The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-01 00:00:00

IMO Ullttion

FRANCE.

It has been observed that the movement in fa-
vour of the Empire during the late election was
remarkable in La Vendee. It is admitted even by
those of their chiefs who have remained faithful to
the cause of the Bourbons, that the peasants
allowed as much eagerness as they did for Louis
XIV. during the wars of La Vendee. Out of 10,304
oters there were 9,924 affirmative votes to 303
negative. Several members of the old Legitimist
families in La Vendee walked to the polling-booths
at the head of their tenants, as their ancestors for-
merly led their followers to battle. Their clergy,
who havepreserved theirancient influence overthem
were most active in canvassing for Louis Napoleon;
and to this is owing, in great measure, what has
occurred. The journals of the southern depart-
ments remark as extraordinary the change which
has taken place in the political opinions of the
population of the Aude. In 1848, that department
elected Bathes and other equally violent Montag-
nards as members of the Constituent Assembly
by 56,000 votes. In the year 1849, when the
friends of order began to assume the upper hand,
their candidates could never poll more than 36,000
votes ; whilst the Reds followed close after them
with 30,000 votes. On the vote for the plebiscite
in 1851 there were 57,000 affirmative votes, but
there were likewise 10,207. negative. On the late
election there were 70,516 affirmative votes, and
only 575 negative. It must be observed further
that but 8,000 electors have "abstained."

PRUSSIA.
OPENING iliF THE CHAMBERS.

The sessions were opened on the 29th inst., by
the Minister-President, with an address, of which
the following are the most essential points :
" The administration of finances has been conducted
with the customary regard to our necessities, and with
order and economy.
" The September proposition has not, up to the pre-
sent time, obtained adhesions from all sides, but the
Government feels assured of the consent of the country
in the political negotiations it has pursued.
" Propositions respecting designs relative to the com-
munal, district, and provincial regulations, as well as
the First Chamber will be presented. The last proposi-
tion concerns the freedom of the Crown from limitations
which are not grounded upon the interests of the coun-
try. Generally, the Government will be maintained in-
dependent of all party endeavours. No interference with
legal freedom will be permitted ; but no weakenipg of the
Royal power by division will be tolerated. It is the
legal path of constitutional development which gives
security and enduring success."

