The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-03-31 00:00:00

ATOI?JV I .11 G

.4DVERTISER.-

. •

CT, 31, 1803.

PRICE SIXPENCE.

IMPZ.7I.IL P/IRLLIMENT.

an At of a milder texture, and did not enferces it
clauses and erov sions by qui tam a,ctions, or any such
stuX, . He, therefore, sheeld certainly move in the
Codineittee to shortenthe duration of the present Bill,
%vhich was extended very nearly to as late.a day as
Parliament would continue to sit, and- thyshould
also objea to any operation of it on the Att of the
13th of Elizabeth, which, though it miglOciet some
respects hear hard upon the Clergy, was -riot a Sta-
tute to be viewed in the same light with the Ad of
Henry the Eighth. .As to the event, he should be
content to leave the Bill to its fate, but the tardiness
hitherto shewa in bringing forward a Bill, ame-
liorating the harshness mod severity of the Aft of
Henry the Eighth, and such as was. tit for the lee-
eishiture to adopt, was a matter !Or which, however
he tni..eht regret, he was not responsible His Lord-
ship laid great stress on this point, and reminded
the House of the great importance that belonged to
the subjeft, coan.raine the Residence of the Clergy
with the religion of the country, with the morals of
the people, and their effeas on the stability and
quietude of the Covernment, and cousequent hap-
piaess of the suhjea, and the security of the State .
lie said, he feared, it was but too true, that the re. -
tor or vicar of sonic parishes, fiequently tdok the
curate as a companion is the spits of tha field, and
left the parish without any pastor or minister, to do
the diitiesof the cure 'l he Bishop concluded wit.
profeseinte himself, from comikiion' a recited meat,,'
to all Bills for suspending existing Statutes, deciar-
Mg that he thought it a wiser policy to repeal the
eststing Statutes Objeatel to, in several of their pro-
visiune, altogether.
The Lord CHANCELLOR left the woolsack,
to make some observati ins en the spe:ch of the
Right Rev. Prelate. The present question before
the House was, he stated, merely to read the Bill
second time, and the discuss on to which most of
the matters the Rev. Prelate refoired was not tu
come on that day, Lut was reserved for to-morrow.
With regard to the subjea of the Non-residence cf
the Clergy, he readily • agreed with the Noble and
Rev. Prelate, that it was a subjea of the first mag-
nitude and importance ; a subjea which had greatly
occupied his own mind, and claimed, as it deserv-
ed, his deepest attention and fuilriet consideration.
He knew, from the official and professional situa-
tion which he had noticing since had she honour to
hold, (that of Chief Justice), that very great and un-
merited hardships did unavoidably result from the
operation of the Al of Henry the Eighth, upon
some most deserving and respectable Clergymen.
It had been his duty .to try, in the Court of Com-
mon Pleas, two causes of action for non-resi _fence.
The one was an action brought against the Rector
of Bow Church—a man who had performed all the
duties of his situation in a mo-.t exemplary m inner.
He hid performed the service* of the chore') every .
Lord's day with rigid puetaality ; he had read the
prayers on the weekly prayer days, visited the sick
whenever required, and atten ied and comforted
the dying with his devotions and exhortations ; and
yet, because not owing to any fault of his own, but
to the aft of his predecessors, the Minister's paro-
chial residence had been estranged and converted
inter a little pocket-bool: shop, he was obliged to live
out of his parish, at the small distance of Ely-
Place ; and he found himself under the necessity,
contrary to his feelings and his inclination, to di-
rea the Jury to find a verdia against the Rector,
upon nine several penalties. Another case, of a very
different complexion, had come before him the same
morning. A Clergyman, whose name he would
not mention, had two livings in the city, to which he
had been indufted above nine years since, and
from that time to the present, the incumbet had,
with very few exceptions, resided altogether in
Sotnersetshire.--e--His Lerdship said, he agreed
most completely with the Noble and Rev. Prelate,
that Bills of Suspension of existing Statutes were
unwise, legislative measures, when they could be
avoided ; but there were some subjects of 1eg412.-
tion, of such a magnitude, that perhaps it was bet-
ter to agree, even from Session to Session to Bills of
temporary stisixasion, than prematurely to limey or
decision upon a muter of a most extensive nature,
fraught with great difficulties, and which no man
could examine or look into with. 'perceiving the
innumerable embarres'sments with which it was sur-
rounded. The Right Rev. Prelate had addressed A
great oars of his argument to him personally, and
complained iu pointed terms of the tardiness inalii-
fested- by. the Gentleman who had introduced the
general bill upon the sanjeti of the Non-Residence
of the Clergy into the other House of Parliament
last Session. lie would take the liberty of telling
tlratßev. Prelate. that he himself, as well as that
eed to

