1831.] Affairs in General. 549 



of Oxford, worth 2,000. a-year, had the same sum, and that the parish had 

 been obliged to make a subscription to raise it to 10." 



He concluded by moving for a return of the resident and non-resident 

 clergy. 



(t The Bishop of London did not oppose the motion. On a former evening 

 he had stated that the average income of each clergyman in the English 

 church would, if church property were equally divided, be between 350. and 

 360. a-year. Since he had made that statement he had made a most strict 

 inquiry ; and the result of that inquiry, he was sure, would excite the surprise 

 of the House, though it might not please the noble lord. The result was that, 

 if the livings were equally divided, each clergyman would not have more than 

 185. a-year. In Scotland the average for each minister was 275. ; and even 

 the Protestant clergy in France were nearly as well paid as the English, if the 

 average were taken." 



Well then, why is not this wretched disproportion reformed ? Why shall 

 the livings be left in such a state of inequality ? Why shall it be in the 

 power of any man to make the distribution of the church property in the 

 style which has been charged on the Bishop of Ely ? We have seen the 

 character of that man treated in the public journals in language which 

 demanded instant vindication from him, if he had any defence to make. 

 He is openly named in the House of Lords, yet none of the bishops rise 

 in his defence. The man himself remains silent. Is there no higher 

 authority in the church to rectify matters of this kind? But why will 

 no bishop bring forward a proposal for at least an approach to equaliza- 

 tion in the livings, when the abuse is so openly avowed ? A bishop 

 declares that on the average the English clergy are paid worse than the 

 Scotch or French; and that the Scotch clergy have on the average 

 90 a-year, or about a third more than the English, and that too in 

 a country where provisions and all the means of life are one-half 

 cheaper then in England ; and yet after all those acknowledgments 

 the old evil is left to take its way. 



The old adage of "What's every body's business, is nobody's 

 business/' has been seldom more happily illustrated than in the affair of 

 the Weymouth election. On the first statement of the transaction every 

 one pronounced it abominable, and there certainly arose in the public 

 mind a very strong desire to see the most condign punishment inflicted 

 on every person engaged in the transaction. 



This state of the business lasted for a while, and then came a tissue of 

 letters and declarations from all the parties, who would have it to be the 

 most innocent and common-place affair in the world. Then came the 

 third stage, the backing out. The affair was so innocent that none of 

 the agents chose to have any of their names involved in it ; and now the 

 papers tell us that Lords Grantham and Goderich, Colonel Gordon, and 

 Sir Something Sugden, declare that they knew no more about it, than 

 their grandmothers. All very true perhaps, but still we must say that 

 it is all very strange. 



Perfectly satisfied of course, that the traffic, the correspondence, the 

 purchase, and the borough-dealing were the work of nobody, we must 

 give this nobody who does such ingenious things credit for being a very 

 clever fellow. 



If the radicals ever expunge the constitution from the records of Eng- 

 land, it will be by the help of such documents as the following : 



