The Sun.
London, England, 1852-09-02 00:00:00

LoNDO

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
TIMES.—A. great deal, as might have been ex-
pected, hai, been written and raid of the Robert
Moore and his emoluments. Tee discovery, or rather
the ;public announcement, • that in the nu hlle of
this 19:h century there still existed an individuA
possessing in private fee a sinecure office worth .9,000/.
a year, a rectory worth 1,0001., a second rectory worth
another 1,0001., a third producing GOOl., a fourth 1,50/.,
and a cathedral stall of the most desirable fertility to
boot, was en incident well calculated to arrest the
attention of the public. Such visions are monsters of
the old moral world, and are gazed upon like the gi-
gantic fossils of a past creation. Mr. Moore, how-
ever, is pained at his own attractions, and feels hurt,
as he expressed to ourselves', at the reflection
that he "should have been held up more than
others similarly circumstanced to public odium,
and made the subject of misrepresentation and
exaggeration." Now, though our first considera•
tions era doe to the interests of th-s community
at hr g,, we should but ill discharge our odic-•
if we rendered lees than justice to any
vidual. Once more, therefore, with a confident ex-
pectation that we shall carry widi us the opinions
of the public, and with some hopes of extorting the
assent even of Mr. Moore himself, we submit his case
to a fair and comprehensive review. That our origi-
nal ranarks did not corvain, substantially speaking,
any " misrepresentation" or " exaggeration," has
been shown from the corninunications volunteered
and authenticated by several competent correspon-
dents ; indeed, on the whole, Mr. Moore's emoluments
have been proved to bear even a larger proportion to
his duties than was at first presumed. The circum-
stances of his position, so far from being " exagge-
rated," were actually to some extent understated.
But it is not to this income in itself, however prodi-
gious, that exception can be most fairly taken. It is
perfectly well understood that Mr. Moore received his
four rectories and his cathedral stall from a patron
competent to bestow them ; that there was then
no legislative provision forbidding this accumula-
tion of benefices on a single recipient, and, what is
more, that custom in those times gave its compli-
mentary sanction to what law allowed. Fifty years
ago such a disposal of church patronage would have
induced a man, not so much to impugn the pro-
ceedings of the Archbishop of Canterbury, as to re-
gret that he himself had not an Archbishop of Can-
terbury for his father. No person proposes that
Mr. Moore should be disturbed in his possessions. As
far as these enormous church revenues are concerned,
we do but point a moral for the benefit of the present
age by contrasting the past, and make one further in-
quiry respecting the uses to which such profits have
been turned. , Considering the notorious requirements
of morality and religion, Mr. Moore himself cannot
maintain that the distribution of patronage by which
he has so largely benefited is intrinsically creditable
or proper: It now stands condemned, indeed, not
only by the enlightenment of opinion but by the solemn
decrees of law, and no Archbishop of Canterbury can
in future do what Archbishops of Canterbury have
done. Mr. Moore cannot with any justice complain
that a position from which he derives such substan-
tial advantage, denounced as it is by law and reason,
should carry with it a certain odium. A clergyman
permitted to retain four rectories and a stall, in addi-
tion to a gigantic sinecure, must be content to balance
his pecuniary receipts against his public reputation.
Pluralists know their bargains, and if they dislike
the invidiousness attached to their gains they have
always the option of resigning them. As regards,
too, the uses of this revenue, Mr. Moore is fairly ex-
posed to the verdict of opinion. Rightly or wrongly,
he enjoys many annual thousands of church property,
and it; as has been alleged, his liberality in promoting
church interests has been disproportioned to his means,
no person can say that public censure has been here
misplaced. The case of the benefices, therefore, lies
in a very small compass. They were legally Con•
ferred, and nobody purposes to resume them, but as
law, admissible
by an Archbishop,
they have not been generously employed, there was
room for animadversion ; and so flagrant an example
ofwhat
erm
tolerableis s ib l e
byb public opinion,
by
was matter of proper comment for instruction and
wasonce held
andp
warning. But the question of the registrarship will
prove, we trust, to be something different. The
office, Mr. Moore tells us, is a" patent office of great
antiquity," and has " always been executed by de-
puty." But was a vicarious source of remuneration
also provided for these vicarious registrars ? Mr.
Moore expressed himself anxious that the public
should be rightly informed respecting the emolu-
ments and duties of this important office, but they
are at fault still. We can understand the discharge
of duties by deputy as a common though by no
means desirable practice, but surely it is a necessary
condition even of this liberal arrangement that a
deputy should be provided by the principal, and the
duties discharged. Very many of Mr. Moore's spi-
ritual functions must needs be performed by deputies,
but they are performed, we presume, nevertheless, and
at his expense. The:Archbishop of the province, we
may safely conclude, takes good care that the paro-
chial ministrations of Hunton, Latchington, Eynes-
ford, and llollingbourne shall be severally and suffi-
ciently maintained, although there is but one incum-
bent between them. If the Church services were
neglected his Grace would promptly apply to the
"Principal," and it is exactly that which has
occurred in the office of Principal Registrar in
Doctors' Commons. The work is likely to be sus-
pended and the business to remain undone. We
call, therefore, on the " Principal," not indeed to
perform his duties, if prescription excuses him, but
to provide those who shall duly perform.them in his
behalf. Does Mr. Moore mean to allege that by
the constitution of his appointment he is wholly and
totally exempted
from any obligation whatever to
secure the execution of its duties ? Is the Principal
Registrar of Wills, being in receipt of 9,0001. a-year,
an officer without any connexion with the registra-
tion of wills at all ? If this is the fact, there is no
help for it at present, but we can hardly conceive it
to be so. In this view of the case, Archbishops of
Canterbury would be invested with the official privi-
lege of quartering
• their sons or nephews on the public
for ever without the smallest consideration given or
obtainable. They would in fact exercise in every
generation, as regarded the Wills-office, the power
which Parliament once exercised as regarded the Post-
office, by ordaining that the Dukes of Marlborough
should receive a large stipend from the profits of that
department. If we rightly. apprehend Mr. Moore's
exculpation of himself, a Principal Registrar is no
more obliged to see that wills are registered than a
Duke of Marlborough to see that letters are properly
distributed. Even the Marlborough pension is not
very graciously contemplated in the House of Com-
mons, but here we at least commemorate the salva-
tion of Europe from temporary subjection. A prelate
of the Church, however, can, it seems, do just as much
for a son, a nephew, or a nominee—and without a Bien-
beim. But we do most fervently trust that this may
not prove to be the nature of the office in question.
We hope it may be discovered that the Principal
Registrar," though exempted from personal duties, is
bound to provide proper deputies for the discharge of
his nominal obligations. With the bestowal of the
place it is too late to quarrel. Mr. Moore holds it
lawfully, and that is enough. Neither is it yet com-
petent to us to save the public from payments which
are probably three times as large as the best per-
formance of the work can require. We must take
these things as they are, but we shall not be thought
unreasonable in expecting that wills should be securely
kept and registered at the expense of the officer who
receives for keeping and registering wills a very great
deal more than such custody and registration would
naturally cost. We do not complain of Mr. Moore
for being Principal Registrar, for doing nothing in
that capacity, or for pocketing a large sum in respect
of this inactivity; but we complain that when so
much is paid for executing the duty those who exe-
cute it should not be paid at all. We complain, as
Archbishop Sumner would complain if Latchington
Church were likely to be shut up for want of an offi-
ciating minister; and though nobody in this country
would interfere with the vested rights of an indi-
vidual, we do think the satisfaction of the kingdom
would be universal if Mr. Moore could be proved
lawfully hound to provide proper deputies out of re-
ceipts amply large enough to enrich deputies and
principal together.

