The Express.
London, England, 1848-08-29 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 29, 1848.

would be able to show that there was nothing sound in that
argument, hat that if they persevered in this measure the
smelting trade would go to Hamburg, France, or the United
States. They limited on in this °oust/ to the amount of
400 tons. In France they smelted about 10 ton. To smelt
Chili ore 12 tons of sail were required ; for Calm ore from
14 to 16 tons ; for Cornish ore 90 tons. But the price of
' coal in Swansea was only 4s. a ton ; in France the average
Price was li 2a. • tae which made a difference of 101. 164.
the ton of ore. In Hamburg, the price of coal was 16s
a ton, which made a difference of 71. 10s. in the ion of
ore in favour of the Swansea 'metiers. (Hear, hear.)
In the Unit. d States, the average price of coal was 315. 6d.
per ton, making a protection of 161. 10s. per tone of ore. It
was pi rfecily ridiculous, then, to suppose that an ad valorem
duty of G per cent. on the ore could make any fference to
thi. smelting trade. But, on this question, as ou so many others,
he had to arraign the accuracy of the returns of the board of
trade; and somehow or °Vt.?, it always happened that these
inaccuracies were iu favour of the particular views supported
by the government. (Hear.) In the accounts relating to
trade and navigation for the six months ending sth July
last, the quantity of copper Imported was only 1,319 tons;
in the like period for 1846, it had been 5,162 tons; and
in 1847, 4,017 tons. Well might the house be in dismay
at the prospect of the trade thus leavieg us. This
return for 1848 was signed "A. W. Fonblanque;"
but there was every reason to believe that the
quantity of metal imported was not 1,319, but 5,39.1 tons.
In fort, upwards of 27,000 tons of copper ore were imported
in that period, which, accordion to the return, had only pro•
duced 4 per cent, of copper ; while, in the former years, the
ore bad produced 20 or 21 per cent, of metal It was a matter
of no small importance that the Board of Trade should be
producing uch misrepresentations. By means of these the
government had succeeded in carrying the house with them
in their fret-trade measures ; and now, in these last days of
August, they sought to throw away 23,0001. of revenue, with
the eitchi quer in a state of beggary, and the Chancellor
obliged to create stock to make up the deficiency, lie
charged them with misleading the house with false statistics,
and thus inducing the ruin of our home industry. He
moved that the bill should be read a second time that day six

