30 JANUARY 1864, Page 2

The Rev. Harold Browne, Norrisian Professor of Divinity, Cam- bridge,

has been appointed Bishop of Ely. The appointment is a creditable one, the Church rather wanting a bishop with some acquaintance with theology, but Mr. Browne, we suspect, might not have been chosen had the Government not been obliged unwillingly to withdraw his brother, Colonel T. G. Browne, from the Government of New Zealand. This is, we believe, the twelfth bishop who owes his mitre to Lord Palmerston. It is to be remarked, by the way, that the rule which excludes the four youngest Bishops from the Peers makes the politics of the man selected very unimportant. The vote goes to another man, and when the proteges turn to sit comes round there is probably a new premier. Every Minister cannot spread a murrain among Bishops and Knights of the Garter as Lord Palmerston seems to do.