it was in his power to prevent the ruin of the Church of England, not by assuming popular opinions, but merely by openly avowing his own—­then, and not till then, he wrote his letter—­then, and not till then, I felt he was right to do so.

It has quieted men’s fears with regard to the Pope, and directed them towards Tractarianism.  And we are told that a great many (I think one hundred) of the clergy omitted some of their “mummeries” on the following Sunday.  That word was perhaps ill-chosen, and he is willing to say so—­but I doubt it.  Suppose he had omitted it, some other would have been laid hold of as offensive to men sincere in their opinions, however mistaken he may think them.

The letter was a Protestant one, and could not give great satisfaction to Roman Catholics, except such as Lord Beaumont, who prefers the Queen to the Pope.  John has all his life showed himself a friend to civil and religious liberty, especially that of the Roman Catholics—­and would gladly never have been called upon to say a word that they could take as an insult to their creed.  But it was a moment in which he had to choose between a temporary offence to a part of their body and the deserved loss of the confidence of the Protestant body, to which he heart and soul belongs.  He could scarcely declare his opinion of the Tractarians, who remain in a Church to which they no longer belong, without indirectly giving offence to Roman Catholics.  But it is against their practices that his strong disapprobation is declared, and of the mischief of those practices I dare say you have no idea.  I believe many of them, most of them, to be as pious and excellent men as ever existed; but their teaching is not likely to make others as pious and excellent as themselves; and their remaining in the Church obliges them to a secrecy and hesitation in their teaching that is worse than the teaching itself, which would disappear if they became honest Dissenters.  I could write pages more upon the subject but have no time, and I will only beg you not to confound John’s letter with the bigotry and intolerance of many speeches at many meetings.  I am keeping the collection of letters, addresses, etc., that he has received on the subject—­a curious medley, being from all ranks and degrees of men, some really touching, some laughable.

    Lady John Russell to Lady Mary Abercromby

    LONDON, February 11, 1851

I wonder what you will think of John’s speech last Friday.  I am quite surprised at the approbation it meets with here—­not that I do not think it deserved, for surely it was a fine high-minded one, and at the same time one at no word of which a Roman Catholic, as such, could take offence—­but so many people thought more ought to be done, and so many others that nothing ought to be done, that I expected nothing but grumbling.  However, the speech is by most persons distinguished from the measure.