presented to them through the Secretary. What wonder, under these circumstances, that nobody cares about the annual meeting!

The position is an unsound one, and the National Society is, in consequence, verging towards decay. Nevertheless, its status has a great adscititous importance; because the Committee of Council on "Education" assumes that the Committee of the Society represents the mind of the Society, and, therein, of the Church. In pursuance of this convenient policy the Committee of Council on "Education" were not slow to turn to their own uses "the course of the Society," that is, of the Committee, so soon as that course was inaugurated by the Committee in their Memorandum of July 23, 1860. All these are public facts, and well known; though the Bishop of Norwich and his archdeacons, and other clergy and laity of his diocese, do not seem to be aware of them.

The course of the Committee of the Society that is, of the Society has been precisely the course complained of in Mr. Allen's resolution. They have taken that course deliberately; have repeated it after many remonstrances; and, up to this time, have persisted in it. It is wholly indefensible upon any principle, Church or not Church; as we cannot doubt the Bishop of Norwich and his diocese will say when they know exactly what it is; which at present they do not. Some facts travel slow; which is, we suppose, to be accounted for by their astounding and almost incredible character. Nevertheless, two years and three months does seem a long time for a fact to take in travelling from London to Norwich.

Constitutionalism in Prussia.

HAT the Orientals call the "black fate" seems at present to be weighing heavily upon the fortunes of Prussia. With a genume desire on both sides to do their duty, the Government and the Deputies have only become inextricably involved in a collision; and Prussia and Germany at large suffers from this deplorable conflict. The general, we might say universal, opinion in this country appears to be that the King of Prussia and his Ministers are wholly in the wrong, and the Chamber of Deputies is as unequivocally in the right. We demur to that opinion. And we think it important that the true position of parties in this Prussian deadlock should be clearly apprehended by the English public. It is certainly trying to one's patience, in the present delicate conjuncture of affairs in Europe, to see the Prussians forfeiting their political reputation (of which they had little to spare), not only by putting back the good prospect that was opening upon Germany, but also by laying the basis of gravest dissensions which may end by imperilling the integrity of the Fatherland. And yet, if we restrain our impatience and examine the question, it will be found that our censure cannot be restricted to one party-that the ill-omened and most unreasonable conflict between the Deputies and the Herenhaus, and the Government, who are supported by the latter, is really due to a want of

statesmanship among the Prussians,-and that Germany might well echo the dying exclamation of Mercutio-" a plague on both your houses."

The position is this. Prussia, in common with all Germany, and like our own country, lately awoke to a sense of its insecurity from foreign attack, and desired the national defences to be put into better order. The grand reviews and the result of military investigation proved that the old system of merely three years' service was not sufficient to produce an army able to cope with the veteran battalions of other countries. Under such a system, of course, owing to the constant changes in the personnel of the army-the average training of the soldiers, at any given time, would be only eighteen months; and although this average is considerably heightened by the fact that many soldiers do not withdraw when their period of service expires, still it was justly felt by the Government that the term of service was too short to perfect the soldier in the use of those arms of precision, and the new manoeuvres thereby rendered necessary, by which the fortunes of every battle are now determined. Hence the Government, acting on the report of a committee appointed to investigate the matter, desire to lengthen the minimum period of service from three years to five; a regulation which, the conscription being kept up at its former amount, will also augment the numerical strength of the army. There was yet another reason why the Prussian Government should desire this augmentation and increased efficiency of the army: namely, that the Liberal party in the Chambers were always urging the Government to adopt a

strong policy," and to take measures to promote the unification of Germany, under the hegemony of Prussia-in 1860 they actually carried a motion to that effect against the Government-and the Government rightly argued, that, if the Chambers were to have their way, there must be an increase of the army, as it is ridiculous for a State to attempt a "strong policy" without having a strong army to back it. back it. The Prussian Government, thus urged to ambition by the Liberal party, could not forget the snubbing it got twelve years ago from Austria under Prince Schwartsenberg, when it first thought of trying the game of ambition which a majority of the Deputies was again eager to force upon it.

