM IN THE CHURCH. The Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol commenced his triennial visitation last week at Bristol, and sub- sequently continued it at Cirencester. With his accustomed force and eloquence, the Bishop dwelt upon the leading Church questions of the time. Speak- ing of the evils most prevalent in the Church, he des- cribed them as Lawlessness, Caballing, and Sacer- dotalism. Passing over the tirst-named, .we give the Bishop's remarks (which deserve the mpst serious attention) upon the second and third topics Caballing and party spirit are now threatening the very existence of the Church of England, and must ere long call down upon us some heavy and chastening judgments. It is quite idle and superficial to attempt to get rid of this subject by laying the blame equally on two party societies, and by prescribing that these two societies should do what they certainly will not do -break up and disband themselves. In the fir3t place, the circumstances of the two societies are very different. The Church Association, it must, in simple fairness, be said, was called into ex- istence by the excesses and extravagances of ritual which had been encouraged by an earlier society, not 1 believe, orginally constituted for such an object, but unhappily soon committed to it. If we would be equitable in our judgments, the blame must be laid on the highly provocative and antagonist action on the part of the older society, which led to the formation of the powerful organisation with which it is now held in check and confronted. I have no interest in either of these societies, and 1 wish from the very bottom of my soul that neither of them had ever come into ex- istence but I must pause for a moment to protest against that undiscerning censure that represents both of these societies as equally culpable, and I must also equally protest against that still more undiscerning estimate of the real circumstances of the case which could suppose that if the two societies were disbanded to-morrow our prospects would, to any material ex- tent, be more encouraging. No, my dear friends, it is not these two societies that make up our present danger, but the appalling party spirit which has called them into existence, and is now making men doubt whether they can possibly have a common Saviour. No wonder that inli(lelity exists among us, and that disbelief in everything is becoming day by day more common, when the Holy Ghost is sinned against, as He now is siuned against, by the utterauees on either side, sometimes even from the very pulpit, during the unholy antagonisms of the present time. My very blood runs cold sometimes as I read the denunciations that are forced on one's notice by each hapless creature who thinks it his duty to dip his pen in bitterness, and send its hateful tracings in some leaflet, or pam- phlet, or new paper-letter, which never ought to have seen the light. It was but the other day that a clergy- man sent me a tract in which the frightful term hellish" was applied to a system which, however much we might rightly censure, repudiate, and dis- avow it, has found defenders among men of pure and holy lives, and has even been adopted by members of our own Church—alas in their ignorance and blind- ness—of whose devotion to Christ crucified no man living cm equitably doubt. If I ever tremble for the future of the Church of England, it is when these hateful instances of party spirit come before my thoughts, and when I remember that, week after week, party newspapers—religious newspapers as they are called—open their columns to this demoralising invective, and give publicity to that which is not only seriously endangering the peace of the whole Church, but is shaking all faith in religion itself. Well might a venerated writer, whose opinions ought to have some weight with the party to whom he was addressing himself, say, but recently, that however much might be laid to the charge of editors and editorial comments, "it had fallen far short of the evil arising from cleri- cal correspondents." And this, alas is not the only form in which party spirit is now showing itself. The worst manifestation that party spirit can assume, whether in a nation or a community, is certainly now beginning to be recognised among us—that manifesta- tio'n which, if repulsive and dangerous in a body politic, as all experience has bitterly proved it to be, in a Church is abhorrent to the very idea of a Church, and is of the most sinister and menacing augury. I allude to secret or partially secret societies societies formed for a definite purpose which cannot be safely avowed, and organised with the view of more ener- getically, because more unitedly, propagating their principles and practices. One of these societies has, fortunately for the Church of England, been brought distinctly iuto the light of common day. It has been S, C, I said, 1 know, and 1 grieve to think that such words could have been uttered by one so respected as the honoured presbyter from whom they came, that the recent exposures which have tended to bring one of these societies into notice are due to the instigations of the powers of evil. I know it, and I see in such words only another exemplification of the spirit of party and its power even over noble and holy minds but I cannot thus estimate the mercy of God that has enabled us, ere it be too late, to realise the fact that societies, definitely organised and with carefully gra- duated rules of life, are now existing in the Church of England, and are silently aggregating the young and the enthusiastic, the hopeful, and the aspiring, into their attractive, but really morally dangerous confra- ternities. I had occasion some little time since, in my Pastoral Letter for the year 1875, to call attention to the teaching which there seemed good reason for fearing was given to many who were about to join the more strict of the religious