will. And the humility is, surely, anything but blameable which stoops for a time to even an inferior degree and inferior duties than those which he has already exercised. For I see no weight in the argument that holy orders cannot be repeated without profanation. In the first place, it is a matter of doubt whether the first orders were valid or no, and, in the very fact of fresh orders being given without a formal renunciation of the former, it is plain that the fresh orders are tacitly "sub conditione." But, secondly, there is nothing, as I conceive, in the nature of ordination which makes it profane to repeat it on just grounds, or reasonable scruple on the part of the Church or its rulers. Ordination stands on a different ground from baptism. It is not a new creation, but a solemn devotion of a man to a particular office, accompanied by prayer, and, as we believe, an accession of the Holy Spirit. But though a man can be only once regenerate, he may be often renewed and quickened by the Holy Ghost, and there is no reason, a priori, why he should not receive an outward ordination (as he certainly may receive an inward call) to a new sphere of action in the Church, as well as to a new office in it. I do not say that this has ever been the practice of the Church, though I still think that something very analogous to it may be found in Acts xiii. But I say this to show the difference between the two cases of re-baptizing and re-ordaining, and that the same risk of profanation does not attach to the last as, I admit, does in every doubtful case to the former. Accordingly, I need not remind you that the great body of ancient Christians allowed the validity of baptism (the matter and words being correct), whether conferred by heretics, schismatics, or laymen. But though the ancient Church never re-baptized, they most certainly re-ordained in the case of the Meletian and Novatian clergy, as appears from Theodoret, "Eccles. Hist.," l. i. ix., and "Conc. Nicen.," can. 8. Still, I have no right or desire to judge devout and learned divines of another national Church. If they come to sojourn among us, satisfied with the commission which they have received, or if they desire our help in their efforts to convert the heathen, I gladly meet them as Christians and fellow-labourers. I rejoice sincerely that Christ is made known so widely through their means. I gladly admit them (as I should desire myself to be admitted in Germany or Holland) to the communion of our Church, and to all that interchange of good-will and good offices (as in the case of the missionary societies of our Church) which is essential to our carrying on the Gospel work in concert. But I am not inconsistent with these feelings if I think that the difference between us, though it should not interrupt our communion, is in itself a misfortune to be remedied. Nor do I feel the less love and reverence for their character and talents, when I earnestly wish them to become in all points like ourselves, except those sins of infirmity, of which I am mournfully conscious. I remain, dear Sir, Your sincere friend and servant in Christ, REGINALD CALCUTTA. TO MRS. R. HEBER. Sandheads, Feb. 5, 1826. I GET this letter ready to send by the pilot, who expects to be able to leave us in the course of the morning. We have a beautiful day and a favourable breeze. The strenuous measures which Government took to secure my horse a passage have proved abortive. They were very kindly meant, and I have reason to believe that I have to thank for them the zeal of Mr. Lushington, who appears to have taken a good deal of trouble on the subject. I am now quite well. I cannot help thinking that both my illness and yours proceeded, in part, from the agitation of this second sad parting. I should have been unworthy of you could I have left you without a severe pang. We are both of us, however, in God's hands; and, as it is not to please ourselves that we are now separated, I have hope in Him that he will bring us together again in happiness, and our separation will be much shorter than the last! God bless you! REGINALD CALCUTTA. I enclose a letter to the Bishop of Oxford, concerning the books intended for All Souls library, which I will thank you to send by the Grenville, as well as the package. Our cuddy party is, in a good degree, made up of sick officers returning to Europe, miserable spectacles, alas! from Prome and Arracan. I at first expected a dull and uninstructive party, but, as usual, I found persons from whom I could learn a great deal. One officer was one of the first explorers of the Macquarrie river in New South Wales, is excessively fond of natural history, and has corresponded with Sir Joseph Banks and Humboldt; another of our passengers, a young civilian, has visited many parts of Kemaoon which I have not seen, and flatters himself that he has had a sight of a real unicorn! One of the poor invalids below has died, and there are some others very weak and ill, but who will, I trust, recover strength as we get out to sea. Mr. Robinson and I take it by turns to read prayers to them, and find both them and the ship's company very attentive. I have also found the cuddy party not only willing but anxious that I should read evening prayers as on board the Grenville and Discovery. TO HIS GRACE THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. On Board the Bassorah Merchant, Bay of Bengal, Feb. 15, 1826. MY LORD,It seems my fate to be able to address your Grace from on board ship only. I am now again engaged in my visitation, and hope, by God's blessing, during the next five or six months, to complete the circuit of the southern stations of the Presidency of Madras, and the Syro-Malabaric Churches in Travancore, besides, if the state of the monsoon allows, paying a short visit to Ceylon. I trust again to have the honour of writing to your Grace before the conclusion of my journey, but the immediate cause of my present letter is to request your directions and assistance in enabling the Indian clergy to marry, under certain circumstances, without the canonical preliminaries of banns or licence. The custom was for the civil servants of the Company to obtain the permission of the Governor, and for the soldiers to produce a similar written licence from their commanding officers, while the few who did not fall under one or other of these descriptions were only required, I believe, to give a written assurance to the clergyman that they knew of no impediment to their legal union. For several years back, however, in all marriages of civilians of rank, or of commissioned officers, and, generally, wherever there was wealth on either