The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-17 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 17, 1853,

CONVOCATION.

to answer the petition by telling the Bishop of Cape Town
that the Upper House of Convocation declined to decide
upon- a question involving so 'many difficulties,
and he
would then be at liberty to seek redress elsewhere. He
did note think that the president had power to decide the

The two Houses of Convocation for the province of
Canterbury assembled in full session at Westminster yes-
terday forenoon, at half-past ten o'clock; to which period
they had been prorogued from the 17th of November last,
the members of the Upper House, with his Grace the Pre-
sident Archbishop at their head, sitting in the Bounty
Office, and the members of the Lower House, presided over
by the Prolocutor, Dr. Peacock, Dean of Ely, sitting at the
Jerusalem Chamber.

matter sine consensu fratrum.
The Bishop of WORCESTER moved that the petition do
lie on the table, but, after some conversation, the motion
fell to tho ground.
Tho Bishop of OXFORD announced that after the return
of the house from the presentation of the address to her
Majesty, he should move a resolution, informing the Bishop
of Cape Town that his petition involved so many original
and novel questions, that the house would wish him to test
his right of summons by an appeal to a court of law before
their lordships proceeded to take the matter into further
consideration.
The Bishop of LONDON said he should not be able to
support the resolution.
The Bishop of EXETER presented a petition from the
clergy of the deanery of Powder, in the archd.eaconry of
Cornwall, praying for the revival of the active powers of
Convocation.
The Archbishop then summoned the Prolocutor and
certain members of the Lower House, and they proceeded
to Buckingham Palace, and presented to her Majesty the
address agreed to at the last session of Convocation, and a
copy of which appeared in these oolumns.
On the return of their lordships from "Buckingham
Palace, his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury read the
Royal reply to the address of the Houses of Convocation,
and which was in the following terms
.
"I receive with cordial satisfaction the assurances of
your loyal and affectionate attachment to my throne and
person.
"It is my earnest desire to prsomote the welfare and
happiness of all classes of my subjeCts, by continuing to
them peace abroad, and by assisting to extend at home the
holy influence of religion, which is the only sure founda-
tion on which national prosperity can permanently rest. I
thank you for the sympathy which you have expressed in
my sorrow for the recent loss of the most distinguished of
my subjects ; and I appreciate the value which you attach
to that high sense of duty by which he was invariably in-
spired. I rely with confidence on the assurances of your
desire to preserve harmony in the Church, and to increase
its efficiency, by maintaining its doctrines and my supre-
macy unimpaired ; and I pray that the blessing of God
may attend your endeavours to extend throughout all
classes of my people the inestimable benefit of pure and
deeply-felt religion."

The Bishop of CHICHESTER presented several petitions
in favour of allowing curates to vote in the election of
proctors. Ordered to lie on the table.
The Bishop of OXFORD proceeded to drawthceapae Town,ttention
of the house to the matter of the Bishop of
and concluded by moving the following resolution
`; That this house having taken into considerption the
prayers of Robert, Lord Bishop of Cape Tow
questions of law, is of opinion that he should establishn involvinge
lawfulness of his claim to a writ of summons before this
house proceeds to a further consideration of the subject."
After some observations from the Bishop of ,LONDON
and the Bishop of CHICHESTER, a long discussion ensued,
and it was ultimately agreed "That a resolution should
be agreed to without opposition, to the effect that the
house did not feel itself competent to entertain the Bishop
of Cape Town's prayer."
The Bishop of EXETER having brought before the house
the case of the licensed curates in his diocese who claimed
to vote for the election of proctors, moved that a com-
mittee be appointed to take the matter into consideration.
The Bishop of WINCHESTER moved as an amendment—
" That this house does not deem it expedient to enter at
this time into the consideration of the prayer of the peti-
tion, but remits it to the vicar-general for a further report
on the question at issue."
The Bishop of ROCHESTER protested against the appoint-
ment of the committee, which he had been told ,on very
good authority would be illegal.
The Bishop of LONDON thought there could be no doubt
about the legality of the committee if appointed.
After further remarks on the same subject from right
reverend prelates'
The Bishop of WINCHESTER expressed his intention of
pressing his amendment to a division, when there ap-
peared five for the amendment (the Archbishop of Canter-
bury, the Bishops of Winchester, Rochester, Peterborough,
and Worcester), and six against the amendment (the Bishops
of Exeter, London, Llandaff, Chichester, Salisbury, and
Oxford).
The Bishop of Exeter's resolution was declared carried.
The Archbishop of CANTERBURY said no committee
could be appointed without the sanction of the president,
and this was a case in which he should refuse his sanction
to the appointment of the committee.
It was then suggested that the Archbishop should be re-
quested to inform the Prolocutor of the adoption of the
resolution, in order that a committee of the Lower House
should be appointed to act in conjunction with the com-
mittee of the Upper House, but his grace at once refused
to comply.
The colonial bishops' petition was then brought before
the house, and it was admitted on all hands that their
prayer could not be granted. It was intimated by the
Archbishop that ho would invite the colonial bishops to
a conference at Lambeth, or take any other steps that
might be deemed necessary for ascertaining their wishes,
and removing any impediments that might be in their