houses, or so-called con- vents, in connection with the Church of England. The teaching, as it was specified to mo, was this—that the XXXIX Articles are to be interpreted by the Articles of 1536 and the teaching and formularies of the Prayer-book are to be read and understood by the light afforded by "the Institution of a Christian Man" of 1537 that the Reformation was accomplished and completed in the reign of Henry VIIL., and not later and that the first Prayer-book is to be accepted as the exponent of the Reformation and of the true teaching of the Anglican Church. This I specified nearly two years since but though I feared much evil was at work, I hardly could have expected that such an organisation as that of the Holy Cross would so soon afterwards have come before the general judgment of the Church, and that principles in strict harmony with what I have mentioned would be found in their practical development in the society to which I have referred. I don't wish to press ungenerously upon a society that has now very few defenders, and certainly very few adherents among the incumbents or licensed curates of this diocese (three or four at the outside), but I do wish solemnly to call attention to this sad and unhappy illustration of the development of party spirit and caballing in the forms of these secret or semi-secret societies. And this, remember, is very far from being a solitary instance. If this society was. especially designed to propagate, sustain, and encourage f the practice of auricular confession, the doctrine of a real Presence, not substtntially different from that set forth by the Church of Rome, is also not without the support of a society which is. widely extending itself among our younger and more energetic clergy. I will say no more. I wish to use no unkind or hard expressions which could wound the feelings of anyone who may hear or hereafter read these words the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, and peace, and I desire not to say anything that could hurt that love or mar that peace, but it is still my duty to point out this really grievous and menacing danger arising from p rty spirit at last becoming crystallised in party societies and organisations. The evil is increasing, sensibly in- creasing and it is an evil which, if left unchecked, will drive peace from our borders and speedily ring the knell of the Established Church. A few closing words may be said on the third and allied danger of Sacer- dotalism. Sacredotalism is but party spirit in another and more strictly professional form. And just as party spirit is increasing, so is Sacerdotalism. It has recently displayed itself in its most repulsive form in the effort to promote and encourage confession. Now, here again I will not permit myself to use any of the harsh and cruel expressions which have been used against earnest and religious, but most utterly mis- taken men. I will not needlessly swell the strong cry of indignant reprobation that has arisen trom every part of this Protestant kingdom but it is my duty to say it—aye here in this venerable house of God—first, that the evil of man's assuming powers that belong only to God, and of claiming to have strictly super- natural gifts denied even in kind or degiee to his fellow-men, is widely spreading; and, secondly, that the system which has ever been found to be in closest union with these claims and assumptions is conse- quently spreading and becoming propagited. The evil, and the only too well-known historical manifes- tation of it, are now present and operative in the Church of England. Nay, more, there are conditions favourable for its development. There is a silent and most unwelcome decline of learning, and especially of general culture, in the rank and tile of the younger clergy. There is also, as many of us must have noticed with some anxiety, a tendency to decline in the social standard. For some reasons-divers, per- haps, and not very easy satisfactorily to explain—the class of young men, mostly from our Universities, that a few years ago entered holy orders now go into other professions. Both these circumstances combine in aufmenting the tendency to clique and to caste, which is °uow only too plainly disclosing itself. Personal vanity, too, is a factor which is now playing a far more important part in the present dangers of the Church than has been at all sufficiently estimated. It is often, especially when combined with obstinacy, the chief moving force in the lawlessness around us. It is the principal constituent in party spirit; and the share it has in fostering and fomenting Sacerdotalism, as all experience reminds us, is simply incalculable. And this personal vanity, let it be remembered, is in- timately connected with social and intellectual stan- dards, and, to speak generally and from merely human estimates, always increases in intensity as courtesy and culture decline. Speakiug, at Cirencester, of Auricular Confession, the Bishop said he believed that the practice, which is steadily gainiug ground, was condemned by the 25th Article but those who practised it were un- willing to submit to any authority. We therefore find ourselves confronted with a system which we are plainly told shall be, if possible, reintroduced into our Church -a system which, independent of all other considerations, is calculated to enhance and consoli- date the power of the priesthood, and by consequence, dangerously to alienate the whole body of the laity of the Church, and, in the sequel, to precipitate the separation of Church and State. On this subject no reader of history, no quiet observer of the deeper feelings and almost instincts of the people of this country, can feel any doubt whatever. Friends are looking forward with anxiety, foes with increasing satisfaction, as both well know that when Confession becomes generally advocated and pressed forward, I and with it the