The Press.
London, England, 1858-06-19 00:00:00

important
1. That
annual
2,

few

eight
wet]
re
byPlet
8: '

PaY
sands.
worshi,
to - -
we
cen.
IV
Is _
resting
rely upon
place ?
In

another :-
a proposal
people
suffer the
the Podr
the V

love

invasion.
enormous

Voluntary
people,
invasion actually occurring P
How many persons in England, not actually
insane, would vote for either of these proposals?
Is it not the universal conviction, that for any
national occasion or want, a national system
ought to he by law established? So fully is this
lelasiieed, that when voluntary efforts had been
pot Ihrth for the education of the poor, and when
the result was unsatisfactory, the Legislature
began, about five-and-twenty years ago, to pro-
vide the necessary funds out of the hational
treasury; and those yearly ut' now
approaching .a total of one million pas Win.
And it would be difficult to show that it wasright
for the Legislature to take up education as a na-
tional affair, and yet to abandon public 79rshije to
private effbrt. In FninCe the two objti,lllPie in-
trusted to the glad' Vnilpf,,,l4,oll}*;;OW.PB
provided out of kid fu , ,
We say, theti,"th',iit no one, 'fbett: Pit
in any erreat:nubliC ithrk„and,lia
vision s'ecur foe *l4-IftiritidW
it, tin 14411 rats: "•

la l• I

I 1111 ni ibtot-iti

,• 1,4

ft

.44.....

„,
general rule. . . Jil Illli 1
Let us reme.intint',lnrting, t',T9.l,nr three
[portant facts iitpli*.. , ~ 3
I. That we. giel .'.'. .* '`Viiielda. an
Limed teveniie d. re il.s.” It ~FlOl i),11,,i1 i
te
2.' Thaititife'We .41 • metropolis,; and a
w . .kek ' broiekt. , , lee. have more than
• -, 4,, , • • •
tilt .. . . . i i .n 9, in which, if there
s 'lid the
pai*Kiiiid'lte neiltritwould hang ti4-* home
, the,
clergyhailiiii "the sqnireri
‘,3 1:., .
8. That, whilg th 6 tePaYmt!.llF " rt,....t0
y Church-rates, are a few h., , ~
ii.d...fier
rids in number,—the people, for w
irship is provided, are many mil,l,ionk,r§i74t-,
relieve a few of a burden which *never heavy,
should deprive the inarT of that Aich has for
nturies been their birthright. . , .
We come, then, to thtfirst or .... ..Ayestion,—
it expeient to give up an .. . ttid livtnue,
sting upon the lasill#f sOtne. 30,t3001 and to
ly upon the yakoakey'TitinciOn 'to supply its
ars. ? ' '' • ' ' .1 ' ' '

answer td'Which questi4
.ive beg to propose
her :---Itt what other departfßent would such
oposal be entertained for a moment? The
le of England are charitable, and 'l4Ol net
r the poor to starxi. Shall we; den, frilical
ii F
Poor Laws, and' the indig
,ent ...On
Toluntary Systerny, peoplF or
.! • find
their efitintry, aid ' d not tdi. ri I the
ght of invasion. In 'lBO3 and 1804 they
I, itt a few months;'' 6,000 volunteers, to
d our coasts in the event ol' the expected
ion. Why not, then, save ourselves the
nous cost of an army, and rely upon the
ntary efforts of the people, in the event of an

weak as to relinquish that provision, and to rely
for the future on Voluntary effort.
We say, too, that it is not a question of
whether the higher and middle classes shall
support their own churches and their own ser-
vices. They do this now, both by their legal
payments and by their Voluntary gifts. The real
question is, whether the neutral classes, whether
the whole community, shall be assessed in a small
annual levy, in order that parish-churches—
churches for all—may be maintained in every
corner of the kingdom.
An argument resting on the case of Belgravia,
or of Islington, or of the large towns generally,
must be totally inapplicable to the country at
large, especially to the rural parishes. In Bel-
gravia we have a whole suburb filled with the
wealthy. Of course it is quite easy for these
persons to bear the expense—not a burdensome
one—of such churches and ministers as they
desire. At Islington thousands of the wholesale
traders of the City take up their abode. A few
pounds from each forms an aggregate sufficient
to build many churches, and a few shillings per
annum from each supplies the place of a rate.
But bow can such examples as these be applied to
the case of the thousands of villages, where two
or three farmers constitute the aristocracy of the
parish, and where the expenses of the Church
will inevitably be thrown, ultimately, upon the
poor incumbent, whose 3001. a year is already
insufficient for his seven children?
And how many of the clergy have far less than
3001. a year ! One "Rural Incumbent " thus
described his case in a newspaper a few days
ago:—

"I am incumbent of a district from which I
have received, on an average of five years, a net
income of about 911. from all sources, after pay-
ing expenses. Amongst other expenses to which
I found myself liable were those connected with
the church organ. The donor of this organ had
felt that the organist's salary, &c., should not be
a burden thrown exclusively on the clergyman ;
and had, therefore, set on foot an annual sub-
scription for defraying this expense. When I
came to the district I found the subscription
already diminished, and, after a time, by death
and removal, all the subscriptions fell off. In
the meantime, also, the substitution of an effi-
cient plan for warming the church, instead of an
inefficient stove, had entailed a proportionate in-
crease of expense upon myself.

" Under these circunstances, I told my
churchwarden how affairs were, and he took
steps to renew subscriptions for the organ ex-
penses, and for the additional cost of warming
the church effectively. At first the matter
seemed to be taken up in a liberal spirit. My
chief parishioner came to me and said that he
thought the congregation ought to raise 301. a
year for these objects. I felt much obliged, and
waited the result. When my churchwarden
brought the book in due season I found the
result to be 61. ; and, moreover, this my chief
parishioner had told the churchwarden that,
though he would give 11. that year, he did not
intend to give anything in future. Of course I
could not press the matter any more, and so I
continue to bear the whole expense.
" Now, I consider my district to be favourably
situated ; my schools and charities are most libe-
rally supported, and yet, in regard to church
expenses, such is the result of the voluntary
principle. What would it be in less favoured
places ? It could not be well worse, it is true,
but it would be just the same. In the long-run
the clergyman would have to pay, because he
could not submit to carry a begging-box round
his parish."

Are we prepared to inflict this burden upon
thousands of the working clergy merely to gratify
the malevolent feelings of a few Dissenters, who
care far less for the few shillings per annum
which they would save, than for that injury to
the Church which is their real object ?

That there is any wide-spread feeling in
opposition to Church-rates is a fiction. When
the people saw a proposal to open the British
Museum on Sundays, they sent into the house
of Commons, in a few weeks, petitions signed by
629,926 persons, praying that the public museums
and galleries might not be so opened. But what
have been the petitions against Church-rates ?
Here is the sum-total in the last seven years :