'2, ;3

MUSICAL CHIT-CHAT.—A. correspondent, whose
attention has been drawn to the remarks made upon the
former and recent improvements in pianos by Mr. James
Stewart, inquires, ".If Mr. Stewart has been the patentee of
so many inventions, where are such inventions now; and if
they be worthy of anything, why were they not represented
at the Great Exhibition?" Mr. Stewart has taken out sown
distinct patents—besides the one in America which gave the
origin to the square pianofortes with the check—all of which
embrace most important improvements, and are looked upen
as peculiarly consecutive and progressive in, rendering the
piano more and more perfect. Mr. Stewart 's patents were
represented through the eminent house of Collard, but his
name was not given in as their inventor. The last inven-
tions of Mr. Stewart are his own property, and they as far
surpass those which have gone before as each of those ex-
ceeded its predece sor —a fact which the musical public who
have visited the new works of Mr. Stewart, in the Old St.
Pancras-road, most frankly and cheerfully admit.—Standard.
SERIOUS ACCIDENT ON THE SHREWSBURY AND
IhetteeFonD RAILWAY.—On Tuesday last an accident oc-
curred at the Craven Arms station, on the Shrewsbury and
Hereford Railway, to a postman, named Jelin Mayo. It
appears that the unfortunate man is a waggon shunter at
the station just named, and when the accident occurred Ir
wasin the act of shunting a single waggon, with a horse,
.!
from off the main line en to a siding, 'After lie had un-
hooked the horse he ran to the peints to turn the waggon
on to the siding, when his foot got jammed between the
points, and no one being near to stop the waggon, he was
l
waggon.
tpraasinsedfroonvielrA )t hishe
waslegs.
placed in the guard's'
van, and conveyed to Shrewsbury;
end when
.the train teached the latter town, he was placed
on a stretcher and borne off to the Salop Infirmary. On
examination, it was found that his right leg was broken and
fractured in several places, and his- left leg very severely
bruised. It is believed that amputation of
the right leg at
least will be ilecoaary.