e expense of managing this corporation
exceeded its revenue. Dr. Lang visited England, and protested against
its object and enormous cost. By the recommendation of Archdeacon
Scott,[206] it is said, all these lands, excepting certain glebes, were
resumed by the crown, and the church and school corporation was
dissolved.

The colonial governors never questioned the status of the episcopal
clergy as the established church. A presbyterian congregation in New
South Wales, who had sustained their form of worship without a minister
for many years, applied, through Dr. Lang, for assistance in supporting
a clergyman. They were informed that the governor rejoiced in the
liberality they had already displayed, and did not doubt its future
sufficiency! At Bothwell, where a great majority of presbyterians
resided, Arthur stipulated that the church erected at their
solicitation, should be given up whenever a minister of the "established
church" might arrive in the district. Even money to assist the erection
of St. Andrew's Church, Hobart Town, was, at first, lent on the bond of
Messrs. Hopkins and John Walker, lest the secretary of state should
demand its repayment.

The agitation of ecclesiastical rights was discouraged by the
government, and the social dependence of the settlers silenced the
murmurings of discontent. Arthur, little inclined to weaken the
exclusive claim of the Anglican church, gave but L100 per annum to two
ministers of the presbyterian church stationed in the interior, and L150
to the minister at Hobart Town; and when the presbyterians of Launceston
applied for similar help, the refusal was decided and cold: they were
informed that, in the opinion of the governor, the episcopal church was
fully sufficient for the wants of the town. They were not, however,
discouraged, and applied to Dr. Lang, who soon sent them a minister--the
Rev. J. Anderson.

The title of the English clergy to exclusive support, became a question
of great imperial moment. The discontent in Canada led to a canvas of
the subject in the British parliament, and it was avowed by Sir George
Murray,[207] the secretary of state, that the principle of a dominant
church was both pernicious and untenable. He recommended the practice of
sharing fairly among all churches the revenues appropriated to religion.
These views were soon published in the Australian papers: they gave a
new aspect to the relations of ecclesiastics, and opened a way for a
definit