The death of the Bishop of Salisbury places his first
Bishopric at the disposal of Mr. Gladstone. The late Dr. Hamilton was one of the highest of High Churchmen, as nearly a Catholic as an English Bishop could be, and maintained on all occasions the doctrines of transubstantiation and sacerdotal power in their most extreme form. In a charge delivered in May, 1867, he toldshis clergy that they had full power "to bind and to loose from sin," a statement which called forth a strong protest from the laity of his diocese. In spite of his opinions, however, the Bishop, from a certain saintliness and beauty of character, was highly respected in his diocese, and outside it. The prevailing rumour is that he will be succeeded by Mr. Liddon, a man who exercises a stronger in- fluence at Oxford in favour of the High-Church school than any other divine. He is a very brilliant preacher, and a man who can govern ; but Mr. Gladstone must beware of making Sees, so to speak, "hereditary." We do not want twenty-four " Churches " in England.
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