§ Mr. BOULTONasked the Prime Minister if, in the exercise of ecclesiastical 1992 patronage, he will have regard to the claim of the body of Evangelical opinion in the Church of England for representation both in appointment of bishops and other orders in the Church?
§ Mr. CHARLES CORBETTasked if his attention has been called to the dissatisfaction felt by numerous Churchmen owing to the small share of promotion granted to Evangelical clergy; and whether, in recommending further preferment, he would remember that many earnest Churchmen still wished the Church of England to remain in fact, as it was in law, a Protestant Church?
§ The PRIME MINISTER (Mr. Asquith)I have received representations as to the neglect of the claims to preferment of clergymen belonging to the Evangelical school of the Church of England. I do not, however, consider that this allegation is well founded, as, since the Liberal Government came into power, several important appointments have been filled by the selection of Evangelical clergymen, and in some cases offers have been made which have been declined. For my own part, in making recommendations to the King for the higher positions of the Church, I feel it my primary duty to select a clergyman who, in my judgment, is best fitted to satisfy the particular requirements of the vacant appointment, irrespective of the part in the Church of England to which he may belong, provided always that I am assured of his loyalty to the tenets of the Established Church.