public opinion. On the few occasions in which they had taken action they had been accused of making martyrs, whilst every attempt to extend the episcopal power had been met with hostility by Parliament.
The fact that the country at large was disturbed by the controversy raised by Sir Wm. Harcourt, and maintained in the Press for several months, was fairly shown in the Protestant demonstration held at the Albert Hall (Jan. 31). The building, one of the largest in the kingdom, was closely packed with an audience wholly sympathetic, but no more typical Protestant could be found than Lord Kinnaird, and the only outcome of the meeting was the despatch of a telegram to the Queen, asking her to give the Prime Minister directions to take the necessary steps in the coming session of Parliament for suppressing the Romish practices in vogue in numerous churches.
The object of Sir Wm. Harcourt in promoting a discussion on the "Crisis in the Church" was not easily discoverable. Its importance was due to the fact that it had been originated by the one-time leader of the Liberal party in Parliament, but it was difficult to see what political benefits could be derived from a question from which the nonconformists of all denominations held themselves aloof, and the nonconformists had always been the backbone of the Liberal party. The marked unanimity, moreover, with which laymen of any importance refrained from taking part in the discussion was a further indication of the unwillingness of the leaders of opinion and thought to identify themselves with a movement of which the inception was so obscure. From the correspondence which appeared in the columns of the various newspapers, the only feature of the discussion which seemed to be permanent was the wholly antagonistic view of the Reformation taken by the two parties in the Church. To the High Churchmen, Ritualists, and Anglicans, the Reformation was an isolated act, committed by one of the tyrannous Tudors in order to satisfy his selfish purposes, but his successors and their advisers had been anxious to preserve as far as possible the continuity of their connection with the Church of Rome. Their opponents held that the Reformation was merely an incident in the evolution of independent thought and freedom of conscience in religious matters, which had existed in England since the days of Wycliffe, and had with time increased in strength. The events of Henry's reign and the temper of the Tudors gave the Reformers a political standpoint, of which they took full advantage, but did not press their doctrinal views to extremes, and were content for a while to accept formularies and to adopt ceremonies with which they anticipated the public mind would in time dispense, although in a period of transition they might have had their uses. Any attempt at compromise between two schools of thought, tending in absolutely opposite directions, was futile, and the bishops to whom the spread of religious thought and views was pre-
