The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-13 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

PROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—A case of an extraordinary, if not al-
together unprecedented, character, was last Tuesday
brought before a court constituted under the provi-
sions of the Church Discipline Act, and held at
Totnes, Devon, by special appointment of the Right
Rev. Prelate who presides over the diocese of Exeter.
The circumstances out of which the charge arose,
the proceedings in the case, and especially the im-
portant principle involved, combine to render the
affair one of special interest to the clergy of
the Church of England, and of importance to all
classes of the community. The Rev. James Shore,
was the party proceeded against : the charges alleged
against him, and into the prima facie validity of which
it was the province of the commission to inquire, were
briefly these :—Bridgetown, ahamlet containing nearly
2,000 inhabitants, is a portion of the parish of Berry
his
Pomeroy, and is the property of Grace
the Duke of Somerset. In 1832 his Grace
built a chapel, a capacious and costly structure,
for the convenience of the inhabitants. The Rev.
J. Shore, who had been curate of the parish for about
two years previously, and was much esteemed by the
then vicar, the Rev. J. Edwards, was appointed and
licensed by the Bishop, minister of the chapel. In
1836 Mr. Edwards died, and Mr. Brown succeeded
him. He did not renew the appointment of Mr.
Shore, nor was it required by the Bishop. Mr. Shore
continued to officiate as the Minister of Bridgetown
chapel, without interruption or question from any guar-
ter, his Grace the Duke of Somerset paying all the ex-
penses of the service. In 1843 Mr. Brown wished to ex-
change livings with a Rev. Mr. Cosens, and the Duke of
Somerset facilitated that arrangement, which was
carried into effect. Mr. Cosens gained an addition
to his income by the change, to the extent of be-
tween 1001. and 2001. a year. This change could not
have taken place without the good offices of the
Duke. A few days after the induction of Mr.
Cosens, Mr. Shore received a letter from Mr. R.
Barnes, the Bishop's Secretary, inquiring whether
he had received a fresh appointment from the Rev.
Vicar; because if he had not the Bishop would not
permit him to continue minister of the chapel. Mr.
Shore consulted the Duke of Somerset. An appli-
cation was thereupon made to Mr. Cosens to give the
required appointment to Mr. Shore. The application
was met by a positive refusal. Mr. Cosens was
"highly indignant" that Mr. Shore should have first
gone to " a mere layman ;" and observed that he
could not conscientiously appoint Mr. Shore.
He was pressed to state whether he knew
anything against Mr. Shore. This was em-
barrassing He confessed that he had heard
nothing of him except from the Bishop. Matters
had now arrived at a crisis ; either the chapel
must be closed, and the people of Bridgetown be de-
prived of a pastor who had faithfully ministered to
them for thirteen years, or the chapel must be with-
drawn from the Establishment. Mr. Cosens refused
to re-appoint Mr. Shore ; and the Bishop of Exeter
withdrew his license from the chapel, and thus ren-
dered any clergyman who officiated within its walls
liable to pains and penalties, as an offender
against ecclesiastical order. There remained
one of two courses to the Duke of Somerset.
His Grace might, of course, obey the Bishop's be-
hest, deprive the people of Bridgetown of the
minister to whom they were affectionately attached,
and send him forth injured and helpless, having the
pulpit of the chapel which he had erected at great
cost to be filled by whomsoever the Vicar and the
Bishop might please to select and appoint. This was
one course ; and this was, evidently, the course to
which it was expected the combined operations of the
?'relate and the parish priest would reduce the
Duke of Somerset. But there was another course.
The chapel might be licensed under the provisions
of the Toleration Act. Mr. Shore might qualify
himself as a teacher and preacher under the pro-
vision of the same statute. Thus separating himself
from the Established Church, the authority and
control of the Bishop of Exeter over him and over
the chapel in which he officiated, would, he naturally
supposed, terminate. The controversy would thus be
brought to a close. This course the Duke of Somerset
sanctioned and approved—it would even seem, sug-
gested. The Duke's agent licensed the chapel;
and Mr. Shore duly qualified himself as the
minister of a separatist congregation, by makingthe prescribed declaration, and obtaining the ne-
cessary certificate. Mr. Shore notified to the
Bishop's Secretary that he had taken refuge
under the Act of Toleration, and asked if
there were any other act to be done by him to com-
plete his desired severance from the Church of Eng-
land. The Bishop's monition was thus converted into
moonshine. The chapel, enjoined to be closed against
its minister, remained open. The service in it, how-
ever, continued to be performed in exact conformity
with the directions of the Book of Common Prayer.
