62
IV. CEYLON. 8 CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE COLONIAL DEPARTMENTthan once in five or six years; and, in the increased number of colonial Bishops, need not be exacted of the Bishop of this diocese alone.
3. Pecuniary difficulties have been raised; but into such considerations I forbear to enter, farther than to state explicitly to your Lordship that it neither was, nor is, my wish to put either colony to any expense. From the Mauritian Government I should expect only such facilities in passage, &c. as in their own vessels they are able, and I doubt not, willing to provide for me; and the proffered hospitality of the Governor himself renders every further consideration unnecessary. Of this colony no single additional expenditure is required to effect all that can be wished.
Further into the question, my Lord, I feel that it would be superfluous and unbecoming in me to enter. Thus much was due to myself, although I cannot but regret that circumstances have made it so.
My application to your Lordship is simply for permission to be absent from my diocese so long, and no longer, than may be necessary for the specified purpose. I have no personal wish in the matter, and am quite content to leave it altogether in your Lordship's hands. Invited, as a Bishop, to pay a brief visit for episcopal purposes only, to a neighbouring colony, which during the many years that it has been an appendage of the British Crown has never been so visited, to do that which no one but a Bishop can do, and for which no other Bishop has the same facilities that I have, it was not for me to stand aloof, or to refuse.
If forbidden I shall be content, my part is done, and that willingly. I am ready to go if permitted. It remains with your Lordship alone to decide.
I am, &c.
The Right Honourable Earl Grey,
(signed)
J. Colombo.
ON COLONIAL CHURCH LEGISLATION, &c. 9If he felt such disapprobation as he now expresses, it was in his power, either by letter or in an interview, which the Bishop can at all times command, to have apprized me of his objections. It is not my office, occupied as I am with many and weighty matters, to seek the Bishop, but his to come to me, and lay before me his objections to any proposed exercise of patronage, and to tender me his advice on the subject under consideration. Knowing his Lordship's opinion as I do regarding the Clergymen affected by this plan, opinions strongly expressed to me both by letter and in conversation, it was impossible that I could anticipate any difference of opinion on the Bishop's part in filling up the vacancy which will take place in the event of your Lordship sanctioning the plan proposed for the retirement of the Archdeacon of Colombo from the Chaplaincy of St. Peter's Church.
3d. It is to the financial part of the proposed plan that the Bishop so particularly objects, a part more especially under the province of the civil authorities, and which I have already gone into in detail in my despatch No. 182 of the 12th ultimo.
I have, &c. (signed)
Torrington.
IV. CEYLON.Encl. in No. 5.
1 No. 4.Earl Grey to Governor Viscount Torrington.
9 April 1849.
Page 6.
No. 5.Governor Viscount Torrington to Earl Grey.
12 January 1850.
* Page 3.
&c. &c. &c.
(No. 378.)
No. 4.Copy of a DESPATCH from Earl Grey to Governor the Viscount Torrington.
My Lord,
Downing-street, 9 April 1849.
I HAVE received your Lordship's despatch of the 13th of February last, No. 26,* forwarding an application from the Bishop of Colombo for permission to be absent from his diocese, for a sufficient period to enable him to visit the Mauritius, for the purpose of performing certain episcopal functions in that island.
Under the circumstances represented by the Bishop, I authorize you to grant to his Lordship leave of absence for a period of three months, on full salary, for the purpose of the proposed visit to Mauritius, but I concur at the same time in your suggestion, that if it should be considered expedient hereafter to make an arrangement for periodical visits by the Bishop of Colombo to Mauritius, it will be necessary that means should be found of relieving the colonial funds of Ceylon from a portion of his Lordship's salary.
(No. 16.)
No. 5.Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor the Viscount Torrington to Earl Grey.
Queen's House, Colombo, 12 January 1850.
(Received, 25 February 1850.)
(Answered, 28 February 1850, No. 509, page 11.)
My Lords,
I HAVE the honour to transmit a letter addressed to your Lordship by the Bishop of Colombo.
