PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
TTIT
Reference
C.O.885
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ST. HELENA.
No. 21.
Encl. 1. 32 Nov. 1866.
Encl. 2. 24 Nov. 1866.
Encl. 1 in
No. 21.
28
CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO
ST. HELENA.
No. 21.
Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor Vice-Admiral Sir Charles ELLIOT, K.C.B., to the Right Hon. the Earl of CARNARVON,
(No. 165.)
MY LORD,
St. Helena, November 24, 1866. (Received, December 26, 1866.) (Answered No. 31, February 9, 1867, page.) Ar the request of the Bishop of St. Helena, I have the honour to transmit the enclosed letter.
2. There are in this Island three parishes, and a total population, including the garrison, of about 6,000 souls. At Tristan d'Acunha there are perhaps 50 people and no clergyman. At Ascension there is a naval chaplain; the naval regulations providing effectively against abiding scandal there by the summary dismissal of any chaplain so offending.
3. I am happy to say that nothing of this kind claims attention in either of the three parishes at St. Helena, each of them being well served by a beneficed clergyman justly respected by their parishioners and living in good harmony with them. With respect to curates or occasional ministers not holding benefices, it appears from his lordship's statement that he already possesses adequate powers for repressing scandal by depriving offenders of their licenses.
4. This being the condition of circumstances on the spot, and the principle on which the local law is founded in these particulars being so sound, it is solicitously to be. hoped that matters will be left at rest as they are.
5. Whatever change of legislation the council might be compelled to recommend to your lordship's approval (if any practical need for change or extension of power should unfortunately present itself), we should of course prepare with all needful circum- spection, and within the narrowest limits which appeared to us to meet any future emergencies of that sort. But local legislation at such a post as this on "Ecclesiastical Discipline," in anticipation of inconvenience, which with due care in the choice of the three beneficiaries on the spot, is very little likely to arise, is neither a course which I could venture to undertake of my own authority nor to request your lordship's sanction for such authority.
6. I allow myself to add that whilst, happily for us, nothing in the three parishes at St. Helena calls for the rather disturbing liabilities of local legislation on ecclesiastical affairs, a great deal has lately taken place and still remains unsettled at the metropolitan seat of the see, of which, underthe Letters Patent, this diocese forms part, rendering one of two alternatives highly probable-either there will be Imperial legislation bearing on these points after due consideration in high quarters, or there will not be such legislation. I believe your lordship will be of opinion that it is in all respects best for us (as well as most convenient for weighty public concernments), that at this mere military outpost of the empire, with a handful of people on the Island, we should quietly abide either decision."
The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon,
&c. - &c.
&c.
I have, &c.
(Signed) CHARLES ELLIOT.
P.S. Since the above was written I have received the accompanying letter from the Queen's Advocate, a man of sound judgment and experience of half a century in
this Island.
Your lordship will observe that his views do not differ from my own as to the inexpediency of any local legislation upon this subjcet.
Mr Loud,
Enclosure in No. 21.
C. E.
Oakbank, St. Helena, November 22, 1866.
Is an official communication from the Colonial Secretary, requesting me to supply the Governor of St. Helena with information as to the ecclesiastical establishment on this Island, it was mentioned
COLONIAL BISHOPRICS.
29
to me that your lordship was anxious to procure the information which I was requested to give. ST. HELENA
I beg, therefore, to bring the following remarks under your lordship's consideration with reference
to the particulars of the legal designation of the clergy in this colony given in my reply to the
governor.
I referred to ordinance 2, 1861, of the local laws, in which it is enacted by the Governor in Council, that the clergy of certain parishes (established by law) shall be designated rectors and vicars, shall have perpetual succession, and only be removable for the like causes and in the same manner as any rector or vicar is now by lae removable in England.
This enactment by the Governor in Council does not, I presume, confer any powers whatever on the bishop of the diocese beyond those which he may possess by his Lotters Patent. the object of the enactment being merely to protect the clergy, and secure them from removal at the pleasure of the bishop.
