§ MR. WYLDsaid, that when the inhabitants of Cornwall represented to the Government last year that they ought to have a separate diocese created, the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary for the Home Department said he could not entertain the question until the re-organization of other dioceses in England, besides that of Exeter was being arranged. He was afraid that if the inhabitants of Cornwall were obliged to wait for that step to be taken they might have to wait a long time. The right hon. Gentleman also said that he trusted that the increased facilities in regard to travelling would put an end to the inconvenience which had been felt by the people of Cornwall in consequence of their bishop residing at a distant part of the diocese. But that great inconvenience had not been removed. The county of Cornwall stood by itself. The diocese of Exeter was without a parallel. It now included the county of Cornwall, contained an area of 2,000,000 square acres, and a population of more than 1,000,000. From the residence of the bishop to the extreme point of the diocese was nearly 120 miles, exclusive of the Scilly Isles, which was about twenty miles from Cornwall. The Archbishop of Canterbury thought that the present diocese of Exeter ought to be divided, and his Grace and the bishops and clergy of the Archdiocese of Canterbury in Convocation assembled had adopt- 932 ed a memorial expressing that view. The Bishop of Exeter had exhibited those good qualities, and exercised all the superintendence which it was possible for a prelate to do, but it was physically impossible for one man to attend to the requirements of the diocese, and the bishop was in favour of the severance proposed. Moreover, the Chapter of Exeter and the clergy of Cornwall had joined in a recommendation for the severance. The want of a new bishop was exceedingly felt in West Cornwall, and it was not merely a modern requirement, for Henry VIII. had proposed to create a new bishopric there. He trusted that the Government would be prepared to satisfy the wishes and wants of the people of that part of the kingdom, and he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If Her Majesty's Government will sanction the severance of the county of Cornwall from the diocese of Exeter, and the erection of that county into a separate See?
§ MR. F. S. POWELLsaid, he hoped the House would allow him to offer a few remarks upon this subject in its more general aspect, and he did so because, in the letter of the right hon. Secretary for the Home Department to the Archbishop of Canterbury, last year, the question of a bishop for Cornwall was blended with the question of more bishops throughout England. When the Reformation of the English Church took place it was intended to extend the number of bishops by twenty, but that idea was not carried out, and since that period the great increase of the population had increased the want of bishops. He believed that all who had an opportunity of coming into contact with the bishops must have felt that they were an overburdened and overworked body of men. As a practical man, he feared that the idea of a large extension of the episcopate must be abandoned for the present. It would be in vain to ask the House of Commons to give the country some thirty or forty more bishops, in accordance with the requisitions of some more sanguine churchmen, but a more moderate course had been proposed. The third and final Report of the Cathedral Commission recommended the creation of four new bishoprics—namely, Westminster, Southwark, Cornwall, and the division of Gloucester and Bristol. During the late sittings of the Convocations, there was a remarkable concurrence of opinion. The Convo- 933 cation of Canterbury recommended three new bishoprics—namely, Southwark, Bodmin or Truro, and Southwell, and the Convocation of York, three—namely, St. Alban's, Southwark, and Bodmin or Truro. Both Convocations agreed that the populations inhabiting the dioceses of London, Manchester, Exeter, and Lichfield, were those which ought to be served by an augmentation. His own opinion was, that if the Church were allowed to be free in this matter, and were granted some assistance from the Episcopal Fund in the hands of the Commission, there would soon be sufficient funds. If the same temper and spirit were shown in regard to dioceses as had been exhibited in reference to parishes, there would result from the action of the friends of the Church a subdivision of the dioceses, and the same advantages would follow as now flowed from a subdivision of parishes. He hoped that the expressions made use of in the last cathedral Report would be received by the Government with favour. There was a growing opinion out of doors in favour of an increase of the episcopate, and this was especially manifested on every occasion when members of the Church met together, and especially in the Congresses at Bristol, Manchester, and Oxford. He was sure that great benefit would follow to the Church if a considerable and speedy increase were made in the number of its chief pastors, who, he believed, were gaining in public estimation. No inconvenience would arise from acceding to the concession asked by the hon. Member for Bodmin.
§ MR. AYRTONsaid, he hoped it would not go forth that there was any purpose of increasing the number of bishops from three to thirty. He thought that the hon. Member for Bodmin (Mr. Wyld) had only done a natural thing in bringing forward that subject, considering the constituency he represented; and that the hon. and learned Member for Cambridge (Mr. Powell), acted upon by a like influence, also naturally favoured an addition to the number of Church dignitaries. But it would, in his opinion, be a great misappropriation of the funds under the control of the Ecclesiastical Commission if a set of new bishoprics were now to be created and endowed. As to the endowment of new bishoprics by means of money raised by Churchmen, it would be time enough to deal with that proposal when the money had really been subscribed for it. [Mr. F. S. POWELL; In one case £9,000 934 has been promised.] The clergy did not desire an increase of episcopal authority. If anybody sought to gather from a clergyman what his idea of a bishop was, he would find that he regarded a bishop as a person who held an exalted station as a prize for superior learning or some other qualities, and that the last thing he would admit was that a bishop ought to exercise authority over him. The real want of the Church was not more bishops, but more efficient ministers, who would devote themselves to benefiting and instructing the poorer classes of the community, and bringing within the pale—he would not say of the Church, but of the religion of the country—masses of the people who were in as complete a state of atheism or heathenism as the inhabitants of Central Africa.
