Star.
London, England, 1803-06-20 00:00:00

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CLERGY RESIDLECE RILL.

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FARLIAMENTART PIitiCEEDLYGS.

HOUSE OF LORDS, SATURDAY, JUNE IL

irtee Houk met this day for the yurpofe of forwarding the nu-
merous quantity of Bills that lay upon their Lordfitipe
1 he Bells were accordingly forwarded through their rdpcdive
tt
About half-pall five Lord HOIDA IT delivered a Mel.
cage from his May EST v neatly in the following words:
GEORGS IL

■ His Majefty thinks groper to acquaint the Hnufe of Lords
that, for the more effectual defence and fe unity of the United
Kingdom againft the avowed claps of the many, be deems it ne-
cellar, to refort to fuch means as ar- belt calcukitsil for a vigorous
profecution of the War; and, for thi. purple, that a ftrong addi•
tional furctithould be forthwith ra►fed and affemhted. His Mislay
therefore recommends this fubjea to the cnnfideration of the
Houle of Lords, and relies, with perfedt confidence, on the teal
and public fpirit of their Lordlhips, that they will concur in the
adoption of fuch meafurea (hall appear to them molt effeCtual
for thefe ends, and for carrying the fame into execution with the
loft pofilble delay. G. Ft."
_ .

_ .
After a few obfervations on the urgency of the men-
fare fubsnitted to their Lott confideration, the
Melf.ige was ordered to be taken into conficleration on
Monday next.—Adjourned.

Their Lordthips returned the Committee on the
Clergy Refidence Bill, and, in a ditcuttion of Come
contiderAble length, went through the remaining
Claufes. _ _ _

The Billion of DURHAM congratulated the Houk
upon the completion of a mealure fo truly defirable,
and which went fo far (for it did not go to the whole
length) towards attaining an objet of which every
friend of the State, as well as of the Church mad of
Chridianity in this Country, mull be at all times
anxistifly defirout, namely, the permanent refidence
of the parochial Clergy on their refpelive benefices.
His Lortlfhip paid a jud tribute of acknowledgment
and thanks to the Noble Lord on the Woolfack, for
the patience, the i•ttention, the zeal, and the talents
he had difplayed, in the courfe of the fuccefGve dif-
enflions oa this Bill, as well as to the Right Hon.
Gentleman who had with fo much ability, care, at-
tention, and perfeverance, brought it forward in
another Hoare of Parliament, and attended to the
whole of its arduous progrefs there. So loon as this
Bill fhonld pars into a law, he trolled that thofe to
whom it, adrninidration was to he confided would
not be wanting in their vigilance and seal to render
it efficient fora purpofe, than which none could be
more indifpenfably requifite' not only for the main-
tenance
of morality and the Chridian Religion in this
Country, but to check the rapid progrefs of vice, falfe
principles, and infidelity, which have of late years
made fuch rapid (irides amongft us. The refidence
gf the parochial Clergy, and their conflant vigilance
and faithful miniary among their flocks, would, he
was confident, have another good effete, in checking
the moll prominent fourceof folic principles, equally
injurious to Church and State, which he was forty
to obferve bad of late years gained rapid influence
amongtl the uninformed multitude, namely, that feet
of wild enthufialts who went forth through this realm
the Pelf-appointed preachers and teachers of the Got-
rel. Thefe fees were compofed, not of men of fence
or learning, but of ignorant and fanatical tradefinen
and mechanics, who, by the enthunaflical propaga-
tion of their own wild and fanatical doerines, princi•
Dies, and opinions, religions and political, had done
incalculable mifchief to the intereas of the State as
well as of true. Religion. The Rev. Prelate did not
in this allude to thole refpeeable Diffenters whole
learning and piety were acknowledged, and who only
differed for confcience-fake from the doftrines and
discipline of the Church of England. To them he was
not unwilling to allow every privilege of worfhipping
the Dort in the manner they thought bell, and in
the liberal fpirk of the Alf of Toleration ; which
(pink he by no means conceived to extend to the fa-
natical feearies to whom he had previoufly alluded.
After having gone very generally over the various
points of the Bill, he Paid, there was one very prin-
cipal point which it did not fupply, and which he
thought necerary, to give it real effect, namely, the
decent and comfortable provilson of a moll ufeful,
pious, and worthy dale of the Clergy—thole who
had only (mall benefices of zol. or 301. a year, a great
many of whom, he was forty to fay, there were,
amongfi about 12,000 benefices which e.xill in this
Country ; and alto for another very worthy and me-
ritorious clots, namely, the Curates. Another point
was, the duration of this Bill ; which, as a meafttre
of experiment, he thought mud require revilion at
an very diflant period, and fhould not for the prefent
be mated longer than for five years. The Reverend
Prelate concluded by exprefling his zealous &fire to
maintain the interests and rape& of the Church of
England, as the bell fydem of eßab.ithed religion
dust ever exiled in any Country ; and to which he
would. with his dying breath, echo die words of the
Italian Poet-0 Efieperpetwa I"
The Loan Creases:A.oa laid, that though their
Lordffiips had now gone through the lad claufe of
this Bill, yet there were feveral points which, in the
coolie of its dikuffson, had been by common content
Jefe, red to its lad doge. There were, alto. feveral
oilers arifing out of the dircollion of the Bill, which
i.e conceived nec,ffory to its more effeeual operation;
and for the confidtration of thole feveral points, it
would he tiered:try for their Loid:hips to re.Jlve into
a Committee again, upon Monday next, in order to
their final adjuittnent. Whoa that than have been
done, he fhould move that &Oin, with the whole
of its amendments, be printed; mlien it might be re-
vised in that dupe, and a future day4repiplinted for its
em thee confideraticm, and for the adoplen of any
further points, which might be likely to fend it he* as
pedal as porsble. The Learned and Noble Lord des.
recurred, generally, to many of the molt prominent
paints of argument which had oceerred its the eourfe
of the difeutfion, with refped to the non relideoee of
toe clergy, the inadequacy of this Bill for the great
porpoise avowed, the poffeffion of p7uralities. and the
exemption of Clergymen in certain notations from
permanent refidence. With refpee to tbe exemption
Collegiate Mem he raid, it wri'of the meson jut.
,riance to the Wets& of-religion, and of the flare
ut this country. that the Clergy ilsould Maintain:l a
rime eonneeion with its literature and learning; and
with tepee to pluralities. it mull be acknowledged,
that the es.reme fmallnefs of, by much the greater
part of the livings in this country, reader them
as,,,loch would remunerate the mein or the

