The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-21 00:00:00

ST. STEPHEN'S WALBROOK.
..,.STATE OF. THE CHURCH.
st4s,,_malcS, iheeflng WasYesferday.beld in the vestry-room of
orßimelN;.Warbi/ook, fOr.the purpose Of ands
con-
sideration the •!,li!iiiihlated state of the" Ciiiirch and other
miter& -yr) I •
Pe"V C
. r. ROLY, D.D., took the chair an&said—thfit
titer nizetingt had tfoenealled•in consequence of the state of the
;chtuteh ttiej, Were •then asseinblecl. net *ere aware that one 91. the _large windows of -that elinkli had re-
centlisfalleti in. ." 'He was -happY to !kW that they were-not
at that niettent "stained' with the blood-of any-of their fellow
Ncitizens—they were happily net at that moment
eil f Upen 2•to - attend • a - coroner's inquest
ssidebliniV: 'for extraMifinary negligence which ‘'aninitltted
alinot to. criminality. -But' such might 'have besu the e
ase-
'Whenihe witidow fell into the street, no one, at the'in;::-./thzit,
was present:" "He might say, that this was most provident isl,
ifteisig: that underneath the window was a spot Where- pa*.
sons frequently congregrated, and the absence of persons in
that part of.the street at the time the iccident'oecurred,.was
to bi:ticeozinted- for- by its having hapkenettliiSt at the
moment when a shower of rain was falling. 'Hid' the Window
fallen an houisheforev that street .might have been strewed.
•With lifelets bodies. ; Such. was the heavy material'of which
the r'itindowsn-as*CompOsed, that had it fallen' ;limn wisest
`persons ivb.d ' in the jstreet, it would have been finsposaihle
-for many ()fa, them to: have escaped without • being,
-if root killed, :at: least, seriously woutaled. This wAs
a, warning, to .them. to prevent such an_ucoident again
Occurring:" tet+tr had lately appeared in one pf the papers,
stating that aSepshad been taken to repair the church. That.
letter purported to-come-from their late—he would not (all
him their Pregentchurchwarderi. He (Dr. Croly) had been
so mach struCkiiith what appeared to he the reality Of that.
'letter; that he iMinddiately made . inquiries, and:thund that
_tire-keys of ths church had not.been given up by the person
who usualliOpt them. • fle: therefore concluded. that the
letter- Which "lie -had- seers was founded on an. extraordi-
-ssay error. The--next day, however, another -state-
ment appeared, and such was the appearance of that
letter also, thit he Was at a loss to know which of the two
was genuine:: The letters were similar hi forin, and bore the
same neme,jand he really was quite at a loss to.knOw which
was the real Simon Pure.—(Laughter.) But, however; he
would'say.no rnore. on that subject. One thing was quite
;clear..that the present state of the church 'could not continue_
Heat; hear.) He thought that the parishes Were anxiolis
;to:cot-tie to any arrangement Which looked like 'a fair settli-
:merit fof She. matters in dispute. The state of the church
he believed was
,such that it was not fit far • the
_congregation to assemble in it.,—(Hear, -hear:), This was
,a personal!question at all, and be thought it. v, Mild be well
for Mr: Alderman Gibbs and his brother churchwardens-,-if
churchwardens they could be called—to lay a statement
-before 'the,parishioneis whieh could be submitted to counsel
Jar...any-body-- else, so as to bring -the- whole matter -thsa fi•nal
settlement.- He thought Mr. Alderman Gibbs in the first
instance, ought, to resign—(Hear, hear)—and leave the
church to them, And he (Dr. Croly) felt that every. negot is-
Alm between Alderman Gibbs and the parish would be coil-
•ducted in a .spirit.on the part ofthe parish -of fairness, justice,
and even of indulgence—that indulgence which ought .t be
• slioirii to a man Who found himselfin difficulties, out;of whish
he could not extricate 'himself—(Hear, hear.) The Alders
sthan could not desire to be churchwarden for ever and ever.
If was the duty of a churchwarden to 'render his accounts
'-every •yeart-ss(Hear, hear.) He (Dr, Croly) did not ask wile-
- ther Alderman Gibbs had done that or not. The vestry were.
able to satisfy themselves on that point. His, next duty was
to attend to the,repairs of the church.,--(flear, hear.) Whe-
ther'Mr.' Alderman Gibbs had done this was a matter into
Width Croly) would not enter, although :he thought.
facts 'pretty strongly on the subject:7(ll6dr, hear.)
