hinks--and it is idle to deny that he has good ground
for thinking--that, in spite of bishops, lawyers, and legislature,
Delphic judgments at Lambeth, and spasmodic protests up and down the
country, a change in doctrine and ritual is in progress in the Anglican
Church which can only be described as a revolution. He asserts that the
'Real Presence, the sacrifice of the Mass, offered for the living and
the dead, no infrequent reservation of the Sacrament, regular auricular
confession, Extreme Unction, Purgatory, prayers for the dead, devotions
to Our Lady, to her Immaculate Conception, the use of her Rosary, and
the invocation of saints, are doctrines taught and accepted, with a
growing desire and relish for them, in the Church of England.'

Cardinal Vaughan also declares that the present churches of the
Establishment are 'often distinguishable only with extreme difficulty
from those belonging to the Church of Rome.' Such statements are either
true or false. If false, they are open to contradiction; if true, they
justify in substance the position taken up in the Durham Letter. Towards
the close of his life, Lord John told Mr. Lecky that he did not regret
his action, and to the last he maintained that he was right in the
protest which he made in the Durham Letter. Yet he acknowledged, as he
looked back upon the affair, that he might have softened certain
expressions in it with advantage. Parliament met on February 4, 1851,
and the Queen's Speech contained the following passage: 'The recent
assumption of certain ecclesiastical titles conferred by a foreign Power
has excited strong feelings in this country; and large bodies of my
subjects have presented addresses to me expressing attachment to the
Throne, and praying that such assumptions should be resisted. I have
assured them of my resolution to maintain the rights of my crown and the
independence of the nation against all encroachments, from whatsoever
quarter they may proceed.'

[Sidenote: THE GIST OF THE WHOLE MATTER]

Three days later, Lord John introduced the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill.
The measure prohibited the assumption of territorial titles by Roman
Catholic bishops; but there is truth in the assertion that no enactment
of the kind could prevent other persons from giving the dignitaries of
the Catholic Church such titles, and, as a matter of fact, the attempt
to deprive them of the distinction led to its ostentatious adoption. The
proposal to render null and