On Thursday the Bishop of Winchester, in the Upper House
of Convocation of Canterbury, strongly condemned the action of the Bishop of Hereford as being " a contravention of sacred principles," and as being " unconstitutional in the deepest sense of the word." The Bishop of Winchester has, of course, a perfect right to condemn action which he thinks wrong, but the Bishop of Hereford has also a perfect right to do what he thinks right—provided always it is not contrary to the law of the land or the law of the Church. By this we mean not what individuals consider is or ought to be the law, but the law in the true sense, that is, that which is enforceable in the Courts of the Realm—Ecclesiastical and Civil. If the Bishop of Hereford has violated the law, by all means let his action be called in question by judicial process. We venture to pre- dict, however, that neither at common law, by statute law, nor by any canon which has the force of law, will he be found to be contemplating an illegal act, or to have committed one, in administering the sacrament to Nonconformists. All prece- dent is on the side of the Bishop of Hereford.
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