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Ordnance , and the duke informed His Majesty , that they were indebted to roe for a great improvement in its fabrication . On my saying" that I ought to be ashamed of myself , inasmuch as it was a scandal in a Christian Bishop to instruct men in the mode of destroying mankind , the Kinganswered , * Let not that aifiict your
conscience , for the quicker the conflict , the less the slaughter / or in words to that effect . I mention this to do justice to the King ; , whose understanding it was the fashion to decry . In all the conversations I had with him , he appeared to me to be not at all deficient in quickness or intelligence . * ' P . 150 . *
Political changes did not sever the Duke of Rutland from the bishop . We have an interesting eorrresponcleace between them while His Grace was in Ireland , The duke , speaking of 4 < the accession of Jenkinson" to
the Pitt ministry , says broadly , « His price was a peerage S so much for the worth of the title of Hawhsbury . The bishop , advising His Grace with respect to the treatment of the Catholics ,
gives it as his opinion that " Popery must be watched , intimidated , restrained . ' He then suggests a notable 44 stroke of policy , "—a Regium Donum of forty or fifty thousand a-year would have a great effect C
In 1781 , the bishop was constrained Jby ill-health to contemplate the resignation of his professorship at Cambridge . He had three years before intimated to Mr . Pitt * 'the master of
the fates of bishops , his wishes for any piece of preferment which would enable him to da so ; for with the salary of Regius P *> ofessor , he says , he was worse provided for than any of his brethren , and without it he would
have had a church income of only twelve hundred a year . It went very much against him * be adds , to renew his application to Mr . Pitt ; but it could not be helped . On the death , therefore * of the Bifthop of Durham
he wrote , not for that bishopric , but merely expressing a hope that some management might take place which would permit him to resign his professorship ., without ruining his famil y Mr . Pitt returned a laconic answer , the point of which was , that
civewmstances put M out of his power to promote his Lordship ' s wisibes * Thie bishop sent aft ajaswejr which .. he knew wguId offend the higjti spirit pf Mr . Pitt ; but his awn spirit w # s , ob high as die minwterV ; < xnd&e dis-
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dained to conceal his chagrin * In the answer he stated that he was Tnor-e hurt at Ms not having mi occasion of considering Mr . Pitt as his private friend * than he was at his neglect of hint as a minister . Having recorded the correspondence , the bishop calmly appeals to posterity to decide upon his conduct and condition . As
members of that august tribunal , we must pronounce that his lordship would have been more entitled to that admiration which his talents and general character seemed fitted to excite , tf
with so much private property , he had judged that he could afford to be independent of a minister and a court that regarded him with known dislike .
The month after this correspondence bad passed , the bishops were convened , at the desire of Mr . Pitt , to deliberate on the Dissenters * application for the repeal of the Test and
Corporation Acts . Only Watson and Shipley were for the repeal ; and the former , as a proof of courage , moved that the names of the voters , pro and con 9 as well as the decision of the
majority , should be sent to Mr . Pitt . This was in 1787 . The fate of the application is well known : it was renewed in 1789 and again in 1790 , with the same ill success . The following passages relate to this affair :
" In a conversation I ttien had ( 1790 ) with Lord Camden , President of the Council , I plainly asked him if he foresaw any danger likely to result to the church establishment from the repeal of the Test Act - he answered at once , Wone wh&tever . On my urging * the policy of conciliating the
Dissenters by granting" their petition ) his answer made a great impression on ray mind , as it shewed the principle on which great statesmen sometimes condescend to act . It was this : —Pitt was wrong- in refusing the former application of the Dissentersf but lie must be now supported ci The cause of the Dissenters was * much
injured by some indiscreet expressions of Dr . Priestleyj relative to the approaching fall of all civil and ecclesiastical establishments ; though , justly speaking * , Dr . Hartleyy I think , was . more answeruble for such an opinion than Dr . Friestley , Wfbo had probably adopted it from the
writings of the former . Dr . Hartley's famous bi > ok ,, entitled , ' Observations on Man , hie Frame , his Duty and his Expeclations , ' was fit ** jpublished in FP 49 . TJhe ei £ hty . f »»« proposition of that book jm y * * ' It is , pi * bfcble that tell Hm > oivil # oyen& * rtt ! s mill he oflrertumed ¦ % ' * ti&
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136 Review . —Life of the Bishop of Landaff .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1818, page 136, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2473/page/56/
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