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3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
NATAL
TE 2.
6
SIR,
CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO
Pietermaritzburg, Natal, Feb. 22, 1866. WITH reference to the letter to your Excellency from the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Natal, under yesterday's date, reporting the non-attendance of the Very Reverend James Green on his Lordship's requiring him to appear and produce his licence, and enclosing a copy of the letter summoning him so to appear, I have the honour to inform your Excellency that the original of that letter was served personally on the Very Reverend James Green in this city, on Tuesday morning, the 20th instant.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
THEOS. SHEPSTONE, jun.
Advocate, &c.
His Excellency J. J. Bisset, Esq., Colonel, Administrator of the Government,
&c.
&c.
&c.
No. 2.
Registrar of the Diocese of Natal
Cory of a DESPATCH from the Acting LieutenaNT GOVERNOR to the Right Hon. EDWARD CARDWELL, M.P.
(No. 26.)
SIR,
Page 1.
Government House, Natal, Feb. 23, 1866. (Received April 13, 1866.) Answered by No. 135, 9th May 1866, pago 7, and
by No. 6 of 12th August 1866, page 10. WITH reference to my Despatch, No. 25, of yesterday's date, enclosing copies of a correspondence between the Lord Bishop of Natal, the Very Reverend the Dean of Pietermaritzburg, and myself, on the subject of the Dean being allowed to continue to ted 22d inst. receive 1001. per annum from the Colonial Treasury as colonial chaplain under the circumstances therein set forth, I have the honour to transmit a further letter and enclosure just received from the Lord Bishop on this subject.
The Right Hon. Edw. Cardwell, M.P.
&c.
nel in No. 2.
SIB,
&c.
&c.
(Signed)
Enclosure in No. 2.
I have, &c.
JOHN J. BISSET, Col.,
Acting Lieut. Governor.
Bishopstowe, February 22, 1866. SINCE forwarding my last letter to your Excellency, on the subject of the Very Reverend Jan 29, 1860. Mr. Green's conduct, I have received the copy of a letter, which has been addressed by him officially to the Chaplain-General of Her Majesty's Forces, of which I have the honour to enclose a copy for your Excellency's consideration in addition to the other subjects of complaint which I have felt it to be my duty to bring against Mr. Green as colonial chaplain.
Your Excellency will perceive that Mr. Green in this letter asserts, in direct defiance of Her Majesty's order, that I have been "deposed from the office of Bishop of Natal" by the Bishop of Cape Town, and charges it as an offence against a brother clergyman, with whom he had no right whatever to interfere in any way, that he had disregarded, as he was bound by his duty to Her Majesty to do, the unlawful acts of the Metropolitan Bishop of Cape Town.
Your Excellency will also perceive that Mr. Green in this letter admits the publication by himself in my cathedral church, on Jan. 7, 1866, of a sentence of excommunication issued against me by the Bishop of Cape Town, as a sequel of his unlawful act of "deposition," and in consequence of my having, in obedience to Her Majesty's Order in Council, refused in any way to recognize the same.
I submit to your Excellency respectfully that these acts, as well as those which I have already communicated to your Excellency, render Mr. Green unfit to hold the office of a colonial chaplain under Her Majesty's authority.
His Excellency,
The Administrator of the Government,
&c.
&c.
&c.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
J. W. NATAL.
Pietermaritzburg, Natal, Jan. 29, 1866.
REVEREND SIR,
It is my painful duty to report to you, as Chaplain-General of Her Majesty's army, a very grievous act of the Rev. William Nisbett, chaplain to the garrison at Fort Napier, l'icteraritzburg. On Sunday, the 14th January, in the cathedral church of which I am Denn, without my knowledge Mr. Nisbett said the even'ng prayer of the Church at the request of Dr. Colenso, along with him, and with a congregation schismatically gathered by him, notwithstanding that he (Dr. Colenso) was deposed from the office of Bishop of Natal by a sentence of the Metropolitan of South Africa, dated 16th of December 1863, and published in this cathedral on Rogation Sunday, the 1st of May 1864, and has since been excommunicated by a sentence of the Metropolitan, bearing date 16th December 1865, and published by me in this cathedral during divine service on the first Sunday after Epiphany, the 7th January 1866. I may add that the hours for divine service on the part of the Church in the
OLONIAL BISHOPRICS.