----...---------7.
hire of chandeliers, probable expenses' 'crt 11liangN 1
hit-loth, suits, arc., the house must have Wilma&
to the edigational votes with the air of a risen wilo has
done a virtuous action.
The debate presented some few features of in-
terest. Oar readers have been made aware from
time to time of the difficulties which have been raised
by the National Society, with regard to the terms
upon which it will accept the assistance of the state
in the foundation and support of schools. 11'e have
always eeserted that the claims made by that society
are in the last degree unreasonable, and should not
be granted, and also that the attempts to attach
stricter meaning to the term " member of the church
of England" in the management clauses than was
contemplated by those who inserted the words. will,
if successful, result in the exclusion of all non-com-
municants from any participation in the ma-
nagement of church schools.
Trio Bishop of EXETER and the high church party
pretend that since every English Christiania presuma-
bly a member of the church of England, it
is necessary that some more accurate definition should
be employed when church membership is to give pri-
vileges, such as right of interference with church edu-
cation. It is proposed, in consequence, to limit such
right to persons who can prove that they have re-
ceived the sacrament constantly for a period of three
years. With respect, then, to the management of
church schools, all non-communicating churchmen
will be excommunicated. The effect of this in the great
majority of parishes will be to throw the manage-
ment of the schools into the hands of the clergymen
and an infinitesimally small fraction of the parishioners.
It was to this difficulty Mr. GLADSTONE alluded in
the course of the discussion on Lord MELGCND'S
resolutions, in one of those characteristic speeches
of his, of which it is impossible to predicate
to which side of the argument it leans. A chance
expression seemed, however, to indicate that the ho-
nourable gentleman, after having done more than any
layman in England to disseminate the most ultra
high church principles, differing by an almost imper-
ceptible shade from ItOmanism, is about to leave his
friends in the mire to which they have beer. intro-
duced by his will-o'-the-wisp-Ile Sittings. Sir
GEORGE GREY having asked what the honourable
gentleman thought of Mr. VENISON, Mr. GLADSTONE
replied that " Mr. VENISON was a most worthy and
excellent man ; but he represented with regard to
this particular subject the moat rigid form of
opinion. A more honourable man, in his opinion,
did not exist ; but his opinions were not to be taken
as a sample of those entertained generally by. the
clergy." Now Mr. GLADSTONE here knowingly
shirks the question at issue, which is not whether
Mr. DENISON represents the opinions generally
entertained by the clergy, but by those clergy-
men who decide upon the course of conduct to te
taken by the National Society. And a glance at the
late proceedings of the society will show that Mr.
Deeisost is a very correct exponent of its principles.
The former proceedings of the National Society with
respect to this question are familiar to the readers of
the Daily News. It was perfectly clear that at the
last great meeting the whole body of the clingy pre-
sent, with a very few exceptions, were of one 5 pinion
—nem, ly, that held by Mr. VENISON, whose aim it
wie, in his speech to prove the thesis expressed in his
own words thus, " that to a churchman religious educa-
tion has no meaning apart from the preservation in all
its integrity of the dogmatic teaching of the
church." We should deny the truth of this thesis
in general terms. We should be very unwilling to
believe that a churchman can have no idea of reli-
gious education unconuectecT with the dogmatic
1 teaching of the church. To those churchmen, how-
ever, who see nothing repugnant in Mr. DENISON'ei
proposition, we would observe that, allowing it to be
true, the difficulty arises where are we to look for
the dogmatic teaching of the church ? There is
nothing more certain than th I there are two parties
in the church who severally hold doctrines which
differ as widely as those of any two sects in the empire.
Of such importance are these doctrines held to be that
the Bishop of EXETER devotes a charge almost ex-
clusively to a reply to a statement from a clergy-
man
of the opposite party. Mr. DeNtsoN has attached
himself unreservedly to one of these parties, and there
is no probability that the National Society will with-
draw from the position which it has taken in conjunc-
tion with that gentleman. In the very last number
of the Guardian, a paper which is distinguished for its
earnest advocacy of high-church principles, Mr.
DENtsoN has published a letter, in which he speaks
as magniloquently as ever of the justice of the claims
of hie party. " It'," he says, " the committee of coun-
cil are really desirous to maintain the integrity of
church teaching and discipline in church schools, they
will pursue a very different Course from that which
they have
.persevered in hitherto—they will leave it
altogether in the hands of the church to say what shall
be taught in her schools, and how it shall be
taught without let or interference direct or in-
direct." Now, if we read for " church" the
words Puseyite party, we shall have a correct idea of
the notions and views of Mr. VENISON and the Na-
tional Society on the subject of church school manage-
ment. They have established a Puseyite college,
they advocate Puseyite measures, and they con-
template a favourable reaction on the church by
means of a body of Puseyite schoolmasters. It is for
this purpose that the novel iuterpretation of the
words, member of the church of England, is insisted
on. The next thing to having the whole business of
education confined to the clergy, is to allow only the
introduction into committees of men who are most
often in connexion with the clergy, and of whom
the whole number is so small, that no roomis left for
choice.
Mr. GLADSTONE seemed to intimate that the extra-
vagant assumptions of Mr. DENISON and his party were
repudiated, but spoke in such a manner as to warrant
he belief that concessions would be made, and
Lord JOHN wound up by insinuating that the
differences were on the point of being reconciled
to the satisfaction of both parties. Our own opinion
is that the rampant party will be satisfied with no-
th'ng less than an actual or virtual recognition of the
principle of their claim ; and that any little incident
u hie& may appear to give a different colouring to
the pact between the government and the society will
be introduced to mislead the public. Such an inci-
dent would be the snubbing of Mr. Derrisno—an
operation which that gentleman will doubtless submit
to with infinite meekness, if the substantial claims of
the society are accorded. We are of opinion that so
much of the correspondence as would have enabled
the public to judge of the nature of the concessions
made to the society should have been laid before the
house, in order to show whether any essential princi-
ple had been yielded by the government.
The only other interesting feature of the discos- 1
sion on the miscellaneous estimates, in which this
question was raised, arose on the question of
the vote to the universities. Mr. OsrioeNE di-
vided the house on the vote, making the objec-
tion to which not a shadow of a reply was
attempted—namely, that the money was consumed in
paying salaries for which ao re rvices were received.
Mr. GOULBURS thought that the money was very in-
siviificant in amount, and that Professors SEDGWICK,
WlLLic', and LEE were such estimable men, that no
objection ought be raised ; a mode of defence which
would. apologise for the indefinite extension of the
pend.on list. An irregular discussion then arose
on the exclusion of dissenters from the uni-
ver skies. Lord JOIIN came forward with a
pr oposition for doing away with the hardship
0'; exclusion which struck us as peculiarly plea-
, ant, and essentially Whiggish—half-and-half, namely.
lie hopes to be able to state to the house next year
that an arrangement has been made between the two
great universities on the one side, and the university
of London on the other, by which dissenters shall re-
ceive their education at the former universities, and
their degrees at the latter! The universities
of Oxford and Cambridge will thus assist in
the education of men whom they will afterwards
refuse to recognise as members of their body.
.. . ...
• than three

