The Express.
London, England, 1851-04-04 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LOHOS.----Triure,Day, APRIL 3.

....
The Loun CIeaNCILLOR took his seat at live o'clock.
REFUSAL TO ISCItli A DISsIiNTING
The Duke of 11111;11:10ND then presented a petition.
of which he had given notice, frem the town e.mncil of the ,
city of eltichzster, complaining of the vicar and ineum-
bent
of the parish of St. Peter the Great, otherwise sub-
deanery in that city, fur having refus.ll to read the huriel
service over the body of Mr. Parsons, on the ground of his
having bees a separatist from the church, and especially •
teac',er among separatists: and also with haring de- ,
Mined to rerl the burial service over the remains of a
woman who had destroyed herself, notwithstanding that the ;
coroner's inquest had found that she did so when lunatic .
and distracted. These were circumstances which he was
sure that every well-wisher to the church of England must ,
regret. (Hear, hear.) He had never mixed himself up
with any division in the church, and he did not wish to
make an attack on the vicar, because he believed that previ-
ous to this transaction he had been a pious and charitable
man, and while curate of Horsham, in Sussex, he
wee very useful is that parish, and subscribed from his
private met une &considerable sum fur the erection of a church
sad schools. It was with great pain that he felt himself
eeeepelled to arraign the conduct of such a clergyman : but
be had certainly in this instance been, to say the least of it,
delcient in right and proper judgment. (Hear, hear.) It
rantthat he had not long been resident in the parish,
a gentleman of the name of Parsons, who fur 16
years was the highly-respected minister of a dissenting con-
gregation of independents, had died a short time ago. He
ad the pleasure of bong acquainted with that gentleman,
and he believed that a more honest, eonseientious. and up-
right man did not exist in the country. Prior to his death
he bad purchased a small stint of ground in the churchyard,
where he bad buried his wile, arid over whose remains the ,1
late ins umbent had read the prayers of the church and
ea hie death-bed he expressed a wish to he laid in the same'
grave with his wife. A person connected with the conarre-
salami appealed to Mr. Kenrick, the vicar, to ask if
be would allow the body to be buried in the church-
yard, in reply to which he said he had no objection,
Set he should decline to read the service over him because

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be w. a separatist and a teacher of iepariti.t.s. In reply
to a letter hula a gentleman repreeentina the congregation,
Mr. alter sayir.g that it was with the eta.t re-
luctance that he had brought him.elf to make the comma-
aleatiou, and that it was painful to hi. feelings to do so,
mud that he understood the funeral of the late Mr. Parsons
was to take place on the following Sunday afternoon, and
that the peewit whom he addrewied (Mr. }Sitwell) must he
aware that every person had a right t. he buried in the chu Feb-
yard. lie then proceeded to say: " Every person, except
wader certain circumstance*, h. legal claim to the burial
. .

raresee wing naul at his gra... But, although every person
lius a legal claim, I outwit think that one who is a alive-
UM from the church, and especially a teacher among
aspanstists, has any jug claim to her services.
That dissenters have a legal claim is unfortu-
nately but too true, for those who, in time past,
kgisiated for the consciences of dissenters, overlooked the
rotes iences of the clergy ; and whilst they let the one go
free, they kept the other bound. It is on the ground
that dissenters have no just claim to the service of the
church that I feel compelled to refuse the use of the
Lurid service at the grave of the deceased. lam per-
fectly aware to what I am subjecting myself, and the
odium —if not penalties—l shall incur ; but till some such
stand is male, and made at all risks, nothing will be done,
but the consciences of the clergy will continue to be ag-
grii veil; or rather they themselves will be treated all 07
long have been treated, 24 having no consciences at all. '
Piow, he did hops that there were not a great many
clergymen in this country who would deliberately sit
down and give as a reason for disobeying the law of the
land, that if they did not do .1 them would be uo
chance of its being altered. (Hear, hear.) Ile con-

„
that nototomg Vf01.111.1 1114. 111,111. da IR, nous than that
- • • • • •

respectable gentlemen of eiliteation should maintain such
opt . (Loud cries of .1 Ilid, hear.") lle wished the
row stopped here, but there was anothtsr tin, of refusal to
bury by the same clergyman. It quo and that a young
woman called Sarah R/Vg1.f..., about ,i0,1"1 elf Mul an
illegitimate child five year. &mi., after.whOli she went into
the 'trek, of a mod reapcetable family. allot continued so
until recently, when, having kit her simmer's on a visit to
her mother, who had the care of the child, oho wan been
walking towards a canal, and ft'lll.ll slays after was found
drowned. From the time of her misfortune she had nut

boom. to Vie a common phrase, the ...Init. woman, and a co-
mare. inquod found that .he dr,otrio 41 berwlf, " beinu at
the time lunatic and tledructill." Thu coroner iwued hn
warrant fur her burial ; but the vicar took time to conrider,

and then said he .44 quite sure that the woman was not
lunatic and eleurectipl," and he refuwsl to read the burial
mortice user her; in VlGlCtilleller of wheal her eiirpoui wait
pat into the grave without the service being read.
What right had the reverend gentleman to adopt this
emir*.: (near, hear.) had he attended the coroner's
inquest—hail he made any inquiry Ito• he to say,
I care nothing for the id a eiironer'n inqued,
011014 the oldest judicial tribunal, in the country (Hear,
hear.) Was he to take upon the office of the Lord
Chief Justice of the Queen'.. Bench, and pet apide the
division of the coroner? (Ileac, hear.) After a few
tither observations, the nohlellbte laid the petition tin the
table.

