The Express.
London, England, 1850-07-04 00:00:00

Vie erpreoo.

OUTGOING MAILS
The mails for Idadevia, the Break, end Banns Ayres, will
be made up We evening.
The Issas for British North Awoke and the; United
SS itn will be fade up to-amen eveniset.
The malls for Lisboa, Spain, and Gibraltar will be suds
no 03 July 7.
The iambi wig Marseilles, to the Mediterran tape,
ylos, leas, Honyllong, Mc, will be nip on the
•verting of July 8.
The West ladle Kai* nil Brreanda, Savannah,
"NM. Honduras. New Oriewas, end Melia), end ineindiag
these for Madeira, Juss•derNiewagua, New Granada.
Chili, and Pere, will be made up es the wooing of July 17.
The mule for Gibraltar, Kahn, Greene, the Loons Islands,
leapt, Ceylos. India, and C
July 20.

'MOH WATER AT 'arrow will DIM
T... Dot -wooing. P, 3D. Aftrame. Oa
..-211,Wen. 43 AltAmisaiA MA WA.

LONDON, THURSDAY, JULY 4.

Tne qiestion that rises to every lip—as the first
emotions of surprise and sorrow pea away—is one
which must b? often asked in vain before it can be
satisfactorily answered. What effect will the prema-
ture death of Sir ROBERT PEEL produce upon the
course of public affairs? There is not in the realm,
perhaps, a man who takes the slightest interest in
political concerns, who has not within the last few
hours given utteratce to this interrogatory, and yet'
there is hardly one who has expected to receive any
distinct or ',cline. reply. Parties are too palpably
in a state at tor Enutation, and the position of inlay
who affect the responsibilities of leadership is too in-
determinate and equircesl, to render it easy for any
one to say what the specific consequences to . each
may be. The sad event itself, rroreover, is stilt by
far too recent to suffer men folly to collect their
thoughts, or modify their resolutions for the Onus.
Nevertheless els importunate question still recurs
to every mind, and in some sort will insist upon an
answer. Many immediste consequences are chylous ;
others will become manifest by degree+. A glance
at the former may not be useless, even though the
latter for the present should elude oar anticipative
view.
Nobody who has witched the cor flint of opinions
daring the last four years in parliament or in
the country can seriously deny that the sudden
removal of the great statesman who courageously and
deliberately palled down the fabric of monopoly even
at the sacrifice of hi, own official power, is a heavy
lose incurred by the friends of the permanent freedom
of industry, and a cortsin gain to the reuse of com-
mercial reaction. Sir ROBERT PEEL constituted in
his own person an insuperable impediment in the
way of re-union between the nereel proselytes to
free trade, whose cocfidenc• in him in 1846 led them
they hardly knew whither, and the great body of
their tory associates. The resentment carefully che-
rished by these in their turn towards the illustrious
leader, whom they charged with having forsaken
them, rendered all efforts at reconciliation hitherto
unavailing.
He is gone, and before the month is out, they will
once more be one. The thing is inevitable. 'Their
rival ambitions arc not likely indeed to be buried in
his tomb, nor the petty affronts and reproaches of
the last four yam of alienation to be speedily forgot.
ten. But a mutual sense of each other's indispensability
as help-mates in efficient opposition ant reciprocal
protectors in scheme of retrogression, will ere long
overpower all other considerations, and an uncondi-
tional oblivion of all past cffences will form the first
article in the renewed allisece. Some very loud
speeches will of course be made by the majority to
gall the farmers; and some very emphatic-sounding
protestations will of course be mode by the
minority of devotion to the general principles of
their departed leader's policy, in order to
delude the merchants. But both farmers
and merchants will find themselves duped if ever the
reconciled sections arrive at the goal towards which
they are eagerly straining. The pseudo-protecionists
well know that free trade in food is beyond the power
of parliament to abrogate, and they are reedy, there-
fore, to sign, seal, and deliver the new Carlton Con-
vention, on the condition that the Athanasian creed
of domestic egticulture is to be repeated solemnly so
