Mr. Bennett, and one of them, Mr. Gibson, as a member
of Mr. Bennett's congregation, regretted that so good
a man should have been spoken of in such unchristian
and bitter terms by persons professing themselves
to be members of the Church of England. He had
been a constant attendant at St. Barnabas, and he
declared that he never witnessed what were called
Romanising mummeries. The proceedings were repeatedly
interrupted by noise and uproar, but ultimately
the address was adopted by a large majority.

A letter from the Bishop of Durham, on "the subject of
the Papal Aggression, has been published. It is
addressed to the Archdeacon of Lindisfarne, and indicates
the measures which, in the writer's opinion, are called
for at the present time. On this head the bishop says:
—"I am persuaded that no wish exists generally for
any measure but what self defence requires. An
outrageous attack has been made upon us; but I trust
adequate means may be devised for our own security without
disturbing the free exercise of religion by others or
infringing their rights of conscience. It surely cannot
be necessary to the maintenance of these great ends that
a foreign potentate should be permitted to insult a great
nation, trample upon the rights of the sovereign as
secured by law, and disturb the peace and good order of
the Established Church. In order to prevent such evils,
it may be necessary to provide some restrictions upon
the introduction and circulation of Papal bulls in this
island; and to prohibit the assumption of episcopal titles
conferred by Rome and deriving the name from any
place in this country. It may also be desirable to
forbid the existence of monastic institutions, strictly so
called; nor can the residence of any Jesuits appear
otherwise than injurious among Scotch and English
Protestants. That order is well known to have shown
itself so dangerous, that it was suppressed by Clement
XIV. in 1773, with the approbation of all wise and good
men. What species or amount of merit may have
brought them again into favour at Rome, I profess
myself unable to determine; but I am sure you will
agree with me, that a body of men whose principles and
conduct have been so justly reprobated in Catholic
countries cannot be looked upon as desirable neighbours
among Protestants like ourselves."

A New Romish Bishopric has been formed in the
south of Ireland, the late united diocese of Cloyne and
Ross having, at the earnest prayer of Dr. Murphy, the
present bishop, been divided by the Pope into two;
Dr. Murphy to remain Bishop of Cloyne, and the Rev.
Dr. Ryan, parish priest of Middleton, having been
appointed to the diocese of Ross. The bull for the
consecration of the new bishop has arrived, and is in the
hands of Dr. Slattery, the Roman Catholic Archbishop
of Cashel.

A correspondence, on the subject of Mr. Bennett's
resignation of the incumbency of St. Paul's and St.
Barnabas, has been published. Sir John Harington
and Mr. Gibson, on behalf of the Congregation, wrote
to Mr. Bennett on the 7th instant, objecting to his
resignation, on the ground that it was not valid in law;
that it was a mere promise, inadvertently made, and
should not be followed up. Mr. Bennett, in reply,
declared that he repudiated the temporal law as binding
on the conscience in spiritual matters; that though he
should be found wrong in temporal law, he would not
forego his obedience to the far higher court of God, and
to the Bishop's judgment that he is guilty of unfaithfulness
to the Church of England: and that he would
therefore sign the legal documents of resignation on the
25th of March. The congregation then applied to the
Bishop of London, proposing that he should "specify
what, in the administration of the services at St. Paul's
and St. Barnabas, he wished to be altered, omitted, or
supplied." They said that they desired to try in the
Ecclesiastical Courts those questions for which Mr.
Bennett had been pronounced unfaithful to the Church
of England; and to raise those questions with the least
possible delay and expense, admitted the facts in an
amicable spirit, contending not for victory but truth.
The Bishop, however, closed the correspondence by
declining, through his secretary, to accede to the request.
A numerously attended meeting, having for its object
the Revival of Convocation, was held at Freemasons'
Hall on the 14th. Mr. Henry Hoare presided. An
address to the Queen was moved by Mr. Dudley
Perceval, and seconded by Dr. Biber, praying, upon a
variety of considerations, stated at great length, that her
Majesty, "agreeably to the solemn pledge given at her
coronation, would issue her royal licence to the
Convocations of Canterbury and York, on their next
assembling according to custom at the commencement of
the session of Parliament, in order, that, upon their
advice, and her Majesty's assent, such steps might be
taken as should be best calculated not only to vindicate
the Church of England from the recent aggression of
the See of Rome, but to provide for the suppression
within the Church of unsound doctrine of every description,
by reason of which the Church is grievously
divided, as well for the development of her internal
resources in such wise as might best enable her to do
her proper work in promoting the salvation of souls,
and in dispelling the mists of ignorance, error, and
superstition, by the bright beams of Christ's holy
gospel." An amendment was moved by the Rev. W.
Cox, and seconded by Mr. J.J. Cummins, to the effect
that the independent action of Synods or Convocation
is not sanctioned by the laws of England; that it is the
prerogative of the Crown to convene both Houses of
Convocation, to deliberate upon such matters as may be
committed to them, but that it is equally the right of
the Crown to prevent them from being made the arena
of party discussions, as they have heretofore been,
and would undoubtedly become again; and that in the
present agitated state of the Church, it would not
conduce to peace or concord, were the Houses of
Convocation to be permitted to discuss any question of faith
or discipline of the Church of England, as already settled
by her articles and formularies. After a long debate
the amendment was negatived, and the original address
carried by a great majority.

A great meeting of the friends of the Liberal and Free-
trade interests in the manufacturing districts of Lancashire
and Yorkshire was held on the 23d at Manchester,
mainly for the purpose of hearing addresses from the
representatives of the largest of those constituencies upon
the present aspect of public affairs previously to the
opening of Parliament. The chief speakers were
Messrs. Milner Gibson, Cobden, and Bright. Mr.
Milncr Gibson drew attention to the successful issue of
the policy supported by Mr. Cobden and his friends, in
reference to the national finances, and attributed the
leaning towards reduction of taxation shown by the
present government to the influence of the Council of
the Free-trade party. He declared himself opposed to
dealing with taxation upon the narrow grounds of
whether there was a surplus or a deficiency, and wished
to see it based upon well-considered principles. He
then enumerated several taxes which might be reduced
without losing revenue. He instanced the taxes on tea
and coffee; and, referring to the rumoured abolition of
the window tax, he censured the proposed substitution
of a house tax. He then gave an eloquent summary of
the arguments in favour of the abolition of taxes upon
knowledge, and advocated the removal of the stamp,
advertisement, and paper duties. Mr. Gibson and Mr.
Bright dwelt chiefly upon the panic about Papal
Aggression; and Mr. Bright stated that all the most
widely-circulated local papers in Lancashire and
Yorkshire, and the adjacent counties of the East and North,
have refused to give any countenance to the cry, and in
many instances have boldly and resolutely opposed it.
Mr. Cobden marked the difficulty and incongruity of
legislation on the subject, by a prominent statement of
the qualification for a spiritual war with the alleged
aggressor, of our House of Commons—containing its
forty or fifty Roman Catholics, (and more of them
coming from Ireland,) an Independent or two, three or
four Unitarians, a Quaker, and the prospect of a Jew.
He concluded by a reference to his own public career.
Alluding to his having been called a disappointed
demagogue, he said: " This disappointed demagogue wants
no public employment: if I did, I might have had it
before now. I want no favour, and, as my friend
Bright says, no title. I want nothing that any government
or any party can give me; and if I am in the
House of Commons at all, it is to give my feeble aid to