imenti
CEYLON.
No. 25
32
CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO
CEYLON.
No. 25.
COLONIAL BISHOPRICS.
No. 26.
33
COPY of a DESPATCH from Governor Sir HERCULES ROBINSON to the Right Hon. EDWARD CARDWELL, M.P.
(No. 129.)
SIR,
The Pavilion Kandy, Ceylon, June 23, 1866. (Received, August 3, 1866.)
CEYLON.
No. 26.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
- ། ། ། ། ། ། FC.O.885
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
Copy of a LETTER from the LAW OFFICERS of the CROWN to the Right Hon. EDWARD CARDWell, M.P.
Sin,
Lincoln's Inn, March 1866. We are honoured with your commands, signified in Sir Frederic Rogers' letter of the 10th instant, stating that he was directed by you, Sir, to acquaint us that the Bishop of Colombo, the clergy, and the laity of the diocese have met together, under the designation of the Synod of Colombo, and have passed the "Acts and Resolutions" of which a copy was enclosed, together with a copy of a letter from the Bishop to the Governor of Ceylon; that they include certain standing orders, p. 13, a declaration of the status of the Synod (p. 17), and a declaration of principles (p. 18), which last declaration the Synod seeks to oblige every person to sign who accepts an ecclesiastical appointment in the diocese (Resolutions VI. and VII.)" And Sir Frederic was desired by you, Sir, to request that we would inform you whether there is anything. in these proceedings which is open to legal objection, or which calls for the interposition of the Secretary of State as being inconsistent with the position of the Bishop as invested with certain authorities under Royal Letters Patent (of which a copy was annexed), and as receiving salary from the revenue of the Colony; and Sir Frederic was to add that it is not your opinion that you could properly proceed in the manner suggested by the Sixth Resolution, and also to annex a copy of a further Despatch from the Governor, enclosing letters signed by certain members of the United Church of England and Ireland in the Colony, recording their desire not to be identified in any way with the acts or declarations of the Synod.
In obedience to your commands, we have considered this matter, and have the honour to report that, inasmuch as Ceylon is a Crown Colony, the Letters Patent constituting the Bishopric of Colombo are valid in law; and it is not legally competent to the Bishop of Colombo, even with the consent of a synod of clergy and laity, to make or act upon any regulation which is either directly or virtually in conflict with the ecclesiastical law of the Church of England.
We think that the imposition of any new form of test for the colonial clergy is, on this principle, inadmissible, and we agree with you, Sir, that you cannot properly proceed in the manner suggested by the Sixth Resolution passed by the Synod." We also think that the same principle applies to Regulation VII., so far as it relates to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Resolution VIII. will fall with the rejection of Resolution VI.
With respect to Resolution IX.,-as to the trial of offences,--it does not seem to us to be necessarily at variance with the provisions on the subject contained in the Letters Patent or with ecclesiastical law.
It does not appear to us that the other regulations proposed are illegal, though they can only be binding upon persons who have voluntarily submitted to them. Whether the character claimed for the Synod by the Fourth Resolution ought properly to be ascribed to it, or not, resolves itself into a mere matter of opinion, and we think it is only just to observe that the Synod and the Bishop appear to have beth anxious to avoid the assumption of any legislative or coercive powers, and to do nothing inconsistent with the legal position of the Church in the Colony.
We have, &c.
The Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, M.P.
&c.
&c.
&c.
(Signed)
ROUNDELL PALMER.
R. P. COLLIER.
ROBERT PHILLIMORE.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, No. 126, of the Vide Paper Sth ultimo, enclosing copy of the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown on the Acts presented 17th and Resolutions of the Synod of the diocese of Colombo.
May 1866,
I have communicated the substance of your Despatch to the Bishop of Colombo in Encl
I enclose also copy of a Encl. 2
p. 16.
13 June 1866.
a letter, of which a copy is enclosed for your information. letter received in reply from his Lordship, in which he requests that the expression 16 June 1866. of his thanks may be conveyed to you for the clear and definite reply returned by you to the application of the Synod.
I have, &c. (Signed) HERCULES G. R. ROBINSON.
The Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, M.P.
MY LORD,
&c.
&c.
&c.
Enclosure 1 in No. 26.
The Pavilion Kandy, June 13, 1866. I Dry forwarded to the Secretary of State the paper entitled "The Acts and Resolutions of the first Synod of the diocese of Colombo," which you enclosed in your letter of the 5th December last, as well as your Lordship's letter of the 7th March last addressed to Mr. Secretary Cardwell, and I have received by the last mail a Despatch communicating to me the views of the Secretary of State on the subject to which these papers refer.
The Secretary of State can only at present receive the Resolutions enclosed in your letter of the 5th December last as emlodying the opinion of those who either have already, or may hereafter, express their concurrence in the views which they convey, and, impressed with the necessity of being careful that an assembly styling itself a synod does not assume to exercise powers which may prove to have been inconsistent with the law, he has been pleased to seek the advice of the Law Officers of the Crown.
I am informed by the Secretary of State that the Law Officers are of opinion that, as Ceylou is a Crown Colony, the Letters Patent constituting the Bishopric of Colombo are valid in law, and it is not legally competent to the Bishop of Colombo, even with the consent of a synod of clergy and laity, to make or act upon any regulation which is either directly or virtually in conflict with the ecclesiasitical law of the Church of England, and that on this ground the imposition of any new test for the colonial clergy is inadmissible.
I have received the commands of the Secretary of State to call your attention to this particular, in which the Law Officers are of opinion that the Assembly has assumed to exercise powers which do not belong to it, and I am further directed to inform your Lordship that Mr. Cardwell cannot comply with the request conveyed in the Sixth Resolution,
I have, &c. (Signed)
The Right Rev. Lord Bishop of Colombo, &c.
HONOURABLE SIR.
&c.
Enclosure 2 in No. 26.
H. G. R. ROBINSON.
Colombo, June 16, 1866.
I Have to acknowledge the communication from the Right Honourable the Secretary of State
for the Colonies, in reply to the application from the Synod of this diocese.
I will lay your Exevilency's letter before the members of that body on the next occasion of their assembling, and I have to doubt they will agree with me in determining in no way to exceed their 1 or 1 powers,--a determination, indeed, which they both expressed in Resolution II. of their proceedings, and carried out in their reference of the only dutibtful point to the decision of the Right Honourable te Secretary of State.
-
I love to express my own satisfaction in the additional information elicited by the course they took, in that ar and decided opinion now expressed by the Crown lawyers-first, of the undoubted validity of the Letters Patent constituting this see, and secondly, of its identity with the Church of England, in being subject to the same ecclesiastical laws.
This is, indeed, the very position I wished it to assume, but on which the previous judgment
of lawyers in England had at least thrown considerable doubt.
I also observe with satisfaction that no doubt is implies of the legality of the Synod itself in its proper limits as binding only ou such who expressly or by implication assent thereto."
May I ask your Excellency to express my thanks to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State
for the Coksies for the care he has taken to return a clear and definite reply to the application of the
E
Encl. in No. 26.
Encl. 2 in No. 16.
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