The Express.
London, England, 1850-01-15 00:00:00

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THE VICAR OF BERKELEY.

The following letter, addressed to Earl Fitzbars
0:fly) by the lord bishop of the diocese, appears in the
Bristol Journal:
"Stapleton, Jan. 9, 1860
"Ns Lord,—l have received a letter signed by your
lordship and a hrite number of parishioners of B .rkeley, of
h dh wzes. in which you comp) in of my having inhibited
tee Rev John 8-ton K irr from the performance of the set-
nen of the church so long es the charges against him are
nutter inve.tigatiem.
I reply that, being convinced. from the retire of the
offences charged, that the greatest scandal wee likely to
arise Irma his c .ntinuing to officiate, and that his ministra-
eons must he worse thee wailers while such foul imputatieae
were pending against him, I d• owed it my imp►rative duty
to tollnw the course which the law had pri.cribed.

"The cans. indeed, is so exactly met by the provisirns of
the statute (3 & 4 Yid., c ha, etc. Hi, tha• I cannot be!ieve
Hitt any hahtip, or any oth- r p tors whu hod seen the d• pr.
sitions wt ich I hays 64.111, could hesitate about the course
which ought to he adopted.
" That this temporary inhibition is of the nature of a!
pus ishm nt I do not admit; most clergymen would attire to
he relieved tom their sacred ditties whis 1-hou ing under
ehergeirof such a nature, however strong they might feel in
.nrcious in -licence Nir can I recor iss it as being at
variance with he oilier institutions of our country. A per-
stn chieged with offences in th, civil our it imprisoned
or held on bail till he can be brought to *val In the army,
as accused otileer is •uartenile I from his rofeseional iuties
aconr •mertial has derided upon the justice of the se-
cutation. In causes ecclesiastical there appears to be a still
greater neeetsity for the intermission of t s "ermines of an
sr-mud c'ergymsn during the preen. Nothing eon be
more offensive to the religi.as feelings of the people than
that the Word of God should he pronou-ictel, and the lily
Sacrament administered, by on. who is at the same moment
himself eh trged with scandelons immorality.
ifo.4 loedship, and the ladles and gentlemen whose
names follow your lordship's, have, it seem., nev r till now
heard of soy each enormities being laid to 'he charge of
your vicar. N .verthi less, it Is certain that rumours of that
iteription, th ugh t ley di i not reach your urs, hive
been for s ims tins hi Berkeley and the neighbouring
country; of that fact I wan in'i rmed •1 months ago
by several of his two her clergymen, who found that greet
maul was thereby caused to the church, particularly by
one rep in, of a eircuartantial nature, which was obtaining
ex•entive circulation ; the method which I adopted to
protect the church and the clerical character wu this
'empowered a commission of flys c'ergynun, of high Oa-
, rawer, to icquirs into the truth of the reporte, and if they
were ill-funded, or if they believed them to proceed not
I fry m criminality, hut only from levity of conduct, to m- k .
I known their opinion in such a manner at might tend to
whit I had hoped. lam sorry to say that the investigation
carried as is Mr. M•rr's own presence left upon the minds
.0. the clergy uen an iimpreadon of hie guilt, and • convic-
tion tt at the ease could only be properly dealt with in a court
of judicature.
" Your lordship cannot fell to observe that, in prosecuting
an heti in of this nature, a clergyman can have no nvtive
erupt a wish to see justice done to the church, and p
the cies ical character untarnished—beyond this public bene-
fit no imaginable advantage can be in his contemplation,
while much trouble and considerable expense are incurred.
Fur myself, I shall sincerely rejoice, if by the issue of these
proceedings, the Vicar of Berkeley can be rest-nod with a
pure aid untainted character to the discharge of his sacred
Inactions. I am, my lord,
" Your lordship's obedient and humble servant,
(Signed) J. H. GLOUCIIITZA and BRISTOL.
Th • Right Hon. Earl Fit:herding',
Berkeley Castle, Berkeley."

THE WEATHER AND THE PARKE. The ther-
mometer during Sunday night, in exposed situations, fell as
low as 24 degrees, or 8 degrees below freezing point, and
during yesterday morning at was down to 20. The wind
veered to different quarters in the course of a few boon, but
in the treeing was nearly due east, and blew exceedingly
cold, with strong gales. The various ornamental waters in
the royal parks were visited by thousands of persons during
yester.lay, but far below the number who flocked to the
same places on Sunday. Every precaution was taken by
the officers of the Royal Humane Society to prevent acci-
dents on the ice, and although very few immersions hap-
pened, a great many persons were seriously injured by
'ailing whilst sliding, and their heads coming in contact
with the points of skates. Several scientific evolutions were
minnow! by the members of the Skating Club on the l:ng
water ice Kensington Hardens.
NORTH KaNT RAILWAY COX7IIII7IITION.—A meeting of
the bridge wardens and amistants wee held yesterday at
Rochester, to determine upon the expediency of constructing
a new bridge acmes the River Medway, to improve its pre-
vent navigation, and, incidental thereto, to hear a proposition
from Mr. 0. L. Taylor, the engineer of the direct line of
railway from &rood to Dover, proposed to be constructed
Hider the direction of • public commireion, coordeting of the
principal landowners acd the L• rd Warden of the Cinque
Porte. The were present the Earl of Ramsey, Earl of
Darnley, E. Twopenny, Esq. J. W. Strafford Esq.,
wardens ; and C. W. Martin,mta., M.P., T. L. Hodges,
Esq., WM. Smith, E.g., R. T , Esq., J. Moron, Eq.,
and J. Stunt, Esq., amistanta. On the presentation ot a report
by W. Cubitt, E-q., the engineer, it wee determined to pro-
ceed with the construction of the new bridge with all pos-
sible speed ; and with respect to an apNimitioa received
from Ile. Taylor, who represented the wish., of many
landowners and occupiers in the north-eastern part of the
entr.ty, it was decided that there was nothing in his Dro-
p ',Won, to delay the progress of the works.—Mr. Taylor
explained that the railway bridge might be rionstruatod
subsequently or simultaneously with the proposed new
bridge, so as not to involve the slightest danger
or aporehension of accident from carriages or horses
as , the railway trains would be entirely
reipt4from view.—Mr. Cubitt stated that he could see
no reason to oppose the preposition of Mr. Taylor,
in whose views on this point he entirely esmearred*; and he
subseques_tly stat-d, that if he were milled em by the ilon,h-
Eastern Medway Company, to advise ea the onee, be diesid
strongly reenesamod that troutpeny M mneerna the liked
line themselves, and by no means le elm t• •
project, when it had trio sumo of the and
others locally interested in its eimminelYmi,
&sVTH WALIIII.—The &name of this mageny have
intimated their Mention to Oomply inch the reemassoda-
tma contained in the report of the elaridebe of investip-
I ion. They state that under • emnistion Mel
the eventual
istersate of the estarstoldsre will be beet by
alba of the tomb immediately at their d l towards the
esselmsotiea et the penes of the Rae beams Swansea and
Curlew, reposed to be opened in the owing epeinB, the
erasion Wen it right to adopt the reemagen el the
corned tea so Is, es te the payment of Interest upon
sane en* abet the nwiting Fekreety, when the
.abject mein he dissnmen, the Intermit epee calla paid
in adman to be disebeiget Y the uses lineensusui.