CO885(2-3) — Page 324

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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TiC.O.885

3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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capable of officiating in England or Ireland without approbation of the Archbishop of the Province, or of holding preferment without consent of the Arch- bishop and of the Diocesan Bishop.

sec. 4.

4. A person ordained by a Colonial Bishop not 59 Geo.III, cap. 60, having jurisdiction, or not residing in his diocese, is not capable," on any pretence whatever," of hold- ing Ecclesiastical preferment within Her Majesty's dominions, or of officiating at any place or in any manner as a Minister of the Established Church of England and Ireland. This disqualification seems to attach to all persons ordained in dioceses which, according to the Judicial Committee, have been in- sufficiently constituted by the Crown without warrant of law.

5. A person ordained Priest by an English or 3 & 4 Vict., cap. 33,

Irish Bishop after being ordained Deacon by any other Protestant Bishop, can only officiate in Eng- laud or Ireland under leave from Diocesan, confined

to two days at a time, but renewable.

sec. 6.

6. But these disqualifications are wholly or par- 15 and 16 Vict., tially inapplicable to persons ordained under com- p. 52, mission from an English, Irish, or Colonial Diocesan, cap. 49.

by any Colonial Bishop appointed by Letters-Patent.

16 & 17 Vict.,

iii. Scottish Episcopal Clergy may not accept 27 & 28 Viet., preferment in England or Ireland without consent cap. 94.

of the Diocesan Bishop, but become permanently

eligible for preferment after one such consent is obtained. They may not officiate in England or

Ireland more than one day in three months without

notice to the Diocesan or against his prohibition.

iv. Clergy of the United States and Clergy 3 & 4 Viet,, cap. 33, deriving ordination from Bishops consecrated under secs. 1 and 3.

5 Vict., cap. 6, Jerusalem Bishopric Act, may officiate in England sec. 4. and Ireland under licence from the Diocesan Bishop, confined to two days, but renewable.

One observation is necessary in order fully to understand the effect of these restrictions. According to the prevalent opinion in the English and other Episcopal Churches, ordination cannot properly be repeated; therefore an ordination which does not itself (so far as the religious ceremony goes) quality a man for officiating in England does not only leave him unqualified, but disables him for ever from obtaining a qualification. If it is inope- rative it incapacitates.

The general result of these Acts is, that under

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them the Scottish Clergy occupy the most favourable position, then the East Indian and Colonial, then those of Colonial Dioceses regularly constituted (including the East Indian), then those of the United States, those ordained under the Jerusalem Bishopric Act, and those who are unfortunate enough to have been ordained Priests in England after having received Deacon's orders elsewhere, and lastly, those who are ordained by a Colonial Bishop without jurisdiction or beyond his Diocese.

These last, as has been observed, are declared incapable of preferment within Her Majesty's dominions, or of officiating anywhere as Ministers of the Established Church of England and Ireland. What the incapacity exactly amounts to may be a subject of question.

Whether persons ordained by Roman or Greek Prelates a e equally incapacitated by 3 and 4 Vict., cap. 33, sec. 5, is a question on which opinions have differed. If not incapacitated their case would seem better than that of any other class of Clergy whom I have described, except those ordained by English or Irish Diocesans.

This being the state of the law, the Bill now proposed begins by sweeping aside all the existing heterogeneous disqualifications prospectively (sec. 1), and in part (sec. 2) retrospectively. It then imposes on every Priest or Deacon not ordained by au English or Irish Diocesan one single and uniform amount of disqualificatiou, viz., that imposed on the Scottish Episcopal Clergy by 27 and 28 Vict., cap. 94; the provisions of which are transferred verbatim into the present Bill, sec. 3 and 4, with

the addition only of the words underlined with red ink in the annexed copy of the Draft,

The 5th, 6th, and 7th clauses provide, in lieu of the repealed Act, 15 and 16 Vict, cap. 62, that the above disqualification shall not attach to persons ordained by Colonial or Indian Bishops under com- mission from an English or Irish Diocesan.

The remaining clauses require no explanation. The repealed Act 16 and 17 Vict., cap. 49, it is unnecessary to re-enact.