At a meeting of the Rochester Diocesan Society, held in
the great hall of the Church House on Tuesday, the Bishop of Rochester in the chair, while his predecessor in the See, the present Bishop of Winchester, was also present, Mr. Balfour made a speech declaring for the principle that employers of labour in the populous Metropolitan portion of the diocese, who live outside the diocese, though they employ large aggregates of labour in it, ought to regard it as a part of their duty to contribute to the religions resources of the district in which their wealth is earned, as well as to those of the district in which they reside. Mr. Balfour pointed out that the great modern facilities for living outside the field of a man's chief work ought not to be regarded as exempting him from responsibility for securing the religions
welfare of those who help him in earning his wealth, especially when those who work for him are crowded together in dense and squalid herds. Mr. Bayard, the American Ambassador, who evidently feels the liveliest sympathy with the work of the English Church, spoke also to the same effect, dwelling on the great stimulus which the evidence of hearty sympathy between the different classes gives to the energy of the artisans in their own endeavours to elevate and purify the moral atmosphere of the quarters in whioh they live. It is impossible to overrate the usefulness of such addresses as Mr. Balfour's and Mr. Bayard's in breathing hope and vivacity into the population of crowded London slums.
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