The Sun.
London, England, 1837-04-05 00:00:00

Last night a meeting of the inhabitants of the Borough of
Finsbury was held at the Lancasterian School-room, Tabe --
nacle-row, to consider the propriety of petitioning Parliament
in favour of the Government measure for the abolition o:
Church-rates, The Chair was advertised to be taken at six
o'clock precisely, but it was not taken until a few minutes be
fore seven o'clock. Mr. flume, M. P. and Mr. Wakley, M. P.,
were in attendance shortly after six o'clock, but they left before
the Chair was taken. At the commencement of the meeting
the attendance was thin, but in the course of the evening up-
wards of 1,000 persons were present.
Mr. WILKS, M.P., on taking the Chair, said that he re-
gretted that they had not some public building within their
borough capable of holding the 25,000 constituents belonging
to it.--(Hear, hear.) He believed that there never was
a crisis in the history of this country when it was more
necessary that there should be a manifestation of a unison
of feeling on such a question as that which came under
their consideration to-night.--( Hear, hear.) It might appear
to some that they had met on a question of a sectarian nature,
and only of a trifling degree of interest; but the fact was,
that they were engaged in a question of the deepest interest--
a question involving the principles of religious liberty__
(Cheers)—and of the rights of conscience—a question on
which depended those same principles for which they had so
long contended.—(Cheers.) They had now arrived at the
period when they had to discuss the question of the abolition
of Church-rates--(Cheers)—and to state whether they were
prepared to support the plan introduced by the Government for
that purpose. The time was not far distant when they would
have to demonstrate the proposition that the collection of
Church-rates was impolitic, was unjust, and was unchristian—
( Hear, hear)—and that the imposing Church-rates was a brand
of degradation and disgrace on those who dissented from the
Church.—( Cheers.) It did not appear to him necessary to
enter upon the discussion of this part of the subject, as he be-
lieved that the meeting was already perfectly satisfied of the
gross injustice of this impost. He felt, however, called upon
to enter upon some details respecting the progress of this ques-
tion. Soon after his election as a Member of Parliament,
he obtained a return of the amount of Church-rates collected
in every parish of England and Wales. It was not without
some difficulty he obtained this return from the Liberal Ad-
ministration that was then in power. He was told that it
would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to obtain such
returns as he asked for. Those objections showed that tho
Government at the time were indisposed to agree to those in-
quiries which he wished to institute into this subject. For-
tunately he at. length obtained these returns, and from them it
appeared that the sum annually levied for Church-rates
amounted to 597,0001 —( Hear.) Immediately this return was
laid on the table Mr. Divett gave notice of a motion on this
subject, and although it was opposed by the Government, the
matter was taken up so se'riously by the Reformed House of
Commons, that Lord Althorp stated the question would be
taken up by the Government. In 1834 Lord Althorp brought
the subject under the attention of Parliament, and the propo-
sition which that Noble Lord made was a matter of surprise,
when they recollected the abuses connected with the adminis-
tration of Church-rates, and which had been so strenuously
denied, for it showed that the amount extorted from all classes
of the population for Church-rates was much larger than was
necessary. Lord Althorp did not think it necessary to take
597,000/. to defray those expenses for which Church-rates
were levied, namely, the amount necessary for the mainte-
nance of the buildings for religious worship, and other ex-
penses of a similar character. It appeared from that Noble
Lords proposition that, instead of 597,0001. being called f,r,
250,000/. was all that the Government thought was needful to
secure the maintenance of the edifices of the Church, and that
this latter sum should be taken from the land-tax, in-
stead of being imposed as at present. When this propo-
sition was made, its supporters were not told, as the
objectors to Church-rates were now, that they were the
opponents of religious worship ; for this had been often
declared in certain recent declamatory addresses, which were
made in a certain place, where they were also told that the
supporters of Church-rates were solely the advocates of the
religious instruction of the poor.—( Hear.) With respect to
Ireland, a proposition was made by Lord Stanley to do away
with Church-rates. In that country the evil of their conti-
nuance was even more manifest than in this country; and the
measure of that Noble Lord, who was now such a strenuous
supporter of Church-rates, was passed into a law. The re-
turns laid before Parliament relative to Church-cess in Ire-
land exhibited the most extraordinary instances of abuse. In
one parish in Ireland two pipes of wine were laid in annually,
nominally for sacrament wine; and there were only thirteen
Protestants (as we understood the Hon. Gentleman) in the
parish. In another parish, in which the Catholic population
was fifty to one to the Protestant, and where none of the latter
were communicants, it appeared from tLe returns that three
dozen of excellent port wine was supplied to the Rector of
the parish. In another parish the Incumbent, who was a
Bishop, not only charged for the purchase of his lawn
and his cambric and his linen, but also for a silver
scent-bottle.—(Hear, hear, hear, and great laughter.)
Here was an instance of a charge out of the Church-cess for an
article more fitting for a lady's toilet than for a place of reli-
gious worship, and for the use of the minister.—( Hear, hear.)
