We have now got another clergyman in gaol for not
conform- ing to the ritual which the Ecclesiastical Courts enforce. Mr. Bell Cox, vicar of St. Margaret's, Prince's Road, Liverpool, was on Thursday imprisoned in Walton Gaol for his contumacy in disregarding the order of Lord Penzance, as confirmed by the Court of Appeal. The Bishop of Liverpool, who at first refused his assent to the proceedings against Mr. Bell Cox, was ulti- mately persuaded to sanction them, though it is generally understood that the ritual which Mr. Bell Cox adopts is welcome to his congregation at large. It ie a very great misfortune for the Church.—though probably a good-fortune for the Ritualistic cause,—that imprisonment should be allowed for such a trans- gression of the law as this. It is the last relic of religious persecution.
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