"VII. For this purpose deaneries as they become vacant should be raised into bishoprics, and the funds hitherto devoted to the payment of deans should be paid into the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for the endowment of the new sees.

"The duties of the deans should be discharged by the bishop within whose diocese the cathedral is situated.

"VIII. As the incomes of the deaneries will fall in gradually, and may for a length of time be insufficient for the endowment of new bishoprics, means should be taken to encourage and apply the voluntary benefactions of such as may desire to contribute to the endowment of new bishoprics.

"IX. The funds attached to canonries and minor canonries should be annexed to ill-endowed benefices in populous districts, with a reserve of funds sufficient for the preservation of the fabric, the maintenance of cathedral worship, and the more frequent celebration of Divine Service in the cathedral."

We do not observe in Mr. Colquhoun's pamphlet, any explanation of the reasons on which the first proposition of the Plan, viz., that of remodelling the Ecclesiastical Commission, is grounded. We are aware that Mr. Horsman has made a great many violent attacks upon the Commissioners, and he has certainly succeeded in causing distrust and jealousy in the minds of many persons. The only tangible ground of objection however, as it seems to us, is the expenditure of considerable sums in the erection of episcopal residences. We agree with those who lament that so much money has been expended in this way. We are no advocates for the erection of vast and splendid piles of building for the lodging of our bishops. We should have been much better pleased to see Lambeth in its old state, than after the expenditure of 60,000%. on it by the late archbishop. This was, we think, a useless expenditure of money which now remains charged on the revenues of the see. But it seems rather unjust to blame the Commissioners for expending sums in the erection of episcopal residences on the same scale of magnitude which has always hitherto been considered essential to the dignity of the episcopal office. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners have acted on the precedents which they found-have merely carried out the system of state and grandeur which has been hitherto recognised, and which invests the episcopate of England with all the external attributes of the Peerage. We apprehend that this proposition of remodelling the Commission is a concession to the feeling of the House of Commons; but it seems very problematical whether a better Commission can be obtained. The station and the character of the members of the present Ecclesiastical Commission, inspire the fullest confidence in the integrity of its administration. The

Church property could not be in the hands of a better Commission. All that seems wanting is that the Law should regulate the proceedings of that Commission, and point out the course which they are to pursue. If paid Commissioners are appointed, we shall, in the first place, have so much of the Ecclesiastical funds wasted in salaries; and in the next place, the result will probably be, to give a certain number of hangers on of government, or adventurers, pensions and Ecclesiastical influence. We do not want to see Mr. Horsman salaried by the Church, though we admit that his agitation has done some good as well as harm. We should say, Let the present Ecclesiastical unpaid Commission be limited and tied down to any extent; but let us have them in preference to any paid Commissioners appointed by government. We dread jobbing in the latter case; and the funds to be dealt with are at once so sacred and so very large in their amount, that there ought to be the highest securities for strict integrity of administration.

With reference to the second and third heads of the Plan, Mr. Colquhoun has the following explanatory remarks:

"First, I notice the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd heads of the scheme, which, as your Lordship will observe, relate to the present incomes of the bishops, the sources of their income, and a possible application of the surplus. We had to notice, that the revenues of the Ecclesiastical corporations, whether bishops or chapters, were, for the most part, derived from land; and yet, that this landed property, great in extent and value, is managed on principles which individual proprietors have long set aside as wasteful. It is generally held on tenures (leases for lives, or terms of years, with fines and small reserved rents) which obtain an occasional bonus and immediate returns, by a large sacrifice of the real income of the property. Nor is this tenure satisfactory to the lessee; for, it may be brought to an end, as has been done in certain cases, and is now more likely than ever to be effected through the intervention of Parliament. In this manner there is uncertainty on all sides: the possession of the property is, in fact, divided, and divided between parties, neither of whom have an interest in expending money on permanent improvements. That the loss thus occasioned to the Church must be large, is unquestionable, however difficult it may be to fix the precise amount. We have, however, some data, which enable us to conjecture it.

"In regard to one portion of the cathedral property, the legislature has already acted, and has placed the separate prebendal' estates under the control of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, leaving them to be managed on the same principles on which private property is regulated. When the prebendal estates were managed by the prebendaries, they produced to the Church, as may be seen by reference to the Report

1 I use this as a generic term, comprising both the separate estates of prebendaries, and those of other Ecclesiastical offices in cathedrals. But besides these the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have now vested in them the estates of sinecure rectors.

on its Revenues in 1835, an income of 60,000l. per annum: not exceeding one fourth of the real annual proceeds of the property. These have now been ascertained to reach 240,000l. per annum, and it is calculated that, under the system of management now adopted by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, the available income will be at least 120,000l. per annum, or double their former amount.

"In the same Report the average net income of episcopal estates is placed at 160,000l. It is actually nearer 170,000l.

"I am far from saying that we should gain as much by a change in the management of episcopal estates. It is only due to our prelates to remark, that their estates, especially of late years, have been managed better than the separate chapter estates. Still, the vice of the system, to which I have referred, remains: no man will give a sum of money as a fine, without receiving a full equivalent for the advance; and the age and circumstances of the bishop will often make that equivalent more than a full one. Besides this, the bishop cannot be expected to make permanent improvements, where he may never reap the advantage: and the lessee is deterred from making them, both by the uncertainty of his tenure, which every agitation of this question unsettles, and by the fact that his outlay would enhance his fine.2

"There is no doubt, therefore, that the increased income from episcopal property would, under a better system, be large. If we apply to episcopal property the same principle of calculation which is applicable to the prebendal estates, the 160,000l. per annum given in the Report as their income, would represent an actual value of 640,000l. per annum, producing, under an altered system of management, an actual available income of 320,000l. per annum. It would be quite indefensible, that, when we need all the income that the Church can yield, we should throw away wantonly a yearly income of above 150,000l. per annum; an income which would endow 1500 clergymen with 100%. per annum, supply pastors to 1500 parishes, and be the instrument of giving instruction to three or four millions of people."

