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He has received a copy of the Bill for regulating the cathedral churches in Wales. He had expected some such measures but he regrets that it was not brought in at an earlier period of the session. He begs to offer some comments on the Bill. The first clause extends the two Ecclesiastical Revenue Acts to North Wales and affects not only the chapters but also the sinecure rectories, placing their revenues in a common stock with the English suppressed preferments. Lord Clive tells him that North Wales is to be given priority of claim to the proceeds of the sinecure rectories and an equal claim with the rest of the kingdom to the general fund, but he fears that if this is liberally carried out the residue will be so small that, with heavy demands for new churches, they would scarcely, if at all, be losers by putting in their claim to the common stock. The second clause allots two canonries and no more to St Asaph and Bangor. This and a subsequent clause regarding the income degrades the Welsh below the English cathedrals. He suggests, as a simple remedy, that in each of the chapters of the cathedral churches of St Asaph and Bangor there shall be two archdeaconries and two canonries residentiary and no more in the direct patronage of the respective bishops. It might not be expedient for the archdeacons to be full residentiaries but at least he would give them each 'stallum in choro et vocem in capitulo' and thereby obtain some semblance of equality with the English chapters. The fourth clause suggests an increase of income from sources independent of the cathedral funds. This distinction of income is degrading, and he suggests the addition of a clause enacting that the whole of the revenues arising from the separate estates as well as the divisible incomes of the deaneries and canonries residentiary shall in the first place be appropriated to the endowment of the said deaneries and canonries residentiary, provided that the endowment shall not exceed the sum allotted for the deaneries and canons residentiary of the English cathedrals. The arrangement contained in the fifth clause is similar to that for the canon in residence at York cathedral, but he would not himself like the plan of living in a joint house. As regards the sixth clause, he suggests that the commencement of the separation shall be from and after the provision of a competent stipend for the archdeaconries and that the dignity and office of archdeacon shall no longer be holden by the bishop of St Asaph but shall be divided into two archdeaconries, to be styled those of St Asaph and Montgomery. As regards the seventh clause, Mr Hodgson has between £4,000 and £5,000 which, in his opinion, belong to the diocese of St Asaph. Could not this sum be claimed, as an act of grace if not of justice, and devoted to endowments? The eighth clause protects vested rights and only reminds him of the extreme insufficiency of the income of future deans. There is no reason, because the incomes of the deans of Llandaff and St Davids are augmented to £750, why those of the deans of St Asaph and Bangor should be cut down to the same sum. [Copy. See No. MC1/118.].

He thanks his lordship for a copy of Sir James Graham's Cathedral Churches Bill, which he will lay before the Clerical Committee.

The clergy of his diocese, as well as himself, realise their indebtedness to his lordship and Lord Clive for their unwearied exertions in the good cause. More has been gained than he expected, although perhaps not quite so much as he was unreasonable enough to desire. He trusts that no alteration is to be made with regard either to the number or to the duties of their priest vicars, and he thinks that they ought to be allowed to hold any living within ten miles of the Cathedral. He would also be very glad to have their canonries and prebends retained as honourary and without emolument. To this there can be no objection, such being the case in the English Cathedrals. He desires his lordship to be good enough to communicate this to Lord Clive.

He thanks his lordship for a copy of his speech against the union of the sees of St Asaph and Bangor. He had persuaded himself that they ought not to be united before he joined in a petition to the House of Commons, but his lordship's well-considered speech has greatly strengthened his conviction.

The alteration desired by his lordship was made by the House of Lords in Committee yesterday, as will appear by the enclosed copy of the amended Bill [No. MC1/129].

He encloses No.MC1/131 and also a draft of a petition prepared by him for the St Asaph Clerical Committee. He does not apprehend any difficulty in procuring petitions from almost every parish in the two dioceses of North Wales, and he confidently anticipates that friends in England and South Wales will again come forward to aid them.

He encloses copies of the acts of their first general chapter since the discussions in Parliament [No. MC1/128]. None bore such cordial testimony to his lordship's able and, to a great extent, successful exertions than their bishop. He has little doubt that, unless thwarted by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, they will be able to arrange the resumption of daily choral service in their cathedral.

A reply to No. MC1/136. It is a great encouragement to those who associate in defence of the Church to know that the measures they adopt are approved by those in high places, and that is why he asked for permission to quote his lordship's approving words in their Annual Report which is to be published in November. He will, however, obey his lordship's directions and will not publish them except verbally among the members and friends of the Bath Lay Association.

Address of the clergy of the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol to the Rev. R. W. Huntley, proctor in convocation for the diocese. They have seen with great pain a statement of the Duke of Wellington in the House of Lords that he had not heard of any complaint whatever of any evil arising from the union of the sees of Bristol and Gloucester and that the government of the Church was carried on there to the satisfaction of the inhabitants. They have also seen, with similar feelings, a statement of the bishop of London that the sees had been united with almost the unanimous consent of the Church. They feel it to be an imperative duty to express their dissent from these statements, and desire Mr Huntley to convey these sentiments to their Bishop. [In the form of a circular letter to the clergy of the diocese. See No. MC1/134 (c)].

He is almost afraid, in these days of anticipated rather than existent agricultural distress, to mention the magnitude of the sum which his lordship kindly promised to the Eton Improvements. It was £100. He is inclined to differ from his lordship about the Welsh petitions. He considers it so monstrous that, because Manchester or any other place wants a bishop, Wales should do without, that he would hardly like any petition to have anything more than an allusion to such connection of subjects. Let the Welsh case be set forth as strongly as possible; then there might be a general remark that, whatever necessities exist in other parts of the Church, let them be provided for without interfering with the spiritual complement of Wales. This is the strongest, as it is the simplest, ground for a Welsh petition to take. He thinks that if they do travel across the Marches they had better go beyond Manchester and urge what he did on his lordship's motion in the House, that is, the absolute necessity of facing this difficulty of bishops' seats in Parliament on a larger scale than for one additional see, because it is absurd to go on with a fixed number of bishops while population and all other ranks, orders, and degrees of men are continually increasing.

