Untitled - Electric Scotland

.856-60] THE RIOTS AT AN END 247
Mr. Hughes described as a man "
without an equal for
dealing with the roughest part of a London population."
This arrangement had the Bishop s entire approval, and
it was hoped that peace would follow. Mr. Hansard, how
ever, had promised Mr. Bryan King that he would main
tain certain of his usages unimpaired, and it soon became
evident that, in the temper which had been aroused among
the parishioners, even Mr. Hansard would fail to bring the
strife to an end unless the choral services were discon
tinued. The Bishop and Mr. Hansard made a joint effort
to obtain Mr. King s sanction for such alterations as
seemed necessary, but Mr. King, who was residing at
Bruges, declined to consent, and Mr. Hansard resigned
the charge. The position was now most difficult. It was
to the demands
easy to point out the mischief of yielding
of a disorderly mob, but it had become impossible to
allow the weekly scenes* of noisy irreverence to continue,
and no amount of energy on the part of the police could
restrain the congregation of a crowded church from the
profane amusement of shouting the psalms and canticles
so as to drown the choir, from shuffling with their feet
and coughing, or from banging the pew-doors at intervals.
The choice lay between again closing the church (a mere
temporary expedient at the best) and re-arranging the
services under a new curate in charge. The Bishop after
repeated conferences with those best able to advise him
decided upon the latter alternative. Mr. Bryan King
having declined any further responsibility in the matter,
the Bishop undertook to provide, at his own cost, for the
charge of the parish. A new curate was accordingly
licensed, and the services were so arranged as to corre
spond with what was then customary in London churches.
This re-arrangement was in entire accordance with the
advice of many, even High Churchmen, who had been con-