FROM THE

LONDON GAZETTE of JANUARY 25, 1839.

At the Court at Windsor, the 12th day of December

1838,

PRESENT,

The QUEEN's Most Excellent Majesty in Council.

WHEREAS by an Act, passed in the session of Parliament held in the sixth and seventh years of the reign of His late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled "An Act for carrying into "effect the reports of the Commissioners ap

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pointed to consider the state of the Esta"blished Church in England and Wales, with re"ference to ecclesiastical duties and revenues, so far as they relate to episcopal dioceses, revenues, and patronage," reciting, amongst other things, that His said late Majesty was pleased, on the fourth day of February, and on the sixth day of June, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, to issue two several commissions to certain persons therein respectively named, directing them 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; and to consider also the state of the several cathedral and collegiate churches in England and 1839. Wales,

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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; and reciting, that the said Commissioners had, in pursuance of such directions, made four several reports to His said late Majesty, bearing date respectively the seventeenth day of March one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, and the fourth day of March, the twentieth day of May, and the twenty-fourth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six; and reciting, that the said Commissioners had in their said reports, amongst other things, recommended that commissioners should be appointed by Parliament for the purpose of preparing and laying, before His Majesty in Council, such schemes as should appear to them to be best adapted for carrying into effect the following, amongst other, recommendations; and that His Majesty in Council should be empowered to make Orders ratifying such schemes and having the full force of law; and that the sees of Saint Asaph and Bangor should be united; and that the bishops of the see of Saint Asaph and Bangor should be elected alternately by the dean and chapter of Saint Asaph and by the dean and chapter of Bangor; and that power should be given to determine the future mode of confirming such acts of the bishop of the united see as might require confirmation by a dean and chapter; and that upon the first avoidance of either of the sees of Saint Asaph or Bangor, the bishop of the other of the sees proposed to be united should become, ipso facto, bishop of the two sees, and thereupon become seized and possessed of all the property, advowsons, and patronage belonging to the see so avoided; and that two new sees should be erected in the province of York, one at Manchester, and the other at Ripon; and that the

diocese of Manchester should consist of the whole county of Lancaster, except the deanery of Furnes and Cartmel; and that the bishops of the two newly erected sees should be made bodies corporate, and be invested with all the same rights and privileges as were then possessed by the other bishops of England and Wales; and that they should be made subject to the metropolitan jusisdiction of the Archbishop of York; and that the collegiate churches of Manchester and Ripon should be made the cathedrals, and that the chapters thereof should be the chapters of the respective sees of Manchester and Ripon, and should be invested with all the rights and powers of other cathedral chapters, and that the members of them, and of all other cathedral churches in England, should be styled deans and canons; and that, in order to provide for the augmentation of the incomes of the smaller bishoprics, such fixed annual sums should be paid to the Commissioners, out of the revenues of the larger sees respectively, as should, upon due inquiry and consideration, be determined on, so as to leave as an average annual income, to the Archbishop of Canterbury fifteen thousand pounds, to the Archbishop of York ten thousand pounds, to the Bishop of London ten thousand pounds, to the Bishop of Durham eight thousand pounds, to the Bishop of Winchester seven thousand pounds, to the Bishop of Ely five thousand five hundred pounds, to the Bishop of Saint Asaph and Bangor five thousand two hundred pounds, and to the Bishops of Worcester and Bath and Wells, respectively, five thousand pounds; and that, out of the fund thus accruing, fixed annual payments should be made by the Commissioners, in such instances and to such amount as should be in like manner determined on, so that the average annual incomes of the other bishops respectively should be not less than four thou→ sand pounds, nor more than five thousand pounds; and that fit residences should be provided for the

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Bishops of Lincoln, Llandaff, Rochester, Manchestery and Ripon; and that none of the proposed alterations affecting the boundaries or jurisdiction of any diocese, or the revenues belonging to any see, the bishop of which was in possession on the fourth day of March one thousand eight hundred and thirtysix, should take effect until the avoidance of the see, without the consent of such bishop:

It is enacted, amongst other things, that the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being, the Lord Archbishop of York, and the Lord Bishop of London for the time being, John Lord Bishop of Lincoln, James Henry Lord Bishop of Gloucester, the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, the Lord President of the Council, the Lord High Treasurer or the First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the time being respectively, and such one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State as should be for that purpose nominated by His Majesty under His royal sign manual (such Lord Chancellor, Lord President, Lord High Treasurer or First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Secretary of State being respectively members of the United Church of Great Britain and Ireland), the Right Honourable Dudley Earl of Harrowby, the Right Honourable Henry Hobhouse, and the Right Honourable Sir Herbert Jenner, Knight, should, for the purposes of the said Act, be one body politic and corporate, by the name of "the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England," and by that name should have perpetual succession and a common seal:

And it is further enacted, that the said Commissioners should, from time to time, prepare and lay before His Majesty in Council such schemes as should appear to the said Commissioners to be best adapted for carrying into effect the thereinbefore recited recommendations,

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and should in such schemes recommend and pro pose such measures as might, upon further inquiry, which the said Commissioners were thereby authorised to make, appear to them to be necessary for carrying such recommendations into full and perfect effect; provided always, that nothing therein contained should be construed to prevent the said Commissioners from proposing, in any such scheme, such modifications or variations, as to matters of detail and regulation, as should not be substantially repugnant to any or either of the said recommendations:

And it is further enacted, that when any scheme, prepared under the authority of the said Act, should be approved by His Majesty in Council, it should be lawful for His Majesty in Council to issue an Order or Orders ratifying the same, and specifying the time or times when such scheme, or the several parts thereof, should take effect, and to direct in every such Order that the same should be registered by the registrar of each of the dioceses the bishops whereof might or should be in any respect affected thereby; and in any newly created diocese, by such person as should be for that purpose named in such Order, which person should, in such last mentioned diocese, become registrar there, and so continue as long as he should demean himself well in his office :

And it is further enacted, that every such Order should, as soon as might be after the making and issuing thereof by His Majesty in Council, be inserted and published in the London Gazeite.

And it is further enacted, that, so soon as any such Order in Council should be so registered and gazetted, it should in all respects, and as to all things therein contained, have and be of the same force and effect as if all and every part thereof were included in the said Act, any law, statute, canon, letters patent, grant,