the part of the Crown; but, knowing the respected occupant
of Lambeth as well as he does, I think he must have anticipated
the reply which, as a matter of fact, he received.

Such being the absurdities and unrealities which surround the Conge
d'Elire, one naturally asks, Why not abolish it? This question was
raised in a pointed form by the late Mr. C. J. Monk, for many years
Liberal M.P. for the City of Gloucester, who, in 1880, introduced a
Bill to abolish the Conge and to place the appointment of Bishops
formally, as it is really, in the hands of the Prime Minister. He
urged the painful sense of unreality which clings to the whole
transaction, and the injury to religion which is involved in thus
paltering in a double sense with sacred forms and words. It is
amusing to those who can recall the two men to remember that Mr.
Monk was opposed by Lord Randolph Churchill, who thought he perceived
in the proposal some dark design hostile to the interests of the
Established Church; but the important speech was made by Gladstone.
That great man, always greatest in debate when his case was weakest,
opposed the abolition of the Conge. He deprecated any legislation
which would interfere with one of the most delicate functions of
the Crown, and he insisted that the true path of reform lay, not
in the abolition of the form of election, but in an attempt to
re-invest it with some elements of reality. This was well enough,
and eminently characteristic of his reverence for ancient forms
of constitutional action; but what was more surprising was that,
speaking from long and intimate experience of its practical working
he maintained that the Conge d'Elire, even under the nullifying
conditions now attached to it, was "a moral check upon the prerogatives
of the Crown," which worked well rather than ill. "I am," he said,
"by no means prepared to say that, from partial information or
error, a Minister might not make an appointment to which this moral
obstacle might be set up with very beneficial effect. It would
tend to secure care in the selections, and its importance cannot
be overstated."

I must confess, with the greatest respect for my old leader, that
the "importance" of the Conge d'Elire as a restraint upon the actions
of the Prime Minister can be very easily "overstated." Indeed, the
Conge could only be important if the Capitular Body to which the
"Letter Missive" is addressed have the courage of conscientious
disobedience, and w