Ilie-itext duty of the churchwarden was to take care that
all payments necessary to the support •of the churCh,
and
,othermatters• -connected with the parish, should be
intithrgoed within the year. Whether this had been done in
3Sts,Stephen's Walbrook was a question. The next duty or
the churchwarden was to take care that the parish did siit
get into debt to anybody ; and whether all these dutiss had
been performed hy Aldennan Gibbs he.(Dr. CrOly) left it to the
vestry to decide. But another; duty which a churchwarden
had to perform was that of being present on a Sunday in the
parish church during the solemnisatien of Divine service.
It was his duty to be there as the protector of the congrega-
tion. Hel (Dr. Croly) was 'unwilling to speak of Mr. Alder-
man GUYS' conduct in this respect from obvious Per-.
• Sonia Probably Mr. Alderman Gibbs did, not at-
- 1..t7i-d because the parishioners were not sufficiently sanc-
tified for 'him—(Laughter)—or that he was such a pro-
'foUnd theologian that their form of worship was not deep
enough for lum. During the last two years Mr. Ald. Gibbs
had only, been present once or twice, when he (Dr. Croly)
had written to him to attend on the occasion of a charity
sermon being preached.
ATinismorsEit—To receive the money perhaps.
Dr. Cumv—Certainly. Alderman Gibbs took the money—
(Laughter)—it was the churchwarden's duty to receive
it. Why Alderman Gibbs should remain in an office
.so distasteful to him he (Dr. Croly) could not under-
stand.-(Hear.) It was desirable, however, that this matter,
respecting which they were met, should not be allowed 'to
linger any longer. It was desirable that repairs should be
done to the church. He thought the first step to be taken
towards an amicable arrangement was for Mr. Alderman
Gibbs to resign ; and after that, that the church should.lio
closed for a certain period for the purpose of having a tho-
rough survey, not merely of the windows and tower, but of
the roof, and every other part of the building. He thotight
this ought to be done immediately ; for, next Sunday, it'
there should be the smallest indication of any portion of the
church giving way, the consequences might be most frightthl,
as an immediate rush would be made by all the congTegation
out of the church. This was the suggestion he had to make,
and lie would, therefore, leave the matter in the hands of the
meeting.
The CHAIR3IAN then read the following letter, which he
,had received that morning :
" Sir,—ln consequence of your note, I have attended at the
church, and have inspected the tower. It appears that the
border of the window in the inner side of the tower had been
tilled in with glazed lead lights in lieu of eouvre boarding,
as is the case with the other three windows in the east,
south, and 'west side of this part of the tower. These lead
lights caused an obstruction to the passage of the wind through
the tower in that direction, and from this circumstance, and
also consequence of the decayed condition of the lead
lights, and of the iron work by which they were secured to
the masonry, the wall work of the window was forced out-
wards. • It will he necessary that the window on the northern
side of the tower should be protected, either with a strong
frame or;a couvre board and lead lights properly secured.
It is also necessary that the frame and louvre boarding of the
three other-windows should be repaired forthwith. I also re-
commend that the stone balusters round the other part of the
tower phould be secured, and that any portion of thestone
ornaments which may he found loose should be removed.
Scaffolding should be fixed for the purpose of a proper exit-
. mination of the other parts of the masonry, which I will direct
on receiving instructions to that effecL
" I am, &c. (Sighed) "JOHN GRIFFITHS:
Mr. ROCK said, that Mr. Alderman Gibbs had expressed
• • .tention of not defending the Chancery_suit respecting,
the churchwardenship ; and, therefore, the only question be-
tween the parish and Mr. Alderman Gibbs, was a question of
accounts. If Mr. Gibbs, therefore, would produce an honest
account, such an account as an honest man would pass, the
parish would accept it; nor would they scrutinise them too
minutely, or consider whether the Lord Chancellor would re-
' ceive them or not. Their object was not to punish Mr. Alder-
man GibbS, but to provide against the future.—(Hear.)
' Mr. FLIGHT said that no official information had been re-
ceived by the legal adviser of the vestry from Alderman
Gibbs' legal adviser, that Mr. Alderman Gibbs did not intend
to defend the Chancery suit ; and therefore they must con-
sider that it was proceeding.
Mr. ROCK said they had received the information from a
respectable person. He thought it would be well for the
Rector to make a specific proposition respecting this matter
himself.
The CHAIIIMAN repeated his former suggestion, and added
that their first grand object was to get rid of Mr. Alderman
Gibbs.—(Cheers.)