In forwarding this document, I have only to solicit your Lordship's attention to the three following points, which embrace in reality all that is important in the letter of the Bishop of Colombo. 1st. It is gratifying to observe, that to the different clergymen affected by the arrangement I had the honour of proposing for your Lordship's sanction in my despatch No. 182,* of the 12th ultimo, the Lord Bishop of Colombo makes not the slightest objection, a most convincing proof indeed that so far as that part of the arrangement falls under his Lordship's cognizance, i. e. the fitness or otherwise of these Clergymen for the posts recommended, I have formed a correct judgment.
2d. The Bishop complains of not having been consulted by me. Here I would observe, that before any plan was decided upon, the Bishop was fully informed by one of these Clergymen then residing with him, of the contemplated arrangements.
Enclosures in No. 5.
My Lord,
Colombo, Ceylon, 27 December 1849.
A LETTER was addressed to me by his Excellency the Governor on the 19th instant, communicating, for the first time, that a recommendation had already been forwarded to your Lordship, by the preceding mail, proposing certain arrangements, which were to affect not less than four of the chaplaincies of this diocese, and the clergymen officiating in them.
To the circumstances and character of this proposal, I feel so many and such strong objections, that I cannot withhold the expression of them from your Lordship, or forbear the earnest request, that although, as Bishop of the diocese, I have not been consulted, your deliberate consideration may be given to the whole bearing and tendency of the proposal, fraught as it is with evil to the Church in this colony, before it receives your final sanction.
I would, however, premise, that to the different clergymen affected by it, I make no objection. In this respect, I am thankful to assure your Lordship that my diocese is free from censure. My real objection applies to the proposal itself, rather than the persons affected by it; and to the principle involved, not less than the precedent which it will establish, and with the apparent sanction of the Bishop, should it be allowed to pass without remonstrance on my part.
The principal feature in the proposed arrangements (on which all the rest seem to depend) is the reduction of the chaplaincy of Trincomalie from £700 per annum to £500, to increase the retiring pension of the Archdeacon of Colombo.
To this proposal, my Lord, I cannot but strongly object: 1. Because it is a diversion of the fund granted for the spiritual provision of the diocese from its legitimate purpose, only for the advantage of an individual.
2. Because within the same province an additional clergyman is much required. Batticaloa is a growing and prosperous settlement. It is the seat of an Assistant Government Agency, and of a District Judgeship. European planters are settled all around, and a new church is about to be erected without any pecuniary aid from the Colonial Government. Application has been made to me again and again for a resident clergyman, which I have as often been obliged to refuse, from want only of available funds for his maintenance.
The station is now visited only twice in the year by the chaplain of Trincomalie, the very chaplaincy which it is proposed to reduce to £500 and to alienate the remainder.
I would respectfully submit, therefore, to your Lordship, that if £200 can be spared from the chaplaincy of Trincomalie, it ought to be applied for the establishment of an Assistant Chaplain at Batticaloa. Such an appropriation would constitute a great boon to the inhabitants of the whole of that district, and be a just apportionment of the fund assigned by the Colonial Government for the spiritual provision of the eastern province,—£700 per annum.
Chaplain at Trincomalie £500 Assistant Chaplain at Batticaloa £200This was lately done in the central province, where the subdivision at present exists.
3. Because the archdeaconry is not now a stipendiary, but an honorary office. It was so created under the letters patent of the Episcopate; it was so accepted by the present incumbent. The office, therefore, constitutes no claim, beyond the merits of the individual, whom the Government have it in their power to reward, if they think fit, from other sources.
4. Because the Pension List for the clergy is fixed at an unvarying scale, to which they all contribute in equal proportion, and from which they all expect to receive equal advantage on their retirement. No personal considerations are allowed to interfere indirectly with this in the Civil departments of the service, nor ought they in the Ecclesiastical.
5. Because...
Page 6
62
IV. CEYLON.
8
CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE COLONIAL DEPARTMENT
than once in five or six years; and, in the increased number of colonial Bishops, need not be exacted of the Bishop of this diocese alone.
