The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-17 00:00:00

by plunging deep into the futtire., So we have oil
gentlemen who resolutely-and arteniatieally refus •
to receive a single new idea, or enter on a new Jai*
dertaking, unless, indeed, it be an exact repetiti( ri
of the past. But why this chapter 6ti impossibai-
ties ? Because here is another. It is impossible 10
settle the church rate question. So says the Pre-
mier, and some half-dozen other very sensible men;
The question must work itself out at the expense
perhaps of a very summary and disagreeable soli-
tion, and infinite bitterness meanwhile. It is im-
possible to extinguish or abate a struggle that is
spreading all over the country, passing from town
to town, and everywhere ending eventually against
the Church, which is put, into the painful position
of possessing rights which she cannot reallyenforce.
The Church of England is assured by the highest
authorities that she has a common-law right to the
maintenance Of her fabrics and the support of her
worship, and.-then she ia told by .the Ileitsepf Lords
that the right can only .be carried put by:.the ma-
jority of a pari.h. So, of course, whermr the Dis-
t fight it out with
tsleineeerhslairreeb,stzgietnv;ol3U,soll3, y
eattleit in the end. It is
impossible, says Lord F'almerston, to prevent this.
There may be some way, perhaps,
but it has not
yet been found out ; and Sir William- Clay's bill,
his lordship says, is not the way to do it.
Certainly, .as Lord Palmerston says, "the
question is surrounded by difficulties." Many
measures have failed, and so this may fail ; that
is, many measures have failed to pass through Par-
liament., and this measure may fail to work well.
And so, through a speech of some length, the Pre-
mier goes on reiterating the idea of impossibility ;
Lords ; it is i
it is impossible that this measure can pass the
mpossible to secure the maintenance
of l ar e churches in poor
parishes
T rat .impossible
in fact, and sound
ainpolicy
" to solve the enigma ;" it is impos-
sible to please all parties. Alh. i
beh
f the underispresent
h this
a. billte
o f;
true
things were itself possible one ; 'but there is no
impossibility in Sir William Clay's measure to be
compared with that of the existing law.. Supposing the present law not to exist as lag w, wbs tto beb
fore Parliament in the shape of a bill, brought in
by some amiable young Churchman, we should
then have Lord Palmerston or some lynx-eyed
county member getting up and exclaiming,- cc Why-,
the bill can't work ! Here it provides for theeleo-
tion of churchwardens, and authorises them to re-
pair the church and defray the expenses of D' •
wine
_worship, and then creates no other fund for this
purpose than a rate, which cannot be efiforced un-
less a majority of the vestry have agreed to it I
You'll have every large parish thrown into con-
fusion by the churchwardens and church people
repairing the church and levying a rate for the ex-
pense, and the people refusing to pay the rate, be.
cause it was not agreed to by a majority of the •
vestry !" - But no discrepancy in an ill-drawn
statute can equal the discordance that exists in
fact, because, while the common law says the
church must be repaired and Divine worship
maintained at the expense of the parish, and
says, also, on the other hand; that no rate can be
levied except by a majority of the vestry, ecclesi-
astical law comes in and authorises the church-
warden to levy the rate by the terrors of excom-
munication, which, in these days, are reduced to
fine and imprisonment. Now, take any large town,
such as Manchester, and here you have impossi-
bility upon impossibility. It is impossible to get
vestries that will carry a rate, or churchwardens
who will levy one. It is impossible to excom-
municate or even to fine and imprison. So the
existing law is an impossible one. Granting, then,
, that the proposed remedy is impossible, that hap-
pens to be no conclusive reason against it, for it
r cannot be more impossible than the existing law.
1 In a house of more than four hundred members
the bill passed its second reading by a majority of
28. After Lord Palmerston's announcement,
however, that the bill could not pass the Lords,
we cannot doubt that a larger majority will be re-
quired to force the measure through that Conser-
vative body. . Meanwhile, it will undergo the
scrutiny of a committee, and very possibly be
adapted to the taste of the Upper House. We are
far from thinking it free from objection in its de-
tails, though it so happens there is not an objection
to it which does not apply in a still greater degree
to the existing law. Lord Palmerston fears for
the maintenance of our fine old churches if they
are left to a voluntary rate, to be collected from
the gripe of poverty, ignorance, and covetousness.
This does not indeed express the whole of the
danger, for to these things are to be added the
chance of the clergyman's unpopijarity. Un-
fortunately, however, for this argument, many
liundreds of our finest old churches in remote
districts, where there are no resident gentry and
no regard for church architecture, are in a very
miserable condition. When they are put in order
it is
.generally by a subscription or a voluntary
rate, and not by putting the law in- force.
Everybody who has bad to do with farmers knows
eery well that they will often give pounds
much more cheerfully than shillings, and that
after haggling over a demand for 3s. Gd. they will
put down their names for WI. Their whok life is
a battle against little expenses and for little gains,
and they must be taken out of their daily
.round,
and translated into the region of higher thoughts
and kinder affections, before their truenature begins
to show itself. But is it credible that we are so
much worse than our forefa.hers, or that our reli-
gion is so much less generous and self-sacrificinc,
than theirs, that we will not freely maintain the
churclles which they freely founded ? Every
church in this country, from the most magnificent
cathedral to the humblest parish church in the
poorest or most desolate district, was built by
voluntary subscription ; and we will not allow
ourselves to doubt that every church may be left
to the same fund for the .comparatively slight cost
of its annual repairs and the maintenance Of Divine
service.