w The Bishop of Exeter presented a petition from the Rev.
George Madan, the recently appointed incumbent of St.
Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, complaining of the prdsent con-
dition of the marriage laws. It was ordered to lie on the
table.

The Bishop of OXFORD suggested several modes by which
the necessity of a protest against the archbishop's arbitrary
prorogation of Convocation sine consensu fratrunt, might
be avoided. Having been unsuccessful in inducing the
Archbishop to deviate from the course he had pursued on
former occasions, his lordship handed in the following pro-
test :
" We, the undersigned, pray your grace to cause your
reporter to enter upon the records of the Convocation our
humble protest and declaration, that whilst we willingly
assent to your grace's prorogation of this session!of Convo-
cation, we do not assent to any claim on behalf of the arch-
bishop to resolve on proroguing this synod sin 4 consensu
fratrum.

(Sign.d) "H. EXETER. E. ARUM.
C. T. CHICHESTER. S. pXON."
Mr. F. H. DYKE, the registrar, thon read the schedule,
,n virtue of which a pforogation took place until Thursday,
the 18th of August next.
The Archbishop pronounced the benediction', and the
proceedings of the Upper House terminated.

thus imposed upon me, whether your grace will object to
my summoning the committee.—l am, &c.,
On the 28th of November he received the following note
from the Archhishop

"Nov. 27. •
"Dear Mr. Dean,—No answer was returned to the reso-
lution of the Lower House, concerning the appointment of
the committee, because the novelty of the case made it
necessary to take counsel upon the subject, for which there
was no sufficient time before the prorogation. lam not
now competent to give my.consent to the summoning of
the committee, as proposed in your letter, because lam
unable to do any presidential act during the recess of the
Convocation.

" I remain, &c."

