ON Thursday, the 22nd day of November last, sentence was given by the Chancellor of the Diocese of Chester, in a cause of office in the Consistory Court, there promoted by the Rev. R. H. Gretton, Rector of Nantwich, in the county of Chester, against the Rev. J. T. Campbell, Rector of Tilston, in the same county, for preaching in a common Methodist meeting-house, in the Town of Nantwich, and in other similar places in the Diocese. The defendant was suspended from his clerical functions for one year, with a sequestration of his benefice for that time; and costs were decreed against him, amounting to 441. 48. 1ld.

It is said that Mr. Campbell intends to secede entirely from the established church.

(From an excellent Tract, called "Fucts and Circumstances, &c. &c." by the Rev. T. S. Townsend, Rector of Timogue.)

DR. ERCK, the secretary of the Ecclesiastical Commission, now sitting in Dublin, and the editor of the Ecclesiastical Register, states in his evidence, (Commons, page 624, appendix 14)—

"From the best data I can obtain in Leinster, Munster, and Connaught, the tithes, lay and ecclesiastical, average from a sixty-seventh to a sixtieth part of the produce; and in the province of Ulster, they average from a sixty-third to a sixty-ninth part of the produce."

The report states on the calculation of the same gentleman, (245. vii.)

"That the amount of tithe composition in the province of Ulster is 11 per acre, and its proportion to the rental from 1-19 to 1-26.

Munster is 1s. 24d. per Irish acre, and its proportion to the rental from 1-15 to 1-21.

Leinster is 1s. 74d. per Irish acre, and its proportion to the rental from 1-12 to 1-21."

To this it adds,

“Mr. Griffith (the Government engineer) by a totally different process, arrives at a conclusion not very dissimilar. He estimates that the total charges for tithe composition over the whole of Ireland would average 1s. 3d. in the pound, or from 1-15 to 1-16 of the rental, which he adds is calculated upon a rent considerably lower than that actually paid."

The report again states—

"Mr De la Cour, who without any concert estimated the whole of Ireland at only one halfpenny per acre more than Mr. Griffith, gives a list of seven parishes in the county of Cork, the rental of which is 68,000, and the composition 4333, or from 1-15 to 1-16 of the rental. Your Committee have examined no less than eighteen other witnesses upon this point locally acquainted with various parts in the counties in the margin (Kilkenny, Tipperary, Kildare, Galway, Dublin, Queen's County, King's County Cork, Clare, Westmeath, Down,) and the result is a singularly close approximation to the same rate."

It will be remarked that in those calculations the landlord's interest only is taken into calculation. The report states

"That the gross amount of composition, if it extended over the whole of Ireland, would be about 600,000."

Mr. Griffith states

"From the best data I have been able to procure, and from my own knowledge of

the value of land in Ireland, I am of opinion that the gross value of land in Ireland, rated at a moderate rent, may be about 12,715,578."*

This makes the amount of tithe composition, as it is at present, less than the 21st of the rental of Ireland.

Mr. Pierce Mahoney states in evidence

"Since I have been called upon to attend the Committee as a witness, I have inquired into the relative amount of payment for tithe in this country (England) and in Ireland, and I am satisfied that we do not pay in Ireland one-fortieth of the gross produce, or annual increase of the earth, in corn, cattle, &c., as tithe is frequently levied in England; and my sincere belief is, that even according to the tithe law as it stood before 1824, the clergy did not receive in the whole more than from one-third to one-fourth of what they were entitled to demand for their tithe; and I beg leave to add, that in forming this opinion I attempt to survey in my own mind the extent of the annual productions of Ireland which would be titheable here.”—(Evi. Com. 5226.)

Mr. Mahoney here enters into an account of the exports in produce mostly titheable which were carried into Liverpool alone, in the year 1831, the gross value of which came to 4,497,708-7-6; the tithe upon which would amount to more than two-thirds of what is paid throughout all Ireland!

"I am convinced that the generality of the clergy by no means receive the tithe they are entitled to.-By the tithe they are entitled to you mean the full tenth? Yes, they never sought it, nor received it.”—( G. Fitzgerald, Esq., Evi. Com. 175.)

It will be seen from these statements that the tripartite and quadripartite division has already taken place.

The enormity of the incomes of the Irish clergy is another of those violent imputations which have been so constantly and inconsiderately alleged against them. Here again the evidence before the Houses of Lords and Commons refutes the charge, and brands it with falsehood and injustice. Mr. Griffith (Evi. Com. 282, No. 5.) states

"That there are 2450 parishes in Ireland, and 1422 beneficed clergymen-1539 parishes under the composition act, and 911 which are not. The average amount of the composition of tithe (lay and clerical) in those 1539 parishes is 2877. 9s. 6d."

Rating all the tithes as stated in the Parliamentary report (245. xii.) to be 600,0007., and deducting 50,000l., as belonging to bishops, cathedrals, collegiate churches, &c., there remain 550,000l. for the parochial clergy. This sum divided amongst 1422 beneficed clergymen will average to each 386l. 158. 7d.; to this may be added the income of about 90,000 acres of glebe land at 15s. per acre, amounting to 67,500l., (as estimated in the Christian Examiner of November, 1831, page 873), from which deduct the incomes of at least 1000 curates, at 751. each, and the remaining gross income will be 542,500l., which would leave each incumbent 3811. 108. 1d. yearly income; estimating according to report the expenses of collection, losses, &c. &c., at 15 per cent., there would remain 3241. 9s. 10d. as the average income of each incumbent, at present, arising out of tithes and lands.

AUGMENTATION. We hear that the Lord Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, Patron of the Vicarage of Pytchley, in the county of Northampton, has, with the consent of the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, generously augmented the living of Pytchley by the grant of an annuity of 301., and by annexing the same in perpetuity to that Vicarage, under the provisions of an Act passed in the last session of Parliament, for the purpose of confirming and perpetuating augmentations made to small benefices.

Mr. Nassau Senior, in his letter to Lord Howick, states the rental of Ireland to be something under 13 millions, which would give the same conclusion respecting the amount of tithe.

ECCLESIASTICAL INTELLIGENCE.

ORDINATIONS.

Bishop of Worcester, Worcester Cathedral ..........................
Bishop of London, St. James's church, Westminster
Bishop of Gloucester, Gloucester Cathedral...............
Bishop of Lincoln, Buckden, Hunts....................

The Lord Bishop of Chester has postponed his intended Ordination, which was to have been held on the 15th of December, to Sunday, the 13th of January, in consequence of the county election taking place on the former date.

The Bishop of Ely's Ordination will be holden in London, on Sunday, the 3rd of February. Candidates for Holy Orders are desired to transmit the requisite papers to his Lordship on or before the 26th day of January next, in letters less than one ounce in weight.

The Bishop of Lincoln intends to hold his next Ordination at Buckden, on Sunday, the 3rd of March. Candidates are required to send their papers thither to his Lordship before the 20th of January.

CLERICAL APPOINTMENTS.

Head Mastership of the Collegiate Grammar School, Wells.
Mastership of the Ashburton Free Grammar School.
Prebendal Stall, Chichester Cathedral.

Prebendal Stall, Worcester Cathedral.