THE LORD MAYOR'S DINNER TO HER
MAJESTY'S MINISTERS.

( Front the Morning Herald of this day. )
Last evening the customary dinner was given by
the Chief Magistrate of the city of London to her
Majesty's Ministers. Never has the Egyptian-hall
enclosed a more -brilliant assemblage—never were
hospitalities dispensed with more elegance and less
ostentation—and, we will add, never was that tact
which has peculiarly distinguished the mayoralty
of Sir Francis Graham Moon more conspicuous than
in the selection of his guests on this remarkable oc-
casion, when a strange juncture in political affairs
must have rendered the assembling of so large'a
company, whose sentiments should be in accord, 'a
matter of peculiar nicety. Yet. in this difficult
achievement the Lord Mayor was eminently suc-
cessful. The. entertainment was perfect, so far its
care and judicious arrangements could make it ;
and nothing was wanting but that enthusiasm
which those whom it was designed to honour failed
to elicit, and which their excellent host, on their
part could not command.
On similar occasions—at the banquets of last
year and the year preceding, the expression of
feeling which greets the presence amongst our citi -
zens of her Majesty's, Ministers was marked and
enthusiastic. Our people know how to give honour
even when they can stretch a point in imagining
where honour is due, and the constitutional ad-
visers of the Crown are commonly received with
that feeling which results from deep and abiding
loyalty to the Sovereign, and respect f 2 her chosen
servants. We remember the reception accorded
from the essence of civic hospitality to the cold
and ungracious Thane of Aberdeen, even twe 1v
months since, and the rapturous applause,
passionate acclaim with which Lord
radio a conic
was then greeted wh 3n he rose to respo
paratively insignifi( ant toask_
Last night the Prime Minister
rose amidst
-ine theu
sto
saor even of blood-
;lug silence—scarce a
ochmeienro,unsotanadtoalknient6Of satisfaction,disre
the
semblage,warm recognienh,
escapedwit bitter irony, be pro-
to
which,
for the " cordial reception"
eeeaedto
lf and his colleagues. As he went
accorded to himseto ,
Imperialhefriends failed to move his
the result of thg
compact alli-
ance
speech
more fortunate,•
premature
, When, in.
his a returnlLn'
ob
to the chivalrous bear_
stirring
f the allied troops. Throughout, his .. withaccoeunrts,
he referred
r-
ing 0
audience;n,rnnwas
conclusion
was unacknowledged, and its
as not a greater relief to the w generality of his
hearers than it must have been to h•
himself.
The Duke of Argyll attempted II ga antly to cover
the confusion of his chief, and by
division of Monday night to an allusion to the
arouse a passing feel-
ing ; but his efforts were v • ain—the assembly he ad-
dressed was not to be . oved—and the noble duke
did not long continue the difficult and ungracious
general reserve save way far a brief
the few
space as Lord John Russell - 1
in rose to peak, and
expressions of applause which
greeted
the representatives
of the City of London evapo-
rated the feeling with which her Majesty's Minis-
ters are wont to be received by the assembled
guests in the Egyptian. Hall.
As to poor Lord Clarendon
the health of the
we felt disposed to
pity him. The task of proposing
Lady Mayoress fell to him.
The Forcigy Secre-
tary had manifestly prepared his speech with a very
different purpose. The graceful and felicitous sen-
timents proper to the toast contrasted most ab-
surdly,allusions to our
foreign relations—a
we must confess, with his .
combination as curious as it
was ridiculous.
And so ended the last Ministerial dinner at the
Mansion House. If the guests to whom it was
intended to do honour have been disappointed,
they know best to what that disappointment is
attributable. Nothing that tact, good taste, and
lavish hospitality could effect was wanting.