Sacerdotalism of which it is the very life and principle, then the last sands of the Esta- blished Church will be running, and the end very near. His lordship defined Sacramental Confession—a term unknown to our Church—to be, in the opinion of its advocates, the habitual and detailed confession of sins to a priest with a view of receiving priestly absolu- I tion, and of so becoming better prepared for a faithful and true partaking of the Holy Communion, and of attaining a higher standard of true spiritual life. If this be its true definition, it becomes morally compul- sory, for our sanctification is the very will of God and it would be an unworthy evasion to speak of it as not compulsory. But though not yet compulsory, the strongest encouragement was given to it in mis- sions and otherwise. It was pressed upon the young even before confirmation our very children were instructed in some of the unscriptural and disloyal books he had seen it was a wicked evasion, there- fore, to say that confession was not required. His lordship contended that an attentive study of our formularies would show that while the Church allowed her ministers to hear confession, and gave them power to declare absolution to the truly penitent believer, yet she plainly uses such language and adopts such limitations as imply that, as regards the private rela- tions of the priest and those who resort to him, her rule is pastoral counsel and consolation, and that it is only where this is found to be utterly unavailing, or where sickness is casting on the penitent its shadows, that she sanctions confession and the extreme exercise of her committed powers. The Bishop, in conclusion, said :— I am using no party expressions. I am not catch- iug at the mere popular approval that still in every meeting of clergy and laity like the present, follows the expression of these opinions but, as I shall answer to God f,)r these words, I d,} solemnly declare may conviction that there neither is nor can be, consistently with the known laws of poor fallen human nature, any ultimate line of demarcation between the system of confession that is now being adopted in the Church of England and that carefully adjusted and shrewdly regulated system which is maintained by the Church of Rome. To make the differentia between the two systems the principle of non-compulsion is worse than illusory. It is really-I trust in God it is not con- soiously-misleading. To use the moral pressure that now is used, to hold up the nature of the blessings that come from it, to point to the ideal life to which it leads, is to use really a far stronger compulsion than simply to set forth the rule of the Church which knows well, and is known to know well, the long transmitted art of tempering the severity of rules by prudently adjusted dispensations. My brethren, in God's name, let us to bear to see things as they are. I know, nay, I can even hear with at least toleration, all that has of late been passionately urged by those who have had considerable home-missionary experience in favour of an extension of the system of habitual and so-called sacramental confession. I know that it is urged that there are sins of youth, sins that cast their baleful shadows all along the course of a life, that can only be dealt with by the habit of early con- fession. I do not forget that it is said that there is nothing like the shame and sorrow of confession to bring about a real conviction of sin, and to diminish the likelihood of its recurrence. I am aware that it is asserted to give that reality to the spiritual inter- course between the modern pastor and his people which we all feel to be so blessed and yet so rarely expe- rienced. Nay, I will not refuse to believe that the practice of encouraging and hearing confession may exercise a sobering influence on the life of the indivi- dual clergyman, and may give a knowledge—often, however, a very corrosive knowledge—that cannot otherwise be always certainly obtained. All this t know but I also know, independently of all that I have already urged, that on the bare merits of the question, and apart from all ecclesiastical considera- tions, the arguments on the other side are utterly overwhelming. Let all be said that can be said, and this terrible spiritual fact remains, that the danger of the confessor taking the place of Christ is found to be in practice irremovable. The evidence that can be collected on this subject is simply irresistible." The Bishop, continuing his visitation at Chippenham on Tuesday, dealt especially with the history and con- stitution of the Court of final Appeal. He said the serious statement was now freely and openly made that the present Court was so unconstitutional in its nature, and so biassed in its decisions, that on Catholic principles it might be rightly disregarded and dis. obeyed. Such an imputation on the character and justice of the distinguished and honourable men who compose the Court was in itself one of the worst and most significant signs of our own unhappy times. Party spirit had never before so flagrantly imputed motives, implied injustice, or so vilified names that are among the highest in Church and State. His lordship entered into an elaborate constitutional history of the present Court of Appeal, tracing it from Saxon times down to the Act of the Submission of the Clergy, and from this, the basis of the existing Court, to the preseut day through its many changes and then pointed out its claims on the obedieuce of all loyal and obedient Churchmen. They had had but one specimen of its judgment on ecclesiastieal questions yet, but he praised that for its lucidity, force, and transparent impartiality and earnestly urged his hearers not to be led away by the dangerous and really unreasoning clamour of those who, however sincere their inteutions, were fast passing over to the worst and most deter- mined opponents of the National Church.

