The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-16 00:00:00

THE WELSH CHURCH.

70 THE EDl7'Oll OF THE SUN.

_
SIR,--I have carefWly reml a ptmptilet purporting.
to be a letter to the Archbishop 4 Canterbury, in
!answer to Sir B,njarein Hall's observations on the
state of the Collegiate Church of Brecon, by Connop
Thirlwall, D.D., Bishop of St. DA% id's, and " which
I believe I may assume to have teen written' by the
Right Reverend Prelate v;hof,e name it bears.
I honour the Bishop for thus courageously entering

into► the lists, and submitting to have: his own cause
as defender, and hii opponent's as challenger, tried
before that public tribunal cl►ich must in these days
eventually decide every disputed case.
But I am astonished that his Lordship, as it ap-
peals to me, while on the one hand courting the ut-
most publicity, should on the other hand content
himself with comparative privacy.
For example, in his fifth page, his Lordship states
that he has felt himself bound publicly to notice the
charge for the sake of that class of persons "to whom
the facts of the case are entirely unknown, and who
have no opportunity, even if they liLd leisure or cu-
rioiity enough, for ascertaining them ;" while in his
27th and last page he seems so totally to have for-
gotten this his primary object, that he felt no hesita-
tion in writing the following words :
" I am aware that I cannot expect this exposure of

the Honourable Baronet's misrepresentations-to reach
one in a thousand of those who have read his letter to
your Grace." The truth is, Mr. Editor, that the
Bishop's trivial pamphlet might have appeared end
would have appeared, had he chosen it, in every pub-
lication, daily or weekly, in which Sir Benjamin's
letter was inserted. But his Lordship wanted a griev-
ance, and tried to establish one, I am happy to
say in vain. But before I conclude my criticism on
the manner of his Lordship's letter, I must protest
in the strongest terms against the indecorous lan-
guage in which a spiritual Lord in our Church has
chosen to malign the conduct of a layman, who, as I
believe, has never had any other object in view than
the reform of Church abuses in Wales, and fair play
against Saxon encroachments for our native Church
and our native clergy.
I must now touch slightly upon the material state
of the question, of which the chief points may be
thus summarily noticed :
Long before the Reformation, a Bishop of St David's
had wished to create a theological and literary college
for the benefit of the diocese, and had, with the
sanction of the Legislature, amply endowed it Al-
though inefficient, it was one which Henry VIII.
not only spared, but actually enriched with addi-
tional endowments. But administrative neglect was
stronger than legislative enactment,' and the colle-
giate institution did not assume an active or bene-
ficial form for the purposes of its creation, or the good
of the Principality.
It was consigned, by the Ecclesiastical Bill of
1840, to the" tomb of all the Capulets," with its Dean,
its Prebendaries, and all its property; and its future
revenues were dedicated, by the " Act," to the in-
crease of inadequate livings, and the cause of high
education in Wales, which was then supposed to be
intimately connected with Lampeter College.
Many a slip occurs between the cup and the lip;
the " Act" had passed Lords and Commons, when
Bishop Jenkinson died, and Dr. Thirlwall was ap-
pointed as his successor.
Now, mark my words, the " Act" was as sure to
receive the Royal sanction as two and two make
four, but Bishop Thirlwall forestalled this certain
sanction, and by getting himself consecrated on the
7th of August, while the Royal assent was not given
until the 11th, entered upon his bishopric with all its
ancient rights untouched, and thus became actual
Dean of the suppressed college, in the teeth of every
principle of equity. Had a Tory and a non-reformer
done this there would have been no vituperation,
no obloquy, which would not have been poured upon
the unhappy delinquent's head ; but I suppose a pet
Whig must be defended against all charges (however
true they may be) of malversation.
I will not enter, Mr. Editor, further into the ques-
tion in the present state of the discussion, but delibe-
rately affirm that all the difficulties, all the delays, all
the doubts connected with the revenues of Brecon
College have, as far as his Lordship is concerned, had
for their sole source the unjustifiable conduct of Dr.
Thirlwall in clothing himself with a vested right,
contrary, if not to every principle of rational law, at
least to equity.
However, thanks to Sir Benjamin Hall, the case
has at length a chance of being placed before the
public in a tangible shape, and the helpless, do nothing
system, which has prevailed for the last eleven years,
may now be brought to some satisfactory ter-
mination. _ _

In the meantime let us hope for better days, for
the education of both the laity and the clergy in
South %Vales, of which even his Lordship seems to
hold out certain hopes.
.1 have the honour to be, Sir,
PHIL-AHTEGALL.

