The Express.
London, England, 1864-12-15 00:00:00

THE APPEAL OF BISHOP COLENSO.

(THIS DAY.)

T I,...iring of this appeal before the Judicial
of Privy Council was resumed at 11 this morning ;
, rre,ent beiug the Lord Chancellor, Lord Kings-
r i Cranworth, the Muter of the Rolls, and Sir
. _ _

- .
M. datees. Q.C., Mr. Fitzjamee Stephens, Mr.
Mr. E. Charles appeared for the appellant;
: I!.:_h Cairns, the Queen's Advocate, nod Mr. Bad-
. ~ for the respondent.
-Imes Stephens continued his address on behalf
• urrihrt. lie argued that the letters patent under
. _

' • a:t complained of was dons were void, because
to establish a new court of law over a colony
• • ,•iis,sed a constitutional fotta of government. He
. .

r case of " Campbell v. Hall" in one of the
.• !.an colonies in support of this view. The
• ,umel then went on to contend that scale-
- t. lirkdiction never had been founded by letters
r ~td that whenever it had been done it wag
• • v statute. Even Henry VIII., absolute u he
when he desired to create bishoprica ap•
to parliament to assist him in doing so.
,a•ts bearing on the point showed that the granting of
• jurisdiction could not be justified in principle,
L,3 tlien place in fact. The letters patent in

were null and void as against the appellant, and
ire also null and void on the ground that the crown
c.t derogate from a grant it bad once given.
-1.1. of Natal might, as suffragan, be wabject cri-
• ') though be (Mr. Stephens) did not admit that—to
1, of Capetown ; but if so his subordination did
- • dt ;Tire him of his right of appeal. The grant to the
of Capetown placed the Bishop of Natal
worse position than be was in previously,
it substituted for a right of appeal to the crown
.^neal to the Archbishop of Canterbury for the
tame L.<:._.

Chancellor here read the original of the letters
; aat t. the Bishop of Capetown, in so far as it related
t • of appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who,
g to ita provisions, was, it appeared, finally to
• any appeal.
mephens observed that the see of Natal was ate.
..b fore that, and in the letters patent nothing was
,lout jurisdiction ; and he maintained that her Majesty
1 po er to take away from th• Bishop of Natal his right of
r ea: to herself. The appellant could not lose his right of
yid to the sovereign so long as his letters patent continued
.-. force. (Po four grounds he contended the patent was void.

was void first because the crown could not create
; secondly, it wan void because it was op-
: -rat., the charters under which the colonies were governed ;
. it wan void because a complete jurisdiction could not
any circumstances be given to the Archbishop of
„nterbury ; and lastly, it wan void as against the appellant
l.,,suse it was a plain derogation of rights already vested
!..ca by letters patent. Again, as regarded the question
contract he maintained it was impossible to regard
cs. oixl bishops altogether as private persons. For eerie-
-s..,tical purposes they were in the position cf public
c'` •rn, invested with public functions.
'f Chancellor remarked that they were corpora-
sole.

M'. stephens—Yee, and they bad certain duties con.
with spiritual and ecclesiastical matters. In fact.
s rever colonial bishops existed, there was an established
with all its consequences. After referring
t. authorities in rapport of this argument, the
%lined counsel contended that the church of
x4land in the colonies was in a precisely similar victi-
m,. to the church of England in this country. It was a
r at of the contract entered into that her Majesty was to be
the bead, and to exercise the same powers as were exercised
lv her in England ; that was the only view of the
which really met all the exigencies of the case.
:1 ht. jarisdiction was of course not coercive but voluntary
x the part of those who belonged to the colonial churches,
n-d in the judgment in the ease of " Long v. the Bishop of
C,petown," the principle for which he was arguing was
1.. id down. Her Majesty was by her letters patent • party to
the contract, and she stood in the same relation to the
members of the church of England in Natal as she stood
to her subjects belonging to the same church in this country.
The other side admitted the existence of a contract, but
differed from them as to its terms. He presumed that the
view on the other side was that the church of England was
a perfectly independent body, having its own laws and re-
;lllation', and that when a branch of it was established in
a colony the effect was that the old laws of the church were
binding on the members of that branch. That view clearly
xplained all that bad been dote by the bishop and what
be termed his "synod." According to their declaration, if
parliament were to alter the creeds and the catechism they
would refuse to receive them. The statute law of England,
Lad, they said, no force in " the church of South Africa
nn they repudiated the Court of Appeal and its decisions.
At the request of the Lord Chancellor the learned counsel
then cited at considerable length the words of the sentence
of deprivation ; and he afterwards observed that it
included a reassertion of that right of deciding what is the
doctrine of the church which had been recently denied by
the highest court in the realm.
_ _

