The day after the meeting of the Imperial Parliament, the
Ec- clesiastical Parliament assembled for the Province of Canterbury, characteristically sitting in a large room of "Queen Anne's Bounty Office." The proceedings assumed a more practical cha- racter than they have borne at previous meetings of Convocation. That which may be called a Moderate party begins to show itself in action ; and this party succeeded in procuring a certain passive acquiescence on the part of the Archbishop. The Bishops of Lon- don, St. Davids, and Oxford, took a lead in procuring an order from the -Upper House to the Lower, calling upon the Lower House to join in appointing a Committee for the purpose of consi- dering what reforms, if any, in the constitution of the Convoca- tion, are expedient "to enable it to treat, with the full confidence of the Church, of such matters as her Majesty may be pleased to submit to its deliberations "; and a second Committee was appointed "to consider an adaptation of the Church's rules to meet her spiritual wants," in reference to the condition of the population. The mo- derate yet practical character of these proceedings is illustrated by one fact—the motion of the Lower House for appointing members to attend the two Committees of the Tipper House was equally opposed by Archdeacon Denison, Archdeacon Sinclair, and Mr. Montague -Villiers.
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