and his Accomplices-Limitation of the Elective Franchise-M. Thiers on the State of France and the Success of Louis Philippe's Government-Civil War in Spain-Insurrection at Madrid-The Constitution Proclaimed; its Principles-Honours voted to the Martyrs of Patriotism-Revolution in Portugal.

Deaths-Report of the Select Committee on the Subject-The Re-tural classes, contrasting with general prosperity in the gistration Act; its Provisions, Machinery, and Operations-The Vital commercial classes. He was enabled to exhibit a more Statistics of England-The Operation of the New Poor Law-The Workhouse Test-Reduction of Newspaper Stamp Duties-Excessive favourable state of the finances than he had anticipated in Commercial Speculation and Overtrading in 1836-7—Gigantic Tran- his estimate the previous year. The total income of the sactions in American Houses-Joint Stock Banks-Commercial Collapse nation was £46,980,000, its total expenditure £45,205,807, in America and consequent Monetary Embarrassments in this Country which would give a surplus of £1,774,193. Of this -Paralysis of Trade-Bursting of Bubble Speculations-Our Foreign Relations The Policy of Russia-Speech of Lord Dudley Stuart- surplus all but £662,000 would be absorbed by the interest Cracow State of France-Attempt on the King's Life-The Infernal on the West Indian loan, which had now become a perMachine-Arbitrary Measures of the Government-Freedom of the manent charge. There was an addition of 5,000 seamen to Press extinguished-Abolition of the Charter-Execution of Fieschi the navy, for which the sum of £434,000 was required. This addition seemed to be quite necessary from the feeble condition of the navy as compared with the navies of other nations. On the 4th of March Mr. Charles Wood had stated that the French would have twelve sail of the line at sea during summer; that in 1834 the Russians had five sail of the line cruising in the Black Sea, and eighteen besides frigates in the Baltic. During this period there never were in our Channel ports more than two frigates and a sloop, with crews perhaps amounting to 1,000 men, disposable for sea at any one time, and that only for a day or two. At the same time the whole line-of-battle ships this nation had afloat in every part of the world did not exceed ten. Our land forces voted for the year were 81,319 men, not counting the Indian army. Of these one-half were required in the colonies. France had 360,000 regular soldiers, and three times the number of national guards. Mr. Hume, however, moved that the military force should be reduced by 5,000 men. England," said he, “is a civil, not a military country; and I wish to see an end put to that vicious system which has arisen out of our late warsthe maintenance of a preposterously large military force during peace. No real friend of the government wished them to keep such a force. The tories might. They were consistent men, attached by system to large establishments and great expense; but no well-wisher to the government would support them to enlarge the present unnecessary force, or maintain it without diminution. I think that not merely 5,000 men, but 15,000 men may be saved; and as to Ireland, the putting down the Orange lodges will render the presence of the military unnecessary.”

THE conservative party had got the impression that the commercial interest in the house of commons would swamp the landed interest, in consequence of the preponderance of the representatives of cities and boroughs. But that impression was shown to be a delusion by many votes, and by none more remarkably than by the division on a motion brought forward by lord Chandos on the 27th of April:"That in the application of any surplus revenue towards the relief of the burdens of the country, either by remission of taxation or otherwise, due regard should be had to the necessity of a portion thereof being applied to the relief of the agricultural interest." That interest had been relieved to a considerable extent in a variety of ways during the recent progress of legislation, and especially by the Poor Law Amendment Act, which had been an immense boon to both landlords and tenants. The policy of the motion of lord Chandos was so unsound that Sir Robert Peel, lord Stanley, and Sir James Graham felt constrained to vote with ministers for its rejection. It is probable that several other conservative members followed their example, yet with all this accession of strength from the ranks of the opposition, the motion was defeated only by the narrow majority of 36; the numbers being-for the motion, 172; against it, 208.

On the 3rd of May a gallant attempt was made by Mr. Grantley Berkeley to have ladies admitted to hear the debates in the house of commons, and he carried his point to a certain extent, the motion for their admission having been adopted by a majority of 132 to 90. But it was rendered abortive by the subsequent refusal of the house to adopt the proposal of the chancellor of the exchequer for a grant of £400, to provide accommodation for the fair auditors. For a long time the public had obtained admission as spectators to both houses of parliament only by written orders of peers for the lords, and for the commons by the speaker's order to a seat below the gallery; and either by a member's order, or the payment of half a crown, to the strangers' gallery. But by a regulation promulgated this summer, the privilege of admission by the payment of half a crown was abolished, and the written order of the member was made the only passport, it having been resolved to put an end to the reception of all fees or gratuities by the officers of the house.

