June 2, the Measure, their approval was} 4 ving man, Chinese or lukewarm, while, outside the con, Assembly, feeling was decidedly \ner"tin)con vat of the proc, what will come out of the pres-hostile. He also objected that, whereas one party declared the rubric on Reservation to involve nothing - but trivial changes, others were equally positive in describing it as radical and revolutionary. Lord Shaftesbury speaking for the Anglo-Catholies, said that they must regretfully oppose the Measure. They had sunk their personal feelings and voted for the first Book, though there was much in it they disliked; but there were such alterations and conditions in the 1928 Measure that they could not give their approval. Mr, Albert Mitchell, representing the Evangelicals, said that to those of like mind with him the wording of the Measure was offensive. He did not believe the new Book would make for peace, rather there would be added bitterness. The Book was 2 monument of disappointment and disillusion." Lord Hugh Cecil pleaded that, if the Measure were rejected, it would not be a victory for the Anglo-Catholics, or "for the Evangelicals, "or that much larger and more patient body which lay between them. would be just a "freaks! holiday'. Archbishop Long. winding up the debate, made detailed attempt to meet the objections raised, but urged tha: the utmost possible had been done to meet criticisms and that the Bishops should not be further distracted from the wor of their dioceses to begin afresh a discussion would have nothing new to contribute, having already given to it all their minds.
The ordinary layman may well yo perplexed what to think. Newspaper comment is widely divided, some saying that the House of Commons will certainly pass the Measure, others as sure that it will not. If mem. bers of the House have studied the discussions we fave summarized, one would rather doubt their altering their first vote in favour of a Measure which comes to them with so much smaller a backing than the Book they rejected. The weakness of the position appears to us to be that, if the Measure oes through, two books will then be equally' permissible, the old Book of Common Prayer and th new.
Does not this make confusion worse confounded? one church the practices of the Evangelicals, in another those of the Anglo-Catholics which are really hardly distinguishable to the ordinary worshipper from those of Rome. It has been unkindly said that the Bishops, from too long tolerance of the doings of the Anglo-Catholics, at length found themselves compelled to legalize what ther could not prevent as the only means of averting open scandal: hence the Measure, with the proviso that those who wished might with equal legality continue to use the old Prayer Book. The jibe is too bitter to be, we hope, true, But those who remember Froude's essay on the Oxford Movement will bethivk them that the situation he there predicted -has very accurately come to pass, In matters of discipline within the Church it is presumptuous on layman's part to pronounce opinions, But as regards its services, there are certain! many people who hold that th. ordinary ritual as observed in English cathedrals sets a standard in keeping with the Praye: lent confusion in North China.
A Japanese telegram of an unusually human tone says that Marshal Chang Tso-lin's generals are only anxious for a [compromise with the South, but that he himself is in such a mood that no one dares to approach him. It sounds likely enough. In Ahat temper, too, Marshal Chang would very probably order a new line of defence to be formed near Peking. But will that avail him? enemy propaganda caused a mutiny and the abandonment of key position once, it may well do so again. The fact is, one may believe, that there much Nationalism behind the Fengtien lines as in front of them. This may argue well for fa distant future. But for the immediate present it spells bewildering disarray, For, more important than any party, are the personal predilections of the generals.
'A carious story reached us recently from well-authenticated sources. It belongs to the time when the first "defeatist" attempts were being made to in: duce Marshal Chang to retire to Manchuria, Incorporated in his armies there are between 50,000
Jand 100,000 officers and men whose homes are within the Great Wall. They are loyal enough to Marshal Chang. But. if he went back to Manchuria Jand the Fengtien forces with him, they would have to seek new allegiances. We are told that agents from Shansi have already approached these troops, not suggesting any disloyalty to the Marshal, but merely putting jo case to them something like "When your Generalis 10 oes back, he will have difficulty in disposing of his lown large army in the Thres Eastern Provinces and will have no room for you and your men. Phe majority of you would aot want to go anyway. Your position will therefore be difficult after the evacuation and will be altogether impossible if Feng [comes here and finds you disd and in a position to offer no resistance. Your officers will have to go into hiding and lour men will be disbanded. Governor Yen, therefore, offer: you an alliance, always' condi: tional upon the Fengtien withdrawal, You are to prepare by fretting into close touch with one another and laying plans take over all the strategic points in Chibli according to a plan which you evolve among yourselves. Then when your present chief and his armies are gone, you will at one and the same time fly the Nationalist flag, denounce Feng Vu-hsiang land join with the Shansi armies un blocking Feng's further pro-Jgress towards Peking." Similar. overtures, we are told, were made to other important leaders on the Northern side, and it is added that favourable answers were received from all. We would not venture to say more for this story than that it comes to us from a good source.
That endless intrigues hav: been in progress for some weeks past, is undeniable, The only person apparently quite touched by them is Marshal Chang himself, whose determination "to fight Bolshevism" has never wavered. An all-important factor in the whole situation is the universal distrust in which Marshal Feng Vu-hsiang ix held. A few ayo we received from Nanking clementi of the reported lack of harmony between Feng and that centre. But this sort of thing," an obvious political necessity, deceivessnobody. A combination against Feng and his Russian advisers is by no means unlikely. Designedly or not, he stole Nanking's thunders on the Tientsin-Pukow railway and his'ascendaney in Pekitte ist what no one wishes to see, The weightiest factor of all is the attitude of Japan. Her propagandists have been somewhat silent of late, But no one doubts for a moment that she will take strong measures if, her opinion, they are required, And this will make everybody anxious for some compromise to solve peacefully the present impasse,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.