many times a year, but that nothing is ever to be
attempted towards proving that those who recite I
believe it. And, on the other hand, the meado-con-
verts to economic and fiord equality, are sternly re-
solved to reiterate, in a non-natural scare,
every protestation and pledge they have ever given
in favoar of all that cannot be undone,
reserving a full and unqualified right to impose com-
pensatory bothers, on the industrious classes, and to
relieve from taxation their landlord .aid planter allies,
without whose returning affection they never can
feel happy. The one great obstacle has vanished.
DISRAELI and GLADSTONE arc ready to rush into
each other's arms, and to interchange vows of amnesty
and amity—of zeal for the s_teice of their common
country, and of determination as quickly as possible
to trip up the heels of the whip.
And how is the ominous event likely to impress the
minds of ti-.e actual occupants of the seats cf rule ? The
most illu.trions, the most exparienced, and the most
influential supporter they have ever had has been taken
from them. It were idle to deny that the dignified
and disinterested support of Sir Roemer PEEL exer-
cised a considerable influence—shall we say control?
—over the conduct of the whirr administration. In
the momentous crisis of October, 1947, it is gene-
rally believed that they did not scruple to ask and to
follow his advice. On many occasions they did not
hesitate to yield to suggestions made by him, and to
modify their own intentions in conformity with his
counsel. We do not here enter upon the detail., or
even upon an estimate of the general tendencies of
such influence. That it existed, and that existing it
was ne:essarily felt to be at once a stay aid a re-
straint, is incontestable. In both respects it has been
suddenly withdrawn.
The whip must in future look elsewhere for sup-
port, and learn the necessity of consulting other
feelings than those of an individual With the ex-
ception of the Doke of WELLINGTON, there is not
now one of their predecessors in offios whose counte-
nance or confidence it would do them as •_party any
service to win. The levity of purpose and reckless-
ness of conduct recently displayed by the only man
who had ever approached the position occupied by
the late lamented statesman has wholly changed
men's thoughts and dispositions with regard to him;
and the residue of Vices who have hitherto been
termed Peelites, however estimable as men or
useful as allies, cannot in any dezree be
considered as a separate item in the great account of
national parties. Peelism, as a separate creed, has
cased to exist ; and its followers will henceforth be
found in the ranks either of the Progressive or the
Reactionary party. For to this complexion things
are come at last. The protracted period of suspense
is over; hither or else thither we must inevitably go.
The great breakwater of opinions has been swept
away ; the currents are released, and ere long will
flow as strongly and impetuously as ever.
Deeply as we deplore the melancholy event which
has become the signal and immediate cause of this
altered state of things, we cannot persuade ourselves
that it could under any circumstances have been very
long deferred. A balance of parliamentary parties,
such as we have seen during the last four years may
no: have been wholly destitute of good fruits. Bat
looking back over that troubled interval we can hardly
think that a candid historian would find in it much
for admiration or for praise. In; England the status
quo hos maintained. In Ireland many experiments
have been tried without success to amend the condi-
tion of the people, regardless of their feelings or
their rights. In the colonies, tumults have been
repressed by force, and some preliminaries arranged
for better local government in future; but the peat
tbiugs still remain to be done. India has not stoned
on her bed of steel; in a word, the empire as whole
has been held together, bat that is all.
Something more and farther than this may and
molt be attempted now. A great nation cannot sub-
sist upon the recollection of its former great deeds
dose, and great aspirations realised. ()award we
must move, and that apotolily, or in spite of all our
resolution and love of consistency, we shall be driven
backward.

