Two points in the Church controversy were raised by Lord
Portsmouth in the House of Lords on Thursday. In the first place, he attacked the proposed hearing by the Archbishops of disputed points in Ritual, and declared that the new tribunal would be illegal, useless, and mischievous. That, it appears to us, is a most mistaken view. No doubt the Archbishops will have no legal powers with which to enforce their decision, but what of that? Does not Lord Portsmouth know that hundreds of important matters are settled every year by voluntary arbitrations ? The Archbishops' Court may be a voluntary tribunal, but it will be none the less authoritative with the clergy. We note with great satis- faction the present Lord Selborne's declaration that his father—a great lawyer as well as a loyal Churchman—was strongly in favour of the hearing of cases by the Archbishops. With Lord Portsmouth's second point, a protest against the confessional, we are, however, in entire sympathy, and we are glad to see that he drew from the Bishop of London some strong words against "ecclesiastical interference with the sanctity of the relationships of domestic life."
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