The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-04 00:00:00

have said all that the subject would bear in the odd fifty minutes—
ay, and have plenty of time to spare into- the bargain for clapping
his hands, and thumping, the box on the table, as often as Mr.
Rice indulged in those -displays, which, by the way, are the only
striking parts of that gentleman's speeches at any time. And yet
Mr. Rice is precisely the person who has limited the size of news-
papers to a certain number of superficial inches ! Why, if every
Member were as long-winded, and had as good an opinion of him-
self, as Mr. Rice, all the newspapers in London put together would.
not hold a tithe of their speeches. We think it very monstrous
that the: time of the House and of the public should be thus
consumed in mere gabble ; and we must be allowed to express a
hope that when Lord John Russell falls sick another time, he will,
in his absence, limit Mr. Rice's liberty of speech by a scale of su-
perficial inches proportionate, at least, to that which Mr. Rice
has applied to newspapers. This would be a great convenience
to us, and an unspeakable comfort to the House.— Times.
Cordially, most cordially, do we congratulate, not only his Ma-
jesty's Ministers, but the bissenters of the United Kingdom, on
the plan proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the
abolition of Church-rates. We announced many days ago that
this measure would be such as to give satisfaction to the country ;
and the result furnishes a most gratifying confirmation of the ac-
curacy of our statement. If there were anything wanting to prove
the impolicy—and not merely the impolicy, but the impossibility—
of continuing the assessment of Church-rates, it is to be found in
the luminous and energetic speech made last night in the House of
COramons by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. There are few
subjects which afford less scope for attractive discussion than Church-
rates—yet, notwithstanding the length of the Chancellor's speech,
it was received by the House with the deepest attention and in-
terest ; and well did it deserve such an evidence of the impression
it produced, for the labour which must have been necessary to the
preparation of its details, and the ability of their arrangement,
are such as but few possess the capability of exercising. The speech
first showed the necessity of a change in the existing law,
then demonstrated the objections to the plans already pro-
posed, and next . developed the Ministerial measure, with
a precision of calculation, and force of argument, which we
have rarely seen equalled on any similar occasion. The Right
Hon. Gentleman adduced several cases in illustration of the
excitement, disturbance, and acrimony, engendered by attempting
to levy these rates under the present statute, which, even with all
the authority that it can array in its support, is utterly inefficient for
the assessment of the unjust and obnoxious impost. In Sheffield,
after the most disgraceful scenes had occurred in the Church,
betweeh the Churchmen and Dissenters, amounting to personal vio-
lence, in contesting for possession of the chair, when the rates were
about to be assessed, the rates became extinct, and none have been
levied for the last twenty years. In Manchester a struggle of a si-
milar character was maintained from 1832 to 1834, when, the votes
having been taken, there appeared a majority of 11,000 out of 15,000
against the rates ; and, notwithstanding this majority was declared
on a scrutiny to be a minority, the Churchmen dared not proceed
to the enforcement of the rate. At a subsequent meeting in
1835, the show of hands against the rate was so decisive
that the Churchwardens declined going to the poll ; since
when the rile has been abandoned. In another place a rate of
2s. 9d. was agreed to at a vestry meeting ; but a spirited Dissenter
—Captain Flower—his name is worthy of being recorded—opposed
the rate on legal grounds, and was ultimately defeated, the cost of
levying the 2s. 9d. amounting to 2501. ; but so great was the odium
excited by the proceeding, that no rate has been granted ever since.
After having enumerated these instances in proof of the inefficiemcy
of the existing law, and the imperative necessity of its repeal, the
Chancellor read an extract from a speech of Lord Stanley in 1834,
which we quote as an authority for that Noble Lord's admirers :
" Suppose (said Lord Stanley) that year after year the Church
should be triumphant in maintaining the payment of these rates
to the uttermost farthing, and maintaining every abuse connected
with their collection and distribution, does my Hon. Friend (the
Member for Oxford) think that such a course of proceeding would
be advantageous to the interests of the Church, or lead to the pro-
motion of true religion ? Does my Hon. Friend consider the heart-
burnings, the acrimonious revilings, the constant quarrels, the jea-
lousies, the recrimination, the profanation of the Church itself
where these meetings take place, by which year after year the cause
of religion is violated and profaned, the house of God desecrated,
and the very worst possible feeling excited among the majority of
the people at large? I say that such a state of things imperatively
calls for relief." This is a question which we leave to Lord Stan-
ley's present associates to answer. The plan proposed by the Chan-
cellor may be, in a great measure, understood by the following ex-
tract from his speech :—" The two points on which I rest," said he,
"are these—that the average of the leases, taking the leases for
years and the leases fcir life together, is twenty-four years ; and the
average rats of interest allowed upon renewals is seven per cent.
