question. Nothing more was determined than that the variance on the part of Mr. Gorham from the articles and formularies of our Liturgy, if any, was not such as to justify the Bishop of Exeter in refusing to institute him to a benefice to which he had been presented by the Crown; and, in justification of such a determination, it was proved that opinions similar to those professed by Mr. Gorham had been held by our early reformers, as well as by Usher, Carleton, Pearson, and other eminent divines, who had, nevertheless, been permitted to retain their preferments.

"When it is notorious that upon this abstruse subject of baptismal regeneration the church is now divided into two opposite parties, would it not, I would ask, have been more discreet to have allowed the same latitude, as to difference of opinions, which has hitherto been permitted, to have continued, and which would exclude neither party from the church, rather than by strict dogmatical definitions to drive one or the other of them into schism? By the judgment in the Gorham case no one's freedom of opinion was in any degree fettered. Those who believed that regeneration invariably accompanied baptism, as well as those who conceived that a prevenient act of grace was necessary in the case of infants for its fit reception, might still have performed their Saviour's work in their several spheres of usefulness, although they might not exactly concur in opinion upon an avowedly difficult subject. "On these grounds I regret much that it has been thought necessary to create such an agitation upon this subject, not only in my diocese, but in, I believe, nearly every diocese in the kingdom. Since however, this has been done, it becomes certainly the duty of those who have been placed in authority to allay it as far as they can. With this view the bishops have already held three meetings, which have been very numerously attended; and they are to meet again on Monday next, when probably some final result may be determined; but all their exertions will be in vain unless the clergy themselves can be persuaded to look upon those of their brethren who may entertein different views from themselves upon certain abstruse points of doctrine with the spirit of reconciliation and forbearance."

"I am, my dear Yorke, yours affectionately.
"(Signed)
"H. WORCESTER."

CONVERSIONS.

SIR.-I have been informed of the reception of Miss Aglionby, (cousin of H. Aglionby, Esq., M.P. for Cockermouth,) and of an honourable M.P. for one of the Welsh counties, the scion of a Welsh house; the latter is only an on dit. Poor Mr. Maskell, although assured by the Primate of all England (?) that the Church of England teaches no definite doctrine, still remains behind fighting for a shadow. Truly does a better cause than that of Anglicanism desire such a man. God grant that he may not play with grace, and delay responding to the voice of the ETERNAL ONE, until it be too late.I am, Sir, yours faithfully, A CONVERT, Formerly Curate of B.

Feast Ste Katherine, V., 1850. We are glad to be able to inform our readers that the Misses Flavia and Ellen Dayman, sisters of Mr. A. J. Dayman, late curate of Wasperton, Warwick, have made their abjuration of Protestantism, and been admitted into the Church.

SECESSIONS.-Edward Purbrick, Esq., undergraduate member of Christchurch, Oxford, has seceded to the Church of Rome; and Mrs. Dayman, with two of her daughters, the widow and children of the Rev. Charles Dayman, vicar of Great Tew, in Oxfordshire, and a select preacher at Oxford, have also joined the Romish communion. Mrs. Dayman's son, a graduate of Exeter College, Oxford, and a clergyman in the diocese of Worcester,

were recently announced as having preceded his relatives in the course of apostacy.

We learn, from the New York Freeman's Journal that six converts were recently received into the Church at Newark, New Jersey, consisting, we believe, of the two Dr. Hassels, and of their respective families. These conversions were preceded by that of the father of these gentlemen, Dr. Hassel, of New York, and are all attributable, under God, to the earnest and unostentatious influence and prayers of Dr. Thomas, whom, previous to his conversion, they used to look to as their religious teacher.

SECESSIONS TO ROME.-We regret to learn that two estimable clergymen, highly beloved and respected for their amiable character and the exemplary discharge of their sacred duties, were received at Rome in Easter week into the Roman Catholic Church. Their names are the Rev. John Henry Wy Wynne, B.C.L., Fellow of All Souls' College, and the Rev. James Laird Patterson, M.A., of Trinity College.-Times.