side, the supreme courts of judicature of Calcutta and Madras, and the Governor of Bombay, have taken on themselves to issue marriage licences. Their power to do this is very generally questioned, and seems to rest on a very unsound foundation, while the fees demanded by their officials are complained of as a heavy grievance. Still the measure, though at first opposed by the clergy, has been at length generally acquiesced in; and Bishop Middleton, as I understood, made an ineffectual appeal to the Board of Control, to get the prerogative transferred from the Court of Judicature to the bishop and his surrogates. He issued, however, a letter to his clergy, shortly after his arrival, enjoining a more careful adherence than they had formerly shown to the regular hours of solemnizing marriages, and forbidding them strictly to perform the ceremony without either banns, or a licence from the usual authorities. And, in consequence of this order, the Reverend Mr. Goode, chaplain at Poo nah, having refused to marry a soldier who was under marching orders, and who could not remain in cantonments a sufficient time for the publication of banns, had a long and angry correspondence with Major-General Sir Lionel Smith, which was referred to me a short time before I left Calcutta to embark on my present voyage. In comparing the major-general's arguments with the facts which he states, and those which have come to my knowledge from other quarters, it certainly does appear that the grievance complained of is neither imaginary nor trifling. A soldier may be, and often is, ordered to march, at a very few days' notice, to distances where a woman, not being his wife, cannot follow or accompany him, while months, and even years, may elapse without his being stationary for three weeks together in a place where there is a resident chaplain. There are also many stations at which detachments of soldiers are fixed which a chaplain only visits alternate months, or sometimes four Sundays in the year. Indeed it has been only within the last two years, by the great exertion of Archdeacon Barnes in Bombay, and by my own influence with the Supreme Government, that even this kind of occasional and itinerant service has been provided for. But at such places as these, it is plain that banns are impossible or nugatory, while, setting aside the fact that the Indian price of a licence is quite beyond the means of a soldier, it does not appear that persons in his situation of life, or such females as he is likely to marry, are of that "state or quality" to which, by canon ci., the granting of a marriage licence is restricted. It must also be borne in mind, that these restrictions press with more severity on soldiers and the usual dependents on a camp, than on any other persons of the same rank in life. Their courtships are, in this country, proverbially short; and it is necessary that they should be so, since the number of Christian females from whom they can choose is very small, while the miseries and dangers to which an unprotected woman is liable in India are such as to make it highly desirable that widows and female orphans should remain as short a time unmarried as possible. Nor is it possible to become acquainted with the temptations, and almost inevitable ruin of body and soul to which an European soldier, without a wife, is exposed in India, without feeling the propriety of throwing as few obstacles as possible in the way of lawful marriage. It is a galling circumstance, too, that these restrictions only apply to members of the Church of England, and those places which have the residence or occasional visits of a clergyman. The parties have only to go over to the Church of Rome, and the priest will unite them without trouble, and at the shortest notice. Where there is no chaplain within a certain distance, the commanding officer does the same. And in the residencies, where there are ministers of the Scottish Church, I have myself known a person, who, though of that nation, had for several years attended our worship without scruple, who bethought himself of his paternal creed out of pure good husbandry, and because his approaching marriage could be celebrated with less expense and delay than it could be according to the rules of the Church of England. Nor are the clergy of the two rival communions at all backward to contrast their liberty in these particulars, with the expensive and burdensome restrictions to which the members of our Church are subjected. The consequence is, as I have stated to your Grace, that, so far as soldiers are concerned, the canons and Bishop Middleton's injunctions have, in most parts of India, remained a dead letter. The chaplains have, nearly without exception, gone on in their former course of marrying soldiers and camp-followers on the simple certificate of the officers commanding the regiments to which they belong. They plead in excuse for this conduct that a similar liberty is used by all his Majesty's military chaplains, when on foreign service; that the Marriage Act does not extend to India, and the canons are inappli cable, while an attempt to enforce them would embroil them with the military officers, on whose good-will depends all their comfort and much of their usefulness, at the same time that it would act as a direct encouragement to vice, and produce much inconvenience and misery to many helpless individuals. Your Grace will have already perceived that I regard their case as a strong one, and I trust that I shall not be thought to have gone too far in my compliance to the necessities of the country in the following rules, which I have forwarded through the archdeacon for the provisional guidance of the clergy till your Grace's further directions could be obtained, for which I at the same time stated my purpose of applying. from whom he receives communications connected with the military part of his flock, and that I have found it desirable that, so far as can be done, all other military officers should be prevented from interfering on any ground with the chaplain in the performance of his duties. And it is also probable, that in any difficulty which may arise as to the marriage of a soldier, the commandant of the station will be more free from undue bias, and more open to the chaplain's objections. I have also thought it necessary to assign some period for the previous notice, in order to give the chaplain time for seeing the parties, and making any inquiries which may be necessary. With the same view of publicity I have suggested to his Excellency the Commander-in-chief the propriety of having the names of all soldiers or military persons intending to marry