Copies of this correspondence he (the Prolocutor) had for-
warded to the geveral members of the committee ; and, of
course, it was not competent for him to take any further
steps upon the subject until he had the honour of again
meeting Convocation. From the statements which were
made when the matter was discussed there, he found that
considerable misapprension existed with respect to the law
and practice of Convocation. There seemed to be a pretty
general impression that the law and practice of Convoca-
tion were similar to that of the House of Parliament.
With them it was not the practice for committees to meet,
and transact business during the recess,—and it was con-
cluded, and not unnaturally concluded, that the same law
which governed the practice of Parliament governed the
practice of Convocation. In one sense the law was the
same ; but it was accompanied by circumstances which
make a fundamental distinction between them. A session
of Parliament lasted from its first assembling until it was
prorogued by the Queen, and their meetings in the inter-
val were continued by adjournments. But in Convocation,
properly speaking, there was no such thing -as an " ad-
journment." Every meeting of Convocatign was a distinct
and complete " session" of itself ; and it would be found,
upon reference to tharecords of the acts of Convocation, that
every meeting was thus recorded as a distinct session, and
in passing from one session to another there was always
the same formal act of " prorogation." That appeared to
be the practice from the earliest times ; and so completely
was the principle adhered to that on referring to the re-
cords it would be seen that in many cases where a sitting
took place in the morning and another in the afternoon of
the same day, the two sittings were counted as two distinct
"sessions." The appointment of Committees had been an
every-day practice of Convocation. Sometimes the Lower
House had appointed committees by the order of the
Upper House. At other times committees had been ap-
pointed by the Lower House itself, simply for the prepa-
ration of their own business, having no power of enact-
ment, but merely that of preparing the• business to be
brought under the notice of the house in such a form as
might be most convenient for the house to consider and
determine upon. Then, if their representations were ap-
proved of, and it was considered necessary by the house
that such representations, or the reports or conclusions
founded upon them, were proper to be submitted to the
consideration of the Upper House, they became the
airtieu/i deri to be presented to that house. The difficulty
which had been started was, that during the recess of Con-
vocation no business could be transacted ; but the uniform
practice was the reverse. The Upper House had so timed
the prorogation as to give the committee of the Lower
House the opportunity of meeting for the transaction of
business ; and that very day they had an example of the
sort in the report of the joint committee which had been
sent down to them by the Archbishop, the committee which
made that report, having, in fact, assembled and prepared
it in the recess; and unless their committees could so meet,
he believed no business would ever be done by Convoca-
tion. He would only add that the matter now rested in
their own hands, and that he had received no further com-
munication from the Archbishop than that which he had
read.

The Dean of BRISTOL—It was quite true that where
there was business before Convocation, time had been
given, and never refused, to the Lower House, to meet in
committee and prepare that business. But here the Pro-
locutor's statement required some explanation. The Pro-•
locutor said " business," so he (the Dean of Bristol) said
" business." But what " business ?" Why, no other
"business" was formally recognised as before Convocation
than such as the Crown put before them. (Hear, hear,
and no, no.) When the Crown had placed business before
Convocation, he granted that the Lower House ought to
have time to consider it; but where there was none, he did
not think they had the power of sitting on whatever ques-
tion they might choose to introduce.
Dr. • SPRY contended that there was an undoubted right
in this house to present gravamina to the Upper House,
and that their right was equally undoubted to appoint a
committee to prepare such gravamina if they thought fit.
Having, therefore, appointed a committee to consider cer-
tain gravamina, his own opinion was that that committee
ought to meet whenever it was most convenient to them
during the recess, in order to prepare their report, and
afterwards to present that report to the Lower House on
the reassembling of Convocation.
The PROLOCUTOR granted that there was a material dis-
tinction between business sent befOre them from the Upper
House and business which originated with themselves.
But business, such as gravamina et reformanda, originat-
ing in this house, required consideration by a committee
before it could be submitted to the Upper House, not by
virtue of any authority in the Lower House, but simply as
a statement emanating from them in the shape of recom-
mendations for the consideration of the Upper House.
At this stage of the discussion a messenger appeared, and
summoned the Prolocutor to the Upper House.
On his return, the Very Rev. Gentleman stated that his
Grace the President had prorogued the Convocation until
the afternoon, to enable them to proceed to Buckingham
Palace with the address to her Majesty adopted at their
last sitting, in November.
About two o'clock the house resumed, a,nd the Prolocu-
tor read the reply of her Majesty to the address, which
will be found in our report of the proceedings of the
Upper House, and was then ordered to be entered on the
minutes.
Archdeacon THORPE presented a paper of gravamina re-
lating to the necessity under which clergymen found them-
selves placed by the existing law of performing the mar-
riage ceremony between parties who repudiated the faith
of the Church, and lived in open and undisguised sin. He
himself had known cases where persons had come with a
degree of wantonness to be married in the church ; and in
one instance, where a party was asked what induced him
to require the blessing of the Church on his marriage, the
reply was, " Oh ! a mere whim."
The Dean of BRISTOL contended that the Prolocutor had
no intrinsic authority of his own to present a schedule of
gravamina to the Upper House, being nothing more than
the representative of the Lower House. The Prolocutor
could only go to the Upper House when he was sent by
this, or when he was summoned by the other house ; and
could not leave his seat without their leave. It would be
a most dangerous precedent, therefore, if they allowed
any individual member to place a paper of gravamina
in the hands of the Prolocutor and call upon him to pre-
sent it to the Upper House. No paper was given into the
hands of the Prolocutor except to be laid upon the table,
to be afterwards considered by this house. To bring the
matter to an issue he would move that the paper of
Archdeacon Thorpe be referred to the committee of gra-
vamina. _