On the 6th of May the chancellor of the exchequer brought forward the budget, which placed in a strong light the long standing anomaly of distress among the agricul

The army, however, would cost less this year than last year by £154,000; and the ordnance by £10,000. With the surplus at his disposal, the chancellor of the exchequer proposed to reduce the duty on first-class paper from fivepence to threepence-halfpenny-a suitable accompaniment to the reduction of the stamp on newspapers, already noticed-and to abolish the duty on stained paper; to remit the South Sea duties, amounting to £10,000; to reduce the duties on insurances of farming stock, on taxed carts, and on newspapers. He estimated the total amount of repeals for the present year at £351,000, which would be increased to £520,000 when they all came into operation.

From the annual report of the registrar-general it appears that the annual rate of marriage in England is 8 marriages, or 16 persons married, to every 1,000 persons living, or 1 person in 62 of the population married annually; there are 33 births to every 1,000 persons living, or 1 birth in 30 of the population; and 22 deaths to every 1,000 persons living, or 1 death in 45 of the population. The

A.D. 1836.]

ENGLISH CHURCH REFORM.

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report their opinions as to what measures it would be expedient to adopt on the various matters submitted for their consideration. The commissioners were the two archbishops, the bishops of London, Lincoln, and Gloucester, the lord chancellor, the first lord of the treasury, with several other members of the government and laymen not in office. When the change of government occurred a few months after, it was necessary to issue a new commission, which was dated the 6th of June, for the purpose of sub

marriage rate was highest in the years 1845, 1846, 1850, and four following years, in all of which it exceeded 85 marriages to 1,000 persons living; it was lowest in 1842 and 1843, when it fell below 76 per 1,000. The birth rate was highest (over 34 per 1,000) in 1851, 1852, 1856, and 1857; and lowest in the earlier years of registration, when many births were unrecorded. Fluctuations in the death rate are mainly influenced by epidemics, and by the varying temperatures of different years. In 1849 and 1854, years in which cholera greatly increased the mortality instituting the names of lord Melbourne and his colleagues this country, the rates were 25 and 23.5 per 1,000; and in 1847, when influenza prevailed epidemically, the rate was 24.7 per 1,000. Amongst the healthiest years were 1847, 1850, and 1856, in each of which the rate of mortality was below 21 per 1,000. The cost to the country of the registration system in force in England and Wales is now about £100,000, of which sum £65,000 are defrayed from the poor rates for registrars' fees; and the remainder -consisting of £18,000 for the central establishment, and £17,000 for fees to superintendent registrars, and expenses of registration officers—is defrayed out of the public The portion of the expenditure paid from the national exchequer is annually voted by parliament.

revenue.

The return of Mr. O'Connell and Mr. Ruthven for Dublin having been petitioned against, the committee appointed to try its validity reported, on the 16th of May, that those gentlemen had not been duly elected. Mr. O'Connell had anticipated this result, and the seat for Kilkenny had been placed by a friend at his disposal. On the 1st of June there was a numerous meeting held at the "Crown and Anchor," for the purpose of organising a subscription to indemnify him for the expense to which he had been put in defending his seat. So important were his services deemed to the liberal party at that time, that the very large sum of £3,000 was subscribed at the meeting, and the sum raised ultimately amounted to nearly £9,000.

The measures of church reform that had been adopted in Ireland suggested the propriety of adopting similar measures in England, where the relations between the clergy and the people were not at all as satisfactory as they should be, and where the system of ecclesiastical finances stood greatly in need of improvement. Accordingly, a royal commission was appointed during the administration of Sir Robert Peel, dated the 4th of February, 1835, on the ground that it was "expedient that the fullest and most attentive consideration should be forthwith given to ecclesiastical duties and revenues." The commissioners were directed to consider the state of the several dioceses in England and Wales with reference to the amount of their revenues and the more equal distribution of episcopal duties, and the prevention of the necessity of attaching by commendam to bishoprics benefices with cure of souls. They were to consider also the state of the several cathedral and collegiate churches in England and Wales, with a view to the suggestion of such measures as might render them conducive to the efficiency of the established church; and to devise the best mode of providing for the cure of souls, with special reference to the residence of the clergy on their respective benefices. They were also expected to

for those of Sir Robert Peel and the other members of the outgoing administration. But before this change occurred, the first report had been issued, dated the 17th of March, 1835. Three other reports were published in 1836, dated respectively 4th March, 20th May, and 24th June. A fifth had been prepared, but not signed, when the death of the king occurred. It was, however, presented as a parliamentary paper in 1838.

