aware that he was bringing upon himself much trouble, and no slight expense; but such considerations had no weight upon his mind; nor was he tempted by any solicitations, though very strong ones were made, to change his resolution. Amongst others, he received a formal application from the Lord Lieutenant, and nearly the whole Magistracy of the county of Essex; but though he concurred with them in giving full credit to the gentleman, in whose favour they had interested themselves, for his agricultural exertions, and his great activity as a county magistrate, he yet declared unequivocally in his answer, that he could not on that account connive at a simoniacal contract; a contract, of which he had in his possession the clearest proof; which he considered as pregnant with the worst consequences to the Established Church; Church; and which therefore he felt himself called upon, in his episcopal character, firmly to resist. The same paramount principle of public duty had induced him some time before to withhold his assent to an appointment by the East-India Company to a chaplaincy in Bengal. As the transaction alluded to was in its consequences of great importance, and was so considered by the Bishop, I shall give the account of it in his own words. "The Charter of the East-India Company requires, that the Chaplains whom they shall appoint, shall be approved by the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Bishop of London. The Clergyman therefore elected on this occasion applied to me for my approbation: but as I had been informed, upon unquestionable authority, that he was a very improper person L person for the situation, I peremptorily refused to confirm the appointment. This produced much clamour, violence and obloquy from him and his friends; and amongst other things I was threatened with a Mandamus from the Court of King's Bench. But I stood my ground, and carried my point. I was also strongly urged and called upon to assign my reasons for the opposition I had made to him; but I refused to give any, except that I thought him an unfit person for the place; conceiving the power given me by the charter to be perfectly discretional. By this resistance, and the final, though reluctant, acquiescence of the East-India Company, the right of the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of London to refuse their assent, without assigning a reason, is fully established; and it is on this account that I leave the transaction on record, for the information of my successors in the See of London; it being a matter of the utmost importance to the interests of religion in our EastIndia settlements." To this I am enabled to add, that since this opposition, which marks in a strong point of view the Bishop's firmness of mind, in a matter which nothing but spirit and energy could have accomplished, the Company have been much more careful in recommending clergymen of approved principles and morals, than they had formerly been. Some of the Directors in particular have paid, much to their honour, peculiar attention to this subject; and there can indeed be no question, that it is of the utmost moment, in a country like India, where there is no general ecclesiastical establishment, that the services of the Church should at least be performed by men deeply impressed with the dignity of their sacred function, and able and zealous in the discharge of its duties. In April 1800, Lord Auckland presented a Bill to the House of Lords, the object of which was to render it unlawful for persons divorced for adultery to intermarry with each other. This unhappily failed; and it was matter of very sincere regret to the Bishop, that a measure, as he conceived, imperiously called for by the increasing profligacy of the times, recommended by every motive of expediency, and sanctioned by the most express declarations of Scripture, should not have been permitted to pass into a law*. During its progress * The absolute necessity of some legislative measure to check the progress of adulterous intercourse, cannot |