The Sun.
London, England, 1836-03-11 00:00:00

_----..------"'a"
it had been proposed to make part of the see of Llandaff should
now be united, as far as regarded the city of Bristol, with the
diocese of Bath and Wells, and as far as regarded the other por-
tions of it, that it should be united to the see of Gloucester.
Also, as regarded the see of the Isle of Man, it was proposed
to unite it to that of Carlisle. Then, with respect to the
revenues of the several bishoprics, the present Report proed
.:
posed certain diminutions. Taking the returns as present
to the Commissioners—which, however, might not be quiiste
accurate, but they were the only ones of winch the Comm"
sioners had been able to avail themselves—it would appear
:hat the present Report proposed these changes
Sees. Present income. Reduced to. Sur lus.
p
Canterbury £17,000
Durham
London
Winchester
Ely
Worcester
To be united.
5,200 t
3,800

St. Asaph
Bangor

3,800
:5,200

Leaving a total surplus of £.28,500
Now it was proposed that this excess should be divided arrong
thirteen other sees, so as to augment their revenues to betweel,
3,0001. and 4,0001. per annum. With respect to the sees 0
Bath and Wells, Norwich, and Salisbury, no alteration Was
now proposed. The effect of the new distribution would he,.
in conformity with the suggestions in the first report, tha,s
there would no longer be the great disproportion, so mu ca
complained of, between the amount of the revenues enjoyedre
bY
the respective Bishops and the duties performed by
with the additional benefit that the evils of uniting
benefices
in commendam to the bishoprics, and of translation from the
poorer sees to the richer, would be got rid of. With respect
to the whole cost of the different sees, the report presented tit°
fact that the full amount of the present revenues of the bishop-,
rics would suffice for the revenues of the whole number o,
bishoprics now proposed, and further, that there might be
some measures in order to change the mode of granting
leases for lives and terms of years ; but that was a subject
which the Commissioners had found to be attunded with much
difficulty, and they had not made ally distinct proposition uP°3
it. With regard to the next branch of the inquiry entered
into by the Commissioners—the amount and present distribu-
tion of the revenues of cathedral and collegiate chapters--the
report entered into some statements. The chapters were et
present divided into two orders—those of the old foundation
and those of the new foundation. Those of the old foundation
were those which were founded before the reign of Kill
Henry VIII., and they had this peculiarity, that they bat
not only separate estates affixed to each prebend, but fI:T.
there were also in each a number—in some a larger, Is
others a smaller—of prebendaries and persons attached tl
the cathedral, but with no augmentation of residence, and
with smaller or larger incomes, and no duties to perfortn•"
Those of the new foundation were somewhat more sY,":
tematic. They generally had an estate belonging to the
Dean and Chapter giving a yearly income, the surplus
which, after deducting expenses for repairs of cathedrals, was
divided generally into two portions, one portion for the dean
and the other for the other members of the chapter. The tna°-
ner in which the Commissioners proposed to deal with these
establishments, was, in the first place, that all those prebend
daries to which the condition of residence did not attach,
all other similar offices, should be altogether suppressed, their
incomes being merged into some fund for the benefit Of the
Clergy, and for the extension of the instruction afforded bY
the Church. And, with respect to the collegiate chapters is
general, it was proposed by the Commissioners not to abet
lish them altogether ; but to leave in each cathedral a sufficient
number of dignitaries duly to perform the services of the ea'
thedral, adding something to the incomes of the more distin-
guished. It was, in fact, proposed that there should be
dean and four canons to each cathedral, and that all above
that number should be suspended. The consequence of these
proposed measures would be that, as regarded the chapters on
the old foundation, there would be 368 prebendaries abolished,
and that as regarded those on the new foundation, besides or
abling them to provide for the better service of the cathedra',
there would remain a surplus from the different operationsieit'
13,0001. per annum, including 70 sinecure rectories, 30 of whho
belonged to the prerogative of the Crown. With respect
the canonries remaining, it was considered that one of the':
might, in most cases, be made useful in maintaining an °Mc*
of great importance—one which was particularly conducive.t!
the performance and due inspection of the affairs of
Church, but which was at present very ill remunerate
a
—he referred to the office of archdeacon. It was PTO'
posed (he spoke generally, without adverting to particular
cases) that one of the stalls should be attached to the office e
°t
the archdeacon. This had already been done in the eas
l
Westminster, where one of the stalls was affixed to the dust
the incumbent of a populous parish in the neighbourhood, t
the House ; and there was also another of the stalls in ',Vele
minster Abbey which it was now proposed to attach to tl!ott..
parish of St. John's, Westminster. These were 's
cular instances. As regarded others, it had also beet'
thought advisable to propose that they should be affise
to the cures of large and populous parishes. He now are
to the last and most important branch of the inquiry---t
provision for due residence on the part of the parochial clergy'
With respect to this, it was now proposed that the number
of clergymen to be exempted from continual residence
shouldsould
hebeconficrheadpUleaeinds—itmilmateditahteesl3o exemptions
veryried tom utehiel
on the Bishops, and on the Royal Family, the:Heads of
versities, and the principal masters of Westminster and r-,t°°
schools, besides some others, which he need not now name;
With respect to the time of residence, it was not proposed that
