The following gentlemen were elected the standing committee for the ensuing year, Rev. Abraham Bronson, Rev. Carlton Chase, Rev. George Leonard, Rev. Benj. B. Smith, and Rev. Joel Clap. The following canons were adopted by the convention.

CANON I.

OF THE MODE OF TRYING CLERGYMEN ACCUSED OF MISDEMEANOR. Whenever the standing committee shall have reason to suspect any clergyman of this Church to be guilty of infidelity, heresy, vice, or irregularity of any kind, it shall be their duty to inquire into the circumstances of the case; and if, upon such inquiry, they are convinced that there exists sufficient cause of complaint, they shall represent the same to the Bishop, at the same time stating specifically whereof the party is excused; whereupon, by order of the Bishop, a council of presbyters, consisting of not less than three, shall be convened, who, under the direction of the Bishop, shall proceed in due time to try the party accused; a copy of the accusation or accusations, and twenty days notice of the time and place of trial, being first communicated to such party. And furthermore, it shall be the duty of the standing committee at such trial, to lay before the Bishop and his presbyters, such evidence as they may be able to obtain relative to the case under investigation.

CANON II.

OF THE FORMING AND ORGANIZING OF CHURCHES.

Whenever any number of persons in this state shall form themselves into a regular society, of the Protestant Episcopal faith, in such a manner, as that they will become a body corporate according to law, and their proceedings shall be sanctioned by the bishop of the diocese, and standing committee of this state; or, in case of a vacancy in the episcopal office, by the state convention or its standing committee, they shall be admitted to all the rights and privileges of a regular church, subject at all times to the authority and discipline of said bishop, or, in case of a vacancy in the episcopal office, of said convention, or its standing committee.

The agents and attorneys of the Incorporated Society established in London for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts having been requested to lay before the convention information relative to the lands owned by the said society, made the following REPORT. We give this document entire, as we trust our readers will be much interested in its contents.

"To the Convention of the Episcopal Church of the State of Vermont, now convened at Middlebury, the undersigned, Agents and Attorneys of the Incorporated Society established at London for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, for recovering the possession of their lands in the state of Vermont, and appropriating the avails thereof for the support of the Protestant Episcopal Church in said State, in compliance with the request contained in your resolution of the 24th inst. cheerfully give to the Convention the following information relating to said lands.

"By the charters of most of the townships in this state issued by the

governour of New Hampshire, one right in each township was granted to the Incorporated Society established at London for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Soon after the issuing of the charters, and before the towns were generally settled, the revolution intervened, by which the territory became independent of Great Britain. Soon after the treaty of peace, to wit, on the 20th May, the society knowing they were vested with property in the late American colonies, and that their title thereto was secured to them by the treaty of 1783, passed the following resolution. Resolved, That the secretary do write to some one or more members of the Church of England in each of the states of America, in which the society has any property, to take all proper care in securing said property, and further to inform such persons, that it is the intention of the society to make over all such property to the use of the Episcopal Church in that country, in whatever manner or form, after communication with the several governments, as shall appear most effectual for that purpose.' A copy of the foregoing resolution having been transmitted to the principal Episcopalians, in the United States, measures were immediately taken by the Church in the state of New Hampshire, to procure the lands belonging to the society in that state, con. sisting of a right in most of the towns, granted in the same forms as were the townships in this state. And they soon after procured from the society a conveyance to Messrs. Adams and Sheaf, or rather procured a power of attorney to them, authorizing them to recover possession of the lands in the name of the society, and to appropriate the rents and profits to the support of the Church in that state. Suits were afterwards commenced by said agents, to recover possession of the lands, in the state courts, and in the court of the United States, and recoveries had in both. It does not appear by the journals of the convention in this state, that any thing was done by the Church towards procuring the lands from the society until the month of September, 1794, when the convention appointed a committee to make application to the society for the lands, consisting of the Rev. Bethuel Chittenden, the Rev. Daniel Barber, the Rev. J. C. Ogden, Messrs. Eleazer Baldwin, Truman Squier, Matthew Lyon, and Ebenezer Marvin. It appears that this committee made application for the lands to the society through their agent, Col. John A. Graham, but were unsuccessful.

