ECCLESIASTICAL REVENUES. The following letter from the Earl of Guilford to the Secretary of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, appeared in the Standard: "SIR,-I have to acknowledge the receipt of a letter signed in the quality of Secretary to the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the revenues of the Church. "I have no personal objection to the publication of my private property in the Church (grossly exaggerated by the revolutionary part of the press), but my regard for public liberty is alarmingly invaded by an inquisition into the amount and nature of the property of individuals. If the annexation of service rendered it the property of the crown or the public, although freely bestowed by the original proprietors upon the sole condition of the peculiar service, all freehold possessions would be equally dependent and insecure. But such has not been the constitution of rights in this or any other country. The condition being performed, neither the king nor the great lord has had the power to reclaim or alter the tenure of his grant. I also hold the maxim, that what Parliament has granted, Parliament may reclaim, to be destitute of justice and moral principle. But the property of the Church has not been granted by Parliament-only confirmed and pronounced inviolable by the authority of law. "Fearing, on this account, the weight of precedent and custom in the establishment of a principle, I cannot consent to compromise my rights, except in obedience to authorities legally constituted. Were such a commission to be instituted by Parliament, which I cannot contemplate as a probable event, I must submit my civil liberty to the law of the land. But voluntarily to acknowledge the property of the Church to be public property, and, consequently, at the disposal of the public, whether for the purpose of deprivation or distribution, in principle the same, would be, in my opinion, a dereliction of duty. Assent to that untenable proposition would be implied in my answers to the proposed questions. "I beg to assure the Commissioners that I am not actuated by a spirit of faction and contumacy, or disinclination to disclose my pecuniary concerns, in withholding the information required, but by a regard for public liberty and a sense of duty; being convinced that the property of the Church, once admitted to be public, which I deny upon the authority of ancient statutes, and universal evidence of its endowment, would shortly cease to belong to it.—I have the honour to be, Sir, your very humble servant, "Oct. 30. GUILFORD."* FALSEHOODS AS TO THE CLERGY. People sometimes imagine, that the complaints made as to the falsehoods respecting the clergy are exaggerated, and that they are only to be found in the mouths of No one who has read Lord Guilford's speeches in Parliament can fail to feel great respect both for his powers of argument and his acquirements. It is so much the more to be regretted that a man entitled to so much respect should have taken the view which he has done of the Queries from the Ecclesiastical Commission. Without examining his arguments, it will be sufficient to observe that Lord Guilford allows that he must obey the requisition of a Parliamentary Commission for the same information which he refuses now. Yet the particular arguments which he uses are as valid against the right of Parliament to inquire, as against the right of the Crown, if right means anything but force. Hence it appears that Lord G. is, in fact, rather disputing the propriety of the Crown's inquiring, than able to maintain that the Clergy are in a position which can protect them from any inquiry. Surely such a distinction cannot be worth making. If Parliament wish for the information, Lord G. allows that, whether right or wrong, they can enforce their demand. Besides this, even supposing the full truth of all that he has said, is it not wiser to come forward with alacrity and give information which will certainly confound our enemies, than to stand on a mere abstract right of refusing information, when it is quite certain that the same vile spirit of obloquy which has already endeavoured to blacken the Clergy in every way, will find a very plausible ground for strengthening all its statements in this refusal of information. If unjust changes are proposed in consequence of information given, let them be resisted to the death, but even where there is no right to demand information, it is very often well to afford it, and to afford it without reluctance.-ED. BRIT. MAG. ignorant people. But the fact is, that they are propagated on a system, and that no arguments offered to the propagators will affect them. Indeed, one of the characteristics of the day is a perfect carelessness as to the real validity of an argument if it will tell. The value of falsehood is well known and acted upon. Argue with a man about tithes, and he has not, of course, a word to say to the plain fact, that the tithes now paid by a Dissenting farmer will be paid either by his successor, who may be a Churchman, or to his landlord, if a commutation took place, and the Church got land for tithes. Still, though he has not a word to say to you, he will go down to the Political Union or the hustings, and declaim about the hardship of a Dissenter supporting the Church, and paying money to it out of his pocket. Tell him what it has appeared in parliament that such a Bishop's income is, and he is silent to you, but he knows his object, and to the meeting he will go down and deliberately multiply that income by ten or twenty. To shew that such things are constantly done, it will be found in the Monthly Magazine for August, that the Bishop of London has one hundred thousand a year, and the Bishops altogether five millions. Of course the writer of the article knew that he was writing a falsehood, and any one who has by chance (it can now only be by chance) seen the Monthly Magazine, cannot be surprised at finding this in a work which now supports the lowest radicalism in the lowest and most vulgar way, denouncing king, priest, noble, gentle, and, in short, every one of education and property in the kingdom, and recommending that they should be dispossessed by the most summary means possible. Still, odious and imbecile as the work is, this writer hopes to do mischief by these statements, and thinks there is some chance of it. Again (from the Kentish Herald of November 6) it appears that a certain Mr. Morgan, at Carmarthen, informed a great meeting of Dissenters, that while they had 100,000 places of worship, and the Church had only 11 or 12,000, it had between 20 and 30,000 Clergy, two hundred millions worth of property, besides tens of thousands voted to Professors in Universities,* &c. &c. * The