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 COEEESPONDENCD. 
 
 I. 
 
 The Primate to the Warden. 
 
 Armagh, 
 
 My dear Mr. Warden, October 25, 1853. 
 
 It is with much pain that I sit down to write to 
 you on the present occasion ; but I feel it my duty to 
 do so, in consequence of my having seen a circular 
 to which your name is affixed, in conjunction with 
 the names of persons krtown for their extreme 
 opinions in Church matters, requesting signatures to 
 be procured to a Memorial to the Eastern Patriarchs, 
 in which a censure is passed on the conduct of the 
 Bishop of Jerusalem. My attention was called to 
 this docum.ent a short time ago by the Archbishop of 
 Dublin ; and on Saturday last I received a note from 
 the Rev. W. D. Veitch, written by the desire of the 
 x\rchbishop of Canterbury, enclosing a copy of a 
 statement prepared by the Committee of the Jeru- 
 salem Bishopric Fund. 
 
 Your name being the only one connected with 
 Ireland in the list of signatures, must necessarily 
 
 B
 
 attract particular observations, and the more so, on 
 account of the responsible office which you fill. In my 
 endeavours to establish and to maintain the Collecre 
 of S. Columba, I have had serious difficulties from 
 without to contend against ; and in the internal 
 management of its concerns, untoward circumstances 
 have arisen which have caused me much trouble and 
 anxiety. Of these annoyances I have never com- 
 plained. I have always looked with hopefulness to 
 the establishment of this College as a means, under 
 the Divine blessing, of effecting an improvement in 
 the system of classical education in this country. 
 But when it now appears before the public that the 
 Warden takes a lead in a fresh agitation of the 
 English Church, and prominently unites himself with 
 those who are well known to be persons of ultra 
 opinions on ecclesiastical affairs, I am not aware of 
 any mode but one by which I can free the College 
 from the imputation of being an institution in which 
 the views of this section of the Church are incul- 
 cated, — views which, for my own part, I disapprove 
 of, and which, therefore, I cannot allow it to be 
 supposed that I lend any assistance in propagating. 
 I feel, then, that under these circumstances your 
 continuing to preside over the College could not 
 conduce to its interests ; and as you intimated to me, 
 on your being appointed to the office of Warden, that 
 you would not hold the situation except with my 
 full approval of your course of proceeding, I deem it 
 due to myself, to you, and to the College, to say,
 
 (and it is with deep regret I do so,) that in my judgment 
 it would be desirable that you should withdraw from 
 the office which you now fill. The approaching 
 Christmas vacation would probably be the least in- 
 convenient time for making such a change ; and 
 between this and Christmas I shall be able to decide 
 whether I shall continue to give my aid in main- 
 taining the College longer in existence, or whether 
 I shall resign my connexion with it, as its Visitor and 
 Patron. 
 
 I am, 
 
 My dear Mr. Warden, 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 JOHN G. ARMAGH. 
 
 II. 
 
 The Warden to the Primate. 
 
 S. Columba's College, 
 My Lord, October 2^,l^^2,. 
 
 I AM so stunned by the communication which I 
 have this morning received, that I must beg your 
 Grace's permission to defer my reply for a few days, 
 
 I have the honour to remain, 
 My Lord, 
 Your Grace's faithful Servant, 
 
 GEORGE WILLIAMS. 
 B 2
 
 III. 
 
 The Warden io the Primate. 
 
 S. Columba's College, 
 My Lord, November 2, 1853. 
 
 I AM sorry to be obliged to trespass on your 
 Grace's patience a few days longer; but it is due 
 first to your Grace, and then to the College and to 
 myself, that I should act with the utmost deliberation 
 in this very grave and momentous business. 
 
 I have the honour to remain. 
 My Lord, 
 Your Grace's faithful Servant, 
 
 GEORGE WILLIAMS. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Warden to the Primate. 
 
 S. Columba's College, 
 My Lord November ^, 185 3. 
 
 Permit me to assure your Grace that if my own 
 private feelings and character only were at stake, I 
 should be satisfied to reply to your letter of the 25th 
 ult. by simply putting my resignation into your 
 Grace's hands; but as several questions of great 
 public interest are involved in the considerations 
 which it raises, I must crave your indulgence while I 
 reply at length to your communication. 
 
 
 ^'^'^
 
 In the first place, I must beg your Grace to con- 
 sider that the possible and even probable consequence 
 of compliance with such a requisition from one in 
 your exalted station, would be the utter and irre- 
 trievable ruin of all the earthly prospects of a person 
 in my position ; and although I well know that nothing 
 can be further removed from your Grace's wish 
 than to do me any injury, yet this fact does not 
 diminish at all the severity of the measure on your 
 part ; while the circumstance that I am exempt 
 from its worst consequences, makes it, perhaps, 
 more incumbent upon me to regard it in its bearings 
 upon others, who might not be so happily circum- 
 stanced as myself. 
 
 Next, I must submit that I have great reason to 
 complain that, without a word of previous inquiry 
 from me as to the circumstances attending that act 
 which you disapprove, your Grace should have called 
 upon me to resign the trust which I hold, for causes 
 quite unconnected with my administration of the 
 Wardenship of S. Columba*s College. 
 
