§ MR. GEDGE (Walsall)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether, in view of the resolution passed by this 791 House on the 11th April, 1899,* and of the fact that since that day thirteen clergymen have received ecclesiastical preferment in the gift of the Crown who were members either of the English Church Union or of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, or of both, the Minister who recommended the respective appointments satisfied himself, in accordance with the said resolution, that the clergymen in question would obey the law as declared by the Courts which have jurisdiction in matters ecclesiastical.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe hon. Gentleman has been good enough to supply me with the names of the gentlemen he refers to. Of these I find he holds me responsible for four. As a matter of fact, I am only responsible for three. The fourth was not a Crown appointment. With regard to these three, one appointment was made before the resolution was passed, another was not an appointment at all, but the result of an exchange, and the remaining one was in respect of a poor living which had lapsed to the Crown because it could not be filled, and had been unoccupied for some years before the appointment was made. These gentlemen who have been appointed have all given a formal promise to obey their Bishop.
§ MR. GEDGEIf I may be allowed to say so, the answer the right hon. Gentleman has given, so far as it affects himself, is quite satisfactory. The remaining appointments to which the question referred were made by the Lord Chancellor, as to whom the right hon. Gentleman can, no doubt, give similar information.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI have not made inquiries of my noble and learned friend, and I think it would be more convenient if a question were put to him in the other House.