THE" CONFESSION" MOVEMENT. The Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol is naturally thankful that in his diocese there are very few clergy who are in favour of sacramental confession. This diocese, it would sfeem, is fortunately situated com- pared with others, for, judging from an article in the latest Rock, the number of "advanced" clergymen throughout the country is larger than the few in this diocese would lead us to suppose. It seems that the Council of the Church Association some time ago sent to all incumbents a copy of their memorial to the Queen against the practice of auricular confession. Some of them, falling into unfriendly hands, have elicited replies of a very interesting character, which a correspondent has been allowed to look through, on condition that he does not publish names. He sends the result of his scrutiny to the Rock. Many of these documents are very curious. Some of the recipients have contented themselves with simply erasing their own address and redirecting the memorial, "To that Persecuting Society the Church Association." Othore have been at the pains to collect signatures (of a cer- tain kind). One returned sheet bears the influential signatures of "Beelzebub (chairman of the C A.)," aud "Apoltyon (inspirer of the Bock)." Many good men who disapprove of confession are yet unable to petition against it—some while the Praver-book re- mains unrevised. One complains of the bad taste of asking him (so well known as a "Catholic priest") to sign another wishes confession were more resorted to; "A Manchester Clergyman" cannot sign because he goes to confession himself. Others say they would like to petition to abolish the Church Association, to give more power to Convocation, to shut up the House of Commons "A Suburban Vicar" suggests that the C.A. should confess to the E.C.U., and vice versa a Master of a Grammar Sehool" advises the Council of the C. A. to go to confession. A Bishop thinks auricular" is a. foolish way of designating this so. called Sacrament of Penance. "An Irish priest" (officiating in this country) who once heard of a case of "an Irish serract giving back a silver spoon after she bad been to confession," is greatly in favour of continuing the practice. Being of a sanguine disposi- tion he looks forward to a period "when Ireland shall have an honest government," and meanwhile bids the persecuting illiberal busybodies of the Church Association to mind their own business." "An Old Tractarian" wonders why the C A. does not attack the Low Methodists, as a more intolerable body does not exist. A Deacon and a Priest, who sign with a cross after their names, and the letters S.M.C.D.S.C. and S.T.L.N. after their names, have altered the peti- tion so as to favour confession. The first lot of initials mean Society for the Maintenance of the Catholic Doctrine of Sacramental Confession, but what means the other, S.T.L.N ? -Bristol Times and Mirror,

THE "BARNARDO" ARBITRATION, Doubtless most of our readers are aware that an inquiry which has long been pending into certain charges brought against Dr. Barnardo and his manage- ment of the charitable institutions in London which have been for some years under his care, has been con- cluded. The award of the arbitrators—Canon Miller, Mr Maule, and Mr. Graham-has lately been issued and the following article, from the Bristol Times and Mirror, gives a fair view of the case and its issues :— Dr. Barnardo seems to have begun the public part of his career much as the Rev. George Miiller did like him, too, he is a German by descent. Born in Ireland, Dr. Barnardo came across the Channel to seek his fortune in the land of the Sassenach, and after trying two or three other things, he turned his atten- tiou to philanthropic work, and philanthropy of a particular form, which saw in all the ragged boys and girls of the metropolis objects of pity and relief. He had often been made sad by the sight of the homeless boys of London but it was not until the winter of 1867 that he determined to try and do something for them and in that winter he took one of them into his own home, just as Mr. Miiller took his first orphan into his house in Wilson street. The one boy soon grew into a "Home." After his experiences, his companions were easily induced to enter the doctor's house, and the house speedily became too small for the numbers anxious to give up their vagrant life and try to become, through educational and religious refor- mation, decent members of society. The doctor accoidiugly took a larger house iu Stepney-causeway, and this has since grown into three houses, to which an infirmary has been added while the girls are located at Ilford. All this time, of course, he has been liberally helped by the charitable. His boys and girls now number several hundreds. His subscriptions in 1874 reached £24,000, and his income had been and was steadily growing with the dimensions of the work, which now included mission houses, coffee shops, and such like agencies for good. His success, however, bred jealously. Malevolent rumours began to be circulated. Dr. Barnardo found that he had enemies- numerous and powerful enemies. Sinister whispers grew into confidential talk, and this into public charges, made openly in the columns of the East London papers. At first they were mild—that he was a bogus" Doctor," Dot having even bought a degree, as some of our modern doctors" do and that he issued untruthful photographs of his boy and girl charges with a view to excite the benevolence of the public. At last came the crushing charge of all -that he had expended much of the charity he re- ceived, in the shape of £20,000 or more a year, in his own house, and appropriated part of the money to his own use and benefit. This was met by some remark- ably clever letters, in which Dr. Barnardo was de- scribed in glowing terms as one of the truest philan- tropists that ever blessed the East End and bis enemies were as strongly condemned. The letters were signed "Clerical Junius," and, strange as it may seem, almost the whole of the controversy, and the whole of the arbitration too, have turned upon the identity of "ClericalJunius." Dr. Barnardo's testi- mony varies a good deal on the point. At first he cited a well-known name as that of the writer. But when everyone of that name had denied the author- ship. the Doctor said he knew the writer but was bound by an oath of secrecy not to divulge it. This greatly damaged his reputation and his work. Sub- scriptions fell off, the Charity Organisation Society put the Homes on its black list, and the whole scheme seemed threatened with dissolution. Then the Doctor agreed to put the case in the hands of the arbitrators We have named, as acting between him and his principal accuser, the Rev George Reynolds, and the arbitrators, after four months' hearing, have just made their el award. It is an unsatisfactory award. It does not wholly exonerate Dr. Barnardo, nor does it wholly condemn him. It finds him guilty in some respects, and it acquits him in others. But on the whole he comes out of the ordeal without any great damage. He used his title for years before he owned it and even now he is buta L.R.C.S. of Edinburgh, and only a "doctor" as every surgeon is a doctor. It is proved, too, that he contrived sensational groups by which he appealed, with the photographer's aid, to the benevolently in- clined. And though he is acquitted of being the actual writer of the letters signed Clerical Junius,' he is held as much morally responsible for them as the writer, because he supplied the whole of the materials, revised the epistles, and sent one of to them the news- papers. In these respects Dr. Barnardo is qualifiedly condemned, but in the most important particular- the charge of misappropriation—the verdict is unreservedly in his favour. The accounts have been thoroughly investigated, and there are no traces of improper application while the arbitrators add that the institu- tions are deserving of the support of the public.

