CO885-(2-3) — Page 111

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TILL CO.

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885

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

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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The Bishop has also, of course, his patent for his own guidance,

In a letter dated the 28th August, 1852, a copy of which is annexed to this Minute, the Bishop of Jamaica thus describes their wants :-

"What we do want is, mainly the ability to proceed against an offending incumbent in case of flagrant immorality, of serious neglect of duty, or gross con- tumacy, without the intervention of the cumbrous and expensive machinery of Spiritual Courts, as only they could at present be legally constituted, and of so simplifying the ministration of ecclesiastical disci- pline that it may be really and faithfully, though not arbitrarily and irresponsibly, applied.

"It is true that the autocratical power of revoking licenses, to which you* allude in your speech as too despotic and irresponsible to be properly exercised by the Bishop, does in certain cases exist; but this power can only be exercised in accordance with the Island law over such clergy as are not, properly speaking, incumbents, and therefore affects only a small number of stipendiary curates and missionaries who are subordinately and conditionally employed. Under these restrictions it has been my custom, when an unhappy instance of grave offence has occurred, to point out to the offender the ruinous consequences of a public trial, and to persuade him to resign an office from which, at a great expense, he was liable to be removed. But this course is open to serious objections, and may clearly, at any time, be altogether repudiated by the party accusing or accused. In the event of such repudiation, the ground on which the Bishop must tread, is indeed hazardous and insecure. Obsolete canons, statutes of uncertain application, contravening local laws, meet him on every side; he must base his course either on the Island Clergy Bill or on the ground supplied by his letters-patent from the Crown. The one is too loose and indefinite to afford the direc- tions he needs; the other prescribes a procedure according to the laws and usages of the Church of England and Ireland, and the adoption of Courts Spiritual which it is scarcely possible, under the cir- cumstances of the Colony, legally to constitute."

In 1825 a Clergy Law was passed (consequent on

• Sir J. Pakington

From a Minute of

Mr. Taylor's, dated May 23, 1833. Bound vol, Ja. Eccl., 1833.

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laws,

the appointment of a Bishop), repealing many from Charles the Second downwards, relating to the clergy, providing for the clergy, and investing the Bishop with ecclesiastical jurisdiction. To this Act, and to several Acts passed subsequently, numerous objections were raised, till at last, in 1845, an Act was passed (the Act now in opera- tion), which being approved of, was duly confirmed by Order in Council.

It is proposed to give a short history of the several Laws and of the objections raised to them, and to conclude this memorandum with a short abstract of the Clergy Act now in force, so far as it relates more immediately to the Bishop and the clergy.

"In December 1825, the Legislature of Jamaica passed an Act to consolidate and amend the several Laws relating to the clergy of this Island, and to invest the Bishop with ecclesiastical jurisdiction.'

"The Act, after repealing former Acts and re- citing the King's letters-patent constituting the diocese of Jamaica, enacts that all such laws, ordi- nances, and cauons ecclesiastical as are now used in Great Britain shall be in force in Jamaica, and all processes and proceedings of the Ecclesiastical Court of the United Kingdom, so far as relates to jurisdic- tion over the clergy. It assigned the following salaries to ecclesiastical officers and clergy :-

£300 currency.

Registrar

Apparitor

"Rectors

"Curates

80

"

17

600

500 32

The sixteenth and thirty-second clauses rendered

the salaries of rectors and curates payable only on the production of certificates from the Bishop, that they had duly discharged their functions for the The whole period for which salary was claimed. twenty-eighth clause forbade any clergyman, except the rectors and curates of the several parishes, to officiate in the Island without a license from the Bishop. The Act was passed for five years, end-

ing the 31st December, 1830. By previous Acts similar jurisdiction had been given to certain Eccle- siastical Commissioners, which by the new Act was given to the Bishop.

"The Bishop of Jamaica expressed himself well satisfied with the Act, as it placed in his Lordship's hands an effectual control of the clergy, and it