inserted in the orderly-book of their regiment or detachment, and read at the head of companies, at least four days before the celebration of the ceremony. That the permission to marry shall proceed from the officer commanding the regiment or detachment in the first instance, and having received the signature of the officer commanding the The first rule permits chaplains to "celebrate the marriages of military persons, soldiers, female followers of the camp, suttlers, and others subject to martial law, under the rank of commissioned officers, without banns or licence, and by virtue of a written permission signed by the commanding officer of the station, garrison, or detachment, to which such soldier or military person belongs." The second provides that "such permission must be presented to the officiating clergy-station, &c., be forwarded by him to the man at least two days before the celebration of the marriage, unless, for some urgent cause, he may see fit to be satisfied with a shorter notice." The third directs the clergyman, "if any doubts arise as to the propriety of the connexion, to make inquiry without delay, both personally from the parties and otherwise; and should it appear to him that any lawful impediment exists, to suspend the ceremony till further satisfaction, reporting the same immediately to the commanding officer, and, if need be, to the archdeacon and the bishop." Your Grace will observe that I have directed the clergy to receive the certificate of permission not (as now) from the commanding officers of regiments, but from the commandant of the station, garrison, or detachment. My reason is, that this last is the usual person whom the chaplain has to consult, and chaplain, and that both these officers be especially desired to make due inquiries as to the fitness of the union, and, more particularly, their age, condition, &c. The measure which I have as yet ventured on relates to military persons only beneath the rank of officers, inasmuch as the inconveniences which they suffered were the greatest, and they were the only description of persons from whom I had a direct complaint; while I was sensible that anything which should extend further would be likely to produce a jealousy in the supreme courts, and might possibly (from its consequences with property, inheritance, &c.) lead to consequences which I was myself unable to foresee. Your Grace will not fail, however, to observe that there are many subaltern officers to whom the payment of so high licence fees may be very in convenient, while the publication of their banns is liable to the same difficulties as those of the soldier. And there are very many persons in India engaged in civil or commercial pursuits, in whose case the publication of banns is quite nugatory, while their means and rank in life are by no means such as to make a licence procurable or even proper. There are many thousand families of what are called the "half-caste," or "country-born," scattered up and down India, engaged in the cultivation of indigo, or employed in the different studs, farms, silk manufactories, &c., which the Government have established in their territories. A Christian of this description may be resident (where there are many such) in an humble sphere of life at Etawah, or Mynpooree, in the Dooab. If he desires to marry a female of his own degree, he must now, if the canons be complied with, go to keep a residence at Agra, where the nearest chaplain resides, a distance of seventy miles from his home and property, in order that his banns may be published. Now, not to mention that such an absence from home would be ruinous, perhaps, in more ways than one, to both the parties, it is plain that the publication of banns so far from his own neighbourhood, and in a place where his face and perhaps his name is unknown, could answer no good purpose. On the other hand, if he prefers a licence, he must get two householders in Calcutta, a city which he has never seen, and from which he is distant eight hundred miles, to make oath, and enter into a bond that he and his intended wife are of full age, and that there is no impediment to their union, and he is to pay high fees for an instrument, the issuers of which can know nothing of him or his connexions. Accordingly a man thus situated either goes to the nearest station for merely the day of marriage, having the banns published in his absence and pro forma, or watches the opportunity of some chaplain passing through his neighbourhood, in which case he endeavours, generally with success, to persuade him to marry him without either banns or licence, though never (as I am assured) without inquiry; or he has recourse to some of the neighbouring priests, who ask no questions at all, or to the lay magistrates, among whom there are many who feel a great reluctance, and some who display a very unfortunate facility in undertaking not only this but other ecclesiastical functions. If I once was inclined to suggest as a remedy for these mischiefs the appointment of a sufficient number of surrogates. To this, however, there are in the present state of India many objections. If these surrogates were appointed by the bishop, the legality of their licences would be hotly contested by the Supreme Court, a contest in which Bishop Middleton was by no means encouraged to embark, and which would very possibly lead to a painful and mischievous disunion between the bishop and his Majesty's judges. the Supreme Court had the appointment, I really do not know who they could get to serve the office. The magistrates, who are civil servants of the Company, I feel almost persuaded would not, inasmuch as great jealousy exists between the King's courts and the Adawlut, and the Indian civilians dislike nothing so much as being drawn by any means into contact with English law and English attorneys. I myself should not wish the clergy to receive commissions from an authority which I am inclined to think an usurpation, and I should be still more unwilling to transfer to them any part of the odium which belongs to the stamp-duty and fees of marriage licences. At the same time your Grace will observe that the creation of surrogates would not meet the evil, inasmuch as a large portion of those persons who cannot have recourse to banns are equally precluded by poverty from obtaining a licence. Nor if the whole system of surrogates were carried into its fullest extent, would anything be really gained in point of security against improper marriages. No end would be gained by making some of the clergy surrogates, since, scattered as they are over a vast extent of country, the applicant for a licence |