THREATENING A BISHOP.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1490, 22 September 1883, Page 2

THREATENING A BISHOP.

The following letter was sent to the Bishop of Norwich by Joseph Betts, a commission agent, who was arrested for the offence : Right Rev. Sir,—Having recently been appointed chief agent to a secret

society in this oky, whioh has foif its equalisation of property and' of the land of the. United Kingdom to those by whose labour it has been accumulated and cultivated, my directions are first to to write to you, as the spiritual chief in this'division of kingdom, to acquaint you that it is fully recognised by the wage-earning and wealth-producing duss—the laboring classes generally—that you are receiving £SOOO annually for the work that could be very well done at a salary of £SOO, and ''-'that' there are many of your poor curate's who are doing much more real, practical work, who do not receive more than 30s a week for the same. I have therefore, to intimate that if you are not prepared to resign your position as Lord Bishop of thediocese, or will not be content with £SOO per annum, and cause the same declaration to appear in the'newspapers to that effect, to-, gether that you are willing also to return to whom it. belongs, £?000, being the overplus of your deserts for

the past two years, you' must prepare to meet an early death. Taking into consideration, too, that France is now the social model of European nations . .... it is widely felt in England to be a necessity that, such as you and those whWre making literally hell upon earth should be swept off the face of the earthj so that the essence of the true. Gospel may t be preached and practised and felt by all as an equality of spiritual and' temporal benefits. . If you are prepared to give up your State benefice and to win the popularity of the people, and to preach the true Gospel—viz., Heaven and earth' begun to our bodies as well as to our souls—it will be the better for you, and you will enjoy a. long life among your fellow countrymen j but, on the other hand, if the conditions of this letter are not complied with—that you distribute your great worldly wealth to your poor brethren, as an example to others of your clique and'the moneyed class generally—in less than six months your palace will have been demolished, together with your cathedral, and your own life and those of your dearest relations will be forfeited to the rage of the awakened and oppressed poor.— " An Ikvinciblb."