He has been led to contrast the prospects of 1844 with those of 1843. At that period how gloomy were the prospects at home and abroad! But now the clouds have passed away and the prospect is most serene, except in Ireland and Wales, where the interest of their Church has been too much neglected. It is to be hoped, however, that the Government will now have more leisure to devote their attention to their domestic affairs so that the finest peasantry in the world may become the most loyal subjects of Queen Victoria and that the Welsh, proverbially characterised as the 'honest and loyal Welshmen', will, under a better system of education and a more efficient pastoral superintendence, retrieve their former character and become again the truest sons of their Church and the most faithful adherents of the Queen. With this end in view, therefore, it is to be hoped that something may be done as a compensation for the sums already abstracted for the support of colleges, etc. in Oxford and Cambridge, to place the sons and daughters of Cambria on the same educational footing as those of England, and that something may be restored to the Principality as a compensation for tithes already appropriated to English bishops, deans, and chapters so that their parochial revenues may be brought to an equality with those of the English sees and their parochial clergy enabled to become equally efficient with those of England. It is also to be hoped that, instead of diminishing the number of their bishops and abstracting revenues hitherto spent in the immediate localities whence they accrue for objects foreign to the wills and intentions of the endowers, means may be devised for a more efficient episcopal overseership and a more perfect parochial system.

He asks his lordship to present to the House of Commons the enclosed petition from Whitchurch against the union of the sees of Bangor and St Asaph.

Extract from The [North Wales] Chronicle relating to the proposal of the Earl of Powis to petition for the repeal of so much of the 6 and 7 Will. IV, c. 77 as provides for the union of the sees of St Asaph and Bangor. The writer emphasises the importance of adopting immediate measures for the prevention of the union and deplores the apathy on the subject in the diocese of Bangor.

He will endeavour to procure a copy of The Times and will send the article to his Bangor correspondent to be inserted in their paper. His days are at present spent entirely at Eton, where his boy is severely ill, but he will endeavour to have a conversation with his lordship on their prospects and on any arrangements that can be made in the county to conduce to the success of their object. He saw his lordship's brother at the Eton Debating Society today. He has sent many petitions from co. Denb. to Sir Watkin to present, and it might not be amiss if his lordship could ascertain their fate. Sir Watkin enacts tonight the part of second policeman at the Windsor theatre, and in his histrionic studies he may perhaps have forgotten his parliamentary duties.

He asks his lordship to be good enough to present the accompanying petition of the clergy of the deanery of Pershore against the union of the sees of St Asaph and Bangor. A similar petition will be sent to General Lygon for presentation in the House of Commons. Petitions to the same effect are being signed in every deanery in the diocese of Worcester. He had intended to take with him a petition for the signatures of the clergy at his visitation in May, but the St Asaph Committee expressed a wish that petitions should be presented early in the present session. The petition emanates from the St Asaph Committee, but he has taken the liberty of shortening it. He hopes that his lordship's unanswered and unanswerable speech will eventually be the means of preserving in their integrity the ancient dioceses of St Asaph and Bangor. Lady Emily and Edward have left Stoke, and Edward is looking exceedingly well. He was introduced to Lord Clive when he was last at Stoke. He congratulates his lordship on the excellent speech with which Lord Clive moved the address to the throne. His merits were generally acknowledged.

He acknowledges his lordship's letter permitting them to forward their petition from the deaneries of Cirencester and Fairford. The petition contains the names of all the clergy in the deanery of Cirencester, except three incumbents and one assistant curate, and of all the clergy in the deanery of Fairford, except two incumbents. Several of the names are signed by proxy but not without written authority. They feel themselves called on to deprecate any further union of sees, although their bishop has given his consent to the measure.

The British Magazine has noticed the correspondence which took place last autumn between himself, as the proctor of the dioceses of Gloucester and Bristol, the Bishop of London, and the Duke of Wellington. The bishop of Gloucester is of the opinion that this notice is written in a tone disadvantageous to his character and has therefore given them to understand that he wishes the whole correspondence to appear in print. He therefore wishes to know whether in the opinion of his lordship they will damage the interests of the North Wales bishoprics by acceding to the Bishop's intimation. He encloses copies of the letters [No. MC1/134].

A reply to No. MC2/178. Archdeacon Wilberforce has made a somewhat similar proposition to him, that is, that the junior Welsh bishop should not have a seat in the House of Lords. His reply was that he would hesitate to give his negative to it but that, as a Churchman, he thought it objectionable and invidious and he would be more unwilling to limit the exclusion of the bishop to North Wales than to the Principality at large. He considers the right of a bishop to a seat in Parliament to be of very ancient date, but that does not mean that he would not concur in securing the spiritual blessing without the temporal dignity, although he would be doing so with a pang if that exclusion was limited to North Wales. He would like to talk over the matter with his lordship and one or two of their bishops. Copy.

A reply to No. MC2/183. He agrees with his lordship's opinion as to the length of time during which the Welsh Church has possessed the privileges which they now claim. All he meant to express was that the parliamentary and ecclesiastical rights are not of precisely the same date. He would like to discuss the matter confidentially with his lordship and the North Wales bishops but there is no reason why they should not put forward their claims today as strongly as his lordship thinks expedient.