with the temper of the age ; whereas formerly
the men considered it a fine thing to cut
"chapels," and various other antiquated rem-
, pants of medimval discipline, and they. have now,
in obedience to the new fashion of university life
which has followed, as the consequence of the teaching
of the new school, agreed for the time to consider it a
fine thing to keep "chapels," &e. Mr. GLADSTONE
would have us to look upon this change as the evi-
dence that the collegiate system is a living reality.
Had he been an undergraduate at the University of
Cambridge in the year 1837, when the great body
of the men were occupied in writing and
reading squibs against the system of cha-
&c., he would have talked of a living
reality of a different kind. The change in the habits ,1
of the men must be put down to Nothing more nor less
than fashion.
The debate presented no more features of interest.
Little was said on the possibility of a general
system of education, although the subject was
not entirely neglected. Enough was said to esanre us
that the question is not at rest, and that members, it
not from their own convictions, at least from a pres-
sure from without, will soon feel that the settlement of
this question is bound up with the great interests of
the empire.

montis.
Mr. WYLD, in seconding the motion, said this bill had
been before the house 10 weeks, and had been 32 times on
the notice paper. It bad been postponed to a very late
period in the session, and there were now only two members
present connected with Cornwall. That county, if the bill
passed, would ba reduced to ruin and beggary. It contained
a population of 118,000, entirely dependent for their sub-
sistence on its mineral productions. Within the last two or
three months a very rapid importation of foreign ores had
taken place—a foretaste of the effects that would be pro-
duced by the bill. Already the miners complained, in peti-
tions to the house,of the loss of their trade, in consequence
of the proposal this bill. Wages had been reduced, and
many had been thrown outof work. What, then,might be the
effect of the law when actually in operation ? The case of the
miners differed essentially from that of manufactures thrown
out of work, who might obtain work elsewhere; but with the
miners this was impossible, for the facility with which wee
were produced in Cuba, Chili, and elsewhere, set all compe-
tition at defiance. This wan a question aff-cting a large por-
tion of the population, and one that would seriously affect
the revenue. Between 1844 and 1547 ores to the value of
4,157,0001. had been raised in Cornwall: of this sum
2,546,1331 was paid for labour, or about 60 per cent. In
foreign mines the cost of labour bore no such proportion.
The proposed measure would entail a loss of 110,0001. per
annum in the employment of the population in Curner..ll.
lie would simply oak the question whether it was not better
to encourage •his traffic. which gave encouragement to
English labour and English capital, than to promote the in-
terests of the Chili and Cuba miners. With the statistics al-
ready betoro Om house there had been no ground shown for
such an organic change as was proposed by this bill. On all
the grounds set forth in the numerous petitions which had
been presented from the districts most seriously affected by
this measure he most cordially joined the noble lord, the
member for Lynn (Lord G. Bentinek) in opposing the fur-
ther progress of the bill.
Mr. LABOUCHERE said the bill had been already so
fully discussed, that he felt it to be urines...wary to detain the
house with any denoted argument in answer to the noble
lord and hon. g.ntlensati opposite. He cintended that theme
duties had been gradually diminishing year after year, until
they bad fallen to an amount of a most insignificantcharacter.
He vindicated Mr. Finblanque from the imputation so
coarsely advanced agaiest him by the noble lord, and
el timed for that gentleman the respect due to established
talent and high character. As to the interest of the smelters
of this country, be had no fear that this measure would in
terfere with their legitimate prosperity. The true interest
of the Cornish miners was to see England continue the
great scene of copper smelting, whicn it certainly would not
be unless the restrictions imposed by the existing duties
were removed.
Mr. HENLEY supported the amend rent.
Col. THOMPSON said that after listening to the Ile-
menu on the other side he could only come to the conclusion
that it was &sited to put down the foreign trade in eorp r,
in order to favour the miners in Cornwall. There appeared
to be short commons amongst the miners in Cornwall, but
was there not also went among the weavers of Bradford %
He was sure that if hon. gentlemen considered his plea for
the manufacturers of Bradford they would admit there was
some fairness in claiming for them the right of exchanging
their manufactures against the copper of other countries.
Mr. NEWDEGATE said that ministers had pressed this
bill in the knowledge that the session was so far advanced,
and the sittings of the house were so prolonged, that all the
independent members were absent, and the arguments urged
against their measures were lost, so that they got them paired
without much difficulty and without having the debates
brought under the notice of the public. Some of his con-
stituents iu Birmingham had exprewied their approval of
the bill, but he would never mist them in depriving other
industrious classes of their occupation, which the measure
would do.
Ma. BROWN supported the bill, and contended that the
declining state of the copper trade called for an alteration in
the duty on foreign ores. lie di i not tsar that the bill
would throw a single Cornish miner out of employment.
Many of that body were in great distress at present, but de-
pression was the symptom of every branch of trade.
Mr. HUNT?. considered that, with respect to the copper
duties, the only fault that could be laid to the door of the
government was their having delayed alteration so long. As
a part of the general scheme of free trade, be gave the pre-
sent measure his cordial and hearty support.
After a few words from Cant. Ni Tee,
Mr. P. CAREW said that the people of Cornwall were in
such distress that there was every probability measures simi-
lar to those which had been already panned for the Irish
would be required on their behalf in the approaching winter.
He opposed the bill so tending very much to increase that

