The Sun.
London, England, 1849-03-21 00:00:00

to use the eeelesistical revenues put into his hands fir
the general benefit of the p could not by any means
do so without the authority of an Ant of Parliament.
No place was niece richly endowed for the purposes of
religious teaching than 13ish Wearmouth, yet in
no place was there a greater deficiency of the means
of religious instruction. He was now in a posi-
tion to say that the incumbent of the town was
anxiously desirous to appropriate the extra revenues to
parochial purposes. It appeared from the papers put
into his hands that the ecclesiastical income was about
5,000/. a year, arising from tithes worth 1,500 L, rents
and surplice fees, coal dues, and other sources of trifling
amount in their value. The several sums gave a return
of 4.870/. a year, on very moderate computation; for,
whilst the dues upon coal had last year been stated at
300/, and the year before at 3504, they had the year
before last produced as much as 1,000/., and now he
understood a fresh seam of coal had been opened.
This was one of those cases in which the maladministra-
tion or distribution of the Church funds to a large extent
had diminished the congregations of the Establishment.
Three-fourths of the population of this parish were lost
to the Church, though not to Christianity, for they be-
longed to Dissenting congregations. One fact of itself
would show what was the real state of the parish. While
there were only five churches in it belonging to the Esta-
blishment, there were no less than eighteen belonging to
the Dissenters. In the five churches belonging to the
Establishment there were only 4,200 sittings, whereas
in the places of worship belonging to the
Dissenters there were no less than 14,356. The
sittings in the churches of the Establishment
were but moderately filled, whila the sit-
tings of the Dissenters were densely crowded. This,
therefore, was one of the many exemplifications of the
tact, that wherever you had a large revenue ill distri•
buted, there the Church Establishment was the weakest.
and there the Dissenters were the most successful.—
(Hear.) But Sunderland, which was, until the commence-
ment of' the last century, part of the parish of Bishop
V\rearmouth, with a population of 20,000, was probably
in a worse condition than Bishop Wearmouth itself.
Bishop Wearmouth was what was called the West-end
of Sunderland, but the population of Sunderland itself
was comprised of the poorest and most wretched of its
inhabitants, and amongst them, of course, was religious
teaching the more necessary—(Hear, hear)—but per-
haps Sunderland was worse off than Bishop Wearmouth.
It was, however, anticipated by those who most deplosed
this state of things, that at the death of the rector of
Bishop Wearmouth a change for the better would im-
mediately take place. Well, in October last, the rector
died, and by a singular coincidence the living of Sunder-
land became vacant, at the same period presenting at
once an excellent opportunity for introducing a
reform into the previous system.—(Hear, hear.) Of
course the occurrence occasioned a considerable sensa-
tion in the district, and all parties, who had influence
with the Bishop, addressed themselves to him on the
subject. The Noble Lord at the head of the Governs
went and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, they were told,
had done so too, but, unfortunately, with little effect.
The memorial of the inhabitants of Sunderland to the
Bishop, agreed to in the vestry, was to the effect that
the spiritual provision for the parish was miserable in
the extreme•, that formerly the parish of Sunderland
was part of Bishop Wearmouth, but that a large
proportion of the inhabitants went to the
church at Sunderland; that they had their children bap-
tized in it, in consequence of their residing near it. It
concluded by urging upon the Bishop to make the re-
quired and necessary provision for the spiritual care of
the parishes. At length, after much correspondence, an
arrangement was made by which the incumbent was to re-
csive 2,000/, a year, and that the surplus was to be placed
in the hands of trustees for certain purposes. In another
parish it appeared that the rector was extravagantly re-
munerated, whilst another had been appointed, but was
unable to take up his residence in the rectory in conse-
quence of the want of funds, and he was, therefore,
residing in a humble lodging. The rector of the
parish of Bishop Wearmouth was doubtless a man of
high character, but he had got himself into a disagree-
able dilemma. Now, as he had already said, the Bishop
might give or withhold the benefice from any indivi-
dual, but, giving the living, he could not withhold the
temporalities. But in this case a proposition was made
to the rector that he should give up bis title to a certain
portion of the temporalities, and upon that condition
he was presented to the living. Now, in the opinion of
every lawyer, he would venture to say, that was a case of
simony. He held in his hand a case where a living being
in the hands of certain parishioners, they presented to it
on a certain condition. It was held by the Court
that the agreement entered into for preventing the
incumbent from asserting his claim to the small tithes
was simoniacal, and the presentation thereon was void.
That he believed was a case strictly in point. In both
instances previous to the presentation the presentee
agreed that he would not assert his rights to a cer-
tain portion of the temporalities. Putting that aside,
the arrangement was unsatisfactory in other respects.
The successor of the rector on being appointed to the
living might again claim the whole of the temporalities.