These were the reasons which induced the Prussian Government to make that increase of the military-budget which has given rise to the present collision. It is beyond our knowledge to decide whether this increased outlay is altogether warranted, either as regards its amount or the mode in which it is applied. But we need have no hesitation in saying this much :-(1), that, amidst the universal increase of armaments that has taken place of late years, it was impossible for Prussia to remain stationary, with her old cumbrous and inadequate military system; and, (2), that the Liberals were especially prevented from objecting to an increase of the army, seeing that they urged upon the Government a policy which could only be carried out, or even attempted, by an army much larger and more efficient than that which existed. Mr. Disraeli never spoke a truer word than when, with happy sententiousness, he said that "military expenditure depends upon policy;" and in urging upon

the Government to adopt an ambitious policy, and at the same time objecting to an increase of the army, the Prussian Deputies were playing the unreasonable part of men who desire at once "to eat their loaf and have their loaf."

So far, then, as regards the merits of the question at issue between the Prussian Deputies and the Government, we think the Deputies quite in the wrong. Nor can the question, as a constitutional matter, be unhesitatingly decided in their favour. They, the Lower Chamber, have struck out a sum from the budget, which they were entitled to do; and the Upper House have rejected the budget as thus altered, which they also had quite a right to do. The Lower House thereupon "struck work," and refused to vote any other budget. What was the Government to do? It had introduced a budget, which the Lower Chamber had accepted with an alteration, but which the Upper Chamber rejected because of the alteration. There is a deadlock. No constitutionalist will say that the Prussian Deputies had a right to summarily override the decision of the two other branches of the Constitution. Granted that in the long run it is the Deputies, the Lower Chamber, which ought to decide in matters of finance: this has become a matter of usage, and with very good reason, in this country: but it is not a constitutional right which the Commons are entitled to put in force the moment the Upper House does not simply register their decrees. The paper-duties recently furnished an analogous conflict of jurisdiction in this country; but our House of Commons-though rooted for centuries in the estimation of the people, whereas the Prussian Chamber is but of yesterday-totally rejected the idea of arrogating a summary supremacy. when we remove the question from an English to a Prussian ground, the case of the Deputies becomes weaker. De jure, King, Lords, and Commons, are equal and co-ordinate powers: and although usage has in practice greatly altered the original equality of these three branches of the Constitution in this country, in Prussia no such usage has been established, and the Constitution which the King swore to uphold is unquestionably more monarchical in spirit than ours. Manifestly it was so understood by him at Koenigsberg (under his predecessor it had been little more than a nominis umbra); and this fact ought to have had some weight with the Deputies, and made them more moderate in the assertion of a privilege which is ignored by the Constitution, and which they are claiming and establishing for the

first time.

And

Let us now look at the reverse of the medal. We have commenced by setting forth the weak points of the position taken up by the Chamber of Deputies; because, obvious as some of those weak points are, and highly compromising as they are in the aggregate, they have been totally passed over by the newspapers of this country. We have got so much into the habit of considering that the Commons must always be in the right in constitutional questions, that we extend this inference (which is not perfectly correct even in our own country) with a hasty and still more erring dogmatism to the politics of other countries. But while thus directing attention to the questionable policy of the Prussian

Chamber of Deputies, we cannot hesitate to take equal exception to the course pursued by the Prussian Government. If the Government be technically right in asserting for the Executive and Upper House a co-ordinate legislative power with the Deputies, it ought not to ignore the course which Constitutional Government has taken in England, and which it manifestly is already taking in Prussia. The voting of taxes is a department of Government which chiefly, though not quite exclusively, belongs to the popular branch of the legislature, and which cannot possibly be carried in an entire opposition to it. As the matter now stands, the Prussian Government, having failed to get any budget voted for this year, has to adopt the arbitrary course of falling back upon the budget of the previous year, and levying the taxes which were then voted, but which are now objected to by the popular Chamber. We shall not say whether, under any circumstances, however exceptional, such a course is admissible; but we are very sure that it is an unwise course as matters stand. For, even granting that the increased expenditure for military purposes is called for by the state of the army and the aspect of European politics, of what use is an augmentation of the military power of the State if it be obtained at the expense of internal dissensions which must weaken Prussia far more than any increase of the army will strengthen her? A conflict between the Executive and the Representatives of the people will paralyse the power of the Government, and totally destroy that prestige upon which Prussia has hitherto reckoned as her most powerful agency for acquiring the leadership of Germany.