cathedral are 8 a m., 9 am, tó p.m.; the doors are also open at 11 n.m. and 6 p.m., in obedience to an interdict of the Supreme Court, obtained by Dr. Colenso on affidavit, and which as yet I have not applied to the Court to remove, At these hours Dr. Colenso comes to the cathedral with certain followers, and others led by an evil spirit of curiosity to hear him. On the occasion I complain of, Mr. Nisbett accompanied him, and assisted in the way I have mentioned. It is true that I had not formerly communicated to Mr. Nisbett. as I had done to the other clergy in the Diocese, the fact that Dr. Colenso was excommunicated; but it was perfectly notorious, and residing in Pietermaritz burg he could not be ignorant of it, and I do not for a moment suppose would plead that he was. My reasons for not officially informing him of the excommunication were that I always understood him to consider his office as extra-diocesan, that he was subject to yourself as chaplain-general, and not to any ordinary here. I knew also that he dissented very strongly from the course adopted by the Church towards Dr. Colenso, without, however, participating in his heresies, and being man, and held by me in respect, I refrained from doing that which I thought might irritate and annoy him. It is painful to me to do so, but his sad act is very hurtful to the Church, and I must earnestly pray you to take such order as shall protect the Church from the scandal, and the souls of the weak from the injury, of seeing a solemn sentence of excommunication set at nought and despised by the very ministers of Christ.
To the Reverend the Chaplain General to Her Majesty's Army.
Believe me, &c.,
an old
(Signed) JAMES GREEN, Dean.
P.S.-I add for your information a copy of a letter I addressed to Mr. Nisbett, and his reply;" also of the sentence of excommunication.
No. 3.
COPY of a DESPATCH from the Right Hon. EDWARD CARDWELL, M.P., to the ACTING LIEUTENANT Governor, NATAL. (No. 135.)
KATAL
No. 3.
SIR,
Downing Street, May 9, 1866. † Pages 1 I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatches Nos. 25 and 26† and 6. of the 22nd and 23rd February, with their enclosures, relative to a complaint made by the Bishop of Natal against Mr. Green, Colonial Chaplain and Dean of Pieter- maritzburg. I have referred these Despatches to the Law Officers of the Crown, and shall reply to the questions you have put to me after receiving their report.
I have, &c.
EDWARD CARDWELL.
The Acting Lieutenant Governor
of Natal.
(Signed)
No. 4.
COPY of a LETTER from the Law OFFICERS of the CROWN to the Right Hon. EDWARD CARDWELL, M.P. SIR,
Lincoln's Inn, May 17, 1866. We are honoured with Sir Frederic Roger's letter of the 4th instant, stating that le was directed by you to transmit to us copies of two despatches from the officer administering the Government of Natal, with enclosures, relative to a complaint made by the Bishop of Natal against Mr. Green, Colonial Chaplain and Dean of Pietermaritzburg; and that you, sir, desired him to state that the Bishop of Natal was appointed by Letters Patent dated 23rd November 1853, and that he receives no salary either from the Imperial Government or from the Colony;
That Mr. Green was appointed chaplain in 1849, and receives an annual stipend voted by the Colonial Legislature;
That on the 16th December 1863, the Bishop of Capetown, in his capacity of Metro- politan, assumed to depose the Bishop of Natal on certain charges of heresy and false doctrine, but that the judgment of the Lords of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, delivered on the 20th March 1865, pronounced this deposition to be invalid;
That the Judicial Committee at the same time used language which has led to the doubt whether the Letters Patent constituting the bishopric of Natal were not invalid also; but that, supposing these Letters Patent to be invalid, the episcopal character of Dr. Colenso as Bishop of Natal would be to a certain extent revived, if a draft bill, prepared with our advice, to remove doubts respecting the effect of such Letters Patent, were to become law;
*The letter addressed to Mr. Nisbett and his reply have not been forwarded by the acting Lieutenant-Governor. A 4
No. 4.