18thJnly, 1864.
MY LOBD,-I am in receipt of your letter requesting my opinio on
certain points whieh have been mooted on the validity of the Letters-
Patent appointing you Metropolitan, particularly in reference to the
power of calling and presiding over the Provincial Synodbe and the
effect of the proceedings had by that body, at the seasions which halve
already been held : as those proceedings have been called in questio at
the last meeting of the Diocesan Synod of Huron, and the bishop of tlr4t
diocese has pronounced them to have been " in vain."
In order to place the whole matter fully before your lordship, and to
state clearly the grounds for the conclusions at whioh I have arrived, I
consider it necessary to make a short resum? of the history of the pro-
ceedings of the Diocesan and Provincial Synode, and the steps that have
been taken from time to time, both before and since your appointment
as Metropolitan.
A very short time elapsed, after the ping of the Synod Act by our
Provincial Legislature, before the varions Diocesan Synods were orga-
nized; and all of those Synods, vith the exception of the Synod of Huron,
petitioned Her Majesty to appoint a Metropolitan Bishop in Canada,
I" who might hold and preside over the General Assemblies of the Churoh
in the Province." In accordance with the prayer of these petitions, the
first Letters-Patent were issued to your lordship; but they went far
beyond the prayer of the petitioners, and professed to confer powers
and authorities upon you as Metropolitan, which were of a character
whieh could not be enforced by law in danads, and were liable to eco-
flict with the powers of the Provincial Synod, which could alone confer
coercive jurisdiction within the limits whieh the Synod Act prescribes.
At the first Provincial Synod, whioh was attended by delegates from all
the Diocesan Synodo, these Letters-Patent were submitted by you, with
a draft of new letters, which had been sent out from England, where
doubts had arisen as to the validity of the first letters, in order that the
views of the Canadian Church authorities might be expressed upon their
various clauses; and after receiving the most careful consideration of
the Synod, an amended draft was agreed to by both houses, which was
accepted by the law officers of the Orown in England, and on whieh
the Letters-Patent, which you at present hold, were based. These new
letters, which are in fect the only letter we can look at now, by an
express provision, make all the " powers and authorities " conferred by
them on the Metropolitan, srbject to the " rles, regulations, and anom "
of the Provincial Synod under the Act of the (anadian Legislatuxe, and
do not profess to oonfir any authority or jurisdiction, except in subor-
dination to the Provinial Synod.
When you convened the first Provinoial Synod, all the Dioceoan