ELECTION OF DR. HAMPDEN.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 204, 13 May 1848, Page 3

ELECTION OF DR. HAMPDEN.

From the London Watchm vn, Dec. 29. Yesterday being the day appointed for the election of a Bishop for the diocese of Hereford, the Rev. Dr. Merewether, the Dean, with the Canons residential y, Prebendaries, and officials, as well as several hundred spectators, assembled at the Cathedral. Tart of the morning service was read,— after which tin Dean and Chapter proceeded to the Chapter-house. Some forma! proceedings took place, and then the comje (F elite, and her Majesty's letter missive were read. • w The Dean said H next Jxjcume their duty tp proceed

to the election of a Bibhop, and Chief Pastor of that diocese. Two or three of the junior Canons (whose votes arc firit taken,) voted successively for Or. Hampden, Canon Uuntingford said he felt bound to defer complying with the Royal recommendation, until a compe» tent tnbunal had pronounced to be well-founded, or not, the sentiments expressed by so many Bishops and members of one of the Universities,— particularly the Bishops of London, Winchester, Lincoln, and Oxford. He wai not swayed by political, or sectarian, but higher motives. .Several other assents hivingbren tendPiod, it became at last, the duty of tiio Dean to record his vote. Dr. Merewether alter c\pics9ui£ hi-, hearty de-ire to pay submissive obedience lo the Queen, ndvcried to the Royal nomination— to the University censure upon Dr. lliimpdcii — and to the objections lo hi-, appointment, preferred by the Primate of all England (as lie asserted), 13 Bishops,, .md many of the Clergy and Laity. He then co ituiued — On taking all these circumstances into my most serious cousulu alien, I did moat humbly and mojt imploringly supplicate that her Mojes.y might be pleased even yet to re-consider this earnest aud ilism'erested prayer, to coirect and amend (lie errors and m.sfoi tunes which have arisen, and still more seriously threaten us from thcill-consideied advice of a misinformed minisler, as on oilier occasions her Majesty's Koyal predece><sor:: hive done, and so avcit the injury which must othmvise be indicted on the Church, and pac.fy the outraged feelings of her members. And here, in ihe sight of God, 111 the midst of this temple, and in the peiformance of the priestly office, I solemnly proteit that it is no defic ency, in the smallest degree, otloyalty and humble devotion to our Sovereign, it is the dictate of my conscience, the conviction of my mind, which constrains m ; so to act, in arresting the progress of infidelity, mocksiy of re i£ion, and p'ofancness. Upon thete grounds I cannot vote for the election ot Dr. Hampden, as Bishop of the vacant see of Hereford, and Pastor ot the Cathedral Church of which I am Dean — and 1 do hcieby piotest against this proceeding I to day, inasmuch as many persons have voicd who are merely honoraiy Prebendar es, and have not complied with the statutes of th s Church, which I have declined I will observe, and I piotesc against the majority which will be claimed, inasmuch as it is nectary for giving validity to a voU>, that the majority should include the Dean ami tlnee Canons residentiary. This Protest I shall funvaid to the Ciovvn, the Bishop elect (Doctor ilatnpden), and tlic Archbishop of Canterbury. A discussion ensued on the right of the honorary Prebendaries to vote, aud also on the alleged objections of th ra . Aichoishop of Canterbury to the appointment of Dr. Hampden, which the Dean said had been strongly expressed in a letter to Lord John Russell. The votes wcie then announced. Nineteen Prebendaries, it appeared, were absent. The numbers of those prcicnt stood ihus— For Dr. Hampden — Three Canons residentlny. Five Prcbendai ies of tli3 old order. ' Six junior Prebendaries. ! Against Dr. Ilampden — The Dean. Oi.c Canon rcsie'e xtiary. Canon Morgan movcJ that the election of Doctor Hamuden should be declared according to the usual formalities. Lord Saje and Sele seconded the motion, The Dean lem.uked that having staled there were for Dr, Hampden l-l votes, against him 2, it remnincd for the Chapter to say whether that was an election of Dr. Hampden or not. The statute required Ihuttnere should be a unanimous assent and consent. After some discussion on this point, the motion proposed by Canon Morgan, and seconded by Lord Saye aud Sele was agreed to. j The Dean —We have now to decree three certificates, one to the Crown, one to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and one to the Bishop-elect. Mr. Li. Underwood, Mr. J. Burder, and Mr. Francis Hart Dyke, were appointed notaries, af er which the seculnr business of the day was biou^ht to a close, and the Dean and Chapter returned to the choir, and proceeded witli the usual servces of the Church In the course ot the business, it was stated by Lord Saye and Sele, one of the Prebendaries, that the Bishop of Oxford had withdrawn his sanction to any hostile proceedings against Dr. Hampden in the Ecclesiastical court. Loud John Russell, and the Deax of Hereford. —The following loiter has been «ddreioed to the Dean of Hereford, iv icply to his to Loid John Russell : — Woburn Abbey, Dec. 25- " Sir, — I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 22nd instant, in nhich you iutimate to me your intention of vio atuij the law. I have the honor to be your obedient servant, J. Russell. The Very Rev. the De n of Hereford."

