Dec. 28,3 



THE NEWSPAPER 



[1844. 



Repeal of the Window Duties. — On Tuesday evening 

 a meeting of builders and master carpenters of the me- 

 tropolis took place at the Freemasons' Tavern, for the 

 purpose of considering the propriety of petitioning Par- 

 liament for the abolition of the window duties, to pro- 

 mote better ventilation. Mr. Biers, president of the 

 Master Carpenters' Society, was called to the chair ; and 

 among those present were observed Mr. Cubitt, and 

 other well known builders. The Chairman and other 

 gentlemen addressed the meeting: on the subject of the 

 window duties, dwelling particularly on the hardships 

 which they entail on the occupiers of small houses, as 

 the slightest aperture above eight windows entails an ad- 

 ditional tax, and contending that the abolition of those 

 dnties was necessary to secure ventilation. In this view 

 it was stated the whole of the medical men of the me- 

 tropolis concurred, and the evidence of Dr. Reid and 

 other men of eminence before the committee, went to 

 show that, without a better system of ventilation, an in- 

 creased supply of water, and an improved sewerage 

 would be of little avail in the preservation of health in 

 crowded districts. A petition to Parliament praying for 

 a modification of the duties was unanimously adopted. 



Metropolis Improvements. — The Commissioners of 

 Woods and Forests have published their 24th Report, 

 from which the following are extracts : — " In the several 

 lines of improvement authorised by the acts 3 & 4 Vic- 

 toria, we have, since the dates of those acts respectively, 

 completed purchases to the amount of 157,844/. I5f« 1GV/., 

 and have contracted for further purchases to the amount 

 of 191,617/. 15#. 1 Or/. ; and, besides these, the purchases 

 now remaining to be made in order to clear the whole of 

 the ground required for completing the several lines of 

 improvement, it is estimated, will cost the further sum 

 of 54,256/. 5s., or thereabouts, viz. : — 1. In the line from 

 Oxford-street to Holborn we have completed purchases 

 to the amount of 211,684/. 14s. 10c/., and have contracted 

 for further purchases to the amount of 56,96!)/. 3s. 4d., 

 and besides these there remain to be made purchases 

 estimated to cost the sum of 14,571/. 15s., or there- 

 about. 2. In the line from Bow-street to Charlotte-street, 

 Bloornsbury, we have completed purchases to the amount 

 of 70,958/. 18s. 3c/., and have contracted for further pur- 

 chases to the amount of 3009/. 1 1 s. 9c/.; besides these there 

 remain to be made purchases estimated to cost the sum 

 of 17,595/., or thereabouts. 3. In the line from the 

 London Docks to Spitalfields Church we have completed 

 purchases to the amount of 96,742/. 16s. lie/., and have 

 contracted for further purchases to the amount of 

 30,236/. 8s. 7c/., and besides these there remain to be 

 made purchases estimated to cost the sum of 6740/., or 

 thereabout. 4. In the line from Coventry-street to 

 Long-acre we have completed purchases to the amount 

 of 77,078/. 5s. 10c/., and have contracted for further pur- 

 chases to the amount of 89,202/. 12s. 2c/., and besides 

 these there remain to be made purchases estimated to cost 

 the sum of 8097/. 10s., or thereabout. 5. In the line 

 from East Smithfield to Rosemary-lane we have com- 

 pleted purchases to the amount of 1420/., and have con- 

 tracted for further purchases to the amount of 12,200/., 

 and besides these there remain to be made purchases 

 estimated to cost the sum of 7252/., or thereabout. By 

 a statement of receipts and expenditure in respect of 

 moneys applicable to these improvements, it appears that of 

 the sum of 500,000/. mentioned in our 19th report to have 

 been borrowed of the Equitable Assurance Company for the 

 purposes of these improvements, upon the security of cer- 

 tain portions of the land revenue of the Crown in the 

 county of Middlesex, and of moneys arisen from interest 

 on Exchequer-bills and profit on the purchase and sale 

 of those bills, in which part of that loan was temporarily 

 invested, from the sales of old materials, and from rents 

 of property purchased for the purpose of these improve- 

 ments, there remained a balance of 1420/. 6s. 6kd. 

