The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY MORNING, JUNE 8, 1844.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
The following speech by Dr. Bryce, in one of the
important cases that came before the late General
Assembly, under the provisions of Lord Aberdeen's
Act, may be found to deserve attention. It calls in
question the soundness of the decision as measured by
the statute; and if the arguments employed in sup-
port of his view of the law are sound, very great and
grievous errors may yet be found to have been fallen
into by the Assembly, &c. :
" I rise, (said Dr. Bryce) not certainly to second the
motion now made, but to submit to the House a very differ-
ent and a very opposite one—calling upon you to sustain
the .ppeal now before you, and to remit to the Presbytery
of Cairston to proceed in the settlement of the pre-
sentee to Filth and Stennes, according to the rules
of the Church. In supporting this motion, I do not
require to say anything as to the acceptableness of
the presentee to the parish to which he has been
nominated : it is with his suitableness for that
pariah that we are alone concerned. To this •the
Act of Lord Aberdeen confines us ; and we have just,
therefor. , to look first at the objections offered to the
presentee as not suitable, and next to the proof afforded
of these objections. Of the seven objections first brought
forward only two are in point of -tact adhered to ; and
these are—that the presentee was not suitable for the
parish of Stennes, and that his discourses were dry and
unimpressive and not calculated to edify. It is very true,
that in their deliverance the Presbytery find,
that in regard to doctrine the discourses preached
before them were not altogether what they ought
to have been ; but with this we have nothing to
do, as the case comes up to us. If they contained
heresy or unsound doctrine, there was another mode
and time for dealing with them ; and although the
House shonld agree to the motion which I have sub-
mitted, it does not follow that a presentee over
whose orthodoxy there may hang very strong doubts,
must necessarily be settled. But we are now acting
within the statute, and we are precluded by its ex-
press provisions from entertaining such an objection as
involves a charge of heresy, even had such an objection
been brought forward, which it was not. We are shut
up to the consideration of the objections offered; and the
Presbytery, in judging of these objections, had no right
to travel into the soundness or unsoundness of the pre-
sentee's sermons. The first 'question then eomes to
be, how are we to deal with the general objection, that
the objectors cannot be edified by the presentee ? A
Reverend Doctor on your left hand, Dr. Muir, admitted,
when at the bar in the Tolbooth case, that such an ob-
jection, unaccompanied by reasons, would be incom-
petent under the statute ; but according to him, such an
objection is to be received, when reasons are given ;
and the Presbytery may then give judgment in
the case, as the circumstances may to them
appear to demand. I have always held Sir,
that an objection against a presentee—' he cannot
edify us'—or as it is often put passively, We cannot
be edified by him,' is utterly and fundamentally incom-
petent under the statute, just because it is, in the first
place, not personal to the presentee as required by the
Act ; and, in the next place, not capable of any judi-
cially established proof as also required by the statute.
But I have admitted all along, that the reason why a
presentee cannot edify may be relevant and competent.
If, for example, it is stated that the parishioners under-
stand nothing but Gaelic, and the presentee nothing
but English ;—or, if it is urged, that his voice is so
weak that he cannot be heard beyond one-tenth
of the congregation—there are not only valid
reasons, but are in fact the objections to be judicially
considered. That he cannot edify, is an inference
which the Church Courts are to draw, and which they
must draw, if the objections are substantiated:. It is
plain, therefore, that the reason itself spoken of by the
Rev. Doctor as making good the objection, must itself be
the subject of probation under the new Act. Let us
apply this rule on principle to the objection or reason,
that the presentee's discourses are, in the opinion of the
objectors, dry and cold. According to the Rev. Doctor
at your left hand, the objection he cannot edify,' is
made competent by the reason, because his discourses
are dry and cold ; and this I can have no hesitation in
admitting, if you can show to me, how the reason itself can
go to proof—for to proof it must go under the statute.
The objection he cannot edify is not proved as the Act
requires by the mere statement, because his discourses
are cold and dry : nor can the power given to the
Church Courts, to regard ' the circumstances of the
parish' entitle them to dispense with his probation.
.No doubt the discourses of the presentee, in this case,
were dry and cold in, the estimation of the people of.
Stennes : no doubt, in the opinion of the Presbytery
of Cairston and Synod of Orkney, they were of this
description. They may be so in the opinion of
this House, although I cannot for one, who had read
those discourses, lay my hand on my heart, and declare
that I could not be edified by them ; but the Act re-
quires that all objections or reasons offered against a
presentee shall be judicially proved, and I must main-
tain that the Act excludes such an objection or reason
as that his discourses are dry and cold, just be-
cause it is impossible to establish it under any judi-
cin process, which does not assume the mat-
ter as proved, which requires to be substantiated.
But let the House further remember, that in this case—
and a fortiori where an ordained minister is concerned—
the presentee has already received the imprimatur of the
Church ; thus he is qualified to preach the Gospel
wherever Providence may order his lot. The lot, in
this instance, is cast in the parishes of Frith
and Stennes ; and the people of these parishes
step forward, and deny in effect that the presentee pos-
sesses the character and the qualifications whith the,
Church has already affixed on him; and the possession
of which character and qualifications aloise entitled her
patron to select and nominate him to the cure! The
Presbytery of Cairston affirm the finding of the
people ; and this House is now called upon to
declare that, because the people and Presbytery
have chosen to strip this gentleman of the character and
statue, which as a probationer of your Church he had re-
ceived, he is not a suitable person to be the
minister of Stennes. I would ask of the House
if this is not to overthrow the whole fabric
of our ecclesiastical constitution, as it has hitherto
existed? If such are the powers bestowed under the
new Act, then, indeed, it has introduced a mighty
revolution into thR Church. Hitherto no man,
although only a humble probationer, could be strip
ped of his ecclesiastical character and status, except
under libel and regularly conducted process. Hitherto
no minister in orders could, on receiving a presentation,
be subjected to new trials to ascertain whether he is qua-
lified to edify the parish to which he may be nominated—
whether, • forsooth, his sermons are dry or cold, or not!
Let the motion of my Learned Friend be adopted, and
all this •is utterly changed and subverted. For the
House will obseree, that in the objection now under dis-
cussion—and the same remark applies with still greater
force to the case of the Portmoak settlement--there is no-
thing offered that bears specially upon the circumstances
of the parish presented to. It is not an ob-
jection that the presentee cannot speak the
language of the parishioners ; or cannot be
heard by them from the weakness of his voice ;
but it goes, if at all to be admitted, to his unsuit-
ableness for any and every parish in Scotland ; and
unless the Assembly is prepared to permit the people,
in every instance, where any of them may please
to wine forward to sit in judgment on the
status and qualifications of probationers, and
ordained ministers ; and on their objections that
they cannot edify the parish where Providence has or-
dered their lot, to institute a new and fresh examination
into their qualification, the House must sustain the pre
sent appeal."

