Cardinal Manning, with his semi-Socialist leanings, had evidently created for
himself much popularity in London. His funeral on Thursday was marked not only by the utmost pomp of ecclesiastical ceremonial which his Church can in this country command, but by a great outburst of public feeling, especiallyamong the poor. Sixteen mitred Bishops were present in the Brompton Oratory, besides a long roll of lay digni- taries, and the procession to the Catholic cemetery beyond Kensal Green included a hundred carriages ; but all along the route of four miles, the crowds stood so thick as to be hardly manageable by a strong body of police. It is doubtful if such a concourse has ever been collected by any recent funeral in London, and throughout the crowds betrayed a strong feeling of admiration and sympathy. The Cardinal had, in fact, come to be regarded as a lofty figure on the side of the poor, who, for some reason not easy to explain, in England never display, as regards Catholic ecclesiastical pomp, the jealousy and derision which Protestant ecclesiastical pomp so frequently excites. Even the Nonconformist clergy bear the high and peculiarly visible social pretensions of a Roman Cardinal without taunting him with the contrast between his bearing and that of the Apostles. Display is, in fact, accepted in Catholic dignitaries as part of the usage of their Church, and there is less annoyance felt at their assumptions than in many nominally Catholic countries. We suppose the reason is, that they are not " established ; " but if so, our Noncon- formist friends may doubt whether Disestablishment would have quite the social effect on the Anglican Church which they anticipate.
