CLERGYMEN AS COMBATANTS.
[TO THE EDITOR OP TUB " SPECTATOR."]
Six,—Some weeks ago, in your columns, Sir Herbert Maxwell pointed out that in the Times for September 29th, 1803, is found the considered opinion expressed on this subject by the most prominent prelate of that time—Bishop Horsley. But as Sir Herbert did not proceed to quote the Bishop's words, I ask your leave to cite them now.—I am, Sir, &e.,
" I should think it highly improper if the clergy generally were to accept commissions in the army or condescend to be drilled in the ranks. Yet where in any country parish a number of able men are willing to come forward, and there is no one so fit to take the command, or no one whom the men are so willing to follow, as their parish priest (a case which I have reason to believe exists in many parishes in my diocese), I would have it distinctly understood that my judgment is—that in every such case the clergyman, who has accepted His Majesty's commission as the officer of any such Volun- teer Corps, has not only done nothing improper, but nothing but what is laudable and what his duty to the King, to the country and to God, in the present exigence, requires. Gird yourselves, there- fore, without scruple, for the battle in this holy cause when the occasion shall call ; nothing doubting but that the God whom we serve, and our enemies defy, will teach the hands of His servants to war and their fingers to fight."
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