After a large number of petitions had been presented
from various places in Ireland praying for the repeal of
Ministers' Money in Ireland,
Mr. FAGAN rose to move—" That this house will,
upon Thursday next, resolve itself into a committee, to
take into consideration the law relating to the rate or
tax called Ministers' Money, in Ireland, with the view
to repeal so much thereof as relates to the said rate or
tax ; and further to take into consideration the act 3 and
4 Will. IV., c. 37, called the Church Temporalities Act,
for the purpose of amending the same, so as to provide
thereby a substitute out of the revenues of the Ecclesias-
tical Commissioners as a provision for the Protestant
ministers in certain corporate towns in Ireland, in lieu
of the annual sums now received by them under and by
virtue of the act 17 and 18, Charles 11., c. 7."
He had so often brought this subject forward in
a former Parliament that it was hardly necessary for
him to detain the house with any lengthened statement ;
but there -were several new members in the house who
were no doubt quite ignorant of the merits of the case,
and he must therefore, to some extent, go over the
ground again. He had no desire to rob the Established
Church of any of its just revenues, nor did he wish to
aim a blow at that Church through this motion. Those
who received the tax were equally as much opposed to
it as himself, and they were joined with him in
endeavouring to get it abolished. It yielded some-
thing like 15,0001., and was imposed upon a num-
ber of corporate towns in Ireland, the inhabitants of
which were Roman Catholics. It was raised upon
an obsolete valuation, while, from the change of
circumstances which had taken place since it was
established, more than a century ago, it fell upon
the poor in an unjust proportion compared with the
rich ; for instance, in Cork where the rich portion of the
city only paid upon a valuation of 8401. a-year, the
poorer liortion had to pay upon 3001., and to show the
-Injustice of this, he need only mention that under the
poor-law valuation the latter paid upon 6,0001. a-year,
while the former had to pay - upon 30,000/. a-year.
(Hear, hear.) When he brought this subject forward
before, he was met with the assertion that the in-
justice of the tax could be got rid of by remov-
ing it from the shoulders of the occupier to the
owner of the house to be levied in the shape of a rent
charge, but in every phase the tax was too objectionable
to admit of its continuance in any form. The report of
the select committee appointed in 1848, had reported
against the tax while the present Prime Minister, when
lie was Secretary for Ireland, denounced a similar impost
in strong and eloquent language. But there was an ad-
ditional reason for his success on this occasion. The
noble lord the member for the City of London, when he
was in office, promised. to introduce a measure for the
abolition of this tax, and he called upon the noble lord
to show that he was in earnest then by voting for this
motion.. The revenue of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners,
so far as the Irish Church was concerned, had increased
upwards of 20,0001. since 1848, when the select com-
mittee recommended the abolition of this tax, and he
must therefore insist that no difficulty could possibly
arise in finding
.a substitute for this tax. (Hear, hear.)
But if the house would ,only grant him this committee,
he was prepared to show how the income ofthe commis-
sioners could be still further increased, and this he
thought was an additional reason why the house ought
to adopt his resolution. He had now done ; he had
shown to the house that the Protestant clergy were op-
posed to the tax, that a committee of the house had
recommended its abolition, and that one side of the
house had pledged itself to remove it; and he now
called upon the house to adopt the resolution, and thus
carry out the recommendation of her Majesty to legislate
for Ireland in a liberal spirit. (Hear, hear.)
The motion having been seconded,
Mr. WALPOLE thanked the honourable member for
the temperate manner in which he had brought forward
the subject. There could be no doubt that the tax
which the motion referred to was highly objectionable in
many points of view. It was levied upon an unjust
principle, and the Protestant clergy who received it were
as much opposed to it as the Roman Catholics who paid
it. (Hear, hear.) That he thought was a strong
circumstance in favour of its removal, and the
house had to consider how it could be abolished.
If this was simply an abstract motion, pledging the
house to abolish the tax in its present shape, he perhaps
should have found no objection ; but it unfortunately
went further, and required the house to resolve that on
a future day it would go into a committee of the whole
house for the puppose of considering of a substitute.
There was no question that the tax was levied in
an objectionable mode, but to remove it on that ac-
count, without providing a substitute for it, would be
grossly unjust, and before the house should consent to
its abolition they should be satisfied that the tax could
be provided for through some other means. Cer-
tainly, the funds in the hands of the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners would not be available for such a pur-
pose, but if they were he doubted very much whether
it would be right to use them in that manner. The
funds possessed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners
were obtained from taxes that were levied upon the
Protestant clergy, and the house would, therefore, per-
ceive that, if their suggestions were adopted, the effect
of it would be to deprive one portion of the Irish clergy
of their income, and to tax another portion to provide
a substitute for it. (Hear, hear.) Still, he thought
something ought to be done for the purpose of re-
moving the injustice and inequalities of the impost.
(Hear, hear.) He was now in communication
with the Lord-Lieutenant upon this very subject, and if
the motion was withdrawn, he would pledge himself that
after the recess the matter should be again brought for-
ward by the Government in the shape of a pledge. He
would, therefore, not negative the motion, but simply
move the previous question by way of amendment. (Hear,
hear.)
Mr. Serjeant MURPHY said it was clear, from what
had been stated by his hon. friend and colleague, and
from the admission of the right hon. gentleman, that this
question had not been mixed up with sectarianism, or
party or polemical topics, and that many persons of dif-
ferent religions agreed that it would be for the welfare
both of Protestants and Roman Catholics of several
towns in Ireland if this question received a speedy solu-
tion. He complained that for the last eleven years all
Governments had met the question in the same concilia-
tory manner as the right hon. gentleman, and made the
same promises with regard to the abolition of what was
admitted to be a vexatious tax. All Governments had
fully admitted that it was a grievance, but inquired what
was to be the substitute for it. Lord Stanley, when
connected with the Irish Government, had said, " Find
me a substitute for the tax ;" but no private member
would take the responsibility of finding a substitute, and
therefore resort was had to a select committee. In
1848 a number of witnesses were examined before such
a committee. One of the leading features of the re-
port of that committee was, that there should be no in-
terference with the temporalities of the church, so
far as related to the sustenance of the clergy. The
right honourable gentleman said he would not do
away with the impost, because it was an impost not on
persons but on property. Now a committee sat on the
annuity tax in Edinburgh, and their report touched on
this very point. They said—" Your committee are
deeply impressed with the necessity, both on account of
the interests of religion, and for the sake of the peace
and good government of the city of Edinburgh that an
attempt should be made, and that without delay, to come
to some final settlement of the question, which has
hitherto produced results which all must deplore, and
which your committee agree with Mr. Lefevre in think-
ing must otherwise become a source of danger to the
church. Now, in Edinburgh there might be some diffe-
rence of opinion. Yet they were all Protestants, and
Edinburgh was a rich town ; whereas in Ireland the tax
was levied on the occupants of hovels, who were in ra
state of the greatest distress. He said then the right
hon. gentleman ought to do as the committee which sat
on the Edinburgh Annuity Tax did—make the concession
for the sake of peace. He hoped his hon. friend would
not be contented with this sort of-aye and nay promise
on the part of the Government : he asked him to be con-
tent with nothing less than a promise from the right hon.
gentleman that a bill should be laid on the table after
the recess, doing away with the anomaly of paying for
that which they did not receive. They had done away
with tithes and with cess, and he believed that if they
did not carry this principle out, a discontent would be
produced like that which preceded the Reform Bill, and
which, in this case, would have the effect of materially
interfering with the entire establishment of the church
in Ireland.
Mr. NAPIER said it was not his intention to make
any observations which might prevent the dispassionate
discussion of this question. But when his right hon.
friend (Mr. Walpole) stated in the course of last session
that it was the intention of Government to take this
question into consideration, that was no idle promise
with a view to postpone a discussion, but it was with
the bone 1 fide intention of having it considered ; and he
might say that he had himself paid great attention to it,
and but for the state of his health he should have been
ready with a bill on the subject now. During the time
of the late Government, he believed it was their honest
desire to try to settle this question, and though on that
as on other questions he would not thrust himself upon
them, he was not unwilling to give them his assistance
in that house. He knew the obstacle that stood in the