The average amount of fines, as now received, taking together
the leases from Bishops, Deans, Chapters, and Prebendaries, is
260,6311. Now, I find upon calculation, and lam satisfied that
the closest investigation would disclose the same facts, that such is
the actual value of the rental of the C'huich. Thus working it out,
I shall have a perpetual annuity of 261,0001., which will represent
' the present rental from a property of 1,323,000/. ; that is the actual
rental of the property; and I have the authority of Mr. Finlayson
bearing me out in this (although I have no doubt that I am within
the mark), that I shall have sufficient, taking it at that mark.
Now, Sir, I propose to convert these perpetual annuities into
an annuity of possession from the present time, and that is
altogether a matter of arithmetic. The sum which I shall obtain
altogether is 561,0001., for the perpetuity of 1,300.0001. Well,
Sir, if the fines revert, and if by the reversion of the value of the
property of the Church, you convert it to a perpetual annuity of
351,000/. and deduct from it the amount I have alluded to, it will
leave an amount of 265,0001. surplus, which I intend to apil3r to
the payment of the charges now defrayed by Church-rates.' 'I he
average rate of interest at present allowed upon- the renewal of
Ileases is 7 per cent., but this is proposed to be reduced to 4 per
cent. cn converting the leases subject to the rental into a perpe-
tuity, so that with the right of pre-emption guaranteed by the Bill
the tenants will effect a saving of 3 per cent. in purchasing under
the proposed arrangement. For the further developernentof the
measure, we must refer to the outlines• of the Bill, and to the
Right Hon. Gentleman's speech, which was hailed by the House
with the most marked manifestations of approval--a reception which
we have iso doubt will be responded to ir. every part of the country
with the same enthusiasm with which we have the satisfaction of
laying it before our readers. Now for a dissolution, if the Tories
dare it.— Morning Advertiser.
The Administration has 'at length produced its plan for the alao;-
litbn of Church-rates. Of this plan we propose, in the first place,
to give as clear an abstract as we have been able to collect from the
, verbose and confused speech of Mr. Spring Rice. The lands of
i the Church are to be taken out of the hands of the Church, and
Iplaced in those of eleven Commissioners, to be appointed by the
Act. Five of these Commissioners are to be ecclesiastical and six
lay. The five ecclesiastical Commissioners are to be the Arch-
bishops of Canterbury and York, the Bishop of London, the Dean
of St. Paul's, and one Other. The secular Commissioners are to
be the Lord Chancellor, the Secretary of State for the Home De-
partment, the Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests, and
three paid Commissioners, one to be nominated by the Archbishop
of Cante, bury and two by the Crown (another manufacture of snug
and alluring patronage). The existing leases of Church land are
to be permitted to be run out, and the Commissioners are to
let the land at its present. value, excepting when the actual
tenant chooses to take it, in which case he is to have a preference,
! with a deduction in his favour of 5 per cent. from the esti-
mated value. The Commissioners are also to have the power
of selling the fee-simple of the land to the tenant in possession,
subject to a corn rent. Pew rents, which arc to be made as ge-
neral as possible, are to be carried to the fund in the hands of the
Commissioners, and to be subject to their controul, although under
the immediate management of Committees of pew 'enters. This
part of the scheme is accompanied by a provision for progressively
increasing the means of free accommodation for the poor. In or-
dinary cases one fifth of the epace in Churches is to be devoted to
this purpose ; in Churches which have been built under the Church
Building Act the proportion is to be one-third ; and where the
pews have not been already let one-half. A diminution of charge
is also to be effected by the adoption of a new mode of swearing
in Churchwardens. Parish estates applicable to the purposes
for which Church-rates are levied are to be subject to the
controul of the Commissioners, but their rents, instead of
being carried to the , general fund, are to be still applied
to the uses of the particular parish to which they re-
spectively belong. It is computed that, from the various
sources we have -described, after paying to the dignitaries of the
Church sums equal to their present income, a fund will accumulate
in the hands of the Commissioners exceeding 250,000/. per annum,
