The Bishop of Manchester has very rightly intimated; at the
Manchester Diocesan Conference, that should the law decide that he is bound to institute Mr. Cowgill to the living of Miles Flatting, he will submit to the law. That, of course, we all -expeoted from one who has insisted so much on obedience to the lnw,—except, indeed, so far as regards conformity to it in the matter of his own dress. But the Bishop added that if the result of the law-suit which is to come before the' Courts next month should be adverse to his own view, he would have very seriously to consider his own position, for in such a. state of the law the administration of a diocese would become to him a burden which he could no longer bear. This hint has very naturally caused "great concern throughout the diocese," where Dr. Fraser is very justly popular. But it can hardly be serious. The only result of a decision adverse to the -Bishop would be to diminish his responsibility, not to increase it. Bow could it possibly have increased his responsi- bility, if he had found that he had no option but to institute Mr. -Cowgill, and leave Mr. Cowgill to judge for himself whether, after admission, he would conform to the law, or not
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