The Cathedral dignitaries are alarmed at the extensive powers pro..
posed to be conferred on the Bishops by the Bill facetiously called one of " Church Reform," and more especially with the havoc which it is proposed to make, even in their lifetime, and in defiance of all regard to vested interests, with their patronage. With a view triavert this evil, they have prepared a petition to the house of Commons, signed by the following divines—on behalf, we presume, of the " Chapters " generally.
SYDNEY SMITH, Canon Residentary of St. Paul's.
Tinos. SINGLETON, Archdeacon of Northumberland. 1'. 1111NT, Vice-Dean and Prebendary of Canterbury. W. F. BAVLAY, Prebendary of Canterbury. Mos. HILL Lows, Precenter and Canon of Exeter. War. MacooxA n.D, Cation of Salisbury. T. MAN N ens SUTTON, sub-Dean of Lincoln."
From the sly sarcasm which is noticeable in some parts of the peti- tion, we suspect that Mr. Canon Residentiary Sydney Smith was the penman. We select a few passages from this curious document.
"'this transfer of patronage to Bishops has been recommended by Commis- sioners where all the Ecclesiastics arc Bishops or Archbishops, of which Commission no Parochial Clergyman, or Prebendary, or Dean has been consti- tuted a member ; and where, in consequence, only one species of ecclesiastical interest has been properly and powerfully represented. And if it be supposed that the Bench of Bishops (looking only in their distribution of preferment to the good of the public) have hitherto neglected their own firmilies and relations, your petitioners beg of you to observe whether or not at this moment must of the great priferments of the Church are not in the hands of clergymen nearly related to and connected with the various Bishops who have filled the sees of this realm for the lust thirty years. But if the interests of the Bishops shall in this ease be found to prevail over the right of the Chapters, your petitioners may at least consider such provision, as far as it concerns those to whom such patronage now belongs, to be wholly unjust and untenable. Many existing members of Chapters have taken their preferment from the fair expectation of exercising this patronage, and have been waiting for it for years; many have brought up their children to the profession of the Church, hoping that their characters and merits would fairly permit that such preferment might be con- ferred upon them. Your petitioners humbly represent, that their interests in the patronage they now possess ought.to be consideted as much a vested interest as that which they have in their incomes during their lives. It would be con- sidered as a very violent and unjustifiable proceeding to take away the patron- age of the Crown or that of laymen, and to confer it upon the Bishops; and the title of Chapters to their patronage is older and more indubitable than that which any layman can possess • a a * a a " In the 52d clause of the 4th Report of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, your petitioners observe with great surprise and alarm, that a power is recom- mended to be given to the Commissioners of dividing livings, even during the lives of the present incumbents, and taking away front them any portion of the value; and this to be done without the consent of the patron, unless the patron be a layman or a Bishop. A just and equitable protection is therefore granted to every species of patrons except Deans and Chapters ; in fact, is granted to all those who are at present in Parliament and can complain of injustice, and is denied where the injustice can be practised and the complaint e disregarded with impunity. Your petitioners would consider this recom- mendation of the Commissioners, if carded into a law, as a very gross act of partiality and oppression. * * • * • " Your petitioners observe with considerable alarm the follov:ing passage in the 4th Report of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. We have alieady pointed out the necessity of making some alteration in the statutes of the respective Chapters, by which the times and periods of residence are regulated—we now recommend that the Visitcrs of the respective Chapters should make those al terations, as well as such other alterations as may be necessary in order to render the statutes and rules consistent with the altered constitution and duties of those bodies." The Archbishops and Bishops of the Commission being themselves Visiters of the greatest part of thc Chapters in England, the Commissioners have in this paragraph recommended a very serious and im- portant increase of the power of the Bishops; and which may in many in- stances be exercised to the great prejudice and injustice of your petitioners." * • " There is in fact nothing by which your petitioners are more alarmed than the existence of a Central Board, sheltered by general and indefinite powers, armed with a public purse, and inflamed by a zeal for change. Such tribunals always fall under the absolute influence of some active individual, become a cloak for tyranny, and a source of endless vexation to the indivi- duals who are subjected to their irresistible power. As a remedy against this evil, your petitioners humbly request, that in any bill which in your wis- dom you may choose to enact for the constitution of such Commissioners, you will give to them powers clearly and plainly defined, and nothing more than the necessity of the case requires. Your petitioners wish to live under the con- trol of laws, and not under those ill-defined and general powers which, to the great alarm of your petitioners, are asked fur on the present occasions." The Bishop of London is said to be the author of the grasping pro- visions which are the source of such alarm. The Established Church Bill will increase his Lordship's patronage enormously. The Morning Chronicle remarks, that the modest proposal of the Bishop is this- " He, and not the Prime Minister, shall hereafter, in addition to ninety-one livings now in his gift, (many of which, St. James, Kensington, Acton,&c., are 1,8001. and 1,0(0/. per annum,) shall appoint one of the three Residen- tiary Canons, 2,0001. per annum (his son, perhaps, when he is old enough, or his brother and brother-in-law, as Mr. Hale is destined by his Lordship for the Mastership of Charterbouse); and that he, and not the Dean and Chapter, shall likewise present to about fifty now at their disposal, many of which are likewise from 1,000/. to 2,000/. a year."
He also aims at feathering his own nest at the expense of neighbour- ing Bishops-
" What will our readers think is the recommendation of the Bishop of Lon- don, to whose discretion ewe will not say dictation) and judgment the other members of the Commission have in most instances succumbed? That either St. Pancras or St. Marylebone, or some part of the ,City, should be alien- ated to the small and less populous dioceses of Rochester or Worcester? No ; but in addition to the whole of these, and all the county of Middlesex, he should retain all the most populous parts of Essex, including Ilford, East Ilam, West Ham, Woodford, &e. (giving up only to the Bishop of Rochester the outskirts of Essex), and taking from that see Greenwich, 'Woolwich, Eltham, Deptford, &c.; from the diocese of Winchester all its most populous parts, in- cluding the whole of Southwark, Newington, Cla,tharn, Camberwell, &c.; and from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lambeth, Ste. (sufficient of themselves to form a diocese), together with all the patror.age under the old and new system !" Why, the man would be another Wolsey !—And this is called " Church Reform," the thing called a " Liberal" Ministry being in office !
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