We understand that the Rev. William Dodsworth, perpetual curate of Christ's Church, St. Pancras, has resigned his incumbency, with the intention of joining the Catholic Church.

FOREIGN.

AUSTRIA. IMPERIAL DECREE ON THE RELATIONS OFTHE CHURCH AND THE HOLY SEE.-"With the view of putting into execution the rights guarranteed to the Catholic Church by par. 2 of the letters-patent, dated May 4, 1849, I, on the report of my Minister of Public Worship and Instruction, and by the advice of my Council of Ministers, approve of the following arrangements for all those countries of my empire concerned in these letters-patent. "1. It is permitted, both to the Bishops and to the Faithful committed to their care, to address themselves to the Pope on ecclesiastical affairs, and to receive the decisions and orders of the Pope without having occasion for a previous permission from the temporal authorities.

"2. The Catholic Bishops are permitted to address exhortations and regulations on subjects within their competence, and in the limits of their jurisdiction, to their Clergy and their communes, without previous approbation of the temporal authority. Nevertheless, if their decrees carry along with them external results, and if they are to be published, they are bound to send a copy to the authorities of the district where the promulgation or application is to take place.

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"3. Those ordinances are abolished which forbade the ecclesiastical authority to inflict Church penalties, not having any influence on civil rights." "4. It belongs to the ecclesiastical power to suspend from their ecclesiastical functions, or to deprive-in the form laid down by the canon lawsthose who do not exercise those functions conformably to their duty, and to declare them dispossessed of the revenues attached thereto.

"5. The co-operation of the temporal authority may be demanded for the execution of the judgment, if the regular proceeding of the Ecclesiastical authority has been communicated to it, with the proper documents.

"6. My Minister of Public Worship and Instruction is charged with the foregoing ordinances.

"If a Catholic Priest abuses his functions to such an extent that his deprivation becomes necessary, my authorities will, in the first instance, treat with his Ecclesiastical superiors.

"If a Catholic Priest is under condemnation for a crime or an offence (délit), the tribunals will transmit to the Bishop, at his request, the acts of instruction.

"I consider the right which I possess of nominating the Bishops, as

having been transmitted me by my ancestors, and I desire to exercise it conscientiously for the utility and welfare of the Church. When I nominate to Bishoprics, I will, as I have always done up to this day, take counsel of the Bishops, and, above all, of those of the Ecclesiastical province where the vacant See is situated.

"In whatever concerns the forms to be observed in the exercise of the rights of the Sovereign in the nomination to Ecclesiastical employments and prebends, my Minister of Public Worship and Instruction will lay before me the necessary propositions.

"Each Bishop will be at liberty, in his diocese, to ordain and direct public worship in the tenor of the resolutions adopted by the assembly of the Bishops.

"In places where the Catholic population forms the majority, my authorities will take care that the feast of the Sunday, and the other Catholic festivals, be not disturbed by noisy handicrafts, or by public commercial movement.

"I moreover recognise the communications made to me by the assembly. of the Bishops, and I authorise my Minister of Public Worship and Instruction to carry them out according to the views which they embody.

"I desire that a report be made to me as soon as possible, on the questions not yet decided; and, if it be necessary to set on foot negociations with the Holy See, the required arrangements must be made. The same order is given as regards the means which my Government ought to use to keep remote from public affairs men who would compromise social order. "FRANCIS JOSEPH.

