The Rev. H. M. Kennedy, vicar of Plumpton, near Carlisle,
has recently issued an address to the Cumberland electors, in which he solemnly warns them not to be befooled,—never in politics to trust a Tory,—and if they have any cause to fear him, then " to deceive the deceiver." " I advise you, in plain terms, of the two evils to choose the least. If he must have an answer, tell your master a lie with your tongue in preference to marking with your pencil a terrible lie against yourself, your family, your olass, your country, and your God." Against this very immoral advice,—immoral because it cannot be necessary to choose between the two evils at all,—both should be rejected with equal manliness,—the Bishop of Carlisle launches forth with very one-sided fervour. "Mr. Kennedy's advice," he says, "is too outrageously opposed to northern honesty and independence, not to say to all the teaching of Him who came to bear witness to the troth, to make it practically very dangerous to the character and conduct of the men of Cumberland. But this consideration does not diminish my indignation at the fact of the advice to lie having been given by one of the clergy of this diocese. I appeal from that shameful advice to the teaching which, as I trust, tomes abundantly from the lips and hearts of my clergy as a body." We think that the Bishop might, if he would, have greatly reinforced the effect of that advice by plainly telling the employers of his diocese that whenever they attempt to interfere with the honest votes of the electors, they are not less, perhaps more, guilty of the lies for which they supply the motive, than the poor men who utter the lies are themselves.
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