CO885-(2-3) — Page 342

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference -

C.O.885

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

CAPE OF

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CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO

church as "a voluntary religious association," "in the same situation, in no better but in GOOD HOPE no worse position than other religious denominations," and an acknowledgment of its rights, as such, to establish, without control of civil courts, tribunals for the trial of its clergy, and rules for the administration of its own discipline, and the conduct of its own affairs, which “shall be binding only on those who voluntarily, or by implication, have subjected themselves unto them."

Enel. 1 in No. 17.

Encl. la

No. 17.

I beg your lordship's acceptance of a copy of a Pastoral Letter which I have just issued on the subject of the questions raised by the Master of the Rolls.

I have, &c.

The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon,

&c.

RESOLVED,

&c.

&c.

Enclosure in No. 17.

R. CAPETOWN.

THAT in view of any action being taken by the Imperial Parliament in reference to the Colonial Church, during the ensuing session, it is expedient that the following petition be addressed to both Houses of the Legislature:-

TO THE RIGHT HONGERABLE THE LORDS SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED.

The Petition of the undersigned Clergy and Laity in the Diocese of Cape Town.

HUMBLY SHOWETH,——

THAT your petitioners are sincerely attached members of the United Church of England and Ireland, and are purposed to abide in it, hold its doctrines, and use its formularies as long as they live.

That the term "Church of England" as applied to the collective communion to which your peti- tioners belong in this country is, through no fault of theirs, an inexact designation, inasmuch as the English Church in South Africa is not established by law, is not provided for, and was not meant to be provided for, by the Ecclesiastical Statute Law of England, is situated in a country where by treaty English Statute Law has no force, and has been declared by the highest courts of judicature in the realm (Long v. Bishop of Capetown) to be "in no better position" than any other religious body.

That your petitioners, as a religious community, have suffered, and are suffering from the great uncertainty which overhangs their ecclesiastical position, and which has been greatly increased by decisions in the civil courts which are commonly felt to be conflicting.”

That the most recent of these decisions (Bishop Colenso v. Trustees of the Colonial Bishoprica Fund), incidentally to the point which the court was mainly concerned to settle, suggests methods of adjusting our difficulties, the effect of which, as it appears to your petitioners, would be to deprive them of all power of local self-government, and otherwise place them under the absolute control of the civil power, as no other non-established religious body is under the control of the state in any country in Europe or the world.

That in particular, assuming the English Church in South Africa to be a non-established and voluntary body, to which the Ecclesiastical Statute Law of England is only very imperfectly applicable, your petitioners deem it necessary and just that it should be left to them on the spot to deteriuine how far such laws are applicable and how far they are not.

That your petitioners are willing that in the event of differences arising among themselves, the decisions of their Bishops should be amendable to the civil courts to the same extent to which the disciplinary proceedings of non-established bodies in England are amenable to the civil courts in England, as defined by Lord Lyndhurst in Dr. Warren's case.

That your petitioners know of no statute or prerogative of the Crown, in virtue of which the Colonial Bishops can be made liable to removal or retention in oflice by the sole determination of the civil courts and are persuaded that to introduce so fundamental an innovation into the customs of the English Church could only necessitate consequences which all who desire unity and order would depilure.

That in respect of the administration of the Colonial Churches, and particularly that of the English Church in South Africa, your petitioners are content with the plan provided by the Letters Patent of 1853, which they conceive to express the mind both of the Imperial Government and of the Home Church; and they believe it to be at once the most expedient, the most dutiful, and the simplest course that they should contract to abide by the principles therein embodied.

That therefore your petitioners humbly pray that, in any legislative enactment that may appear to your Right Honourable House to be necessary to afford them relief from their present perplexity, an equitable regard may be had to the facts of their unhappy position as abovo recounted, and your petitioners will ever pray, &c. &c.

Enclosure 2 in No. 17.

At a meeting held at St. George's, Capetown, on Jan. 14 1807.

Moved by Mr. Eaton-

That we, the parishioners of St. George's Cathedral Church, Capetown, attached members of the "Church of England, desire, though domiciled beyond the pale of her establishment, not only to retain "our connexion with, but to be an integral part of the United Church of England and Ireland: to be "bound by her doctrines, rites, rules, and ordinances, as well as by all her laws, as far as they can bear

COLONIAL BISHOPRICS.

