that the cathedral ought to be connected with the parochial work of the diocese. The statutes of my own cathedral enjoin that every canon shall be a parish priest. I do wish there should be a close connection between the cathedral and the diocese and individual parishes. We want a body of men who while they are parish priests yet have some connection with the cathedral. We want that the honorary canons shall be no longer honorary. I do wish that in any legislation we may have the nonresidentiary canons or prebendaries should have small endowments, and while connected with the cathedrals should still be working in their parishes. As to what Prebendary Dumbleton said on this point, I remember thirty years ago I wrote a pamphlet on it. I know of one occasion when of the five canons only one man was not too ill or too old to do his duty, and a witty man called it "the chapter of accidents." But the canons ought not to be turned out because they are old or ill. I don't think the bishops or the Crown would like to lose the opportunities they now have of placing a man in a high and honourable position which he is to hold for life. At my own chapter there were a short time ago some men nearly eighty and others over eighty, and yet men who could do valuable work. The Bishop of Chichester has been spoken of as an old man, but there are not many who can do what he does when they come to that age. There are certain offices, such as inspectors of schools, which, to bring into usefulness the non-residentiary body of the cathedral chapter, I regret that the commission has not seen fit to endow them. There is another point on which I wish to say a word or two. In the old foundation cathedrals all the prebendaries were appointed by the bishop, but the residentiary canons were elected from the non-residentiary body to fill vacancies in their own ranks. At Exeter there were 24 canons, 19 of whom were non-residentiary. The bishop appointed the nonresidentiary, and then the residentiary canons elected from them to their own body. That was a good system, but the Act of 1840 put all power into the hands of the bishop. I ask why was that power taken away from the chapter, which was the best body to elect its own members? The bishop appointed the prebendaries, and out of those the chapter elected the canons. That was a great restraint on the nepotism of the bishops. But we have been told that the days of nepotism are past, and that it is impossible for a bishop to crowd the chapter with his sons and his sons-in-law. I hope so. I am not gloomy about the future of our cathedral system, but I believe we shall see a great revival of zeal and energy. It is, however, of great importance to the church to have zealous men besides men of learning in the chapters. I hope some of the cathedral's offices will be kept for the most learned of our clergy. If all this were done they would be of the utmost possible value, and when put into intimate connection with the parishes they would be capable of doing work which no other body in the world can do.

253

LECTURE HALL,

WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 7TH.

The Right Rev. ERNEST ROLAND WILBERFORCE, D.D., Bishop of Newcastle, in the Chair.

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE CHURCH WITH REGARD TO EMIGRATION.

PAPERS.

The Right Rev. the LORD BISHOP OF NEWCASTLE.

In the absence of some who would have brought special qualifications to the task, I have consented to open the subject for discussion to-night, viz., "The Responsibility of the Church with regard to Emigration." I shall endeavour to confine myself strictly to my brief, drawing indeed the outline, but leaving the details of the picture to be filled in by other hands.

L-EMIGRATION.-And first as to emigration itself, written broadly over the history of nations, of families and individuals, is the fact that there are times and circumstances in which the land of their birth becomes too straight for them. Then they go forth, often not knowing whither they go. From the day when the figure of the first emigrant, Abraham, is seen far out on the horizon, "going on still toward the south," to the day on which the last English steamer sailed from one of our British ports, laden with her cargo of living souls, emigration has asserted itself to be a necessity of the human race. But the inquiry this evening is limited to our own country. Now, since the year 1853, up to the end of last year, the number of emigrants of British and Irish origin alone, amounted to 5,648,096, and granting that the remarkable and unprecedented increase in the population of this country since the beginning of this century is maintained (and nearly half a million is being now annually added to the population), and granting also that neither is the land capable of infinite subdivision, nor the labour market at all times able to provide full employment for an indefinite number; then we must expect that the number of emigrants from these shores will in the future at least equal, if it does not exceed, the number of those who have left us in the past. For "Emigration is the safety valve of the labour market," wrote J. S. Mill, and in addition to that love of enterprise and adventure which is inbred in the sons of British soil, besides the necessity laid on some, who for one reason or another can obtain no footing in professions which appear to be overstocked; besides this there are dark shadows resting on many a place and home which drive men and women and children forth in quest of clearer skies and brighter sunshine, and purer air and more wholesome surroundings. But in such an inquiry as this, it must be observed that the stream of

emigration is not uniform in its volume. It rises and falls. It is affected by causes not immediately apparent, and, moreover, it is met by a great return current of immigration. Thus, in 1883, there were 73,804 immigrants of British and Irish origin alone. In 1884 these had risen to 91,356, an increase of 17,552.