"It does not appear that any further step was taken by the Church, to obtain said lands, until the meeting of the convention at Arlington, in the year 1805, when the convention directed their standing committee to take further steps to obtain the society lands in Vermont; and appointed on said committee the Rev. Bethuel Chittenden, the Rev. Abraham Bronson, Daniel Chipman, Truman Squier, Martin Roberts and Anson J. Sperry, Esqrs. This committee also made application to the society for their lands in this state, but failed in their application as appears by a letter from the secretary of the society to Bishop Moore, through whom the application was made, bearing date Nov. 30, 1808. The reason why this application was unsuccessful, is perfectly obvious from the following extract from said letter. 'There have been indeed a variety of applications from the state of Vermont, so

different in their object and design, that the society could not comply with any of them, desirous as they are to extend the cause of religion to the utmost of their power.' No further steps were taken to obtain the lands, until the year 1811, when the Rev. Abraham Bronson and Anson J. Sperry, Esq. delegates from this state to the general convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, holden at New Haven, in Connecticut, in the month of May, obtained a resoJution of the convention, directing Bishop White, the presiding bishop of the house of bishops, to write to the society in London, in behalf of the convention, and inform them, that the Church in Vermont was regularly organized, and under the care of the bishop of the Eastern diocese, and that a board of trustees of donations to the Church had been incorporated in Massachusetts, and that it was the opinion of the convention that their lands in Vermont might be safely conveyed to such agents and attorneys as might be recommended by said board of trustees, and approved of by the convention of Vermont. In pursuance of the above resolution, such letter was written by Bishop White, and on the recommendation of the leading Church people in Vermont, the said trustees in Boston on the 5th day of June, 1815, recommended the present agents, and this recommendation was approved of by the convention of this state holden at Arlington, on the 28th day of the same June. The agents thus appointed, by order of the convention, immediately transmitted all the papers and documents relating to the application to the society for the lands, to the Hon. and Rev. Charles Stewart, who then resided in the province of Canada, and was about to visit London. This extraordinary man, was one of the Scottish nobility, who had taken orders in the Church, and whose piety and zeal in promoting her interest, had prompted him to cross the ocean, and to place himself in that part of the province of lower Canada which borders on this state, and there spend his time and his income in forming churches, and in visiting the families in that new settled country and giving them moral and religious instruction. The influence of such a man, the agents were sure, would remove that jealousy and suspicion, which the society bad imbibed, in relation to the Church in Vermont. In this they were not disappointed. A power of attorney was executed by the society, bearing date the 5th day of December, 1816, authorizing the agents and attorneys to sue for and recover possession of said lands, and for and in the name of said society to lease them or any part of them, to such person or persons, and for such term or number of years, and at and under such yearly and other rent, as they, or a majority of them, should think fit and proper, and also to sue for, recover and receive all rents, incomes, and profits which then were or should become due and owing to said society.'

"The power given to the agents to appropriate the rents and profits is as follows, to wit. There shall be appropriated such parts and shares of such incomes and profits as the agents and attorneys shall judge just and proper to the use and benefit of such person as may be elected and canonically consecrated to the office of bishop over the said state of Vermont, and to the use and benefit of his successors in

the office of bishop in said state, and the remaining incomes and profits of said lands to be appropriated to the use and support of a clergyman and his successors of the Protestant Episcopal Church in each of said townships, when a church shall be formed therein, and the worship of God performed according to the liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. And in such towns where no church shall be established as aforesaid, the remaining income, rents, and profits to the support of clergymen, building of churches, defraying the expense of suits for the recovery of said lands, and the incomes and profits thereof, and for such other uses and purposes as the said agents and attorneys shall judge will best conduce to the welfare of the Church in said state of Vermont, and to do all other acts and things concerning the premises, as fully, in every respect, as the said society can or could do. And one or more attorneys under them for the purposes aforesaid, to make, and again at their pleasure revoke.'

