JUL Y 269 



all these various opinions, when put in practice, do not, so far as 

 my observation has gone and recently we have had object-lessons 

 in these counties enhance the position or cement the unity of the 

 Church indeed, they furnish arguments to its critics and oppor- 

 tunity to its rivals. Imagine, for instance, the comments of the 

 College of Cardinals upon reading a report of the police court pro- 

 ceedings against Mr. Kensit ! But while our present system pre- 

 vails, while clergymen can defy their bishops, or bishops will not 

 control their clergymen, while cures of souls are advertised and 

 bought, while an incumbency is a material freehold as well as a 

 spiritual charge, these questions must continue to arise, and 

 Churchmen must continue to see, as a matter of property and not 

 of fitness, men occupying positions for which they are not suited, 

 with an almost absolute right to hold them until death. Also the 

 spirit of mutiny will spread and deepen. 



In the future, although it may be distant, I believe that all this 

 will be changed ; priests will not be pitchforked into livings by the 

 arbitrary decision of the owners of advowsons, which in practice 

 often means by their own decision, but will be selected by proper 

 authorities, in consultation may be with the representatives of the 

 parishioners, for their qualities and nothing else. Also, perhaps, 

 the revenues of the Church will be paid into a general fund and 

 portioned out according to its local needs, to be supplemented, if 

 needful, by the contributions of the laity. 



I think that I know the other side of the question, as I have 

 myself, for what at the time I considered to be good reasons, pur 

 chased a next presentation, and in due course presented to the 

 living. But my view, right or wrong, is that the whole system is 

 bad, and should be changed. I know the common answer is that 

 if this were done the ' best class of men ' would not enter the Church. 

 Some hold, on the other hand, that they would not be of the 

 best class who were kept out thus but rather, for the most part, 

 men who seek the greatest possible pay in return for the least 

 possible labour, and whose desire it is, by purchase or interest, to 

 lay up for themselves treasure of those snug and easy livings which, 