Tire church-rate cues recently determined by the
justices of Brighton involve, it would appear from
ffurther examination, considerations much mere seri-
ous to the Society of Friends than wire at first eight
obvious. For the decision given, if supplrtable

-----
la law, tot only places their eseseleaces and their
property at the mercy and disposal of army vicar
who Is bigoted enougb, and every est of 'Mech.
lwardees subservient mush to resort to a minority
rate; but it actually converts statutes enacted for the
'especial relief of Quakers into acts of paeliamsat foe
their exceptional injury and oppression, and en no
ether pretence than their religious tenets.
The cases of " Rex e. Sillihant," it may be recol-
lected, decided that, after a church rate bed been
questioned in an ecclesiastical court, the jurisdiction
let justices of the peace to enforce its payment was
se completely ousted, that even on the affirmation of
the church-rate by the superior court, their jurisdfc-
den in respect of other persons not parties to the
wit did not revive. And as citations had, it may also
be remembered, been issued by the churehwasdeas
of Brighton against parishioners assessed to their
minority rate, it was contended by Mr. Boviarr,
who appeared for the Quakers summoned, that,
seder the authority of this case, the 4esue
of the citations was such a questicning of the
rote in an ecclesiastical court as depnvtd the
magistrates of power to entertain the complaints.
This objection was, however, overruled, on the ground
that though the citations had been ironed, yet, netill
they were actually served, there was no such qua-
dotting of the rate as was contemplated in " Rex r.
Sillifluit." The practical consequences of this deci-
sion of course affect all other religionists as well as
Quakers. Indeed, the only. class which 83 wretched
a technicality as this distinction between the issue and
the service of a citation can benefit is lawyers, by the
increase of litigation which it has a tet d mcy to beget.
But, taken witn the decision of another objection made
on behalf of the Quakers eunimoucd, this
ruling of the Brighton bench not only deprives the
Quakers of the advantage which all other religionists
and ratepayers are entitled to from the questioning of
• church-rate in a:court of law by any one; but it
denies to Quakers the right of disputing the validity
of a church rate for themselves and on their own ac-
count.
So long as minority church-rates were unknown,
Quakers did not dispute the validity of rates im-
posed by the majority ; they simply refused, for m-
eow of canscieuce, to pay them, and, submitting to the
=consequences of their refusal, had th.ir goods
without remonstrance or resistance. The
VISSr and churchwardens of Brighton were M-
eetly under the impression that the change in the
eharacter of • church-rate would Erika no
change in the conduct of the Quakers; so, with-
holding the service of the citations, they summoned
the Quakers. But in this they were mistaken ; the
(bakers did not confine their objection to the ground
*at the church-rate having been questions dby °theta,
the magistrates had no jurisdiction over them ; they
went further, sod, themselves disputing the validity
of a minority church-rate, claimed, under the statute
63 GEORGE 111., C. 127, s. 7, to oust the jurisdiction of
the justices on that ground also. Os this latter ob-
jection the magistrates held that
.She Quakers alone
of all sectaries and ratepayers in this kingdom,
could not object to the validity of a church-
rate ; and that if, previously to their being
summoned, the churchwardens had not served
the citations they had issued against the teen-
sante of other religious opinions, the Quakers were
limb's to pay a church rate which might be afterwards
held to be bad and irrecoverable against every other
religionist assessed thereto.
Such is the Brighton law of church-rares. What
it amounts to is a denial to Quakers e f the benefits of
other people's objections to church rater, which all
other sects are entitled to ; a refusal to allow them to
dispute their validity ; and a compulsion of their pay-
ing a church rate, which there is in the particular
cue little reason to doubt will be disallows i by a
superior court. The question is, then, will the
law of the Court of Queen's Bench be in accord with
the law of Brighton? Now, to put this to the test,
the Quakers await the issue of distress warrants
against them by the bench which so ruled, and in
return they will bring actions to ascertain from the
h;ghest courts of judicatu-e whether they, alone of
Englishmen, are in matters of church-rates beyond
the pale of the law.
The legal history of the question is very simple.
On the first dawn of the reformation doubts began
