INCREASE OF THE EPISCOPATE.
[To THE EDITOR 07 THE " SPECTATOR."] Stu,—There can be little doubt that any attempt to force on costly schemes for new Sees at the present time can only suc- ceed, as we are warned in the Times by Major-General Seely, in provoking the retort, "We asked bread, and you gave us a Bishop." How strong this feeling is was borne in upon me when venturing to challenge, at the Hereford Diocesan Conference, the proposal to form a new Soo of Salop. To my amazement I found my amendment carried by a large majority. At such a time as this, the suggestion in Bishop Welldon's letter should obtain the hearing it undoubtedly merits. Instead of the present costly method of relieving certain over-burdened BislMps in a piecemeal fashion, the Bishop proposes an economical plan whereby all diocesans shall be relieved. Such a general use of assistants as "routine" officers might have an enormous effect in restoring that opportunity for thought and reading the lack of which is so constantly deplored. And, indeed, there can be little doubt that, unless some such policy it adopted, the influ- ence and authority a the Episcopate, already jeopardized, will be gravely impaired. Under the present system the men-we need most are worked to death like Creighton, or are compelled to withdraw like Bishop Gore. We can no more afford such a wastage in men than we can afford the money for the very dubious advantage of strewing England with petty Sees on tho model of the old kingdom of Naples. I cannot close without thanking Mr. Fawkes for drawing my attention to the lecture by the Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History. I wonder if he, and those readers who are interested, have come across the admirable charge of the Bishop of Norwich on this subject which Mr. John Murray has recently published as a pamphlet. Though originally uttered in 1913, it is probably still a little abreast -of public opinion on these matters, even if thought
has made a considerable advance in the direction ho so ably
presents.—I am, Sir, Sic., A. C. MOORE. St. Peter's Vicarage, Hereford.
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