The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-06-08 00:00:00

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it ahsrlute'.y necessary, as the question had -14,nt yet
lw'n pie, es that the Bill be read c ecand time
hoz! vslear test Callen from the Right Rev. Prelate
wets only-fer tv be..oxesed in the nee: stage of Use
Bill, viz. when they came to the (19*Slidit "thate
Bill be committed ' His Lordship said, lithe fobs
of the House were not striellv adhered to, their
ships would find themselves ruaniag into laser con=-
lasi n.'
The Bishop of St.. ASAPH said, he saw he had
mistaken the stage of the Dal; he tholieht it had
been teed a Wend time. '
Tlispute et es !LAMONT) said, he objeard to
- the prult:ple of the Sill, and thereto* he trusted
:!tat he *.sin order.• His ohjeaion to the principle,
Cs-aces:6d, seaS, thitt it went.tolake away front
theeiurieSffie right of trying the cwuies brought
sainst Ora of the Clergy as.were sued for nen-resi-
eseceesfanit ledge that power hi the hands of the
fi;nwhom he begged to he understood to
eutertain a very high respell ; but he conid not bin
consider that the gutty, whether Affluent, or' only
reeletately able to keep heiese, paid the Clergy of
.eerry description for the religious ilnties they per-
t tined. and therefore he ceulig not but be of opi-
nion that the jurisdiaion to euthece the residence of
their Reitor sre Vicar 'should remain in their bands,
end utieht not te roe trensferred tothe Right Reve-
rend Prelates. In oaks to shew that the same
pri nci sle pet %sided xiasiy if the clauses, of the Bill,
his Grace proceedea to touch upon a few of them in
ss hich it was perceptible, and to Argue upon what
appeeled to him to be an unjust, a partial, and an
• operation likely to result from them; when he was
called to ordereen the ground that what he was ad-
vertiag to was fitter for the Committee.
Lord ROSSI:II.N rose, again, and said, the No-
ble Duke was 'certainly in order. He had began -
with leclertlie.that he objeaed to the principle, and
vets only adverting to such clauses as from their
• en:tan:elite served, in his view of the WI, to sup-
on that objeStion.
The Duke resumed his arguments, and spoke
generally to spiritual persons not being allowed to
liold or let lands and estates of their own for culti-
vation, without licence of the Bishop—to the linii-
anions upon spiritual persons, with respect to the
hicalis of occupation and cultivation of their glebe
—to the possibility of partiality in granting the li-
cences ; one Bishop might do it with facility to his
lergy, while another might, front caprice or some
other motive,. refuse it, which might set hint and
the clergy of his dieeeee at variance, and produce
ill blood Among them, which must necessarily bring
t em into disrepute, and prejudiee the character and
hherests of the clergy and the-church n—but above
ell, the huge thought that the power of grant-
ing licences would be extremely inconverdent,
and not to be desired by the Bishops themselves ; it
would lodge an • invidious power in their hands,
which they would find themselves easier without.
His Grace also pointed out the difficulty of appor-
tioning the penalties to the means of those who were
to pay them. How were they to get at the amount
if the produce of a Reaory or a Vicarage ? The
entries of their amount in the King's books, were
all of them notoriously far short of the real pro-
duce. His Grace made several other general and
cursory observations on the Bill.
The LORD CHANCELLOR left the Wool-
sack, and discussed the Bill in a summary way at
sore e length. He said, if he himself understood the
Bili, he was persuaded the Noble Duke did not un-
dei street It $ at least the' Nohlo Duke mulerstood it
very differently from the light in which he viewed
it. His Lordship read a clause from the Act of
iittry V 111. to chew the violent injustice that
might be practised under it ; and he remarked, that
in trying a cause upon a penal statute, no discretion
weds invested either in a Judge or Jury. The Judge
r. ue be bound with the express letter of the law,
end must i.i liis direction lay down the rule of law
fir them to go 'by, without referring or observing
upon the hardship id the case, be iE ever so 'peat.
Lb recapitulated the causes tried by himself in one
'week. that of the exemplary Clergyman of Bow-
church, for nen-residence, although the Parsonage
house was the hale pocket-book shop the corner of
the Church-yard, a residence not fit to put a Cler-
gyman into, and therefore he was obliged to
reside in Ely Place : and the other cause that of
a Clergyman, who held two or more livings in
the city, but had lived for nitre years, sporting and
taking his pleasure in Somersetshire. Both were
obliged to be tined the penalty of 1101. though their
cases were so dissimilar. He also mentioned a cause
of eon-residence tried before a Noble and Learned
Lord r,ow dead, who had been provoked to declare
in Court, that it was the most impudent cause he
had ever tried. The cause was this :—A cunning
attorney in a country town lived in a house rather
too small ter his family, and observing that the par-
s: nage-hoase was much larger, and the incumbent
a ringlernan,proposed an eschange upon his pay-
ing rent. When he demanded his rent, the attor-
ney said, " Don't trouble me about rent, or I shall
prosecute you for non-residence ; and then there will
be a considerable balance in my favour." He did
prosecute the minister, and obtained the penalty.
His 1/n(1,1-lip added a great variety- of additional
• ;ervations.
'lite Doke of RICTINIOND replied at some
kerb, and was called to order as speaking twice,
which was contrary to order. The Duke, however,
urns he erd to an end.
'Thihishop of NORWICH began a very perspi-
enoue coerce% and well-err:urged speech, with ob-
serving, that the Noble Duke had proved his sure-
rier Lnowhalge how to avail himself of the forms
of the Houst, since he had contrived to be heard in
detail 'qn the clauses, although the Right Rev. Pre-
late hati,not bown permitted the same liberty. IVith
regard to the Bill, he approved its principle, but he
did not think the Bill altogether faultless.—
His Lordship stated the law as it stood, with retsard
to the residence of the clergy, under the Act of
Henry VIII, and went through its regulations
and restzietions, sheaving their operation in all re-
sr.-Is, And thence evincing the hardships it imposed
on the clergy, and the great iuequelity of its pe-
nalties. Haviag gone through this Bill, he ad-
dressed his argument to the Bill he held in his hand,
and went through a summery statement of the ob-
jets of each clause The first part of the Bill, he ob-
served, referred solely to what was termed the farm-
ing facilities giviag to the clergy, and the latter to
their residence. He wok notice of the Noble
Duke's observations, as to taking the trial of penal
suits oat of the hands of the temporal and putting into
those of the spiritual pcwers, and said, the Bill did net
slo that in the manner the Noble Duke cottetived.