The Sun.
London, England, 1804-03-14 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR.

Six—l thank you for your attention to my for,
trier Letter. I take the liberty to trouble you again
upon the subjed of the Residence Bill. In a paper
of Friday the-
.z.d itist. I find a paragraph, advising
such of the non-resident Clergy, as arc not exempt.
ed from the penalties of the Statute, by the privi.
leges annexed to certain situations, to petition their
respedive Diocesans for licenses before the ;rid of
March. This . advice is indeed of the very first
iinportance, and-I hope the Clergy will pay it , the
attention it deserves. But I' fear the terns in
which it is. conveyed, will betray many of theM
into a-. fallacious security.—" Every Clergyman
(the paragraph says) who does not reside upoa his
benefice, of in his partonage.house, (if he has one)
and who," &c. The effect of the parenthesis—(if he
has one)—l fear will be, that a Clergyman who has
not a parsonage-house, if he resides within his
parish, and regolarly discharges his parochial duties,
will think themselves secure against the common
informer, without the Bishop's license. But this
is not the case: though the Clergyman may be con-
firmed in the mistake (for a mistake it is) if he con-
sults the books. For, the law of this subjet, as it
has stood for many years back, is misrepresented in
all the writers upon Ecclesiastical Law, from Gibson
dotvn to Burn. without exception even of Dr. Vat.
sots, in his Complete Incumbent, whose single au.
thority, in most points, is far to be preterred.to that
of all the rest. That nothing was residence by the
Statute of H. VIII. but residence in the parsonage
or vicarage.hoose, was always well understood. But
the penalties of the old Statute attached only upon
wilful non-residence (and the case is the same-under
the new Statute.)—And it is said in all the books,
that a man could not he held to be wilfully non-re-
sident in his parsonage-house, who had no parson-
age-house in which he might be resident. And re-
ported cases, of an old date, are cited, in which this
principle is said to have been admitted by the
Courts. But whatever may have been .the case for.
merly, it is new matter of clear and settled law,
established by all the judgments of late years, under
the Statute of H. VIII. that the incumbent of a Be-
nefice with Cure, having no house of residence be.
longing to it, was liable to the penalties of that
Statute, notwithstanding he lived in his parish, and
discharged all the duties of a Parish Priest.. And
the only alteration which the new Bill has made is
this ; that the want of a proper house of residence
is made one of the cases which the Bishop is cut.
powered to protect: and this itself, is a sufficient.
confirmation of the do trine I have laid Joao, with-
out an enumeration of the adjudged cases, which
would be very tedious. But since the Statute ex.
pressly mentions this Case of No House, as one of
those which it empowers the Bishop to protet, it is
evident that, in the eye of the law, this case stands
in need of the Bishop's protedion. A Clergyman
therefore .who has too house of residence bel,nging to'
his benefice (if he is not exempted by privilege)
must endeavour to obtain the Bishop's license be.
fore the end of this month. Without a licence, as
soon as the month Of April sets in, he will be open
to an information for a wilful non-residence of more
than three months, and less than six, and will incur
a toffciiuge of one-third of annual value.
I remain. Sir, your very faithful servant,

Yoti.:Nace, March 5, 1804.

ASAPHERS•

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Prescot, March 1, 1804.

HI,

Stumm an Advertisement from a Liverpool Mi-
litia Club, in your Paper of the 24th February, I am
induced to answer it, from the high opinion I hold
of the utiiity of such Institutions, they being fre-
quently the means of keeping men with their fa.
milies, whi w otherwise be forced to relinquish
their trades, and fly from their townships. By the
AEI (commonly called the Army of Reserve Apt)
43 Geo. 3. cap. 82, sed. 43, it is enacted, that the
Clerks of General and Subdivision Meetings, zed
all other persons carrying this Aft into effeft, to
the satistattions of the Deputy Lieutenants, shall
receive such remuneration as any five of the said
Deputy Lieutenants shall order, to be paid by the
Receiver General on producing' a certificate signed
by such Lieutenants.
This I take to be a sufficient answer, to their
question ; and, in my opinion, if any clerks have
wished for a different remuneration (by requiring 3s.
6d. for a certificate of attesting a substitute, and the
like for an order to receive the half of the bounty from
the Parish), it must arise from the old adage, a bird
in the hand is worth two in the bush, and so got
the Deputy Lieutenants to order such charge ; but
I hardly think this can be the case at Liverpool, as
the liberality of its Inhabitants and Magistrates is
well known ; and in my opinion it would be open-
ing a door to harass the Public, as it would be
more beneficial the more desertion, by requiring
fresh,balloii; and as it is their duty to adopt means
to prevent and, apprehend deserters, thus their in-
terest and duty would be always at vatiance. I
conclude with recommending the querists to apply
to the Deputy Lieutenants for redress, at a General
Meeting of Lieutenancy, or else petition the Lott!
Lieutenant of the County.
1 am, &c.

A SERVANT TO THE P7ELIC.

SHIP NEWS.

CRAVXSEND, MARCII

Passed by—the United States, Read, from Savannah ;
)julfrow Henrietta, Anderson, from Lear ; Catharine, —9
from Rotterdam; Triton, and Vrow Senega, Gooch,
from Embden.
Sailed--the William, Sinclair, for Berbice ; Vertumnus,
Bales, for Tobago ; and Lady Harewood, Brenan, for Bar.
bidoes.