Page:Memoir of Edward Lord Bishop of Salisbury.djvu/17

it due to his sacred office to make to a base slander which appeared anonymously in a newspaper, and which charged him both with having received and retained from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners more money than was his due, and also with malversation of funds entrusted to him. His speech shattered to atoms both charges. One part of it made a deep impression upon the House—it was manifestly the truth itself. "My Lords," he said, "I am conscious of many and grievous faults. I look back upon the long years of my ministry, and see sad shortcomings and painful deficiencies. May a merciful God pardon me for them! But of an avaricious love of money, or of a selfish expenditure of it, my heart and conscience do not accuse me. I believe that the revenues of my See, of whatever amount, being rightfully dedicated to the highest purposes, have not been selfishly diverted from them. I believe that this surplus was, in my hands, made not less instrumental in promoting the cause of true religion, and the ministrations of the Church, than if it had been paid over to the Commissioners. I am sure at least of this, that it has not been either hoarded for myself or my family, or spent for my personal gratification. I have been Bishop of Salisbury for sixteen years, in possession of these revenues, and I can truly assert that I have not from the income of my See saved a single shilling. While at no former period of my life, neither when I lived as a fellow