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

A CORNISH BISHOPRIC.

For a great many years past there has been
brought occasionally before the world a proposal
for the division of the see of Exeter into two
bishoprics, the present boundaries being of so ex-
tended a range that the diocese is unmanageable
even by so energetic a bishop as our own diocesan.
The proposal was first substantially promoted by
the incumbent of St, Columb, the Rev. Dr.
Walker, who was one of the earliest converts to
Dr. Tusey, in the -West of England, and who,
having torn up the pews and laid bare the roof
of one of the finest of the parish churches in
Cornwall, had afterwards to live for years in
the parsonage with his windows barricaded,
to protect himself from' the results of any in-
dignantEiahtee uy demonstrationsyears
agoh
is e
ohnurtehhe
waspart of the people.
in a beautiful
condition. The " priest" then took it in
hand
aaud
denuded it, to give it those adornments which the
Prynnes and Bryan Kings of our own time regard
as the beauty of holiness. How it was that he was
stopped short in his career we could never learn ;
but some time afterwards, on our visiting the
church, it had 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
visit, and we saw an old man sitting there on a form
under an umbrella! There were 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 of the " heretics" who
will not believe in him, is a palace compared to the
forlorn, miserable den the church at St. Columb
had become under the pastoral hands of Dr. Walker.
The question of a second bishopric slumbered for
years, and it has lately been revived with consider-
able energy. The ltev. 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 being the case, a memo-
rial has been got up to the Premier, and Lord
Palmerston appointed Tuesday last to receive the
deputation. It turns out, however, that the memo-
rial has been signed by only 1,530 persons out of a
population of 356,622.per50n5. The appeal for the
second bishopric sinks therefore into insignificance.
Mr. Hobhouse urges the new bishopric on several
grounds. There is a large amount of money ac-
cruing in the county, which will pass into the
hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and,
unless it can be stopped in transitu, Cornwall will
get little or none of it. Some churchmen, it would
seem, think that instead of making a new bishop—
having the sample of Bishop Philpotts before their
eyes—it would be far better
provide
orofvoirdme
and
dw
maintain
us
his own Deanery of
as a sample of the wants of the county, Mr.
Hobhouse reckons 128 new districts as being re-
quiredEwahsetre clergymentti they
put l nu
a t
thereco N'vu them.aeiTdt:ayakanol ndfdgfCo or r n w
thesel l
thesein o. a
would good
ecclesiastical
be 112 endowments required. With a bishop living
g chanceilihis
of energiesgetti getting theit
s
inh
clerical e
wcannenutnms ,tabyNeimrrno.unf edhd bettereHobhouseN.oti nadditional says the inhabitants
would
clergy, than they
wi They want, he adds, a
Ctilet
Pastor,
clergy only, but also for
hc necessaryl
p e.
fbodi
rsi
oh t
col pes
of Exeter is larger than
any other in the kingdom, and Devonshire alone is
larger than most of the existing dioceses, while
Cornwall is also larger than several. Such being
t i
iwe oi h
tl ovnu
n a
The
the facts, and as there will ere long be native epis-
copal funds, it is argued That a bishopric ought to
bo 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 f
it i
onns
cl to sign a memorial for the ecclesiastical
official, an unquestion able proof that Cornishmen,
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
peacebette anr,d h
they may think, it will be for their own
apviness.

Lord PALMERSTON, in reply, said that he should
acquaint 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 age 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.
If there was to be 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.