Autograph signed letter by Barrister Edward Badeley (1803-1868) Ritualism 1851

BADELEY, Edward Lowth. (1803-1868) Autograph letter signed to The Ecclesiologist editor, W. C. Luard. London (Temple), 12 May 1851
 
Bifolium, 4 pages. Manuscript in black ink. Light toning and fold wear, with edge losses at the centre fold, not affecting the text; fully legible and structurally sound. Signs of mounting marks on the last page. Very good.
 
A significant ecclesiastical letter by Edward Lowth Badeley (1803–1868), barrister and one of the principal legal authorities associated with the Anglican church, written during the ritualist controversies within the Church of England in 1851.
 
Addressed to W. C. Luard, acting in an editorial capacity for The Ecclesiologist, the letter concerns the proposed publication of Badeley’s legal opinion on the alleged ritual “abuses” at St Paul’s and St Barnabas, Pimlico. These churches were at the centre of public and legal controversy in 1850–51 for the introduction of advanced ceremonial practices associated with the Tractarian movement.
Badeley confirmed that he was content for his opinion to be published and stated that, following further reflection, he remained convinced that his original view was correct. He explicitly refused to retract or materially modify his position, noting only that his initial language may have been restrained by the haste of the circumstances in which his opinion was first sought. 
 
Written in the aftermath of the Gorham Judgment, which had deeply unsettled High Church confidence in the legal and doctrinal coherence of the Church of England, the letter belongs to the final phase of Badeley’s Anglican career. He was received into the Roman Catholic Church the following year.