"Vienna, 8th April. 1850." ITALY-ROME: ILLUMINATION AT ST. PETER'S.-Of all places in the world where illumination can produce the greatest effect, or where fireworks can be seen to advantage, Rome offers the most striking situations; and I defy you to select, in any other part of Europe, a centre round which millions of lamps can be exhibited like the cupola of St. Peter's, or a frontage equal to that of the Castle of St. Angelo, where the revolving wheel or the magical bouquet can be so well displayed. I have beheld from the heights of Pera, 10,000 wooden houses burning in Constantinople, on the opposite side of the Golden Horn, and I have seen over and over again, all that Louis Philippe could do in front of the garden of the Palais Bourbon, to convince the people that the state of France was as brilliant as his annual exhibition. But, though there was something terribly sublime in the one, and not a little of attraction in the other, both fell short of the magical illusion produced on these occasions in the Eternal City. The illumination of the cupola is the perfection of art, and a masterpiece of scenic effect. You are first shown the front of the great temple, and the cupola lighted up with a multitude of paper lanterns, and, admitting that the thing is very grand, you feel something like regret that it is not all you expected; when, at a given signal, with the touch of thought, so rapid that the eye or the mind can scarcely follow it, you see the whole cupola one blaze of millions of sparkling lamps, and you are lost in surprise and wonder. In one second of time the whole cupola has burst into a flame of ardent fire, each lamp being separate and distinct, and each requiring the action of the Promethean torch. I must tell you how the instantaneous lighting up is produced. You must understand that what the Romans call the "Ave Maria" is the hour of sunset, because in good old times every one uncovered his head and addressed a short prayer to the Virgin. Well, at that hour the first lighting up of St. Peter's takes place, and for one hour exactly you see the innumerable paper lanterns within which so many farthing candles are hid. Now, exactly at half-past eight, three tolls of a great bell are heard, and at the third the paper

lanterns have all disappeared, and the cupola and portico are one chain of fire. The simple fact is, that hundreds-nay, thousands-of men and boys are hid behind the several panes where the lamps are hung, some on their feet, some on ladders, and some suspended from places where ladders cannot reach. Each of these men has a light, which he carefully conceals, and is charged with seven lamps, the wicks of all being previously tipped with turpentine, so that when the first bell is heard each match flies to its nearest lamp, and before the third is tolled the whole seven are in a blaze. Long practice has made these illuminators perfect, and last night, as on all former occasions, the experiment was attended with magical success.

The public Benediction by the Pope in person took place to-day, at the Church of St. John Lateran. On a former occasion the French army received the Papal Benediction in the great square of St Peter's, but on this day the Benediction was intended for all the world, and the immense area in front of the great Basilica was thronged. A tribune was prepared for the sacred Pontiff over the main portico of the church, and to it was every eye directed. At length the sound of artillery from the Castle of St. Angelo, which we call the "Canons of the Church," was heard, and in a few minutes the tribune was filled with Cardinals. Shortly after the Pope himself appeared, borne in full Pontificals on a high chair, which allowed him to see and be seen by all the world, and as he rose up to say the opening prayer, the immense crowd was hushed to solemn silence, and the people in the square, and the ladies in the carriages, fell on their knees, and the prayers of some thousand persons rose in a low voice to heaven. Then were heard the deep tones of Pio Nono, uttering the preparatory prayer, every word of which was distinctly audible at the furthest limit of the crowd, and after it the chanting of the responses made by the choir and the people, who were ranged beneath the platform. Next came a pause, as if to give time for a solemn prayer before the Benediction itself was pronounced, and then up rose the Pontiff, and'. extending his arms held his open palms over the heads of the multitude, and pronounced the solemn Benediction. The people knelt in pious submission at his feet, and as the last words were uttered each of the Faithful made the sign of the cross. The Pope returned in solemn state to the Vatican, escorted by the noble guard, and by the acclamation of the people.

