The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-22 00:00:00

NARRIAGE LAWS.

inconsistent with Mr. Meyrick's version of his
sentiments respecting Prota. In that letter
Mr. Langdon appealed ad misericordiam, on
Prota's behalf, but he made no pretence of
possessing any evidence unknown to his cor-
respondent—the gentleman who was more im-
mediately concerned in stopping the grant.
M. MACCOLL.

The Report of the Royal Commission on
the Law of Marriage, the most important sec-
tions of which we publish in another page, will,
if adopted, remove many of the most objec-
tionable irregularities and restraints in the
existing law. The fewer impediments law
throws in the way of matrimony, the better
and the more its religious character is acknow-
ledged, the less pretence will there be for State
interference in any province relating to mar-
riage, beyond the duty of regulating its civil
conditions and effects. In this report we are
happy to see a determination to uphold the
religious character of matrimony, and to give
as much as possible a religious sanction to its
solemnization. The declaration of matrimonial
consent in the presence of an authorized
minister of religion, or to those who desire it
of an authorized civil magistrate, in the pre-
sence of two witnesses, is recommended as the
mode whichshall in future constitute 'a legal
marriage in all parts of the United Kingdom.
The change in the law, as proposed by the
commissioners, does away with the necessity of
the presence of the registrar in Catholic
Churches as it empowers the Catholic Clergy
to perform a legal marriage, imposing upon
them, at the same time, duties with respect to
registration similar to those now performed by
the clergy of the Established Church. For
those who desire it, however, civil marriage
will be retained—that is, the option of con-
tracting a valid marriage without any religious
ceremony, and a law to this effect, enabling a
formal and regular marriage to be contracted
in the office and in the presence of a district
registrar, -is to form a part of the future mar-
riage law of the United Kingdom. Together
with civil marriage, if the recommendations of
the commissioners are carried out, the right
of divorce will be also retained in the future
marriage law. This great blot seems to have
fixed itself irrevocably on the marriage laws
of England ; the Catholic Commissioners, Mr.
Justice O'Hagan and Mr. Monsell, however,
appended a note, dissenting from the recom-
mendations concerning the laws affecting di-
vorce, because they held divorce itself to be
contrary to the laws of God.
Civil marriage and divorce, condemned by
the Church, are permitted by the modern
State. It is evident, therefore, that as long
as this basis of Christian society is removed
from the exclusive jurisdiction of religion,
so long must there be unceasing war between
civil and religious society. Putting aside, how-
ever, these two great evils in the proposed mar-
riage law—evils from which Protestant Eng-
land now seems to have no chance of escape—
there is much to approve of in the recommen-
dations of the commissioners. The report
might bear favourable contrast, in many re-
spects, with the recent legislation in Austria
affecting marriage, and with the marriage laws
in force in Revolutionary Italy. The spirit
displayed in the legislation of both those
countries is hostile to the religious character of
matrimony, and seeks to degrade this great
Sacrament into a mere civil contract, substi-
tuting the authority of the State for that of
the Church ; whereas the report of the English
commissioners seeks the sanction of religion,
and recommends that this sacred contract,
affecting the highest interests of society as well
as the eternal welfare of individuals, should be
entrusted as far as possible to the control of
the clergy of the various religious denomina-
tions of the country. State-omnipotence is the
radical vice of the Revolution, and in nothing
is this vice more prominent or more offensive
than in the dealings of the modern State with
the Church in regard to the laws of marriage.
Not the State but the Church is the guardian
of the moral and religious obligations of the
peoples, and when the State does intrude into
the province of the Church, such an intrusion
is sure to lead to a disastrous issue. Nowhere
is this usurpation more fatal than in the laws
relating to marriage, for wherever the State
has succeeded in abolishing the marriage laws
of the Church, there marriage has become un-
, certain in its character and feeble in its obliga-
tions. Divorce is the natural concomitant

THE IRISH CHURCH COHMISSIOS.