 Had your Grace vouchsafed such inquiry, it would 
 have been in my power to have stated, that the inser- 
 tion of my name on the Committee for circulating 
 the Memorial to the Oriental Patriarchs had no 
 sanction from me, either directly or indirectly; and 
 that I have taken no part whatever in circulating 
 that paper, or in procuring signatures to it. These 
 assurances I now spontaneously give to your Grace, 
 although I did not think fit to volunteer any expla-
 
 6 
 
 nation in the columns of a newspaper, in reply to an 
 attack of which I have only heard, and which I did 
 not care to see. 
 
 I must add, however, in all honesty, that although 
 I gave no authority for the insertion of my name on 
 the Committee, and very much regretted it, I did not 
 repudiate or withdraw it, when it was too late to 
 prevent its publication ; partly, because I knew that 
 whatever mischief it could do would be past remedy, 
 and that my motives for withdrawal would be almost 
 sure to be misconstrued ; but chiefly, because I felt 
 that it would be cowardly to shrink from the respon- 
 sibility of a measure in which I was bound to take a 
 special interest, although in my present position I 
 had wished to remain entirely passive. 
 
 With regard to the Memorial itself, I consider 
 myself fully pledged to its general contents, and feel 
 that I, at least, have no option but to make it the 
 medium of expressing to the Eastern Prelates, that 
 my individual sentiments on the subject to which 
 it relates, still continue to be in accordance with 
 those contained in the Commendatory Letter of 
 the late Archbishop of Canterbury, of which I 
 was, in my official capacity, the bearer to many 
 of them. 
 
 My Lord, my opinion on Bishop Gobat's proceed- 
 ings in Palestine have never been made a secret of 
 by me ; I published it fully to the world at a time 
 when they- had attracted no public attention, more 
 than a year before your Grace honoured me with
 
 this appointmer.t. It was not my fault if my senti- 
 ments were not clearly understood. The following 
 language is, I apprehend, very unambiguous. 
 
 After fully detailing the proceedings of Bishop 
 Gobat, in his own words, I thus conclude : — 
 
 " As it has been my lot, in the course of Divine 
 Providence, to declare to three of the Patriarchs, 
 and other distinguished Prelates of the Orthodox 
 Churches of the East, the good faith of our own Me- 
 tropolitan, and the friendly disposition of the Anglican 
 Church, it is my duty to enter my protest, valeat 
 quantum, against this aggressive policy, as a direct 
 violation of the terms on which the Anglican Bishop- 
 ric at Jerusalem zi)as established." — Holy City, vol. ii. 
 p. 616 (note on p. 596). 
 
 I liad no right to suppose that a fresh avowal of 
 opinions, which I had expressed so plainly and 
 decidedly in my published writings in 1849, and which 
 were not held to disqualify me for an appointment in 
 1850, would be made the ground of my removal in 
 1853. It might have been anticipated that I should 
 avail myself of every opportunity of repeating — 
 especially to the aggrieved parties — my sense of an 
 injustice, which I v\'as known to feel so keenly, and 
 with such good reason. 
 
 Your Grace is aware that I was appointed by tlii 
 late Archbishop of Canterbury to accompany Bishop 
 Alexander to Jerusalem. I had an opportunity of 
 learning his Grace's sentiments with reference to this 
 question of aggression on the Dioceses of the Oriental
 
 8 
 
 Bishops, not only from bis Commendatory Letter, 
 but from conversations at two private interviews with 
 which he honoured me before I went out. When 
 I found, on the spot, that the Prelates, both of the 
 Greek and Armenian Rite, mistrusted the friendly 
 professions of the Archbishop's letter, dreading — 
 what has since come to pass — a repetition of the 
 practices of the emissaries of the Church of Rome, 
 and of the American Congregationahsts, it was my 
 duty to repudiate the notion of dishonesty with all 
 the earnestness of one who had full faith in the 
 integrity and uprightness of that revered and 
 lamented Primate. Among the dignified ecclesiastics 
 to whom I personally guaranteed, with my Bishop's 
 sanction, the good faith of the English Church, were 
 the late Greek Patriarch of Antioch, the then Arme- 
 nian Patriarch of Jerusalem, and the present Greek 
 Patriarch of Jerusalem : and these protestations I 
 afterwards repeated to the Greek Patriarch of Con- 
 stantinople, and to many ecclesiastics of the Church 
 in Russia. 
 
 Well then might I be expected to be foremost to 
 protest against a course of proceeding which is even 
 avowed to be opposed to the original instructions of 
 Bishop Alexander, and to the professions made 
 through him to the Oriental Churches; and as I 
 never understood that one condition of my tenure 
 of this office w^as to ignore my own identity and 
 antecedents, or to abstain from any further con- 
 nexion with matters in which I had become so
 
 I 
 
 deeply implicated, I must maintain that I was at 
 liberty to make that protest according to my own 
 discretion. 
 
 Had I not stipulated for such freedom of thought 
 and action prior to my appointment, I yet should 
 have hoped that the perfect independence and irre- 
 sponsibility of one in my position, except in matters 
 relating to the instruction and well-ordering of the 
 School, had been so lately vindicated by Dr. Arnold, 
 that I could have nothing to dread on that ground ; 
 and I am bound to maintain that principle, as he did, 
 at any sacrifice of personal feeling, as a duty to every 
 Schoolmaster in the United Kingdom, and to the 
 cause of Education generally. 
 