The "girandola "-that is to say, the fireworks-took place later in the night on the battlements of the Castle of St. Angelo, the front of the Castle itself being covered with the slight reeds within which the combustible materials were concealed. Imagine the darkest night (dark nights are necessarily selected), and on the banks of a deep river, a château of the middle ages, romantic in its form, and of great extent, with a bridge connecting the castle with the opposite shore, from each battlement of which stands forth a gigantic statue, the white marble being distinguishable amid the surrounding gloom. Observe the tiny boats with a light in each, gliding in the stream, and allowing the waters of the Tiber to be seen; and listen to the voices of the thousand persons collected near the bridge, some occupying the windows and balconies of all the mansions, and the rest packed, as densely as they can be packed, in every open space whence a prospect can be obtained. Nothing, except at intervals, can be seen, but you have evidence from your ears that a great multitude is assembled, and your mind is filled with the actual solemnity of the scene, and the expectation that something still more magnificent is to appear. On a sudden the flash of a cannon from the rampart is seen, and the loud report is heard. Another and another succeeds, and the line of fire renders for instants visible the romantic vision. Then comes the opening of the "girandola," and from every part of the castle and the battlements flash forth fantastic figures, stars, birds of paradise, roses, and showers of gold, until the air is one mass of yellow light,

and you feel as if transported to an atmosphere worthy of California. Then comes the applause of the crowd, overpowering, by its intensity, the noise of the cannon and the exploding fireworks, till all sinks away like the dream of a moment, and, in lieu of the golden shower, stands forth a palace of silver, in the midst of which is noticed, in diamond letters, a sentimental tribute to Pio Nono. The palace dissolves, and, from its ruins, spring arrows of flame, serpents of fire, and darts of brilliant lustre flying towards heaven, or sporting to the river, whilst behind each screen garlands of roses, with centres of amethyst, are discovered, and an immense parterre of buds, and blossoms, and blooming flowers of every hue appears.

Rome is perfectly tranquil. The French garrison remains; but all the general officers, except two, return to France.-Abridged from the Times.

The holy Father has just named his eminence Cardinal Patrizi, member of the congregation de Propaganda Fide; their eminences the Cardinals Orioli and Vizzardelli, members of the congregation of the Ecclesiastical Affairs of China and the adjacent kingdoms; and his eminence Cardinal Dupont, member of the congregation of Rites.

PARLIAMENTARY RECORD.

THURSDAY, MAY 9.-ROMAN CATHOLIC WITNESSES.

Mr. R. M. Fox rose to put a question to Sir G. Grey. On Tuesday last at the Clerkenwell Police-court, a man of the name of Reardon was put into the witness box. The New Testament was handed to him, but before he was sworn, the officer of the court, after ascertaining that he was a Roman Catholic, told him to make the sign of the Cross. Reardon refused, stating that it was an insult to him to ask him to do so, as it implied that unless he first made the sign he would not consider his oath on the Evangelists binding. Mr. Combe, the presiding magistrate, then took up the matter, and said he had never before known a Roman Catholic witness refuse to make the sign of the Cross before being sworn. Reardon still refused, and Mr. Combe said, that if a Roman Catholic Priest were present, he would say that unless he first made the sign of the cross a Roman Catholic would not consider himself bound by his oath on the Evangelists to tell the truth. Reardon persisted, and was sworn without making the sign. His evidence contradicted that of witnesses on the opposite side. Mr. Combe said he would believe the other witnesses in preference to him (Reardon). The latter asked Mr. Combe if he meant to say that he (Reardon) was a perjured man. Mr. Combe distinctly told him, twice over, that he was so. He (Mr. Fox) wished to know what notice her Majesty's Secretary of State meant to take of this extraordinary proceeding.

Sir G. Grey said that his attention had been called by Lord Arundel and Surrey to the proceedings referred to; he directed a letter to be written to Mr. Combe, requesting any explanation with regard to it. Mr. Combe stated, in reply, that the report was generally accurate, and that Reardon was asked to cross himself according to the usual practice at that Court, and Mr. Combe stated that in some instances he had known Catholic parties insisting upon Catholic witnesses being required to cross themselves, because otherwise the witnesses would not consider the oath to be binding. Mr. Combe added that the opinion he afterwards expressed as to the credit due to the witness was not on the ground of his refusing to cross himself. He (Sir G. Grey) must however, say, that having made inquiries of several persons well informed on the subject, it appeared to be clear that, although in frequent instances Roman Catholic witnesses among the lowest classes voluntarily crossed themselves before they were sworn, not the slightest right existed to require them to do so, and that the practice of requiring them to do so