Four elections have taken place since the right of election was conceded.

The first was that of the Bishop of Huron. Certain limits having been agreed upon for the new diocese, the clergy and lay representatives of the parishes situated within those limits (i.e. strictly speaking, a certain section of the Synod of the diocese of Toronto) met and agreed, by a majority of two clergy and thirteen laity, to request the Governor-General to recommend the Rev. B. Cronyn to her Majesty for appointment to the bishopric of Huron. The recommendation was acted upon : the Bishop of Toronto surrendered his original letters-patent, and two new patents were issued, one appointing Bishop Strachan to the curtailed diocese of Toronto, the other appointing Mr. Cronyn to the new diocese of Huron. Mr. Cronyn proceeded to England, and was consecrated in the usual form by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The result of this election, however, was far from being satisfactory to its promoters. At the Toronto Synod of 1859 a committee was appointed "to consider "whether any and what modifications 66 are or may be necessary to be made in "the mode of electing bishops." This Committee reported that, "in considera"tion of the acknowledged and serious "evils, in their opinion, inseparably con"nected with the present mode of electing "bishops, they recommend to "the Synod that, in event of a vacancy "in the see, the Bishops of the "province of Canada be requested to present the names of three clergymen to the Synod of the diocese." The aspirants to the episcopal office and their partisans were, however, too strong for the committee, and the report was negatived.

The second election that of the Bishop of Ontario took place in the following year (1861). Previous to the day of election it was known that one candidate had a slight majority of the clergy on his side, the other a large majority of the laity. But when the day of election came, two or three newlyordained deacons and an army-chaplain

were added to the roll, and the balance of the clergy was turned. When the clergy-roll had been thus amended, the candidate against whom the scale had turned withdrew from the election with the majority of his supporters, and his competitor virtually "walked the course." The form in which the election was made known to the Government was virtually the same as in the case of the Bishop of Huron, but the course which the Government took differed in an important point. No letters patent were issued; but "a simple man"date from the Queen was sent out to "the Metropolitan Bishop of Canada, directing him to proceed to the conse"cration of the Bishop of Ontario."

The third election was that of the Bishop of Quebec. Bishop of Quebec. In this instance the candidates who were supported, the one by a bare majority, the other by a compact minority, at the outset, had to retire, and a compromise was made in favour of a clergyman whose excellent sermon before the Synod on the duties of the episcopal office constrained both parties to think that he would be likely to discharge those duties well. The clergyman thus elected was consecrated by the Bishop of Montreal, acting under a mandate from the Queen; and the oath of canonical obedience which he took was, as in the case of the Bishop of Ontario, not to "the Archbishop," but to the Metropolitan of Canada.

To have had one election out of three

pass without scandal was not thought to be on the whole a satisfactory result of the system. Accordingly, at the meeting of the Provincial Synod in 1865, the House of Bishops, a majority of whom had been themselves elected, endeavoured to introduce the same kind of check which exists in the Episcopal Church of the United States, viz., that no election should be valid unless confirmed by a majority of the bishops of the province. But it is hard to persuade men to part with power; and the attempt failed.

The fourth election was that of the Coadjutor-Bishop of Toronto in the autumn of 1866. This, by far the most

important of all the Canadian elections, has probably done more than anything else could do to bring the system into disrepute. There were three candidates, each of whom was backed by an influential committee, and represented a compact and well-organized party. When the day of election came, one candidate had a majority of the clergy, the second had a majority of the laity, the third had a minority of both. Ballot after ballot was taken, but no party would yield. At last, after nearly two days had been spent in fruitless voting, the presiding bishop threatened that, unless the election were made by a certain hour, he would dissolve the Synod. This compelled a conference between the supporters of two of the candidates, who had at least one point of union in their common dislike of the third. Before the appointed hour, the present occupant of the episcopal chair had been elected. Providentially, the least exceptionable candidate had the firmest friends.

The issue of the election is well known. When the usual application was made to the Colonial Office for a Royal mandate for the consecration of the Bishop-elect, Lord Carnarvon declined to advise her Majesty to issue it. The Canadian synods were free to manage their affairs as they pleased: the veto of the Crown was withdrawn.

In this way the Anglican Church in Canada has drifted into a state of quasiindependence. What is its precise legal status at the present moment is a question with which I am not at present concerned. I hasten to show what effects the state of things which now exists has upon its efficiency as a religious society.