any very material alteration should be made, except ttlat
deans should be obliged to reside nine months, and t-h..
a canon holding a benefice should not be allowed to be a e
sent from it more than four m )nths, including the three,
in attenuanc?
months during which he would be in attendance at the cattle
dral. Then, with respect to pluralities, sonic considerau
changes were proposed to be introduced into the law re'7oo
lating these. In fact, it was proposed that no Pe's,
should hold more than one living, together with a citlrs:
nity, and that no one should hold two livings the
tance between which was greater than ten miles, or rule'
lt
one should yield more than 500/. per annum. This rule, e
was proposed, should be absolute as regarded the distance 0;
ten miles ; but, with respect to the annual income of 500/, 10
was proposed to extend it to meet this case—where a clergy
holding rather a rich benefice would be found willing t°l,l',be
another contiguous to it, the population of which rnig"",
it
very considerable in proportion to its income, in which eas-nitl
was further proposed that the Bishop of the diocese sho-e,
have power to grant a provisional license, of which an iln,rn-0
diate report should be made to the Archbishop, by bo
the case would be laid before the King in Council, wro.,
would have the alternative of disapproving of the
posed license. Having now stated the proposals of it
Commissioners for the better arrangement and distributwte
of the duties of the various Livings, it became necessarYias
say in what way it was proposed to dispose of the salich
funds which the new provisions would create, and w`",;te
would come into the hands of the Commissioners, or, The
probably, of some Board appointed for the purpose. as
object would be to dispose of this amount in such a mannatvi,
to make it beneficial to the Church. Now, it would hef.,4
dent to the House that, when such restrictions in the holuel-ci,
of a plurality of livings were imposed, it would be exec- of
ingly difficult for clergymen, not holding more than on de,
the smaller livings, to live in that sort of comfort that was the
sirable for a minister of the Church. It appeared thatfiee
relative values of the livings were as follows :—Of be
coder
under 1501. per annum there were 3,500: of those "lim
1001. there were 1,926; that of those under 1501. per aelloO,
the population of 13 were above 10,000, of 51 above u' be,
of 251 above 2,000, and that in 1,125 the population waving
tween 500 and 2,000 persons ; making 1,440 benefices b'
more than 500 inhabitants, with less than 150/. per keiell
Without troubling the House with the calculations would
him to the result, he (Lord John Russell) °too
state that if the stipends of the smaller livings were rat the
100/. per annum, and if the stipends of those of wili°,"so/4
population was more than 500 were raised from 100/. to .rige'
more than 160,0001. would be required to effect the arrat
ment ; but at the same time it must be borne in mind tbaefose
sum to be derived from the suppressions which he bad before
the
stated to the House, as forming part of the propositions 00461
Commissioners, would afford ample scope for its being ea tap
into effect.--( Hear,) On the other hand, there werer,jobt
other evident means of applying any surplus which,:ijcil
afterwards remain, because, if the disproportion 0f *:„ the
accommodation to the numbers of the population in be
several parishes were taken into account, there w°°,.,eisell-
found to be an ample field for an advantageous e 4 four
ture of the amount. Taking London alone, there were, ssa°
parishes, containing 166,000 inhabitants in which theroere
church room for only 8,200, less than one-twentieth. a acen
were thirty-four parishes, containing one million anmods
thousand inhabitants, in which there was church aconite the
tion for only 125,000, about one-tenth of the whole. there
remaining parishes there was a population of 816,000 ;t one'
being church accommodation for 97,700 only, or abet', lit th°
eighth. There were also various other instances statedcb in,
report, showing that, while the population had very nixed
to
creased, the churches and church-room had not carneincre
proportion. He trusted that when the commissioners had
consider this part of the subject, respecting which thneYartie;
not as yet made their report, a measure satisfactory to a., Pa en
would be suggested for the appropriation of this surP'4o' 614
that it would be transferred into the hands of those wl'.oe relit
object would be to distribute it in such a way as to gy,,le
be i
of
instruction to those places which were in absola.%.
of it. In many districts the Dissenters, to their hon°: f the
spoken, had afforded accommodation to the memo others l°l
Established Church in their chapels, but there were st t
which the want of the means of religious worship was
Oa;
very great. It was undoubtedly much to be regretatrijoieno
such a want should exist, but he thought that t eibee
would be unanimous in agreeing to this rq?_rrol,
it was known that the highest dignitaries of the 6,'c ;ad
Bishops, and other elevated members of the Churc_ cro:
pressed their willingness—when it was known that the Crow
was ready to place at the disposal of Parliament a grthena..
tion of the patronage and revenues which belonged t° • -
dad
(Hear.) When these two parties—the Crown
-ch they i
nitaries of the Church—gave up privileges o'l %it," orhy
enjoyed from time immemorial, and to which they, 'I way, ~"01r
ritual claim—when they acted in this praisewortrneYenees 0
surrendering up not only their patronage but their would
the public good, he was satisfied that Parliament: "could
ir She
unanimous in thinking that no better application
made of the funds thus obtained than renderingluvfor
means of providing additional religious instruction
ih
into .--e se)
people.—( Hear.) He should not enter further
~
before t°',. con '
tails of the Report ; but when, it was ity Lb°
Hon. Gentlemen would have an ample opportun
• iterations wahich y"
dering those details, and the several a div o
He need bar eon'
and tne
Commissioners proposed to make. " in/.
that the members of the commission were mantra)