■ Mm
1899.] Trade Prosperity. [237
receiving requests or injunctions from their bishops to give up the practices held by the archbishops to be illegal in the Church of England, refused compliance, was very small — probably not more than thirty in the whole country. The practical certainty, however, of hearty congregational support to recalcitrant clergy could not but serve to enhance the difficulty of the question, how to deal with the cases of the very small minority of clergy who persistently refused obedience. In November rumours were current of a possible resolution of the bishops to initiate prosecutions in their several dioceses against those incumbents who declined their requests for conformity with the Lambeth •decision. In an Advent pastoral to his diocese, however, the Archbishop of York said that he did not believe that there was "a single bishop who would think of taking such a step," although unquestionably it lay within their power, and " it was important that this should be made clear, not so much to justify its use if necessary, as to afford ground for opposing as needless any further legislation of a more stringent and vexatious char- acter. But," his Grace proceeded, " although the bishops themselves may abstain from prosecutions, it is unlikely that they would place any impediment in the way of others who desired to take this step." In view of this intimation, and of the fiery zeal of the extreme Protestant party, there appeared little doubt that if the requisite handfuls of " aggrieved par- ishioners " could be found, or formed, a new era of anti-ritualist prosecutions of locally popular and reverenced clergy would speedily set in. Such a prospect could in no case have been favourable to the peace and efficiency of the Church of England as a whole. It had, moreover, to be remembered that, for «ome unexplained reason, the Primates had held back their •decision on another matter — that of the legality of the reser- vation of the sacrament — which also had been before them in the summer. If, whenever given, that decision also should be altogether against the practice of many of the advanced clergy, it was recognised that the strain placed thereby on their loyalty might prove very severe.
In a year which closed in the midst of a great, and so far most unsuccessful war, and which brought much anxiety in the ecclesiastical sphere, it is at least pleasant to be able to record that trade and commerce flourished exceedingly. In almost all the great manufacturing industries of the country 1899 either reached or approached the highest output ever known. It was so in the chief centres of the metal industries, and the engineering and shipbuilding trades resting there- upon. It was so, and with prices for the first time for many years at fairly remunerative rates, in the Lancashire cotton industry. Great activity also reigned in the principal woollen and worsted centres of the West Biding, where, especially in Bradford, which in past years has been principally dependent on the American market, there was marked evidence of in-