 These funds being, as will be seen by the statement above 

 mentioned, nearly expended, we "are taking measures 

 for obtaining a further loan of 250,000/., which we find 

 it will be necessary to raise for the purpose of making 

 the several remaining purchases requisite for the com- 

 pletion of these improvements. " 



Opening of Lloyd's Rooms.— On Thursday the great 

 commercial establishment known as Lloyd's, took pos- 

 session of their new apartments at the Royal Exchange. 

 The rooms were greatly crowded during the day, by the 

 subscribers and their friends, and the increased accom- 

 modation and convenience were subjects of much satis- 

 faction. 



Walthamstow .— A tradesman called Hobson, who 

 keeps the post-office at this place, has been brought 

 before the magistrates at Bow-street this week, for em- 

 bezzling the postage of a letter to Calcutta, and unlaw- 

 fully detaining newspapers. The magistrates on Tuesday 

 committed him for trial, and refused to take bail. 



Wandsworth.— A decision of some importance to 

 parishes m respect to the disbursements of sacrament 

 money anong the poor has recently taken place. It 

 appears that on the 1st in it. Mr. Prior, a gentleman 

 residing at Wandsworth, placed in the sacrament plate a 

 100/. enclosed in an envelope, as his offering to the poor 

 of the parish. The clergyman, Dr. Pemberton, took 

 possession of the whole amount, and, without consulting 

 the churchwardens, went to London, and laid out the 

 principal portion of the money at a wholesale linen- 

 draper's in clothes for the poor. The churchwardens, 

 who had always been in the habit of receiving half the 

 sacrament money, to be distributed by them, complained 

 to the Bishnp of Winchester respecting Dr. Pembarton's 

 conduct. The bishop's answer was, that he had 

 already decided in a similar case, that one moiety of the 



to the churchwardens, for distribution, and he saw no 

 reason why the custom should have been departed from 

 in this case. At a subsequent meeting of the pa- 

 rishioners, thanks were voted to the churchwardens for 

 their conduct in the matter. 



^robinn'al Ncfos. 



Birmingham. — A burglary of a daring character was 

 committed during the nicht of Tuesday, in the residence 

 of Miss Chambers, of Radway, near Kineton, on the 

 borders of this county and Worcestershire. The robbers, 

 who were three in number, with blackened faces and 

 armed with pistols, having made a forcible entrance into 

 the house, two of them proceeded to Miss Chambers's 

 apartment, whilst the third kept watch at the door 

 leading to the apartments of the servants, who were dis- 

 turbed, and whom he threatened to murder if they made 

 any noise. The same threat was made to Miss Chambers 

 by the two who entered her room ; they then proceeded 

 to rifle the house, and carried off plate and other property 

 to a considerable amount. 



Bradford.— The Rev. Dr. Scoresby, much to the as- 

 tonishment of the public, has resigned the vicarage of 

 this town. The Leeds Mercury states, that Dr. Scores- 

 by had formed a scheme for the division of his extensiva 

 parish, and notice had been given of an application to 

 Parliament next session for a bill to authorise it. The 

 Ecclesiastical Commissioners are said not to approve of 

 Dr. Scoresby'* scheme, and for this reason it is supposed 

 he has resigned the living. 



Croome. — On Friday morning, at an early hour, as 

 five keepers were watching the preserves of the Earl of 

 Coventry, in the parish of Croome, about seven miles 

 from Worcester, they were surrounded by a gang of 

 about 20 poachers, armed with guns and sticks, and car- 

 rving with them a number of snares for taking game. 

 The poachers at once attacked the keepers, who, seeiug 

 the number of their assailants, offered no resistance, but 

 fled, and the gang immediately fired upon them, wound- 

 ing two of them slightly on the head. One man, how- 

 ever, did not succeed in escaping from the poachers, who 

 set upon him and beat him about the head, leaving him 

 senseless on the ground, with his skull fractured. The 

 poor man was conveyed to the Worcester Infirmary, 

 where he has since died. Some of the poachers are 

 known to the police, who are engaged in their pursuit, 

 and one man, named Turvey, is already in custody. 

