IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) :^ 1.0 I.I 1.25 tSi lit 1^ us u L° 112.0 1.8 i^ 1^ 6" Photc^raphic Sd^xCes Corpordticn 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 072-4503 ^1 J CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CiHM/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Cv Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques at bibiiographiques The institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. 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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent 6tre film6s i des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, 11 est filmA A partir de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'im&ges nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants iliustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 »v LV -\\b R/'M/] Toronto, 7di November, 1838. Dear Sir, I have forwarded, this day, to your address, a copy of the Proclamation of Hia Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, on the present state of the Province, witl. the general scope and tenor of which I am fully persuaded every right thinking person will be fully satisfied. You will perceive that allusion is made to the settlement of the Clergy Reserve ques- tion; and I sincerely hope that His Excellency's expectations on that subject may be realized, in the course of the next Session of our Legislature. As it is a question which at present creates more excitement than any other, being used by bad men for mischie- vous purposes, and by many good ones from conscientious though mistaken views, and being anxious as far as possible to prevent the Members of our Church from joining in any object of a mischievous tendency, I am sure you will excuse me for addressing the following observations to you, with a view to their being communicated to the Congre- gation under your charge. I may, I think, claim from yu i ..nd from them full credit for honesty of purpose ; and having been one of the first to claim a support and an equality of rights ^nd privileges for our Church; and having on all occasions, and under all circumstances, contended for her station andlicr interests in this Province, as one of the National Churches, it will hardly be .' ospected that I can be influenced by any other desire in this communication. It is now very near fifteen years since this subject was brought before the House of Assembly by Mr. Morris and myself, a«d an Address to His Majesty was passed, praying ^^ that a support might be granted to the Church of Scotland, from the Reserves set apart for a Protestant Clergy; but in the ev^pfc of these being deemed exclusively the property of the Church of England, then praying «uch support from any other source at the dis- posal of the Crown. At that time, as well as before and since, the Clergy and Members of the Church of England contended that these Reserves were set apart for the exclusive use and benefit of that Church; and believing their claim to be well founded, they have offered a resistance to the sub-division or application of the lands to any other uses, by which unhappily an angry feeling has been created on the part of our Church, and other denominations, against that venerable Establishment. This feermg has been further increased by the injudicious establishment of a certain number of Rectories in the Pro- vince, under the provisions of the Act constituting the Government of these Provinces, which in this particular had been suffered to remain dormant nearly half a ceptury. I have said "the injudicious establishment," and I think it was injudicious, in-as'-much as the lands in most, if not in all cases, attached to the Rectories, must form a very inade- quate support for% Clergyman; and in-as-much as without receiving any material benefit to the Church, their establishment has av/akeued the fears of all other denominations, that the R^cjors will be entitled to exercise* various powers, and demand certain emolu- r^ntl, which 0e Law entitles Rectors in England to exercise and demand. These fears have been worked upon by evil disposed persons, and I am sorry to think there are yet many who call>;out "wolf, wolf," when they know the alarm is utterly false, while I have no doubt there ar©; many who conscientiously believe that there are good grounds for their apprehensions: the latter are entitled to respect — the former to detestation: unhap- pily both, but from wholly different motives, produce the same mischievous effects; and at a time like the pres«pt, when we are threatened by foes within and without with the stibversion of all our Institutions, it is all important that the true state of the case should be well understood, and that it should be generally ifllawn that no person is or cart he sUtycci io any ccclesioffic^ or it /nporai domination hjifim^tablisnmciil of the Rectories. Admitting, for the 8t|tt3 of vgument, that the Rectors were clothed with all the powers * .