The Express.
London, England, 1851-07-15 00:00:00

TDB HOEPIELI) ESTATE AND THE

BISHOPS.

(Ron the Do* Nero.)

Manor WlLBEaroact yesterday pleaded Bishop!
.Mouies defence is the House of Lords, where no
charge had liven made against that prelate, and
where no reply could be given to his SDr. WlLBER-
rower) statements. Before a sympathising audience
of aristocratic acquaintances and personal friends--a
very different tribunal from the cold phlegmatic mat-
ter-of-fact House of Commons—he pictured the inva-
lid absentee as a kind-hearted, but obstinate old gen-
tleman, who trill insist on being generous, but is
resolved that no one dial! know how—a sort of
slim)* Mr. Marche!!, who has leased llorfield
Manor to his own nominee, in order to surprise
his diocese with his liberality some day,
unless death interpose and prevent him ;
who, in short, is playing at the child's game of
"open your mouth and shut your eyes and see what
your bishop will send you." And the stupid, literal,
material world. which can't understand such a freak
in an elderly scholar of seventy, fell, it sterns, into
the error of suspecting that the lease of llorfield to
his own steward for three lives, before the last of
which dies it will probably have become a sort of
Bristol Tvhurnia or Paddington, was scarcely granted
on so dianterevted a tenure or fur such benevolent
Such iv the substance of the explanation.
at, before examining it, a few words on the general
question ; for in it the public takes much more in-
terest than even in liorfield.

The country is indignant; the church is ashamed;
the ungodly are taunting and derisive. And at
what ? At an Order which, on Friday night last,
the Bishop of LONDON asserted to be in this realm
the depositary of the faith once delivered to the
saints, which the Bishop of Oxman, soaring over
Fulham Palace, claimed to be the representative of
the Apostolic Synod which was divinely assembled
and miraculously endowed in Jerusalem at the
Feast of Pentecost! The contrast between these
their fiduciary claims and holy pretensions ; and the
position in public opinion to which they have been
reduced, chiefly by their own doing., is very shock-
ing. Good, great good, must, however, come of it.
Things can't remain as they are ; abuses so flagrant,
so inconsistent, such descriptions of their own awful
attributes and powers can't last.
Thirteen years ago they were permitted very much
to remodel and reform themselves; they were allowed
very much to fix the minimums of their own in-
comes; they procured an administration of their own
to carry out the details of their own measure; they
have interpreted their own acts of parliament just as
they choose; they have prepared their own schemes,
without interference or control; the crown adopted
by orders in council all their propositions; and a
Whig cabinet, afraid of their power, has defended
their every move, look, and thought—no matter
whether the Bishop of DvattAx got 20,0001. a year
more than he was entitled to, whether the Episcopal
Fund was wasted in building, adorning, and beauti-
fying palaces and gardens far away from episcopal
cities, or whether a great benefice was jobbed Tor
the pecuniary gain of a high-church Grey, as at
Houghton-le-Spring, or of a low-church Eden, as at I
Bishop Wearmouth.
And the result? Need we describe it? Do we not
ace and feel it ? Are not good men affected by, and
bad men gladdened at it? Is not the church *discre-
dited, religion disparaged, and society disgusted?
Have not funds to the extent of 7.0001., entrusted to
the keeping of the bishops, in their carelessness and
through their negligence, been purloined by their
secretary, and not one penny of restitution been
made by them—have they not, in nearly every in-
stance, given themselves incomes greater than their
own statute contemplated—spent the surplus of epis-

