"
The gist of all these reforms, actual and projected, was that the Bishops
were enormously increasing their own power and patronage at the expense of
the Deans and Chapters. Sydney Smith, as a member of a Chapter, protested,
and then the friends of the Bishops cried out that all such protests were
indecent, and even perilous.--
"We are told that if we agitate these questions among ourselves, we
shall have the democratic Philistines come down upon us, and sweep us
all away together. Be it so; I am quite ready to be swept away when
the time comes. Everybody has his favourite death: some delight in
apoplexy, and others prefer marasmus. ... I would infinitely rather be
crushed by democrats than, under the plea of the public good, be
mildly and blandly absorbed by Bishops."
With Bishops as a body, and allowing for some notable exceptions, Sydney
Smith seems to have had only an imperfect sympathy. He held that they could
not be trusted to deal fairly and reasonably with men, subject to their
jurisdiction, who dared to maintain independence in thought and action.--
"A good and honest Bishop (I thank God there are many who deserve that
character!) ought to suspect himself, and carefully to watch his own
heart. He is all of a sudden elevated from being a tutor, dining at an
early hour with his pupil (and occasionally, it is believed, on cold
meat), to be a spiritual Lord; he is dressed in a magnificent dress,
decorated with a title, flattered by Chaplains, and surrounded by
little people looking up for the things which he has to give away; and
this often happens to a man who has had no opportunities of seeing the
world, whose parents were in very humble life, and who has given up
all his thoughts to the Frogs of Aristophanes and the Targum of
Onkelos.
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