HOUSE OF LORD:;.

l
• MLDNESDAY, MARCH 30.
The T.'onn AID VOt.:ATE was h ,ar.l in reply in the
piical Crawford v. Coitus, till nedir nee, aticr
the further irearins of the cause was
to

P2IRT.IC A-CCOUNT3.

Lord AIIf:I:LAND row, to point out a pert of
the Printed Papers, which respected the Commerce
of the Chuntry, and which was Beide to observa-
tion. Hie Lordship gave an expienetion of the
point in gnostical, and said, as the Noble Lord (Lord
• Eingo who had given notice of his intention of go-
ing intivo discussion on the subjeet, had alleoirnea
that diwitssien to a future day, he thuneht it right
to expkiin this matter, thot no slur dart: hereafter
he cast on the Pep ere on the table, vd.err they should
cbtne under coneiskration.
Lord RAWI)ON (lead of Moira! thanked the
Noble Lord for the.explartetieo wlniah he hid given,
and cOnsidered it as throwing matetial light on the
goes lon to slliich it releted. .
NONtEtiIDENCF. OF TUE CLERGY.
Oi the queoien, that the Bill suspending the va-
rious Suite, on Auctions of qui tam, Against several
Clergymen foreNuir-Aesidence, be read a second
time,
Lisel AUCKLAND rose, and in a short speech,
replay delivered, endeavoured to prevail on his
:Right Rev. Friend to abstain from his ireention of
moving an Ameudment on this Bill in the Com-
mittee, on the. round, that as the till had for its
objea the suspeeding cf certain penelties under
existing Ass of Parliament, any alteration made
in it in that House would prove fetal to the Bill,
as the House of Commons, according to their esta-
blished usage and .praelice, would Lot submit to
lend their eanaien to any alteration in a 'gooey Lai ,
made by their Lordships.
The Bishop of St. ASAPH said, he had not ob-
served, that in what his Noble Friend said he had
expressed any dissent to the Motion fur the second
reading of the Bill, on sending it to a Committee.
He still nttained his idea of the necessity of moving
an amendment in the Committee, because he was
perfectly casivinced, that essential alteretions were
necessary, 'dr order to make it a Pill lit for their
Lordships tie pass. As for the observation) that
any ameed‘eet made in the Bill in that House
would be fatal to the Bill, he would not agree that
such an argumeat was quite Parliamentary. It
was the duty of their Lordships freely to discuss,
and finally to decide on all Bills that came before
them, whether sent up by the lower House, cr in-
troduced under their .owat orders, just as to their
wisdom and justice should appear proper. They
ought, therefore, to aft respelling the present Bill,
as the occasion might' appear to require, and to
leave the Bill to its chance. The Bishop then went
into a train of observations on the historical pro-
gress of the Bills that had been passed for suspend-
ing the penal suit; against the clergy for non-resi-
dence. 'I hey had been called upon to pass no less
than four, within three years ; one in 1801, two in
the Session of 1802, and this now before the pre.
sent Session. lie gave it as his firm and decided
opinion, that all laws suspending existing Statutes,
were bad measures, and disgraceful to Legislation ;
and that whatever were the arguments that could
be urged to prove the extreme hardships that must
inevitably fall upon some very deserving clergy-
men, if no further. suspension Bill were passed re-
spcaing the penalties sued for on non-residence
charges, and all the severities of the statute of
Henry •the Eighth were suffered to be carried into
effect, still it would be better that the Statute should
continue in force, than that such a bad remedy as anti-
ther Bill should be applied. He laid particular
stress on the tardiness that hid session after session
marked the process of the whole %Macao In lt3ol,
on the first agitation of the' question, it was agreed
tie/pass a temporary Suspension Bill, from the re-
ceived opinion, that a general Bill amending and
repealing the most harsh and oppressive enaaments
of the ea of Hoary the Eighth, was in preparation,
and Would be submitted to Parliament early ia the
twit Sessioh. The Suspending Aca huh operated till
the Stir of April, ltit)2. A Bill was introduced in
the other House, by a Gentleman of pre-ernieent
learning and abilities, upon the general subjea,
whin a view to do away the obi :aim:lWe parts
el the Aa of ikary the Eighth, out it was intro-
duced so late ie flee Session, that it never reached
that House ;„ and another laid for suspending tire
existing suits against those .of the Clergy charged
with tke Nonekcsidenee, which had boeu instituted.
That Bill took 3 large: scope oloperation, and was
made to extend to the 12th of Jule. lle bad, his
Lordship said, the most profound viatica for the
great talents, the conecionuous mind aril good in-
tentions of the Gentetlian who low nitiudiled
the general dill bi and amend the lit of
henry the Eighth. lie koew it was a large itJid
comprehensive subjea that he had undertaken, and
that it was unite:Ad:thy ii.i,le to various ditfinerices
of opinion oir particular points: th at "cape:ll6le
Gentleman .had Jove him and his.Bretl.reit of the
leverend Bench the honour to cousule them mi-
nutely on the subjea ; that for hie own pait he heti
given him a singoler, bat e sincere opinion respeeling
the importaneohjea which oecuelesi his attention.
11e had advised him to consider a consultation of
the Bench of Eislate as • a mere loss of tithe.—
That his Bev. Brenwen, 'however well-intentioned
(.rind perleaiy welleirmentiont.i upon the subjea he
knew they weree) La 1114{4 lions the mode of their
lite, the same upp ettasoides of making thezteelves
misters of the ealaea, as ineuy men of diarrent
professions and deueriotions. He had thetefore ad-
vised the resoetaeliiefraniers of the Bill of Lot ties-
sinit to consult others, in pr'J recce to the Preis y.
With roped ter the 'let Bill tiltigik Stialilou of 141,2,
it did not.coateut it stet' with %mire:oil:lg the eating
affirms wider the Aa of tiesay the VIII- but went im
ttly).2ud dn. Ad of tile led) tri•Elizal.v:li, which rots

