The Sun.
London, England, 1839-10-14 00:00:00

THE LATE TAMPERING WITH
PARISH REGISTERS.—PAYMENT OF THE
RECTOR'S STIPEND, &c.

On Saturday, the Marylebone Vestry assembled at
the Court House for the despatch of business. Mr. A.
Daniel in the chair. _ _

The following resolution, agreed to on the previous
Saturday, was then read:—
' That the payment of the quarterly stipend of 1001.
to the Rector of the parish, the Rev. Dr. Spry, be
suspended, until such time as he should attend before
the Committee appointed to investigate into the late
surreptitious interpolation in the parish registers and
obliteration of the tombstones, for the purpose of afford-
ing an explanation as to the cause of the neglect which
had resulted in that disgraceful affair, and that the
check drawn be retained in the hands of the Vestry
Clerk until such time as the Vestry deem it fit and
proper to be paid over to the Rector." On the resolu-
tion being put in the usual way for confirmation,
Mr. FOSTER, upon the ground of the illegality of the
proceeding, and that it was most arbitrary and unjust
towards the Rector, moved the confirmation of the
minute.
Mr. COPELAND seconded the motion.
Mr. KINIETT supported the confirmation, and was
surprised that no other argument than that of illegality
had been adduced in opposition. If the Vestry were
acting illegaly in suspending the payment of the Rector's
stipend, when it was clearly proved he had not done his
duty, how much more so was it that the Rector should
inflict the gross injustice upon the District Rectors, of
compelling them to pay 1001. per annum each in lieu
of what was termed Easter offerings. By the Act
passed in the year 1812, the King's printer was bound
to supply every Rector and Curate in the kingdom
with a copy of that Act, informing them of their duties ;
among those duties it was distinctly specified that the
Rector or bead Clergyman was bound to send dupli
cate copies of all registers of christenings, burials, and
marriages, to the Bishop's registrar, which it was clear
had not been done by Dr. Spry, and thus the tampering
'of the registers in that parish had ensued. The onus
with respect to that disgraceful affair rested equally on
the Bishop of London and the Rector, who, had any
fees been derivable from their keeping, would have been
active enough to have performed the duty, and have
grasped them. He maintained that this was the only
way the Vestry had of visiting punishment upon the
Rector for the gross neglect of duty he had been guilty
of, and that therefore in justice they ought to confirm
the minute.

Mr. HOVENDEN did not stand up as a defender of
the conduct of Dr. Spry, but it would be illegal for that
Vestry to retain in their hands money which they held
merely in the capacity of trustees. If Dr. Spry had
neglected his duty, the legal and proper course would
be for the Vestry to have made a representation to
the Rector's superior, and let that party visit him with
the punishment he deserved.
Mr. GIBSON argued that the Vestry had the power
to withhold the payment of the stipend for foe space of
one year. It had been said, why not leave the case in
the hand of the Rector's superior ? He would say
that that Vestry might as well send a letter to Aidgate
pump, as to the Bishop of London, against the Rector.
Mr. THEOBALD concurred in the observations made
by Mr. Hovenden. It was said that the Act fixed no
specific time for the payment of the stipend, but the
Vestry had fixed the time themselves ; and having
drawn a check, and placed the same in the' Vestry-
clerk's hands, was ample proof that they had the money,
and that it was only withheld for the purpose of com-
pelling the Rector to comply with an illegal and unjust
condition ; and he urged upon the attention of the
Vestry, that if a mandamus were issued against them, it
would be at the cost of the parish.
The Rev. Dr. DIBDIN said, that as the Vestry had
on the previous Saturday paid under an Act of Par-
liament the salaries of tour out of the five Rectors of
tile parish, as a logical sequitur they were bound by tie
some Act to pay ..he fifth, they all being incorporated
in it.—( Hear.) He denied the right of that Vestry to
interfere with the stipends of the Rectors at all, or even
the right to inquire into the late interpolations in the
parish registers, and that in doing so they had assumed
an inquisitorial power which no local or any other Act
of Parliament had delegated to them.—(oh, oh, and
" Hear.") He had well read the Registration Act, and
be could not find out that a clergyman was amenable
to any one but to his Bishop or the Registrar-General.
He certainly was not so to Bishop Kensett.—(Loud
laughter.) If Dr. Spry had been guilty of indiscretion
and neglect, it was not therefore in the province of the
Vestry, but the Bishop, to chastise him. It did,
however, appear that this subject had arisen from per-
sonal and private pique, and not from any public feeling
of justice on the port of the prime movers.
Mr. SODEN was surprised at the statement that that
Vestry had not the power to inquire into such an extra-
ordinary and disgraceful affair a 4 the late mutilation of
tombstones and the alteration of the registers.
Mr. RATHBONE denied the right of the Vestry to
withhold the Rector's salary because he had not per-
formed a certain duty, and said he would deny the as-
sertion of Mr. Kensett, made on tha previous Saturday,
that the Bishop of London was an indoleLt and luxuri-
ous man.