 They belong to a large gang who have long infested this 

 part of the country, and by whom threatening letters 

 have been sent to several game- preservers in the county. 



Exeter. — The Bishop of Exeter has published a letter 

 to the Dean on the recent memorial from him and the 

 residentiaries of Exeter to the Archbishop of Canterbury. 

 The greater part of this document, which occupies nearly 

 three columns and a half of the Times, refers to the 

 Bishop's personal differences with the memorialists, and 

 especially with Dr. Bull, whom he condemns in terms of 

 great harshness and severity, for having committed what 

 he considers a breach of confidence in making known the 

 proceedings of the recent chapter before the Bishop's 

 pastoral letter was made known. The Bishop denies that 

 the memorialists possess any power whatever in the 

 matter, and at the same time manifests great indignation 

 that they should have given the first impulse to the agita- 

 tion going on throughout the diocese. His lordship says : 



" The manifest inttntion of the memorial was to mate 'the 

 Bishop of Exeter pause in the hope that a conference of Bishops, 

 with the view to such concurrence, might be more generally 

 applied for and ultimately obtained.' I admit the wisdom and 

 fitness of seeking that object, as I proved to the Chapter that I 

 had myself anxiously sought it ; but 1 deny that the course 

 taken by the regideirtiaries was such as it became men in their 

 position to take. What was the original purpose for which 

 Cathedral Chapters were instituted? To be the councils of 

 their Bishops. What is the highest privilege of members of 

 such bodies? To give their counsel honestly, frankly, unre- 

 servedly— under a strong sense of duty, not only to their 

 Bishop, but to the Church, which has intrusted them with this 

 important, though indirect influence on the governmeut of the 

 diocese to which they belong. But then they are, in this regard, 

 only councillors— and one and all ought to remember that they 

 are no more— that they must be content to see the counsel of 

 others followed in preference to their own, if the Bishop, whose 

 high privilege it is to call for their counsel, shall so decide. This 

 ought to be felt by every one among them on every such occa- 

 sion, but, above all, when his own counsel happens to be op- 

 posed to that of the great majority. But in saying this, do I say 

 or think that every councillor is bound to render implicit obe- 

 dience to every measure which his Bishop may decide to take 

 on the advice of such majority, or even by silent acquiescence 

 to seem to share the responsibility of having advised it? Very 

 far from all this ; in due time, he is at perfect liberty to declare 

 himself against it. and, if it be a measure which can be properly 

 opposed, to use all proper means in opposing it. But this due 

 time does not come until the Bishop has acted upon the advice 

 given to him. Until then every member of the Chapter is bound 

 by fidelity to the Bishop, of whose council be is, to abstain 

 from every act and every word which tends to thwart or coun- 

 teract him — which can make his acting, as he may judge best, 

 on the adrice which he has received, more difficult, more inex- 

 pedient, or more obnoxious to popular objection." 