The Bishop of CHICHESTER felt considerable pain in
approaching the subject, and thanked the noble duke for
the testimony he had borne to the avueral character of Mr.
Kenrick, tend for the moderation, under all the circuit-
etetwee .1 the ease, with which hr hail stated the facts-
(Hear, hear.) Ile believed that Mr. Ki•oriek had been
actuated by strong conscientious motives: he ws. a clergy-
man of most irreproachable character, and of must benevo-
lent (rebate, and he had evinced hie title to that character
by areal iscrlonal sacrifices. Ile had Noll greatly latest-
meotal in the erection of a new when he was
a curate; and, however mistaken hi. views might be. he
believed be would not act from any other motive than
that which he thought to he correct ; bat he larairtial that
Mr. Kenriek had taken the cause which he had adopted.
Ile must say that he had no sympathy with him in
OW course which be had taken: tau the contrary, when
dissent first manifested itself in this kingdom, the die-
tient,.rs baring contented themeetvre with erecting places
of worship in which to eelelorate their screw-, end still
entunnsl to bury their dead in the churchyards,
he looked upon this eireunistanee as the continuance
of a tie between them and the iamb which he- trusted
would never be broken. He represented to Mr. Ken-
nel th:,t he would lie violating the law of the country and
of the church by refusing to read tin- ureic.- over the re-
mains of Mr. Paean., 111011 that it WO. not for an individual
to set himself up against the whole boily—(hear, hear)—
hut that be should submit himself to the regulations of
that church, and C.Mliller the light in which she re-
garded the burial service: and he would field that he
was bound to read it over the remiiir, of everyone, Un-
they had not been baptised. or had been excom-
municated, or had destroyed themaelete in a state of sanity.
Now, nn ono of three receptions applied to the avativinua
wins had been referred to; and lore he would bear his
willing bantam, to the high respectability of that gentle-
man. Of course, he was bound to say that he looked upon
tiro tenets which he had adopted a.. airily wrong, and
that he was blameable for entertaining them ; hut. never
thelees, with that objection, he was bound to extort,* his
isenegtion that the late Mr. l',u.seins was one of the most
respectable citizens among whom hi. family lived. (Hear,
hear.) Ile presumed Mr. Kisnrick looked upon him a. a
schismatic, although not convicted of schism. Many minis-
tees of the church did feel themselves placed in it most
difli--olt -.turban with reference to some persons. and
objected to read some portions of the burial service
over them, as, fur instance, the pasiniare:—.- Forasmuch
as it huth pleased Almighty God, o his great mercy.
to take unto. himself the soul of our dear brother,
e• in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to
eternal life.- Although the hope so repressiml was
general, yet many clergymen thought they must nut obey
the dictates of their conscience at all when called upon to
pronounce those words at the grave sate eery one, even if
tlu-y had departed this life under i irewnstances whirl, it
might he awful to contemplate. He did not mean to say
that this would justify the conduct of Mr. lienrick ; but
when he pleaded his conscience he hail ecotone' to make
these remarks, hoping that their lordshity would look upon
his conduct with as much considerate forbearuiee as µr-
uble. It was argued that he was not jiutitied in doing at he
had d because he WIN called upon by the law of
his church and the law °lbis country. to perform the ser-
vice Therefore the sin, if any. resin with the legislature.
and ant with the clergyman.
The Bishop of LONDON. who .puke at the furthest ex-
tremity of the bishops bench and was nearly inaudible, we
understood to impress upon their lordships the great impor-
of a measure applicable to this sort of case tieing m-
tenured without delay. He had bim.clf proposed last
ses-
uon a bill for a tribunal to try the offences of churchmen.
It might not perhaps be met with favour: but if God spared
him he would in some early session re-intrmluce another
vac...ware relating to the spiritual proceedings of clerks.
Lord BROUGHAM had never heard these subjects ad-
verb d to in that house without regret. and hoped the
ogre sous state of things which now prevailed would shortly
lie put an end to.
Ihe Bishop of EXETER, as we understood, thanked
the noble duke for the view which, as it appeared to
him, the noble duke had taken of the proceeding before
that coroner ; for he did not appear to insist that the ver-
dict of the jury was absolutely binding in law upon the -
clergyman, although he had contended that it wee prima
fare evidence that the party did stand is the state and con-
`dition of lunacy.
COUNTY COURTS FURTHER EXTENSION BILL.
On the motion that the bill be recommitted,
The LORD CHANCELLOR rote to state his objections •
to the alterations in the law, and to show their lordships
that the law did not require them. The noble and learned
lor,l first objected to the preposition in the bill, to give
power of referring eases, whether is law or equity,
to this arbitration of the county court judges,
and to the making those judges arbitrators to a
greater amount Of to an amount. Their ON
Ira. already too much occupied.' The bill proposed that the
judges should try causes by way of referi'nee, and the other
clauses provided no means of agreement. His objections I
applied to the first five clauses of the. bill, which 'elated to
those arbitrations. The provision was unneressary. for if
parties agreed to refer their dispute they had full power to do
es by the present law, fur t here were various acts of parlia-
ment which alluded every practicability for that purpose.
He also deprecated the adding such duties to the functions
of the County Court judges. He objected also to the nest
three clauses relating to the Courts of Reconcilement.
Ilar he did not consider the institution of such
courts suited to the views and wishes of the
people of this country. Cases of arbitration often
occurred of a highly important nature, involving conflict-