In many respects this most regretable collision between the Executive and the Commons in Prussia suggests recollections of the still more lamentable conflict between King and Commons which gave rise to our Great, Rebellion. The question then was about ship-money, as now in Prussia it is the budget for the army. In the circumstances of the case, Charles only asked what was reasonable for the support of our navy, the sheet-anchor of our national independence; and in our opinion the King of Prussia, in desiring to keep his army at the same point in numbers and efficiency as it has been for the last two years, acts wisely for the interests of his country. But what does that matter if the gain is to be obtained by incurring a still greater loss? The Deputies may be wrong in refusing the proposals of the Government, but their refusal introduces a new element into the question which the Government had at heart, and which every ruler of statesman-like ability would at once take into account. Their opposition may be deplored-it cannot be ignored. And now that it has been unmistakably manifested, now that the work of Government has come to a deadlock, and that domestic dissension is on the eve of assuming most painful and paralysing proportions, we think the Prussian Government would act wisely if it rather yielded to the reduction of the numbers and efficiency of the army than provoked a domestic conflict which would not only weaken but go a long way to destroy the power of the country.

The next step on the part of the Prussian Government will be to levy the taxes on its own

pension for the Warden, as was already done for some of the professors. The Bishop says now that the latter was a "suggestion" of his own desire for a pension: but he did not say so to the archdeacon himself on the contrary, the letter which his lordship has published negatives both the archdeacon's propositions, and then adds that the Commissioners "all think it fair" to offer him a pension in order to bring the arrangement which he objected to into earlier operation. The archdeacon, in his old age and failing health, feeling neither able nor willing to prolong the controversy, signified his consent in deference to the wishes of the Commissioners. He died before the time fixed for his

retirement, and now the Bishop, pretending to publish the correspondence (which he does not do), seizes the opportunity to remark, in a long letter to the Guardian, that the archdeacon was in pos session of 4000l. a-year from Church funds, and would not have made the "suggestion" if his mind had not been impaired by age and infirmity. His lordship, who is thought to be an amiable, kindhearted man, probably overlooked the pain which such remarks must give to many sorrowing survivors; but we marvel that even in the heat of a newspaper controversy he should have failed to see their effect on himself. The Bishop's mind, we presume, was not impaired by age or infirmity: he saw the impropriety of the "suggestion" which the archdeacon, by the way, indignantly repudiated the moment it was mentioned to him-and the effect it would have on the character of his failing old archdeacon; yet he deliberately offered the pension to the dying man, and as soon as he was in his rushed into the newspapers to point the grave finger of scorn at him!

Sisterhoods.*

E have for some time been desirous to say a few words on the very important subject to which our title will call the reader's attention; and the appearance of the authorized Report of the Summer Congress of Churchmen at Oxford will enable us to shape our remarks with a little more certainty as to the intent of the papers which were read, and the speeches which were made upon this subject. For, till this Report appeared, it would perhaps have been premature to have made comments on the proceedings as recorded in the newspapers, although some of these, especially those in the Guardian, seemed to be drawn up carefully and accurately. We have now, we suppose, such a Report as we may rely on, and such as the readers of papers and speakers will recognize as truly representing what was said.