The report of the Established Church (Ireland)
Commission has at length been issued, and corn-
poses a very ponderous volume, comprising about
twenty pages of preface and report proper, and 650
pages of tabular matter, containing statistical in-
formation concerning the Church and its property
of every kind. The following is a summary of
statements as regards Church affairs and recom-
mendations to her Majesty in reference to altera-
tions, improvements, and economical arrangements.
After reciting the objects they were to inquire into,
the commissioners state :—" In order to obtain ac-
curate information, we early in November issued
forms of queries to the archbishops and bishops of
the Church in Ireland, to the corporations aggre-
gate, to the deans, dignitaries, and other officers of
the cathedrals, as to the circumstances, revenues,
&c., of their clerical districts ; and to the incum-
bents of the several benefices, as to the number of
members of the Established Church, revenues, area,
and general circumstances of their parishes or dis-
tricts. Upon receiving the returns (nearly 2,000 in
number) we proceeded to have the contents ar-
ranged in the form of a tabular digest. Forms of
inquiries were also directed to the Board of Eccle-
siastical Commissioners to obtain full and accurate
returns of the lands and other property which, under
the Church Temporalities Acts (Ireland), had be-
come vested in them, and the mode and purposes in
and for which these revenues were applied. With
respect, however, to the system adopted by this
board, we thought it advisable that, in addition
to written inquiries. a personal examination
and inspection should be made ; and accord-
ingly one of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and
other witnesses were examined, and the books of
account and other records inspected at the office in
Dublin by some members of our commission. Hav-
ing obtained the requisite information, we directed
our attention io that portion of the duties imposed
upon us by the terms of your Majesty's commission
which requires us to report ' whether,' in our judg-
ment, ' alterations or improvements should be made
in the management, administration, and distribu-
tion of the revenues and property' belonging either
to ecclesiastical persons and corporations, or vested
in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. In the dis-
charge of these duties we have felt bound to pro-
ceed without reference to the resolutions which
have been adopted by the House of Commons with
respect to the Church in Ireland after the date of
your Majesty's commission. We now submit to
your Majesty our suggestions with a view to the
1 improvement of its internal arrangements,
and the administration and management of its pro-
I perty. The Irish branch of the United Church of
1 England and Ireland consists of two archbishops,
ten bishops, 30 corporations of deans and chapters,
12 minor corporations or quasi-corporate bodies
connected with cathedrals, 32 deans, 33 archdea-
cons, 1,5C9 beneficed incumbents (including within
this term perpetual curates), and more than
500 stipendiary curates. The number of persons
returned by the census of 1861 as belonging to its
communion was £693,357. Its annual net revenues
amount to about £581,000, of which about
£364,000 arise from tithe rent-charge, about
£204,000 from the rents received from lands, and
the residue from Government Stock or other sources.
Of these revenues a considerable portion, about
£113,000 a year, is administered for Church pur-
poses by the central Board of Ecclesiastical Com-
missioners. About £19,000 a year belongs to the
capitular bodies, and is applied by them for the
maintenance of the cathedral fabrics and services.
The residue supplies the endowments of the bishops,
dignitaries, and beneficed clergy. The property of
the Church has been derived from various sources
before and since the Reformation. With respect
to the property acquired after the Reformation from
Royal or Parliamentary grants, and property that
since the same period has been the gift of private
individuals, we have inserted in the appendix to
this report such particulars as appear in the
Patent Rolls in Chancery, or in the diocesan re-
gistries."
Having referred briefly to the Acts altering the
system of tithes to a rent-charge, by which the
liability of the under tenants and occupiers was
transferred to the landlords and proprietors, the
report goes on :
4t There are in Ireland 1,074 benefices, the net
income o f
these arewhiehabiosve £nn42eor ;£3OO a year. About
356 0 a year, about 421 of
of
the remainder above £lOO a year, and about 297
under £lOO a year. Amongst these are many with
large Church populations—some in important
towns, and others so circumstanced that a supple-
mentary provision for suitable Church ministration
is much needed. With a view to provide funds for
the augmentation of such benefices we have ex-
amined into the existing distribution of property,
and considered how far additional provision may
be made for them. Previous to the Act 3 and 4
William iv., c. 37, there were in Ireland four
eighteen bishoprics. By this
nred consolidated, and the number
Aarecthbthisehospereiscswae
reduced to two archbishoprics and ten bishoprics.
There are now twelve united dioceses. The net
annual revenues of the twelve prelates amount to
about £58,000. After a full consideration of the
circumstances of these several united dioceses, we
are of opinion that a further consolidation of
dioceses, and with one exception (Cork) a reduc-
tion of the incomes of the bishops, may take place.
The dioceses which we think may be consolidated
with others, are (1) Meath ; (2) the united diocese
of Killaloe, Kilfenora, Clonfert, and Kilmacduagh ;
(3) the united diocese of Cashel, Emly, Waterford,
and Lismore ; (4) the united diocese of Kilmore,
Elphin, and Ardagh. The consolidation may be
effected as follows :—Meath to be united to Dublin ;
Killaloe and Kilfenora to Limerick ; Clonfert and
Kilwacduagh to Tuam ; Cashel and Emly to Lime-
rick ; Waterford and Lismore to Ossory ; Kil-
more to Armagh ; and Elphin and Ardagh to
Tuam. If this arrangement be carried out, we re-
commend that the diocese of Ardfert and Aghadoe
be transferred from the see of Lime-
rick to that of Cork. A majority of the
commissioners are of opinion that one archbishop
of the Irish branch of the Church ought
to be sufficient ; that the archbishopric to
be retained should be Armagh, and that the
Archbishopric of Dublin should be reduced to a
bishopric, with precedence over every other bishopric.
The other commissioners think . this alteration
is not required. Taking into account the extent of
superintendence which, in consequence of this re-
duction of the episcopate, must devolve upon the
prelates, the various claims upon their bounty, and
the social position conceded to the office, and having
regard to the scale of judicial incomes in Ireland,
we are of opinion that there should be provided for
the primatial see of Armagh an income of £6,000
a year ; for Dublin, if retained as an archbishopric,
£5,000 a year, and if reduced to a bishopric, £4,500
a year ; and for every other bishopric an income of
£3,000 a year, with an additional allowance of £5OO
a year for such of the bishops as in each year attend
Parliament. These incomes and allowances should
be free from any tax or deduction for ecclesiastical
purposes. Any deficiency of income should be paid
by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. We recom-
mend that all the episcopal lands should be vested
in that board, the present system of charges for
building and improving the see houses should be
discontinued, and that such charges should be paid
off by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The cir-
cumstances of the corporations of deans and chap-
ters, and of the dignitaries connected with them,
appear to us very clearly to demand a reduction
in their number. These corporations were not in-
terfered with by the Church Temporalities Acts,
and no less than thirty corporations of deans and
chapters still continue. Of these two only have
corporate property, viz., Waterford and Kildare.
Sixteen have economy estates, viz., Armagh, Down,

