opportunity of selecting a stronger man of Liberal views from
Cambridge.

[Footnote 48: Bishop Henry Pepys had died in November, and was
succeeded in the following January by Canon Henry Philpott of
Norwich, Master of St Catharine's College, Cambridge.]

[Footnote 49: Probably the Rev. Emilius Bayley, Rector of St
George's, Bloomsbury; now the Rev. Sir Emilius Laurie.]

[Pageheading: EPISCOPAL APPOINTMENTS]

_Viscount Palmerston to Queen Victoria._

PICCADILLY, _2nd December 1860_.

Viscount Palmerston presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and
very sincerely congratulates your Majesty upon the arrangement of
a marriage which bids so fair to secure for Her Royal Highness the
Princess Alice that happiness to which her amiable and estimable
qualities so justly entitle her.

With respect to bishops, Viscount Palmerston would beg to submit that
the bishops are in the Church what generals of districts are in the
Army: their chief duties consist in watching over the clergy of their
diocese, seeing that they perform properly their parochial duties, and
preserving harmony between the clergy and the laity, and softening
the asperities between the Established Church and the Dissenters. For
these purposes it is desirable that a bishop should have practical
knowledge of parochial functions, and should not be of an overbearing
and intolerant temperament. His diocesan duties are enough to occupy
all his time, and the less he engages in theological disputes the
better. Much mischief has been done by theological bishops, and if the
Bench were filled with men like the Bishops of Oxford and Exeter there
would be no religious peace in the land. Nor have men chosen merely
for their learning succeeded better; Thirlwall, Bishop of St David's,
and Blomfield, the late Bishop of London, were chosen on account of
their learning; the former is acknowledged to be inefficient, the
latter greatly mismanaged his diocese. The theological learning of
the Bishop of Exeter[50] has caused much mischief to the Established
Church. Viscount Palmerston would also beg to submit that the
intolerant maxims of the High Church bishops have exasperated the
Dissenters who form a large portion of the nation, and have given
offence to many good Churchmen. The Bishop of Exeter, the late Bishop
of Carlisle,[51] and the late Bishop of Rochester,[52] the two latter
individuals kind-hearted and good-natured men, refused to consecrat