of the
English Church had just occurred. The Bishop of Exeter had
refused to institute Mr Gorham to a Crown living in his
diocese, on the ground that his teaching on baptism was at
variance with the formularies of the Church. This decision,
though upheld in the Court of Arches, was reversed (though
not unanimously) by the Privy Council. High Church feeling was
much aroused by the judgment.

In September, Pius IX. (now re-established in the Vatican)
promulgated a papal brief, restoring the Roman Catholic
hierarchy in England, and dividing it territorially into
twelve sees, and in October Cardinal Wiseman, as Archbishop
of Westminster, issued his Pastoral, claiming that Catholic
England had been restored to its orbit in the ecclesiastical
firmament. The Duchess of Norfolk, writing from Arundel, had
criticised the proselytising action of certain Roman Catholic
clergy. _See_ the Queen's reply, _post_, p. 277.]

[Footnote 45: Lord John wrote on the 4th of November to
Dr Maltby, Bishop of Durham, denouncing the assumption of
spiritual superiority over England, in the documents issued
from Rome. But what alarmed him more (he said) was the
action of clergymen within the Church leading their flocks
dangerously near the brink, and recommending for adoption
the honour paid to saints, the claim of infallibility for the
Church, the superstitious use of the sign of the cross, the
muttering of the liturgy so as to disguise the language
in which it was said, with the recommendation of auricular
confession and the administration of Penance and absolution.

Lord John was pictorially satirised in _Punch_ as the boy who
chalked up "No popery" on the door and ran away.]

[Pageheading: UNREST IN EUROPE]

_The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._

ARDENNE, _10th November 1850._

MY DEAREST VICTORIA,--I write already to-day that it may not miss
to-morrow's messenger. I came here yesterday by a mild sunshine, and
the valley of the Meuse was very pretty. I love my solitude here, and
though the house is small and not what it ought to have been, still I
always liked it. There seems in most countries danger of agitation
and convulsions arising. I don't know how it will end in Germany. In
France it is difficult that things should not break up some way or
other. I trust you may be spared religious agitation. These