The Express.
London, England, 1864-10-07 00:00:00

♦ CIJIGTMAN CHAZOID Br ♦ BISHOP WITH DELIBEBAST

AND SHAMELESS FALSEHOOD.

An extraordinary correspondence has just been
published by the Rev. J. R. N. Idolesworth, D.D., Vicar of
Rochdale. In this oonispondsnce the Bishop of Manches-
ter (Dr. Lee) charges Dr. Molesworth with "deliberate and
shameless falsehood," sad Dr. Molesworth charges the
bishop with " tyrannically prostituting episcopal privilege to
the purposes of individual defamation and persecution."
Its origin of the quarrel which has, after months of cor-
respoedence and newspaper controversy, reached this ex-
traordinary snd scandalous point is involved in coasiderable
mystery, but it may be shortly explained thus : In the
centre of the borough of Rochdale are about thirty acne
of glebe attached to the personage house. The
Bishop of Manchester is patron of the living, one of the
richest in this part of the country. For many years it was
generally, but erroneously, believed that this portion of the
glebe was "excepted," and could not, therefore, be built
upon. This point was not settled till November, 1860,
when, by a judicial ruling. it was decided that the lands
might be let for building purposes. Previous to this ruling
the Bishop of Manchester had frequently premed the corps
ration of Rochdale to purchase the glebe for purposes of
public health. It in asserted that at these courenatioes the
bishop summed his readies= to sell or to amour in the
sale upon tonna as low se 1504 and 2001. per acre; and ail
late se April, 1861, his lordship, in reply to a letter from
Alderman Healey, the chairman of the General Purposes
Committee of the Rochdale Town Council, wrote the follow.
ing note :

Not to be published.—Xeuldeth-hall, 17 April, 1661.
Coo. Healey, Esq.—Dear, sir,—The prices talked of, not
proposed, ate :-1. As they are, 400/. per acre. 2. As they
might be improved, 6001. 3. If far building, 1,11)0/,—
Yours, 6e.—J. P. Karcnisria.

This was in 1861. Two years pm away, and in May,
1863, the town council re-opened negotiations with the
vicar, it having in the meantime been discovered that the
power of sale was vested, not in the patron, but in the actual
possessor of the property et the living. The vicar de-
clined to name • price for the land without first con-
sulting with the bishop. The bishop declined to
be in any way a party to the sale, end threw
upon the vicar the sole responsibility of transferring
the property to the corporation. Accepting this responsi-
bility, the vicar fixed the lowest prioeof the land at 300/. and
6001. per we, and upon this basis the negotiations of the
council were carried on for ten mouths. They were just
upon the point of completion when the bishop addressed •
letter to the town clerk of Rochdale, protesting against the
alienation of the property of the church upon the terms
agreed upon by the vicar, and hinting at legal prooeedinp
if the sale were completed. A long and angry discussion
followed in the town council, ending in the abandonment of
toe project for the purchase of the glebe. In the Rodutale
Observer of the 14th of May Dr. Molesworth published •
long letter in vindication of the part he had taken in these
negotiations. This letter falling Into the bands of the bishop
led to the correspondence.