§ SIR GEORGE GREYsaid, that the question of the hon. Member for Bodmin was entirely confined to a division of the diocese of Exeter, by separating from it the county of Cornwall. On that subject the opinions of the Government were expressed very fully in a letter which he had addressed at the beginning of last year to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and which had been laid before Parliament. In that letter he had stated the objections of the Government to the adoption of that scheme. It was impossible to treat the diocese of Exeter as an exceptional case, or to deal with it without any reference to other dioceses, as indeed had been implied by the speech of the hon. Member for Cambridge (Mr. Powell.) He was aware that a strong desire existed in some parts of the diocese of Exeter for its division, and that a contest had already commenced between the towns of Bodmin and Truro as to which of the two should become the cathedral city in the event of such a division taking place. He gave all due weight to the considerations founded on the very large area of the existing diocese of Exeter; but there were six other dioceses with larger populations, and some of them with a very extended area, and in some of those six a desire had also been expressed in favour of their division. That was the case in regard to the diocese of Durham some years ago, but now the desire for its division had considerably abated, owing to the activity of the late and present bishops of Durham, and zeal that had been shown in the efficient discharge of their episcopal duties. A similar wish had likewise been strongly expressed in respect to the diocese of Win- 935 chester, and claims had been set up for the creation of a bishopric of Southward, as had also at one time been the case as to Westminster. In his letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury to which he had referred, he had said—
Looking to the whole of England, it will be seen that there are several dioceses which, although they do not quite equal that of Exeter in extent of area, yet combine the two elements of a very extensive area and a very large population. If, therefore, Her Majesty should be advised to accede to the present proposal, and to direct measures to be taken with the concurrence of Parliament for the creation of a separate See for Cornwall, it would scarcely be possible to refuse to entertain similar applications in respect of other dioceses, and great inconvenience would result from the separate consideration of each case, apart from its relation to the whole country and to other dioceses.With regard to the diocese of Exeter, he believed that no bishop had been more active in the discharge of his duties while his years and his strength enabled him to attend to them than the venerable prelate who now presided over that diocese; but, considering his advanced age, it was impossible that the diocese could now derive all the benefit which it formerly enjoyed from his personal superintendence. Still it is not necessary to assume that the diocese of Exeter must necessarily suffer from a deficiency of episcopal supervision, the bishop having made an arrangement by which, under the authority of an Act of Parliament, he had appointed an ex-colonial bishop to assist him in his duties of a spiritual nature. With regard to the general question, the Government felt that it was one involving many important considerations, and they did not think there was at present any such necessity for a general revision of the boundaries of dioceses as demanded the immediate attention of Parliament. The Archbishop of Canterbury, in a letter to him on the subject of the division of the diocese of Exeter, said he found—That there was no indisposition to raise a considerable sum of money in the diocese towards the endowment of a bishopric for Cornwall;and in his reply to his Grace he had said—But Her Majesty's Government do not understand that the whole of the requisite endowment for a new See would be thus provided. If any considerable portion of such endowment, or of other expenditure incident to the creation of a new See, would have to be provided out of the funds in the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commission, it would be a matter for grave consideration whether it would be more conducive to the highest 936 interests of the Church, and the spiritual welfare of the people, that these funds should be appropriated to an increase of the episcopate, than that they should be applied as they are now in increasing the means of spiritual instruction in places where existing endowments for the clergy are confessedly inadequate.If four or five new bishoprics were created, a sum of from £20,000 to £30,000 a year would have to be deducted from funds which were now being applied most usefully for the benefit of the Church and the spiritual welfare of the people, in the augmentation of small livings and the employment of additional clergy in populous districts. He did not think it would be expedient to divert existing funds from those purposes. As to the spiritual wants of Westminster, he had not heard recently of any complaints of the Bishop of London being unable to superintend that part of the dioceses; and if a new bishopric were created there, he (Sir George Grey) thought it would be a diversion of money from objects of great importance to one not really required. Considering the present greatly increased facilities of communication by railway and by post, which facilitate the superintendence of a diocese of large extent—and considering also the zeal and activity evinced by many of the bishops, he did not think that any sufficient ground existed at present for entertaining the general question of a readjustment of the boundaries of dioceses, nor could he hold out any hope to his hon. Friend that the Government could now recommend the Crown to take steps for dividing the diocese of Exeter.