of some of those who have been ennobled have openly lamented that the only mode which could be found of honoring their fathers proves a punishment to their heirs, by encumbering them with an empty title, which they are unable adequately to support, and practically closing against them avenues to possible wealth and distinction which custom pronounces derogatory to their rank.  So, not to mention the names of living worthies, no reward could be found for Sir W. Parker, that brave and skilful seaman who conducted a British fleet two hundred miles up a Chinese river, and crowned his exploits by the capture of a mighty city, which had never before beheld a European flag; nor for Inglis, who, when the safety of our Indian Empire hung upon his gallantry, successfully sustained a siege whose hardships and dangers are surpassed by none in ancient or modern history.  Many will, probably, be of opinion that it is not for the honor of England that such services should want due recognition; and that for men like those life peerages with liberal pensions would be an appropriate recompense.  It would, of course, be impossible to limit the number of them beforehand, but it would also be needless, since the nature of the services by which alone they could be deserved would act of itself as a sufficient limitation.

One of the expedients which had been mentioned in this discussion had been the annexation of peerages to certain offices, to which it had been regarded as an unanswerable objection that this would be the creation of an absolutely unheard-of tenure, the peer thus created being able at pleasure to lay down his peerage, or even, it might be, being removable.  But before the end of the session an emergency arose which induced Parliament to sanction the principle, novel though it was, that an official peerage, if a bishopric may be so called, might be laid down with the sanction of Parliament when the holder was no longer able to discharge its duties.  Two of the most eminent members of the Episcopal bench, Dr. Blomfield, Bishop of London, and Dr. Maltby, Bishop of Durham, had become wholly incapable of discharging their duties, the one having been struck down by paralysis, and the other being almost blind.  And they now proposed to the Prime-minister that he should make some arrangement by which they might be allowed to relinquish their offices, retaining a certain portion of the income of their sees as a retiring pension.  There was no precedent for such an arrangement, but the necessity of the two cases was so manifest, the injury which the Church must suffer if the superintendence of two such important dioceses were to be neglected, was so palpable, and the conditions of the retiring pensions asked were so moderate and equitable, that Lord Palmerston had no hesitation in sanctioning the introduction of a bill to give effect to the arrangement proposed.