The Express.
London, England, 1848-05-22 00:00:00

TO THE RIGHT REVEREND THE LORD

BISHOP OF SALISBURY.

MY LORD,—The correspondence between tour
lordship and Mr. Borman, which has been published
under your directions, was no doubt intended for the infor-
mation and opinion of the public. On those grounds, I
submit 'he following observations.
It appears by your statement that your income was in one
year 17,6611.; in another, 12,879; and in another, 2,4321.
Now, this great irregularity could only have arisen from very
gross mismanagement of the estates. The tenures of the
church property are governed by acts of parliament passed
in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, in all of
which the dignitary to possession is most strictly
prohibited from granting any lease " that shall in anywise
alienate or give away any portion of the rent to the prejudice
of the successor; " or " that shall cause either dilapidation to
the estate or impoverish the successor; " end " that all
lenses shall be utterly void, if made while three years of the
lease in being is unexpired."
By the report of a committee of the Home of Commons,
appointed on the 3rd May, 1838, to inquire into the m
ment of ecclesiastical property, we are informed that
dignitaries in possession have persevered in granting leave
which are in direct opposition to those statutes, until they
have reduced the revenues of the church to "an utter
and unaccountable disproportion between the value of
the property and the income derived from it;" and
that although the estates are called church property,
because the fee simple belongs to the church, yet the
actual interest and right of possession of the lessees in them
are much greater than that of the church, which, in point
of fact, has only a reversionary and in many cases a very
remote interest in them." Te this forlorn and lamentable
condition have the reverend trustees of this immense and
most sacred property reduced it. Your lordship's prede-
cessors left it to you in that condition, and you, in your
turn, by renewing the kisses, upon the fines rated, have
entailed the like upon your successor.
Custom is pleaded in excuse for continuing the spoliation
of the church. Bad customs are generally kept up, in con-
sequence of those who ought to know better following the
multitude "to do evil." The estates of the church, under
the present custom, produce little more then one-fourth of
their value—the average of yours for the last four years you
state to be 5,1361. If your lordship will consult the state-
ments that have been made, for the purpose of settling the
amount of fines, you will find the real value of the estates
belonging to your see, to be upwards of 20,0001. per annum,
about 15.0001. of which are lost to the church by the customs
introduced by its dignitaries. This, if the leases are for
lives, will in the last twenty-one years amount to a loss of
the enormous sum of 315,0001. In leases for lives the loss
would be much greater. This ie, indeed, destructive of the
property, but the misapplication of what remains to the
church may be said to be more destructive.
In the " Liber Ecclesiasticus," page 52, three dignitaries
are mentioned, belonging to the cathedral of Salisbury, as
having received fines for leasing their estates to the amount
of 7.9661. Their estates must therefore be of the value of
3,9831. a year. In renewing twenty-one years' leases, they
would receive for fines 23,8981., besides 7,3241., the amount
of their yearly incomes in that period (the loss to the church
in addition is 59,7451.) The duties performed in the service
of the church by the reverend dignitaries, as stated by them-
selves, are for one "to preach twice a-year," another "to
preach in turn," the other " tho usual duties ;" altogether,
for the twenty-one years, not equal to six months of that
perforated by thousands of our working clergy, with incomes
under 1501. nyear; and for this 90,8671. of the church pro-
perty is sacrificed. Can there be a greater mockery of sacred
matters i

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The eyes of the country are wide open upon the state of
the church, but there is no hope of redress while the present
system of trusteeship continues. 1 commend these facts to
the serious consideration of all who would give a good
amount of their stewardships.—AK OLD CHUItCHMAN.