(Vol. iv., p. 293.)
In answer to your correspondent K. S.'s Query, "Can bishops vacate their
sees?" I have little hesitation in saying that they can; though I know
of no instance (in modern times) of such an occurrence (except colonial
bishops); nor have I ever heard of any one but Dr. Pearce who wished so
to do. Lord Dover is, however, mistaken in supposing that "his
resignation could not be received, on the ground that a bishopric, as
being a peerage, is inalienable." The bishop's own account of the matter
(see his Life, prefixed to his _Commentary on the Gospels and Acts_) is
as follows:--Feeling himself unable, from his age and other infirmities,
to perform any longer his duties as Bishop of Rochester, and wishing
like Charles V. to retire from the world, he requested his friend Lord
Bath to apply to the king for permission to resign. He was soon after
sent for by the king, who told him that he had consulted _Lord Mansfield
and Lord Northington, and that neither of them saw any objection_. In
the mean time, however, Lord Bath asked the king to appoint, as his
successor in the see of Rochester, Dr. Newton, then Bishop of Bristol.
On this the ministry, not wishing any ecclesiastical dignities to be
granted except through their hands, interfered so as to prevent the
resignation from being effected; Dr. Pearce being told by the king that
his resignation could not be accepted, but that he should have all the
credit of it.
Lord Dover's mistake is, I think, to be attributed to his assumption
that bishops are peers of the realm. This is, however, by no means the
case. A bishop is simply _a Lord of Parliament_, and possesses none of
the privileges of the peerage; not those, among others, of freedom from
arrest, and trial by their peers. A peer can only be deprived of his
peerage by a special act of parliament, and after a trial by the House
of Lords; while a bishop can be deprived of his see, and, of
consequence, of his seat in the House of Lords, by the sentence of the
archbishop of the province, assisted by such of his suffragans as he may
summon. The two last instances of deprivation were those of Bishop
Watson, of St. David's, by Archbishop Tenison, and of the Bishop of
Clogher, in 1822.
A bishop so deprived does not cease to be a bishop, but only ceases from
having jurisdiction over a diocese. Whether a bishop can be deposed from
his episcopal office altogether is a matter of doubt, though it is held
by most of those who are learned in the canon law, that there is not
sufficient authority in any ecclesiastical person, or body of persons,
to degrade from the office of bishop any one who has once received
episcopal consecration.