vices.

of civil marriage, and though divorce is a
peculiarly Protestant institution, nevertheless,
even in Catholic countries, it will also be.the
too certain result of civil marriage. To
introduce civil marriage is to strike at the root
of the Christian family, and to lay the foun-
dation of national apostacy. And it is the
knowledge of this fatal consequence that in-
spires the irreligious and Revolutionary party
in Austria and Italy and elsewhere in Europe,
with such a fanatie-al eagerness to abolish the
Christian laws and religious character of mar-
riage.— Westminster Gazette.

71IE ANGLO-CONTIIVEN7AL SOCIETY.

The following letter has been addressed to
the Guardian:—

SlR,—The Syndicate of Naples,- under the
pressure of public opinion, served notice to I
quit on Prota and his editorial staff. No
.reporters are admitted to the deliberations of
the Syndicate, and therefore its proceedings
are not made public. Relying on this bye-law,
Prota boldly denied that he had been expelled
from S. Domenico Maggiore, and insisted that
he had voluntarily resigned. An English
gentleman, resident in Italy, then asked a
member of the Syndicate what the real state of
the case was, and he received the answer which
Mr. Clay has quoted. Still Prota stuck to his
denial; whereupon the same member of the
Syndicate, being again appealed to, stated in
black and white that Prota was expelled ; but
he expressed, very naturally, a wish that his
name should not be mixed up in the matter.
Mr. Clay says "he saw the note," and that
it was " unintelligible." I saw it too, and found
nothing "unintelligible" in it. But that may
be owing to the fact that I spent, I believe,
as many months in Naples as Mr. Clay spent
days when lie went to sit in judgment on the
British residents and to overhaul the decisions
of the Syndicate. I have no " wish to keep "
Mr. Clay " silent," or to " tie his tongue;"
I merely say that the " note " in question
was shown to him and to me in confidence,
that I made no reference to it, though it would
have been of great service to me, and that I
now refer to it under protest, and in order to
do justice to an honourable man whom Mr.
Clay has misrepresented—possibly from an
imperfect recollection of facts with which lie is
not familiar. That was all I meant when I
said that his statement was "literally untrue."
I cannot understand Mr. Clay's quarrel with
the " Magistrate," who simply gave a plain
answer to a plain question. Do Mr. Clay and
Mr. Meyrick really mean that the members of
the Syndicate of Naples are under any obliga-
tion to produce the evidence on which their
decisions are founded for the supervision of
an agent of the Anglo-Continental Society,
or any. other stranger who. may apply to them ?
Mr.Meyrick, in the face of Mr. Hogg's letter,
too, repeats that Prota was " condemned un-
heard." My reply is, that Prota admitted, in
a letter which still exists, that he had Jails-
approp dated to his own personal use a large
part of the grant which the Italian Reforma-
tion Fund made to him ; secondly, that he
asserted, what even Mr. Clay now admits to
be a falsehood, that he was not expelled from
S. Domenico Maggiore ; thirdly, that lie was
invited to clear himself from the scandalous
reports which were afloat concerning him,
and undertook to do so ; and, fourthly, that lie
fulfilled that promise by getting a verdict of
acquittal from the paid staff of his own news-
, paper._