The abuses were so gross in Ireland that they had been got
rid of, and the man alio brought forward the plan, havil,r, in
view that object, was now one of their most strenuous advo-
cates in this country.— ( Hear, hear.) But lie was satisfied
that the people of England would be resolved, as the people
of Ireland were, to be relieved from this unjust and oppressive
impost.—( Hear, hear.) In many parishes there had been a
wasteful expenditure of the Church-rates, and large sums had
annually been laid out in bacchanalian entertainments.—
( Hear, hear.) Was it just that money should be extorted
from the conscientious Dissenter, or Quaker, not only for the
legitimate objects of Church-rates, but also for such pure
poses as those he had just alluded to ?—( Hear, hear.)
When Lord Althorp proposed that 250,000/. should be
taken out of the land-tax in lieu of Church-rates, Mr.
Hume, with that manliness which he always manifested, de-
clared that he could not consent to anything less than the
total abolition of Church-rates, and that he vas determined
to oppose the Noble Lord's proposition to the utmost. The
decision of tlia House of Commons was taken on this
question, and Lord Althorp was supported by the Tories and
high-church party, who were now moving heaven and earth
in opposition to the plan of the present Government, and who
were canvassing every parish, and getting up close meetings
at the Freemasons' Tavern and other similar places against it.
The Noble Lord, however, was compelled by Mr. Hume,
Mr. Duncombe, by himself, and other Members, to desist,
for they and the other gentlemen who voted in the minority
declared that nothing would satisfy them unless Church-rates
were entirely abolished.—(Hear, hear.) Lord Althorp,
therefore, did not press forward his measure, as he found that

it was not acceptable to the Dissenters. 'The matter then
rested until the accession of Sir Robert Peel to office at the
end of 1834. That Right Hon. Gentleman sent for two or
three of the leading Dissenters to Downing-street, and told
them that he could accomplish much more for them than the
Whigs could, and that he was disposed, by the abolition of
Church-rates, or by another measure which they could sug-
gest, provided there was no sacrifice of principle, to meet
their views.—( Hear, hear.) On the opening of the Par-
liament Sir Robert Peel said that it was his inten-
-tion to propose some measure by which the burden
of tithes on the landed interest might be removed,
and also to relieve the Dissenters from Church-rates. When
the time for the explanation of his views arrived they ought
not to forget that Sir Robert Peel still proposed that only
260,0001. should be given in lieu of Church-rates, and ad-
mitting that the sum which he proposed to apply was all that
was necessary for the maintenance of the worship of the
Church. He proposed, however, that instead of taking the
amount from the land-tax it should et once be charged' to the
Consolidated Fund. The Right Hon. Baronet put it to
him, and other Dissenters in the House of Commons, whether
they would accept this measure ; but he and his friends con-
stantly stated that it was not to the amount of the tax that
they objected, but to the principle of it; and whether it was
placed on the land-tax or on the Consolidated Fund, or con-
tinued in its present form, it was alike objectionable, and a
great evil would exist ; for one class of the Christian com-
munity dissenting from the Establishment should not be
compelled to contribute to the maintenance of edifices and
to a form of worship in which they did not participate, and
they would never cease to oppose such a state of things.—
( Hear, hear.) Could the Dissenters be expected to do so
when they recollected the case of Mr. Child, of Bungay,
and other similar cases ?—( Hear, hear, hear.) He did
not wish to extol too highly the conduct of the pre-
sent Government ; but he could not help saying that they de-
served the highest credit for the decision and energy they had
manifested ; and he would venture to assert that the measure
was more extensive and satisfactory than their friends could
have anticipated that it would have been. In what had been
proposed there was no compromise of principle. The decla-
ration went forth as if sounded from a trumpet in every car,
and which vibrated in every heart, that Church-rates were to
be entirely abolished.—( Cheers.) He wished that the prin-
ciple and details of this measure should be fully explained in
every part of the empire,. and then he was satisfied that the
fears and phantoms which had been excited with so much care
in so many of the small hamlets in the cauntry, would clear
away as the morning dew, and thus the attelnpts of those who
had exerted themselves to prevent the triumph of a public
cause would be thwarted. His Majesty's Ministers said that
they would preserve the Church, and would preventlhe sepa-
ration of Church and State. He therefore said, that his Ma-
jesty's Ministers had adopted a right principle when they fixed
themselves on the rock on which they had rested.—( Hear.)
They had undertaken to raise out of the finances of the Church
all that was necessary, after Church-rates were 'abolished, to
preserve the edifices of the Church.—( Cheers.) Such was the
plan of his Majesty's Ministers, and when it was more gene-
rally understood he was sure that not only the Dissenters but
the Churchmen would be satisfied with it. He thought,
therefore, that his Majesty's Ministers on this measure had
entitled themselves to the support of all Dissenters, as well as
every well-regulated member of the Establishment.—( Hear. )
He might be told that there were many opposed to the plan of