3. Pecuniary difficulties have been raised; but into such considerations I forbear to enter, farther than to state explicitly to your Lordship that it neither was, nor is, my wish to put either colony to any expense. From the Mauritian Government I should expect only such facilities in passage, &c. as in their own vessels they are able, and I doubt not, willing to pro- vide for me; and the proffered hospitality of the Governor himself renders every further consideration unnecessary. Of this colony no single additional expenditure is required to effect all that can be wished.
Further into the question, my Lord, I feel that it would be superfluous and unbecoming in me to enter. Thus nich was due to myself, although I cannot but regret that circum- stances have made it so.
diocese so My application to your Lordship is simply for permission to be absent from my long, and no longer, than may be necessary for the specified purpose. I have no personal wish in the matter, and am quite content to leave it altogether in your Lordship's hands. Invited, as a Bishop, to pay a brief visit for episcopal purposes only, to a neighbouring colony, which during the many years that it has been an appendage of the British Crown has never been so visited, to do that which no one but a Bishop can do, and for which no other Bishop has the same facilities that I have, it was not for me to stand aloof, or to refuse.
If forbidden I shall be content, my part is done, and that willingly. I am ready to go permitted. It remains with your Lordship alone to decide.
I am, &c.
The Right Honourable Earl Grey,
(signed)
J. Colombo.
if
'ments,
ON COLONIAL CHURCH LEGISLATION, &c.
9
If he felt such disapprobation as he now expresses, it was in his power, either by letter or in an interview, which the Bishop can at all times command, to have apprized me of his objections. It is not my office, occupied as I am with many and weighty matters, to seek the Bishop, but his to come to me, and ay before me his objections to any proposed exercise of patronage, and to tender me his advice on the subject under consideration. Knowing his Lordship's opi- nion as I do regarding the Clergymen affected by this plan, opinions strongly expressed to me both by letter and in conversation, it was impossible that I could anticipate any difference of opinion on the Bishop's part in filling up the vacancy which will take place in the event of your Lordship sanctioning the plan pro- posed for the retirement of the Archdeacon of Colombo from the Chaplaincy of St. Peter's Church.
3d. It is to the financial part of the proposed plan that the Bishop so particu- larly objects, a part more especially under the province of the eivil authorities, and which I have already gone into in detail in my despatch No. 182 of the 12th ultimo.
I have, &c. (signed)
Torrington.
IV. CEYLON.
Encl, in No. 5.
1
No. 4.
Earl Grey to Governor Viscount Torrington.
9 April 1849.
Page 6.
No. 5.
Governor Viscount
Torrington to
Earl Grey.
12 January 1850.
* Page 3.
&c. &c. &c.
(No. 378.)
No. 4.
ww
Copy of a DESPATCH from Earl Grey to Governor the Viscount Torrington.
My Lord,
Downing-street, 9 April 1849.
I HAVE received your Lordship's despatch of the 13th of February last, No. 26,* forwarding an application from the Bishop of Colombo for permission to be absent from his diocese, for a sufficient period to enable him to visit the Mauritius, for the purpose of performing certain episcopal functions in that island.
Under the circumstances represented by the Bishop, I authorize you to grant to his Lordship leave of absence for a period of three months, on full salary, for the purpose of the proposed visit to Mauritius, but I concur at the same time in your suggestion, that if it should be considered expedient hereafter to make an arrangement for periodical visits by the Bishop of Colombo to Mauritius, it will be necessary that means should be found of relicving the colonial funds of Ceylon from a portion of his Lordship's salary.
(No. 16.)
No. 5.
ww
I have, &c. (signed) Grey.
Cory of a DESPATCH from Governor the Viscount Torrington to Earl Grey.
Queen's House, Colombo, 12 January 1850.
(Received, 25 February 1830.)
My Lords,
(Answered, 28 February 1850, No. 509, page 11.)
