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this year, the second appears to have been at the bottom of the ocean itself, which defies the ingenuity of man to counter

act.

SPAIN AND THE SLAVE-TRADE.

;

SPAIN has all but dropped out of the list of civilised nations no one notes account of her friendship or hostility; and therefore one notices only with a smile the impotent ravings of a portion of her press, that in revenge for the strong denunciation by our statesmen of her complicity in the slave trade, she threatens to organize a new invasion of England and sweep us from our place in the world. It is evident her public instructors have never heard of the Spanish Armada. Even in Spain, however, there are changes-we can hardly say amendments-in her political affairs. The late transition ministry has been dismissed, and a ministry nominally Liberal, or, as it is there called, " Progressista," has been called to office, with General O'Donnell at its head. We can place no confidence in the high-sounding name thus given to the new government. General O'Donnell has been false to all parties in turn. He is a man without conscience and without shame; and the only encouraging token in the matter is, that as he takes for the moment the name of Liberal, it must be that he sees and he is shrewd enough to see-the Liberals are so strong that their support is worth his while to make an effort to obtain.

SPIRITUAL DESTITUTION: REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF

THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

THE Report of the Select Committee of the House of Lords appointed to inquire into " the deficiency of means of spiritual instruction and places of divine worship in the metropolis and in other populous districts of England and Wales, especially in the mining and manufacturing districts; and to consider the fullest means of meeting the difficulties of the case," has been issued. It contains between 600 and 700 pages, and embodies copious minutes of the evidence presented. We shall best convey an accurate impression of this important blue-book, by giving a few extracts from it. After showing the existence of great spiritual destitution, the committee say:

"To supply this want throughout the land demands a very large amount of funds, for, as the lowest stipend of a clergyman ought not to be less than £100, the permanent supply of an endowment for every additional clergyman would cost £3,000; and as by a very

low estimate a thousand additional clergymen are required, not less than £3,000,000 would satisfy the demand. And such an endowment as the minimum ought to be, in every parish, independent of all voluntary collections, for such collections cannot fail to have a prejudicial effect on the energies of the most zealous and able minister."

The question arises as to how the three millions of money are to be raised. On this point the committee say that they are not prepared, " for obvious reasons," to recommend any application for a grant of public money, but they deem it their duty to recall the attention of Parliament to the recommendation of the Commissioners for the subdivision of parishes in 1851, that a fund be raised by the sale of benefices in the gift of the Lord Chancellor. Having mentioned the fact that at the present about £82,000 a-year is devoted by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to meeting the spiritual destitution of the country, the Committee conclude their report thus :

"Without voluntary aid, to the full extent of the sum mentioned above, the object of meeting the necessities of the country cannot be attained. Such voluntary aid the committee do not despair of seeing obtained, if the matter be fairly and plainly represented to the people. Large as the sum is, it is really small when compared with the riches of this great empire. More than double the sum is already voluntarily paid every year for even the tax on the one article of tobacco. A far greater amount is the tax on the annual consumption of spirituous liquors. Again, if we look at the amount upon which income tax is levied, we find an annual income of £230,000,000, it will appear that a sum equal to 3d. in the pound of the rated income of the country in a single year would suffice. We cannot, indeed, hope that all, or even a large proportion of those who pay the taxes first mentioned, will voluntarily tax themselves for the building or endowing of churches. But, in a country so rich, there must be far more than enough of persons who would contribute what is necessary, if their liberality and their Christian principles be properly appealed to. This, however, is a matter on which it is not for us to report any special recommendation; it is sufficient that we have indicated our deep sense of the necessity of such a voluntary effort. In order to afford additional facilities for providing churches, the committee recommend that a tenant for life should be enabled to grant a limited amount of land for churches and parsonage houses, a privilege which has already been given for sites of schools by the 4th and 5th Vict., cap. 38. In conclusion, in order to give effect to the feelings and convictions of every Churchman in favour of the permanent endowment of churches, we cannot forbear recommending that the Mortmain Acts be so far relaxed as to admit bequests of impropriate tithe rent charges, or of for

money

FACTS AND PROGRESS.

223 the purchase of the same, for the endowment of any benefice with the cure of souls, to an amount not exceeding £300 per annum. This might usefully be combined with some well-considered provision, enabling parties to acquire rights of patronage in benefices below a prescribed value, having a population of a prescribed amount in the gift of public officers, or of bodies corporate or sole. To some extent, this is already effected by the 19th and 20th Vict., cap. 104; but the extension of the principle is worthy of consideration."

CONFESSION CASE OF THE REV. ALFRED POOLE.

