The Sun.
London, England, 1836-12-09 00:00:00

CHURCH REFORM.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sir,—Seeing that the very important question of Church
Reform has been slightly touched upon of late in some
of the daily prints, after having been, to all appearance ,
fairly cushioned, and that that zealous reformer, th e
Times of Monday, opines that " the independent press
ought to keep the public eye upon the Church Commis-
sion," (in which I quite agree),---allow me, through yon
independent columns, to forward the Times'. views. And
lst—permit me to ask upon what evidence have the re-
ports which have issued from the Chuch Commissioners
been grounded ? In most of the late changes Bills have
been formed upon reports drawn from the examination of
evidence and facts. If I mistake not, the Municipal, and
many other Bills were founded on reports drawn from evi-
dence occupying rather formidable dimensions in print ; but
I have never yet heard what the nature of the evidence pro-
duced before, and examined by the Church Commission, is.
Can it be possible that the facts on which this Commission
reports are those collected in answer to certain queries sent
forth by (the then) Lord Althorp, the answers to which
were published in a book termed " Liber Ecclesiasticus ?"
Is it possible that the answers to these questions, which it was
not imperative upon the Clergy to give, which, in fact, in
several cases, were not given at all, and which were pro-
fessedly to be only of a general, and so to say approximate
character—is it possible, I ask, that this loose information
is to be the groundwork of a great measure of church-reform
—a measure not at all inferior in importance to any that
we have yet seen? Did the Ministry apply for information
respecting the working of the old corporations to the
voluntary testimony of the quondam corporators ? or can
any one suppose that if they had, they would have been one
jot the wiser for so doing? Certainly not. Then why is it
to be supposed that the clergy have voluntarily afforded
such testimony in the " Liber Ecclesiasticus," as is likely
to assist for the best in the dreaded reform ? It is casting
no imputation upon them to say that it is contrary to the
nature of human beings that they should. Again—sup-
posing the " Liber Ecclesiasticus" to be critically exact and
minute—and I know it to be neither the one nor the other—
is an average of three years calculated to give a fair state-
ment of the income, to say nothing of the property of the
Church, when so much of it is the result of renewal fines
and leases upon lives ? The only available part of the pro-
perty of the Church—at least the only part which the re..
port contemplates as fitting for the purposes of augmenting
poor livings, which is by far the most genuine and important
point of all the reform—is that of the Deans and Chapters.
Now does any one imagine that an average of three years
gives a fair idea of the value of a Bishopric or Deanery,
—of a Canonry, or other Prebendal Stall ? No such
thing. The average of thirty years, in many cases, would
scarcely do it. Does not everyone at all acquainted with
these matters know full well that it is a common remark,
that such and such a piece of preferment will be worth
nothing (comparatively) during the next possessor's life,
as the present incumbent has got all the " plums" out of
it ? What is the Bishopric of Lincoln worth, or likely to
be worth, to its present possessor, compared with Bishop
Tomline ? But this " Liber Ecclesiasticus" does not give
us one syllable about the property of the Church ; it re-
lates solely to income, and that on an average of only
three years ? lam aware that the returns of the Clergy
were fuller than those given in the " Liber Ecclesiasti-
cus," and why were they not so published ? No living soul
can, I verily believe, at this moment, say, to any thing like
a fair approximation, what the amount of the property of
the Church of England is. It cannot be accurately esti-
mated from the income. Yet have we a Commission sitting
and devising reforms for the Church without this necessary
and positively elementary information !—information too,
which the Chapter clerks could be compelled to give (as far
as regards Deans and Chapters), on an average of twenty-
five years, or more, of income, together with a detailed ac-
count of estates and property, with complete accuracy, and
entire freedom from expense. Before another step is taken
in legislation on this subject there ought to be a rigid scru-
tiny into the property of the Church—at all events into
that of the Deans and Chapters, and an,enquiry how far it
is applied to the purposes for which it was originally devised.
I deny the accuracy of the " Liber Ecclesiasticus." I affirm
that we want more information than it gives, and I assert
that no subject has ever been brought before Parliament
respecting which so few facts and data arc known as the
Reform of the Church. The necessity of the public,
or the Members of Parliament, having a complete know-
ledge of the grounds upon which legislation is to pro-
ceed in this instance, any further than can be collected
from the reports of the Commission (which, mind, are not
facts in thenzselves ), does not seem to be at all regarded ; and
Mr. Hume alone seems to have had any misgivings as to what
the Bishops' Commission was about. I have asked nume-
rous clergy, who all admit that they have never been called
upon for any further information than what was required
of them some four or five years ago by Lord Althorp.
Now I cannot, I will not believe, that a Reformed Parlia-
ment will proceed to pass bills—be they good or bad—which
are recommended by the Church Commission, without exa-
mining and letting the public too examine the evidence upon
which they are founded. A multitude of other points then
are not touched on by the Commissioners, which I dare not
trespass on your room to mention. What is said of the
original Charters of Chapters ? Who knows their con-
tents ? What is said of estates originally devised to the
support of singers, organists, vergers, and other menials ?
Where do the proceeds of those estates now go ? In short,
what is known about the constitution of the several Deans
and Chapters at all ? Of these things we want evidence
and explanation. The Lords called evidence respecting the
Old Corporations. Will they do the same as regards Deans
and Chapters ? I know not : and for this reason the
Church Reform, as it is called, is essentially a Tory mea-
sure ; begun by Tories, executed by interested Bishops (the
great bulk of the Clegy being looked on as mere ciphers in
the matter,) and it is bolstered up—l am ashamed to say
it—by the Whigs, and it will be jumped at by the Lords.
Only compare the bills hatched by this Bishops' Commis-
sion with the spirit of two really reforming ones laid on the
Lords' table by Lord Brougham in the time of Earl Grey's
Ministry—and Oh, how changed!

