PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
11 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPHI—NVITY|
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episcopal functions, it is difficult to foresee what complicated questions may not arise between the existing bishops and the clergy who are within their reputed dioceses in the event of members of the clergy allowing the proposed bishop to officiate in the churches to which they have been licensed by any of the existing bishops, or to exercise episcopal functions within their parishes or districts after inhibition from or against the injunction of the bishop of the reputed diocese within which such parish or district is
We have, &c.
situate.
(Signed)
His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos,
&o.
&o.
&o.
JOHN B. KARSLAKE. WM. BALIOL BRETT. TRAVERS TWISS.
8455.
No. 524.
(HồNG Kosa.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
MY LORD DUKE,
Temple, August 4, 1868. We are honoured with your Grace's commands signified in Sir Frederic Rogers' letter of the 25th June last stating that he was directed by your Grace to transmit to us copy of a memorandum of the 5th April, prepared by the Reverend H. Venn, and laid before your Grace, respecting the appointment of a missionary bishop for the Native Christian Church in North China.
That he was directed further to transmit to us for the purposes of reference copies of the Order in Council of 1st May 1849 (erroneously referred to in the memorandum as the Order in Council of 1st May 1848) by which all persons in Holy Orders of the United Church of England and Ireland being within the Dominions of the Emperor of China, or being within any ship or vessel at a distance of not more than 100 miles from the coast of China, are subjected to the jurisdiction of the See of Victoria and the Bishop thereof in the same manner as if they were resident in the island of Hong Kong.
3. That the bishopric of Victoria, Hong Kong, was created by Letters Patent dated the 11th May 1849, by which, after a recital of the Order in Council of the 1st May 1849, the City of Victoria and all the territory comprised in the island of Hong Kong and its Dependencies was declared to be the diocese of the bishop of Victoria.
4. By the same Letters Patent the Bishop of Victoria was empowered to exercise episcopal functions and to visit clergymen of the United Church of England and Under this Ireland, not only within the diocese of Victoria but "in places aforesaid." term are included all the dominions of the Emperor of China mentioned in the Order in Council of the 1st May.
Copies of these Letters Patent (sec page 13 of the Parliamentary Paper) and also of the Letters Patent of the 14th January 1867 appointing the Reverend C. R. Alford (the present bishop) to be Bishop of Victoria were annexed for reference.
5. That a draft Order in Council (copy of which was annexed) had been prepared with the view of carrying out the objects specified in the memorandum, but that a question had arisen whether, looking to the terms of the Letters Patent and the juris- diction beyond the diocese of Victoria which is given to the present Bishop of Victoria. any modification of such Letters Patent is necessary, or whether the modification of the Order in Council of 1st May 1849 upon which such jurisdiction is based will be sufficient to effect the desired object.
6. That under these circumstances Sir F. Rogers was desired to request that we would favour your Grace with our report upon the following questions.
First. Whether any alteration is required in the Letters Patent of the 14th January 1867, and in what manner, by partial revocation or otherwise, such alteration, if necessary, should be effected, and, if so, whether the consent of the Bishop is necessary for such alteration?
Secondly. Whether the draft Order in Council is legally sufficient to carry into effect. your Grace's desire.
In obedience to the commands of your Grace we have the honour to
Report
That in the existing state of things Bishop Alford appen to have had conferred upon him the same powers as Bishop Smith had by virtue of the Letters Patent granted to him in 11th May 1849. Bishop Smith had a legal diocese assigned to him, and the Crown granted to him powers over clergy within the diocese and in all places in the Empire of China. The Bishop, therefore, apparently is assumed to derive his power, partly from the Order in Council of the 1st May 1849 and partly from the Letters Patent, over clergy out of the diocese, but within the Empire of China.
It is now proposed without Bishop Alford's consent to take away from him a certain part of the jurisdiction which he now exercises, and to create a bishop under the Act of 5 Vict. c. 6., and with this view and for this purpose it is proposed to revoke
o 16978-109. 25.-5.86.