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LORD BUTE AND THE NEW VICARAGE. OUR readers are probably aware that the Marquis of Bute has declined to accede to the application of the Churchwardens of the Parish of St. John's, Cardiff, for the purchase of a site for the proposed new Vicarage. Now before we make any remarks upon his Lordship's refusal, it may be as well if we were to give a short resume of what has taken place in the matter. It has been for a long time felt by the parishioners that the present house is by no means a suitable one for the Vicar to reside in, and many suggestions have been made from time to time with a view to furnishing him with a new one. It appears that the Ecclesiastical Com- missioners having been informed of the circum- stances of the case, have determined to advance the sum of £1,000 for the purpose, on condition that the grant should be met by a similar sum subscribed by the parishioners. That sum has been forthcoming, and the Town Council having in view the improvement of that portion of the town now occupied by the Vicarage house, has agreed to purchase the ground upon which it stands for the sum of £500. Up to this point everything has gone on smoothly, and the Church- wardens having made up their minds as to a suitable site for the erection of the new house proceeded straightway to lay their wishes before the Marquis of Bute, the site in question being the property of that nobleman. In reply to their application a letter was received dated the116th of June, 1869, requesting that further details should be furnished with reference to the site proposed. The particulars requested were promptly furnished, and the Churchwardens naturally ex- pected that their by no means unreasonable wishes would be complied with. But we regret to say they were doomed to disappointment. Lord Bute has declined to give or sell any portion of his pro- perty for the site of the new Vicarage house, and his refusal to do so was conveyed to the Church- wardens in a letter, of which the following is a faithful transcript "26th June, 1869.—St. John's Vicarage.—Gen- tlemen,—We have had an opportunity of laying your letter of yesterday's date before the Marquis of Bute, and are directed by his Lordship to intimate to you that he is not prepared to consent to the alienation by his Trustees of any portion of his property for the site of the new Vicarage house.—Yours, &c., "LUARD and SHERLEY. Mr. W. Woods, ) Churchwardens of "Mr. J. N. Flint, ) St. John." Curt enough and decided enough in all conscience. It is quite clear that whatever may have been the intentions of the Marquis on the 16th of June, his intentions on the 26th don't admit of any doubt whatever. What the influences were that were brought to bear upon his Lordship's mind in the interval, we have no means of knowing, although we might offer a shrewd guess. Whether the channel through which the application of the Churchwardens was conveyed to him were priestly or lay or legal we cannot tell, but certainly the tone of the letter which conveys his reply is worthy of the Grand Vizier of some Eastern potentate, who dwells apart in unapproachable seclusion, and whose dignified retirement is not to be rudely broken in upon by the profane vulgar. Odi pro- fanum vulgus ct arceo. So sings the lyric bard of Rome, and so thinks Lord Bute if we are to judge from the letter of Messrs. Luard and Sherley. We readily admit that Lord Bute is a nobleman of exalted rank, and that the social distance between him and his humble petitioners is great indeed but we still think that his refusal to comply with the prayer of their petition might have been couched in a somewhat less coldly crushing and awfully official tone. Let it however be as it is, it is not of the tone of his refusal that we com- plain so much as of the refusal itself. We cannot help stating decidedly and strongly that a refusal to comply with so reasonable a request on the part of a nobleman who holds the position Lord Bute does with respect to the town of Cardiff, is utterly unprecedented, be his religious creed what it may. It is one which lays his advisers—for we cannot consider the act his own—open to the charge of want of tact, want of policy, and an absolute deficiency of anything akin to a feeling of gratitude. It is an utterly unnecessary outrage upon the sensibilities of the members of the Church of England. It is impolitic because, although the fortunes of Rome seem just now to be in the ascendent amongst us, the wheel may yet give a turn. It is ungrateful because it utterly ignores the fact that when a similar boon has been asked at the hands of Protestant noble- men and gentlemen in this very town, such a boon has been readily granted. The first Roman Catholic Chapel built in Cardiff since the Re- formation was built on the land of a Protestant gentleman. The handsome building which now forms an ornament to the district of Roath was built on the land of another staunch Protes- tant and it is on record of his lordship's large-minded progenitor, the- late lamented Mar- quis, that he, although a member of the Pro- testant Church, did not—to his lasting honour be it spoken—refuse a piece of land for a bury- ing ground to a sect long looked upon as the very outcasts from the community of Christianmen. And yet in the face of these examples we have this act of the Marquis of Bute. We speak more in sorrow than in anger. His Lordship is but a young man, and time will possibly expand his mind, and enlarge his views of Christian charity. The zeal of a neophyte often outruns his discre- tion. We find no fault with his Lordship's zeal for the religion he has espoused, but we doubt his discretion in manifesting his zeal in the way he has done. His refusal to give a piece of land to the members of a Church from which he differs would be intelligible enough, although there are instances which we could quote in which land- owners have taken a broader view of their duties. His refusal to sell is utterly incomprehensible, unless on the principle shadowed forth in a familiar fable which we forbear to quote. By selling a piece of land he would sunerno pecuniary loss, nor need the Church to which he belongs suffer either. There would be nothing in the contract of sale to prevent his handing over the whole proceeds at once to that Church. The Churchwardens were doubtless prepared to pay the full value for the site, and we doubt not but that rather than have been disap- pointed they would gladly have paid a little more. We can but hint to Lord Bute's advisers—for advisers he must have had, and very bad ones too —that they have lost a very favourable opportu- nity for despoiling the enemy. We say that his Lordship must have had advisers, for we do not think it possible that the enlarged views which he so distinctly enunciated to the Clergy, who waited upon him with an address of congratulation when he came of age last September, can have undergone so contracted a change. If in the remarks we have made upon his Lordship's conduct we may seem to have spoken somewhat bluntly, we offer no apology. It is no time for half measures, or for the courtly dis- guise of sentiments which are shared by almost all our townspeople. Lord Bute occupies a position amongst us very powerful for good or evil, and it is full time that we should distinctly understand the terms of his relationship to us. If his Lordship is determined that the influences which his recent change of creed have brought to bear upon him are such as must place him, in some lights, in antagonism to the people of Cardiff, we can only regret the fact. Our duty as exponents of public opinion forbids us to ignore it; and the opinion of the public, as far as we can gather, points to the conclusion that in refusing to comply with the reasonable request of the Churchwardens of the parish of St. John, the Marquis of Bute has placed himself in direct antagonism to the welfare of the town, which owes so much to the enlight- ened energy of his father, and to the prosperity of which much—disguise it how we may-of his own proud position is also due.

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