Untitled - Electric Scotland

1856-60] RIOTS IN ST. GEORGE S 237
clamour and violence reaching such a pitch, that the clergy and
choir were with difficulty extricated from the mob by the
l
police."
It would be tedious as well as painful, to recount the
repetition, Sunday after Sunday, of these disgraceful
scenes. The riot, disorder, and buffoonery grew worse
instead of better, and the civil authorities believed them
selves unable to interfere. In August the churchwardens
appealed to the Bishop. It seems right to reproduce the
Bishop s reply in full, notwithstanding its length,
as it
gives expression to his opinions not only on the particular
points at issue, but on some of the principles which under
lay both this and other strifes.
The Bishop of London to tJie Senior ChurcJiwarden of
St. George s in the East.
"LLANDUDNO, 5 September 1859.
"SiR, I beg to acknowledge your official letter of the 2d
instant, respecting the late disgraceful proceedings in the parish
of St. George s in the East. It reached me yesterday (Sunday),
and I also beg to acknowledge the copy of a report made to the
vestry of St. George in the East by a Committee appointed by
that body.
"
In answering your letter, I think it necessary to draw your
attention to a distinction as to Episcopal authority, very
commonly lost sight of in such disputes. A Bishop s authority
is of two kinds. Within a certain range defined by law, he has
power to give orders and enforce obedience to them by penalty
of law. Over a much wider range, he has authority from the
good feeling of all well-disposed members of the Church, who
voluntarily accept his paternal advice and guidance. It is not
too much to say that by far the greater part of a Bishop s
government of his Diocese is carried on through the willing
deference which good Christian feeling suggests to the members
of his Church, both lay and clerical, that he is entitled to claim
on account of the very nature of his office.
1 Biography of Charles Lowder, p. 173.