Mr. Meyrick. says that "the Rev. W. C.
Langdon and the Rev. J. G. Clay heard both
sides," and " learnt that " the rumours about
Prota " were false." Mr. Clay has broken
silence, and has not even pretended to adduce
one scintilla of evidence in favour of .Prota
which the English Churchmen at Naples were
ignorant of when they severed their connec-
tion with the Einancipatore Cultolico. Mr.
Langdon has hitherto preserved an ominous
silenCe. I saw a letter froze hiz which is

TIIE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 22, 1868.

Christ Church, Dublin ; St. Patrick's, Dublin ;
Leighlin, Waterford, Lismore, Limerick, Cork,
Cloyne, Ross, Killaloe, and Tuam. Thirteen have
no property whatever, either corporate or economy.
Very few of the dignitaries of these corporations
retain the emoluments which once belonged to their
offices. The Church Temporalities Acts enabled the
Lord Lieutenant in Council to suspend cathedral
dignitaries, and to transfer their emoluments to the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners, &c., sO that £14,000
a year, once enjoyed by these dignitaries, have be-
come part of the property of the commissioners.
The exercise of a power of restoration has led to the
revival of deaneries and other dignities without
either official income or duty. The aggregate en-
dowments of all not being sufficient to maintain
more than a reduced number in a st Lte of efficiency,
we recommend that, with the exception of eight, all

existing corporations of deans and chapters be dis-

solved, and the deaneries and other dignities con-
nected with them suppressed. The eight cathedrals
which in our opinion should be preserved as sueh are
those of Arnmgh, Down, Derry, Than), Kilkeliny,

Limerick, Cork, and St. Patrick's, Dublin, being all,
except Down, situate in the cities in which the
bishops of the sees which we recommend to
be retained, have their residences. Connected with
ten of the cathedrals there are twelve minor corpo-
rations or quasi-corporate bodies, of vicars choral
or minor canons. The object of these foundations
was to make provision for maintaining choral ser-
The property of these three bodies has be-
come vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners,
subject to existing life interests and to other obli-
gations. The property of the other nine amounts
to £9,000 a year. We recommend that all those
minor corporations or quasi-corporate bodies be
dissolved ; and that there be substituted two cleri-
cal vicars choral with freehold offices, and a choir of
lay choristers, under control of the dean and chap-
ter. All the property at present belonging to the
cathedral corporations we recommend to be trans-
ferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and
form in their hands a common fund, to be termed
the Cathedral Estate, for repairs, choristers, &c.
As to the maintenance of the eight deaneries to be
continued, the income of the Dean of St. Patrick's,
Dublin, should be fixed at £1,200 a year, that of
the other deans equalised to £l,OOO a year, exclu-
sive of every ecclesiastical tax or charge. Every
dean should be obliged to reside at his cathedral,
and daily choral service should be provided. The
rectories of Armagh and Tuam should be respec-
tively united to the deaneries ; and so long as the
cathedral is continued at Downpatrick, the dean
should continue to be rector of the parish.
All appropriations vested in the deaneries and
other dignities should be severed, and, according to
circumstances, should be callar added to the vicar-
ages or curacies of the appropriated parishes, or

transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners,
under certain conditions. Whatever deficiencies