After some conversation it was proposed that Mr. Gibbs
and Mr. Whittaker should be called on to meet MeSsrs.
RoCk and Flight, to come to some determination en the
question of repairing the church.
Mr. FLIGHT objected to this, and suggested that, as the
validity of the election of the new churchwarden would be
tried in the course of a fortnight in a court Of law, it would
be well to leave the consideration of this subject until after
that time.
Mr. WIIISTLEIt said he believed there was property avail-
' able for the necessary repairs, amounting to 8001. a year, and
that had been stated in 1340 to Mr. Alderman Gibbs, but he
had not thought proper to make any reply, further than hy
sending a specification of repairs, amounting to about `2,000/s
at the end of three years. 'With respect to the motion
under consideration, lie should strongly object to two pawns
chosen by-the parish acting in unison with two other persons
whom the parish did not recognise.
Mr. BIZANDRUM said he would not meet the persons re-
ferred to.
Mr. ROCK said his proposition had been made in Alia
spirit of peace, and not because he wished to appear in
the unwonted position- of the eulogist of Mr. Alderman
Gibbs. It was absolutely necessary that the 'Church should
be repaired, in order that -public worship • might continue
to be celebrated in church, and this was the main
object to be kept in' view.—(Hear, hear.) He thought. it.
quite possible for Mrs Flight and himself to meet Mr. Alder-
man Gibbs and Mr.: Whittaker, to discuss this subject, with-
out entering in the least into any question of right. There
seemed to be some difficulty in the churchwarden of St. Ben-
'net's meeting them, on account of some funds on which that
parish made a claim.
Mr. Braxnnust said his conviction was that that parish
was liable to a third of all the expenses.
After a short conversation, the motion was withdrawn.
- The CHAIRMAN said he thought they ought not to sepa-
rate without coming to some resolution. It was not sale for
the church to continue in its' present state; and he trusted
that -the vestry would relieve him from the responsibility
under' which he felt himself to be placed. They must at
least say whether the church should be closed or not.
" Mr. ROCK observed,. that according to law, the spiritual
court might excommunicate every inhabitant of the parish
if the church was left unrepaired.
, Mr. Wzraaasis then proposed, " That- in consequence of
the obvious dilapidations of the church tower, and the probe-
hie dilapidations of other portions of the church ; it is alms •
lutely necessary to Close. the church of St. Stephen's, Wal-
b„ok,troin this day until further notice."
Mr. HENRY ROCK having seconded the motion, it was car-
ried unariimmisly.
'Mrs-Timms moved, and Mr. Howirr seconded, a motion
for adjourning the vestrysuntil that day three weeks, at
eleven o'clock; which was carried with one dissentient.
A Vote of -thanks was then given to
the Chair Man, after
which tilt vestry dispersed. . ,

- - -
THE ' JIM CROW PARLIAMENT.
•
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sin,--,Coke gives the following4ituues. to differont Par-
liaments,.viz. -
42d Henry 111.—Insanum Parliamentuin. • -
;.• 12th FAward ll.—The Parliament of Whitebands.
sth Edward 111.—Parliamenturn bonum. . ' .
10th Richard ll.—Parliamentum quod fecit mirabllis
• 21st Richard Parliamentum.
6th Henry IV.—Parliamentym indoctuni.
4th Henry Vl.—Parliamentum fustium.
Henry VIII. The Black Parliament.
Tedietuin Parliamentum. • :
:13d4tehh
Perhaps you will allow me to suggest that the present
Parliament, be denominated so as hereafter to be known in
history u . .
THE -JIM CROW PARLIAMENT* 2
It will only be for historians to point to the difrerent divi-
sions or} the Factories Bill and the Sugar Duties :Bill, in oitie
to,exPlainAlle appellation.-1 am, Sir, yours obediently,
Ilfracombe, June 19, 1844. . •

FOREIGN FauiT.—During the last few day, there
in
glis and
has been a very large importation a cherries. froim Fmnee,
which has been the cause of a very plentiful su,,ml.„ iiitii.
Yesler(lay a large supply
markets. They are of quality quite equal to theAL-
ianthdiethlslereeo'af'asEly,
sold at 2s. per
• realize 4d. to 6d. per lb. The present season;, is most redun-
dantattoefegasootsienbderraieosn,
bushel, out of whit% Is. had to be Nold Air carriage, besides
- Olt capon of commis:iou, fkc. r . . .

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