The Sun.
London, England, 1839-10-18 00:00:00

HIS EXCELLENCY'S ANSWER.

GENTLEMEN,—I return you my sincere thanks for
the kindness with which you have welcomed my return,
for a short time, to my native county.
When I entered upon the government of Ireland, I
found peace and tranquillity established there by the
judicious administration of my predecessor ; and I am
heartily gratified that my efforts to preserve them have
earned for me a renewed assurance of that approbation
and esteem, of which, in my former situation of one of
the representatives of Devon, I received so many flat-
tering proofs, on various occasions, from my neighbours
and friends at Barnstaple.

A few days since, a meeting of " the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts" was
held at a place called Boston Spa ; the Puseyite Vicar
of Leeds, Dr. Hook, was the chief speaker. The
Rev. Gentleman referred to the doctrine of the Divinity
of Christ, which he said was proved by tradition
And to the doctrine of transubstantiation, which was, he
said, disproved by tradition ! Towards the close of the
meeting, the Chairman, G. L. Fox, Esq., M.P.. made
a speech, and stated, in proof of his earnest desire to
propagate Christianity, and to support the " Venerable
Society," that he had actually come from Doncaster
races in order to preside at that meeting.—Patriot.
SAVINGS' BANK ANNUITIES.—The trustees
and managers of St. Clement Danes Savings' Bank
have paid to Government during the quarter just ended,
7,1711. 3s. 7d. on account of annuities, varying from
41. to 20/. each annuitant. The gross sum paid by
them to Government since the commencement of the
annuity institution is 75,119/. 3s. 11 d. And, notwith-
standing the late pressure for money, the receipts from
depositors to this Savings' Bank have amounted to up-
wards of 35,000/. since November last, whilst the re-
payments to depositors being something under 24,0001.
has left a balance of more than 11,0001. to be added to
their capital, which exceeds 61,000/.

LEEDS HORTICULTURAL AND FLORAL SO-
CIETY.—The third and last show for the season of this
Society, was held yesterday week, in the yard of the
White Cloth Hall. The exhibition in all its depart-
ments was of a very superior order. There being, con-
sidering the advanced state of the season, abundance of
plants, fruits, and flowers, which were displayed as taste-
as circumstances would admit. The company,
owing to the unfavourable state of the weather, was
not so numerous as on former occasions ; in fact, it is a
matter of regret that there is not, in the town of Leeds,
a public building with a room sufficiently large for a hor-
ticultural exhibition on a large scale, and it is scarcely to
be expected that an out-door show, nearly in the middle
of October, should be very attractive ; amongst those
present, however, we were glad to observe several
families of distinction in this neighbourhood.—York
Courant.

SINGULAR CONTRIBUTION.—At the collec-
tion made after the sermon delivered by Mr. Close in
aid of the Church Missionary Society (says the Chel-
tenham Free Press), a lady deposited in one of the
plates a piece of paper, which, on being unfolded, was
found to contain a plain gold ring. The following was
written, upon the envelope :—" The giver is now
amongst the redeemed, and the receiver restores it to
the Lord of the harvest."

KNOX CLUB ANNIVERSARY AT MAYBOLE.
—The Anniversary of the Knox Club was held at
Maybole, on Friday last, in the Parish School-house.
The Rev. Dr. Hill of Dailly, occupied the Chair, sup-
ported on the right by W. Niven, Esq., of Kirkbride,
and the Rev. Mr. Richardson of Penningham ; and on
the left by Elias Cathcart, Esq., of Auchendran, and
Dr. Rankine of Otterden. Sir C. D. Fergusson, Bart.
of Kilkerran, officiated as croupier, supported on the
right by Mr. M'Mickin Torrance of Kilsantninian, and
on the left by the Rev. Mr. Gray, Maybole. The
Rev. Mr. Richardson asked the blessing, and the Rev.
Mr. Wallace returned thanks.—Ayr Observer.
A MAN RESCUED FROM A TIGER BY A
LION.—A Birr correspondent of the Dublin Post,
dating Friday, says :--4. Since I came here I have
heard an anecdote of one of Batty's lions, which shows
the sagacity of that noble animal in a remarkable point
of view. Those who visited Batty's menagerie, in
Dublin, will remember that he had two lions and a tiger
tamed together in the same cage, and whilst exhibiting
at Roscrea, a few days ago, the keeper of these animals,
whilst in the cage with them, missed his foot and fell
upon the tiger, which was asleep at the moment. The
animal, became enraged, and, jumping up, caught the
unfortunate man by the thigh. A thrill of horror per-
vaded the hundreds of spectators who were visiting the
exhibition at the time, and the man's destruction was
deemed inevitable, when, to the inexpressible joy, as well
as amazement of all present, the lion seized the tiger
by the neck, and caused it at once to rclinquinsh its
hold, whilst the man was dragged out of the cage,
bleeding in a dreadful manner. He was immediately
placed under the care of Dr. Tynan), of this town, and
is now quite recovered.
THE SHAKSPEARE CLIFF TUNNEL---The
South-Eastern Railway advances ; the tunnel through
Shakspeare's Cliff is nearly completed. There are only
two tunnels on its line of road, and that through Shak-
speare's Cliff was the most dreaded experiment. There
is now a passage (narrow in some parts it is true) from
one side of the cliff to the other, being an arch measur-
ing three quarters of a mile in length, cut in solid chalk.
It is well worth a long walk to see the finished portion.
One of the galleries leads from the beach to the main
tunnel, which is a beautifully turned elliptical arch of
between twenty and thirty feet in height. On some
occasions a blue light is thrown up, which produces a
strange and almost unearthly effect. Among the
masses of chalk which compose the Dover hills, portions
of clay are found totally disconnected, either with the
surface of the ground, or with each other. The geolo-
gist's attention is also excited by the different varieties
of chalk—one soft, one hard, one perfectly pure, one
filled with flints, and one with organic remains.—Kentish
Times.