The Lord Chancellor—Do you mean that the Bishop of
Capetowu repudiated the exercise of any other authority
than that which he claimed under the law of the universal
char, , •

31r --tephens—Fes, my lord.
'he learned mongol was proceeding with his argument
when our report left.)

r °CET OF PINAL APPEAL IN MATTERS
SPIRITUAL.

Wr are infornie4 that one of the moot ilistin-
,-.7.!shed member, of the House of Commons, and who poi-
tames the entire coon.lence of churchmen on both sides of
the house, will call th• attention of parliameut, soon after
its meeting, to the importaot question of appellate jurisdic-
tion I. matters aniritu .!, in the sense indicated in the speech
of Air. Icaraeli in ttm >heldonian Theatre. The plan to be
proposed will. we fear, somewhat disappoint the truculent
anticipations of our anti-church contemporaries, an. instead
of rthstitutinz a High Commission Court of Prelates, with
clnclusive authority, we hear on the contrary. that it is
pp-piped that the spiritual element shall be entirely elimin-
ated from the Palatine tribunal, which will, nevertheless,
remain the Court of Final Appeal, and thus completely
secure the supremacy of the crown.—Here/d.

Ti,e death is announced, after a few hours'
of Mr. Dodd. This gentleman was conservative
:..onier for Maidstone from 1841 to IS;;:t, during three
,!!t..rnents. He was a gentleman of her Majesty's privy
commissioner of lieutenancy for London, and
C:-;-.ity lieutenant for Middlesex, and also a magistrate and
I.rEctor of several public companies.
.It the meeting. of the Society of Arts last evening
Irt Kane read a paper on the recent Twosome and
reie%t state of iotlaatte in Ireland and the Dahlia Inter.
71.•al Exhibition of 1,4;5. The chair wu taken by Lord
.•f•erio, and there wu a very larte attendance of mem-
The paper was of considerable length and great in-
Sirßribert Kane routed out that there had been
.rrowth in the manufacturing industry of Ireland, and
tf-,1,1 that the depression of late years had been mainly
ly the very bad weather. A discussion followed
dug of the paper.
:• and tai have been definitively settled, yes-
' - IT the directors of the London. Chatham, and
.-r Railway, that their new station at Bridge-street,
,fi.ars, shall be opened for public traffic on Tuesday
20th inst.

T:.•• uhri.4trnTie show of fat cattle in connexion
• ..t• Loyal Dublin Societe commenced on Tuesday in
'.l,l.litig attached to the Exhibition, fJrmerly used as a
• err colrt. Ica point of numbers the show was most
•4t.41. there being no lase than 108 entries in oxen
The cattle exhibited were of • very fair quality.
.he.m were particularly good, and the same may be said
io,lllry and roots.

• -.
I i••tnnuber of towns adopting the Public-houses
~,t is mereusine. The Bradford Town Conseil, on
after a long discussion, carried • motion for its
•!. ti..n into that town by • majority of three. The
r of Hull has tilled a meeting of the council to eon-
. : t:.e subject.

• ..hip ever built on the banks of the

s was •arcessf ally launched yesterday. She is 270
Z and 3`, fret broad. Her barthen is registered
•t• re. 41ir. is partly built of iron and partly of wood,

- •
!ow principle.
the arrival of the Admiral the Hon.
man, to tab., command of bar blajertes squadron in
wo ,ndorstand that Esquiroalt hu been mad*
• t.,of naval station in lien of Valparaiso. All ships of
. ;r -ns to 'heir return to England. will therefore
VaLcourer Inland.—British CauntLia paper.