The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-20 00:00:00

JOHN THOROGOOD.

CLERICAL CRUELTY.—We rejoice to observe the
universal indignation that the protracted incarceration of
John Thorogood in her Majesty's county gaol of Essex,
for the non-payment of ss. 6d. Church-rate, is creating
throughout the country. The great meeJng at Leices-
ter has been followed by several other meetings, all well
attended by members of the Established Church, and at
all of which, resolutions strongly condemnatory of this
poor man's persecution by what Philpotts, Bloomfield,
and Co., facetiously call the Poor Man's Church, have
been agreed to. Edinburgh, we are also happy to see,
has not been behind its southern brethren in the cause
of humanity and religious toleration, and has publicly
expressed its unqualified disgust at John Thorogood's
treatment. Indeed we daily hear of public meetings
that either have been or are about to be held, and sub-
scriptions entered into for the purpose of maintaining
his distressed family, and mitigating—as far as wordly
comforts can mitigate, in a gaol—the sufferings to which
the Essex High Church party have for the last eleven
months inflicted upon this conscientious Dissenter, and
which, if' left to those worthies will, in all probability,
only terminate with the life of their victim.—Durhani
Chronicle.

The Gateshead Observer, after quoting a notice
stating the duration of Mr. Thorog,ood's impri-
sonment, says :—" Let every man and woman, tco, who
reads this notice, turn to that chapter in Holy Writ,
where the Head, not of the Established, but of the
Christian Church, uses the words, I was sick, and in
prison, and ye visited me,' and then act as their hearts
dictate."

The Scottish Pilot observes :—" Lord Normanby, as
Home Secretary, has declared it is a case in which the
Executive cannot interfere. Then let an Act for his
liberation be the first measure of an opening Session. A
law to the same effect has already been passed in behalf
of Quakers, and why not for Independents ? But who
can expect a law will be passed for one man ? A special
Act of Parliament was passed last Session for the heir
of the Duke of Marlborough, and another for the heir
of the Duke of Wellington ; and why not for this noble
heir of Hampden's virtue, and the integrity and con-
science of puritanic forefathers ?"

An individual in Edinburgh, in a letter to the editor
of the above paper, inclosing a guinea, says :—" I am
not a Dissenter, I belong to the Established Church ;
but surely this is not the cause of a sect or denomina-
tion, but of every man who rejoices in the liberty where-
with Christ has made him free.' It is a most atrocious
proceeding ; and the demoniac spirit that could enforce
i the execution of the sentence, if placed in the circum-
stances of the sanctissinza inquisitio of Spain and Portu-
gal, and no fear of the hidden things of darkness coming
to light, would, ere now, have applied the thumb-screws
or some such instrument of torture, to poor John Thoro-
good."

The Rev. Maurice James, 8.D., Rector of Pem-
bridge, near Leominster, in a letter to the Morning
C'hronicle, announcing a subscription of Id. Is. to the
fund, says :—" I request you, by the publication of this,
to give me an opportunity of declaring my sympathy
with the man, and with the cause for which he suffers ;
and, at the same time, of owning the obligation felt by
me to resign the preferment which I hold in the Church
of England, and to quit her pale upon the same prin-
ciple, applicable alike to Tithes and Church-rates, un-
less symptoms of a more equitable and Christian spirit
shall develope themselves in her with a rapidity and de-
cision beyond what, I confess, there seems at present
any reason to anticipate."

Of all the evils which have resulted from the corrupt
and covetous Establishment of this kingdom, no one has
been more bitterly complained of, and more insultingly
upheld, than that of Church-rates. This obnoxious im-
post is, indeed of all others, the very one which clashes
most with every conscientious feeling that actuates those
who dissent from the doctrines of the Church which
levies it. It is wrong—foul and fraudulent wrong—to
be compelled to pay for the support, in luxury, and often
in licentiousness, of the clergyman of an opposing creed ;
it is still more galling to pay for the erection of sump-
tuous and magnificent edifices which are devoted to the
inculcation of that creed. In the former instance we
occasionally see some result of our forced contributions,
in the person of one of those rarce eves of the Establish-
ment—a virtuous and beneficent clergyman, dispensing
a part of his revenues in administering to the comfort of
the sick and helpless of those from whom he derives
it. But in being compelled to pay for the erection of a
Protestant place of worship, the Dissenting Christian
must always feel a bitter conviction that he is plundered
for a purpose fraught throughout with evil, unmixed with
the smallest shade or particle of good. This has been,
consequently, one of the main objects of dislike and re-
sistance with all classes of Dissenters. -And in propor-
tion as it has been inveighed against by the growing in-
telligence of the country, thus, with suicidal obstinacy,
and stupid malignity, has it been persevered in by the
clergy, and enforced, too, with a degree of rigour and
tyranny exceeding, generally, even the harshness of their
proceedings in the collection of the equally unjust, but,
perhaps, less in.mediately obnoxious impost of tithes.
In England when the first show of dislike was exhibited
to this abominable system of legalized robbery, the par-
sons, trusting to their ancient influence with the most
brutal and bigotted part of the populace, resorted to
their oft-tested weapon of fiery persecution. But they
have found that those who once shrunk from, now reso-
lutely and stedfastly withstand, the power of that
which was the strong hand of slaughter and death, but
which is now the feeble though venomous assault of
crippled, palsied, and time-worn intolerance. Thoro-
good, Child, and a host of conscientious seceders from
that which was once the Church of England, anti
which is now the only Church of the Priests and the
Aristocracy, have shown " the powers that be" that no
longer can a profligate and contemptible hierarchy ride
roughshod over the intellects of a free people. And
the spirit with which the subject is discussed and the
grievance denounced, all over Great Britain, tells a tale
disastrous to the lovers of fraud and force, but cheer-
ing and consoling to the supporters of justice, charity,
and true religion.—Southern Reporter.