THE feeling is all but universal that, in the withdrawal of the license of the Rev. Alfred Poole, as one of the curates of St. Barnabas, the Bishop of London has adopted the only course which was open to him as a Protestant prelate; and this impression receives the highest authoritative sanction by the Archbishop's confirmation of the sentence. It is to be observed that, in all the letters which this controversy has provoked, in all that Mr. Poole has written for himself, and in all that Mr. Liddell and his other friends have written for him, there is no plain, manly, straightforward denial of this one fact, that the practice of confession is habitual at St. Barnabas, and that in the Confessional offences against the seventh commandment are occasionally, if not regularly, dwelt upon. This is the question which the people of England will have brought to a clear issue. Whether the subjects touched upon in the Confessional be of more or less impurity; whether a priest may now and then be more indiscreet than his fellows; whether there be more or less of revolting details ;-all these are mere accidents of a system which itself is rotten to the very core. The grand thing to be determined is, whether there shall be a Confessional at all in the Protestant Church. We have no doubt of the answer. England will no longer be England if that answer be in the affirmative. It was a yoke which our fathers were not able to bear, and their sons are not likely to place themselves again under its bondage. We need not here point out how destructive such a system must be to the peace of families. We need not dwell upon the fact so clearly brought out in the cases which have given rise to this controversy, that it necessarily and inevitably leads to gross, foul, and revolting details, turning the priest's heart into a great moral cesspool, till, corrupt himself, he almost unconsciously diffuses corruption among all who come under his influence; there is no necessity for dilating upon these points, for we firmly believe there is no one practice of the Church of Rome against which the people of England have more determinedly set their face, than this of

auricular confession. Rightly understood, we believe the scriptural teaching on this subject is as fully observed in this country as in any other. Our secret sins we confess to God; our open faults we confess to one another. But all that is open, and frank, and manly amongst us-all that we pride ourselves upon as making our national character, revolts from the idea of making the priest a depository of our most secret thoughts, and still more, from the thought of allowing a priest at his pleasure, to probe to the quick the tender and susceptible female conscience. It is a notable circumstance, indeed, in these revelations, that, so far as can be ascertained, the frequenters of St. Barnabas Confessional are all females. We hear nothing of men resorting to these ghostly fathers for penance and absolution, and we should suppose these agents understand the temper of their countrymen too well to practice their solicitations upon the men of that district as they do upon women. It is possible, however, that we are mistaken on this point. Mr. Baring does not profess to have lifted more than a corner of the veil that covers Mr. Poole's confession chamber; and Mr. Poole denies that the glimpse he has given us of what passes within is real. He has gone so far as to threaten legal proceedings against those who have circulated against him what he says are foul slanders and calumnies. On one point, at least, we are glad to agree with the reverend gentleman. The matter cannot rest where it is, and as we respect courage in whatever cause it is exhibited, we are glad, for his own sake, that he proposes to take the initiative. We shall then be made acquainted with the full details of the system. We hope we shall be spared any more of those revelations which have already revolted the Christian public; but, short of that, we trust it will then be made clear beyond the possibility of Mr Liddle, or Mr. Poole, or any one to explain away, whether auricular confession is practised by the clergymen of this parish. When that is once revealed, the rest is easy. The system could only thrive in the English Church upon secrecy. It will die the instant it is brought into the daylight. We are glad to be able to place upon record the following documents having reference to this important case. The first is the citation from the Bishop of London, which, it will be seen, states the ground of the revocation of the licence:

"To the Rev. Alfred Poole, clerk, B.A., licensed to perform the office of Assistant Stipendiary Curate in the Church of St. Barnabas, in the district chapelry of St. Paul, Wilton-place, in the county of Middlesex, and diocese of London.

66

We, Archibald Campbell, Bishop of London, do hereby give

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225

you notice that, for a cause which appears to us just and reasonable -namely, that, admitting females to Confession, you address to them questions of a character calculated to bring scandal on the Church-it is our intention to revoke the license, dated the 26th day of September, 1851, granted to you by our predecessor, Charles James, late Lord Bishop of London, to serve the said church as assistant curate. And, in order to give you sufficient opportunity to show cause to the contrary, we appoint you personally to attend us for that purpose at London-house, St. James's-square, in the said county of Middlesex, on Saturday, the 22nd day of May inst., at ten o'clock a.m., unless you prefer at any time before that day to show such cause in writing under your hand, addressed to us at the same place.

"Given under our hand this 18th day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.

"A. C. LONDON."

Mr. Poole chose to show cause why his licence should not be revoked in writing, instead of personally. His reasons not being deemed satisfactory by the Bishop, the revocation of the license issued on the 25th of May. Against this sentence, he appealed to the Primate, whose decision is final. The following are the documents in which that decision is announced:

"Lambeth Palace, July 9.

"Rev. Sir, I have considered very carefully the statements contained in your petition of appeal against the revocation of your licence as curate by the Bishop of London, which you have presented to me under the provisions of the 1st and 2d of Victoria, cap. 106, sec. 98.

"Under that statute the Bishop has power, after having given to the curate sufficient opportunity of showing reason to the contrary, to revoke summarily and without further process, any licence granted to any curate for any cause which shall appear to such bishop to be good and reasonable.

"My duty, therefore, is to examine, in the first place, whether sufficient opportunity has been given to you of showing reason to the contrary; and I find that by a formal letter, under the hand of the Bishop, dated May 18th, you were appointed personally to attend the Bishop for the purpose at London House on the 22nd of May, unless you preferred at any time before that day to show such reason in writing under your hand; and that on the 21st of May, in obedience to the Bishop's letter, you addressed to him in writing under your hand what appeared to you to be necessary on your behalf. I have to consider, secondly, whether there has been good and reasonable cause for the revocation of your licence.

66 It appears from the statements in your formal reply of the 21st of May, and in your letter of the 15th of May to which in your formal reply you refer the Bishop, that you have been in the prac

VOL. XLIV.