There is no local ecclesiastical law, and it seems to be very doubtful how far the ecclesiastical law of England is in force in this Colony. The Church Discipline Act does not extend to the Colonies. I am, therefore, unable to understand how the beneficed clergy on this Island can be removable in the same manner as any rector or vicar is now by law removable in England. But if by the wording of the ordinance they are intended to be, and are brought under the Church Discipline Act, or other ecclesiastical laws of England, the bishop has no power to enforce the law; he cannot hold an eccle- siastical court, he cannot compel witnesses to appear and to give evidence, he cannot take evidence on oath, and he has no means of carrying into effect any sentence which he might pronounce.
In the case of a curate he can withdraw his license, but in the case of rectors and vicars protected by this ordinance he is almost powerless. Ilis Letters Patent give him power to summon them before him, and inquire into their conduct. He might then, if he can be fully satisfied by such witnesses as are willing to give evidence, and on such evidence as without being taken on oath might seem to justify his condemnation of the offender, censure him, but he could not suspend him, because that would be a temporary removal from the cure of souls, and the ordinance referred to says (just before the words already quoted) that "the rectors and vicars shall have power to perform, and shall perform "all pastoral duties appertaining to the office of a minister according to the rites and usages of the "United Church of England and Ireland, and shall have exclusive cure of gouls in and over their respective parishes," therofore from this cure of souls they can be removed (temporarily by suspension) according to the terms of the ordinance only by law, as in England.
A suspension, if pronounced, could not be enforced, the spiritual office as well as the benefice is secured to the rector or vicar by the ordinance.
If a rector or vicar in this diocese were to be guilty of the most grave offences it would be out of
my power to punish him, or to relieve his parish and the church in this island of the scandal of his ministry.
I beg to suggest to your lordship as a remedy for this serious evil, either That the Church Discipline Act be extended to this Island, and the power of enforcing the provisions of that Act by the trial of offonders be conferred on the bishop;
Or, that there be local ecclesiastical laws for this Colony, enabling the bishop to exercise wholesome and necessary discipline.
The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon,
&c.
&c.
&c.
I have, &c.
(Signed) THOMAS E. ST. HELENA.
Enclosure 2 in No. 21.
November 24, 1866.
MY DEAR SIR CHARLES,
In obedience to your Excellency's wishes, I have carefully perused the bishop's letter of the 22d inst. to the Secretary of State, in reference to his lordship's want of power to punish the clergy of his diocese in cases of misconduct requiring their removal or suspension; and, whilst I concur generally in the correctness of his lordship's representation of the effect of Ordinance No. 2 of 1861, sec. 3, I consider that it was never intended to confer greater powers on the Bishop of St. Helena than what was contemplated in his Letters Patent. How far it might be expedient to adopt the Bishop's suggestions to extend the Church Discipline Act to this Island, or to enact ecclesiastical laws for this Colony in anticipation of evils which have not occurred, and which it is to be hoped never may occur, to call for such legislation, appears to be very doubtful, and requires the most grave and careful deliberation. The natural result would be the establishment of an ecclesiastical court, with its appendages, an institution little adapted to the wants of this small community, and for which no circumstances have as yet arisen to render it necessary.
His Excellency Sir Charles Elliot, K.C.B., Governor,
&c.
Act.
Sze.
No. 22.
I have, &c. (Signed)
JNO. N. FIRMIN, Q.A.
Eucl. 1 in No. 21.
No. 22.
Cory of a LETTER from Sir FREDERIC ROGERS, Bart., to the QUEEN'S ADVOCATE. SIR,
Downing Street, January 17, 1867. I AM directed by the Earl of Carnarvon to transmit to you a copy of a Despatch from Governor Sir Charles Elliot enclosing a letter from the Bishop of St. Helena, Pre
in which he points out the absence of proper ecclesiastical control over the beneficed clergy in that Colony.
D) 3
No. 165.
24 Nov. 1866.