"After the receipt of the foregoing power of attorney, the agents waited until well advised respecting the title of the society, before they commenced any suit for the recovery of the lands. When satisfied that the fee of the land was in the society, and that they must recover possession of them in a court of law, the agents caused an action of ejectment to be commenced before the circuit of the United States, against the town of New Haven, and William Wheeler, their tenant on a lot laid to the society right in that town. The object of the agents in commencing the suit against the town of New Haven, in preference to any other town, was, that they were sure the suit would be defended to the utmost, and carried to the supreme court of the United States for a final decision, that all further litigation might be prevented. In this they were not disappointed. The town of New Haven employed counsel to defend the suit, and, while pending in the circuit court, made application to the legislature, who appointed an agent to defend the suit and made a liberal appropriation of money to defray the expense. The counsel for the society, and the counsel employed by the state on the part of the defendants, united in taking such a course with the suit, that a final decision might be had therein by the supreme court of the U. States, which should satisfy all parties in relation to the title of the society to these lands, and thus prevent further litigation. With this view it was agreed that a special verdict should be drawn up, embracing all the material facts; and it was further agreed, that if, on the argument of the case before the supreme court, it should appear that any material facts on either side had been omitted, they should be added to the special verdict. Mr. Hopkinson of Philadelphia, argued the cause for the society, and Mr. Webster of Boston, for the defendants, and both were satisfied that the special verdict embraced all the material facts in the case. The cause was argued in the winter of 1822, and taken under consideration by the court until the last term of the supreme court, when judgment was rendered for the plaintiffs by six judges, one judge dissenting.

The agents are therefore confident that all further litigation would

be useless, and that it will not be necessary to resort to any further

actions of ejectment.

"On the 30th of April last, the agents met at Middlebury, to take measures for leasing the lands, and although satisfied that they could recover all the prior rents which had been paid to the towns, yet under all the circumstances it was unanimously agreed to lease them to the present tenants, without requiring the payment of the rents which had become payable before the decision of the supreme court was made known. That the buildings and betterments made on the lands by the tenant should be considered as his, and the land be leased to him at a rent proportioned to the value of the land, without reference to the buildings and betterments made by him; but this on condition that the tenant surrender his lease from the town, so as to cut off all claim of his against the town.

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Agents were also appointed in the different counties authorized to execute leases in the name of the society, and it is confidently believed that leases will be taken of the lands, and no further sum expended in hopeless litigation.

"In relation to the probable income of the lands, the agents cannot at present give any satisfactory information. We believe that the annual income will amount to four thousand, and that it will not exceed five thousand dollars.

Middlebury, June 26, 1823.

ABRAHAM BRONSON,

DANIEL CHIPMAN,
ANSON J. SPERRY.

"NOTE.---It is necessary to remark that the only remaining agent, the Rt. Rev. Alexander V. Griswold, was unable to attend the state convention, and that his signature is, therefore, necessarily wanting."

A committee, consisting of the Rev. Benj. B. Smith, George Cleaveland, and Dorastus Wooster, esquires, was appointed to make such remarks on this report as might be useful to the members of the Church in Vermont. These remarks are in the main judicious and well timed; though there are some points on which we should wish for further information, and others in which we think the spirit of conciliation has led to incautious admissions. With these exceptions we think the "remarks of the committee" an able and eloquent defence of rights, which, if justice and equity had uniformly prevailed, would never have been called in question. We therefore present the whole to our readers with one or two notes on those parts on which we could have wished to have seen somewhat different language.

"In addition to the facts contained in the body of this report, in relation to the first grant and succeeding history of these lands as drawn from papers in possession of the agents, there exists a variety of others, which will sufficiently explain why such grants, and to so large an extent, were made. Gov. Wentworth, under whose administration they took place, was himself an Episcopalian. But at that period the number who thought like him was very small. They were emphat

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GOSPEL ADVOCATE, VOL. III.