The Sun.
London, England, 1848-05-17 00:00:00

EVENING-, MAY 17, lB4B.

parishes), residence of course should not be insisted on,
the objects being to conned the parochial clergy with
the cathedral churches, and in these cases, also, the,
clergy holding the stalls ought not, he thought, to re-
ceive arty large share of the profits of the cathedral
property. Taking this view, he could not but hope that,
when the pressure of public business permitted, the at-
tention of her Majesty's Government would be directed
to this subject. He did not desire to pare or cut down
the revenues of these cathedrals, and if he said one word
in their disparagement it was only because he believed
they might be made far more conducive to the general
purposes of the Church.
Lord J. RUSSELL agreed with the Right Honourable
Gentleman who had just sat down, that it might be very
desirable to take some further measures with respect to
the cathedral establishments. But he was unwilling, by
silence, to permit it to be assumed that he entirely
agreed with the way in which this case had been put by
the Hon. Mover. That Hon. Gentleman seemed to think
that these establishments were useless, and even preju-
dicial; his own view, he must admit, was that cathedrals
might be made very valuable to the purposes of religion
and of the Church. He must further say, that he did
not think the Hon. Gentleman had taken a very correct
view of several of Lhe points connected with the subject.
For example, he was under a mistake in supposing that
cathedral dignitaries were prohibited from giving their
livings, except to any of their own body. Now, it was
entirely in their power to give their livings to any
clergy man in the diocese, who had served as incumbent
or curate therein for a period of five years. Again.
with respect to the construction of the Act, the Hun
and Learned Member had certainly not attributed
sufficient importance to what had been done under the
authority of the Ecclesiastical Conimisson. That Com-
mission had power, under words which he (Lord Johi
Russell) had introduced, with the assent of the late
Archbishop of Canterbury, and the late Earl of Har-
rowby, to apply the funds of cathedral stalls and pre-
bends, to the cases of parishes having large populations,
and to those parishes out of which local ties might arise.
The Hon. Member's argument, therefore, certainly was
not borne out that the first object should be to raise the
incomes of livings merely geographically approximating
to cathedrals; nor did he (Lord John Russell) think it
would be desirable that such augmentations should be
the first to be made. Differing from the Hon. and
Learned Gentleman, however, as to these points, he was
glad to pay his tribute to his industry and perseverance
in dealing with the question generally, and he was quite
prepared to say that in the general spirit of his motion
he entirely concurred. He did not pr cisely see how the
plan proposed by the Right Honourable Gentleman
who had just sat down, of appropriating stalls to the
purposes of theological learning, could be carried out,
because questions would undoubtedly arise as to how the
most learned men could be selected ; but in any propo-
sition to appropriate the proceeds of stalls to the ad-
vancement of parochial objects he entirely concurred. Ii
the House at all agreed in that view, be had only to ado
that though there might be inconvenience' in agreeing
to the motion in its present form, yet he thought the
whole .subject required attention; that the Government
would continue, as they had done, to give it that atten-
tion; and that be thought that the latter words of the
motion, that " Measures to ascertain whether the cathe-
drals might not be rendered more conducive to the ser-
vices of the Church and the spiritual instruction of the
people," ought to be adopted.
Mr. HUME expressed his gratification at hearing the
concluding words of the Noble Lard's declaration. lie
adverted to the argument of the Hon. Member for th,
University, that church property stood on the same
touting as private property, and denied that such was
the case.—(Hear, hear.) They must recollect that this
property was derived from the public. He thanked the
lion. Gentleman for bringing forward this motion. His
statement of that night would go forth to the public,
and would make a great impression on every thinking
mind. Out of the Mon. Member's proceedings infinite
good results would, he was sure, arise.
Mr. GOULBURN said the Hon. Gentleman who
had just sat down seemed entirely to have forgotten
that, during the last twenty years, material alterations
had been made in the cathedral establishments of the
country ; and he begged him to show how and when the
property of the Church was given to it by Parliament
and by the public ?—(Hear, hear.) With regard to the
motion before them, he thought, after the speech of the
Noble Lord, very little remained for them to discuss.
He had never been a supporter of abuses, and it the
abuses stated to-night, or any part of them, were found
to exist he should be one of the first to assent to in-
quiry. With respect to the Hon. Member's speech, he
agreed with the Noble Lord that the tendency of the
Hon. Members's speech was the uselessness of cathe
drals, and the desirability of their entire abolition. Ihe
Honourable Member contrasted the small incomes of
city incumbents with the large incomes of cathedra)
canons. If the Hun. Member had gone out of cathedral
cities to other arid more populous towns he would, per
hops, Lave found the incomes no higher. Was it
fair then to au) ibute the poverty of the clergy to the
fault of the cathedrals? The fault, if fault there was.
was, was with the law, or with the Ecclesiastical Corn
missioners who administered it. The Commissioners,
however, had only fulfilled the intention of radiomen,
by meeting the most urgent cases first. The Noble Lure
had referred to one instance of a mistake made by tin
Hun. Gentleman. He would refer to another. In stating
the case of Lincoln the Hon. Member said that the,