The first report related to the duties and revenues of bishops. The commissioners suggested various alterations of the boundaries of dioceses. They recommended the union of the sees of Gloucester and Bristol, and of Bangor and St. Asaph. They also recommended the establishment of two new sees, Ripon and Manchester. They calculated the net income of the bishoprics of England and Wales at £148,875. They found that, owing to the unequal manner in which this revenue was distributed, the income of one-half the bishoprics was below the sum necessary to cover the expenses to which a bishop is unavoidably subject, which rendered it necessary to hold livings in commendam. To do away with this state of things, and with a view of diminishing the inducements to episcopal translations, they recommended a different distribution of episcopal revenues. In the second and fourth reports, and the draft of the fifth report, they presented the result of their inquiries on cathedral and collegiate churches. They recommended the appropriation of part of their revenues, and of the entire of the endowments for non-residentiary prebends, dignitaries, and officers, and that the proceeds in both cases should be carried to the account of a fund, out of which better provision should be made for the cure of souls. In their second report they stated that they had prepared a bill for regulating pluralities and the residence of the clergy.

66

On the 13th of August, 1836, an act was passed establishing the ecclesiastical commissioners permanently as one body politic and corporate, by the name of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England." The number of commissioners incorporated was thirteen, of whom eight were ex-officio members-namely: the archbishops of Canterbury and York, the bishop of London, the lord chancellor, the lord president of the council, the first lord of the treasury, the chancellor of the exchequer, and one of the principal secretaries of state, who was to be nominated by the sign-manual. There were five other commissioners, including two bishops, who were to be removable at the pleasure of the crown. The lay members were required to sign a declaration that they were members of the united church of England and Ireland by law established. A subsequent act, passed in August, 1840, con

follows:

:

siderably modified the constitution of this commission. to the report of the commissioners, was, in 1831, as The following were added to the list of ex-officio memBishops, £181,631; deans and chapters, bers: all the bishops of England and Wales; the deans £360,095; parochial clergy, £3,251,159; church rates, of Canterbury, St. Paul's, and Westminster; the two £500,000-total, £4,292,885. The total number of chief justices; the master of the rolls; the chief baron; churches and chapels of the church of England was and the judges of the prerogative and admiralty courts. then 11,825. For the purpose of raising the incomes By this act the crown was empowered to appoint four lay- of the smaller livings, the governors of queen Anne's men, and the archbishop of Canterbury two, in addition bounty received the annual sum of £14,000, the to the three appointed under the former act; and it was produce of first-fruits and tenths, which were formerly provided that, instead of being removable at the pleasure paid to the pope, and at the reformation appropriated by of the crown, the non ex-officio members should continue the sovereign, till queen Anne "granted them for the so long as they should "well demean themselves" in the augmentation of the maintenance of the poor clergy." execution of their duties. Five commissioners are a The ecclesiastical commissioners applied to the same object quorum. The chairman, who has a casting vote, is to be a portion of the surplus proceeds of episcopal and capitular the commissioner present who is first in rank; and if the estates. In order to obtain funds for raising small livings, rank of all the commissioners present be equal, the chair and increasing the efficiency of the established church, the is to be taken by the senior commissioner in the order of income of the archbishop of Canterbury was reduced to appointment. Two of the episcopal commissioners must £15,000; of York, to £10,000; that of the bishop of be present at the ratification of any act by the common London, to £10,000; of Durham, to £8,000; of Winchesseal of the corporation; and if they, being the only two ter, to £7,000; of Ely, to £5,500; of St. Asaph and episcopal commissioners present, object, the matter is to Bangor, to £5,200; and of Worcester, to £5,000. By these be referred to an adjourned meeting. The commissioners reductions the sum of £28,500 a-year was saved. The may summon and examine witnesses on oath, and cause other bishops were to have incomes varying from £4,000 papers and documents to be produced before them. They to £5,000. No ecclesiastical dignity or benefice was to were empowered to prepare and lay before the sovereign be in future granted to any bishop to be held in comin council such schemes as shall appear to them best mendam. These regulations, it was expected, would lessen adapted for carrying into effect the recommendations con- translations, by leaving only three or four sees objects of tained in their five reports. These were to be ratified by temptation. Acts were passed for separating the palatine an order in council, which order must be registered by the jurisdiction of Durham from the diocese, thus abolishing a registrar of the diocese within which the place or district remnant of the feudal system; also for extinguishing the affected by the order is situated, and it must also be pub-secular jurisdiction of the archbishop of York, and the lished in the London Gazette. Thenceforth the order has the same force as if it had been included in the acts of parliament for carrying into effect the reports of the commissioners.

bishop of Ely, in certain districts, and for imposing restrictions on the renewal of ecclesiastical leases. Other measures of church reform, relative to residence, pluralities, and collegiate churches, having been abandoned for that session, a bill was passed suspending for one year appointments to cathedral dignities and to sinecure rectories.