In regard to the object of the memorial praying the 

 Archbishop to consult with all the Bishops of his pro- 

 vince, and to procure their concurrence in some uniform 

 interpretation of the rubrics, the Bishop says that — 



" If acted upon by his Grace the Archbishop and the bishops 

 of his province, it would bring them, I fear, one and all, under 

 the very heavy penalties of the law. Without the special per- 

 mission of the Crown, such a meeting for such a purpose would 

 be not only incompetent to do what the memorialists prayed, 

 but would be absolutely illegal. This you may think to be 

 very hard ; perhaps it is hard. But such is the law of the land, 

 as stated by Archbishop Wake, after very grave inquiry; and 

 the law of the land I, for one, shall al ways obey when it is not 

 contrary to the law of God. Will it be said that the difficulty 

 may be overcome by obtaining the licence of the Crown i Let 

 the memorialists seek to obtain it, and they will probably hear, 

 from higher authority than mine, that such a licence cannot be 

 granted for such a purpose by any power known to the Consti- 



ahould do what the memorialists desire— nay, should obtain the 

 assent of the Crown to what they had done,— they and the me- 

 morialists might perhaps find themselves at last to have been 

 travelling: on a fool's errand, and to have wasted to many 

 sheets of paper or skins of parchment as shall have recorded 

 the result of their deliberations. There is no legal mode in 

 which 'the prelates of the church,' as a body can come to a 

 • concurrence in some uniform interpretation of rubrics and in 

 some uniform rule for the direction of the clergy,' or can 

 'sanction such a measure by their united authority.' We, the 

 Bishops, cannot hold a provincial synod, with power to make 

 ordinances. The convocation only, according to the present 

 law of the Church, is competent to this: the convocation law. 

 fully called by the Archbishop executing the writ of the Crown* 

 Its ordinances must receive the assent of the Crown before they 

 can be even promulged ; and moreover they must be confirmed 

 by the authority of Parliament in every particular in which 

 they may be contrary to the existing law before they can have 

 any force. This then is the course which must be taken, in 

 order to give effect to the prayer of the memorial. In such a 

 course I should not be backward to concur, and if the result of 

 the present excitement be to lead to the actual adoption of any 

 measure by which uniformity can be legally secured, without 

 unnecessarily offending any prejudice, we shall all have reason 

 to rejoice that an inestimable benefit has been obtained. But 

 in the meantime the law is plain and precise ; it points out one 

 mode by which, and by which only, doubtful rubrics are to re- 

 ceive an interpretation; and this is the mode which was re- 

 commended to me by the smaller chapter of October the 19th, 

 when you, Mr. Dean, and two other of the memorialists, gave 

 to me the benefit of your then unanimous counsel— to observt 

 the course prescribed in the preface to the book of Common 

 Praver." 



On the general question his lordship says,— 



" I am not ignorant, and as little am I surprised, that the 

 measure which I have announced has not only been received 

 with much hostility by those who hate the Church, and by 

 those who know not what the Church is, but that it is disap- 

 proved by many whose judgment I respect, whose principles I 

 venerate, whose approbation I should receive as among the 

 most valuable of earthly rewards. I am aware that it is urged 

 by many of these that mine is a rash and dangerous experi- 

 ment, thwarting popular opinion, loudly as it hag been de- 

 clared in so many different parts of England, and triumphant 

 as it has been in almost every conflict. I am aware too that it 

 has been further said, and, thank God, truly said, that the dio- 

 cese of Exeter has long been distinguished by the faithful and 

 warm attachment of the people 1o the Church; and, therefore, 

 that it is peculiarly unwise to orrtbroil a diocese so circum- 

 stanced in adverse discussion about a surplice or a rubric. 

 Now, I meet the objection with a full admission of the 

 facts on which it is founded; and then I avow, not with an. 

 seemly or hasty reliance on ray own judgment (for it hu 

 been formed on much observation, on cool and deep reflec. 

