A FIXED EASTER
SIR,--Mr. Warren Postbridge states in his article on a fixed Easter that the Act dealing with this matter passed through the Houses in 1928 without a division. This is not quite accurate ; my recollection is that the original Bill contained no reference to the Church or Christian bodies at all, but that I and some others (including Sir Hugh Cecil as he then was), who consider Easter rather as a Holy Day than a holiday, moved an amendment that no Order should be made until the Church and Christian bodies had been consulted. Since that time the Roman communion have made it clear that they cannot at present agree to the proposal, and many Anglo-Catholics are of the same opinion. Easter has been a variable feast since the foundation of the Church, and the article of Mr. Postgate and a speech of Mr. Wilson Harris in Parliament are but accounts of failures at various times to change this age-long tradition. Does Mr. Postgate wish to have two Easters, one secular and one Catholic, for that is what would happen today if the secular law
were to fix the date of Easter?—Yours sincerely, HENRY SLESSER. Postbridge, Devon.
[Sir Henry Slesser is right about the amendment being moved, but reference to Hansard shows that it was negatived without a division.— ED., The Spectator.]
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