% [3] r which it is Imagined tliey possess, and were entitled to all the dues which a Rector in Kngland enjoys within his Parish, it may be aiked, upon whom these powers are to be exercised, and from whom these dues are to be demanded? A Rector in En"land is entitled to nothing out of the limits of his Rectory, and a Rector in Canada can certainly claim no more than a Rector in Englaijid. Jf then the claim of ouc of our Canadian Rectors .must be confined tp the limits of his ilectory, vvh»t possible cause for alarm cao there be, when it is known that the Rectories do not in any case extend beyond tbe bounds of the plot or parcel of ground on which thu Church and Burial Gfound |iod Parsonage-house arc situated ? This, from personal examination, I know to be the c*se, and being so, all alarm as to the exaction of Tithes, or Ecclesiastical authority, being ex- ercised by the Church of England must be obviously groundless. But if the limits of the Rpqtorics instead of being so confined >vere more extended, embracing a Township or more, where even then is the cause for alarm? Where are the Courts to give eflect to any Ecclesiasticqil Jurisdiction? and where the means, in the face of a Statute, sanctioned by our Sovereign, of enforcing the payment of Tithes or any other dues, to which a Rector in i^lngland may be entitled; and where, I may add, even amongst the Member* of the Church of England, are the persons who would not object to the exercise of any such powers in this Province, if the Law were unquestionably such as to sanction them. Injudicious and unwise as it was to establish the Rectories, I hope from what I have said that it must be apparent we have nothing of pvil to apprehend from them : and when it is known that no portion of the land reserved for'a Protestant Clergy, from which unquefl» tionably the Church of England was intended to receive support, could legally be applied or permanently set apart in any other mode, lor the use of the several Clergymen of that Church, the principal objections seem to mo to be removed. I am aware that amongst the Members of our Church it is urged, that the establishment of the Rectories betrays an undue preference for the Church of England, and places the Members of the Church of Scoth^nd in the situation of Dissenters, and that when the Rectories were endowed with lands, an equivalent should have been granted to the Church of Scotland. I am ready to admit, that I think it would have been better if the endowment had been deferred until the Law had been so altered as to admit of a grant being made without the estab- lishment of Rectories, and that the two Churches had been placed in all respects on a par, neither being entitled to any power or even imaginary superiority over the other; tut i cannot admit, that because the Government thought proper to establish Rectories, in order to assure to the Clergymen of the Church of England a certain measi're of support, the Ministers aad Members of our Church are in any respect affected, in point of stand- ing, or that the Church of Scotland is less an Established Church than the Church of England, in this Province. The extent of support does not necessarily create an Estab- lished Church, in llie ordina/y acceptation of an establishment. If eo, then the Church of Rome, having its peculiar rights and property secured by Law, must be regarded as the Establislied Church in Lower Canada. The complaint then, that the establishment of Rectories places the Church of England in the situation of an establishment, to the exclu- sion of the Church of Scotland, appears as ill founded as the fears entertained of Eccle- siastical domination, and the collection of Tithes. I give no opinion as to the legality of die proceedings for the establishment of Rectories; it would not bp ppoper for me to de so, even if I had formed one on a close inspection of all the documents, and with ji full knowledge of all the facts, which in truth I have not done ; but it must be envious, that if the Executive Government were disposed to accede to the request to repeal the Patests and abolish the Rectories, they have not the power to do so, ^ny more than they have at their own mere will and pleasure to apportion the Clergy Reserves amongst the various denominations of Christians, or to apply them to any object except that for which the Law has appropriated them. iBbn Governnjent of the Mother Oountrv, admitting the equal claims of the National i6W»ches, has left it to our own Legislature to dispose of all <«llllh S^!gay.-jj-^>.- :-^'aJks~s-^ llttjaM lftl [3] questions relating to tlie Reserved, in such manner as may V)e most advantageous and ac- ceptable tu the people of the Province. Under these circumstances it docs not appear very reasonable or correct to clamour, as many have done, atrainst the E.ceculivc Govern- ment, for not carrying into effect various schemes for the adjustment of this question, which the Law gave them no authority to carry into effect. With respect to the lands granted to the Church of England, I can hardly imagine that any intelligent Members of our Church could l)Cgrudge thom, or seriously desire to sec the Sister Church deprived of them. Instead of indulging in these unworthy feelings let us ask for similar endowments for our own Church, leaving it to other denominations who may desiie such support to make their own applications, but allowing none to mix up their claims or their wishes with our.'. I will venture to say, that such a request on our part, under the auspices of our present Lieutenant Governor, will be attended with the happiest results, and will hereafter leave us no room to complain of any undue prefer- ence shewn to the Church of England. Sir George Arthur has already shown his good will to our Church, by providing for the support of its Ministers in Vandiemen's Land ; and in the midst of the difficulties by which he is surrounded, it \/ould be both unjust and un^enci-ous to withhold from him our cordial support, because he has not, during his short administration, effected for us all the good that we desire. I have been led on from step to step, till the length of my letter far exceeds what I at first intended. I do not know that it can afford you much information or explanation, but if it fails in these respects, it will at all events serve to siiow, thai: if the opinions which I have formed are entitled to any weight, I have no desire to conceal them from the Mem- bers of the Church to which I am proud to belong. I am. My dear Sir, — .^, Very truly Yours*, ARCHIBALD McLEAN,