di tress.
Mr. TURNER denied that the number of miners in Corn-
wall was so great as had been stated by the noble lord oppo•
site. It was a remarkable fact that not a single petition had
been presented trim the mining interest against this bill.
(Rear, hear.) In his opinion the preponderating feeling of
that interest was in its favour; and therefore he felt fully
justified in giving it his support.
Mr. MACGREGOR also spoke is favour of the bill, but
in consequence of the continued interruptions and calls for a
division, his observations were generally inaudible.
Mr. E. VIVIAN opposed the measure as injurious to the
mining interests of Cornwall,
After some observations in'esplanation rem Mr. NEWDE-
OATE, Mr. Canaw,lnd Mr. TURNER,
The house divide'—For the
the ame second redment .adii g 77
For n... 21—b13
The bill was then read a second time, to be committed
this day.
DISTILLING FROM SUGAR BILL.
On the motion of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER,
the house then went into committee on this bill. Ihe vari-
ous clauses were played ; the bill was ordered to be re-
ported this day ; and the house adjourned at 2 o'emck.

IfORSILAM ELECTION COMMITTEE, YESTERDAY.—
Rebutting evident* in Wont of Mr. Fitsnerald continued.

gilt OrprOlS.

MAILS.
The mails for New South Wales, Van Gieman's Land, and New
Zealand will be made up on the evening of the 314 AUITW.t.
The mulls for the West Coast of Africa and Madeira will be made'
up on the evening of the 314 August.
Me mails for British North America, and the United States
will be made up the evening of the let Sept.
The Wait India Mails, including Bermuda, Nassau, Havana,
Honduras, New Orlea Vera Crus, Tampico, and Porto Rico, and
excluding throe for Madeira, Jactnel, Carthseen,, Kant. Martha,
Chaves, Panama, Wert. Coast ol booth AMOY EON end St. Juan-de-
Nicaragua, will be made up on the morning of the led Sept.
The mails for the Omits, the River Plate, Monte Video, Pernam-
buco, Bahia, Madeira, and Buenos Ayres, will he made up on the
evening of the 4th September.
The malls for Vigo, Oporto, Lisboa, Madeira, Calls, and Gibraltar
will be made up on the morning of the ith Sept.
The overland doted mil% ma Kamilla% to the Mediterranean,
Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, India, Hong-Kong, gm., will be made up on the
evening of the ltla September.
The overland malls for Gibraltar, Malta, Orem, the lonian Wands,
Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, India, Rang-Kong, and China, cis Southway-
ton, will be made up on the evening of the 30th Sept.

NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS. 1;
The number of
theSTAMPS
DAILY NBWS was 3.447,009
This, we believe, is within eight per cent. of the numbs,.
Issued to the Morning Herald, Morning Chroniek, to 1
Morning! Poet, ALL PUT TOOIITHAR.
In addition to the above, issued to the DAILY NEN' ,
Morning Paper, there were issued for the intening Edit
TUB SINLESS 778 714.
Which was more, we believe, than were issued sit' oar to
Globe or Mosorkird. livening Papers.

81011 WATII AT ILAVIDOrI 11111. D 0 1.
Ten Dee—N.... le el. erg 1 1 Aftereesa W vela W. I
To. ..--Aloreteg, if eta peel I ; Lasnees. It WA. pea S.

and loyalty ; and our opponents are the toe mg
conservative clergy of Durham, who have direw
—who are diverting—that property into their oleo
pockets! From this attempt at recovery we are 00,0
be turned aside by idle foolish offers of a superaumerar,
curate to each colliery, or by the mean degrod. '
proposal that the church shall be her at.illing to :4
shilling of the coal-owner. Nor can we be the,,„
on to a false scent by invitations to discos the que.
tion (important though it be) whether church pro,
perty shall be revolved into a common fond and
applied to the general purposes of the church, Lein.
regard first to local wants. • When we have reseta
from the clergy the property they are cow alienating
from the church, we shall gladly enter on its cote.
deration. Bat until we have fiat secured the stole,
goods, we cannot atop to settle what we shall do with
them when we have overtaken the runaways; lee
by reason of the delay the thieves rosy reap,
altogether.

