The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-19 00:00:00

CASE FOR OPINION.

Notice having been given by the Bishop of Exeter,
of his intention to hold a diocesan synod, at Exeter,
some of the clergy of that diocese, having regard to
the law of the Royal supremacy, and the provisions of
the Act of 25th' Henry VIII., chap. 19, and their
subscription to the 36th, canon of the year 1603,
Request your opinion on the following points:-
1. Whether a diocesan synod or convocation may
legally be assembled, and being so assembled, act
without the license or permission of the Sovereign.
2. Whether a statement put forth as a synodical
declaration, or resolution, on a point of doctrine or
discipline, though not called a canon or constitution,
does not come under the provisions of the Act 25th
Henry VIII., chap. 19.
5. Whether, supposing
such a synod to be legal, and
the bishop requires his clergy
to elect a certain num-
ber of representatives to appear for them at the synod,
instead of adopting the old course by which all the
beneficed clergy were-to be present (the meetings
of the synod being held at different places and times
if the diocese was too large for them to meet
simultaneously), the clergy are bound by law to
obey the bishop's requisition, and whether they may
not legally decline either to elect or to be present at
such a synod.
Ist. We are of opinion that a diocesan synod can-
not be legally assembled, or act without the authority
of the Queen's writ, end that the 25th Henry VIII.
extends, not merely to the convocation assembled for
state purposes, but to every
synod whether provincial
or diocesan, and whether assembled for state or merely
for ecclesiastical purposes.
We are confirmed in the above opinion by the
cotemporaneous exposition of the statute, fur it will
be found laid down in the text books, that diocesan
synods were not only laid aside, until by the act of
submission it was made unlawful for any synod to
meet but by Royal authority—see John's 140—see
also Bla. Com., 279, and there are many instances in
which, even before the statute, diocesan synods
were called together by virtue of the King's writ.
We are also of opinion that after assembly, such a
synod cannot confer to constitute any canons without
the license of the Crown, see 12 Co. 79.
2d. It is not easy to answer this question, with any
degree of satisfaction, unless some specific synodical
declaration, or resolution, were laid before us. At
the same time it is difficult to conceive any synodical
declaration, or resolution, on a point of doctrine or
`discipline, that would not be found to contain
elements which would bring it wider the operation of
the Act. We see no reason why there may not be a
mere declaratory canon as well as a declaratory statute.
3d. We are of opinion that the declining to juin in
the election of a representative to appear at any such
assembly would not render a clergyman guilty of any
, ecclesiastical offence.

With respect to a refusal to be present at such
aFsembly, we are of opinion, that it would be justifi-
able; and further, that it would be contrary to law
for any clergyman to attend it, or to concur in at-
tempting to make or pass any canon, for we cannot
think that such a meeting would be less a synod,
because convoked in an anomalous manner—or ille-
gally held for want of the Queen's writ.

B. PEACOCK.
A. F. BAYEOED.

A TOAD IN A HOLE.

The Academy of Sciences, says the Paris correspond-
ent of the Literary Gazette, in its last sitting, was oc-
cupied with a grove question of what, in homely lan-
guage, may be called " a toad in a hole." In digging a
well at Blois, in Juno last, some workmen drew up from
about a yard beneath the surface a large flint weighing
about 141 b., and on striking it a blow with a pickaxe it
split in two, and discovered snugly ensconced in the very
centre a large toad. Tho toad seemed for a moment
greatly astonished, but jumped out and rather rapidly
crawled away. He was seized and replaced in the hole,
where he settled himself down very quietly. The stone
and toad, just as they were, were sent to the Society of
Sciences at Blois, and became immediately the subject of
curious attention. First of all the flint, fitted together
with the toad in his hole, was placed in a cellar and em-
bedded in moss. There it was left for some time. It is
not known if the toad ate, but it is certain that ho made
no discharge of any kind. It was found that if the top
of the stone were cautiously removed in a dark place be
did not stir, but that if the removal were effected iu the
light he immediately got out and ran away. If he
were placed on the edge of the flint he would crawl
into his hole and fix himself comfortably in. He
gathered his legs beneath bis body, and it was ob-
served that he took especial care of one of his feet,
which had been slightly hurt in one of his re-
movals. The hole is not one hit larger than the body,
except a little where the back is. There is a sort of
ledge on which his mouth reposes, and the bones of
the jaw are slightly indented, as if from long resting
on a hard substance. Not the slightest appearance of
any communication whatsoever between the centre
and the outside of the stone can be discovered, so that
there is no reason to suppose that he could have
drawn any nourishment from the outside. The
committee, consisting of three eminent natu-
ralists, one of whom has made toads his peculiar
study for years, made no secret of their belief that
the (owl had been in that stone for hundreds, per-
haps thousands, of years; but how he could have
lived without air, or food, or water, or movement they
made no attempt to explain. They accordingly con-
tented themselves with proposing that the present
should be considered another authentic case to be
added to the few hundreds already existing of toads
being found alive embedded in stone, leaving it to
some future savant to explain what now appears the
wonderful miracle by which nature keeps them alive
so long in such places. But the distinguished M.
Magendie suggested that it was just possible that an
attempt-vas being made to hoax the Academy by
making it believe that the toad bad been found
in the hole, whereas it might only have been put in by
the mischievous workmen after the stone was broken.
'Terrified
at the idea of becoming the laughingstock
of the public, the Academy declined to take any for-
mal resolution about the toad, but thanked the corn•
mittee for its very interesting communication ; and so
the matter for the present dropped. One word, how-
ever,----if the toad had really not been embedded in
the flint, haw comes it that, after being taken out, he
always fixed himself exactly in the cavity, that the
cavity fitted him to a hair's breadth, and that the
hardness of the stone had made an impression 00
his jaw

