20 OCTOBER 1883, Page 3

There has been a rumour this week of the intended

resigna- tion of the Bishop of London, on the ground of health. We should greatly regret to find that the report is true, for Dr. Jackson has done his work heartily and simply, with a great desire to do justice, and none of the pomp of episcopal ostenta- tion. If it be true, however, and if it should be also true that an eminent prelate of great organising power is to be translated from the West to fill his see, we hope that the opportunity may be seized to raise to the Episcopate the one man of unquestion- able genius in the Church whom all Administrations have, for some reason, passed over, we suppose because his views are believed to lean too much towards those of his venerated friend, the late Dr. Pusey. We should hope, however, that no super- stition of this kind will prevent the present Government from promoting to the highest offices of the Church a man on whose lips crowds hang with eagerness, not only for their elo- quence, but for that indefinable aroma of piety and purity of feeling which fascinates more than any eloquence of speech. It is but bare justice to the Church and the people to place such preachers as Canon Liddon in the post where the acclamation of public admiration would long ago have placed them.