d
TIIERE are of course a
nbodyiilesotfhrpo:hle
boasted
who somehow stehtother
ie mansion, The
herwise. Mr.
tahetoN7ew Forest
eguirea dr.eeehpyl,y
win are
f
of " things as they are." ',These for the most pere t
acquired property to which the Forest is a cal table
appendage. The late Mr. MARTIN of Galway bo:
before hie own land
that
respect
they
ho
cameeuyl d
make drive. t.
o t
hfueo
pr
doort y
for
Forest. squires cannot quite come up to Mr. Morits'
mark in point of distance, but what they want intliass
could not drive through his estate without re.
fleeting that " property had its duties u well
as its rights." The New Forest squirearchy
can boast that they have all the rights at
property without any of the duties. " Here" one a
them may say, " here is an estate kindly kept op by
the crown, as if for my special convenience and rm.
fort. Here are roads like bowling-greens maintained
at great expen e, in order to accommodate my family
and friends, and the few other persons who may want
to go past my lodge gates. Here are herds of deer
fattening, under the superintendence of dozens of
well-paid officers, in order that I and a few other,
who have rights' may obtain a buck just when we
require it. Here I can turn out my horses and cows,
my pigs, and my geese to any extent I please, batjar
nearly all the trouble and cost of pasturage, and
enabling me and my tenants to put all our 6neend
under tillage. Here are all my labourers with a pri-
vilege of cutting fern and faggots, and a right
to all the dropped timber they can pick up (and &little
that they don't pick up), besides other advantages,
so considerable, that of course they do not require
anything like the rate of wages paid in other parts
of England. Here lam secure from all unpleasant
neighbours whatsoever. The crown, represented by
my dear friend,' the permanent commissioner,' is next
door to me, whichever way I go out. And ' the
crown' is such a good-natured neighbour! If I
want to take in a piece of land, I have only to talk
the matter over a bottle of port with my friend, the
permanent,' and the terms are as easy as my chair.
l'he acres that are worthless to the crown are valu-
able to me. In ten years I make a good thing of
them, and so I go on, increasing my influence and
my manor, and augmenting my importance, both in
the forest and the county."
Such are the self-congratulations of the squire. No
wonder that the moment a whisper is heard of turn-
ing the forest to a better account you rec,ive from him
' a serious remonstrance.' He will tell you how many
thousands he has sunk himself : he will assure you of
the toil, the trouble, the expense he has incurred to
bring hie land into anything like condition; he will
treat you to a geological lecture on " the upper tertiary
group," talk of " lower tertiary rising to the surface,
and discourse upon " gravel, and sand, and clay,"
and " clayey gravel and gravelly sand,'' until you
absolutely feel yourself quite prepared to spend an
hour with Dr. BECKLAND. He will point out to
you that the forest is a waste now, not worth turning
to better account; and then ten to one but he con-
cludes by advising that the government should ex-
pend half a million in planting all the 50,000 waste
acres with young oak, which in 180 years will come
to great perfection, and (should timber then be re-
quired for ship-building) be invaluable, as he will de-
clare with intense emphasis, in maintaining the
maritime superiority of our empire !
But the answer to the squire and his geology is,
unfortunately for his argument, a practical one. If
the soil of the New Forest is not worth cultivating,
why do you cultivate it ? Why do you go on year
after year getting a grant of this little bit and
that little bit, until at last you get out of the forest a
considerable estate ? Suppose the crown will let 3.0 n
have more land on easy terms, will you refuse
it? Will any body refuse it who knows anything
about it ?
Setting aside our friend's geological talk about the
strata, which is all very well so far as it goes, the fact
is, and every Hampshire farmer knows it, that there
is not finer land in England than land in the New
Forest. No one will pretend to say that it is oil alike.
There are good parts and bad parts, as there must be
in every large estate of 70,000 acres. Take a prac-
tical illustration of the character of the forest land.
Every one knows that where furze grows almost
anything will grow. There is scarcely a part of the
forest waste on which you will not find more or less
furze.
But there is another practical illustration. The
three forest villages of Minetead, Lyndhurst, and
Broekenhurst, are situated, as nearly as possible, in the
north, centre, and the southern districts orthe forest.
Nowhere in the county will you find land n. better
cultivation than immediately around these centres.
Why should the wastes between or on either side of
them be so much less capable of cultivation ?
There is a part of the forest ins very peculiar state.
In consequence of the exposure of a large extent of
surface to the action of the weather, the sweeping
winds and pelting rains rob the soil aeon the
heights of particles which are transported. to the
plains. These being in a state of minute division, and
being held suspended in winter until gradually preel-
pitated, fern a water-tight crust which lays the
foundation of a bog or quagmire. " Here is a pretty
pace !" our squire would say. " Why, instead of a
tree holding here, the ground is unsafe almost for the
feet of deer." But it happens that there have hese
some railway cuttings through some of these places,
and our squire and anybody else may see that the
thing is only superficial, and that a fatter loam is
scarcely to be found than that under the matey crust
whichs covers the sludge neglect and ignorance have
creted.
However, having made the Woods and Forests an
offer for the land the other day, we may conclude
with the squire by offering him a bargain now. It be
won't take the New Forest land, we will find plenty
who will. But the New Forest squires are a
'mete set, and will tell a different tale if
the crown will only afford them an oppor-
tunity. No one knows better than one of the most
influential of them what may be done with forest
land. Having enclosed from time to time small patches
of it, be let it on ten years' leases to he, labourers,
at a nominal rant At the end of ten years what has
been done with ? Why, the contiguous patches
have been thrown into farms of from 50 to 100 sore"
each, and let at a very considerable rental. There're
farms of (his sort on ono of the most extensive forest
manors, from which "my lords" in Whitehall-place
may take a most instructive lesson.
Thiebaneof a country squirearchy is prejuchoe. If this
could but be set aside it is after all doubtful whether.
with alltheir " forest rights," the squirearchy of the New
Forest would not come to the conclusion that
must be gainers by an entire alteration of its system.
An industrious and thriving rural population moll
after all, be an infinite blessing. A body of contented
labourers subsisting on the wages of their inlustry
would be no bad exchange for a miserable, poverty''
stricken set, subsisting on the petty plunder of pn,
vote, perhaps, as well as public property.