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*upon us in this colony. That we deprecate any change that would in any way interfere with our "connexion with the Mother Church, and with what we believe to be the civil and religious liberties GOOD HOPE "of her members, both clergy and laity, by destroying what we bold to be the bulwark of their free- dom, viz., the right of final appeal in all causes to the Queen in Council, as the constituted head of "the Church of England, not only in Ireland, but in all her dominions. In case, therefore, any "such change is contemplated such action on our part is necessary as will best prevent the loss of what "we so highly prize."

Amendment moved by Mr. Foster, M.P.-

That, inasmuch as certain difficulties and perplexities have arisen, consequent on the recent decisions of law courts, and their declaration that some portions of the Letters Patent, as affecting "Colonial Churches, are inoperative, this meeting is of opinion that, should the British Parliament "see fit to exercise its supreme power, and legislate for Colonial Churches, the principles agreed upon at the period of the foundation of the same, as between the Crown and the Church, and embodied in "the Royal Letters Patent, should be adhered to. This meeting is further of opinion that the great "questions affecting the Colonial Churches, as, for example, that of a Supreme final Court of Appeal, and "the amount of English Ecclesiastical Law suited to their circumstances, can best be decided by a free "National Council, including the representatives of both the Home and Colonial Churches; and that "the Lord Bishop of Capetown be requested to communicate this opinion to the Archbishop of "Canterbury and to Her Majesty's Secretary of State."

At a meeting of the parishioners in connection with the cathedral church of St. George, Capetown, convened by public notice, and held in the schoolroom on Monday, 14th January 1867.

The Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Capetown in the Chair.

IT WAS RESOLVED, ——

That, inasmuch as certain difficulties and perplexities have arisen, consequent on the recent decisions of law courts and their declaration that some portions of the Letters Patent as affecting Colonial Churches are inoperative:

This meeting is of opinion that, should the British Parliament see fit to exercise its supreme power and legislate for Colonial Churches, the principles agreed upon at the period of the foundation of the same, as between the Crown and the Church, and embodied in the Royal Letters l'atent, should be

adhered to:

This meeting is further of opinion that the greatest questions affecting the Colonial Churches, as, for example, that of a Supreme fiual Court of Appeal, and the amount of English Ecclesiastical Law suited to their circumstances, can best be decided by a free National Council, including the representatives of both the Home and Colonial Churches, and that the Lord Bishop of Cape Town be requested to com- municate this opinion to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to Her Majesty's Secretary of State.

No. 18.

R. CAPETOWN.

Chairman.

COPY of a LETTER from the Bishop of GRAHAMSTOWN to the Right Hon. the Earl of CARNARVON.

Grahamstown, Feb. 13 1867. (Received March 26, 1867.) MY LORD,

As, in common with others of my episcopal brethren in the Colonies, I find myself placed in a position of much perplexity by recent judgments of English Courts of Law, which I am quite unable to reconcile with one another, I trust your Lordship will excuse me if I request your counsel in matters which affect not merely the welfare of the English Church in this land, but the peace and good order of the whole community, which cannot but be disturbed when complications arise in Church affairs through a misunderstanding of the law.

I refer now particularly to the question of diocesan synods, or assemblies composed of clergy and lay representatives, which have been held in this diocese hitherto with great benefit to all concerned, and in which all the parishes and congregations, and (with one exception) all the clergy have taken part. Another is now convened to meet at the end of June, and I am very anxious to obtain from your Lordship, if possible, by that time, some advice as to the legitimate functions of such an assembly in this Colony, in which no legislation has given it any legal powers or status.

In a Despatch from the Duke of Newcastle to the Governor of this Colony, dated February 4, 1864, which was published for the information and guidance of those whom it concerned, his Grace communicated the views, which, after obtaining the advice of the Law Officers of the Crown, he had been enabled to form on this subject.

The powers of these meetings were supposed by him, under this advice, to be deter- mined by the principles laid down in the following extract from a late judgment of the Judicial Committee:

"The Church of England, in places where there is no church established by law, is in "the same situation with any other religious body, and its members may adopt, as the "members of any other communion may adopt, rules for enforcing discipline within C 3

No. 18.