RAILWAY PROJECTS. The North Wilts Herald of the 27th October calls attention to a scheme of railway extension which has been for some time before the public, viz., the pro- jected Swindon, Marlborough, and Andover Railway. In an article designed to show how certain existing companies would profit by its formation, our contem- porary says—It is matter of surprise that the Great Western and London and South Western Companies do not for their mutual benefit, as well as for that of the district, assist in the construction of a line such as is required, and for which an Act of Parliament has been obtained two or three years since, to form a junction therewith, viz. from Swindon (Great Wes- tern Railway) to Andover (London and South Western Railway), via Marlborough. Iu addition to the pay- ing qualities of the railway itself, the concomitant ad- vantages to the great companies would be of consider able magnitude. By the construction of the Swindon, Marlborough, and Andover Railway the Great Western would not only derive great benefit from the increased facility which would be afforded for their traffic southwards and westwards and the considerable net earnings that must accrue, but by the direct influence which would operate in the increased prosperity of the Berks and Hants and Marlborough Railways at present worked by them. The London and South Western Railway would benefit in like manner, in respect of traffic facilities northward, and also by rendering of more value to them the Andover and Redbridge Railway. When the Swindon, Marlborough, and Andover Rail- way shall have been constructed, direct access will then be obtained between Southampton, Portsmouth, and the Forest of Dean and South Wales coal fields, as well as the coal fields of the North of England. The advantages which will be thereby gained in com- parison with the existing limited accommodation will be incalculable. To illustrate the present position of railway accom- modation as regards communication between Glouces- ter (via Swindon) to Marlborough, Hungerford, Salis- bury, Devizes, Southampton, and Portsmouth, passen- gers cannot conclude the retm u journey in one day—a distance of about 70 miles. By the completion of the Severn Bridge Railway (now in course of construction) the distance between the Forest of Dean and the South Wales coal fields and the southern ports of England will be further considerably diminished, and we trust opportunities may be afforded which will be beneficial alike to the railway companies, the shareholders, anl the public. The Railway News speaking of the Swindon. Marl- borough, and Andover line, further states In the local districts the facilities which would, therefore, be given to the introduction of new sources of coal supply would be very large. At present supplies are very insufficient, and the existing defective railway accom- modation causing the employment of country carts for long distances, enhances its price and renders its character afterwards oftentimes unavailable for the purposes intended, thus limiting the extent of its em- ployment. The trade in timber is, from the same cause of defective railway accommodation restricted traders with better opportunities for outlet could better compete with other markets, consequently this trade in the districts is also undeveloped. The same may be said of other items of commerce which require only additional accommodation for their extension to benefit the localities and the railways alike.

THE WASTING DISEASES OF CHILDREN MOST SUC- CESSFULLY TREATED WITH DR. DE JONGH'S LIGHT- BROWN COD LIVER OIL.-Dr. G. Saunders, C.B., late Deputy-Inspector-General Army Hospitals, Superinten- dent London Medical Mission, writes:—"I have used Dr. de Jongh's Cod Liver Oil extensively among the sick poor of St. Giles's and consider it a valuable remedy, especially in the Wasting Diseases of Children." Dr. Stavely King, Physician to the Metropolitan Free Hos- pital,writes :—" I can very conscientiously testify to the superior qualities of Dr. de Jongh's Light-Brown Cod Liver Oil. I have employed it with great advantage in cases of mesenteric and pulmonary tubercule, and in the atrophic diseases of children." Dr. R. C. Croft, author of Handbook for the Nursery," writes I have tried Dr. de Jongh's Light-Brown Cod Liver Oil, and find that it contains all the properties which render the Oil so efficacious. I find, moreover, that many patients prefer it to the Pale Oils, and are able to retain it more comfort- ably. It is almost a specific in many of the Diseases peculiar to in ancy and childhood, and I have seen marked benefit produced by its use." Dr. de Joagh's Light-Brown Cod Liver Oil is sold only in capsuled imperial half-pints, 2s 61; pints 4s 9J quarts, 9s with his stamp and signature and the signature of hfs sole consignees on the capsule aud the label under wrapper, by all chemists. Sole Consignees, Ansar, Harford, and Co., 77, Strand, Loadon.