1 the sum which, it will be recollected, Lord Althorp's plan, ap-
proved by most of the present Ministers of the Crown, for the abo-
lition of Church-rates, would have charged upon the Consolidated
Fund. This sum the Commissioners, under the proposed Act;
are to pay over annually to the present Ecclesiastical Commission-
ers, to be distributed by them to the parishes of England and
Wales, and the residue is to constitute a fund for the better endow-
ment of small livings. The debts which have been already
contracted by parishes, upon the security of Poor-rates,
are to be liquidated by means of a general rate upon the pre-
sent system. Such is the plan of Ministers for the abolition_ of
Church-rates, of which Sir Robert Peel, Sir R. H. Inglis, and
other Conservative Members of the House of Commons, as well as
one Member of that assembly who generally supports the Adminis-
tration,
expressed their decided disapprobation, on the ground at'
once of its impolicy and its injustice. We need scarcely add that it
was greeted with acclamations by Sir. Joseph Hume and his Radical
associates, excepting that portion of it which provides that persons
who have lent their money to parishes on the security of Church-
rates shall be paid by Church-rates. Having placed before our
readers as clear and concise an epitome of this scheme as see have
been enabled to form from the Parliamentary proceedings of
last night, we shall content ourselves, for the present, with a
few brief remarks in illustration of its principles and cha-
racter. The Church is the owner of a certain amount of
real property, vested in various modes and on various terms, in its
Bishoprics, its Deaneries, and its Chapters. This property is
leased to numerous individuals, whose interest in it is of a more or
less valuable character, according to the conditions of their tenancy.
The whole property, however, belongs without dispute to the
Church and its lessees. Whatever has been given up by the
Church has passed to the lessee ; whatever has not been transferred
to the lessee has been retained by the Church. His Majesty's
Ministers, desirous to release some thousands of their best friends
from payments to which by voluntary contract they have become
liable, look for a fund which they may safely appropriate for this
purpose ; and presently they cast their eyes on this particular pro-
perty, of which the entire interest is divided between the Church
and its lessees. They discover that the property is, for the most
part, leased out at inadequate rents, and they find that the Bishops,
the Deans, and the Chapter-Houses are, in many instances, pre-
vented by enactment, or by prescription, or by usage, from
obtaining more equitable covenants. They propose, therefore, to
take into their own hands the future regulation of these revenues;
and upon this principle they proceed in their management of them.
They will guarantee to the Church precisely what the Church now
receives; they will exact4rom the lessee more than what the lessee
now pays. The surplus so created they will appropriate to the pur-
poses which hitherto have been satisfied by those payments from
which their friends are so anxious to be relieved. The right and
the wrong of this matter lie in the very,smallest conceivable com-
pass. We set aside for the present the violation exhibited in this
scheme of all the principles on which an Established Church rests
for support. We drop the obvious impossibility of main-
taining the justice Of tithe after recognising the injustice of
Church-rates. We confine - ourselves strictly to the morality
of the particular action which is contemplated by the Govern-
ment. Suppose the plan of the Government carried into
effect; Bishoprics, and Deaneries, and Chapters compulsorily come
pensated; leases suffered to expire without renewal ; fee simples
purchased at high valuations; in short, the property of the Church
seized and improved. There lies the sum which is the amount of
the surplus. Call it what you will; a million, or ten millions--no
matter. From whose pockets has it come? Why, if the Church
has now the power by law to obtain this surplus from its lessee, the
Legislature, depriving the Church, of that power, has robbed the
Church. And if the lessee has now the power by law to withhold
this: surplus from the Church, the Legislature, depriving the lessee
of that power, has robbed the lessee. Surely, even the House of
Commons will not be imaginative enough to regard this heap of
coin as the product of some official necromancy, conjured into ex-
istence by the tap of Mr. Spring Rice's wand, by whose posses-
sion nobody was the richer yesterday ; by whose loss nobody will
be the poorer to-day.--Morning Post.