 But your Grace reminds me that " I intimated to 
 you on my being appointed to the office of Warden, 
 that I would not hold the situation except with your 
 fall approval of my course of proceeding." I cannot 
 question the accuracy of your Grace's memory, but I 
 must be permitted to say that my words are stretched 
 veryfar beyond any meaning that I could have attached 
 to them, as I never contemplated the possibility of their 
 being applied to acts entirely apart from the duties of 
 my office, and in no way connected with the College. 
 I should have merited your contempt, if I could so 
 far have surrendered my independence of mind and 
 liberty of action. Your Grace could scarcely expect 
 or desire any person of any education or position in 
 society to do so. 
 
 But I may take the liberty to remind your Grace
 
 10 
 
 that, on an occasion when the province of Visitor 
 was extended beyond its legitimate bounds, as pre- 
 scribed by the Statutes then in force, I raised no 
 question of jurisdiction, because the point then 
 submitted to your Grace did relate to my conduct in 
 my office ; but the moment I had reason to believe 
 that you disapproved of my course of proceedings, I 
 offered to resign, (April 9, 1S51,) and as soon as you 
 had declared your disapproval, I voluntarily sent in 
 my resignation, (April 24.) 
 
 It should also be remembered, that since my 
 appointment, a new code of Statutes has received 
 your Grace's sanction as Visitor, in the Xllth of 
 which provision is made for proceeding against a 
 Warden charged with holding opinions contrary to 
 the teaching of the United Church of England and 
 Ireland, as at present established. 
 
 While I owe it to my own position and character, 
 not to plead guilty to this grave charge, implied in 
 your Grace's letter, (of which I protest my entire 
 innocence,) and while my resignation would justly be 
 regarded as equivalent to putting forward that plea ; 
 I owe it equally to the Fellows, not to allow the 
 invasion of their province and functions by an 
 exercise of the Visitatorial jurisdiction contrary to 
 the constitution of the College. 
 
 The sum of my offence, as I understand it, is this 
 — That in a matter of public interest, on which I 
 had plainly declared my convictions, in my pubhshed 
 writings, in 1849, — and in which I am personally con-
 
 11 
 
 cerned as no one else is, — I have abstained from all 
 action of any kind, and have been content to remain 
 entirely passive, even vvlien my silence was liable to 
 be misconstrued into complicity with acts which I 
 considered dishonourable ; but that when my name 
 had been used without my knowledge or authority, 
 and, as I now learn, " by mistake," I remained 
 passive still and would not withdraw it, because I 
 felt that to do so would be an act of extreme moral 
 cowardice. 
 
 Such is my offence ; and for this your Grace calls 
 upon me to resign, on the ground of an engagement, 
 of which I have no recollection, and which I certainly 
 should not have felt at liberty to make in the sense 
 in which I am now required to perform it. 
 
 My Lord, I came here at your Grace's earnest 
 desire, from a sphere of comparative ease and secu- 
 rity. You know something, though very little, of 
 what I have had to contend with, in every way, in my 
 endeavours to perform the duty here assigned me, and 
 to make this School a fit place of education for the 
 sons of Christian gentlemen. How far I Ijave succeeded 
 it is not for me to judge. If I have to any extent, it 
 is, I feel, a cause of deep thankfulness, and an ample 
 recompense for all I have endured; and however 
 painful it might be to relinquish a post in which I am 
 now permitted to see some fruit of three years* most 
 anxious labour, it would ever be a satisfaction to me 
 to reflect that my removal was occasioned by a pro- 
 test against what I must ever regard as a plain viola-
 
 12 
 
 tion of positive engagements on the part of Bishop 
 Gobat. 
 
 But I cannot believe, unless I learn it from your- 
 self, that your Grace would wish me to resign for 
 such an offence, and on the gi'ound of a promise 
 taken in a sense which I never so much as contem- 
 ^plated, without a further explanation and a clearer 
 understanding of the circumstances attending that 
 implied promise than has hitherto taken place. 
 
 I trust I may be pardoned one remark on the 
 extremely embarrassing position in which I am placed 
 towards the parents of the boys committed to my 
 charge, as well as towards those gentlemen to whose 
 zealous cooperation and support I am so largely 
 indebted for any measure of success that has at- 
 tended my exertions in this place, by the fact, 
 that while your Grace calls upon me to resign my 
 appointment, you intimate a doubt whether, even 
 in that event, you will continue your connexion with 
 the College. 
 
 In conclusion, I must be permitted to express my 
 deep regret, t^at my constant uniform endeavours to 
 conduct an Institution, which was calculated to be- 
 come a great national blessing, on the principles 
 on which it was first established, and on which 
 alone I consented to become connected with it, 
 so as to secure your Grace's confidence, have been 
 counteracted, by circumstances which I could not 
 control. 
 
 That God may recompense to you a thousand-fold
 
 13 
 
 your past care for His children in this place, and 
 your great goodness to myself, is, and shall be, the 
 prayer of. 
 
