Untitled - Electric Scotland

1866-68] BISHOP GRAY S SPEECH 381
one resolution only, viz., the hypothetical one, should be put.
l
It was put, and carried almost unanimously and I ; thought that
after all no great harm was done, as it was only a hypothetical
proposition. Great therefore was my astonishment when we
reached St. James s Hall to hear the Bishop of Capetown, as I
understood him, announce that the last act of the Synod had
been to give its approval to the consecration of a new Bishop for
Natal. This made my blood boil, but I restrained myself in the
room. I went out, and seeing the danger more clearly, as I
thought of what had happened, I went to the Athenaeum, where
I consulted the Bishop of Limerick, and was hurrying back to
the hall with a note requesting the Bishop of Capetown to
explain to the meeting, when I met Argyll and others, who told
me the proceedings were all ended and the hall cleared. I
confess to having been made very angry, and to having spoken in
the strongest terms to various persons at my dinner-table of the
inaccuracy of what appeared to have been announced. I wish I
had not used such strong language, as it is not right.
"
Next morning I wrote a note to the Times, which I sub
mitted to Lincoln, Chester, Argyll, and others, and which, with
2
their approval, I published in all the papers.
" On Saturday we met again for Communion and Sermon in
Lambeth Church. I had a note handed to the Bishop of Cape
town, telling him of my letter to the Times.
"
But notwithstanding this sad incident at the close, I feel that
follows :
The words of the Resolution as adopted by the Conference were as
Resolulion vii.
"
That \ve who are here present do acquiesce in the
Resolution of the Convocation of Canterbury, passed on June 29, 1866, relat
ing to the Diocese of Natal, to wit
"
If it be decided that a new Bishop should be consecrated, As to the
proper steps to be taken by the members of the Church in the
province of Natal for obtaining a new Bishop, it is the opinion of
this House, ^rtf, that a formal instrument," etc.
See Resolutions of the Conference, published
1 page 6.
by authority (Rivingtons, 1867),
"
The letter was as follows : SIR, As the Bishop of Capetown was by
some understood to say, in his speech at St. James Hall yesterday, that the
Conference of Bishops at Lambeth had given its approval to the appointment
of a new Bishop of Natal, I beg leave to refer all your readers who are
interested in this subject to the carefully guarded words of the resolution
actually adopted by the Conference, which will, I believe, soon be published.
-Yours, etc. A. C. LONDON."