CO885-(2-3) — Page 334

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference

C.O.885

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

3PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

NATAL

• Sic, in orig.

Fmcl.4 in No.1.

4

CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO

Parliament, laying down that they only constitute the holder a lay corporation with a title, if the Bishop of Natal claims more, and complains that I do not accord him more, I respectfully submit that before answering his complaint I must be informed exactly what he claims, and whether the law admits his claim.

7. The paragraph concludes by stating that I do not hold his licence. I hold at the present moment the same licence as I have uninterruptedly held for 17 years, it having been held to be sufficient during that long period, I cannot doubt that it is so still.

8. Paragraphs 9 and 10 contain a prayer that my income of 100%. per annum should be withdrawn, as the Bishop of Natal considers that I am not a fit person to receive it under the circumstances stated in his letter. I remark that the Bishop refrains from describing his letter as one containing charges, but as a narrative of circumstances only, with some of which my name is not connected, and in none of which am I concerned in my capacity as a Colonial Chaplain. Her Majesty's Secretary of State appointed me, in 1849, Chaplain at Pietermaritzburg; from that time to this, without leave of absence, I have endeavoured to fulfil my duty, and I have the snost entire confidence that your Excellency will consider me entitled to my income so long as I am capable of, or do not fail in, discharging the duties of my office.

9. Your Excellency draws my attention to Her Majesty's Order in Council, dated

•

I have paid it, I believe, all loyal obedience. The Bishop, I perceive, alludes to it in his letter, but not, as I imagine, as bearing on the subject of his letter, as, in the passage already quoted, he states his opinion that any power or privilege flowing from the Royal Supremacy is but fancied.

His Excellency Colonel Bisset, Acting Lieutenant-Governor of Natal.

MY LORD BISHOP,

I have, &c.

(Signed)

Enclosure 4 in No. 1.

James Green, Dean.

Government House, Natal, Feb. 16, 1866.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's letter of the 5th instant, with enclosures, setting forth certain allegations in reference to the Rev. the Dean of Pietermaritz burg, and recommending that the allowance of 100% per annum now paid to him from the Colonial Treasury as Colonial Chaplain may be withdrawn; and having referred your communication to Mr. Green, with reference to Government Notice No. 105, 1865, dated 10th Angust, and published in the Government Gazette of the 15th August 1865, and to the Order of the Queen in Council, for any observations he might wish to offer, I have now the honour to transmit for your information a copy of that Reverend gentleman's reply, and will be glad, before proceeding further in the matter, to receive any remarks your Lordship may wish to make on the Rev. the Dean's letter.

The Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Natal,

&a

&c.

&c.

I have, &c. (Signed) JOHN J. BISSET, Colonel,

Acting Lieutenant Governor.

GOVERNMENT NOTICE, No. 105, 1865.

His Excellency the Administrator of the Government directs the publication, for general informa tion, of the subjoined Circular Despatch and its enclosure, being cupy of a Judgment which has been recently delivered by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the case of the Bishop of Natal.

Colonial Office, Natal,

August 10, 1865.

By his Excellency's command,

D. ERSKINE,

Colonial Secretary.

The Circular Despatch above alluded to was dated Downing Street, 21st April 1865, an:1 contained Judgment of the Privy Council in case of Lord Bishop of Natal.

Bucl.5 in No.1.

SIR,

Enclosure 5 in No. 1.

Bishopstowe, Feb. 19, 1866.

IN reference to the Very Reverend Mr. Green's letter of Feb. 14, a copy of which has been forwarded to me for my remarks by Your Excellency, I have to observe as follows:

2. On paragraph 4: Her Majesty having decided that the Bishop of Cape Town, as Metropolitan, has no jurisdiction whatever within this Diocese, he cannot lawfully appoint a "Vicar-General" to act in the Diocese of Natal, nor can Mr. Green lawfully accept the office. I may add a quotation from Cripp's Laws relating to the Church and Clergy, 2ml Ed. 1850, pp. 174-5:

"The office of Chancellor includes in itself those of Official-Principal and Vienr-General. The "limits of a Chancellor's jurisdiction will necessarily be that of the Diocese of the Bishop whose "Chancellor he is."

COLONIAL BISHOPRICS.

5

3. On paragraph 5. I have to observe that the continuation of the Rubric, to which Mr. Green refers, us to the lawfulness of " Excommunications" being read in Church, is as follows:

"And nothing shall be proclaimed or published in the Church during the time of Divine Service, but by the Minister, nor by him anything but what is prescribed by the rules of this Book (the Prayer Book), or enjoined by the Queen or by the ordinary of the place.'