MARKET NEWS.-YESTERDAY.
CORN-EXCHANGE.
The supply of English Wheat on offer was but limited, yet
the demand for most descriptions of that article was in a very
sluggish state, at Monday's quotations. Foreign Wheat,
both for and in bond, met a slow inquiry, at barely late rates.
Superfine Malt was in active demand, but other qualities were
heavy. In consequence of the fine growing showers, spring
Corn of all kinds was dull ; yet we can notice no alteration in
value. Flour was a dull sale, at late rates.
ARRIVALS.
Wheat. Barley. Oats. Flour
English
Irish.. — 10,030
Foreign. 3,760 2,890 ---
Malt, 3,750 qrs.

SMITHFIELD.
The principal feature in the market was the exhibition for
sale of 30 beasts from Germany, in by far better condition
than those which have hitherto reached us from that quarter.
The supply of home-fed beasts was only moderate, yet the
demand for them was extremely dull, at barely Monday's
quotations. In Sheep, the numbers of which were tolerably
good, next to nothing was doing, at late rates. From the
Isle of Wight, 260 Lambs came to hand per railway. The
trade was very dull at, in some instances, a decline of 2d. per
81bs. Calves met a dull sale, and were considered 2d per 81bs
lower Pigs were a mere drug, but not cheaper. Mulch Cows
sold slowly, at from 161 to 191 each.
Per Sibs. to sink the offaL
s. d. to s. d. s. d. to 6. d.
Inferior Beasts 2 4 2 6 Second qualitydltte... 3 2 3 4
Second quality ditto 2 8 210 Coarse-woolled ditto.. 3 6 3 g
Prime large Oxen 3 0 3 6 Southdown blethers 310 4 0
Prime Scots, &c.
large coarse Calves 3 4 4 0 Large Hogs 3 0 3 6
Prime small ditto 4 2 4 4 Small Porkers 3 S 4 2
Suckling Calves, each 17 0 28 I Quarter old Pigs, each 16 0 20 0
Inferior Sheep
SUPPLY AT MARKET.
Beasts. I Sheep. Calves. I Pigs.
715 12,E00 I 162 361
- - -

IVEV7G.&TE AND LEADZNZiALX::
There were but moderate supplies of each kind of meat on
sale, yet the demand was in a very sluggish state, at barely
stationary prices.

At per stone, by the Carcase.
s. d. toe. s, d. toe. J.
Beef, inferior...—. ..... 2 2 4 &Litton, inferior 2 4 2, 6
middling 2 6 2 8 ---- middling 2 8 3 0
-- prnae large ...... 210 3 0 - prime 3 2 310
prime small 3 2 3 4 Pork, large 2 6 3 6
Veal 34 44 small---- 3B 42
Lamb, 4s 4d to 5s 2d.
BOROUGH HOP MARKET.
The accounts from the plantations are by no means satis •
factory as regards the appearance of the young bine, owing
to which the demand for all kinds of Hops is firm, at fullylast
week's quotations. Sussex pockets 6/ 8s to 61 14s; Weald
of Kent do 6/ 12s to 71; Mid Kent do 71 to 101; Do bags
71 to 8110 s; East Kent pockets 7/ to 9/; Choice do 101
to 12/.

COLONIAL.
Suomr.—The market for British Plantation has been rather
lower; but the sales last night are about 1,000 hdds, includ-
ing 105 hdds 15 trcs new Barbadoes, which realised 65s to
66s 6d for fine yellow ; Refined Standard Lumps have been
steady at 77s 6d to 78s per cwt.
MAURITIUS AND BENGAL.-11,300 bags of the former
nearly all sold but is to is 6d lower than at the last auctions;
brown 54s to 575; yellow 58s to 66s 6d; of 9,127 bags of the
latter, rather more than half found buyers at 6d to is decline,
yellow 59s to 68s, and brown 53s to 57s per ewt ; 800 bags
Madras brought 53s to 55s 6d for mid good damp yellow.
FOREIGN.-1,390 boxes yellow. Havannah were put up, but
taken in.

COFFEE.—The new samples of Jamaica have realised
about previous rates, a fair proportion being sold ; 166 casks
44 barrels, sold at 60s to 74s Gd for low to tine ord, and 84s
to 1198 6(1 for mid to fine mid. In Mocha the auctions have
been 1,115 bales, which was nearly all bought in at fuller
rates, pArt selling at 718 to 748 for green clean garbled and