The most careful observer would have detected no
variance between the former and the present state of
things. Within the Duke of Somerset's chapel, at
Bridgetown,the prayers and other religious ordinances
were performed as they had been from its erection.
The mode in which the difficulty created by the
Bishop had been obviated by the Duke, pleased and
satisfied all parties—except, indeed, the Prelate and
the Vicar. These co-operators, to eject Mr. Shore
from the chapel, found themselves foiled by a move
for which they were utterly unprepared. But
there was yet another chance. Mr. Shore had,
by virtue of his ordination vows, engaged to obey
his Diocesan in all things pertaining to the clerieal
office. By preaching and administering the sacra-
ments in an unlicensed place—he having been duly
cautioned and admonished of the fact, that the Bishop s
license had been withdrawn from the chapel at Bridge-
town—Mr. Shore had been guilty of a breach of
ecclesiastical discipline. He was, therefore, cited to
appear before the Commission issued to inquire into
the facts. This proceeding was preliminary to his
being prosecuted in the Ecclesiastical Court, to be
therein dealt with, for the restoration of his soul's
health ; the wholesome discipline of the spiritual
court having wondrous efficacy to raise the fallen,
and to restore the erring sons of the Church to the
fold from which they have strayed.
STANDARD.—There is something heroic in the
determination of the Irish Whigs to contribute their
share, small though it be, to the general discontent,
notwithstanding that they are so cruelly assaulted by
the O'Connellite faction on every possible oppor-
tunity. Their affection for agitation is willing, like
true loyalty, to suffer all' things not only for, but
from, their taskmaster. It is unfortunate that a fa-
tality of rendering themselves ridiculous should at-
tach to personages so self-denying, but what choice
can they have when the repeaters abuse with
equal ferocity Whigs and Tories, and there
is only left for Lords Charlemont and Gosford the
opportunity of attacking those inconsidered trifles
in which Mr. O'Connell is pleased to think the
guilt of the Conservatives greater than that of the
Whigs ? The close of the session has produced
another manifesto from Charlemont House, relating,
it does not exactly appear to what, but kindly
advising the Minister to take the state of Ireland
into his considoration, as though that were a piece
of policy hitherto untried or now likely to be neglect-
ed. His Grace the Duke of Leinster, though his
timid Whiggism has deprived him of the right to the
hereditary and questionable motto of his house, heads
this very select list ; and, in addition to that circum-
stance, the authors of the document demand attention
to their opinions on the ground of their being pro-
prietors of estates in Ireland. The claim is
one which we are not at all disposed to
deny ; for opinions on Irish questions have been of
late years too generally taken from persons who are
proprietors of nothing Irish but assurance. We
cannot, however, see why even such a qualification
should enable these few noblemen to give the sanc-
tion of their names to statements calculated to
strengthen the false outcry of the O'Connellite
nlique, that there is a disposition on the part
of her Majesty's Government to neglect the
affairs of Ireland. If the determination of
Ministers to devise measures for the amelioration of
Ireland were prompted by any anxiety for popu-
larity, the flood of unfounded abuse with which
every measure is assailed by the adherents of Lord
Charlemont's party might well induce them to
abandon the attempt. One of the complaints made
in this document is, that the Government seems to
apprehend a civil war by augmenting the
number of the troops, and that in this seeming
apprehension there is some great evil which their
Lordships are not pleased more fully to explain. It
is perhaps clear to the Duke of Leinster and Lord
charlemont that the best course to pursue, when
a whole population has been excited by lan-o
guage most violent and inflammatory' is t
Teave that population to take their own course fur
the redress of supposed grievances, without
presenting to them the visible tokens of the
power of the law. Such, however, is not the most
obviously rational view of the matter. From what-
ever supposed apprehensions their Lordships may
think the augmentation of the number of troops in
Ireland arises, it is plain that that augmentation is
the most effectual mode of removing the ground for
all species of apprehension, and is a course preferable,
we cannot but think, to the coercion Bills and daily
proclamations with which the Whigs have found it
necessary to treat their present allies.

gl`;r or WAR.—The Low Moor Iron Works
were newer busier than now in providing instruments
of death and destruction. Daily, and luring almost
every hour a the day, waggons and carts are engaged
in conveying. heavy artillery, and shot to the railway
station at Brighouse, or the canal station at Bradford.—
Leeds Mercury.
1101311ERY 13Y A CLEE.II.—It was discovered on
...0. nday morni i; at the Dispatch Office, in Fleet-street,
-that one of the clerks, named Scott, had absconded,
'taking with him cash to the amount of nearly 1701., the
property of Mr. harmer, the proprietor.