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON.—On Saturday even-
ing last, the professors of this institution gave the first of
a series of three soirées, designed for the re-union of men
of eminence in the various branches of medicine, litera-
ture, and art. The Flaxman gallery, which is a collec-
tion of the original works of the celebrated sculptor
whose game it bears, was thrown open to visitors, as was
the general library, upon the tables of which were ar-
ranged various optical and other scientific instruments,
as well as some rare specimens in natural history, and
works containing elaborate engravings illustrative of ar.
chitecture, engineering, and Australian ornithology. The
Flaxman gallery was lighted from the outside, and the
windows being of ground glass, the subdued light was
found peculiarly well adapted for the inspection of the
numerous works of art with which the gallery abounds.
The soirée was attended by 1,200 persons, among whom
were many foreigners of literary distinction.
AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY.—Among the
effects produced by the gold discoveries has been a re-
markable alteration in the circumstances of the Austra-
lian Agricultural Company. The shares of that under-
taking within the past year have been sold at a price as
low as about 15 ; and now they are quoted at 65. It
appears that for several months past dispatches have
been received from the chief officer of the company in
the colony intimating the existence of gold in their large
tract of 300,000 acres of land on the Peel River ; and
that the latest advices confirm the fact of many parts of
it being rich, not only from deposits in the alluvial soil,
but also from the presence of gold-bearing quartz. The
selection of this land was made for the company many
years ago by Sir William Parry, as being some of the
finest in the colony for both pastoral and agricultural
purposes

BRITISH ANTI-STATE CHURCH ASSOCIATION._ On Mon-
day night the autumnal meeting of this association was
held at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate-street. The chair
was taken by Apsley Pellatt, Esq., M.P., who was sup-
ported by Frank Crossley, Esq., M.P.; Edward Miall,
Esq., M.P.; J. Card Williams, Esq.; Win. Edwards,
Esq.; H. Vincent, Esq.; Charles Rawlins, Esq., of
Liverpool, and a number of reverend gentlemen. Re-
solutions were passed, and speeches made in favour of
the object of the association, after which thanks were
voted to the chairman, and the meeting terminated. 1