The Sun.
London, England, 1839-05-30 00:00:00

agreed? Can a State Churchman and a Volunta- '
ryist join hand-in-hand for what the Dissenters
mean by Religious Freedom The alliance is an
impossibility, and a delusiontheir creed is Tole:
ration, ours is FreedOrriand man who
accepts their bastard Does Religious Free-
dom consist in allowing and permitting such dif-
ferences be settl.;-,.; or rather compromised,
at a -public dinner, over a glass cf *hie,
so that with perfect good humour the Dis-
senter receives a snub from the State Churchman ;
the Roman Catholic turns his cheek for a slap from
the former ; while the Jew complacently knocks
down all three, but consents to pick up and main-
tain " the Episcopalian in his rights," provided
always that he is allowed to wear an alderman's
gown, or is admitted to a seat in the House of
Commons ? This may appear trifling ;it is, how-
ever, but too truc a picture of the lineaments of the
Religious Freedom Society. What then have the
country Dissenters to expect from any of the
' London bodies, or from all combined ? Just no-
thing more than to be played off in the great game
of party, to keep in the Whigs, or to keep out the
Tories. And is this the use to which so vast and
influential a portion of the community ought to be
put, and will they submit to it ? We trow not.
We much mistake their independence of spirit,
their strict conscientiousness, their high religious
feeling if they allow themselves to be degraded
to the level of tools to be worked for the
dirty purpose of an oligarchy. Let, then, the
Dissenters of the towns and cities rouse up and
be doing. They have the example of Leicester
to encourage and animate them. Forsake at
once all hope of good from the London Socie-
ties ; let the cry be " To your tents, 0 Is-
rael," and relying on their own strength, cou-
rage, and resources, the battle will be well fought,
victory will crown their efforts, and a triumph will
attend it, illumined by a light from above.
We shall be ready to return to this subject in
our next. Indeed, having thus committed our-
selves against the London Committee sgstem,
we shall not shrink from exposing dishonesty and
jobbing, let whom will countenance either ; and
and we are sure there are thousands in London it-
self who will approve of our efforts on their as well
as our bchalf.

The preceding article is copied from the Leices-
ter Mercury,', whose advocacy of the real principles
of Religious Freedom deserves the regard of all
Dissenters, and I republish with a few words
which it suggests.
Few Dissenters are unacquainted with the indus-
try which has been manifested by the Patriot ma-
nagers in Bolt-court to get up some Society, first
with one designation, and then with another, for
the promotion of their own interests, and none are
surprised that in the machinery of the last spe-
culation these worthies lie the nether and upper
millstones, Mr. Conder as Corresponding Secretary,
and his friend and coadjutor, Mr. Boykett, as—A
PARLIAMENTARY AGENT r

The termination to which the late Church-rate
Abolition Society was led by similar management,
is too well remembered to be disregarded. My
friend Mr. Besley was nearly the last member of that
Committee, driven from it by equal disgust at the
practices adopted, and the means resorted to for
their defence : he is himself a man known to an
unusually wide circle of friends, (Dr. Price, Au-
ditor to the New Society, in the number,) and, by
all without exception, known as living in the light
—a man of integrity, with business habits, and
thoroughly well informed. He alleged that there
had been mismanagement, and misappropriation of
the funds, appealing to the accounts for proof ; the
° charie was denied by the Editor of the Patriot,
and by three persons calling themselves Edward
Smith, J. H. Tredgold, and John Peachey, who
moreover engaged that a full exposition of the ac-
counts should be given at a public meeting to be
held in May. Mr. Besley pledged himself to at-
tend such meeting, to substantiate his charges, and
to take the public sense upon the facts ; and he has
held himself in readiness to do so at much inconve-
nience, remaining for the whole month in London ;
but no meeting has been advertised or held ; the pres-
sure of his imputations was staved off by the pledge of
publicity ; the pledge has never been redeemed ;
and the burden returns upon the character of the
Committee, the Auditors, and the Honorary Se-
cretary.

Th-at the new Society is but a re-construction of
the disjointed members of the old one, furnishes
abundant ground of distrust ; and this was strength-
ened by their first public demonstration, when in-
stead of proclaiming the broad principles of Reli-
gious Freedom, they have cared only to obtain an
array of names, and the countenance of Parliament
men—the adherents of a State Church, and, as in
the caiie of Mr. C. Buller, ready to defend the worst
aggressions of the Establishment. The exact mea-
sure and kind of confidence to be reposed in
this Society are suggested by a Resolution
passed at the Central Board of Dissenters in
Scotland, that no cash should be granted to it.
I again counsel the Dissenters of England to adopt
a similar resolution—let them retain their money
for their own purposes, attend to their own affairs
in their own localities, as their friends at Leicester,
Ipswich, and Braintree, Mr. Apsley Pellatt, Dr.
Cox, and others are doing, and they will soon find
themselves in a state of progressive organization
and power, better acquainted with their rights,
habituated to exert the lawful force which their
numbers and their principles confer, and qualified
to use it for obtaining true Religious Freedom.
Bungay, May 28, 1839. JOHN CHILDS.
P. S.—Mr. Jones of Llanon, and Mr. Thoro-
good of Chelmsford, ARE STILL IN PRISON; the
furmer having been incarcerated TWENTY-FIVE
weeks, and the latter NINETEEN weeks. Mr.
Baines, of Leicester, has been ordered to pay
1251. 3s. as costs incurred in proceedings against
him for non-payment of a Church-rate of 2/. ss.

DUTCH AND GERMAN PAPERS.

THE HAGUE, MAY 27.—The Stoats Courant of to-
day publishes his Majesty's resolution respecting the em-
banking :and draining of the Lake of Haarlem, founded on
the law of March 23, this year, respecting a loan for the
purpose of effecting this object.
We learn from Stuttgard that the marriage of Princess
Sophia is fixed for the I Ith of Jane, which is also her
birth-day. The fetes on the occasion are to be very splen-
did. It is much regretted that the outfit of the bride is
not shown to the public, at least to the females, but only
persons of very high rank were admitted to see it. Some
young ladies of this city intend to present the Princess a
carpet of their own work. This country will bear no
part of the expense, although 100,000 florins are allotted
for such occasions, but the deceased Queen ordered in her
last will that the outfit of her two daughters should be de-
frayed out of her own property.
ROTTERDAM, MAY 24. —Tne Hereditary Grand Duke
of Saxe Weimar, who is now here, will set out for London
to-morrow.

NIMEGLEN, MAY 25.—The funeral of the much-lamented
Prince William-Charles, eldast son of the Duke of Saxe
Weimar took place to-day, with all the military honours
belonging to Lis rank.
BEKLIN, MAY 20.-We shortly expect the Duke of
Leuchtenberg, on his way to St. Petersburg to celebrate
his marriage with the Grand Duchess Maria of Russia.
With respect to the report of the betrothing of the
Grand Duke Alexander to Princess Maria of Hesse Darm-
stadt, though much spoken of, nothing is officially known
of it. —Dutch Papers, May 28.