4. The reference to the "native laymen" whom, Mr. Green says, I "excommunicated," has, I apprehend, no actual bearing upon the present question. But I may explain that the case was that of a native convert, who, in my belief, after a full investigation, had been guilty of gross lying and repeated acts of uncleanness, and whom I privately, through a clergyman, admonished not to come for the present to the Communion

5. In the letter to Mr. Tönnesen, Mr. Green, besides what he himself represents as the substance of his communication, wrote as follows :

"I have been credibly informed that yesterday you joined with Dr. Colenso in saying the "Common Prayers of the Church in the cathedral, notwithstanding that he is excommunicated, and "that the faithful are thereby forbidden from holding such communion with him."

6. On paragraph 6 (a) I need only say that the passage quoted by Mr. Green from my letter to the Bishop of Cape Town, referred to the position in a Colony of the members of the Church of England in relation to other religious bodies, and to any "fancied might have formerly asserted by virtue of the "Royal Supremacy

power or privilege" which they or" Episcopal Authority" as against those bodies. As it is idle to infer from that passage, as Mr. Green dues in paragraph 9, that I lay no stress on the fact of the Royal Supremacy in the Church of England in reference to affairs and persons within that Church, seeing that I have constantly appealed to that fact in all my recent proceedings, and am virtually appealing to it now in addressing your Excellency, so it is equally extravagant to argue that my words imply that I recognize the "Episcopal Authority" which a Bishop lawfully has in the Church of England as a "fancied power," though much authority of this kind may be claimed, and is claimed by some bishops, which is no doubt "fancied," as being unlawful.

On paragraph 6 (6) I say that I "claim" that if Mr. Green chooses "voluntarily" to attach himself to the body of the members of the United Church of England and Ireland in this Diocese, and to receive a stipend from the Colonial Treasury as minister of that Church, he shall observe

bis outh of canonical obedience to his lawful Bishop, appointed by Her Majesty's Letters Patent, and the vows which he made at his ordination as deacon and priest that he would "reverently obey his ordinary."

8. On paragraph 8 I desire to say that I readily acknowledge, as I have repeatedly acknowledged, Mr. Green's earnestness and diligence in the discharge of his clerical duties; and I deeply regret that his conduct at this time has compelled me to adopt the present course of proceeding, from which I have abstained as long as possible, though for some time past, and especially during the last twelve months, he has given me abundant reasons for taking it.

9. I must observe, however, that no consideration of the diligence and faithfulness, quite as exemplary, with which the Reverend Mr. Tönnesen has discharged his duties during the last seven years, has withheld Mr. Green from striking him at once off the list of the Missionaries of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parte, because he had merely read prayers by the direction of his lawful Bishop, holding Her Majesty's authority, and without giving him even that opportunity of justifying himself, if possible, which your Excellency has zo justly accorded to Mr. Green himself.

His Excellency Col. Bisset,

Administrator of the Government,

&c.

&c.

&c.

SIR,

Enclosure & in No. 1.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

J. W. NATAL.

Bishopstowe, Feb. 21, 1866. I HAVE the honour to enclose to your Excellency a copy of a letter addressed by me to the Very Reverend the Dean of Pietermaritzburg, and to report to your Excellency, in addition to my other complaints against Mr. Green ne a colonial chaplain receiving a stipend as a clergyman of the United Church of Engkind and Ireland, that he has paid no attention whatever to my summons.

His Excellency Col. J. J. Bisset,

I have, &c. Administrator of the Government,

(Signed) J. W. NATAL. &c.

&c.

VERY REVEREND SIR,

&c.

Bishopstowe, Feb. 19, 1866.

As Bishop of this Diocese, I require you to appear before me at the Office of the Registrar of the Diocese, Theoph. Shepstone, Exqre, jun., in the city of Pietermaritzburg, on Wednesday next, Feb. 21, at three o'clock in the afternoon, for the purpose of exhibiting to me any licence which, as stated in your letter of Feb. 14, 1866, addressed to his Excellency the Administrator of the Govern- inent, and forwarded by his Excellency for my perusal, you have " uninterruptedly held for 17 years, "and by virtue of which you claim to exercise the office of a clergyman of the United Church of England and Ireland in this Diocese.

The Very Reverend

The Dean of Pietermaritzburg.

I am, &c. (Signed) J. W. NATAL..

NATAL

Encl6 in No.1.

A 3