 My Loud, 
 
 Your Grace's faithful Servant, 
 
 GEORGE WILLIAMS. 
 
 ENCLOSURES IN No. IV. 
 
 (I.) 
 The Warden to Mr. Fowler. 
 
 S. Columba's College, 
 
 Reverend Sir, Odoher 26, 1S53. 
 
 Will you be so good as to inform me, at your 
 early convenience, whether you had any authority 
 from me, direct or indirect, for inserting my name 
 on the Committee for procuring signatures to the 
 Memorial to the Oriental Patriarchs. 
 
 I am. 
 
 Rev. Sir, 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 GEORGE WILLIAMS. 
 
 The Bev. C. A. Fowler, 
 Crawley, Sussex,
 
 14 
 
 (II.) 
 
 Mr. Fowler to the Warden, 
 
 TVoRXHixG, Sussex, 
 
 Reverend Sir, October 30, 1853. 
 
 I BEG to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, 
 and lose no time in replying to it, to say that you 
 never did give me any authority for putting your 
 name on the Committee in question, " neither direct 
 nor indirect" There must be some mistake. I am 
 very sorry that it has happened. 
 
 I beg to remain. 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 C. A. FOWLER. 
 Rev. G. Williams. 
 
 V. 
 
 The JFarden to the Primate, 
 
 S. CoLiiMBA.'s College, 
 My Lord November 11, 1853. 
 
 In case your Grace should require a further ex- 
 planation of the long delay of my answer, I beg per- 
 mission respectfully to inform you, that independently 
 of the reason mentioned in my note of the 2d instant, 
 I was daily expecting some further communications 
 from England, which have not even yet arrived.
 
 15 
 
 I did not consider them so material to my case as 
 to warrant further delay, although they may be of 
 importance to clear up one point, on which I have at 
 present no certain information ; on which account it 
 was that I ventured to trespass on your Grace's 
 patience longer than I had wished or intended to do. 
 
 I have the honour to remain. 
 My Lord, 
 Your Grace's faithful Servant, 
 
 GEORGE WILLIAMS. 
 
 VI. 
 
 The Primate to the Warden. 
 
 Akmagh, 
 Dear Sir, November 11, 1853. 
 
 I HAVE given to your letter of the 9th inst. the 
 fullest consideration in my power; and in replying 
 to it, I beg to recal to your recollection the reason 
 I assigned, in my letter of the 25th ult., for the 
 opinion I expressed, that it would be desirable that 
 you should withdraw from the office you hold in the 
 College of S. Columba. That reason I stated to be 
 your having appeared before the pubhc as a leader 
 in a fresh agitation of the English Church, and your 
 having prominently united yourself with those who 
 are well known to be persons of ultra views on eccle- 
 siastical affairs ; the necessary consequence of which
 
 16 
 
 would be, that the College would be regarded as an 
 institution in which the peculiar views of this section 
 of the Church are inculcated, — views which I disap- 
 prove of, and which I cannot allow the public to 
 suppose that I lend any assistance in propagating. 
 
 You have not said anything in your letter which 
 would remove this imputation from the College ; for 
 you have not disclaimed in any way your concur- 
 rence and sympathy with the party alluded to, whose 
 proceedings of late years have been, in my judg- 
 ment, most injurious to the peace and welfare of the 
 Church, You assert that you have great reason to 
 complain of my not having inquired from you as 
 to the circumstances attending the appearance of 
 your name in the hst of the Committee, before I 
 called on you to resign the trust which you hold, for 
 causes unconnected with your administration of the 
 Wardenship. But I must observe, that no explana- 
 tion of those circumstances, if you could have given 
 a satisfactory one to myself privately, could possibly 
 undo the mischief which the College sustained in 
 the eyes of the public by your standing forth iden- 
 tified with the leaders of an extreme party in the 
 Church. 
 
 It was because this mischief admitted but of one 
 remedy, that I pointed out to you the course which 
 I thought the interest of the College required you 
 to adopt. 
 
 You inform me that it was without your know- 
 ledge, and without previously obtaining your consent.
 
 17 
 
 that your name was placed on the Committee ; yet, 
 so far from having taken care to let this be known, 
 a letter of yours to the Rev. R. S. Brooke, (which 
 at your desire was shown to me, and which bears the 
 same date as your letter to the Rev. C. A. Fowler,) 
 assures him that your signature was attached to the 
 document to which he alluded, by your authority, — 
 that document (the only document in which your 
 name appeared before the pubhc) being the list of 
 the Committee. 
 
 Had you immediately on the publication of your 
 name, written directions to withdraw it, and publicly 
 stated the reasons which induced you to abstain from 
 acting on that Committee, namely, that you could 
 not permit it to be inferred that you were one of 
 the party whose leaders occupy tlie foremost place in 
 this movement, your motives would not then have 
 been liable to be misconstrued, and the ill effects 
 of the publication of your name would have been 
 obviated, and the fact that you had, as an indi- 
 vidual, published your sentiments respecting Bishop 
 Gobat, would have secured you from a charge of 
 " cowardice " in declining to take a leading part in 
 the present instance, should any one have been dis- 
 posed to prefer such a charge against you. 
 
