[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "]
It,--The valuable remarks made in your short notice of the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol's conduct in the matter of St. Raphael's induce me to furnish you with the following additional parti- culars :—The seven representatives of the congregation have, by the very terms they have.used, challenged any person to contradict their statement that they represent all, sailors and families in- cluded. The patron and founder of the institution has shown, by several letters, that he is wholly with them in their protest against his arbitrary proceedings. And the placarding it, as they have now done, in the streets of Gloucester, Cheltenham, and Bristol, show that they will not let the affair drop till they have secured the sympathies of their fellow-countrymen.
It may not be known that these three unknown non-parishioners who have stabbed in the dark have succeeded, under the protec- tion of the Bishop, in stopping the very best work for the poor that has been done in his diocese. No man has worked harder or more successfully than Mr. Ward amongst the poor. And no man here has gained nearly so large a number of enthusiastic adherents. He had never been even remonstrated with, when suddenly he received the Bishop's curt and peremptory order to discontinue, at a few days' notice, practices which had been tacitly sanctioned by him for at least twelve years.
It must be remembered that Mr. Ward offered to give up any- thing that the Bishop required, with the exception of those practices about which different decisions have been given (it being certain that the last decision of a majority will not to be regarded as final, or accepted by the High-Church party). Upon these three points, a licence has been peremptorily withdrawn, and Mr. Ward deprived of the work of his life, without the possibility of appealing to the Archbishop of the Province, and in fact, without any other resource than to arraign the Bishop at the bar of public opinion, on something like the principle that, —Si/anum jus, summa injuria. It is abundantly evident from the letters with which the Bristol papers abound, that the educated public are entirely against the Bishop, who is sup- ported by none but the lowest of the low. He has raised a side-issue, and is trying to catch the wind of popular favour, by alleging practices of which, whether true or false, whether objec- tionable or not, there is not the slightest evidence produced. He has thus poisoned the public mind against his victim, and has used the English dread of Popery as a weapon to stab Mr. Ward after he has silenced him. He has appealed to public opinion,— perhaps some of your correspondents will let us know what its
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