On Friday night Mr. Dodson called attention to the Oxford
petition for getting rid of the subscription required from can- didates for the M. A. degree, and Mr. Henley stated in reply, to the great surprise of the House, that "the Wandering Jew" was abroad at Oxford, getting signatures to this peti- tion. The eyes of the astonished members wandered furtively and curiously to the face of the leader of the Opposition, who, however, betrayed no signs of guilt. Mr. Goschen replied to him in a speech setting forth ably that the Church can do much more by the inherent force of truth, if you do not cripple her with dogmatic niceties. Lord Robert Cecil thought the object was to set up a "Coalition Church on the principle of inclusion," instead of the Church of Eng- land on the principle of exclusion. The distinction does not appear a very brilliant one. As we understand it, the Articles were in 1572 intended to be principles of inclusion for a "Coalition Church," and the idea of extending the principle of exclusion had not yet been discovered. The Bishop of Exeter, who not long ago excommunicated the Archbishop of Canterbury with the majority of the Church, and would have been quite content to exclude everybody but himself; is, we suppose, Lord Robert Cecil's ecclesiastical ideal.
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