The great questions which affect the constitution of the Esta-
blished Church, its connexion with the State, and its relation to other communions, though for the moment less clamorously agi- tated, continue to engross the interest and attention of a wide public. Two meetings bearing upon these subjects have been held in the course of the week: an adjourned meeting of the clergy and laity of the Church of England who favour the activity of Diocesan Synods ; and a meeting of the clergy of the archdeacomy of London on the Maynooth grant. The latter trenches on deh- eate ground; but it is a natural if not a necessary consequence of the foolish bravado of Cardinal Wiseman and the resolutions of the Synod of Thurles. Against the former no objection can be fairly urged. It is reasonable that earnest members of the Established Church should desire such a completeness of its organization as may at once contribute to the maintenance of discipline and pro- tect the rights of the inferior clergy. At the same time, in seek- ing to attain so desirable an end, the rights of the laity and the security of the state from clerical encroachment must not be over- looked. Nothing spoken at the meeting indicated undue preten- sions on the part of the clergy; but the cautious and guarded language of Lord Lyttelton seemed to imply that he extends his views beyond the question immediately under discussion, to those wider and more essential questions which may be raised by its settlement