Any machinery, therefore, by which the Church may seek to discharge her duty in this matter must be so adjusted as to take account of these fluctuations. While our responsibility manifestly increases, if viewed only on the selfish side, when it has to do not only with those who leave us to found or become incorporated with other nations, but with those also who, after their sojourn abroad, will return to live in our midst, and will help to influence and mould the future destinies of this nation.

II.

PRESENT DECREASE IN EMIGRATION AND ITS CAUSES.-Now just at present there is a great decline in emigration. In 1883 there were 320,118 emigrants of British and Irish origin only. In 1884 there were only 242,179, a decrease of 77,939. Some causes for this intermittent flow in the current of emigration are suggested by Mr. Giffen in the returns made by the Board of Trade to the House of Commons in February this year. He says "To all appearance, emigration as a rule does not take place in times of the greatest decline in trade, but rather in times of prosperity immediately succeeding a period of dulness, and it begins to fall off again when depression returns." I have quoted this expression of opinion to show that when a revival in the volume of trade takes place, and this especially in America, we must expect to see a corresponding rise in the number of our emigrants.

III. What, then, is the responsibility of the Church in this matter? I answer in one word, enormous. While on the one hand I hold that it is no part of the duty of the Church to seek to foster or promote wholesale emigration, yet on the other it seems to me clear that she will fail in her duty if she does not do all in her power to assist those desiring to emigrate, and those who plainly would have a better chance in another country. For it is the part of the Church to care for the physical and social, as well as the spiritual condition of the people of this country. To show in practice that her teaching comes from Him who is the Saviour of the body as well as of the soul, that happiness and prosperity are not necessarily to be held only in reversion for the poorer classes, as an inheritance to be entered on in some remote and future state, but that Christianity has to do with the present, and that it seeks to ennoble that present. That it is concerned with the daily lot of all, and that it strives to better that lot. For it is worse than useless, it is mockery to go down amidst the haunts of vice, or where misery, poverty, and sin unite in one common and encircling chain, and there to preach of purity of conduct and honesty of life, unless at the same time you help to make it possible to be pure, and at least not next door to impossible to be honest. Mockery to preach of the shining crown and the glittering robe and marriage feast of the King's son, to those whose rags keep out no bitter wind, and whose pinched and hungry looks tell of the struggle for a bare existence. Those whom hunger starves into misdoubting practical Christianity in this world, are not likely to be greatly inclined to trust it with their all

for the world to come. Body and soul come from God's right hand, each acknowledges its origin by its action and re-action on the other. The soul is God's throne. The body is man's instrument of worship. The duty of Christianity is to see that the surroundings of each enable it to carry out its functions duly. Now those who emigrate, seek to better themselves in one way or another, the Church will assist such efforts, and in extending help she will not limit her aid only to those who propose to be her children, but to all whose want is a warrant for her sympathy. And they do need help. To a degree, indeed, that can perhaps only be understood by those who have seen what it is to begin life over again in a new country, under strange conditions, and in great loneliness.

Rats and bluebottle flies are said to be the only animals that can acclimatise themselves without help from human hands. Certainly man needs help in starting as a colonist or emigrant.

emigrants from been altogether

Is, then, the Church doing her whole duty by England ? What of the past? She has never unmindful of those who went out from amongst us. There are some pages on which little is written, and some pages whose story is mournful in the record of her past efforts for emigrants. But the history of the American Church, of the rise and progress of the S. P. G., of the S. P. C. K., of the growth of the Colonial Church, of the Colonial Bishoprics fund; the history of the Civil and Constitutional Church Society; of the Church in Australia and far New Zealand, and the Southern Isles; of the special funds for various dioceses in our colonies and dependencies-where English labour is bringing savage lands into civilisation, and English homes are rising up and beginning to flourish as the first fruits of unceasing warfare with the extremes of heat and cold, and as forms of victory over the innumerable difficulties that beset the life of the pioneers of civilisation; these, and much else that I could point to, will prove that the Church of England has never forgotten her spiritual children, though her efforts abroad would have been greater had hearts at home been warmer.