f ACCIDENT ON THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY. On Tuesday an accident, which resulted in a considerable delay of traffic, took place on the Great Northern Railway. The 4.42 train from King's Cross to the north was running rapidly between Peterborough and Corby, when the engine broke down. The line was blocked, and an hour and three quarters elapsed before the train could proceed on its journey. No injury or shock was sustained by the passengers, but the long delay at a small station was most wearisome.

HEAVY FINE ON BETTING MEN. The Wolverhampton police are continuing the betting prosecutions arising out of the late Cesarewitch race. On Tuesdav Thomas Taylor and Edmund Taylor, bookmakers, were charged with using a room in the Packhorse Inn for betting. On the 9th a detective found the smoke room crowded with betting men. The defendants had a list, and were accepting stakes. The apparatus was seized. The defendants were each fined E20 and costs, the Bench observing that they might have been sentenced to six months' imprisonment. Notice of appeal was given. The landlady has already been fined.

I NEWS FROM THE COURT AT BALMORAL. On the 26th Oct. the Queen gave a grand ball at Balmoral to the ladies and gentlemen of the ) Court and the servants and keepers on the estate. The young Princesses from Abergeldie and all the servants of the Prince of Wales were also present, and Sir Thomas and Lady Biddulph were among the guests. The Princess of Wales remained at Abergeldie in attendance on Miss Knollys. Dancing commenced at ten o'clock. Supper was served at eleven, and dancing was resumed and kept up till I an early hour on Saturday morning. Her Majesty joined in one of the dances, and left the ballroom about one o'clock. The Princess Beatrice and the young Princesses joined frequently in the dancing, with the Duke of Richmond as partner. On Sunday forenoon the Queen, Princess Bea- trice, and Lady Churchill attended public worship in Crathie Parish Church. The Rev. Mr. Muir. of Edinburgh, preached. In the afternoon her Majesty and the Princess Beatrice drove to Aber- geldie Castle. The Princess of Wales and the Princesses also drove out. I Miss Knollys has had a relapse of typhoid fever t at Abergeldie Castle, and the journey of the Prin- cess of Wales and the Princesses, which was to have been made on Tuesday was in conse- quence postponed. Miss Knollys was to have travelled south with her Royal Highness. It is understood that in addition to the death in London from typhoid fever of M. Bonnemain, under cook to the Prince of Wales, a valet of his Royal Highness has died of the same disease at Abergeldie since the arrival of their Royal High- nesses on Deeside.

WILL OF SIR TITUS SALT, BART/ The will and codicils of the late Sir Titus Salt, Bart., of Crow Nest, near Halifax, and of Salta re, near Bradford, have been proved in the Wakefield District Registry. The will is dated 18th January, 1871, and there are two codicils, one dated 4th January, 1873, and the other 28th July, 1876. The personal estate is sworn under £ 400,000. An en- dowment of JE30,000 is provided for the benefit of the sick and aged poor of Saltaire and neigh- bourhood, and power is given to the testator's widow, Lady Salt, and his son, Mr. Titus Salt, to settle a scheme for its application. The Alms- houses and the Dispensary at Saltaire, the Mauso- leum, the Saltaire Club and Institute, and the Sunday and Day Schools, are also given to Lady Salt and Mr. Titus. The furniture, plate, pie tures, carriages, etc., at Crow Nest, and an im- mediate legacy of £2000, are given to the testator's widow, also an annuity of JE5000 and a life inter- est in the Crow Nest esttte. Several annuities are also given to relatives of the testator, and legacies to domestic servants, varying accord- ing to duration of service. Legacies of £ 100,000 each are given to the testator's sons, Sir Wil- liam Henry Salt (the present baronet) and Mr. Herbert Salt, and a legacy of £80,001) is settled upon each of the testator's three daughters. A further legacy of £100,000 is bequeathed to trustees to be invested in the purchase of a real estate, which is to be settled so as to form a per- manent provision for the baronetcy. Subject to the payment of the legacies and annuities, the whole of the personal estate is given to the testator's three sons, George, Edward, and Titus, who were engaged with him in the business carried on at Saltaire at the time of his death. The estate at Crow Nest (subject to the life interest of testator's widow) the mills, cottages, and works at Saltaire, and all other real estate, are devised to the testa- tor's four sons and his son-in-law, Mr. Henry Wright, in trust (after making provision for pay- ment of any legacies or annuities which may not be provided for out of the personal estate) for his residuary legatees, Messrs. George, Edward, and Titus Salt, equally as tenants in common. The will contains numerous clauses for facilitating the carrying out of its provisions, and Messrs. George, Edward, and Titus Salt are appointed executors, by whom the will and codicils have been proved.