there may be in the revenues of any of the eight
deans should be supplied by the Ecclesiastical Corn-
inissioners. In Dublin the Cathedral of Christ
Church would, according to the suggestions which
we have made, cease to be a cathedral. The build-
ing may, in our opinion, be usefully employed as a
parish church. In order to effect this arrangement,
power should be giVen to the Board of Ecclesiasti-
cal Commissioners to examine into the circumstances
of such of the neighbouring parishes as are in Royal
or ecclesiastical patronage ; and power should also
be given to the Lord Lieutenant in Council, on the
recommendation of this board, to unite, divide, or
otherwise deal with these parishes and their churches
as they may think fit, so as to annex a suitable
parish or district to Christ Church, and otherwise
readjust the parochial arrangements as may seem
advantageous. The present number of archdeacons
(33) appears excessive. If the diocese of Kilmore
be added to the dioceses of Armagh and Clogher,
there may probably be an archdeacon for each
of these dioceses ; but in all other united dio-
ceses proposed to ba formed, two archdeacons
for each would seem to be sufficient. The power
to determine the titles of these archdeacons, and
the territorial limits within which they are to act,
may properly be entrusted to the Lord Lieutenant
in Council upon the recommendation of the bishop
of the diocese and Ecclesiastical Commissioners. It
appears advisable that for the future the preferment
shall be unconnected with any particular benefice ;
and we deem it to be well worthy of consideration
whether the appointment of the archdeacons should
not be dependent on the episcopal incumbency of
the see, the new bishop to reappoint the archdeacon
whom he finds in office, or to appoint another, as
he may think fit. There is in Ireland one exempt
jurisdiction, that of Newry and Mourne, which owes
its origin to a monastery established at a very
ancient date at Newry, and of which the abbot was
what is termed a mitred abbot, entitled to a seat in
Parliament. The jurisdiction extends over the
parishes of Newry and Kilkeel, with the chapelries
of Kilcoo, Killegar, and Tamlaght, an area of about
100,000 acres, with a Church population of about
7,000. The jurisdiction is exercised by the Earl of
Kilmorey or his trustees, though a vicar-general,

From whom the appeal lies direct to the Queen in

Chancery, and not to any metropolitan jurisdiction.
An exempt jurisdiction of this character within
the Church is an anomaly not attended by any
compensating advantage. We recommend that the
parish of Newry should be placed under the episco-
pal jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Armagh,
and the other parishes under that of the Bishop
of Down. One chantry chaplaincy exists, that of
St. Mary, in the parish of St. Nicholas-within-the-
Walls, Dublin. The chaplain has no duties what-
ever to perform ; and we recommend that the lands
shall be vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.
The original parochial divisions in Ireland were
very numerous. For ecclesiastical purposes they
have been much modified in form and reduced in
number. But for the purposes of geographical
distinction they still exist. These original divi-
sions have been termed by the Census Commis-
sioners civil parishes ; their number, according to
the Ordnance Survey, is 2,428. The number of
benefices at present existing (including in that
term perpetual curacies), and confining it to cases
where the benefice is held by an actual incumbent,
is, 1,518, of which all except 27 chapelries and 7
sinecure rectories have attached to them parishes or
districts. There are many of these ecclesiastical
parishes and districts, each of which comprises
several civil parishes, or portions of several
civil parishes groused together. The distinction
between the ecclesiastical parish or district
and the civil parish is often overlooked, and
thus the civil parish has erroneously been sup-
posed always to represent a benefice. The dis-
tinction is, however, important to be kept in
mind, as the results of the religious ensue
of 1861 have, in the published returns :of
the commissioners, been stated according to the
civil parishes. Of the ecclesiastical parishes a large
proportion retain their original form and bounda-
ries ; and having been fixed at a remote period,
with a view to considerations no longer applicable,
are in many instances unsuitable. There can be
little doubt that a real adjustment of parochial ar-
rangements and endowments, based upon a consi-
deration of the circumstances proper to be taken
into account, such as area, Church population, and
Church accommodation, is most desirable. Some
statistable powers enabling improvements of this
character to be made at present exist. Bishops can
unite such benefices as are in their own patronage,
under certain circumstances ; but they have no
power of dividing parishes. Permanent unions and
divisions of parishes can be made by the Lord
Lieutenant in Council. The patron may object to
the proposed plan ; but his objection is subject to
be overruled by the Council. The Privy Council
being, however, in respect of this matter, a judicial
tribunal, lather than an administrative board, the
result is that the ini',,iation and expense of all pro-
ceedings in relation thereto arc thrown upon the
bishop. think it advisable that this duty should
be linfx)ced upon the Board of Ecclesiastical Com-
nalssviners. A power of suspending the appointment
to loenefices in Royal or ecclesiastical patronage,
in which by the certificate of the ordinary it
should appear that for three years next preceding
the let February, 1833, Divine service had not
been celebrated, was given to the Ecclesiastical
Ccganlissioners, and about 57 benefices have been