Dins the law, we have been repeatedly asked,
really justify the appropriation of the mineral produce
of church lands in the diocese of Durham to the in-
cumbent s for the time being, regardless of the per-
manent interests of the establishment? Is it possible
that it can sanction the alienation of this specks of
church property by the clergy? Have the Durham
incumbents legal excuses for the pecuniary " waste "
they have been and are still committing?
Pertinent and important inquiries these. All legal
analogies are, as we have already stated, against their
practices in regard to minerals. Timber on glebe or
other church lands, it is quite a settled point, canno'
be cut down by the incumbent for his own private use.
S. careful, indeed, is the law of church wood,
that in the case of " Strachy v. Francis," Lord
HARDWICKE held that though a parson might cut
down underwood on his glebe for env purpose, yet
that " if he grubbed it up," such grubbing up would
be waste, against which the Court of Chancery would
protect the living. Timber on church land might
always be cut for the purpose of repairing either the
church or the parsonage; but there the right of cut-
ting appears to have rested, until the enactments of
the 56 GEO. cap. 52, by which incumbents, with
the consent of the patron and bishop, were enabled to
cut down timber on glebe land, and to apply the
:undo arising from its sale to the purchase either
of a parsonage or of other glebe lands. If, then, the
grubbing up underwood ou church lands be an
act of waste; and if money arising from the sale of
timber cut down on glebe land mast be ap;•lied for
the permanent benefit of the living; it will not, we
presume, be, denied even by a Durham pluralist,
that legal analogies are against the alienation of
minerals under glebe and church land now going on
in that diocese.
Still, as the practice of the Durham clergy, from
the bishop downwards, has for at least a century
been to treat the minerals under church lands as if
they were tithes or other growing hereditaments to
which the incumbents for the time being had the sole
right; as, under this practice, a sum of probably not
less than a million sterling has been appropriated by
such incumbents to their own private use ; as the
clergy are generally a body of learned men who do
not usually act without due authority ; the laity
might well be excised for adopting without inquiry
the notion that, however morally reprehensible the
practice, it was legally justifiable.
Stimulated, however, by the defence set up by the
local press of Durham, and by the inquiries of our !
own readers, we have looked into the law on the sub- ;
ject ; and the result of our investigation has been to
raise very grave doubts as to the legality of many of ;
these appropriations of church property by the Dur-
ham clergy to their own use. On the subject of
Isinerals under church lands we cannot discover any I
legislation ; the law thereon must, therefore, be ,
I searched for in text books and in reported cases. In
the former, little will be found bearing on the
points under consideration, and in the reports
we can only discover two decided cases. I
I One of them, however, is of great value ;
it is entitled " Knight v. Moseley," and will be tonnd
in " Ambler,' p. 176. The facts reported are briefly ;
these :—A bill was filed in the Court of Chancery. by
a patron against a rector, to stay waste for digging
stones, &c. on the glebe, other than was necessary for '
Vie repair of the nersonage and the church, and also
for an account. To this bill the parson demurred as
to the account, and by way of answer to the merits I
of the case against him alleged that the quarries had I
been opened before. After argument the LORD
CHANCELLOR gave the following judgment:—" The
parson has a fee simple qualified and under restriction I.
in right of the chinch, but he cannot do everything I.
that a private owner of an inheritance can. He can. ;
' not commit waste, nor open mines, but may work
(those already opened. Even a bishop can- ;
not. TALBOT, Bishop if Durham, applied to
parliament to ensile him to open motes, but '
rejected. Parsons may fell timber and dig stones to I
repair; and they have been indulged in selling inch
timber or stone when the money has been applied in
repairs. Injunction has been granted even against ,
bishops to restrain them from selling la'ge quantities ;
of timber, at the instance of the attorney-general on '
behalf of the crown, the patron of bishoprics. If the ;
demurrer had only gone to the account it had been
good, for the patron cannot have any profit from the I
living ; but it is too general as to the stajing the
digging of stones, &c. And though the answer set
out that the quarry was open before, yet the demurrer
cannot have aid from the answer. It is bad as to
that part; and being so, it must be overruled as to
the whole : for a demurrer cannot be good in part
ae.d bad in part, as a plea may."
The date of this decision is not given, but as it is
placed between two cases decided in 1753, the natural
inference is that it also was of that year; and the eeals
were theu held by Lord Chancellor HARDWlCKE,rvspect-
ing the high authority of whose judgments it is unneces- ;
sary to add one word. Here then we have the law in I
1753 declaring that parsons cannot even open mines
on church lands, much less opin and appropriate the
proceeds to their own private use. And in the very ;
case of the diocese of Durham, Bishop TALBOT was, it
is stated, refused permission by parliament itself to ;
open the episcopal mines, from which his less senipu- 4
lolls successors have derived such great fortunes. If,
then, this decision be still good law (and we
cannot find that it has been impeached by
any subsequent case), every existing inciom-.
bent in the diocese of Durham, who has opened, or
permitted mines to be opened by his lessees, has
thereby committed waste, and the leases he has
granted of the minerals are of course invalid. This,
we submit, is a most serious consideration. not only
for the Durham clergy, but for their coal lessees.
' Whether waste has been committed when the
minerals under the glebe have wit been reached by a
shaft sunk on the church lands, but (as is frequently
the case) have been obtained by out-strike from
adjoining mine, we do not venture an opinion. But
if " Koight r. Moseley" were rightly decided,
no man need hesitate in coming to the conclusion
that every incumbent who has opened a mine is liable
to account to the church for every penny of its proceeds.
And we shall be obliged to any of our local readers
for the names and particulars of any Durham parson
(be he bishop, dean, prebendary, archdeacon, rector,
vicar, or curate) who has opened mines on hie glebe
or other church lands, that the ecclesiastical commis-
sioners may have facts as well as law before them.
The political economy involved in this restriction to
open mines on church lands is, of course, indefen-
sible ; for the public have a deep interest lathe enlarge
ment of the field whence they are supplied with fuel,
and in the full development of church property. And
on this ground alone the restriction ought to be re-
moved by legislation; bat removed on terms shriller

