een used in the Act in mere
contradistinction to the clergy of the Church of Rome. They further
urged that the limited construction sought to be put upon the term by
the Anglicans was plainly negatived by the thirty-ninth section of the
Act, wherein the words "incumbent or minister of the Church of England"
were expressly employed. Such terms, it was said, would not have been
used by the framers of the Act if they had regarded them as synonymous
with "Protestant Clergy," as used in other clauses. "The manifest
intention of the Act," said the Dissenters, "was to provide for a
_Protestant_--as distinguished from a _Roman Catholic_--clergy. The
provision for the establishment of parsonages and rectories is a mere
matter of detail, which cannot be allowed to override the larger
intention so plainly evidenced by other sections." The Presbyterian
body took higher ground than their non-Anglican brethren. The Church of
Scotland had been expressly recognized as a Protestant Church by the Act
of Union of England and Scotland in 1707. It was therefore contended
that the ministers of that church were entitled to be considered as
"Protestant Clergy;" and this contention was sustained by the English
law officers of the Crown in 1819. The opinion expressed by those
learned officials was acted upon, and the Presbyterians of Upper Canada
put forward claims to a share of the Reserves. Their claims were
allowed; whereupon other Protestant denominations followed their
example, and demanded, as "Protestant Clergy," to participate in the
provision made for them. The private and public quarrels which ensued
between leaders of the different sects kept the country in a state of
chronic disturbance; while the greed displayed by professed ministers of
religion furnished a striking practical commentary upon the doctrines
taught by the Founder of all Christian faiths. Opinions were obtained
from eminent lawyers as to the respective rights of the various sects,
and as to the true meaning of the Constitutional Act. The most opposite
conclusions were arrived at by different lawyers, and it became manifest
that no apportionment satisfactory to all the claimants could be made by
any tribunal. The Church of England meanwhile contrived to secure the
great bulk of the spoils. According to a return to the House of Assembly
of lands set apart as glebes in Upper Canada during the forty-six years
from 1787 to 1833, it appears that 22,345 acres were so set apart