1. It fosters an enormous amount of over-government. The number of dioceses, of synods, and of ecclesiastical functionaries, is altogether in excess of what is needed. The whole number of clergy in Canada, including deacons, superannuated missionaries, schoolmasters, and army chaplains, is only about four hundred. They would scarcely

suffice to man a single diocese in England. But in Canada they are distributed into five dioceses; and committees of synod are, or were lately, considering the advisability of subdividing two dioceses, and so constituting seven. There is an array of officers of the Church militant in Canada which almost reminds one of the regiment described by the American humorist, which, to prevent jealousy, "consisted exclusively of colonels." And, in addition to the Provincial Synod, which is content to meet once in three years, every diocese has its own synod, which, with one exception, meets every year, as regularly as summer comes round, and legislates on Church affairs of all kinds, great and small, from the mode of electing bishops to the establishment of ladies' schools. The attention of both clergy and laity is diverted from the weightier matters of religion to the mint and cummin of ecclesiastical politics; and parish-vestryism runs riot at the expense of that growth in Christian knowledge and virtue which it is the Church's especial mission to foster.

2. It gives uncontrolled play to that spirit of ecclesiasticism, the existence of which is the bane of all religious communities, and the effectual checking of which, by the exercise of the prerogative of the Crown, has been the salvation and the strength of the Church of England. The lay element in the Canadian synods is no check whatever upon that spirit. It consists for the most part—with the exception of one or two lawyersof "clerically-minded men," or ecclesiastical busy-bodies. The mass of the laity find no place in them. The consequence is that, when the clergy raise a cry in the Synod, their lay partisans echo it; whereas, when they raise a cry outside the Synod, it is found that church-goers are of two opinions. Take, for example, the cry for denominational education. Since the Synod of the diocese of Toronto held its first informal meeting in 1851, the question has been brought forward at almost every session. And in every diocese there is either a "Church school," or a "Church

University," or both. But the mass of the laity are content with the admirable educational institutions which have been established in the province for the common benefit of all denominations of Christians. There are, or were lately, more members of the Church of England as students in the "godless" but excellent University of Toronto, than in the neighbouring orthodox University which Bishop Strachan founded, and in which the Synod, by a vote of 84 to 24, declared its confidence; there are also more members of the Church of England as students in the flourishing undenominational University at Montreal than in the all but extinct Church University at Lennoxville. The truth is, that the laity of the province at large, and their so-called representatives in the synods, entertain, on most points of importance, radically different opinions. And it is no slight calamity for an infant Church to have for its controlling element, not the good sense and right feeling of the community in which it is placed, but a small society of men who feed their religious appetites on the thistles and sand of small Church controversies.

3. It withdraws the "members of the United Church of England and Ireland in Canada," from the enlarging and invigorating influences which come to a small community from contact with a wider and more complex whole. The Head of the Church of England has no cognizance of their bishops; and the restraints which their intimate connexion with that Church imposed upon them, are gone. Instead of the wise comprehensiveness which of necessity exists in a large community, there is the growing belief and practical application of the belief in the "divine right of the majority." Dissociated alike from the Church of England, and from the Episcopal Church of the United States, this small confederation of congregations is delivered, bound hand and foot, to the tyranny of numbers. The majority can be, and is, despotic. There is an absence not only of the moral restraints, but of the legal safeguards which of necessity exist in a great society like

the Church of England for the common benefit of all shades of opinion among its members. It is true that in the Canadian synods the Bishop has a veto; but then the Bishop is himself the nominee of the majority. And, moreover, the Provincial Synod at its last session was busily considering an ominous canon "for the trial of a Bishop." It is also true that in matters of doctrine the majority is limited by the existing standards of the Church of England. But there is very little difficulty in evading this: and a mode of evading it has already suggested itself to ecclesiastical lawyers. At the last session of the Provincial Synod it was proposed that no person should be admitted to Holy Orders without having previously signed a contract to abide by the decision of the Metropolitan's Court in all matters of doctrine. The result is a general dead level-a want of energy, of elasticity, and of diversity of opinion. The complexity of a Church has been in all ages the secret of its life. But the "Canadian Church" is not complex. It is a narrow and narrowing sect.

4. Of the evils of the Canadian mode of appointing bishops, two are especially prominent. The first is the impulse which it gives to electioneering. The worst features of the political system of the country are introduced into the ecclesiastical system. It would be bad enough in England to have the machinery which is employed for the return of a member to Parliament set in motion for the election of a bishop; but in a country like Canada, where electioneering is even less reputable than it is here, the effect, both upon the status of the Anglican Church in the estimation of other religious bodies, and upon the religious life of its members, is disastrous in the extreme. The second is the demoralization of the episcopal character. It was, perhaps, pardonable in the Oxfordshire vicar to have it engraved upon his tombstone, that he was "omnibus episcopalibus virtutibus instructum;" but if he had written it of himself in his lifetime he would have proved it to be false. It

is impossible for a man to canvass, or to permit others to canvass for him, without losing somewhat of the selfrespect and dignity of character which are essential to an 66 overseer of souls." And only one Canadian election has been free from canvassing. It is impossible for a man to be a veritable "Father in God," to "reprove, rebuke, exhort" the very men to whom a few weeks before he was indebted for his election. It is impossible for him in the distribution of ecclesiastical patronage to overlook his supporters, or to weigh in an even balance the faults and excellences of his rivals. It has been proved to be impossible in fact.