talents of men of learning, or enable them to main-
tain the common refpelt due to their fituations. No
man lamented more than he did, the impoffibility of
providing for every Clergyman, in a manner befitting
the relpeet due to his chara&er and facred function.
He had heard, with amazement. au argument, in the
courfe of the dircuffion on this Bill. " that if the whole
of the church pmperty in this country were equally
divided, it would afford an adequate and comforta-
ble provifion for all the Clergy in their refpeaive na-
tions." But having long and minutely confidered
this inbjea, he was moil fully convinced, that if fuch
a divifinn were practicable tomorrow, many of their
Lordfhips' upper fervent: would be infinitely better,
and more comfortably provided for, than many of the
moll worthy of thole mole refpeaable men. With re-
fpeel to the neceffity of refidenee, no man was more
difpofed to exalt it than himfelf, whenever it was
reafonable and prafticable ; in very many inftances,
it was neither the one nor the other. There was
nothing he more fincerely deprecated than that fpe-
cies of propenfity which too much prevailed within
and without thofe walls, to throw indifcriminate
cenfures upon the Clergy, for Non-refidence. It could
do no good for the intere ft s of religion,but much harm;
and, after all, it was but fair to look at the mifchief
and its caufes, and to let every man take his jolt (hare
of the blame, without throwing the whole upon the
Clergy. The principal caufe was not to be found
with them, but in that Om which it were fincerely
to be wi(hed had never called in this or in any court-
try, namely, the fyftem of Lay Painamre to ecclefi-
aftical prefentations. It was truly lamentable to fee
the abufes which, in modern days, obtained under
this fyftem. which he was lure could not have been
originally inffituted, but under the &idea injunlion
of a principle that the Lay Patron had a folemn duty
to perform, in recommending none but proper per-
lons, men of pious and moral charaaers, to livings
in their gift, under a heavy refponfibility to their own
confciences, and to a tribunal above all earthly power,
for the fcrupulons difcharge of that duty, which, did
they confcientioufly perform, we fhould never have
heard of Clerical Non-Refidence, or the evils that
refult from it. But lorry he was to know, that not
only the molt fhameful inattention to the morals and
charaaer of the perfon recommended prevailed. in
conferring fuch livings, but that thole livings, under
the &ape of advowfons, were openly brought to
market, like cows or holies ; a thing which never
could have been confonant to the fpint of any eccle-
fiaftical inflitution. If therefore thofe who hold fuch
lay patronage, or thofe who foliated the exertion
of it, would do their duty in a ferupulons regard to
the morals and charaaers of the perfons upon whom
fuch livings were to be conferred, they would do more
towards preventing the evils of Non-Refidence, than
all the Bench of Biffinpe could do together. With
refpea to the time for which this Bill ought to be en-
ad/ed. the difference would be this, that if it was
made permanent, Parliament way, at any future time,
reconfider and improve it; but if only temporary,
Parliament me/ reconfider it, and might be induced
to rejea it ; and then all the evils would revive which
it was calculated to prevent ; and every thing built
upon the faith of this Bill by the Clergy, would be
thrown again into confulion. He therefore thought