A CHURCHMAN.

P.S.—A volume might be writtenui;iitlie—i;;Y4;ets
of renewal fines as injurious to the landlord as the tenant,
and forming a complete bar to all improvement of the pro-
perty. In fact the property of the Chureh needs reform
as much as the Church itself. Yet what mention of this is
there in the reports ?

The imports of gold and silver into the United
States have for a considerable period exceeded those of their
exports of the previous metals. On a comparison of the im-
ports and exports for the last half-dozen years, on balance
there will be found a large sum in favour of the imports, but
the increase in the last two years in the gold imported has
been very great indeed. The following is the value in
dollars :

IMPORTS.

Years.
1829-30
1830-31
1831-32
1832-33
1833-34
1834-35

Gold. Silver.
821,146 7,334,818
932,024 6,373,916
716,686 5,190,818
611,852 °% 6,160,676
3,766,172 14,145,460
2,325,196 I 10,606451

Silver.

EXPORTS.
Gold.

485,513

756,109

921,055
522,663
638,405
299,680
623,679

6,035,602
1,722,196
3,351,407
L 386,581
5,122,495

I 9,173,196 1 50,011,939
The following are the average prices of
France, at the end of October in each year,
under-mentioned 18 years, from 1819 to 1836, W.__ _ _
tion of the same into English measure and money :
Per • Per 1 Per
Hectolitre. Quarter.l tooHeiitre. Quarter.
1819....15f. 29e. equal to 355. 0d.{1828....21E69c. equal to 495. Bd.
1820....19 56 44 9 1829....21 60 49 5
1821—.15- 99
1822_35 55 35 7 1831.-22 88 52 5
1823.-15 72 ............ 35 11 1832—.18 67 42 9
1824....14 40 33 0 1833....15 42 ............ 35 4
1825....15 24
1826—.15 55
1827.-18 77 43 1 1836....17 3 39 0
The average of the whole period is 17f. 51e. per hectolitre,
which is equal to 40s. Id. per quarter ; and it will be seen
that the average of the month of October, 1835, was the
lowest of the whole period. To compare the average prices
of wheat in France with those of England, it is necessary to
add 20 per cent to the latter for difference in the quality of
the wheat, and the difference in the mode of taking the
averages ;
and it then appearing that the average price of
wheat in England for the six weeks ending the 28th Oct. is
48s. per quarter, this, with the addition of 20 per cent.,
makes 575. 7d., and the average price of wheat in France at
the same period being 395. per quarter, it.follows that wheat
is 47.65 per cent. dearer in England than in France.
THE. LATE REV. ROWLAND HlLL.—Amongst
the supplies at Mr. Whitfield's chapels in London, few
were more popular than the late Rev. Rowland Hill, who,
in the summer of 1772, was the means of reviving the cause
of Methodism in those places. His residence was at the
Tabernacle House in Moor-fields, from which he made
preaching excursions in the neighbourhood of London, in
addition to his labours in the metropolis itself. The effects
of his addresses to the people on these occasions were ex-
traordinary in the extreme. One individual wrote him
word, for his encouragement, that the Lord had blessed the
truths he had delivered to " hundredsrnay, he might safely
say " thousands," and earnestly entreats him to return as
soon as possible, as " multitudes longed for the time when
they should hear him again." " Many," he continues, "'I
have visited on their sick beds, blessing God for the time
they heard you. Notes of thanks were put up from whole
families stirred up to seek the Lord by your ministry."
The, style of Mr. Hill's addresses to the people was at this
period of life extremely simple and forcible ; they abounded
with lucid views of the doctrines of the- Gospel, mingled
with sudden bursts of vivid, sublime, and sometimes singular
illustrations.—Evangelical Register.

3,492,985

I 18,374,390
wheat in
during the
ith a reduc-