copal estates on their own palaces, and involved the
common fund on which depended the inferior clergy
in pecuniary embarrassment and insolvency ? All,
too, with self-complacency very offensive; under the
pretence of reform very delusive; and by the subser-
viency of a ministry very humiliating.
But, descending from generalities to particulars,
let us return to the case of the Bishop of BRISTOL
and GLOCCESTER. A week ago, Mr. PHILIP MILES
pledged himself to give explanations of the Horfield
lease in the House of Commons. Arrangements were
made to Five Mr. MILES the opportunity of de-
fending his episcopal friend; the Prime Minister
knew and was wilhng to assist in those arrangements,
and on Friday evening last the explanations
ought to have been given in the House of Commons.
They were not. The venue was suddenly changed ;
Mr. P. MILES, who knows all the details and
the district, was induced to abandon his inten-
tion ; and, in his stead, of all men in the world,
Bishop WILBERFORCE (on whose palace at Cuddesden
nearly 6,0001. was spent out of the episcopal fund,
and who, in 1649, received 9,6911. 4s. 7d. out of the
sec of Oxford,or 4,6911. 45.7 d. more than he was by
law entitled), receives the Horfield brief; and of all
ft=he pleads, where he can't be answered, in the
of Lords. There, of course, he had it all bit
own way, and that is pleasant.
Let us correctly understand the case. Dr. MONK is,
we all know, Bishop of Bitisvot and GLOUCEATER;
but some of us may not be aware that he is also a
Canon of Westminster and Vicar of Almondsbury,
and was, until very recently, Rector of Peakirk. His
canonry is supposed to be worth 1,200/. a year ; and
in the septennial returns of his see, for 1837-43,
it is stated to have produced from 5,2211. to 9,572/.
On this return the ecclesiastical commission proposed
to assess, after its next avoidance, the see at 1,4001.
a-year. The bishop remonstrated, and the commis-
sioners reduced the assessment to 7001., on condition,
however, that Horfield should be transferred, at the
next avoidance, to the commission. In the following
septennial return-1844 50—the sec is made only to
yield from 3,901/. to 6,2601.; to which, of course,
must be added, in the sum total of the bishop's in-
come, the worth of the stall in Westminster Abbey.
Of it, however, llorfield forms no part; and on •
palace at Stapleton, for Dr. MONK, has been spent
upwards of 20,0001., raised by the sale of episcopal
estates chiefly, with a little aid, however, from the
episcopal fund. This, then, is Dr. MONK'S position
in the church, quite unconnected with llorfield
manor and its history. There is an agreeable plenty-
about it, to say the least of it.
Well, then, about Horfield. It is a large estate
close to Bristol, excellently suited, it is said, for
villas, and detached cottages, and snug boxes, such
as well-doing citizens like to dwell in. It
has generally been leased on lives by the
Bishops of Bristol, to a Lord Farmer, who, io
his turn, has made copyhold grants of the same te-
nure ; and there are at present some thirty or forty
copyholders enjoyintr on easy terms the greater part
of the property. Now what the church requires is
that this manor be placed in a condition of safety, so
that when the copyhold leases have all expired it
may enjoy the full benefit of the entire property.
Bishop MONK thinks he has done so ; we believe he
has not. He has only done what he says Bishop
GREY was about to do when death interrupted him,
what Bishop ALLEN was thinking of doing when
translated to Ely—but what they never did—leased
the manor for three lives : with this difference,
however, that he has leased it to his own nominee,
and intends to apply it to the benefit of the see. In-
tentions are, however, frail reeds for the church
to lean on ; and if Bishop MONK were to die
leaving his intentions in their present inchoate
state, and a profound secret to everybody, even to
Dr. WILBERFORCE, what would become of the
church then ? The better way would have been to
have declared the uses he wished to put it to; and
to have asked the legislature for its aid in carrying
them out. lied he done so, he would hare avoided all
these doubts and mistakes, all this criticism and
scandal. And not having pursued that very obvious'
course, he has really very little to complain of, if
some misunderstandings have arisen.