Mr. KENSRTT—I am prepared to prove it.

. .
Mr. WALPOLE said there, was no clause in the Act
of Parliament which warranted the Vestry in assuming
that they had only occasion, if they thought proper, to
pay the stipend but once a year ; by the 12th clause of
the Act the money was received by the Rffctor of the pa.
rich from the district Rectors as an Easter offering,
through the hands of the Vestry, and they could only
retain it by being put to th expense of an action at law,
The placing a check in the hands of the Vestry Clerk
to be retained by him, was unjust, illegal, and indecent ;
and he believed, if the Act were rightly interpreted, equal
blame would be attached to the Churchwardens with the
minister, on account of the non-transmission of the re-
gisters, as they were equally bound to do the duty. It
was a strange thing that there was in this Act of Parlia-
ment only two penalties to which the clergy were liable
for non-performance of the duty ; the one was for not
certifying that the registers sent were true copies, and
the other in the event of no cbpy being sent am ail,
rendered them liable to be reported to the Bishop, and
to be punished as he might think proper ; but any other
coursq than a representation to the superior of the Rec-
tor would be illegal on the part of the Vestry.
The resolution was here put, and on a division being
demanded by Mr. Kensett, the numbers appeared—
For the motion for non-confirmation 30
For the confirmation 8
Majority for payment of 1001. to the
Rector •. —22
On the original question again being put from the
Chair—

Mr. KfiNSETT moved that in the payment of the sa-
lary of Dr. Spry, the Vestry protest against the gross
neglect of the Rector, in not having certified and trans-
mitted the registers of the parish to the Bishop's
Court, pursuant to the provisions of the Act of the 52d
George the Third.
Mr. GiesoN, in seconding this resolution, observed, that
he believed thatthe result of the extended inquiries of the
committee appointed with reference to the interpolations
of the registers would be that they should get all the
parties, from the person wh• signed the certificates,
knowing at the same time he did so the entries to be

forgeries, down to the lowest person concerned, indicted
for a conspiracy at the bar of the Old Bailey, and con-
vict them in that penalty which the law of the land
allowed for such practices, namely, fourteen years'
transportation.
Mr. FOSTER moved an amendment," That the money
be paid forthwith without any protest by the vestry,"
which having been seconded, a second division took
place, the result which was—
For Mr. Kensett's motion in favour of
the protest lB
For Mr. Foster)s amendment
Majority in favour of the protest ...-3
The Vestry then adjourned.

ALDERMAN SCHOLEY'S WlLL.—Very much
to the surprise of the citizens of London, Alderman
Scholey is said to have died worth no more than
120,000/. He had retired from business many years,
and is reported to have stated, at the period of his rz•-
tirement, that he was worth a plum and a half, arid the
calculation was that his property amounted to 500,000/.
as he was a very economical liver. His executors are
Alderman Thompson, Mr. Atkinson (formerly Alder-
man Scholey's partner), and Mr. Freshfield. We are
told that he gave strict directions to those around his
death-bed that his body should lie in state for two days,
and that, in accordance with those directions, the room
was lighted with tapers, and on Wednesday and Thurs-
day last the friends and neighbours of the family were
admitted. The disposition of his property has been, it
is said, rather extraordinary. To his son, who is forty-
eight years of age, he has left the interest upon 40,000/.
in the Three per Cents. for his life, but without permis-
sion to touch a farthing of the principal ; to Mrs. 13,?!-
lamy, his daughter, he has left the interest upon
20,000/. but with the principal she has no more to ;lo
than her brother has. Upon the death of son and
daughter, the principal devolves to others. To a fema'a
child, about thirteen years of age, the daughter of
widow who kept a hotel at Brighton, it is stated that
he left. the sum of 10,000/. This little girl was christ-
ened Georgiana, in compliment to the Alderman, whose
name was George. To the mother of the girl he has
:villed an annuity of 195/. for life. It is said that he has
left 10,000/. to a charity. To an old woman, who lived
as a sort of upper servant in his house for thirty-eight
years, he left 5001,, and to each of his other servants ;.e
left 100/.

-----
ETIQUETTE UNDER OLIVER CROMWELL.—
simbassadors were received by the Protector standing
on a platform raised three steps above the floor, ou
which was a chair of state. They were instructed to
make three reverences • one at the entrance, a second
at the midway, and a third at the lower step, each of
Tv.hich Cromwell acknowledged by a slight inclination
of the head. The Ambassadors of the States w, re
invited to dine with him. Oliver sate alone on ole
side of the table ; they, with some Lords of the Coun-
cil, on the other.—Wade's British History.