 tion, after communicating with some of the best and ablest 

 men I ever knew j above all, after repeated, and earnest, and 

 humble prayer to Him who is light to the blind and strengtr 

 to the weak),— after all these precautions against a rast 

 decision, I hereby avow, that those very facts, whicb 

 are urged as reasons to restrain me, are among the most pow- 

 erful stimulants of my course, I see a resolute determinatioc 

 in many parts of England to resist all Church authority ; I set 

 schism in its most mischievous form, under the guise of nomi- 

 nal churchmanship, rampant, and, of course, intolerant 

 wherever it is seen. I will not, I dare not, be a tacit or timid 

 spectator of the introduction of this spirit into my own dioceie 

 Yet have there not been indications of the approach of the 

 enemy ? and am I to wait till he has firmly established himself 

 among us ? No. 'By Divine permission ' (oh, how does th« 

 awful phrase humble the poor sioful being of whom it rt 

 spoken !)— ' by Divine permission' I am bishop of this see,-l 

 have 'received the Holy Ghost for the office and work of I 

 Bishop in the Church of God ;' and I will not sink into a men 

 official of ' the Establishment/ So long as I shall be permitted 

 to live on earth, I will strive, with God's blessing, to maintain 

 the Church, as the Church, in the diocese over which I am 

 placed. I have vowed to be ready, and ' I will be ready, God 

 being my helper, with all faithful diligence, to banish ai 

 drive away all erroneous and strange doctrine contrary to 

 God's word.' And I know no more erroneous or strangt 

 doctrine contrary to God's word, none more desteuctive 

 in its tendency (for it involves the danger of all Christian 

 truth) than the denial of the authority of that Chore" 

 which is commissioned by God to be the guide of souis. 

 His lordship then mentions the case of several clergymen wno 

 have told him that they cannot conscientiously accept tne cure 

 of souls without being permitted faithfully to keep their ordu*- 

 tion vows in their full extent of meaning, and asks » owc *" 

 they be effectually protected, if they are left as mere mw «» 

 the scorn and ribaldry of the irreverent, or self-willed, 0T *j™' 

 crowd, which takes its notion of church e°™™ me y rhris . 

 harangues in the vestry-room, and finds its principles ioi^nr 

 tian faith in the columns of a newspaper i The trutj . w, w 

 my present measure has been forced upon me. In deci a 5 

 the case of Helston, or others (and several more were 1 * ' 

 arise), I had to pronounce judicially— to put forth P" nc JP 

 which, if they were true and right at Helston, are true 1 auu & 

 everywhere. To assert them in one place, and pass iik™ 

 as worthless in all others, would be a solemn mocker) , or 

 a dangerous trifling with the Church's law, to which ri( n H 

 administrator of that law could long be content to lenQ n«u 

 In conclusion his lordship declares — o| 



•* The firm resolution, which duty compels roe to ia ^ 

 calling, as I now solemnly call, on every one of those wi 

 sworn that they will ' obey their bishop in a V h! "£ h . har rej 

 and honest,' to keep this oath by obeying him when 1 ne ci « f 

 them to obey the law of the Church in the rubric of tne is ■ 

 Common Prayer. The rubric may be— and in some par _ 

 perhaps, most of us might wish it to be-altcred by corny ^ 

 authority. But, whether in its present or an altered torn , 

 rubric must be the rule of every faithful minister m me v? 

 formance of public worship-not the clamour of tne 

 however excited, or by whomsoever encouraged. 



In a pos 



additional 



alma ahntiM <rn tn +h« /O»r<r«rr,o n «„«j »i « .u • .. tution. If it were granted, which it never will be, and if the 



aims should go to the clergyman, and the other moiety Archbishop and all the Bishops of the province acting under it 



Common Prayer. The rubric may be— and 



perhaps, most of us might wish it to be— a 



authority. But, whether in its present or 



rubric must be the rule of every faithful minister.^ ]{ 



:ited, or by whomsoever encourageu." 



tscript to this letter, the Bishop states, as 



reason for uniformity, that he has heard or 



clergyman in the diocese who lately preached witnu 

 surplice or gown, in his great-coat ; but ^is postscript^ 

 lordship has since withdrawn, the statement made to , W 

 having originated in a mistake which has been explain fr* 

 The Bishop has also addressed a long letter 

 Churchwardens of the united parishes of St. Sidwei 

 and St. James's in answer to their Potion, that 

 would withdraw his pastoral letter. His lordihip 

 this document shows the same uncompromising spi 

 and states that, if the parishioners will inquire^ 

 changes which may be necessary m their several churc 

 in order to bring the services into strict conformity * 

 the rubric, they " will be found so trifling, that I * 

 ture to think you will be almost ashamed to recoi 

 that you have suffered the arrogant dictation of l^n 

 newspapers, or the baseless suggestions of persons ne* 

 home, to terrify you with so mere a bugbear, 

 lordship again asserts his absolute authority over 



diocese, by saying — t sum of 



" There is a text which is only one part of the great 



