4 JUNE 1870, Page 2

The (Roman Catholic) Bishop of Southwark, Dr. Grant, died at

Rome on Wednesday last, after a very painful illness, which, though it has sometimes intermitted its severity, had been upon him long before the meeting of the (Ecumenical Connell. Our Roman Catholic contemporaries speak with the warmest reverence of his character, and the Tablet mentions that English priests in his diocese have more than once been complimented by French Catholics on having "a saint for their bishop." Gossip is already busy with speculation on the name of his successor, and both Monsignor Capel and the Rev. Dr. Vaughan, proprietor of the Tablet newspaper, have been talked of. The Tablet has been so warm in defence of Papal infallibility, and has incurred so much unpopularity even among English Catholics for its inflexible tone on this subject, that the latter appointment seems far from improba- ble, especially as Dr. Vaughan has lately been interesting himself actively for some official recognition by the Church of the dignity of St. Joseph, which has not yet, it seems, been adequately admitted. It would be something to have a mitred contemporary amongst us,—no bishop, as far as we know, whether Anglican or Roman, having ever yet possessed an ' organ ' in the Press. The Tablet's tone, though hard and severely dogmatic, has always been cultivated and candid under its present proprietor, who has often been honest enough and straightforward enough to recant an error and correct a blunder,—capital qualities for a bishop, especially an Ultramontane bishop, though not usually regarded as charac- teristic of one.