 You seem to think that because you stated your 
 opinion of Bishop Gobat's conduct in the second 
 volume of your work published in 1850,1 therefore 
 ought to have anticipated that you would join in the 
 Memorial now in circulation. I confess, however.
 
 18 
 
 that the perusal of your statement in your first 
 volume, p. 451, respecting the erroneous doctrines 
 which have obtained *' the unanimous consent of the 
 whole Church of the East," did not prepare me to 
 find your name affixed to a document which inti- 
 mates that the Eastern Churches are regarded by 
 the Memorialists as not " corrupting the Apostohc 
 doctrines." In the part of your work to which I 
 refer, the " Seven Sacraments," " Transubstantia- 
 tion," *' Purgatory," the '^ adoration of pictures," the 
 *' worship of hyperdidia to the blessed Virgin, and 
 that of dul'ia to the holy Angels and to all Saints," 
 are mentioned as being author tatively approved by 
 the Churches, to the governors of whicii the Me- 
 morial is addressed ; and that a body of clergymen 
 who have subscribed our Thirty-nine Articles of 
 Religion, and who hold their preferments by virtue 
 of that subscription, should publish a statement 
 which implies that they do not view the errors above 
 meiitioned as being " corruptions of the Apostolic 
 doctrines," is in my opinion a circumstance much to 
 be deplored. 
 
 You intimate to me that, inasmuch as the course 
 which you have taken did not relate to " the in- 
 struction and well ordering of the school," it was an 
 unwarrantable interference with your independence 
 as a Schoolmaster for me to address to you such 
 a communication as my letter of the 25th ultimo. 
 I cannot admit the principle which you thus lay 
 down, that the course adopted by the Schoolmaster
 
 19 
 
 of a school in regard to public affairs beyond the 
 precincts of his school, is not to be subject to the 
 cognizance of the Patron and higher authorities of 
 the Institution. Were a Head Master to embark in a 
 scheme of political agitation, such an act of indis- 
 cretion would plainly indicate that the person who 
 committed it was not possessed of the solid judg- 
 ment, the forbearance, and the quiet devotion to the 
 business of his office, which are so requisite in one 
 to whom the character of youth is entrusted ; and 
 the injury to the School which would result from it, 
 would fully justify the interference of its Patron. 
 And when a Head Master comes before the public 
 as a leader in a new ecclesiastical agitation, the well- 
 judging portion of the community will, I am con- 
 fident, coincide with me in opinion, that such a 
 person manifests a want of discretion that must mih- 
 tate against the welfare of the School : and in the 
 particular case before me, the School thereby be- 
 comes liable to the suspicion, which I have already 
 adverted to, of being a place in which the extreme 
 opinions of those with whom the Master has allied 
 himself are inculcated. 
 
 You are of course aware, that on a former occasion, 
 previous to your appointment, I found it necessary 
 to interfere for the purpose of freeing the College of 
 S. Columba from what was in a similar way injurious 
 to it ; and both at the time I gave my sanction to 
 your filling the office of Warden, and on other oppor- 
 tunities which offered, I have very distinctly informed 
 
 c2
 
 20 
 
 you that I would give no countenance to the intro- 
 duction into that College of the peculiar views and 
 observances of the agitating party in the Church to 
 which I allude. I can assure you I feel that you are 
 only doing me justice when you say that nothing could 
 he furtlier removed from my thoughts than to do you 
 an injury. But I do not perceive how your resigning 
 your situation now, at my desire, can have the effect 
 of involving you '' in utter and irretrievable ruin," any 
 more than when, on a former occasion, you stated 
 that "the moment you had reason to believe that I 
 disapproved of your course of proceeding, you offered 
 to resign, (April 9, 1851,) and as soon as I had de- 
 clared my disapproval, you voluntarily sent in your 
 resignation, (April 24.)" 
 
 In addressing my letter to you I have not violated 
 any of the Statutes of the College. Those Statutes do 
 not hinder me from forming my own opinion of the 
 Warden's conduct, and expressing that opinion to him. 
 In the exercise of the liberty which belongs to me, 
 I have stated to you that, in my judgment, your con- 
 tinuing in the office of Warden is not for the interests 
 of the College. That judgment is unaltered by the 
 explanation of your conduct which you have laid before 
 me. But whether it is your intention to act upon the 
 opinion which I have expressed, or not to do so, I am 
 not able to collect from your letter ; and I must 
 request you to let me know your decision without 
 further delay. I do not touch at present upon some 
 matters personal to myself, which are adverted to in
 
 21 
 
 your letter, as my objecC is to confine my remarks to 
 the main points which are involved in our correspon- 
 dence. 
 
 I am, 
 
 Your faithful Servant, 
 
 JOHN G. ARMAGH. 
 The Rev. the Warden ofS. Culumba's. 
 
 VI. 
 
 The Warden to the Primate. 
 
 S. Columba's College, 
 
 My Lord A^o»^raie/'i2, 1853. 
 