,
THE LOWER HOUSE. I Canon WORDSWORTH—The Prolocutor was not their
The list of members having been called over and the
officer, but the officer of his Grace the President, and he
apprehended it was not an act of presumption on the part
,
minutes of the last session read, and confirmed, the Appa- of any member to request the Prolocutor to take his
ritor.General (Mr. F. Knyvett) appeared, and summoned schedule of grievances to the Upper House, to be dealt
pecptoeer correction nett:o tdsi
the Prolocutor to the Upper House. On his return, with as they might think proper. That was an inherent
right of every individual proctor there. At the same time
The PROLOCUTOR said that in obedience to the summons he agreed with the Dean of Bristol that, provided they had
of his Grace the President, he had attended te UPPer actually existing, in the discharge of its duties, a commit-
House, and received from his grace the report of, the joint tee of gravamina, such schedules ought to be submitted to
Archdeacon THORPE himself then seconded the Dean of
tcoomeominstitdeeerotfhtehesutbwjoechtooufsesth,
' Bristol's motion, which, after some further discussion, was
uoinbnm
itohftetol
clerksf ttshte m sessionaemn d. iatdinopted. the first instance.
which report he had been instructed
bers of the Lower House. The very rev. gentleman then Canon WORDSWORTH said it was of importance that
read the document referred to, which will be found in our they should not separate without knowing what course
account of the proceedings of the Upper House. they were to pursue with regard to the committee of gra-
The report was received with very general '
applause, and vamina. In considering the various papers brought before
on the motion of the Rev. Dr.
-PRYsecondedby the Rev, them, it was necessary that they should clearly ascertain
Dr. RUSSELL, it was ordered by a unanimous vote to be laid what ground they were standing upon, and whether or not
upon the table for future consideration. , they were to be summoned to deliberate upon those papers
In reply to Archdeacon DENISON , which had been refused by this house to that committee.
The PROLOCUTOR said it was highly desirable that the He was satisfied that committees of that house, being pro-
report should be printed and circulated amongst the result the mem- perly appointed, might sit during the recess, and present
hers of Convocation; but unfortunately the difficulty at
of their deliberations to this house, to be after-
present experienced was the want of the means necessary wards communicated by it, through the President, to the
for defraying the charges.present committee had
other house. In the instance a
.
and his grace s sanction and concurrence
Archdeacon DENISON—SureIy every member of Convo- been appointed,
._
din bt i doing this ho
cation would gladly contribute h;
---s share of the expense, had been aslldect.otateen perzle:e e g,p,
te uwhich it was their
and, in the assurance that the would do so, he begged to thought they
move that the report be printed and circulated amongst t r trace He contended' they had a full,
duty now o e . .
right t!' • • t' t'
ancient, and prescribed vest en in prim we prac ice
the members.
appoint
to those committees, and that it was an unnecessary
The Dean of BRISTOL doubted if this house could dealwith the Upper House
them the copy of the report which had been sent down to and. informal act to communicate
them by ' the Archbishop as if they had full authority upon the subject. This, however, they had done ; and to,
t hth the' 'ht
meet.the difficulty he would sugges w e er ey might
over it.
Dr. SPRY—The Upper House were anxious 'hat the re- not request the Prolocutor to intimate to his Grace the
port should be well considered by the memers of this President, that this Lower House appointed at its session
b
house, and it certainly could not be considered unless on the 17th of Nov. last a committee of gravamina et
re-
printed and circulated amongst the members.
Ultimately, on the suggestion of such appointment, but that on subsequently making inquiry
Chancellor MARTIN—It was agreeu.,
that a request into former preeedents,,they found that this last step was un-
should be made to the Upper House that the re rt
pn necessary and informal, and they begged leave, therefore,
be printed and circulated for the use of the linembe4- f
~ to withdraw the application and to intimate. their purpose
Convocation. ' - to proceed in the regular manner, according to ancient
The PROLOCUTOR then informed the house of the steps ointed would ro-
practice, and that the co.mmittee so app tit without
p
taken since the last meeting with res
Peet to the co Vet: coed to consider the business submitted to it without re-