This first free Anglican Church can thus hardly be called a successful experiment by the friends of religious progress. Although the forced purchase of the lifeinterest of the existing generation in the clergy reserves did not seriously lessen the material resources of the Church, the severance of the tie which bound it, however slightly, to the State, considerably impaired its value, both as a means of religious life and as an agent of civilization. Liberal politicians were too intent on abolishing an obvious political injustice to heed the bearings. of the abolition upon the inner working of the Church itself. It was assumed that the majorities in the existing synods fairly represented the mass of the churchgoing population. It would have been so no doubt if the church-going population had been at liberty from the outset to organize their own constitution and to choose their own clergy. But the majority of both the parochial clergy and their bishops were not native, but intrusive. The action of the English Government-for example, in sending out a batch of Irish clergy during Sir John Colborne's administration-and of 'the great religious societies in providing

almost every new cluster of emigrant families with one of their carefullyselected nominees-had disturbed the natural balance of parties. And when the Church was cut adrift, no opportunity was afforded to its members of reviewing the existing organization or of restoring the disturbed equilibrium. The rudder was in the hands of the Ultramontane party, and they received legal authority to keep it. A double injustice was done. The Rectories Act of 1851, and the Clergy Reserves Act of 1854, took the control of the endowments of the Church from the control of independent officials, and placed it in the hands of an accidental majority: the Synod Act of 1856 converted the accidental majority into a permanent one, by giving it the power to fix the terms upon which they should be at liberty to exclude their opponents. The several sections of the minority clearly had a claim upon the Government to have their interests protected. But their interests were entirely overlooked. The consequence is that the state of "freedom" is to them a state of bondage: comprehensiveness has become impossible: the clergy are every day becoming more of one type the Church is every day becoming more of a sect. It is doubtless

saving a local squabble or two-a peaceable and orthodox sect: its calm waters are hardly ruffled by the fierce winds of controversy which agitate and keep fresh the religious life of England. But stagnation is a heavy price to pay even for orthodoxy: and the state of the Anglican Church in Canada furnishes a precedent which will be avoided, rather than followed, by both churchmen and statesmen who desire, in reorganizing the Anglican Church" in Ireland, not to deprive its members of their chief guarantees for spiritual progress and intellectual vigour.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

(Continued.)

MAITRE GARDON had soon found out that his charge had not head enough to be made a thorough-going controversial Calvinist. Clever, intelligent, and full of resources as she was, she had no capacity for argument, and could not enter into theoretical religion. Circumstances had driven her from her original Church and alienated her from those who had practised such personal cruelties on her and hers, but the mould of her mind remained what it had been previously; she clung to the Huguenots because they protected her from those who would have forced an abhorrent marriage on her and snatched her child from her; and, personally, she loved and venerated Isaac Gardon with ardent, self-sacrificing filial love and gratitude, accepted as truth all that came from his lips, read the Scriptures, sang and prayed with him, and obeyed him as dutifully as ever the true Espérance could have done; but, except the merest external objections against the grossest and most palpable popular corruptions and fallacies, she really never entered into the matter. She had been left too ignorant of her own system to perceive its true claims upon her; and though she could not help preferring High Mass to a Calvinist assembly, and shrinking with instinctive pain and horror at the many profanations she witnessed, the really spiritual leadings of her own individual father-like leader had opened so much that was new and precious to her, so full of truth, so full of comfort, giving so much moral strength, that, unaware that all the foundations had been laid by Mère Monique, the reso

lute, high-spirited little thing, out of sheer constancy and constitutional courage, would have laid down her life as a Calvinist martyr, in profound ignorance that she was not in the least a Calvinist all the time.

Hitherto, her wandering life amid the persecuted Huguenots of the West had prevented her from hearing any preaching but good Isaac's own, which had been rather in the way of comfort and encouragement than of controversy, but in this great gathering it was impossible that there should not be plenty of vehement polemical oratory, such as was sure to fly over that weary little head. After a specimen or two, the chances of the sermon being in Provençal, and the necessity of attending to her child, had been Eustacie's excuse for usually offering to attend to the ménage, and set her hostess free to be present at the preachings.

However, Rayonette was considered as no valid excuse; for did not whole circles of black-eyed children sit on the floor in sleepy stolidity at the feet of their mothers or nurses, and was it not a mere worldly folly to pretend that a child of sixteen months could not be brought to church? It was another instance of the mother's frivolity and the grandfather's idolatry.

The Moustier, or minster, the monastic church of Montauban, built on Mont Auriol in honour of St. Théodore, had, twelve years before, been plundered and sacked by the Calvinists, not only out of zeal for iconoclasm, but from long-standing hatred and jealousy against the monks. Catherine de Médicis had, in 1546, carried off two of the jasper columns from its chief doorway to the Louvre; and, after some years more, it was entirely destroyed. The grounds