 Your Grace's reiterated and yet more emphatic 
 charge against me of holding and inculcating extreme 
 opinions on ecclesiastical matters, leaves me no choice 
 but to call upon the Fellows to investigate the truth 
 of that charge ; and I respectfully decline to decide 
 upon the question of resignation until my character is 
 cleared from that imputation, or the charge is substan- 
 tiated according to the Xllth Statute of the College ; 
 in which latter case, your Grace, as Visitor, has the 
 absolute power of dismissal. 
 
 I will lose no time in laying the case before the 
 Fellows. 
 
 I beg permission to correct two inaccuracies in your 
 Grace's letter. 1 . My letter to Mr. Brooke, avowing 
 the signature to the " Memorial," bears date the 25th 
 of October, the date of your Grace's letter to me ;
 
 22 
 
 and the note to Mr. Fowler, ♦concerning my appear- 
 ance on the " Committee," bears date the 26th of 
 October, the date of my acknowledgment of the 
 receipt of your letter, — in consequence of which it 
 was written. 
 
 2. I beg further to call your Grace's attention to the 
 fact that, in speaking of the possible consequences of 
 compliance with your request upon those "not so 
 happily circumstanced as myself," I expressly stated 
 that " I was myself exempt from these consequences." 
 
 I have the honour to remain, 
 Mt Lord, 
 
 Your Grace's faithful Servant, 
 
 GEORGE WILLIAMS, j 
 
 VII. 
 
 The Warden to the Primate. 
 
 S. Coltjmba's College, 
 My Lord, November 15, 1853. 
 
 I BEG to inform your Grace, that immediately on 
 the receipt of Mr. Fowler's reply to my note of the 
 26th ult., both which I enclosed on the 9th inst., I 
 wrote to him a second time, but have as yet received 
 no answer. 
 
 Failing of this, I wrote to Dr. Mill, and received 
 his reply only last night. I enclose a copy of my 
 note (I.), and the original of his reply, (II.)
 
 23 
 
 I now beg distinctly to state, that Dr. Mill is the 
 only person with whom I had held any communication 
 whatever on the subject of the Memorial, prior to the 
 date of your Grace's letter, and that entirely of a 
 private nature ; that nothing whatever had passed 
 between us on the subject of the Committee ; and 
 that the only communication which I have received 
 from him on the subject of the Memorial, since I met 
 him in England early in July, was a request that 
 I would " write a statement of facts respecting the 
 Jerusalem Bishopric, in its aspect towards the Ortho- 
 dox Greek Communion," which I declined to do. 
 
 I yesterday wrote to the Fellows, calling upon them 
 to proceed to an investigation according to the Xllth 
 Statute of the College. 
 
 I have the honour to remain, 
 My Loud, 
 Your Grace's faithful Servant, 
 
 GEORGE WILLIAMS. 
 
 ENCLOSURES IN No. VII. 
 
 (I-) 
 TJie Warden to Dr. Mill. 
 
 S. Columba's College, 
 My dear Dr. Mill, November %l%bZ. 
 
 I RECEIVED a letter on the 25th ult. from a clergy- 
 man at Kingstown, a perfect stranger to me, informing 
 me that he *' had seen my name in an English news- 
 paper appended to a * Memorial to the Oriental
 
 24 
 
 Patriarchs/ touching certain practices of the Bishop 
 of Jerusalem," and asking me " whether I had indeed 
 given my signature for such a purpose as that docu- 
 ment sets forth ?" 
 
 I had not myself seen any list of signatures to the 
 *' Memorial ;" but since Mr. Brooke mentioned it as 
 a fact, I assumed it to be so, and concluded that you 
 had anticipated what you may well have supposed to 
 be my wishes and intentions, and had affixed my name. 
 
 Assuming the fact, I accepted the signature, and 
 answered that " it was attached by my authority ;" 
 — as it was, if you had done it. 
 
 A subsequent letter from Mr. Brooke led me to 
 imagine that he was not very accurate, and suggested 
 doubts as to the fact which he had stated, and I had 
 assumed on his statement.^ 
 
 It is not a matter of much importance, per se, but 
 circumstances have arisen which render it desirable 
 for me to know exactly how far I was committed to 
 the "^Memorial " on the 25th of October; and as no 
 one in England but yourself has any authority from 
 me, implied or expressed, to affix my name to it, I 
 shall feel obliged if you will inform me whether you 
 had done so before that date, or have done so since ? 
 
 I remain. 
 My dear Dr. Mill, 
 
 Yours most sincerely, 
 
 GEORGE IVILLIAMS. 
 The Mev.fF.H. Mill, D.D., 
 
 Trinily College, Cambridge,
 
 25 
 
 (II.) 
 
 Br. Mill to the Warden. 
 
 College, Ely, 
 My dear Williams, November 12, 1853. 
 
 I ONLY received this morning your letter of the 9th, 
 and lose no time in replying to it. It may seem 
 strange, but I really cannot tell whether your name 
 is on the list of those who subscribe the Address to 
 the Eastern Prelates, or not. Most certainly, if it is 
 there, it has been so placed, not by your desire 
 expressed by word or letter, but in consequence of 
 what the Secretary has heard from me, as sure of 
 your acquiescence in being so placed. You will 
 believe me when I say, that I would by no means 
 have expressed such security, unless I did at the time 
 really entertain it in my own mind. But I shall not 
 the less regret, if it be so, that it did not occur to me 
 to think there might be reasons for your withholding 
 your name, and to ask your express consent first. 
 