appointed for considering certain gravamina that were then quiring his grace's concurrence.
presented to Convocation. It would be in their recollection Archdeacon GRANT supported this proposition.
that he was at that time requested, at the earliest practi- Archdeacon DENISON said no one was more anxious than
cable opportunity after the answer of his Grace the President himself that the committee should proceed to action • but
to the application to be made to him had been received, and the house should bear in mind that the paper referred to
in case that answer should be favourable to the application the committee included almost every subject that could be
so to be made to him, to adopt measures for assembling , brought under the notice of Convocation, and he believed
the members of the committee. He would, therefore, read there was no precedent to be found in the history of Par-
to them the correspondence which had taken place between liament or of Convocation, of the existence of a committee
himself and the archbishop upon the subject;
but before of the kind. Let them, therefore, consider well before
doing so, he would first remind them of the terms of the they sanctioned the continued action of that committee.
resolution adopted by this house for the appointment of The paper of gravamina had been referred to the commit-
that committee. The resoluti moved uon, 1,
by Archdeacon tee when they did not know exactly what they were doing
Harrison, and seconded by Dr. Spry, was
in these words : —(a laugh)—and he thought it better that the paper should
----" The Lower House of Convocation begs leave respect- remain as it had been put forth to the Church of England
right
fully to state to your grace and your ?
t rev. brethren, and the world at large—as a statement of the reasons for
that an important representation on matters at present which certain persons thought it desirable that Convoe,a-
affecting the welfare of the Church has, in
conformity with tion should be allowed to meet, and that they should now
former precedents, been introduced into tlais house, and proceed to consider great practical questions, one by ono,
committee, and this 1-.
been referred to a -mule humbly pray in detail. It was with that view that he himself had given
your grace and your right rev. brethren so to order the notice of certain resolutions which he desired to bring un-
prorogations and continuation of the session of this present der their notice that day. His belief was, that the com-
Convocation as to allow this house to receive and consider mittee of gravamina would be found an absolute unreality;
in due time the report of such committee!, After the that it could not work, and that if its members did assem-
members of the committee had been nominated, a ques- ble together, they would never report. Consequently, no
tion arose as to its right to sit by the sole authority of this business whatever would be brought before the house, be-
house,inion of some of the members of the m 't itwould always be said, when a subject was intro-
tee
. the op
could not sit without - causecannot deal with
being, that it
_,the sanction of the duced for their consideration— " Oh, we
Archbishop. He (the Prolocutor) then delivered the reso- that ;it is one of the questions which have beenreferred
lution to his grace, who said he would take time to consi- to the committee." (Hear, hear,)
der it, and return an answer, but, up to the close of the Archdeacon GRANT considered the proposal of Canon
last sitting of Convocation, no answer had been returned. Wordsworth to be worthy of support on the ground of its
_ they
dress these circumstances, he
grace , _ felt it to be his duty to ad- practical character ; for the question now was, how
the following letter to his
dress could best extricate themselves from the false position in
themselves, the
"Nov. 23, 1852. which they had, unfortunately, placed
f, lo Lord Archbishop,—l was requested by the Prolocutor,andabove all his Grace
e Lower
House of Convocation to take measures for assembling the friend Archdeacon pctnison advised them to let things
shouldgo re-
members of the ommittoe 4ppoillted. by them; as 8004 as main as they were j 111 short, that they
I had received an intimation of Yew grape% p 03. 0 4rr the i AWith
WIPP line world this blot npon.t them,
hem that having acted
in the resolution which I had the' h
..onciilr to place in your hastily, and found themselves in a difficulty, they never-
grace's hands. I trust, therefore, that your grace will par- theless took no measures with the view of retracing their
don me if I venture to ask, in conformity with the duty steps. For hirovlf he thought that Wattici be an improper