ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSIONERS FOR ENGLAND, a corporation with per petual succession and a common seal, and with power to take, purchase, and hold real estate, notwithstanding the statutes of mortmain."—Burns' Eccles. Law by Phillimore. The ecclesiastical commissioners consist of 311 the bishops of England and Wales, the deans of Canterbury, St. Paul's, and Westminster, the two chief justices, the master of the rolls, the chief baron, and the judges of the prerogative and admiralty courts; and also nine lay members, seven to be appointed by the crown and two by the archbishop of Canterbury. The lay commissioners, including all the judges, to be members of the united church of England and Ireland. 6 and 7 Will. IV. c. 77, and 3 and 4 Vict. c. 113, down to 29 and 30 Vict. c. 111. The queen is empowered, by 13 and 14 Vict. c. 94, to appoint two, and the archbishop of Canterbury one (lay members of the church of England), by the title of church estates commissioners. The ecclesiastical commis sion thus constituted is the result of certain reports made by commissioners previously appointed by the crown. The object of the existing commission is best explained by a reference to the instructions given to the original commissioners. "To consider the state of the several dioceses of 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; 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 may render them more 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." The ecclesiastical commission was permanently established in the year 1835. In order that it should be provided with a fund to enable it to carry out such schemes as should appear to it desirable, the seven best endowed sees were laid under a contribution amounting in all to the annual sum of £22,800. In addition to the income thus provided, several canonries in the various cathedrals are abolished, and other ecclesiastical preferments are extinguished, and the emoluments of the whole are vested in the commissioners. The ecclesiastical commissioners are required to lay before her majesty in council such schemes as appear to them best adapted for carrying out the purposes of the act. It is provided that no proceeding which requires the com
mon seal of the corporation is to be finally concluded, nor is the seal to be affixed to any deed, unless two at least of the episcopal commissioners are present, and consenting. Notice of every scheme is to be given to any corporation, aggregate or sole, affected thereby; and the objections, if any, are to be laid before her majesty in council, together with the scheme. The scheme, if it receive the royal assent, is to be gazetted, and thereupon acquires the power of an act of parliament. By 19 and 20 Vict. c. 55, the duties of the church building commissioners have been transferred to the ecclesiastical commissioners. The latter body have now, therefore, in addition to their previous powers, authority to divide or to unite existing parishes, and to create new districts. Such are, very briefly, the powers of the ecclesiastical commissioners. The policy which led to the appointment of that commission is not a subject for our consideration. But it is easy to see that the influence for gocd and evil of so powerful an institution, over the church of England, is enormous; and it cannot be matter of surprise that its pro ceedings are watched with scrupulous jealousy. As a result of its deliberations during 23 years of its existence, two new bishoprics have been created and endowed, and a considerable number of small livings had been augmented.
On the other hand, it must be observed that much indignation has been excited by the expenditure of large sums, on the purchase and, improvement of episcopal residences. It is, no deubt, fitting flint the episcopal office shoUld be furnished with appliances suitable to the position and dignity of a bishop; but the peculiar character of the revenues of the ecclesiastical commissioners must be borne in mind in applying those revenues. The funds of which they are composed have been violently diverted from the original purpose of the donors. Public necessity only can justify such an act. The plea put forward is the inequality of the revenues of the clergy, and the insufficient amount of the incomes of many benefices. But it may fairly be questioned whether it is a proper application of those funds to promote the convenience and luxury of those who are already liberally endowed.