 I write by this post to Mr. Neale, who has all the 
 names, to write to you at once, whether yours is 
 among them ; and if so, whether (if he knows) it was 
 inserted before, or after the date you mention. This 
 will save the delay of its coming through me here, or 
 at Cambridge. 
 
 I came back but yesterday from London, where
 
 2e 
 
 there has been a Committee for considering the 
 Declaration of the four Archbishops. I hope the Mi- 
 nute agreed on is not wanting in deference or respect 
 to their Graces' exalted station in the Church, while 
 disclaiming any intention of speaking authoritatively 
 ourselves; and hoping that the fault that may be 
 found with our proceeding will not prevent the Arch- 
 bishops, in conjunction with their Right Reverend 
 brethren, from noticing officially and removing the 
 scandal of which we think we have reason to 
 complain. 
 
 Believe me. 
 
 My dear Williams, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 W. H. MILL.
 
 27 
 
 VIII. 
 
 The Warden to the Fellows. 
 
 S. Columba's College, 
 Dear Sir, November \^,\%^z. 
 
 It is with extreme pain that I write to inform you, 
 that I have lately received from his Grace the Visitor 
 an intimation that, in his judgment, " my continuing 
 to preside over this College would not conduce to its 
 interests," and calling upon me '* to withdraw from 
 the office which 1 now fill," as the only mode " by 
 which he can free the College from the imputation of 
 being an Institution in which views which he dis- 
 approves of are inculcated." 
 
 It has appeared to me, on the most mature con- 
 sideration, that while compliance with his Grace's 
 suggestion, previous to inquiry, might seem to indi- 
 cate, on my part, a guilty consciousness, from which, 
 I thank God, I am entirely free ; and might be 
 regarded as equivalent to a plea of guilty to the grave 
 charge implied in his Grace's communications, — which 
 could not but be most injurious to my own character; 
 — it would be so far from clearing the College from 
 the imputation of being a place where erroneous 
 opinions are held and taught, that it would rather 
 serve to prove that there is no sufficient safeguard 
 against the introduction of such opinions, and no
 
 28 
 
 constitutional check to their propagation in the 
 College ; for the tenor of my religious belief and 
 practice and teaching, is precisely now what it was 
 when I first came to the College, three years ago. 
 
 If, then, after my resignation, the Primate were to 
 withdraw his countenance from the College — (a con- 
 tingency which he contemplates, even in the event of 
 my resigning) — leaving the College under this stigma, 
 I should be justly chargeable with betraying, not only 
 its interests, but also the principles on which it was 
 instituted and has been conducted, and with which 
 you and all connected with it are identified. 
 
 This I have no right to do without your sanction ; 
 and I am therefore compelled, by a sense both of 
 public and private duty, to call upon the Fellows to 
 proceed, with as little delay as possible, to the in- 
 vestigation of the charge, according to the provisions 
 of the Xllth Statute of the College, a copy of which 
 I inclose. 
 
 The correspondence which has passed between his 
 Grace and myself shall be laid before you as soon as 
 possible. 
 
 I beg further to inform you, that the XXVth Statute 
 requires that meetings for the determination of all 
 such matters shall be held in the College ; but by the 
 XXIXth Statute it is provided, that a meeting for this 
 purpose may be held without my previous consent. 
 
 I must decline to suggest any course of proceeding 
 in a matter affecting my own conduct and character; 
 but I shall be happy to offer every facility in my
 
 29 
 
 power for the investigation of the charge, and to 
 reply to any inquiries that you may think fit to 
 institute. 
 
 I remain. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 Yours very faithfully, 
 
 GEOEGE WILLIAMS. 
 
 ENCLOSUHE IN No. VIIL 
 Statute XII. of 8. Columbas College. 
 
 " If the Warden shall be charged with immoral 
 conduct, or with holding opinions contrary to the 
 teaching of the United Church of England and Ire- 
 land, as at present established, or w'ith the commis- 
 sion of any criminal act, it shall be competent for the 
 Majority of the Fellows to call upon the Visitor to 
 inquire into the truth of such charges, and in the 
 event of such charges, or any of them, being proved 
 to the satisfaction of the Visitor, it shall be competent 
 for such Visitor to declare the said office of Warden 
 to be vacant, and it shall be so accordingly from the 
 date of such declaration."
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. BROOKE, ALLUDED TO BY THE 
 PRIMATE, PAGE 17, AND BY THE WARDEN, PAGE 21. 
 
 I. 
 
 Mr. Brooke to the Warden. 
 
 Kingstown, Mariners' Episcopal Church, 
 Rev. Sir, October 24, 1853. 
 
 Having seen your name in an English newspaper appended to a 
 " Memorial to the Oriental Patriarchs," touching certain practices 
 of the Bishop of Jerusalem, will you permit me to ask if you have 
 indeed given your signature for such a purpose as that document 
 sets forth. 
 
 As I have been frequently asked for my opinion of the merits of 
 
 your College by parents in my congregation, I am naturally anxious 
 
 to have all the information I can collect, which I trust may account, 
 
 as well as apologise, for the intrusion. 
 