Now it was for this among other reasons, therefore, that
the patron having endeavoured to carry out a pro-
ceeding which by law he had no power to carry
out, that he proposed the House should institute this
inquiry, which he was himself prepared to institute,
with the view of carrying out that arrangement which he
had admitted should be carried out. The petitioners
were anxious that Parliament should take that
measure into their hands. If they went through
the whole length and breadth of the land —if
they observed the evils and abuses which met
them in the different dioceses, which impeded the func-
tions and diminished the usefulness of our ecclesiastical
and parochial system, it did so happen that there was
not one of those evils or abuses of which there was not
an exemplification, in an aggravated form, in this un-
fortunate parish of BishopWearmouth, whose wealth had
been the attraction of every hind of avarice. There
was a dense and lawless population, scantily supplied
with spiritual instruction; there was an immense dis-
proportion in the income of the clergy. Then there was
in very many instances a total want of all communicas
tion and sympathy on the part of their diocesan; then
there was the question of the use and abuse of
patronage, which, instead of being exercised as a public
trust for the public good, was too often exercised in such
a manner as to disgrace the country and the Church.
Every one of those evils and abuses were congre-
gated in this unfortunate and wealthy parish.
The Honourable Gentleman then proceeded to cite
the authorities of Chief Justice Hale, and several
other eminent judges, on the subject, for the purpose
of showing that the course that had been pursued
was totally against all law and precedent. Now, though
it was easy to multiply authorities, he did not
wish to do so; but it was the law of the land that the
Tontines for ecclesiastical purposes were entrusted for
public purposes, and from the highest of all authorities.
Having stated what was the principle and the spirit of
the law, he would now turn to what was Parliamentary
and practical. He would then revert to the case of the
Bishop of Ely, which was a much stronger case than
even this. In . that case the matter had re-
ference not to the temporalities but to the spiritualities
of the Church. Lord Dacre, in presenting a petition
upon a circumstance in which an interference with the
spritualities appeared to be evidently necessary, had
stated that he intended to found a motion upon it for an
address to the Crown. The Bishop of Ely in reply
to his Lordship's address had asserted that if
they assented to this doctrine they would
be opening a door to a course of proceeding
which woul be not only inconvenient, but would
prove a fertile source of embarrassment for the
future. The House of Lords did not, however,
confirm this view of the Bishop of Ely, and though there
was a large attendance of the Bench of Bishops, there
was not one who attempted to support the principle of
ecclesiastical responsibility which had been openly
avowed. The Bishop of Ely was followed by Lord
Holland, and he by Lord I'owis, no mean authority in
the Church, and he again by the Marquis
of Lansdowne, all of whom took this matter en-
tirely off the ground of there being no Parliamentary
right to interfere with the revenues of the Church.
Many speeches were made in the House of Lords, and
nearly all of them against the position assumed by the
Bishop of Ely, but the strongest of all those which were
made were those of the nearest friends and strongest
Parliamentary allies of the Noble Lord who was now
the Chief Minister of the Crown. Lord Althorp, too,
had denounced the system of ecclesiastical responsibility,
and had asserted that it ought to meet with the utmost re-
probation of the House of Lords. When last year he had
spoken upon this subject he had been assured that the
Government would take the matter into their early
consideration, and from what be had heard be fully
expected that they would have entered upon a course of
action. Hitherto, however, he had been disappoiuted—
he trusted from unforeseen causes—but if the matter were
to be further delayed, ho should be compelled at no long
deferred period to bring forward two other motions
which he had prepared for their consideration. Should
he do so, he should then invite the House to a con-
sideration of every particular abuse.—(Hear, hear.)
He should take them from diocese to diocese,
and from parish to parish, and bring forward
a mass of evidence which he should be extremely
sorry to produce, but upon the greatest compulsion, and
which, if it were once brought forward, would show an
abuse of ecclesiastical patronage which would most
certainly arouse the indignation of the whole country.
He should invite the House on an early opportunity to
give its opinion as to the propriety of establishing that
episcopal responsibility, the want of which had produced
such calamitous results, and in the meantime he
had to ask the House to consider the case of
these petitoners.—(Hear, hear.) Their object was
simple, their prayer moderate, and a refusal of their
request might lead to serious consequences. He called
upon the House not to aggravate the dangers which had
been occasioned by past neglect, but to accede grace-
fully to the prayer of these petitioners, who
prayed the House to keep them within the
pale of its church. If the House assented to their prayer
it would strengthen them in their sentiments of affection
for the Church, but if it were neglected, they would
turn from them in despair, they would murmur this
reproach against them, that although the House pro.
leased ecclesiastical reform in the abstract, yet when an
opportunity occurred for the House to give proof
of the sincerity of its professions, it shrank from the test,
and then it was found that the followers of the Church
had nothing to hope from its sympathies, and nothing to
expect from its justice; and turning away—their interests
neglected—their hopes disappointed—their affections
alienated—they would tell the House that in the
treatment they had received from it, the House had
written its own condemnation, and that so far as it
might depend on it, the House had written its own
judgment.—(Cheers.)
Mr. MANGLES s conded the motion.

Lord J. RI SSILL said he had laid down no such
doctrine as that attributed to him by the Hon. G(ntleman,
as regarded episcopal resposibility; on the contrary he
had always mantained, and still niai:ltailled' that the
Dit•tos u the Church haying liztp9mr, public) Mat