Well, after all the ngitation icspecting the appointment to the See of Htreford, the Remonstrance of the thirteen Bishops, and the voluminous lucubrations of John Merewether, Doctor in Divinity, the Capitular body have taken the course dictated hy prudence and propiiety, and acted upon the letter-missive accompa. nying the conye d'ehre by which Dr. Hampden was Royally recommended to be elected by them. The election took place yes'erday, when fourteen votes were recorded in favor of Dr.llampuen, and two against him-— the dissentients being the implacable Dean, and Mr. Canon Huntinglord. Ultimately, the formal documents (addressed to the Queen, the Arch bishop of Canteibury, and the Bis op-elccl,) which are necesiary in Buch a cau were agreed to ; and, so far at least, this vexed question has been settled. It is true the Dean still threatens all th.it liligation can accomplish to mar the effect of the proceedings ; but his future efforts to "violate the law (as Lord John Russell pointedly expresses it in a significant note acknowledging Dr. Mercwether's last communication,) will, almost certainly, prove as powerless as the efforts which he has already made. Truth to say, this very reverend gentleman will not have raised himself in public estimation by his conduct throughout this transaction; nor will his ambition to be regaided as a martyr (so clearly developed in his last letter to the Premier,) be giatificd. One course was always open to him— lie might have escaped all his alleged conscientious difliculties by resigning; hi? Deanery. There was no obligation, whatever, on John Merewether, Doctor in Divinity, to obey the con«i delhe—ihc obligation was upon the Dean of Ueieford. Dr.Meicwether gladly accepted the dignity and emoluments of that position, with a full knowledge of the obligation under which he placed himself, in the contingency of s>uch a caie as the piesent—and if he I und the fetters of State connection no longer endurable, he might have followed the example of the Ministers of the Free Church of Scotland, and the seceding Ministers in the Canton de Vauc', and by relinquishing his slates and income in the Establishment, escaped from what he declares to be such a galling yoke. He preferred, however, another course. The sound portion of the Church of England will rejoice at each successive step in this matter, by which the machinations of the Tractarian sect are frustrated, au'J th«r vaunted. strepgth I to be we»ku.ef>-..— Jb,

The Paris journals of Monday, with private despatches, have arrived. There is no news of general interest. In the early pai tof last week it was announce «!, that the Conservative majority had Imposed on M, Guizot the necessity of abandoning altogether his project of interference with Swiss affairs. It is now affirmed thai a courier had then been expedited to meet MM. Colloredo and Radowitz, the plenipotentiaries or Austria and Prussia, who were known to be en route for Paris, to stop them— but the courier did not meet them, or if he did, it was at a point too near the capital to allow them tt> retrace their stepi consistently with, their dignity, and, accordingly, the plenipotentiaries of the still-born Congress have arrived in Paris, to learn, from the Picsnlent of the Council, that the Cabinet has had reason to change its opinion on the projected diplomatic measure The new postal convention between England and France appeared with a royal ordinance for its execution in the MonUeur, on Monday. The King transacted business on Sunday, with the Council of Ministers. His Majesty's hoarseness has nearly disappeared. He passes part of each day with Mine. Adelaide, who has a slight attack of influenza Loid Njimanby and Lord Brougham were received on Saturday evening by the King and Royal family The Bank of France came to a decision on Monday, that on and after Jan. 6, it would lower its rate of discount to 4 per cent. 13y Extraordin iry Express, the speech of the Kin? of the French, delivered yesterday afternoon, at the opening of the Chambeis, has been received. The early piiit ot it relates to domestic events and ameliorations. —The following are the only passages of political importance. " My relations with nil foreign powers give me confidence lhat the peace of the world is secuie. I hope that the generu) pi ogress of civilization will even where proceed to its accomplishment! through an accordnnce between governments and people, without impairing internal or Jer, and the good relations established among state« Civil war has disturbed the happiness of Switzerland. My Government had come to an understanding with the Governments of England, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, in oider to offer that neighboring and friendly people an amicable mediation. SwH/yiland will, I hope, acknowledge that leipect for the rights of all, and the maintenance of the basis of the Helvetic confedi ration, can alone cnsuie to her those enuunng conditions of happiness anil security, that Europe wished to guarantee to her by treaties My Government, i i accordance with that of the Queen of Great Britain, has just adopted measures which must ut length succeed in restoring our commercial relations on the banks of La Plata, * * * * Gentlemen, the more I advance in life, the more I dedicate with, devotedness to the service of Fiance, to the care of her interests, her dignity, and happiness, all the activity, and all the strength that God has given, and still vouchsafes t'» me, Amidst the agitation that hostility and blind passions foment, a conviction animates and supports me, which is this, that we possess, in the con■titutional monarchy, in the union of the great powers of the sta'e, sure means of overcoming all those obstacles, and of satisfying all interests, moral and materialLet us n*i inly maintain, according to the Chaiter, social order and all Us conditions. Let us guarantee, according to (he Charter, the public liberties with all their develo, ments. We shall transmit to the generations to come after us the trust confided to us, and they wilf blf ss us for having founded and defended the edifice under shelter of which they live happy and free.'*.