The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-02 00:00:00

THE SUN,

ful country, he also receives a retiring pension as a
Cabinet Minister, President of the Board of Control.
But the charge will pass away with this Noble Lord,
and after his death it will no longer be remembered
that such things have been. We need not now allude
to the Six Clerks' Compensation Bill, under which
four gentlemen receive no less than 30,000/. per
annum, with reversions to the surviving members of
their families for seven years after their deaths.
However rank these jobs, there is at least
some time when they will be brought to
a termination. But the Ecclesiastical Courts
have hitherto escaped all notice. The Reformer's
besom has not yet penetrated into their snug recesses,
and there are extravagant salaries and enormous
sinecures still existing that exceed in iniquity any-
thing that prevailed in our legal or equitable tri-
bunals before an attempt was made to cleanse these
Augean stables. Ex uno disce ornnes—from one
example learn the nature and character of some of
these well paid offices.

There is, then, it appears, a situation denominated
the Registrarship of the Canterbury Prerogative
Court, the income of which, derived from
fees and emoluments of various kinds,
amount to the insignificant sum of 12,0001.
sterling per annum. We have not been enabled to
learn much of the duties required of the fortunate
official. They cannot, however, be very arduous or
irksome, as the present registrar (Mr. ROBERT
MooRE) is enabled to hold a plurality of Church pre-
ferments therewith, and to be at the same time a
prebendary of the Cathedral Church of Canterbury !
Rector of Latchington I! Rector of Henton ! !
both in the same diocese of Canterbury—and Regis-
trar of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury ! ! I !
From these various institutions this excellent
gentleman receives no less than 14,9631. per
annum, or 9621. more than the emoluments received
by the Lord Chancellor of England, includ-
ing his salary as Speaker of the House of
Lords, and 463/. per annum more than the aggre-
gate of the salaries received by the First Lord of the
Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Pre-
sident of the Board of Trade, and the Postmaster-
General, and within 371. of the salaries of the three
principal Secretaries of State for the Home Depart-
ment, for Foreign Affairs, and for the Colonies. Or,
to go to another country for an illustration, rather
more than the amount paid by the American Re-
public to its President, Vice-President, Secretary of
State, Secretary at 'War, Secretary of the Navy,
Postmaster-General, Attorney-General, aed Pay-
master-General I 1 I A case so extraordinary
may well excite the public curiosity, and
occasion a desire to know how it waa that this
Reverend Gentleman obtained such exceedingly
comfortable situations ; and whether there is a pros-
pect of any other or others succeeding to similar per-
quisites.
We find, then, that the Archbishop of CANTERBURY
for the time being has the power, whenever vacancies
occur, of nominating one person to the office, and two
others in succession to the reversion. When Arch-
bishop MooRE filled the archiepiscopal see of Canter
bury, two vacancies occurred in the reversions, and,
as it was too good a thing to be sent out of his own
family, he appointed his two sons, Messrs. Joke; and Ro-
BERT MooRE to the vacancies. The elder brother JOHN
came into the enjoyment of the emoluments of the
office by the death of the then holder ; when Dr.
MANNERS SUTTON was Primate of all England, who
nominated his grandson, the present LOrdCANTERBURY,
then a youth of 10 or 12 years of age, to the vacant
reversion. In 1845 JoHN MooRE died, and ROBERT
his brother became Registrar, and Dr. HowLEY
became entitled to present in accordance with former
precedents. That pious and amiable Prelate, how-
ever, with a disinteredness that reflects the highest
credit on hie memory, refused to avail himself of the
privilege. He felt that he could
.not con-
sistently with his high position act in a manner
that would be so derogatory to the interests
of the Establishment. He accordingly made a
communication to the then Premier, and, subse-
quently it appears, to Lord JOHN RUSSELL, to the
effect that he could not, in the conscientious discharge
of his duty, fill up the vacant sinecure. His state-
ment was, however, disregarded, and no step was
taken either for the abolition of the office or the re-
duction of the emoluments to something that might
be considered a reasonable remuneration for the ser-
vices required from the holder. Matters remained
in this state until the death of that amiable prelate,
when Dr. SUMNER, the then Bishop of Chester, was
translated to the vacant see. The new Archbishop
did not, however, consider himself bound to follow the
bright example of his respected predecessor. It
might easily have been stipulated that he should
also forbear to fill up the office until Parliament
should deal with the matter, but no such condition
was made, and his son, a student at the Temple, was
appointed to the reversion, which would eventually
yield him an income higher than any which the
greatest success in his future profession could pos-
sibly bestow.
There is however " many a slip twixt the cup and
lip." The glittering prize, although almost within
the young gentleman's grasp, may yet be beyond at-
tainment, and his most reverend father may have
brought discredit on his own high office, with but
little advantage to the object of his favour. By a for-
tunate accident it was provided by the 9 and 10 Vic.,
c. 98, sec. 9, that any person who should after
the passing of that Act be appointed to the
office of " Judge Registrar, or other officer of any
ecclesiastical court in England, should hold the same
subject to all regulations and alterations that
should be made by authority of Parliament ; nor
should any person by his appointment to any such
office acquire any claim or title to compensation, in
case the same should be thereafter altered or abo-
lished by Act of Parliament."
After the exposure made by Sir BENJAMIN HALL
and the blushing confession of the First Lord of the
Treasury, who with shame acknowledged the lathes
of his Ministry, it is certain that some legislative
enactment will speedily take place on the subject, by
which not only the Registrarship of the Canterbury
Prerogative Court, but all similar situations
throughout the entire kingdom will be placed on a
new foundation. Who, after perusing the above state-
ment, will say that the " careful revision of the salaries
and wages paid in every public department, with a
view to a just and adequate reduction thereof," is not
required, and that it is not sufficient to leave such
questions in the bands of the present Government ?

An oration of extraordinary ability, and replete
with the most perspicuous argument, has recently
been delivered in the House of Assembly, Nova
Scotia, by the Honourable JOSEPH Howe, the Pro-
vincial Secretary. Aware that however brilliant such
a speech may have been, it cannot by possibility in-
fluence the opinions of the population of the mother
country without obtaining some apecial reference
from English journalism, and cognizant of the re-
markable value of the truths embodied in the
harangue alluded to, we are eager at the earliest op-
portunity to direct the attention of the British mul-
titude to those admirable remarks with which
Mr. Hown refuted the statements made not
long since, in the shape of certain Resolu-
tions introduced to the House of Assembly
at rialifax, by the Hon. J. W. JOHNSTON, the leader
Opposition. Our solicitude, in this respect, to
ofob obtain
ilin a hearing for the Hon. Provincial
Secretary is
materially enhanced by the reflection that the argu-
ments advanced by him are illustrative of the system
of Government at present adopted in the direction of
the affairs of our North American
system of government which, o f all op tok es re ss a existing
or obsolete, has been subjected to the most inter-
minable abuse, the most detestable calumny, and
a o
the most rancorous misrepresentations. Know-
ins
that
n mg
thein g
wholeth of that it wasthe againstreeent h.
movement poli
the Canadians was directed, every one will
recognise the importance of a matter intimately
connected with the maintenance of our authority in
that portion of our trans-oceanic dominions. All
these riotous proceedings, which have reflected so
much disgrace upon a large and hitherto estimable
portion of our colonial fellow-subjects, all these burn-
ings of official documents, pillaging of Parliamentary
libraries, and destruction of the abodes of the Legis-
lature, all these miserable insults levelled against the
representative of cur august SOVEREIGN—owe their
origin to the misapprehension of the system of go-
vernment
now in operation throughout the
Canadian part of our North American territories. I