The Privy Council have decided, in the case of the
Rev. William Long, of the diocese of Cape Town, that no colonial clergyman who swears obedience to his Bishop is understood to owe that obedience in anything which might not be required of an English clergyman by an English Bishop. The Rev. W. Long refused to take measures to elect a delegate to a Synod summoned by the Bishop of Cape Town • and, on being cited and condemned for contumacy, appealed to the Privy Council. The Privy Council declared that, having submitted himself to that Bishop's authority, the Bishop "had power to deprive him of his benefice for any lawful cause, that is, for any such cause as (having regard to any differences which may arise from the circumstances of the colony) would authorize the deprivation by a Bishop in England." This, Lord Kingsdown thought, was the limit of a colonial Bishop's authority, and held Mr. Long guiltless of having offended against it within its due limits.
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