TOO MUCH CHURCH IN AUS-

TRAIAA.

(From Murray's Austral-Asiatic Review of the 4th of
June.)
This colony has been said to furnish materials for
prison discipline ; its destiny now is to be the material
for the aggrandisement of Christian churches. Alas,
poor Colony ! doomed to suffer in every cause-
-thy life-blood is now to be poured out like wa-
ter ; thou, already so attenuated and exhausted, art
siill to bleed. Verily it is well to suffer in a good
cause, and thou wilt speedily die in the cause of Christ-
ianity. Two Sheriffs at 8001. a year, each! If things
go on as they have been going, how long' will they be
able to levy their salaries ?
We hailed the new Church Act as a measure of
wisdom, to confer substantial justice on all creeds. We
imagined in our anxiety for so happy a consumma-
tion, that all strife was now composed, that all jealousy
was now annihilated, that there could be no more
unjust preferment, that each would come by
his own, and that the wants of the souls of
men would be provided for. But now we see that there
is much more anxiety to provide for some of the clergy,
than for all the people, and this, it appears, is the way
in which particular churches are to be advanced. When
we find that there are two Protestant clergymen at such
out-of-the•way places as Morven and Sorel], we may
be sure that the onerous imposts involved in their es-
tablishments, will be extended further and grow heavier:
and surely there must be some singular defects in an
Act whiclL eaves room for such inflictions on the colo-
nial prosperity. We reproach ourselves with not hav-
ing given sufficient attention to the details of that mea-
sure. We hoped all things—we suspected nothing.
But our duty as one of the guardians of the
public purse, enjoins on us a stricter scrutiny now that
we behold the working of the Act. To this task we
have addressed ourselves, and as a preliminary to our en-
deavours to get at the root of the malady, we have one
question to ask, Ibr we think we see a glimmering of
the light of truth. Who changed six to ten ? In what
stages of the progress of the Bill was this artifice prac-
tised, this expensive error introduced ? Will people go
10 miles to church ? will they go 20 ? It appears that
the radius is to pass through the air (that is the perni-
cious and absurd interpretation of the distance clause),
so that a person who, by any road, would have from
15 to 20 miles to travel before he could reach his
journey's end, if it be found that he lives from the in-
tended site only 10 miles, and declares that he is bona
fide a member of a given communion, and intends to
frequent a given building, such a person becomes a
means, and is sought out as a means of procuring 3001.
building-money at once, and salary for a minister for
ever and ever.

Oh, detail ! detail! oh, craft! oh, management 1
to paralyze or annihilate the virtue of any great mea-
sure ! A sadder reflection presents itself even than that
of our pecuniary loss. Is it the duty of Government to
encourage people to declare falsely, and against the pos-
sibilities of nature ? To encourage tender ladies to
declare that they intend to travel ten miles on a Sunday,
and that almost constantly ? To frequent the church,
when it is manifest that they can as possibly fre-
quent the summit of Mount Wellington, and offer their
orisons on that holy temple of nature ?
What then must plainly come of this ?—Why, that
everything can be found for the church except its legi-
timate and declaring congregation—that church after
church may be founded, minister after minister
salaried, not according to the spiritual necessities of
the people, but as chance zeal may co-operate with this
cruel provision of the Act. We speak advisedly ; it is
a cruel blow to the prosperity of the colony, to allow of
such appropriation of its revenues, while internal im-
provements, institutions, and works, and roads, and
bridges, are retarded or postponed sine die.
We most respectfully call on the Government to re-
consider this Act ; it is bound to re-consideration by
two calls of duty—one, that of protection of our wealth
and wise distribution of our resources ; the other, a
most sacred duty, that of taking care that no Act shall
tempt the morality of the people. The Church Act
contains this poison, inviting people to declare that they
mean to do what they neither will nor can do.