to be entertained by the more ultra and daring of
those who adopted the " new opinions" as to the law-
fulness of Christians paying tithes and other ecclesi-
astical dues ; and their resieranos to such obligations
led to the enactment of the 27 'Leese VIII., c 20, and
32 lithos VIII., e. 7. By the former, power was
, given to ecclesiastical courts to determine the legality
of those incidents of realty; by the latter authority
was conferred on justices to commit to prison recu-
sants who had been adjudged liable by those superior
tribunals.. Under the operations of these
'Wilts., as well as by reason of their re-
fusal to take oaths, the Quakers suffered
severely during the reigns of the hrtIARTS ; they
were fined, imprisoned —in short, persecuted. The
revolution of 16SS to some extent, however, brought
the Quakers under the influence of that legislative
toleration which dissent in England owes to
WILLIAM 111. The acts of 7 and 8 WM. 111., c. 34
(commonly called the Scruple* Act), relieved them
from the penalties of refusing to take oaths ; but in
respect of church-rates under 10/. it gave justices
Power to enforce payment against Quskere' reserv-
ing to them an appeal to the Quarter Sessions
against their decision. This, however, it did without
taking away the power of the ecclesiastical courts
under the other statutes.
So the law remained until nearly the close of the
reign of GEORGE 111. Church-rates could be en-
forced
against Quakers either before justices or
in the ecclesiutical courts ; whilst they could
be recovered against other persons in ecclesiutioal
courts only. By the 53rd Geo. 111., c. 127, the juris-
diction of justices was, however, extended to all psr-
sons rated to a church, " the validity whereof bus
set been questioned in any ecclesiastical court;" bat
I"
if the validity of such rate, or the liability of the
person of whom it is demanded to pay the same, be
disputed, and the justices,ispg. the ease give
notice thereof to the the justices shill forbear
'giving judgment thereupon." Except in one peed-
miler, not necessary to explain, this statute did met
affect Quakers; the enforcement of church-rates
against them continued to be under the statutes et
'Snot VIIL and WILLIAM 111.
In the last reign, it will be recollected, Quakers
suffered severely from the prootediup taken against
then few subtraction of church-rates in the seek- I
sindisal warts; and in several canes Quakers were im-
far the heavy costs so incurred, when the
sive course under 7 & 8 WILL. 111., c. 34,
wo d have answered any legitimate purpose of their
I persecutors just u effectually. Further legislation
consequently became indispensable, and the act of
6& 6 WILL. IV., c. 72 was passed. In two particu-
lars it was intended to give relief to Quakers; it re-
leased them from the penalty of imprisonment which
had caused so much scandal; and it also enacted that
no proceedings should be taken against them in any
court of law ; but that all complaints against them
touching church rates should be heard and determined
under the powers and rovisious of the 7 & 8 WILL.
111., c. 34, and the 53 0t0.111., c. 127 only. The effectof 1
this enactment was to take away in the first instance'
the concurrent jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts,
and to confine In the first instance the remedy against
Quakers to the justices. It was an enactment of re-
lief completely; bat it has at Brighton been con-
verted into a statute of oppression.
By this act of the last reign Quakers are entitled
to the benefits of the statute of 63 Gus. IIL, c. 127,
enjoyed by the rest of their fellow subjects. Now
one of its sections ousts the jurisdiction of the jus-
tices when the validity of church rates is disputed.
But, hold the Brighton magistrates, this section does
not apply to Quakers; they have no right, under the
act of Cleo. 111., to dispute the validity of church
rates; consequently, though they do object to their
illegality, we will order payment notwithstanding.
Once admit the soundness of this decision, and
Quakers can obtain no relief for themselves from
15
church rates; they alms of all the QUEEN'S
is are disabled from resisting what they deem
to unlawful as well as unchristian; their goods
ere at the mercy of rates which may be notoriously
unsupportable in law ; they may be persecuted, tor-
mented, and despoiled without redeem ; simply be-
Min they are Quakers!
This, we say, cannot bo law; it is too outrageous,
tee monstrous, be supported by the Queen's Bench.
Bat surely the whole case of church rates is at pre-
sent in so mischievous a state that this last scandal
will lend to its settlement without years of litigation
on the part of the Quakers in defence of their com-
mon rights as subjects of the QUEEN.