Untitled - Electric Scotland

4o8 LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP TAIT [CH. xv.
sacraments or other rites of the Church, shall wear a
decent and comely surplice, with sleeves, to be provided
at the charge of the parish."
Lord Shaftesbury s speech was an elaborate and
weighty indictment of the extremer ritualistic practices
and books. He was armed with abundant quotations
from such sources, and although his own words were
unusually temperate and calm the speech gave great
offence to High Churchmen.
while expressing his full agree
Archbishop Longley,
"
ment with the greater part of the noble earl s powerful
address, and his sympathy with the indignation he had
expressed, urged the advantage of waiting for the action
of the Royal Commission about to be appointed, and
moved the postponement of the second reading."
Bishop
Tait followed :-
"
I should be very he sorry," said,
"
were an erroneous im
pression to prevail in the country as to the feelings of those who
sit on this bench with regard to the noble earl s bill. I believe
I speak the sentiments of this bench generally when I say that
we are obliged to the noble earl for the clear and temperate
manner in which he has laid this matter before the House to
night. We are all agreed with him in believing that a very great
evil exists, and that it is our duty to endeavour to remedy this
evil. . . . But I am not sanguine enough to suppose that either
by the carrying of his or of any other bill, or by the most mature
deliberations of any Commission, the evils the noble earl de
plores will suddenly disappear. . . . Believing, as I do, that the
time has now arrived for action, if the noble earl perseveres with
his bill, I shall be prepared to fulfil my promise, and to support
it. Still, I do not believe that mere Acts of Parliament, however
carefully prepared, can cure the evil : and one important defect
in the present bill is that it proposes to deal with one branch only
of the subject. My impression is we must go thoroughly into the
whole matter, and this can only be done by such a Commission
as the noble earl at the head of Her Majesty s Government has
promised we shall have. That Commission must extend its