Lord Beaconsfield has secured a certain amount of favour with
the Evangelical party, by giving the Deanery of Salisbury to the Rev. John Charles Ryle, a canon of Norwich, and one of the chief lights of that party. The new Dean of Salisbury has a certain amount of ability, speaks well, and knows what he means,—at all events, when he is not dealing with theology. Whether his " Knots Untied" show that he is equally successful when dealing with his own subject, is a question which would be answered very differently by different readers, and was answered in the negative in these columns. Nevertheless, we think Lord Beaconsfield right in distributing his preferments with a tolerably even hand amongst the different sections of the Church, when there is reasonable evidence of influence and ability. Nor do we grudge him the new Evangelical votes for a policy of Afghan conquest which he will probably gain.
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