PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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C.O.885
3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
.VICTORIA.
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CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO
"and Ireland in Victoria," and provision was made for the legal succession of trustees of "land "belonging to the United Church of England and Ireland in Victoria."
That if the Imperial Legislature should by any measures induce doubts as to the orderly succession of bishops, the position of the clergy, and the due management of the property of the United Church of England and Ireland in the Colonies (by leaving the control of such property to all persons being or professing to be members of that Church, without any regulation for giving effect to the wishes of those from whom that property is derived) much confusion, schism, and litigation would probably ensue.
That if the affairs of the Church to which your petitioners belong should be thus plunged into confusion, your petitioners, and those who under God's providence will succeed them, will suffer a bardship not inflicted upon the members of any other religious denomination.
That your petitioners would therefore humbly pray your Lordships that no legislation may be sanctioned which would have the effect of throwing doubts upon the substantial unity of the United Church of England and Ireland in Victoria and th. Church in the mother country, upon the uniformity of doctrine and worship between the parent Church the Church in the Colony, upon the orderly succession of bishops in the Colony, upon the position. he clergy, or upon the tenure of lands and administration of trusts affecting the United Church of England and Ireland in Victoria, or which would prevent the members of that Church from carrying appeals to the supreme authority of the Church in the mother country.
And
your lordship's petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
(Signed)
C. MELBOURNE, President of the Assembly.
MY LORD,
Bishopscourt, Melbourne, November 16, 1866. I HAVE the honour, at the request of the petitioners, to transmit to your Lordship a petition addressed to the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, by the bishop, clergy, and laity of the United Church of England and Ireland, in Victoria, duly met in Assembly under the provisions of an Act of the Colonial Legislature, 18th Victoria, No. 45.
This petition expresses the apprehensions and desires of the petitioners in respect to the Imperial legislation which appears to be contemplated upon the affairs of the Church in the Colonies; and it is their respectful request, which I am desired to convey to your Lordship, that your Lordship will have the goodness to present it for them to the House of Lords."
In making this request to your Lordship, I may mention that the Assembly in which the resolutions embodied in the petition were agreed to was attended by a large number of clergymen and about 50 lay representatives, among whom were the Chief Justice and one of the puisne judges of the Colony. Both of them expressed themselves strongly in favour of the resolutions, from which there were only two dissentients among the clergy, and not one among the laity,
These resolutions, to which I would particularly direct your Lordship's attention, were passed in the same manner as a Bill in one of the Houses of Parliament, after being read three times, and being considered paragraph by paragraph between the second and third readings in a committee of the whole Assembly.
They exactly agree, as your Lordship will observe, with the sentiments which I expressed to your Lordship in my letter by the last mail; and I do not hesitate to affirm that they express almost the unanimous feeling of the Church, both clergy and laity, so far as the subject is understood in the Colony,
In a speech in the House of Lords your Lordship, I believe, expressed a desire to learn the sentiments of the several Colonial Churches upon the subject; and I entertain a confident assurance that if the opportunity of expressing their opinions be afforded them, the large majority of the members, especially the lay members of those Churches, will be found, so far from desiring (as has been represented to be the case) to be most strongly averse to any such severance as seems to be contemplated from their parent Church. They desire that the authority of their bishops to exercise their official functions should emanate from the Crown, and that an uniformity in the administration of the law of the Church may be secured by their possessing the same Ecclesiastical Court of Appeal with the Church in England.
Isinted in my former letter to your Lordship that no jer lousy on account of our being thus connected with the Church in England was felt by the members of other "religious denominations;" and that I was correct herein has been shown by the fact of not a single word having been uttered, so far as I know, either publicly or privately, against the proceedings of our Assembly. The Melbourne papers, which have reported all our debates, appear to have considered the course which we have taken natural and reasonable; and I am not aware that any comments upon it have appeared in any of them.
Within the last few days I have learnt that your Lordship has been advised by the Law Officers of the Crown that Her Majesty may lawfully grunt Her licenco for the consecration of a bishop to exercise his functions in a particular Colony, .g. New South Wales; and I should therefore infer that Her Majesty may ip like manner grant Her licence for the consecration of one to exercise his functions within a certain definite portion of a Colony. Her Majesty would not thereby claim to confer eccle- siastical jurisdiction, but only define the limits within which a bishop consecrated under Her licence might perform the spiritual duties of his office.
Perhaps, my Lord, I ought to apologize for venturing to offer an opinion upon such a point as this. I trust that your Lordship will pardon my presumption.
The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon,
&c.
&c.
&c.
I have, &c. (Signed)
C. MELBOURNE.
COLONIAL BISHOPRICS.
No. 45.
51
Copy of a LETTER from the Right Rev. Bishop of MELBOURNE to the Right Hon. C. B. ADDERLEY, M.P.
SIR,
I HAVE the honour to transmit to you à petition addressed by the bishop, clergy, and laity of the diocese of Melbourne, duly met in Assembly under the provisions of an Act of the Colonial Legislature (Act 18th Victoria, No. 45,) to the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom in Parliament assembled, relative to the legislation which appears to be contemplated concerning the Church in the Colonies,
Bishopscourt, Melbourne, November 23, 1866.
This petition, in which I heartily concur, I have signed in my character of President of the Assembly; and, in compliance with the request of the Assembly, I would now beg you to have the goodness to present it to the House of Commons on our behalf.
The resolutions which are embodied in it were considered very carefully, paragraph by paragraph, in a committee of the whole Assembly, after being read twice in the same manner as a bill in the House of Commons, and they were then read a third time and agreed to.
There was a large attendance of members, the number of lay representatives being about 50, and that of clergymen being at least equal, and among them all there were only two dissentients, both clergymen.
Since the Assembly was prorogued I have not heard any expression of disapproval from any one, nor has the course which we have adopted excited, so far as I know, the slightest jealousy on the part of other denominations.
In my opening address to the Assembly I stated the circumstances under which I had convened them, and my opinion upon the subject. This address is fully and (with a few verbal errors) accurately reported in the last number of the Melbourne Church News, of which I have instructed my registrar to send you a copy.
I need not therefore trouble you with any further remarks, bet I would venture to express a hope that Her Majesty's Government, of which you are a member, may be able to propose and carry through Parliament a Bill for settling the law concerning the Church in the Colonies without destroying its essential union with the Church in England.
The Right Hon. C. B. Adderley, M.P.
&c.
&c.
&c.
No. 46.
I have, &c. (Signed)
C. MELBOURNE.
Copy of a DESPATCH from the Right Hon. the Earl of CARNARVON to Governor the Hon. Sir J. H. T. MANNERS SUTTON, K.C.B.
(No. 57.)
Downing Street, December 24, 1866.
VICTORIA
No. 45.
No. 46.
Sin,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, No. 23, of the Page 27th October, enclosing a letter addressed to me by the Bishop of Melbourne, on the subject of the future relation of the Church in Victoria to the parent Church io England.
I request you will inform his Lordship that the subject is one which is engaging the attention of Her Majesty's Government, who will not fail to give their most careful consideration both to his letter and to the wishes expressed by those who are affected by the recent judgments of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and who will be affected by any legislation which those judgments shall render necessary.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
The Hon. Sir J. H. T. Manners Sutton, K.C.B.
&c.
&c.
&c.
CARNARVON.
G 2
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CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO
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