A Bishop on Political Lying.

Evening Star, Issue 6727, 8 October 1885, Page 2

A Bishop on Political Lying.

The Rev. H. M. Kennedy, vicar of Plumpton,' near Carlisle, issued recently an address to the Cumberland electors, in which the following passage occurred:—" Bo not befooled. Sons of toil, do not in politics trust a Tory. No, not if he came to yon in an archangel's garb, and on bended knee before God's high altar swore' by the sign of man's redemption that he only meant you well. If yon have any cause to fear him, use deception. I advise you, in plain terms, of two evils to choose the least. If he must have an answer, tell your master a lie with yonr tongue in preference to marking with your pencil "a terrible* -lie against yourself, your family, your class, your country, and your God." The Bishop of Carlisle has addressed a letter to Dr Prescott, Archdeacon of Carlisle, in which he says copies of the address have been forwarded to him from several quarters, and strong opinions expressed as to its scandalous character, and as to the disgrace brought upon the Church by such an utterance from one of its clergy. "I am not sure," his lordship continues, " as to the legal limits of licence of utterance which may be permitted to a clergyman when he chooses to address his countrymen, not from the pulpit but through the ordinary medium of the Press; and certainly I have no desire to take such steps as might lead to a legal definition. It would probably do more. harm than good if I attempted in any way to restrain the freedom of utterance of a clergyman by any other means than moral suasion and fatherly remonstrance. In the present instance the Bishop does not suppose that suasion or remonstrance will produce any good result; but; the character of Mr Kennedy's address is such that .he is compelled to break silence and to " protest against its monstrous utterances " in the name of himself, and, he believes, of the whole clergy. There is , "much that is wild, much that is absurd, much thft is most offensive in its expression throughout the address " ; but his lordship says he passes all the rest by for the purpose of concentrating attention upon the passage above quoted. Upon that point the Bishop remarks :—" Here we have a distinct charge to tell a lie from one who is bound by all that is sacred to be a preacher of honesty and truth. I have seldom seen any printed utterance that has more grieved and astonished me. The men of Cumberland, unless I mistake their character, are too sturdy to be afraid of voting according to their judgment, and too honest to adopt the paltry, sneaking line of conduct which their self-constituted director suggests to them. Mr Kennedy's advice is too outrageously opposed to Northern honesty and independence, not to say to all the teaching of Him who came to bear witness to the truth, to make it practically very dangerous to the character and conduct of the men of Cumberland. But this consideration does not diminish my indignation at the fact of the advice to lie having been given by one of the clergy of this diocese. I appeal from that shameful advice to the teaching which, as I trust, comes abundantly from the lips and hearts of my clergy as a body. I appeal from it to the consciences of the people of Cumberland themselves, and I feel confident that they will not be induced to lie, even at the instigation of one who should have known better than to give them such hateful counsel."— 'European Mail.'