MR. GLADSTONE AND THE COUNTY FRANCHISE. Mr. Gladstone refuses to admit the existence oi any tenable ground for withholding household suffrage from the counties. Has, or has not, he asks, the extension of the franchise done harm ? The nation has certainly not at least been harmed by any of the precipices into which Conservative orators declared that it would fall if it should stray from the old lines of the Constitution. Although it fell down a precipice in 1832 and down another in 1807, it is none the worse for the tumble. Why, then, should it fear another fall from the height of the existing county franchise? Mr. Gladstone is certain that there is less dangl r of democratic excesses in this country than in most others, because the English love of liberty is not accompanied, as it is in France, by a love of equality. He thinks that the English people have a positive love of inequality, which is expressed by the preference of popular constituencies for a lord, and by the unalloyed homage which great landowners and peers receive from their humbler neighbours. Envy, which has been a great disintegrating force in some countries, has been all but powerless in the political contests of England. On general grounds, therefore Mr. Gladstone has no fear of a more extended suflrage, and he thinks that it would be a positive gain for reasons which, we fear, will repel the harder and less sympathetic intellect of Mr. Lowe. It is not true, we are told, that any particular class is abso- lutely qualified to exercise political power. The work of government is so difficult that the real question is, who are the least disqualified to de- termine its purpose and its scope. All grades of society, the rich as well as the poor, have special disqualifications on account of their prejudices, their selfish interests, and the narrowness of their intellectual horizon. All have also their special advantages, and Mr. Gladstone declines to admit that those of the poor are so inferior to those of the rich as the rich themselves are apt to assume. In other words, he argues Lhat each class is the best judge of its own interests, and that all are together the best custodians of the larger interests of society. After so frankly accepting a main part of the democratic creed, Mr. Gladstone can surprise no one when he argues that, if the work- men of the towns are fit to vote, those of the coun- ties cannot be unfit. He is bold enough, indeed, to insinuate that, on the whole, the agricultural labourers will display more calmness of judgment and act less from mere impulse. But would they not be apt to give their votes to the Conservative I party, and thus to postpone a series of great reforms? Mr. Gladstone intrepidly replies that the liberties of our fellow subjects form a theme of too high a nature^ to be deter- mined by the interests of party. He ill take his chance of the result in the full trust that the extension of political responsibility will, in the long run, far more than make up for any delay in the execution of imperative reforms. We pre- sume, therefore, that he would have extended the franchise even if he had thus postponed the re- peal of the corn laws for a dozen years. We shall not at present stop to discuss that principle, but it obviously cuts very deep, far deeper than Mr. Gladstone permits himself to confess. His article, however, has an interest apart from politics. It is a chapter of autobiography as well as an elabo- rate political argument. -Times.

SHOT DEAD BY A LexATIc.-Margaret Martin, a dairywoman, living at Laugh Gur, County Limerick, was shot dead on Monday night by Thomas Webb, aged 18, who is of unsound mind. Webb has been apprehended. Mr. Anderdon has expressed his intention to bequeath to the nation Hogarth's Sigismunua," which he bought at Boydell's Bale in 1814 for 40J guineas, engraved by Smith in 1792. There is a pketch of this picture engraved by Dunkarton.

i SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. At the request of an esteemed correspondent, we give the following condensed abstract of the recently- issued annual report (the 179th) of this Society. j From this it will be seen that the Society is doing important work in the diffusion of Christian literature and in aiding with its funds the labours of Christian workers at home and abroad The report for this year, besides referring to the number of languages in which the Society has been instrumental in producing the Bible and Prayer-book, or parts of them, says distinctly that it desires Bishops and missionaries abroad to know that they will never, so long as funds are available for the pur- pose, apply to the S.P.C. K. in vain either for grants of money for translators and printing these books abroad, or for the production of them in this country and when the books are produced the Society is always ready to give them away, on the simple under- standing that if an}' profit arises from the sale of them it shall be returned as a donation." Then, again, besides hosts of religious tracts, ele- mentary school-books, children's tale and reward books, which are circulated by millions every year, the Society produces literature of a much higher class', Besides a new commentary on the Holy Scriptures, now in course of production, the report beiore us announces three works by eminent writers on three of the chief non.Christian religions of the world :— Hinduism, by Professor Monier Williams Buddhism, by the well-known Pali scholar, T. W. Rhys Davids, Esq. and Islamism, by J. W. H. Stobart, Esq., Principal of the Martiniere College at Lucknow. We hardly see how the Society could undertake work more in consonance with its title than this, for if Chris- tianity is to be promoted amongst the intelligent non- Christian races of the world, it must be by men who have made themselves acquainted with the religious beliefs of those whom they would teach, not by mere enthusiasts whose zeal leads them to ignore or under. value the position of others. Nor, while catering for missionaries, does the Society neglect to provide literature for thoughtful Christians at home. Plain lectures on the growth of the Papal power by Canon Robertson, of Canterbury works on Christian evidences by such men as the Bishop of Gloucester, Dr. Barry, Dean Howson. Professor Wace, and others works of an historical nature by the Bishop of Truro, Dean Merivale, Dr. Maclear, Pro- fessor Plumptre, &c.,—these, and they are only speci- mens out of a large number, go far to prove that the Society is aiming at promoting Christian knowledge amongst educated and thinking men. Nor is this all under the auspices of its Educa- tional Committee the Society has recently been pro- ducing very valuable manuals on physical science and kindred subjects. These aie written by the ablest men. Many years ago it was the policy of the Society to form distinct associations for distinct branches of church work. Thus it early was instrumental in founding the Society for the Propagation of the Gos- pel in Foreign Parts and subsequently in 1812 it aided in founding the National Society. Since the year 1870, it has supplemented the efforts of the National Society in the work of school building by no less a sum than £ 15,000 it has also made grants for the permanent or temporary enlargement of training colleges, by means of which upwards of 500 additional school masters and mistresses have been trained in the space of four years for public elementary schools it has, in the course of the last three months, set apart £10,000 towards providing a new Training College for schoolmistresses. The sees of Lahore and Rangoon have each been endowed during the last twelve months, and to each of them the Society for Promoting Christian Know- ledge has contributed £ 5,000. The raising up of a native ministry abroad by means of exhibitions to students for holy orders is another work to which the has of late devoted large sums; £ 5,000 have been thus spent since 1873. When grants are made on this scale and for a great variety of objects in every part of the world, the Society had need be rich, as well as venerable. It will probably be a surprise to many of our readers to learn that the Society has virtually no endowments whatever, except its business premises that it is entirely dependent for its support upon the voluntary contributiors of those who sympathise with its work.

SICK AND WOUNDED TURKISH SOLDIERS. (To the Editor of the Monmouthshire Merlin.) SIR, —1 venture to ask you to let me make an appeal through ynur columns on behalf of the Ladies' Com- mittee at Constantinople for the relief of the sick and wounded Turkish soldiers. The Society has done a great deal of work since the commencement of the war, but has been hardly known in England. It is under the management of a committee of women, of which Mrs. Layard is president, and a good many Turkish women are working for it, these the com- mittee report as being some of their best workers. On the 25th and 29th of September last I wrote to the Pall Mall Gazette and to the Times, on the sub- ject, pointing out that it was entirely a woman's so. ciety managed by them, that it had done good work, and therefore should specially recommend itself to all English women. I have had so many hearty responses to my letters from women in all parts of the kingdom, that I feel certain that could I but get the objects and work of the society more generally known, many would come forward to help me, and my purpose in writing to you is to ask you to enable me to make a special ap- peal to your women-readers, and I am sure, after the many letters I have received, that the sympathies of a vast number of my country women are with those gal- lant soldiers, fighting so bravely for their country's existence. I a letter written to me, dated Therapia, September 12th, Mr. Layard writes-" Our Society is the only existing one that is managed entirely by women, and what we want is money to buy materials to make up. They are glad here we should do it, and we help all the different societies. The Red Cross and Red Crescent are constantly in want of bandages, sheets, &c., which they do not possess, and we can supply, from the stock we keep in hand, so we are of use to all parties. Money, therefore, could not be better em- ployed than by sending it out to us, and the wishes and intentions of all those who subscribe will be ful- filled." Mrs. Layard has sent me the pattern. of a shirt and measurements of sheets (these last, three yards long and one-and a-half wide, of coarse un. bleached calico), any number of which are wanted, and to any one who applies I shall be very glad to send a pattern of the former. Also bandages, lint, and pieces of calico and linen will be useful, and the smallest donation I shall gratefully receive. All amounts of money are sent weekly direct to Constan- tinople, and nothing is deducted for expenses. No- thing is spent in management. Ail letters and parcels, carriage paid, addressed to the Hon. Mrs. John Stan- ley, 37, Wimpole street, London, W., will be duly ac- knowledged by Sir. your obedient servant, MARY STANLEY. 37, Wimpole-street, London.

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