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Anglo-Maori Warder, Volume 1, Issue 4, 16 May 1848, Page 3

{From the Daily News, Dec. 21st.) The congi UNKNOWN which issues from the crown to deans and chapters to elect a bishop, has been from its, origin, centuries before the Reformation, a mere formality as far as the cathedral bodies were concerned. The 10114 ol the kings of a? well us of other European sovereigns, with the L'ipal see, lor the risjht ut inve-tmsj luhops, were on both sides con* du"tc<l >• nhout uuy regard to a supposed 1 ot inter* fiienee by bubordniute eccleiinstic-tl ftmcuumi i?s. The kin,? rl.uratd 10 admit the bishop to lu* temporalities by while the Pope required that the pall should be received tioin Kame, a* .1 condition ot esinibKiL; spuitu.il power* The deans aud chapterwere meibly the organs of the power which disposed of episcopal set When Henry VIII. fin illy broke with Home, he n,tfur«Uj leit the functions ot the chapter, as

Hp found thriii. Tlic v had no claim to prefer fine! no power to advocate. The king gra«pcd the power of the Pope, in nddiii m to th«t which his predecessors bad exercised ; and adopted as the ministers of tho royM prerogative those who had formerly owned a divided allegiance to their own sovereign and to Rome. There was no rned to guard against n claim of lite cathedral bodies to choose ft bishop. The onlydanger to be apprehended was, that they should persevere ir. obedience to Rome. It was with this view that the much t.ilked of net of 25 Henry VIII , e. 20, was pissed. It wus with mmy others?, for similar purpo&ss repealed under Philip and Mary, and re-enacted by 1 Elir. c. 1. The act provides that the dfun and chapter shall proceed to election of the candida'e named in the king's letter within twelve days after the receipt of the congd d'thrc. and in default of their so doing, it provides that the king may absolutely appoiut the bishop by letters patent. If this dibtiuct and intelligible clause had stood alone, we suspect that Dr. Mercwethcr's memorial, and rnmy of the reclamations which have preceded it, would have remained unwritten. The act of the chapter iasu clearly ministenai, that a mandamus would lie lo compel them to perform it. Probably an indictment for misdemeanor would also lie for disobedience to an act of parliament; but the civil remedy in the Oucen's Bench would be quite sufficient. There arp huud*eds of similar duties cast upon | übiic functionaries by our law; jusiices must f-ign ovrrseirs' accounts without auditing tlicm, nor will the Queen's Bench allow them to refuse. Indeed, we may lay it down a* a sound pioposition, iu morals as well as in law, that when a mandamus lies, conscientious objections are out of place. In almost all offices the party who elects and appoints is different from the party who formally admits. A ministerial duty can never be considered to involve a right of discretion. If any additional proof of the true character of the duly thrown on the chapter were wanting, it is supplied by the act 1 EJw. VI , which recites that the election under the coir-e d'tfire i* a mere form, and not a real elect on, ajid il.nt it is indeed somen uat derogatory to the pieroj iti\e ; nod accordingly proceeds to enact, that certain fc-b shall be paid as provided—no doubt to sonic friend of the good cause and of the pious protector. All tnat the dean and chapter have to do, is to tee lint the confft d'i'lire is in due form. If the minister his forged the queen's signature, they may rcai«t without memorialising. If Dr. Mercwether is really auxiuus to avoid undue resistance to the lawful prerogative of thecrown, he would *till do well to withdraw his remonstrance, which is founded on a misconception, and on an imaginary responsibility. As we hive indeed shown, the act of Henry VHE. does not even trust to the ordinary legal methods of enforcing statutory duties. If the dean am? chapter fail to elect, the right of formal election Inu-cs to the crown, and may be exercised bv letters patent. Ic seems impossible that even ex abutulanfc lautold the royal prerogative could have been better cared for; hut the king who, as it is well known, was accustomed himself to draw and settle his own acts of parliament, had some favourite formulas expressive of his own peculiar taste* and practices, which were liberally appended to his enactm.nis; especially ou matters of After tying up the nominal electors of bisbops by ordinary civil and criminal securities for their "bedienee, and farther providing against their 1 possible contumacy by passing th« j w over altogether in case of need, the king winds up thj net by a string of piamitnircs directed against al. possihls persons who s'lould interfere in any way with the act, or with the riyal supremacy, inc-u'lin? dems nnd chapters who fail to obey the congc d'ihre. Oddly enough, in tins penal clause it is assumed that thry have twenty dajs to O'Jt-y the mandate, while the enacting cl -use allows them only twelve, it is this provision which the Bishop of Eseter justly stigmaiises ns the most outrageous relic of tyranny still esibtinj; in the constitution. It ts, as we have seen, not ouiy oppn&tiou, but wholly superfluous. It is a ghost of extuet peisscu. l>on which tgmpts the appearance of martyrs,