 I am. Rev. Sir, Your faithful Servant in Christ, 
 
 Eev. O. Williams, RICHARD S. BROOKE. 
 
 St. Columbd's College. 
 
 II. 
 
 The Warden to Mr. Brooke. 
 
 [Shown privately to the Primate by the Warden's desire, October 27th.] 
 
 S. Columba's College, 
 Reverend Sir, October 25, 1853. 
 
 In reply to your note of yesterday's date, I beg to say that my 
 signature was attached to the document to which you allude, by 
 my authority ; in explanation of which, — as I gather from your 
 note, that it seems to you to require an explanation, — permit me 
 to state the principal motives that induced me to sign the Memorial 
 to the Oriental Patriarchs. First, because I know that the pro- 
 ceedings of Bishop Gobat are in direct violation of the letter and 
 spirit of the instructions given to the late Bishop Alexander, as 
 embodied in the Metropolitan's Encyclical Letter to the Oriental 
 Prelates.
 
 31 
 
 You are perhaps aware that I was appointed by the late Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury to accompany Bishop Alexander to Jerusalem 
 as his Chaplain, in which capacity it was my duty, not only to com- 
 municate the letter to the Patriarchs and Bishops of the Eastern 
 Churches, but to assure them of tlie good faith of the English 
 Church, in the friendly professions contained in that letter ; and to 
 do my utmost to allay the apprehensions and remove the suspicions 
 of hostile intentions which they not unnaturally entertained, with 
 the sad experience of Papal aggression before their eyes. Inde- 
 pendently, therefore, of the conviction that our character for probity 
 and truthfulness has grievously suffered by this direct violation of 
 a solemn engagement, I have cause to feel personally aggrieved, 
 that pledges which I gave in the name of the English Church, and 
 with the knowledge and sanction of my Bishop, have been violated 
 by his successor. 
 
 Secondly, I am persuaded that the aggressive measures of Bishop 
 Gobat must prove a formidable hindrance to the reformation of the 
 Eastern Churches. I have no kind of sympathy with their mani- 
 fold errors, doctrinal and practical; and it is because I so heartily 
 desire to see these grievous blemishes removed, that I deeply regret 
 those ill-advised attempts to disturb the peace and unity of those 
 communities, the result of which must be to shake the confidence of 
 the people in their ecclesiastical superiors, from whom the reforma- 
 tion must proceed, if it is to be solid and permanent; nor was the 
 expectation of such a liappy change hopeless — however it may be 
 now. I knew many intelligent members of the Eastern Church, 
 who deplored its errors sincerely, and earnestly desired their 
 removal, and would have used all their influence to this end. The 
 effect of these anarchical proceedings can only be to disgust them, 
 and to counteract their endeavours. 
 
 Thirdly, I am convinced that any further divisions among the 
 Eastern Christians must expose them to still more fatal injury from 
 the attacks of the Church of Rome, which has already made terrible 
 havoc in those parts through the insidious assaults of the Jesuit 
 missionaries; and believing, as I do, that the united protest of 
 Eastern Christendom against the Papal claims, which it has main- 
 tained consistently and uniformly for so many centuries prior to 
 our reformation, is an important subsidiary argument against those 
 claims, I cannot regard but as exceedingly mischievous anything
 
 32 
 
 that serves to weaken the front of tlu-ir battle in our common 
 cause. With these convictions, and in consideration of the part 
 which I was called to take in the first institution of the Bishopric, 
 I feel bound to avail myself of every opportunity of deprecating the 
 aggressive policy of Bishop Gobat ; and as I cannot choose my 
 company, I must act in concert with those who take the same view 
 of this particular case as myself. 
 
 I beg to offer you many apologies for having replied to your 
 note at so great length ; but I wished both to signify how heartily I 
 approve of the honest and straightforward course which you have 
 taken in addressing me directly on the subject, and also to show 
 that antecedent circumstances have imposed on me a special obli- 
 gation to adopt a course I knew would expose me to some obloquy, 
 and to be liable to be misinterpreted. 
 
 I remain, Kev. Sir, Yours f\iithfully, 
 
 GEORGE WILLIAMS. 
 
 III. 
 
 The Warden to Mr. Brooke. 
 [Also shown to the Primate by the Warden's desire] 
 
 S. Colcmba's College, 
 Rev. Sir October 27, 1853. 
 
 It may be important to guard against a possible misunderstand- 
 ing of my letter of the 2oth instant. 
 
 There have been, I believe, two documents circulated, " The 
 Memorial to the Oriental Patriarchs," and a Circular inviting signa- 
 tures to that Memorial. 
 
 I understood your question to relat^'to the Memorial itself; and 
 I answered it in that sense, because although I had not formally 
 sanctioned any one to affix my signature to that document, my 
 sentiments on the subject were so well known that I could not 
 object to its being done. 
 
 With regard to the other document, — which I understand has 
 been made the subject of an attack upon me in a Dublin paper — 
 I beg to say, that I never gave any authority to any one, directly 
 or indirectly, to place my name on the Committee for circulating 
 the Memorial, and very much regretted that it was done. 
 I am, Rev. Sir, Yours faithfully, 
 
 GEORGE WILLIAMS.
 
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