He made, it may be°Said, an effort in that direc-
tion. Yes; but on terms pecuniarily disagreeable
and very inconsistent with his now announced de-
sign, and to a quarter which had no power. And
failing there, he takes possession of the estate, and
leases it to himself for three lives. Now, Bishop
WILBERFORCE may talk as hepleases, and Lord H ta-
KOWBY may express what confidence he chooses, but
the Horficld manor, thus leased, is in danger, and
danger too. It has been legally alienated
Fr:ll:the church. Were Bishop MONK to die intes-
tate to-morrow, it would descend to his representa-
tives as part of their private inheritance for three
lives; and he is at present as much Lord Farmer
I against the church, as any preceding lessee of his
It is idly premature, then, to boast of
WelTlrtfiprtl; liberality and generosity and great
designs; when he has signed, scaled, and delivered
them, he will then be in a position to talk about
them. Certainly not before.
What, then, is the result of this explanation? No
owl an yet say; fur Mr. MOIt.NAN must of course
be beard in reply. When that has been done, a
sound opinion may be formed. But until this, it is
I premature. Let us, therefore, wait tor Mr. HORS-
MAN.B proofs of his allegations. He does not usually
qeak without book ; and on Thursday we shall have
hkevidence.

But let this particular case end as it will, it does
not, and cannot, affect the exposure made of English
episcopacy by the returns the bishops themselves
have made of their incomes; for in them we have
their own talc; in them there is no mistake. Arid
at best what the Horfield case will show is that the
bishops themselves suffer from secrecy; and that the
sooner the management of the church's property is
taken away from them, the safer their reputations;
for the fewer will be their temptations.

TDE GREAT EXIIIIIITION.—Yesterday 2,957/. 88.
was received at the doors of the Crystal Palace, which was
visited by 62,694 persons.
THE ROYAL VLSIT TO TILE CITY.—Her Majesty
Us been graciously. pleased to accept " as memorial of
her visit to the City on the 9th of July," the very
beautiful dessert plates and wine-Glasses prepared for the
entertainment at Guildhall, which have been presented
by Mr :Staples to her Majesty.
ADMIRALTY, JULY I4.—APPOINTMENTS.—ASsiat-
_

ant Surgeon J. Henry, to Scorpion. Acting Assistant
Surgeons J. Sproule and G. F. A. Drews, to Cumberland
Master's Assistant: W. 86s-en, to Cumberland.

FATAL ACCIDENT AT THE NORTH SIDE COLLIERY,
BEDMINSTEIL—BRISTOL, JCLY 11.—Sinee the late acci-
dent at the North Side Colliery, by which nearly 50 men
were so long imprisoned under ground and were at last so
providentially rescued, workmen have been employed in
repairing the damage then done. At half-past 12 o'clock
last night a bucket, contair.ing thee of the men so engaged
was lowered into the pit. The names of these men are '
Wm. Boult, Edward Gibbons, and Jonathan Burton. At I
half-past 4 this morning the alarm bell was heard to ring
violently, and on the bucket being drawn to the surface of
the pit it was found that some portion of the air shaft had
fallen on the bucket and completely crushed the head of
Wm. Boult ; the other two men being very much injured.
Boult, who was quite dead, was one of the men who were
most active in their exertions to liberate the imprisoned
colliers on the occasion of the late disaster. He has left a
family of eight children and a widow far advanced in preg-
nancy. The inquest on Bonk will be commenced, pro
forma. this afternoon before Mr. J. B. Oriadon, the city
coroner; but it being necessary to give two days' notice of
the accident to the Secretary of State for the Home Depart-
• ment, the proceedings will be adjourned as a matter of
Mine.

---•—•
THE ISABRAIRM &MEP STIOW.—At Mr. J. Webb's
annual hiring of Southdowns on Wednesday, 62 rams were
let at an average of 221 12s. 10d. each, • small increase
both in number and average over former years. One top
wu let for the extraordinary price of 99 guineas, and
another at 93 guineas, the hirer in both cases being Lord
Dude.

---- •
THE METROPOLITAN WATER SUPPLY COM-
witnesses examined before the committee
yestel day were Dr. Challis, of Bermondsey, on the unitary
kering' of the subject, and Mr. Browne, the secretary of
the late Metropolitan Water Supply Association, relative to
the known operations of that society towards improving the
water supply of the metropolis, and at four o'clock the
committee adjourned to this day.