THE TIIREATENED STRIKE AT GLASGOW.—
It is with unfeigned pleasure we have now to state, that,
as anticipated in our last, all prospects of the power-
loom factories being shut up have vanished, an amicable
arrangement having been come to by the masters and
their workmen. We congratulate the operatives on the
good sense they have exhibited in this matter.—Scots
Times.

Mr. O'CoNNELL.—Mr. O'Connell was to leave
Derrynane Abbey this day (last Tuesday) for Tralee,
where he is to be entertained at a public dinner on
Thursday. On Friday the Hon. Gentleman is to pro-
ceed to Limerick, and he is expected in Dublin on Sa-
turday.—Dublin Evening Post.
MELANCHOLY CASE OF DESTITUTION.--
In an inquiry which took place yesterday before Mr.
Carter, the Coroner for Surrey, at the Hope and
Anchor, Southampton-street, Camberwell, the following
melancholy details were laid before the jury. It ap-
peared that about seven weeks since the wife of a man
of the• name of Ware, living in Peto-street, Camberwell,
was delivered of a child (the deceased) in the General
Lying-in Hospital, Westminster-road. The mother
died there. When the infant was twelve days old it
was given over to the father, and he said he did all he
could for it. He gave it bread and milk and sugar,
and attended to it for three days, and then obtained a
dry nurse for it ; but she charging more than he could
afford, he procured another, but the child fell away for
for want of its natural nourishment. It seemed that at
the instigation of this woman he went to a wet-nurse,
who lived in a travelling caravan, through the roof of
which, when the beadle went to make the necessary
inquiries, the rain was pouring in torrents. The child
died, no medical man having been called in. The
father had another child only three years old ; but,
though he sometimes earned only Is. a week, he would
not, he said, part with " the only thing he cared for.'
Verdict—" Natural death."

A FATHER SUSPECTED OF MURDERING HIS

INFANT.—Joseph Knight, whose examinations have
appeared in former numbers of this paper, on charge of
suspicion that he bad murdered an infant, was again
brought up yesterday before Mr. Maude, from the gaol,
and asked whether he had yet made up his mind to
explain what he had done with his child ? The prisoner
said he had a proposal to make. Mr. Maude asked
him what it was ? He replied that he would undertake,
this day week, to produce the child at a certain place
to the mother, and to a person the Magistrate should
appoint, provided he was set at liberty, and could do it
without making known where the child was kept. Mr.
Maude said he could not be set at liberty, but he
might go with an officer. The prisoner said that would
not do. Mr. Maude told him he must not go without
satisfying the Court whether the child was alive. The
prisoner said he would not do that. He bad promised
the persons who had it that they should keep it, and if
he were to tell where they lived the mother's friends
would fetch it away. Mr. Maude told him he must be
further remanded. Prisoner—By what Act of Parlia-
ment am I detained ? Mr. Maude—l have no Act
of Parliament for it. I proceed under the common
law. Prisoner—What am I to understand by com-
mon law ? Mr. Maude—You are here on sus-
picion of having murdered your child, and the
circumstances are, that a few hours after its birth
you took it away from its mother, and it has not
since been heard of. It has been detained against the
mother's consent, and we have the evidence of two per-
sons upon oath, who say they have reason to believe it
has been murdered. Prisoner—Then lamto be a pri-
soner for life on suspicion ? Mr. Maude—Unless you
satisfy us where it is. Prisoner—l would not hang a
cat on suspicion. Mr. Maude : I do not know whether
they will hang you or not, but I must caution you that
there is already sufficient evidence against you to put
you on your trial for your life for murdering your child.
Prisoner—lf I can go before a Jury I shall be satisfied.
Mr. Maude—Well, you have that opportunity.— The
prisoner was then put down ; and Mr. Maude ordered
the depositions against him to be reduced to writing,
with a view to h; Pnmmitfal to the a!Fizes, We 7TJ'l-
c,,..id, P
.d be Lein here till ueN.t
Manchester Chronicle.

DEC. 19,
COURT OF EXCISE'
EXTRAORDINARY SEIZURE OF AN ILLICIT STILL AT
FULL. WORK AT A PUBLIC HOUSE.
George Cooke, l''s, White-street,
Borou g h , was
summonedthe defendant
'ol
en° informationefantn:Taen;iriam oud netieelic'ilodrtaohnta6,voiwtorii.
who
private still on bis premidsezi Tile penalties sought to
be recovered against
Mr. Gerge Ttnslay appeartA for the
was prevented by illness from attetuliter
It appeared that on the 26th of Oetober last, Hughes
officers of Excise,
iileiCh they had received ian,e(a.otntsoeqtuheenhcoeuoset
oirfittt
and i
oßnu ry
it,
wait
the defendant's stock.
defendant, aeen.sJdei askedcnidthheamdt 0
to
examinew ,
‘G‘
sokoiknerteraqdwu'ould
as he was in the
spoil
ifa time some skins hanging
the officers went into the back° peariourlnant
dhehemaredansotmimee_
up, which
some-
thing running down a sort of shoot. They did not take
much notice of that circumstance at the time, but pro-
lceecei de,,d_to examine the house and stock. The defendant
,v,,::`, 7ril into every room in the house hut two,
L . tic ~.• ' :
iir,,t 4,,,,,;
~.,,1-..1„
:ty 4,1.4itt,,t,,,Li:, utatt tite;y lutiad tu the
sink, undet:l ~lhe spout, down which they bad previously
Wilum....._

% Id)0 Yr)UNG, 01
No, 112, Strand, at The Sun Office, No 112, Strand, in the
county of Mid dleser.—Friday, December 20, 1839;