The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-11 00:00:00

A CORNISII BISIZOTRIC.

For a great many years past there has been
brought occasionally
the see
of Exeter
before the world a proposal
for the division o
bishoprics, the presentbeingin
of t two
bishoprics, so
boundaries ex-
tended a range that the diocese is unmanageable
even by so energetic a bishop as our own diocesan.
first The proposal was substantially promoted by
the incumbent of St. Columb, the Rev. Dr.
Walker, who was " of the earliest converts to
Dr. Pusey, in the We est of England, and who,
having torn up the and laid bare the roof
of one of the finest' of
of the parish churches in
Cornwall, had
wit afterwards to live for years in
h
the parsonage his windows barricaded,
to protect himself from
the results of any in-
dignant demonstrations
on the part of the people.
his Eighteen years ago church was in a beautiful
condition. The
denuded it, to givepirti est" then took it in hand and
those adornments which the
Prynnes and Bryan Kings of our own time regard
as the beauty of holin®ss. QM How it was that he was
his
stopped short in career we could never learn ;
but some time afterwards
church, it had the on our visiting the
appearance of a wretched old
barn. The light of Heaven could be seen coming
through its roof. It was raining at the time of our
old
visit, and we saw an
eman sitting there on a form
There
under an umbrella! rewere also more than 60
windows in the old church broken, and some of them
were stuffed with straw to keep out the rough winds
of a north of Cornwall climate. Bryan King's
()
church, under the assaults the " heretics" who
will not believe in him, is a
churchpalace compared to the
forlorn, miserable den theat St. Columb
had become under the pastoral
hands of Dr. Walker.
The question of a second bishokri • c slumbered for
years, and it has lately been revived with
consider-
able
energy. The Rev. Reginald Hobhouse has
written an able pamphlet in its favour. Dr. Phil-
pots has given to the scheme his most holy sanction,
and we have heard that the demand for a new bishop
has been universal. Such beingb
the case, a memo-
rial has been got up to
Lie _ Premier, and Lord
Palmerston appointed Tuesdaywevelast to receive the
deputation. It turns out, however, that the memo-
rial has been signed by only 1,551;;
persons out of a
population of 356,622 persons. The appeal for the
second bishopric sinks therefore into insignificance.
Mr. Hobhouse urges the new bishopric on several
grounds. There is a large amount
ac-
cruing in the county, which of money
will
pass into the
hands of the Ecclesiastical O •
ommissioners, and,
unless it can be stopped in transitu, Cornwall will
get little or none of it. Some eh,h men, it would
seem, think that instead of making re
a
having the sample of Bishop Philpotts before their
new bishop—
eyes—it would be far better to formo
new districts
where they are wanted, and provide
and maintain
clergymen in them. Taking his own
Deanery of
East, as a sample of the wants of the county, Mr.
Hobhouse reckons 128 new districts as being re-
quired to put the county of Cornwall into a good
ecclesiastical condition, and for
these there would
ts
be 112. endowmen required. With a bishop living
in the county, and devoting his
theenergies to its
clerical wants, Mr. Hobhouse says inhabitants
would have a much better chance of getting the
necessary number of additional clergy, than they
will without a bishop. They want, he adds, a
Chief Pastor, not for the clergyof only, but also for
the people. The dioceseD Exeter is larger than
any other in the kingdom, and Devonshire alone is
larger than most of the existinge ioceses, while
Cornwall is also larger than several. Such being
the facts, and as there will ere long be native epis-
copal funds, it is argued that a
bishopric ought to
be formed. It is almost wholly a clerical
question,
and when scarcely sixteen hundred people out of
more than three hundred and fifty-six thousand.
can be found to sign a memorial for e ecclesiastical
official, it is an unquestionable proof that Co • rnishmen,
as a body, are utterly indifferent to the_ movement.
If it be possible to find an alter ego of Dr. Philpotts,
- the farther he be kept away
from the diocese the
will better, they may think, it be for their own
peace and happiness,

It was stated that, instead of the people cc-ope-
rating, as they should do, with the Government in
obtaining statistics affecting the social interests of
the, people, large classes, including many thought-
ful and patriotic men, would, at all risk, decline
giving information which they thought could not
properly be asked for. It was pointed out that in
many cases householders would do injustice to the
inmates of their houses, by`giving, either from care-
lessness or partisanship, incorrect information re-
,,spectiin 0. the religious opinions of servants, lodgers,
and others. Many also would,be unable satisfactorily
to define their own ecclesiastical position, and would
make a return in so general or doubtful a shape,
that it would be utterly valueless, To state the
religious profession of the hundreds of thousands of
the community who really made none, would be a
mockery. The power given to the enumerators to
ask questions, under a penalty, might, in respect to
this matter, also prove a source of great annoyance.
The deputations did not object to a census of the
number of the places of worship, and the extent of
accommodation provided; as such information could
be obtained without giving any offence, and by,
affording a means of comparison with the facts re-
vealed at the census of 1851, it would stimulate re-
ligious and philanthropic effort, as that census had
unquestionably done. It was finally agreed, that
the results of the census, if taken as proposed,
would only occasion irritation, while the Legisla-
lature would be ignorant, or be misled, as regards
the real religious condition of the people, and a
mass, of statistics would be collected which would
be delusive, and in some cases dishonest also.
The suggestion of the Statistical Society, that this
part of the census might be made optional, was ob-
jected to, on the ground that the value of such in-
formation depended on its completeness, and that
it was better to be without statistics than to have
statistics which would lead to erroneous inferences.

Lord PALMERSTON, in reply, said that he should
acpaint his colleagues with the strong feelings
existing among the bodies represented by the de-
putations. He thought that any census was neces-
sarily open to some of the objections urged; for
inquiries as to occupation and sge might equally be
denounced as impertinent. He should have thought
that there would not have been the difficulty de-
scribed in defining the ecclesiastical position of in-
dividuals, and that, at any rate, there was the same
difficulty in saying to whom the places of worship
belonged.—[lt was replied to this that they were
already registered as regards denomination ]—He
thought that the statistics obtained at the last
census were of less value than had been represented;
for the number of attendants at places of worship
on a particular Sunday was affected by weather,
by sickness, and by other accidental circumstances.

It there was to bew a departure from the plan pur-
sued in 1851, perhaps it would be better to take
only the amount of religious accommodation, and
to abandon the number of attendants. But the
whole subject should be considered, and the bill
should not be pressed forward too hastily.
It appeared to be the impression of the gentle-
men present that his lordship's suggestion to take
only the amount of accommodation, and to abandon
the attendances and personal profession, would be
an acceptable alteration. After his lordship had
been thanked for his attention to the matter, and
the deputies had explained to him the object of the
Charitable Trustees' Bill, with a view to obtaining
the support of the Government, the deputations
withdrew.