I HAVE the honour to transmit a letter addressed to your Lordship by the Bishop of Colombo.
In forwarding this document, I have only to solicit your Lordship's attention to the three following points, which embrace in reality all that is important in. the letter of the Bishop of Colombo. 1st. It is gratifying to observe, that to the different clergymen affected by the arrangement I had the honour of proposing. for
your Lordship's sanction in my despatch No. 182,* of the 12th ultimo, the Lord Bishop of Colombo makes not the slightest objection, a most convincing proof indeed that so far as that part of the arrangement falls under his Lordship's cognizance, i. e. the fitness or otherwise of these Clergymen for the posts recom. mended, I have formed a correct judgment.
2d. The Bishop complains of not having been consulted by me. Here I would observe, that before any plan was decided upon, the Bishop was fully informed by one of these Clergymen then residing with him, of the contemplated arrange-
Enclosures in No. 5.
My Lord,
Colombo, Ceylon, 27 December 1849. A LETTER was addressed to me by bis Excellency the Governor on the 19th instant, communicating, for the first time, that a recommendation had already been forwarded to your Lordship, by the preceding mail, proposing certain arrangements, which were to affect not less than four of the chaplaincies of this diocese, and the clergymen officiating in them.
To the circumstances and character of this proposal, I feel so many and such strong objec- tions, that I cannot withhold the expression of them from your Lordship, or forbear the earnest request, that although, as Bishop of the diocese, I have not been consulted, your deliberate consideration may be given to the whole bearing and tendency of the proposal, fraught as it is with evil to the Church in this colony, before it receives your final sanction.
I would, however, premise, that to the different clergymen affected by it, I make no objection. In this respect, I am thankful to assure your Lordship that my diocese is free from censure. My real objection applies to the proposal itself, rather than the persons affected by it; and to the principle involved, not less than the precedent which it will establish, and with the apparent sanction of the Bishop, should it be allowed to pass without remonstrance on my part.
The principal feature in the proposed arrangements (on which all the rest seem to depend) is the reduction of the chaplaincy of Trincomalie from 700 Z per annum to 500 1, to increase the retiring pension of the Archdeacon of Colombo.
To this proposal, my Lord, I cannot but strongly object: 1. Because it is a diversion of the fand granted for the spiritual provision of the diocese from its legitimate purpose, only for the advantage of an individual.
2. Because within the same province an additional clergyman is much required. Batti- caloa is a growing and prosperous settlement. It is the seat of an Assistant Government Agency, and of a District Judgeship. European planters are settled all around, and a new church is about to be erected without any pecuniary aid from the Colonial Government. Application has been made to me again and again for a resident clergyman, which I have as often been obliged to refuse, from want only of available funds for his maintenance.
The station is now visited only twice in the year by the chaplain of Trincomalie, the very chaplaincy which it is proposed to reduce to 5007 and to alienate the remainder.
I would respectfully submit, therefore, to your Lordship, that if 200 L can be spared from the chaplaincy of Trincomalie, it ought to be applied for the establishment of an Assistant Chaplain at Batticaloa. Such an appropriation would constitute a great boon to the inha- bitants of the whole of that district, and be a just apportionment of the fund assigned by the Colonial Government for the spiritual provision of the eastern province,--7007. per annum.
Chaplain at Trincomalie
Assistant Chaplain at Batticaloa
£.500 200
This was lately done in the central province, where the subdivision at present exists.
3. Because the archdeaconry is not now a stipendiary, but an honorary office. It was so created under the letters patent of the Episcopate; it was so accepted by the present incum- bent. The office, therefore, constitutes no claim, beyond the merits of the individual, whom the Government have it in their power to reward, if they think fit, from other sources.
4. Because the Pension List for the clergy is fixed at an unvarying scale, to which they all contribute in equal proportion, and from which they all expect to receive equal advantage on their retirement. No personal considerations are allowed to interfere indirectly with this in the Civil departments of the service, nor ought they in the Ecclesiastical.
ments.
355.-4.
5. Because
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