A memorial, recommending an extension of the parochial sys- tem,
has been presented by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Queen. The memorialists contemplate the erection of six hundred new parishes, to be provided with endowed clergymen, churches, schools and parsonage-houses. They also recommend the permanent recognition and endowment of Scripture-readers as adjuncts to the clergy. They estimate the prime cost of the churches at upwards of two millions, and the amount of annual endowments at about 350,0001. To meet this expenditure, they propose that the funds of the Bounty Board should be drawn upon, the Chancellor's pa- tronage turned into this new channel as far as possible, the libe- rality of voluntary subscribers appealed to, and a sum of one mil- lion "supplied from some general fund." The memorialists are a highly respectable but a somewhat heterogeneous body. There are eight Low Church Bishops, the Whig Duke of Bedford, the Speaker and forty-five Members of the House of Commons, of whom eight are liberals, the names of Lord Ashley, Mr. Sidney Herbert, and Mr. Disraeli, appearing among the Conservatives. The present time, when the Church is rent by such violent in-
ternal dissensions, does not appear very propitious to such a movement.