the Bill ought to be fent forth now, as perfect as pa-
fible, enaaed permanently. and left for the experience
of its operation to final fuels improvement at a
future day asfhould render it molt effeaual. But this
be begged to imprefs, that if the Legiflature did not
pals the precast .Bill in the prefent Seflion, all the
evils of the aat It of Henry VIII. would be revived with
accumulated virulence.
Lord AUCKLAND laid, the refidence of a Clergy-
man to perform the duties of his (nation amone his
parithioners, in every parifh in England. was his ob-
Isot, and the avowed objea of this Bill ; but when
e looked at the numberlefs exemptions of Refidence
which this Bill gave to Prebends of Colleges, to Of-
ficers of Univerfities, to Chaplains of Peers and Cor-
porate Bodies, to Mailers of Public. Seminaries, to
Pluralifts, and to a van variety of other perfons.
either of their own mere accord, or under a licer.c.:
at the difcretion of the Bifhop, without any refponfi
bility for the etercife of that difcretion, and above
all, without any obligation whatever upon the Cler-
gyman, (fo non-relident, for his own pleafure, choice,
or convenience,) to leave a refident Curate to do cle-
rical duty in his abfence, with an ample provifion
for fetch Curate, the Bill mull be, to all intents and
purpofes, nugatory; and he would much rather not
pals it at all, than pals it in a 'hope which mutt go
direaly to deprive the parifhieners in every parilh
in England. of all effeaual claim upon the refidence
and fpiritual duties of thofe Clergymen for whole
maintenance they are fo heavily taxed. His Lord-
(hip's purpofe was. that in all cafes, when the parifh
Minifter withdrew bimfelf from his duty, as his pari-
Ibioners ought by no means to fairer by fuch privation,
another Clergyman fhould be left to do that duty in
his abfence; and if fuch parifh Clergyman Arnold
omit to appoint a proper clerical fubditute, then it
°resold be mandatory upon the Bifhop to appoint one
in his place, at fuch Glary as be flsould deem ne-
ceffary, to be paid in the fire infiance out of the pro-
fits of the living ; fix it was ludicrous, as well as un-
jolt. that a beneficed Clergyman, deriving, perhaps,
food. or :sod. a year from his living, fhould Went
himfelf from refidence, and not leave in his place a
proper Curate, competent in all ref-peas to fill his
place. There was, be knew, by a former Act, a
power vetted in the DM(MI) to appoint a curate in fuels
cafes, after a certain period of non-relidence, at 751.
a year; but this was inadequate ; and he waited to
have the Bifliop enabled to appoint fuch a full and
ample celery to an able and refpeaable divine as cu-
rate, according to his judgment, as the profits of the
livingcould afford.
The 1.10/DCNIANCI4LOR fully coincided in the prim
*le of the Noble Lord, but thought it better to Peek
its attainment by a different meafure, than by clogg-
ing this Bill with a clank, which would inevitably
injure the lori of the Bill in the other Houle.

Lord AucstawD thought that it was time enough
to confider an alternative when the other Houk
(ball have rejetted the clank..
The quellion war then put and agreed to. The
Houk rerouted, and the Report was received pr
fors■a i—arbd the bill, on the motion of the Loan
,Corattest.s.oa, was ordered to be reontonitted to
Cospnittee of the whole H•wfe oa Monday.
The 'hour for gold* into a Committee, was zed
'for half pc* foor o'clock, and 'hely Lordlbip, were
alto ordered to be Ationcgcd oo the occaGoo.