FRANC r

A clever dissenter will spend more .
years of his time, and a large . gum of money, and he to those on which, as we have shown, the incum:benta ---
sent afterwards to another ut iversity which has had of glebe lands have, by the 56th Geo. 111., clasp. 52, PAPAS, Monay, 11 A.M.
roduce for the permanent benefit of the ecurch. nothing .to do with him, to buy that recognition permission to cut timber, viz., on investment of the There is an absolute dearth of news this snoring
LONDON, TUESDAY, AUG. of his talent, which his own university has refused to P
29. bestow. Col. Taofersort might well doubt whether The foregoing remarks are perhaps the best reply ent re-
-a sort of collapse after the violent excitem P
Amos° the few respectable ingredients which aumt the dissenters wouhi agree to such a compromise. Mr. we can make to the last article of tb.e organ of the morning.
in the composition of the unsavoury financial hOte.h- GLADsTONE thought that there was a real and formi- Durham clergy ! they will show him and his patrons Louis Blanc, on Saturday morning, left by
;tlilei
potch called the miscellaneous estimates, the grant for dable difficulty to the introduction of religious differ- that his and their petty, peddlireg propositions, by Northern Railway, taking the train, not at the w' t
ducted by the debate of Friday night and Saturdsf
education holds a prominent piths• The milAise—
xy mess
in the case of a university having a collegiate which it is 'noped to escape bran the dilemma in
would appear to have introdumd this and a feve other system of domestic diacipline, and tie thought this diffi. which their moral, and as we hr.ve now proved, their St. Denis. It is said t'amt he was himself tne OEI,
items, in order to redeem the whole mixture (.1.0.,a an_ clay would be the greater because that system was legal, misappropriations have ►aced them, are alto• sire subject of converAtion among his fellow-travel°
qualified ceMemnation—it is the reputable hal,tpeany becoming MOTO and more a living reality every year. ther inadmissible. We (radical and revolutionary lea, who, however, 'lid not know him• station in Paris, but at the first station en route
_g.
the
M. e,
worth of bread to the intolerable deal •ot
di
It may be necessary to eXplal.n to our readers that though we may be, as we ale accused of being) seek to We read in the. megagee :It is Said ''-' - -
potable 'auk. After having voted conn.less thou- the mysterious words " livulre reality" mean nothing ie•Wver for the church th at property to which she is Montalivet is nr,w in Parts, and that he is chart bl
sands for repairs of public buildings, royal palaces, more than the retrogression to as many of the enter- morally and legally entitled; we wish to see it ex- the ex-King Louis Philippe with a mission ,ving
temporary accommodation of parliaMentary effacers, lisle of the ancient monastic, discipline as in consistent 'winded in the promotion of religion, virtue; education, for its otier4t to obtain from the government, ex*