The Sun.
London, England, 1827-11-24 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN

SlR,—The communication of your Exeter
Correspondent (in your valuable and widely cir•
culated Journal of the 21st instant) having excit•
ed very considerable interest, and the views taken
on the subject being in unison with mine,
enclose what I had written, previously to reading
the article in questiOn, which, if you think it de-
serving of insertion, will oblige, your's, &c.
Croydon. PUBLICOLA.

" It is a matter of general notoriety, that the Dean and
Chapter, and the Members of the Choir were, for upwards
of fourteen years, in dispute on the manner in which the
services were remunerated, and that on a discussion in
1823, it was contended, that the Members of St. Pe-
ter's Choir had experienced a harshness of treatment
and neglect, for which titers was not a parallel in the
kingdom.'

" Without entering into the question between the public•
and the Church of Westminster, on what appears at least ob-
jectionable, the price of admission: it must be allowed, that
the Choir's remuneration should not depend upon the
amount received by the showing of the tombs, because by
the Letters Patent of the 2d Elizabeth, 21st May, 1560,
under which the Dean and Chapter found their own right
and claim, they also guarantee such privileges and benefits
to such other persons as from thenceforth shall have be-
nefice, office, or dignity in the said Collegiate Church.
.‘ It is understood that the Dean and Chapter insist,
that because certain Members of the Choir have on former
occasions assented to accept of less than what they were
entitled to, that the present Members of the Choir ought
to accede thereto, and thereby bind succession.

" It will be found from a view of the set out in 1560,
1603, 1638, and of benefactions accrued to the Members
of the Choir in 1612, 1630, and 1662, that they pos-
sessed certain rights, profits, and privileges, to which they
have now ajust claim, and that the present possessors ars
not bound to abide by the commutations
.entered into by
their predecessors.
" In consequence of a return called for by Parliament,
of the amount of fees received for showing the tombs, and
which was complied with, accompanied by a protest against
the power of Parliament, if objected to by the Dean and
Chapter, to call for it, and it being generally supposed the
subject would become a matter of legislative inquiry and in-
terference, the fees of admission were reduced, and a tem-
porary arrangement made with the Choir to receive an
annual sum, without any participation of the tomb-money.
" Without at this time entering into the amount of an-
nual remuneration then agreed upon, it is curious to ob-
serve the retaliating and generous feeling which actuates
those who consider themselves possessed of the power to
remove the Members of the Choir at their will and plea-
lure. The Dean and Chapter, on such presumptive right,
have laid down a code of regulations, which, in many re-
spects may, and it is believed are very proper, to secure a
regular attendance, but they have also attached so severe a
Table of Fines, that their infliction, under many circum-
stances, is considered a harshness of treatment for which
there is not a parallel in the kingdom.'
" A reference to tome documents and duplicates of
others, which were, if they are not now, in the possession
of the Dean and Chapter, would remove all doubts as to
the powers of the Dean and Chapter, and show that the
Members of the Choir are not removable at the will and
pleasure of those who exercise so severe and unmerited a
controul over them, and that they possess innate rights from
the very documents on which alone the Dean and Chapter
claim theirs ; and it will then unquestionably be admitted,
on taking a comparative view of the duties performed by
the Dean and Chapter, and by the Minor Canons and
Members of the • Choir, together with the salaries and
emoluments received by each, that the latter are entitled to
all the grace and favour which the former can, con-
sistently with their dignified station, bestow."