income of the chapter there might go on augmenting
But by 5 and 6 Victoria the incomes of the uean ann
canons were limited to a specified sum, and if their in-
comes reached or exceeded that sum, the surplus woul,.
go to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for parochial
purposes. With respect to what the Hon. Gentlema,
had said of Archdeacon Croft, he thought also that tin
Hon. Gentleman ought also to have apprised the arch
dsacon of his intention to make a serious charge gains
him. He reminded the Hon. Gentleman that a cause of
this sort was not promoted by a personal attack. But h►
would say nothing more on that subject. There seemed,
indeed, to be so much unanimity upon the question be
tore them, that it was unnecessary.
Mr. J. HEYWOOD was nut quite aware of what was
the use of deans and chapters in this country. It up
peered to him that in some respects they were draw-
backs upon the efficiency of the Church. In a recent
case, for instance, they had endeavoured to oppose the
appointment by the Crown of one of our most eminent
tneologians to a bishopric. With regard to their ad-
vancement of learning he mentioned that when the Bri
tish Association for the promotion of science held their

meeting at Oxford, the dean of Christchurch was absent
and nothing was done by the cathedral dignitaries for
the advancement of scientific objects.
Sir E. N. BUXTON was most unwilling to let any
opportunity pass without thanking the Honourable
Member for Cockermouth for bringing this question
forward. It did seem to him, that, with a teeming
population in our large towns, it was our duty to ap-
ply the funds of the Church to supply the necessities of
a spiritually destitute people. Church property was
only held by the Church in trust for the benefit of the
people, and it ought to be applied for the relief of their
spiritual necessities wherever they existed. He had
heard with regret that any portion of that property was
received by persons who did little or nothing for their
monies.

Mr. HENLEY said that the Hon. Member who had
just sat down went rather too far in his doctrine of
trusteeship, for he not only thought that the State had
a right to see the trust performed, but also to declare
what that trust was. This was but one step from saying
that they could do as they liked with Church property.
He objected altogether to this new fangled notion, and
therefore felt a difficulty in assenting to the proposition
that Church property was trust property at all. An
Hon. Member had thought fit to find fault with the
Dean of Christchurch, and had given then a version of
what he considered to be the proper qualities of a dean.
He had also favoured them with what he considered to
be a scientific dean. And as it appeared that those
notions of science were measured by the fact of whether
or not a gentleman gives a breakfast to a great number
of hungry sevens, by the same rule they might conclude
that if he was to give a good dinner, with a good French
cook, he would doubtless be considered pious into the
bargain.—(Laughter.) This, he took it, was all the
lion. Member could bring up against the unfor-
tunate Dean of Christchurch. He could not say that
the case which the Hun. Member had brought be-
fore the House had convinced him (Mr. Henley) of the
justice of the motion with which he had conclud, d.
Going over such large fields as that Gentleman had done
it was not difficult for him to dress up a case in the
manner he had, especially whets he had got his facts to
suit his case, instead of getting his case to suit his facts.
The Hon. Member had certainly failed to convince him
that any good could result from the matter. The mat-
ters in question were in the hands of the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners—a body of which he was not particu
larly fond —(Hear, hear)—but he had no doubt that
they would do their duty well; and if they did not the
Hon. Member was doubtless disposed to keep a sharp
eye upon them, and to bring the subject before the House
whenever he could.
Mr. HOUSMAN, in explanation, stated that the
Hon. Member had misapprehended some points of what
he had said. He had stated that those establishments
which were endowed for great purposes, as now admi-
nistered, did not render the services for which they
were originally intended ; and he conceived that such
an observation was certainly not equivalent to express-
ing an opinion that those establishments were useless.
Not one syllable had fallen from him about cutting
down their revenues, or reflecting on them as use-
ful institutions. What he had said was, that the more
valuable those institutions might be made, the greater
was the shame if they were suffered to be abused. His
principle was that certain duties should always be
assigned to such offices. The Hon. Member for the
University of Oxford had questioned the correctness of
his returns, and the authority oa which he had made
his statement; but he proceeded to maintain that the
returns were in every case accurate, and with regard to
the other point, that he made no statement unless he
was prepared to give up the authorities upon which they
were founded. He understood from the Noble Lord
that without going to the length of issuing a commission
of inquiry, he admitted the necessity of such an inquiry,
and was ready to go into it. Under those circum-
stances he (K.. Horsman) did not feel it necessary to
proceed with his motion, and would accordingly with-
draw it.

FOREIGN POLICY.
Mr. URQUHART rose to call the attention of the
Rouse to the relations of this country with Russia, in
reference to the events of the north of Europe. After
some preliminary observations, he said that circum-
stances had recently taken place in the west of Europe
which caused a sense of insecurity to be connected
with the conduct of the foreign affairs of this country;
and so late as the previous day in Paris a manifes-
tation of public feeling had taken place with regard to
Poland which he conceived must point out the real sources
of Europe's danger. The
,proposition which he was
'about to make was twofold. It was whether the Go-
iPernment had neoleoted that portion of the country's