By Act 6th and 7th Will. IV., cap. 71, a board of commissioners called the "tithe commissioners of England and Wales," was appointed, the object of which was to convert the tithes into a rent-charge, payable in money, but varying in amount, according to the average price of corn for seven preceding years. The amount of the tithes was to

Christmas, 1835; and the quantity of grain thus ascer tained was to remain for ever as the annual charge upon the parish. The annual money value was ascertained from the returns of the comptroller of corn, who publishes

The total number of benefices in England and Wales is 11,730, of which 9,669 are in the province of Canterbury, and 2,059 in the province of York. In consequence of the smallness of the livings, many clergymen hold benefices without doing any duty; others do duty in two parishes that are contiguous to one another. By an official return to parliament in 1815, it appears that there were 798 incumbents non-resident from sinecures, dilapidated churches, lawsuits, absence on the continent, &c. Alto-be calculated on an average of the seven years preceding gether, the number of non-resident incumbents was upwards of 4,000; while the number of resident incumbents was 5,847. A great change was effected by the ecclesiastical commissioners; for the returns for the year 1850, made by the respective archbishops and bishops in Eng-annually, in January, the average price of an imperial land and Wales, give the total number of benefices in which the incumbents were resident as 8,077; while the non-resident were 2,952. Upwards of 8,000 had glebe houses. A considerable number of the benefices were under the annual value of £20, while sixteen of them were worth £2,000 and upwards. The rectory of Stanhope, in Northumberland, was worth £4,863; and Doddington, in Cambridgeshire, was of the annual value of £7,306. The income of the church of England is derived from land tithes, church rates, pew rents, Easter offerings, and surplus fees. The distribution of these revenues, according

bushel of wheat, barley, and oats, computed from the weekly averages of the corn returns during the seven preceding years. The commissioners reported in 1851 that voluntary commutations had been commenced in 9,634 tithe districts; 7,070 agreements had been received, of which 6,778 had been confirmed; and 5,529 drafts of compulsory awards had been received, of which 5,260 had been confirmed. Thus, in 12,038 tithe districts, the rent charges had been finally established by confir:ned agreements or confirmed awards.

One of the most important measures of the session was

A.D. 1836.]

THE NEW MARRIAGE ACT.

289

the Marriage Act, by which dissenters were relieved from occurred, and so it was essentially defective. It only proa galling and degrading grievance, one which, of all others, vided records of the performance of the religious ceremonies most painfully oppressed their consciences. Notwithstand- of baptism, marriage, and burial, according to the rites ing their strong objection to the ceremonies of the estab- of the established church, affording, therefore, an insuffilished church, they were obliged, in order to be legally cient register even for the members of that church; while married, to comply with its ritual in the marriage service, for those who dissented from it, and consequently did not the phraseology of which they considered not the least avail themselves of its services for baptism and burial, it objectionable part of the liturgy. By this act marriages afforded no register at all. Even this inadequate system were treated as a civil contract, to which the parties might was not fully and regularly carried out, and the loud and add whatever religious ceremony they pleased, or they long-continued complaints on the subject led to an inquiry might be married without any religious ceremony at all, or by a select committee of the house of commons in 1833. without any other form, except that of making a declaration This committee received evidence from clergymen of the

of the act before a public officer, in any registered place of religious worship, or in the office of the superintendent registrar. This was a great step towards religious equality, and tended more than anything, since the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, to promote social harmony and peace between different denominations.

In connection with this reform, an act was passed which supplied a great want-namely, the uniform registration of births, deaths, and marriages. The state of the law on these matters had been very unsatisfactory, notwithstanding a long series of enactments upon the subject. Although the law required the registration of births and deaths, it made no provision for recording the date at which either VOL. VII, No. 337.

established church, parish clerks, members of the legal profession, and persons of all religious denominations, including gentlemen devoted to scientific investigations, and others whose wide-spread inquiries in foreign countries and peculiar facilities for information entitled them to respect. They unanimously agreed to a report in which they stated that they arrived at the following conclusions:-That the subject was urgently important, involving matters of great public and national interest, as well as individual satisfaction and rights and claims to property, and therefore deserving the attention of the humblest artisan, as well as of the most philosophical and statesmanlike inquirer; that the existing law, being imperfect and