In order to complete this view of the funds which may be attainable for Church Extension, we must refer to a subsequent part of Mr. Colquhoun's pamphlet, where he points to an improved system of managing the property of the deans and chapters.

"The estates of the chapters are still managed by them, as by an independent body. They are still subject to the evils of fines, and to the waste which fines must always occasion, when paid to a party who has a passing interest in the property. The consequence is (as in the case of the bishop) that the intentions of Parliament are defeated. Parliament intended (if I rightly conjecture) to give to the members of chapters a fixed income. Their income varies, and may rise to a large

2 Mr. Finlaison made an estimate, founded upon a great number of life and year leases, of which he ascertained the years outstanding, and the ages of the existing lives,—and his calculation was, that the average share of the whole fee, in the possession of the Church, at any time under the present system of leasing, was only twenty-three per cent.-the remaining portion being in the lessees.

amount from the falling-in of fines. Parliament designed that this large property should be administered so as first to supply the chapter; secondly, to yield a large surplus for the pressing wants of the Church. The system of fines (as we need not again repeat) stops the improvement of the land, and makes the surplus dwindle away. The ChurchRevenue Commissioners have stated the cathedral corporate property to yield 200,000l. a year. It may be estimated that, if dealt with upon the improved system, that income would be doubled. Here again we may set down an income of 200,000l. a year as lost to the Church. Are we wrong in urging your Lordship to a prompt revision of this? The yearly income of the Church now abstracted, without benefit to any branch of it, stands thus, on the most moderate estimate :

£350,000 per annum."

We observe with satisfaction that a Commission has been appointed, with the object of investigating the subject of Church property, and ascertaining how it can be made more productive. The character of a measure of this kind depends chiefly on the animus with which it is undertaken, and the principles of those who are to take part in it; and in both these respects we see reason to hope for advantage to the Church's cause from the Commission. It has certainly not arisen from any feeling adverse to the Church, and it comprises several names which afford a sufficient pledge for the friendly character of its proceedings, and the intelligence and zeal which will be brought to bear on them. In point of fact, we may presume that the appointment of this Commission arose in no inconsiderable degree from the steps taken by Lord Harrowby and others last spring, and which this pamphlet relates. There cannot be the slightest doubt that, by a different system in the management of Ecclesiastical property, large sums may be raised for Church purposes in England. A measure of the kind has been actually in operation for many years in Ireland. When the Church Temporalities Act for Ireland was passed in 1833, the Irish Ecclesiastical Commissioners, constituted by that Act, were empowered to sell to the lessees of Ecclesiastical property a perpetual right to the lands they held, subject to a rent equivalent to the amount of the rent and renewal-fines which they had previously been in the habit of paying. We believe that several hundred thousand pounds have been paid in Ireland for the purchase of such perpetuities, and the amount ought to have been, and was evidently intended by the legislature to have been much larger; but the Ecelesiastical Commissioners, in their estimate of the value of lands for the

purchase of perpetuities, valued the lands, not according to their real and actual worth, which the Act of Parliament actually directed to be done in very plain terms, but according to the old conventional value which had been assumed by the bishops as the basis for calculating their renewal-fines, and which was in all cases much less than the real value, and in many cases extremely So. So that the tenants, by this very partial proceeding of the Commissioners, which ought to have been the subject of Parliamentary inquiry, were most unfairly benefited at the expense of the Church property. We trust that those who are interested in the English Church property will be on their guard against any similar sacrifice to the Church tenants in this country; and will so narrowly sift and examine any measure which may be brought forward, that there may be no mistake against the Church's interests. We hope that they will carefully and diligently consider all the details of the working of such a measure quite as much as the general principle, or else their labour may be in a great degree frustrated.

The increased amount which may be actually raised from the Church property by a different management cannot fail to be considerable. Even if we were to suppose that Mr. Colquhoun's estimate of 350,000l. per annum were somewhat too high (which we have no grounds at present for assuming), still, if we deducted 25 or 50 per cent. from his estimate, the income left would be one of the highest importance. We should have, by some arrangement of this kind, a permanent fixed income secured to the bishops and to the chapters, who might still continue to manage their own lands; and we should gain perhaps from 200,000l. to 300,000l. per annum, for endowing parishes in destitute localities.

There is another measure proposed in this Plan, which is essential, in order to remove a very crying evil, and one which brings great odium on the Church. We refer to the last head, which recommends the annexation of canonries and minor canonries to ill-endowed benefices in popular districts. Under the present system, canonries are almost invariably held with parochial benefices; but, as there is no restriction as to the value of those benefices, it generally happens that those who have sufficient interest to be appointed to canonries have also sufficient interest to obtain the wealthiest parochial benefices. Thus cathedral preferment is heaped on the wealthy incumbent, who has no need of it, while the poor and hard-working clergyman is passed over. This is the sort of thing which is sure to be laid hold of by the enemies of the Church. Nepotism, or the exhibition of worldly interest in any shape, lowers and degrades the Church, and strengthens its opponents. To annex canonries to rich benefices