The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-04 00:00:00

HEADS OF THE PEOPLE,

The Number before us contains some clever sketches
of character from the pens of Laman Blanchard, Leigh
Hunt, and Charles Whitehead. The ablest article is
the " Omnibus Conductor," by Mr. Hunt.

CHURCH-RATE ABOLITION

SOCIETY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,—In justice to the cause entrusted iO them

--certainly not on their own account—the Committee
of the Church-rate Abolition Society deem them-
selves called upon to address you, on the subject of
a communication inserted in your paper of the 16th
instant, signed "R. Besley." The writer, after
acknowledging that the three gentlemen whose
statements he attempts to nullify are " men of cha-
racter, and men of religious reputation," reiterates
his assertion that " there has been gross mis-
management and misapplication in the administra-
tion of the funds of the Society," of which they
were the auditors. In support of this unjust alle-
gation, Mr. Besley makes several statements which
we shall notice in their order.
First—lt is asserted that "from the formation of
the Committee up to October, 1838, no audit of
the accounts had ever taken place. This is
untrue : the accounts were audited on and up to
the 11th of April, 1837.
Secondly—That up to that time " the sum of
1,2781. had been received and expended entirely on
the responsibility of the Secretary." This, also, is
untrue. Nearly the whole of the receipts comprised
in that sum were paid by the Collectcr directly to
the Treasurer of the Society. The payments were,
with a few trivial exceptions, made by the Trea-
surer on orders signed by the Members of the Com-
mittee ; and no expenditure of any moment was
made, or liability incurred, without the sanction of
the Committee. Thus, that " there was no check

whatever on the part of the Committee," is in fla-
grant contrariety to the fact.
Thirdly—That " among the accounts paid were
many very objectionable ones." Two instances are
specified ; one, " a considerable sum paid for re-
porting public meetings on Church-rate subjects ;"
the other, " hire of a carriage for Secretary's jour-
ney," &c. With regard to the first of these
items, the fact is, that the Committee deemed
it advantageous to the objects of the So-
ciety, that full, and not partial reports of
various public meetings upon the subject of the
abolition of Church-rates should be inserted in the
newspapers ; for which purpose a gentleman was
speciall
ytheusualengage terms engaged by
httns t ;
ytle
whichCo reports, Committee ittee to take re-
ports were in-
serted in the Patriot, and copied into other jour-
As to the second item, the " carriage" hired
'as a horse and chaise, by means of which the
secretary was enabled to perform a journey of about
700 miles, occupying 39 days, with much more ex-
pedition, and at a smaller expense than had he i
proceeded from place to place, and across the coun-
try by coach. The i
ent re expense of hire, &c., was
121. 145., being about 6s. a day.
Fourthly—That 44 the audit was a mere delu-
sion." One of the last auditors, Mr. Besley states,
is comparatively a new member of the Committee.
He is so; and, therefore, it may be presumed, not
the less competent to exercise an unbiassed judg-
ment upon the accounts submitted to him. Another
auditor is stated to have been an infrequent attendant
at the Committee meetings. 1
hisl assertion is
untrue ; he has been present at most of the meet-
ings from the very formation of the Society, and has
been quite as constant an attendant as Ivir. Bcsley
himself. The third was co-auditor with Mr, Bex-
ley al ; October last, and certain words are attributed
to him, which convey the idea that he objected to
the charges submitted to the auditors. This is a
misrepresentation. The account in question not
laving been made out and delivered, formed
no

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