Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-07-18 00:00:00

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/terupz, iterupique,—again and again the vexed
questidn of Church-rates is before the Rollie of
Commons. We think' it most desirable that some
measure shduld be proposed, which would, once for
all, settle this subject. of difference between the
members of the Established Church and the
Dissenters. It would be much more satisfactory to
all parties that some final measure should be passed
by the clegislature than ,that . these: reiterated and
hitherto, abortive attempts should continue to keep
up the heartburnings which exist, and afford an
occasion to the opponents of the National Chureh•of
making their alleged grievances a means of attack
upon that venerable institution. It is riot the amount
of money, whieh:is the sole objection raised by the
Dissenters,—'--that in itself is really too insignificant

to be made a ground of reasonable refusal to this
time-honoured payment. c It ill ,upon a highey ground
that exemption from church-rates is sought; upon
indeeftd, the very highest, of human motives—

scientious feeling. The Dissenter declares he cannot,
"salsa conscieriiia,"- support a Church, ;to which he
does not; belong, and' in whose doctrines he
does not believe. Coerced as his conscience is
by the Law, he , has a right to be relieved
:from its pressure.- We find no fault with •him
for this. But we must take exception to his
assertion-that-the fabrics -of the Established-Church-
would be more c,heFfi4ly and effectively kept in re-
pair, by voluntary contributions; that many who
differ from the national faith would, upon the aboli-
tion of church4ates, willingly and readily give of
their substance- for the maintenance of the parish

church. But we ask, with the tenderest concern for
his, conscience, mould it not suffer greater violence
by a voluntary support of that State Church in
_whosP doctrine he_ luta inn_faith, thnn when..._he
wild excnsejbintself: "in foro conscientice" under

the shelter of legal,, compulsion ?
_Wp
itrust

some` siibsiitufe may tie folind fOi bh2tlaties,

which while it relieves on the one hand the grievances
of the Nonconformist, on the other it. will not impair
the stability of our venerable establishment. A total
abolition without any commutation at all, we could
not countenance and support. It is difficult to pro-
-pose-- measure which would give general Al:flab:alai:
•To make short work of it, and cut the gordian knot,
by a
,total repeal—thik is an: easy/. and speedy way to
get rid of the
.question, but it is neither justice nor
Statesmanlike. Ent a revision of the Church-rate
questioillig:.also :desirable, on account of the Estab-
lished Church, herself: It is an injustice .that her
own members should, in many instances, have to
support, not only ,their own chapelry, but also the
parent Church, and so have a double rate levied

Upon them. The particular measure of 'Sir J

TRELAirNEY will not pass this session, and. we thinlF,
it will never pass the House of Lords, where now a

committee: S Sitting upon the matter, granted to the
Duke .of- MARLBOROUGH, who belongs to that party
who has more sympathy with the Nonconformists
than any other pOrtion of Churchmen. The volun-
tary principle on which the abolitionists wish to throw
the„Church has been found by experience to be inef-
In .a memorial addressed to the Prime

rebtive.

Minister in 1858, it is said by the clergy

Birmingham, " We can affirm, after long and painful
experience, that nothing can be more unsatisfactory,
generall (Spe'aking, than what is dignified by the

name of the voluntary system, as a substitution for
the legal ;rate'; while some of the older churches are
failing into decay, it is rarely that the contributions
for-the ordinary annual expenges -are to ise-lound

'Stfireient for the purpose." It is impossible, upon

such testinidny ;as this, and :more 'which niajr .bo
adanced, bylploiniiii*.th the I,GOO, or I,7op,churches

requiring repairs, to accept the voluntary
principle, as the , substitute for the Church-rate.
With every feeling of liberality and consideration

REGISTER .!• REGISTER ! REGISTER !

ONLY tWO <lays more, and the opportunity of
registering avill„for another year, have again passed
away. Wednesday is the 20th of July, and it is the
J,st day, on -which Parliamentary Electors can send

in their claims to the overseers to be placed, upon the

All, therefore, who neglect to do so, will
deprive themselves of the means which the Coristitu-

Register

tion of the country has given them of doing their

duty tothe St

And never, perhaps, has there been a time when it

was so important as it now is, that every friend of
the Constitution should be in a position to avail

himself of the elective franchise

On all occasions,

England expects every man to do his duty." But

at the preAent time, the obligation so to do is, in an

especial manner, incumbent upon all who would aid

in upholding those institutions of their country under
which the nation has advanced to its present high
and palmy pre-eminence. For we are threatened

with organic changes in the Constitutiop, under the
guise of Reform, which may so "rend and deracinate"
the venerable fabric, as to render it incapable of

much longer resisting the increasing democratic

pressure against it

' There is every probability that the introduction of
another Reform Bill will again 'result in an appeal

to the country. A general election is almost certain

to commence,

We entreat, therefore, our Constitu-

tianal friends to- be up and doing. Let them remem-

ber that the battle' of the ConstitutiOn must be

fought in the Registration Courts. And it is not

enough that we take care to register ourselves, we
must see that others of the great constitutional party

do so likewise. We may depend upon it that every
Constitutionalist's vote will be wanted. The next
struggle, to all appearance, will be one of life or
death,—of life or death to those patriotic principles

of our glorious Constitution, the maintenance of which

fundamentally, and in their integrity, amid the neces-
sary adaptations of them to the growing intelligence
and expanding greatness of the nation that have had
to be undergone, has made this kingdom the envy and
admiration of the world.

Only two days more, then, we repeat, remain for

the discharge of this bounden duty on the part of
every one who wishes to preserve inviolate the mo-
narehical'institutions of old England. It is no mere
question of Whig or Tory now,—that d4y has gone
by. The question now is, shall we, 'or shall we riot,

preserve to ourselves, and be able to hand down to

our children, that noble Constitution of King, Lords,.
and COmmons, which has secured to the country,
through so many ages, the best and most enduring
system of popular legislation and representative
government that the world ever saw.. That is the
momentous- question which the next election will
'have to answer. And the manner in which it will
answer it will entirely depend, we verily and indeed
believe, upon the ensuing Registration. We reiterate,
then, with the most anxious earnestness, the rallyirig
cry which the patriotic PEEL himself, in his best and
most popular days, taught the friends of the Consti-
tution to adopt,