The subject is one of such deep interest, that we hope to be pardoned if we profess at the outset our intention to eschew all light expressions, or any attempt at smart writing, and our resolution, as far as possible, to treat it in that calm practical tone which Englishmen and women wish to use and hear when they address themselves to any practical work, especially a work of charity and self-devotion. The growing sense of our religious and social need of such help as only systematic and permanent female ministration can supply for effectually carrying on those works

Report of the Proceedings of the Church Congress of 1862, held in the Sheldonian Theatre and Town Hall, Oxford, July 8th, 9th, and 10th. Oxford and London: J. H. and James Parker. Pp. xix and 288. See pp. 120-149.

Deaconesses. An Essay, by the Rev. J. S. Howson, D.D. Longman and Co. 1862.

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of mercy which the Author of our salvation has both enjoined and made the test of our obedience here and hereafter, the insuperable difficulties of parochial charges without such help,-the faulty regulations of hospitals, workhouses, almshouses, and orphan homes, penitentiaries, and prisons,-the want of visitors to relieve and reclaim and counsel the sick, the self-neglecting, and ignorant poor, especially in districts where some new mining or manufacturing enterprise has suddenly drawn together multitudes of hard-handed and strangely associated people, all these causes point out the employment of women in works of the vitality of this Christian kingdom at the present mopiety and charity as a question of the deepest interest to ment. Those who live in quiet rural retirement, as yet removed from the immediate spectacle of the changes that are in progress, may not have felt the need as it has been felt by Dr. Howson at Liverpool, or those whose labours but it has made itself heard far and wide, has met with a in other places are mentioned by him with due honour; willing response from many good and tender hearts, and we cannot be so indifferent as not to desire heartily to speed it on, if it can be advanced by any encouraging words of

ours.

Still it must be acknowledged, that, in this revival of an old recognized order of female ministers in the Church, bering well the caution that our good may not be evil we have yet to feel our way and proceed carefully, rememspoken of. There was certainly no subject of discussion introduced at the Oxford Congress at which the discussion itself, according to the good-humoured admonition of Mr. Henry Hoare, was so near "coming to grief," as at the reading of the papers and delivery of the speeches on the subject of Deaconesses and Sisterhoods. Let us inquire why this was so, with all honour and respect to those gentlemen who were most prominent in the debate, of whose earnest benevolence there is no question.

There are some things confessedly in Christianity of which the spirit is inseparable from the form. There are many others of which the spirit can be preserved, while Rightly to distinguish these things is a great part of Christhe forms are changed with changes of place and time, tian discipline. And we are not the first to make the remark; for the same thing is said in substance by the sagacious old Father, Tertullian, where he is addressing himself to questions akin to this. But to confound these things together is a grave mistake, and one that has led to more inconveniences than it is pleasant to remember.

We shall not attempt to go deeply into the historical precedents furnished by the early Church. These inquiries are for learned scholars; and, after all, little can be added. to what Bingham has collected, or what, in the most practical portion of the subject, has been well digested by Dr. be done by the appeals made by some highly respectable Howson. But it is right to remark that little good can members of the Congress to ancient writings of disputed and uncertain authority. We suppose it will be generally granted that, though undoubtedly there were ministering women, widows and maiden sisters, in the Church from apostolic times, it would not be easy to discover that Phoebe, or Lydia, Dorcas, or Priscilla, were bound by any other rule or bond than the bonds of the Gospel, any more than “the S. John addresses an epistle. It is the less necessary to elect lady," the pious mother of pious children, to whom argue the point, because S. Basil himself, whose writings furnish the earliest known and acknowledged specimen of rules for the discipline of maiden sisters, confesses that the females who, on some motives more or less to be approved, earlier Fathers were more indulgent to cases of associated changed their plan of life; but adds, that "as, by the favour of God, the Church was now grown stronger," it was time to lay down stricter canons. Far be it from us to say a word to derogate from the ever-revered memory of good S. Basil, but when he drew up his rules he could not foresee all the consequences; and, if we think it matter of regret that such rules were ever received into the Church under such severe and rigid sanctions, our quarrel is far less with S. Basil, or any other Greek or Latin Father, than with