hat had been assessed. Can, or ought," asked Mr. Bice,
"this state of things to continue? If you depend upon the church-rate
for the maintenance of the church, can you depend upon the present state
of the law to enable you to enforce that payment? It is not sufficient
to assert that the law must be strengthened; if you wish to maintain
such a proposition, you must carry the house of commons with you. Can
you do so? I confess I should like to see, not the person, but the
party, however combined in force or numbers, who could come down to
this house and ask of parliament to grant additional power for enforcing
the payment of church-rates. They would soon find that they miscalculate
the character both of the legislature and of the people whom it
represents." Having thus stated his grievance, Mr. Bice considered the
remedy. He expressed his decided objection to the voluntary system; when
he could be satisfied that the army and navy could be supported, or the
administration of justice provided for on the voluntary principle, then,
and not till then, would he apply it to the church. He also objected
to a distinctive tax on the members of the established church, to the
raising of a fund from pew-rents, and to a graduated impost on the
benefices of the clergy. He further objected to the proposition brought
forward by Lord Althorp; namely, that a sum of L250,000 should be voted
by parliament, for the purpose of maintaining the fabric of the church.
His plan would be different from all these propositions. He proposed to
take the whole property of the bishops, deans, and chapters out of
the hands of those dignitaries, and to vest them in the hands of a
commission, under whose improved system of management it was calculated
that, after paying to their full present amount all existing incomes, a
sum not less than L250,000 might be saved and applied to the purposes
of church-rates. He proposed that there should be eleven commissioners;
five of high ecclesiastical rank; three high officers of state; and
three paid members of the board. He further proposed that in all
cases where pew-rents had been received, or where they could be justly
demanded from the rich, the proceeds should be collected, and placed,
in the first instance, under the control of a parochial committee, who
should be required in ordinary cases to apportion one-fifth of the whole
space in the church to free seats for the poor; in the churches built
under the church buil