fact is, that the nation gets from the University of Cambridge above three thousand pounds a year for stamps on degrees, &c., and gives four or five hundred to Professors. The Oxford account is doubtless the same. The Universities will gladly give up what they get, if the nation will give up what it takes from them. Oxford Magdalen Hall Oxford The Bishop of Worcester proposes to hold a general Ordination, in the Cathedral Church of Worcester, on Friday, the 21st of December next, (being St. Thomas's Day.) The Candidates for Orders are desired to send their papers by the post, under cover, not exceeding one ounce in weight, addressed to the Bishop, at Hartlebury Castle, near Stourport, on or before the 1st of December. The examinations will take place at the Palace, in Worcester, on the mornings of the 19th and 20th of December, at the hour of eleven. The Lord Bishop of Gloucester will hold a general Ordination, in the Cathedral Church of Gloucester, on Sunday, the 23rd of December next. All Candidates for Ordination are requested to send the necessary papers by post, to the Bishop at the Palace, on or before the 6th day of December, in packets weighing less than one ounce each. The examination will commence on Thursday, the 20th of December, at eleven o'clock. Adlington, J. Bartlett, T. Browne, Augustus............. CLERICAL APPOINTMENTS. Chaplain to Worcester Infirmary. One of the Six Preachers at Cath. Church of Canterbury. Head Mastership of Kirkby Lonsdale Free Grammar School. { Ellicombe, H. T., A.M...... C. of Bitton, has been appointed a Surrogate for granting Marriage Licenses within the Diocese of Gloucester. Domestic Chaplain to Lord Panmure. Hood, Samuel. Molesworth, J. E. N.......... Russell, Frederick......... Turner, W. ................ Name. Bassett, Richard...... Fulford, Francis...... One of the Six Preachers at Cath. Church of Canterbury. C. of Romsey, a Surrogate for granting Marriage Licenses. Prebendary of Chichester. PREFERMENTS. Jenkins, E. Charles ... Karslake, W. H...... Wold Newton, R. Powley, William...... Star Cross, D. C. Redhead, J. Roberts Thurnby-cum-Stough ton, with Leicester V. Stammers, Robert...Quorndon and Wood house, P.C. Stubbin, Newman, J. Offton-cum-Bricet, V. Tatham, Arthur.... {Bosck, ock and Broad Patron. J. D. Llewellyn, Esq. St. David's Chapter of St. David's Lancaster Chester Lincoln Lincoln { Rev. R. Gwatkin, as J. G. Sparrow, Esq. Bishop of Exeter R. Tonkin, Uriah Uny Lelant, V. Warner, Richard Warren, William ... Chelwood, R. Ratby and Breedon, V. Leicester Lincoln Earl of Stamford Abergavenny St. Peter's Chapel, Powell, Thomas...... Peterstone Court Quicke, William H. Chelwood, R., and { Corston, V. Shewell, H. P. H.... Ryde Skynner, J............. Nuneaton Winnock, George } {Chaplain to the Forces,} The Right Rev. Dr. Burke, Protestant Bishop of Waterford, died at his residence in that city, on Thursday 22nd inst. He was brother and heir of the Earl of Mayo. His Lordship, until within a few hours of his death, was in the enjoyment of excellent health. On Sunday, 11th inst., died, aged 70, the Right Hon. Baron Tenterden, M. A., and formerly a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He took his Degree of M. A. March 5th, 1788. Tuesday, November 6th. AT the Court of St. James's, the 6th day of November, 1832,-present, the King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council. It is this day ordered by his Majesty in Council, that his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury do prepare a Form of Thanksgiving to ALMIGHTY GOD, for the late abundant harvest: and it is hereby further ordered that his Majesty's Printer do forthwith print a competent number of the said thanksgiving, that the said may be forthwith sent round and read in all the cathedral, collegiate, and parochial churches and chapels throughout those parts of the United Kingdom called England and Ireland.* C. C. GREVILLE. SCOTLAND. UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW.-On Thursday, November 15th, Henry Cockburn, Esq., his Majesty's Solicitor-General for Scotland, was unanimously re-elected Lord Rector for the ensuing year. The Lord Rector of this University is not appointed by the Senatus Academicus, but by the whole body of Matriculated Students. UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH.-The Chair of Natural Philosophy, vacated by the death of Sir John Leslie, is in the gift of the Town Council. Sir John Herschell has been invited to become a candidate for it; but, in a communication made by him to the Lord Provost, while he expresses his deep sense of the honour done him by the invitation, he states, as the ground of his refusal, that the nature of his present pursuits requires his residence for some years in a distant settlement. UNIVERSITY OF ST. ANDREW'S.-The Rev. David Scot, M.D., Minister of Corstorphine, in the Presbytery of Edinburgh, has been appointed Professor of Oriental Languages. UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN.-The Lord Viscount Arbuthnot has been re-elected Lord Rector of King's College for the ensuing year; and R. W. Duff, Esq., James Urqhart, Esq., and Charles Bannerman, Esq., Assessors. The Rev. Dr. Dewar has resigned the Tron Parish of Glasgow, on being appointed Principal of the Mareschal College, Aberdeen. We regret to announce the death of Professor Sir John Leslie, who expired on the afternoon of the 3rd inst., after a very short illness, at his seat of Coats, in Fife. The death of this distinguished philosopher will create a mighty blank in the scientific world. For original genius, profound literature, and inventive powers, perhaps he had not an equal in modern times. EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. In the Episcopal Chapel at Cupar, Fife, an ordination was held by the Right Rev. the Bishop of Ross and Argyle, on Sunday the 25th November, when Mr. Walter Mitchel Goalen, Literate, was admitted into deacon's orders, and has been appointed curate of St. John Evangelist's Chapel, Pettenevum, by the Bishop. It is gratifying to find that the Scotch Episcopal Church has recently received particular marks of attention and respect from the Church and State of England, in that the Archbishop of Canterbury has desired copies of the different forms of prayer, composed by order of his Grace, to be sent to the respective Bishops in Scotland, for distribution among their clergy; and that the packets containing these copies have been kindly transmitted from the Privy Council Office. * The Dissenters who reproach the Clergy with never being able to take advantage of circum. stances from having a fixed Liturgy, are requested to consider what has been done in the course of the last year alone.-ED. |