CIIAMAM, AUG. 16.--The following
havegmCalcutta, d after ma
afte
arrived at Chatham garrison from Grav '
barked from her Majesty's ship Tudor,
s,:_i pora!,
'BY • I mate
passage of five months and twenty
Regiment . P .
1 sergeants, and 40 privates of the 60th
,the 96t me of n
Pr"-' the 80th
of the 24th Foot; 3 sergeants and one
Lieutenant in ,
Yourg, seant Cammon,
Regiment ; and Commander
~...n. erg
with ten women and sixteen 031041'
r died during the voyage.
medical inspec-
n " troops have
of the 6th Regiment, and 1
Francis Logan, Esq., private,
practitioner in charge of
were
A district court-martial,
the shi the passagae•ctedAas•lteprcitutn, claenTtihnge remainder
Thirri
En
s,
dtiroauftleidmeretost.admit
Mary'sted to ForcLks.
i C. 8., of the Royal Ma-
of which Lieutenant-Colonel
mbled at the General Court-Martial
Tines, was present,
,C'efor the trial of private David Eley, of
Room, on Thursday, of Royal Marines for "casting away
the Chatham division
his arms,„ 8,, The sentence will he read to the corps in a
Lieutenant Sutherland,. of the 2d N. B. Dragoons,
proceeded to
few days.
Thursday last to rejoin his regiment. Acting
atched to the provisional battalion,
Dorchester
Surgeon Laurence M`Ke:nzie, M.D., will be at-
tached do duty with, the provisional battalion in the
to, and
tacbed
'Hospital until further orders. Leave of absence
at present
Garrison
has been granted to second-class Staff-Surgeon Francis
Laing, ALL., to the 31st instant. The following officers and
men are under orders for embarkation for Bombay in a few
days: -Captain M'Andrew and Lieutenant Purvis, of the
78th Foot, with 54 men ; Lieutenant Woods, of the Bth
Regiment, 816 men ; 6 privates of the 64th Regiment; 17 of
the 83d, and 10 of the Bth Regiment; Captain Hamilton and
Ensign Holmes, of the 25th, with 53 men; Captain Darrock,
Ensign Agg, and Ensign Morley, of the 51st, and 88 men;
Captain Cassell and Ensign Penton, of the 84th, and 72 men.
THE " DUKE" AND POOR ANN HICKS.—The_
North London Anti-Inclosure Society, conceiving the case of
Mrs. Hicks to be one of public rights, have taken it up a
such. Poor Lord Seymour and his unfortunate Woodstes soda
Forests are quite unanswerable; but the
" Duke:ll he render
follows, to say that to no secretary of a society w
account :

" London, August 16th, 1851.
" F. M. the Duke of Wellington presents his compliments
to Mr. Griffiths. He has received his le•ter and the enclosed
printed paper. The Duke declines to have any epistolary
correspondence with the secretary of any private society on
the subject of the performance of his duties to the public."
" Mr. H. D. Griffiths."
SALT-WORKS or BAGNAC.—The Moniteur du Soir
says that the workmen of the salt works at Bagnac, near
Agde, department of the Llerault, demanded, a few days
ago, an increaie of wages, but the directors could not grant
it. They accordingly struck work, and caused a notification
to he published that they would not allow the salt in the
works to be removed. They then barred the roads leadingearadreivniarriving.
iec,iin rd
al
aoutherortio vetipes,rehonwteovtehre, reawnosrekdmtehne frrionmg
The
piluadc
the affair to be arrested.