Gentleman, lielon,,,red to professions that called up-
on them iiir tie d.tily exorcise el must laborious
exertions ; that after tnliiiiing those Outies, and dis-
charging them to the beg of their ability, they re-
tires to a short repose, and ruse the next day with
an aching head to pursue the same course. He
w....l4irther tell the welt Rev. Prelate, that to
his owa knowledge, he 44.01 d assert, that the Learned
Geacleman alluded to, lad conten-.;lated, consi-
deretleand investigated the ini.orta7it subjed under
consideration. with a degree of aintiety and earnest-
ness to which and which only, a mod seecre and long
iadisposition was to be ascr*Oied. To that indispo-
sition, sty induced by anxiety of Mind, occasioned
solely by deep attention to the stthjea of the beg
nteansof proilding for a proper teguLatian of the
residence of the Clergy, ought much cf the tardi-
ness complained of by the Right Rev. FreLde, in
not bringiug forward a Bill to explain and amend
the .ICI ot Henry the .F.ighth to be imputed. But
ht LiPlat also tell' the Learned add Rev. Prelat-,
th.tt he never c,};41,1 agree with him in opinion, tk„,‘
8: Lt,t and comprehearive subje.b. were likely taa
btrwisely, &Bile," upon, as when they had und.a.
gone tardy deliberate consideration. Tim ques-
tion of .X.uu-tesidence of the Clergy, was :nest
etcusirg 0110, and could not front its ni:ttre b, 1.441.
denii tteoll of wilt any ativanta;,;e to the pubic.
The tit 4 sthring the qttestiott is -Pm I
the geltetnietpiston that the Lettiel-g.ette Meant t
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