PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TTC.O.
• 885
2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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1. The Bishops, Clergy, and Laity, members of the United Church of England and Ireland in this Province, may meet in their several Dioceses, which are now, or may be hereafter constituted in this Province, and in such manner and by such proceedings as they shall adopt frame constitutions and make regulations for enforcing discipline in the Church, for the appointment, deposition, deprivation, or removal of any person bearing office therein. of whatever order or degree, any rights of the Crown to the contrary not- withstanding, and for the convenient and orderly management of the property, affairs and interests of the Church in matters relating to and affecting only the said Church, and the officers and members thereof, and not in any manner interfering with the rights, privileges, or interests of other religious communities, or of any person or persons not being a member or members of the said United Church of England and Ireland: Provided always that such constitutions and regulations shall apply only to the Diocese or Dioceses adopting the
same.
11. The Bishops, Clergy, and Laity, members of the United Church of England and Ireland in this Province, may meet in General Assembly within this Province, by such Representatives as shall be determined and declared by them in their several dioceses: and in such General Assembly frame a Constitution and Regulations for the general management and good government of the said Church in this Province; Provided always, that nothing in this Act contained shall authorise the imposition of any rate or tax upon any person or persons whomsoever, whether belonging to the said Church or not, or the infliction of any punishment, fine, or penalty upon any person, other than his suspension or removal from an office in the said Church, or exclusion from the meetings or proceedings of the Diocesan or General Synods; And provided also, nothing in the said Constitutions or Regulations, or any of them, shall be contrary to any law or statute now or hereafter in force in this Province.
I hereby certify the above to be a true copy of the Bill passed by the Legis- lative Council and Legislative Assembly of Canada in the second Session of the fifth Provincial Parliament." and reserved for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure thereon by his Excellency the Governor-General, on Thursday the 19th day of June,
J. F. TAYLOR, Clerk, Legislative Council.
1856.
No. 2.
Cory of a LETTER from his Grace the ARCHBISHOP of CANTERBURY to the Right Hon. H. LABOUCHERE.
SIB,
Addington, July 14, 1856.
I HAVE to thank you for communicating to me the Act passed by the Legislative Assembly in Canada respecting the Church in that colony.
I am not surprised at the measure. The Canadians think that they do not obtain much for the Church here, and have never forgiven us for abandoning the Clergy Reserves.
If the measure has the sanction generally of the Bishops and Clergy of the colony, as is unequivocally stated, there are many reasous to render it desirable, especially as regards the "appointments, deprivation, or removal” of the Clergy. Far too much power is at present exercised by the Bishop's sole authority.
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Sir,
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No. 3.
Copy of a LETTER from Mr. CAMERON to the Right Honourable II. LaBorchERE. 10, Charles Street, St. James's, July 9, 1856. THE Canadian Church Bill having been reserved for Her Majesty's assent, after having passed both Houses of the Provincial Legislature by an unanimous vote, at the request of the Bishop of Toronto, and on behalf of the church people of the Province, 1 beg leave respectfully, but earnestly, to call your attention thereto.
You are aware that by the bill which converted the Clergy Reserve Lands in Canada
to secular purposes, the Legislature of the Province declared their desire that there should be an entire separation between Church and State in the Colony, and that soon afterwards the churchmen of the province obtained from both Houses, from the Upper House unani- mously, and from the Lower by a majority of two to one, an Address to Her Majesty, praying for the passage of an Act by the Imperial Parliament, to enable the members of the Church to meet in Synod, and to elect their future Bishops, as vacancies night occur. that address you sent an answer during the spring of this year, and soon after your despatch was received, the Bill was brought into the Assembly, which the Governor-General has reserved for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure.
To
That Bill is concurred in by all the Canadian Bishops, and has received the unanimous approval of the Diocesan Assembly of Toronto, composed of nearly all the clergy, and of representatives from every church in the diocese, except three, and its passage through the Legislature was so favoured, that it passed through its second and third readings in the Assembly in the same day.
The churchmen of the diocese of Toronto have been long expecting the division of that dincese into three, and the necessary endowments for the new sees are so nearly provided, that it is hoped they may be erected this summer under this Bill, and, therefore, it is the earnest desire of the peuple of the Church that Iler Majesty's assent may be given to the measure at an early day.
I have given you this short statement of the facts connected with the Bill, as I thought you might desire to have them before you, and I can state them with authority, as I bron_lat the subject, in the address to Her Majesty, before the Canadian Legislature last session, submitted and carried the draft of the Bill unanimously through the Diocesan Ass 11') Y, and introduced it into the Lower House.
The churchmen of Canada have no desire to separate from the Church of England, no wish to erect an independent church, but they require some better system for the mirage- ment of their temporalities, and the regulation of the preferment and discipline of the Church than they now have; they have demunded no power over matters o' doetrine nor forms of prayer, they ask simply that as in all questions of political rig its, the wish s of the Canadian people, as expressed through their representatives, are allowed to prevad, sa in matters of religion they shall be allowed that freedom of action which they believe to he essential to the vitality and well-being of their Church, and which they believe Her Majesty's Government will not refuse to them, now that their Colonial Endowments have been with- drawn, and the character of the Church is purely voluntary.
I have, &e.
(Signed)
No. 4.
J. HILLYARD CAMERON.
COPY of a LETTER from his Grace the ARCHBISHOP of CANTERBURY to the Right Hon. II. LABOUCHERE.
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DEAR SIR,
It strikes me as not impossible that alterations in the Liturgy or Articles might be hereafter proposed, and supposed to be warranted, under the head of regulations for the general management and good government of the Church' This might be prevented (if deemed necessary or desirable) if the saving clause Provided, that nothing in this Act shall authorise any change in the Liturgy or Articles of the United Church of England and Ireland, or the imposition of any rate,” &c.
were to run:
I have, &c.
(Signed! J. B. CANTUAR.
It seems to me better that Bishops should be appointed at once in the colony, than that Her Majesty should be left to decide between two competitors proposed to Her.
Addington. July 18, 1855.
I HAVE to thank you for communicating to me Mr. Cameron's letter, which makes the case quite clear in regard to the question of the Canadian Church.
A letter which has just reached me from Melbourne, written before the intelligence had arrived of the similar emancipation grunted to that Colony, satistics me of the gratification which that measure will give to those who are well qualified to form a judgment on the subject, and I fully believe, as well as hope, that its wisdom will be justified by the event.
The Right Hon. H. Labouchere,
&c. &c.
&c.
I have, &c.
(Signed) J. B. CANTUAR.
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