The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-11-20 00:00:00

THE INJUNCTION.

We pereeitesethat -aa . injure:lien lies been ismeaddroin. thee
COMA of "Chancery, at the suit of M. Belton anti Mr. Jevons,
to stay proceedinge respecting _the _euduwuaent of-the clergy
and there can he do- objection to this, we presume. On the con-
trary, it is highly desirable that a business of such great import-
ance should be determined in a court of equity,—confirmed if
it be legal, and pi ohibited if it be illegal. lint in order to:pre-
rent misconception in the public mind'here, the real merits of
the case should be clearly understood, and the equitable claims
of the clergy to an endowment from the corporate estate fully
known.
It is called a nefarious act to pay one particular body. of
christian ministers out of an estate which, as public prepeity,
belongs equally to all. To this it may he replied, in the first
place, that part of the corporate estate was given for this very
purpose. Queen Anue gave the site of the castle, containing
above 6,000 yards, "in order the better to enable the corporation
to provide for the rectors." This site, thus granted for ecclesi-
astical purposes, would now„ probably, be worth £60,(X)0; and
we do not see that theie is anything.nefarious in :applying a
portion of it to the purposes for which it was originallygiven.
But again, it should he considered that the clergy in this parish
have certain equitable, though not legal, claim's on the public
bounty, as &compensation for ancient rights improvidently sur-
rendered
in former times, By the original act, erecting Liver-
pool into a parisb,.tfrn-rectors were to have houses and gardens
near the two parish churches; and if sites for these houses and
gardens had been conveyed, as was intended, and were now in
possession of the rectors; they would not, probably, have con-
tained less than 3,000 'surds, or have been worth less £30,000,
inasmuch as land near the Old Church has sold at £l2, £l5, and
even £2,0 a squate yard.
Again, the rectors,'hy..,the original act, were to have all the
rectorial and vicarial rights of the ancient parish of• Walton,
including mortuaries, which, in such a town as Liverpool, would
amount to a large sum. Mortuaries were fees on the personal
estate of every person dying worth ten marks in moveable goods,
and were fixed by act of .parliament at 3s. 4d, on every personal
estate between ten marks and £3O; 6s. Bd. on every such estate ,1
between £3O and £4O; and 10s. on every such estate above 1:40; i
and these ' mortuaries with the Easter dues and surplice fees, 1
arid the value of the houses and land, would probably have
given each rector an income of £1,500 a-year.
.It is true, no doubt; that all snch rights were surrendered for
an inadequate money payment, and therefore every thing in the'
shape of a legal claim is extinguished; but an equitable claim,
, to a certain extent, has always been admitted, and still surely
remains. There will, however, be another fund to which the
clergy will have a claim on equitable grounds, namely, the sale
of the advowsons.
An advowson, it must be understood, is the perpetual right of
presentation to an ecclesiastical benefice in fee, differing from
the next presentation, which is only on tei in; and advowsons
are calculated to sell, with immediate possessibn, at about four-
teen years' purchase, with a return of b per cent., deducting a
certain rate, according to the tables, for the lives in possession.
Thus an advowson worth £1,440 a-year was calculated, for im-
mediate possession, at. About .L 21,000: subject to a lite of fifty-
four years, it solcrfor £lO,OOO. By this ratio the advowsons in
Liverpool, if endowed, will sell for above 446,00 Q: but supposethey are only calculated at £40,000, they will produce £1,600
a-rear;- and if to this £1,600 a-year is added the 600 a-year
arising from the seat rents at St. George's, it will be perceived
Unit there will be an annual income of £2,200 a-year arising
from ecclesiastical sources, and applicable, in common justice, to
ecclesiastical purposes; and if, vi we are informed, the endow-
ments will not exceed £3,600 a-year, it will follow that the ac- .
teal burden on the corporate estate will not. exceed £1,400 an-
nually, of which, as we before observed, £720 will go to the
Working curates, and £4OO to the legal endowment of the rec-
Oil. Surely, then, all things considered, there is more excite-
ment on this subject than it deserves, and the Corporation can
hardly he accused of injustice in preserving their consistency
by confirming those payments which they have always hi-
therto made, and in relieving the parishioners from a church-
rate which they have hitherto voluntarily paid, and part of
which, if the rectors are not endowed, they must .continue to
pay., The only new burden which the corporation lays on the cor-
porpte estate is designed to relieve dissenters from the vexation
of'a church-rate; and that burden does not nearly equal in
amount the income which will arise from the sale of church liv-
ings. We again, therefore, •express a hope that this question
will he dispassionately consideredeand amicably settled.—Lioer-
pool. Ceeriei. _
. To the clear and unanswerable statement of our respectable
contemporary we have, to add, that there never was a case in
which so much malignant misrepresentation , or such, an _unac-
countable. misconception es that relating to the endowment of
the clergy. The members of the corporation arc held up as
knaves and swindlers for attempting to do that which they
ought to have done years ago—which the succeeding council
cannot do were it ever so much inclined, and which moreover

.;....but this appears to be quite forgotten—had THE EXPRESS 'AND
FORMAL SANCTION OF HIS MAJESTY'S MINISTERS during the
last session of parliament. Lord John Russell pledged himself
both_ in writing and publicly in the House of Commons to sup-
port a bill for saddling the corporate estate with £4oooa-year as'
an • endowment for the clergy: lf, then, the present corpora-
tion be a body of swindlers for attempting to saddle their stic-
Lessors with a charge of 1::3,600 new, Lord John is a greater
swindler for pledging, himself to suppbrt a bill for saddling it
with .£4,000 a-year ihen. The corporation now pay £2,610
ye ar to the-clergy,.and must continue to do so during the lives
of the present incumbents;—aud can they be called swindlers
because they are willing to secure thine of their churches, in
which the pews are ail private property, from bits shut up,
and to relieve the parish from the annual it itation of a church-
rate, they endeavour to secure the -present stipends with only
the:additienjl £lOOO a-year, when it is evident that the sale of
advowsons will more than cover this additional expense. Hour
contemporary,- the Currier, be correct in his statements, the
whole charge will only be £7.6(X) a-year, of which .£22C.0 will
proceed from ecclesiastical sources,' leaving therefore only
£l4OO as apermanent charge; and of this, .E-10') is only a trans-
fer from the parish rate to the corporate funds. Where, then,
we should, like. to know does the charge of swindling rest ?-041
thoie who would endow, or on those who would rot) the clergy
of the eitahlished'churA ?