Toe following letter, which appeared in the Times
newspaper of 3d January, may be interesting to our
readers, and deserves attention :

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,---I have read a letter in your paper of Tues-
day last respecting the state of St. David's College
at Lampeter. The writer, under the name of
" Ucalegon," says
" St. David's College has not been
mismanaged." Let me ask " Ucalegon " these ques-

LOD

1. Was there not a Welsh professor originally ap-
pointed at this college for the benefit of Welsh stu-
dents ? Why was the appointment discontinued, and
who has appropriated the revenue for that office ?
2. Is it not a fact that such has been the disgrace-
ful supervision of Welsh instruction in this Welsh
College, that at a late examination in the diocese of
St. David's, some young men presented themselves
for holy orders, and their exercises in the Welsh lan-
guage were so bad that the Bishop sent those exercise
back to the head of the college as a specimen of his
teaching, whilst his Lordship, who is visitor of the
college, passed the candidates ?
3. Is it not also a fact that last month another
batch of students from this " not mismanaged " col-
lege presented themselves to the Bishop of Llandaff,
who also sent back some of the Welsh exercises to the
Principal of St. David's College, as being quite dis-
graceful ?
Be it remembered that not long since the Bishop of
Llandaff was Vice-principal of St. David's College.
He also passed the candidates. If these are facts the
Bishops of St. David's and Llandaff have pissed young
men for Welsh livings who cannot spell the language
of their parishioners, and must, consequently, each
time that they have occasion to write that language,
make themselves ridiculous in the eyes of their flocks;
and yet, says ' Ucalegon," " this is not a mismanaged
college !"—Your obedient servant,
YMOFYNWR.
January 2.

* Christ's College, Brecon.

A STARTLING STATEMENT.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY NEWS.
Sir,—The ship Warbler, of the port of Liverpool,
sailed from the above port on the 17th of May, 1850,
bound to New Orleans, with a cargo consisting of
railroad iron, slates, bricks, also three hundred and
fifty emigrants. On the 18th of June, 1850, she sprang
a leak, 1,250 miles E. by N. of Antigua; and after
throwing overboard aboUt 100 tons of cargo, and con-
stantly pumping, succeeded in getting the ship into
English Harbour, in the Island of Antigua, where
every convenience exists for the repairing of ships, it
being an English dockyard, and for some years not .i
use. On application being made to the person in
The
urge for the use of the dockyard it was refused.
lAA, governor of the island was then appealed to; his
answer was, that he could not interfere in the case.
The:coiisequence was, the ship, in her sinking condi-
tion, with nearly four hundred souls on board, had to
depart for a foreign port to be repaired.
JOHN B. WESCOTT, Commander.
Dec. '2O, 1850.

IMPORTATION OF TURPENTINE.—An importation
bas recently taken place from New York, of a parcel of
casks of white turpentine, called in America virgin dip,
n consequence of its being extracted from the first tapping
of the turpentine trees, the common turpentine being that
which is extracted from the trees tapped the previous years,
which is called yellow dip, and is the quality of the article
usually imported, the article called virgin dip being of much
softer quality. The importers desired the admission of this
newly-imported article free of duty as turpentine, but the
officers of the revenue, considering it to be liable to duty, de-
tained it for the consideration and directions of the authori-
ties, who, having taken the opinion of competent parties in
the trade, decided that the article was not to be considered
liable to the high duty as oil or spirit of turpentine, but
that, it being turpentine of greater value than 15s. per cwt.,
it was liable to a duty of 2s. per cwt., and was to be charged
with that duty accordingly. It being, however, subse-
quently found that the article was of the same quality as
is usually sold in the American markets under the name of
virgin dip, and was not a manufactured article, and in the
opinion of highly competent parties in the trade was con-
siderably under the value of 15s. per cwt., it has, on further
application. been allowed to be delivered free of duty, as re-
quested. It is expected that considerable importations of
this particular article will take place from the United States.

•
DISCOVERY OF A DEPOT FOR STOLEN PROPERTY.
--A beer-home keeper, named George Hirst, has been taken
into custody at Leeds, under circumstances which induce the
belief that. the prisoner has been in the habit of receiving
stolen property. The prisoner keeps the Angel Inn, in Mar-
ket-street, in the centre of the town, and in his house the
police found a large quantity of property, consisting of woollen
cloth, silks, new umbrellas, and a variety of articles; some of
which have already been identified. He at present stands re-
manded till next Tuesday, the magistrates refusing bail for
ins appearance.
A letter from St. Petersburgh states that the books
in the Imperial Library, founded by Catherine 11., and which
the Emperor Nicholas has thrown open to the public, have
just received a new classification. It appears from the new
catalogues that it containss63,42o volumes and 15,471 manu-
scripts. The duplicate copies amount to about 20,000, part
01 which ate to he given to the Geographical Society of St.
Petersburgh. Such works as remain over are to be sold
publicly.