298 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



cases, and relied mainly on a deci- 

 sion of Lord Mansfield, in the 

 King V. Blower, 2 Bur. 1043. Mr. 

 Brougham's argument was suc- 

 cinct and masterly ; he took a 

 distinction between the rights of 

 holy orders, and of enjoying the 

 profits attached to them ; and ar- 

 gued, that as a patron had the 

 remedy of quare impedit against 

 the Bishop who refused to induct 

 his clerk, it could never be the in- 

 tention of the legislature to leave 

 a lecturer alone at the mercy of 

 the Bishop, — that the burthen of 

 showing Dr. Povah's unfitness lay 

 with those who denied it ; and 

 that the applicant came before the 

 court with every claim to their fa- 

 vour, both in point of character 

 (which he rejoiced in this oppor- 

 tunity of setting right with the 

 public) and in point of the justice 

 he claimed. 



The court deferred its judgment 

 «n account of the lateness of the 

 hour (5 o'clock). 



On the following day. Lord 

 EUenborough delivered the judg- 

 ment of the court. He had looked 

 minutely through the affidavits on 

 both sides, and since it would be 

 convenient that the decision of so 

 important a case should not be 

 delayed, he should proceed to 

 give the result of the opinion upon 

 this case of all the judges of the 

 court. By the act of uniformity, 

 13 and l* Ch. IL c.4. sect. 19, 

 it was enacted, that no person 

 should be allowed to preach as a 

 lecturer, in any church, &c. unless 

 he be first approved, and thereunto 

 licensed by the Archbishop of the 

 province, or Bishop of the dio- 

 cese, or (in case the see be void) 

 by the guardian of spiritualities, 

 &c. ; and the question was, what 



approval the bishop (to whom In 

 this instance Dr. Povah's applica- 

 tion was made and refused) 

 should bestow, and on what 

 grounds he should be required to 

 license the applicant. It was a 

 condition precedent to the grant- 

 ing of the licence, that the Bishop 

 should first approve. It had been 

 endeavoured in argument to liken 

 this office of lecturer to a benefice, 

 into which the clerk was instituted 

 by the Bishop, and to the cases of 

 perpetual curates and schoolmas- 

 ters, in respect of whom the pro- 

 visions in the acts of parliament 

 widely differed from those in this 

 act of uniformity. Certain dicta 

 of judges had also been quoted by 

 the learned counsel for the present 

 applicant, with not one of which 

 the court were now prepared to 

 diffef. It was the duty of the 

 court to see that others exercised 

 their duty, as far as the means 

 of the court would allow ; and if 

 the Bishop of London had not 

 considered the case of the present 

 applicant, there might have been 

 some grounds for granting the 

 mandamus. It appeared from some 

 of the affidavits before the court, 

 that the Bishop of London had 

 first stated the ground of his re- 

 fusing Dr. Povah's license to be, 

 that he was only in deacon's or- 

 ders ; and it was said, that the 

 applicant had removed that objec- 

 tion by the ordination to priest's 

 orders, of the Bishop of Sodor and 

 Man (how obtained his lordship 

 would not inquire) ; and that then 

 the objection was first stated to 

 him that he had preached against 

 certain doctrines of the church of 

 England. But this was no new 

 ground of objection of which Dr. 

 Povah was not before apprised; 



for 



I 

 I 