IV. But it is to what remains for the Church to do with regard to Emigration that our attention is directed to-night. When some few years ago an American bishop said that the Anglican Church was losing more members through neglecting the emigrants than it gained from the conversion of the heathen, men's hearts were stirred. Since that time there has been a great increase in the care bestowed upon emigrants, as well before their departure, during their transit, and after their arrival on foreign shores.

Compelled to be brief, I will say in passing, that I do not undervalue the good work being done by individuals and societies outside the communion of the Church of England, and still less do I disregard such efforts when made by churchmen and Church societies. But I wish here, especially, to draw attention to the organization introduced by the S. P. C. K. to help emigrants. I quote from the Times' report of this work:-"Through the agency of the S. P. C. K., all the principal ports have been provided with chaplains and agents. In many of the ports of arrival, clergymen and other agents receive and forward emigrants, and often accompany them to their destination; and what is perhaps more important from the intending emigrant's point of view,

the clergy of every parish and district in England can now obtain, at a nominal cost, handbooks published by the Society, giving accurate information as to every field of emigration, as well as about the religious and educational advantages or difficulties of the colony to which the emigrant is going. There is, perhaps, no work which the Church of England can undertake which is more worthy of encouragement than this." Now with the S. P. G. and other societies caring for the spiritual welfare of the emigrant, when established in his distant home, with the S. P. C. K. thus providing information up to date, establishing chaplains at the principal ports, sending chaplains with emigrants across the sea, who shall hand on those who wish to be so helped to others who will see them to their destination, what remains but that we should use fully the unrivalled organisation of the Church at home in connection with these societies. If every parish clergyman in the land would take care to have by him the S. P. C. K. handbook, and give information to those who think of emigrating, many a bitter and grievous disappointment to emigrants would be averted. Those willing to work would be directed to the places where their work was wanted, and where it would bring in the speediest returns. This would be most useful. I give two illustrations of the need of such action; I quote from the Times report, a few weeks ago, certain resolutions adopted by the legislative committee of the Toronto Trades and Labour Council, and lately read in London. The committee say: "Your legislative committee, through your body, desire once again to affirm that Canada, as a whole, objects to being made an asylum for paupers and criminals from any country, no matter by whom assisted, and for what reasons transported. On the other hand, every honest person is welcome who comes to her shores on the strength of his own means, with a reasonable knowledge of what he has to contend with in his efforts to make a living, and not being misled by the untruthful and overdrawn pictures of men who make a living by this disreputable practice. Your committee desire their fellow working men in Great Britain carefully to note, as indicative of the present condition of the labour market in Canada, and as counter to the untruthful statements of government steamship and other agents, the fact that, although in the middle of the harvest season of the year, the mayor's office in the city (Toronto), was, on the morning of the 27th of July, besieged by a crowd of immigrants, seeking relief or assisted passages back to the old country." Reverse the picture. I now quote from a paper by the Rev. Harry Jones in the "Leisure Hour" of May last, describing some of his experiences in the settlers from Bethnal Green at Moosomin, beyond Winnipeg. He reaches a farm of 160 acres, a sun-burned man tells him that he was a cabdriver at Bethnal Green, but now he had broken up seven acres of his ground, which was all magnificent hay to begin with. His previous wages had been about 30s. per week, and his wife could earn 10s. per week at brush making, now he was a farmer in Moosomin at the rate of 16 a year. His wife could earn more than twice as much." "Do you like it ?" asked Mr. Jones. "Yes," the man replied, "I do; and if you should meet any more cabdrivers, tell them to come out here." Again, I confess to a prejudice for emigration to be directed mainly to British colonies and settlements. It is not pleasant to find so many emigrants to the United States swear thus