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

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Pr All` OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We can assure the Standard we arc as little averse
la inquiry into the fons et ori go of secret societies in
Deland as our contempoiary can possibly be. What
-we apprehend is, that a Parliamentary inquiry would
riot be the best means of arriving at the clue to the
labyrinth. The probability is, that the artful contri-
vers of the plot have proceeded in their atrocious career
-ivith a caution and prudence which would render it
4lifficult to trace the guilt legally to their door, although
-various incidents connected- with the conspiracy might
leave on the public mind a deep impression as to the
political sentiments of those with whom the artifice
criginated. For instance, a " Paddy M'Kew," who
a few years since inoculated the peasantry of Clare,
limerick, and Galway with insurrectionary principles,
turned out to be an Orange policeman, who thus con-
trived to promote the Men united objects of the consta-
'wlary and Orangemen. We have also a dim remembrance
-of another case of this sort, which occurred, as we recol-
3ect, in the county of Cork not very long ago. In
:neither instance was it possible to get, through the
detected culprits, at their more guilty suborners, '
but the general feeling at the time was, that Orangeism
was at the bottom of both affairs. We are not at
this moment prepared to say that Me "PaddyM'Kew"
was a Protestant or a Roman Catholic ; but it cer-
tainly did appear that he was zealously doing the work
id the Orange faction, who have always had a direct in-
ftrest in the propagation of illegal confederacies in that.
:p3rt of the United Kingdom. It was through the instru-
mentality of these secret combinations of the ignorant
-and unwary peasantry that the Orangemen were enabled
so long to monopolise the government of the country
and the patronage of the state. The oppressed pea-
santry were rendered, by the cruelty and injustice .of
the law and of the Executive, prone to insurrectionary
association, and their wily enemies spared no pains to
:fan into flame the smouldering embers of sedition.
When the convenient moment arrived the victims were
seized, hanged, or transported, and the authors of
tine crime reaped a rich harvest of official praise, legisla-
tive approbation, and public reward. If an Orange-
man desired a place under the Government, he had
Lut to foment an insurrectionary feeling in his dis-
trict, get up a secret society of tortured peasants, be-
tray them, and seize upon his prize. Did a gentle-
man who lived too fast find it convenient to let his
demesne, he had only to get up a mock conspiracy
against his own life, and his object was forthwith ac-
complished. We allude now to things that have actu-
ally occurred in Ireland, and which are well known in
that country. But yet, though the circumstances left
no doubt upon the mind, to establish the guilt of
those who did the mischief for their own personal and
political ends wotdd be a difficult, perhaps an impos-
sible, task. And so with regard to the secret societies
lately denounced by Mr. O'Connell. It would be no
easy matter, perhaps, to get at the suborners of those
who two years ago went through the county of Meath
instilling insurrectionary sentiments into the peasantry.
and stirring up the agricultural labourers to a servile
war ; but it is certain that these Ribbonmen
were among the gutter agents of Mr. Ran-

dal Phinkeic an Orangeman, and now the Corn-
y-lit:cc Member for this' Parliament of the borough
of Drogheda. If a Committee of the House
of Commons were appointed to investigate this tran-
saction, we question if the consciences of the Ho
pourable Randal's satellites would be found so tender
as to endanger their Patron's safety ; nor are we pre-
pared to say that that gentleman was at all cognisant of
the delinquencies of his eupportere. All we mean to
assert is, that the stanch supporters—the bludgeoneers
of a notorious Orangeman—were the getters-up of
secret and illegal societies among the Catholic pea-
santry of Meath. Let a Committee be named with
all our heart, and we are grievously mistaken if these
and other as unpalatable facts be not easily established
to the great dismay of those who now so lustily " call
for lights." As we have already remarked, the de-
nunciation of secret societies has been a perpetual
tapie with Mr. O'Connell and the Catholic Clergy.
What these reprobate is very naturally what tht
Orange faction would, most of all other things,
chetish. The Standard, with wonderful simplicity.
ask,,—is it likely that Protestants (Oraw'emcn),
would eiTentler societies to cut their own throats ?
Tln.re is nothing more unlikely than that the Orange-
men would do any such thing. That faction have
always evinced as Conservative a feeling in favour of
their own throats, as they have displejed a destructivt.
propeesitv in regard to the throats of the Papists. It
was not fur the purpose of rising one fine inornin,e—
as S'r Boyle Roadie said—and finding their throa:s
cut, that the Orangemen ever planned the construe-
tin of a Ilibbou or Whiteboy Society. Their o!i-
-ject have iicen personal aggrandisement, persecution
of the Catholic peasantry, and perpetuation of Pro-
testealt ascendancy, or Orange monopoly of all places
gust, power, and emolument under the Crown.
Hence, too, that other Orange contrivanee—the.
spreading out the Assize celentlar to an extent that
s-rikes the British eye with horror. The majority of
the Irish Magistracy arc violent Tories—thanks ti) 20
yeers of the bigotted 'tile of Lord Manners, a creature
imbecile in al thins save his intolerance, and to the
fetuity of Lord Plunkett, who slninks from the firm
discharge of his duty lest, we suppose, his avowed
enemies should charge him pith acting through
p'qty2, in case he superseded corrupt partisans, and ap-
pointed proper, liberal men to the Commission of the
peace. These Tory, or rather Orange Magistrates,
seeing the use that is made in Parliament by such men
as Mr. Emerson Tcunent, and by such journals as the
Times, of the state of the calendars, have taken care
to supply their friends with' abundant materials for ca-
luininoes speeches and slanderous articles. When not
snore than three cases ought to have been sent for trial
before the Jude of Assize, fevrtece have appeared on
the calendar, and this outrageous array has been still
further magnified by the charge of the Tory Chief
Baron into twenty-one. On another circuit the calen-
dar exhibited nearly two hundred cases, while, accord-
ing t) the Judge, the number should not have exceeded
two scores. The same remark applies, in a degree, to
every calendar that has been laid before the Judges of
assize on the late Spring circuits in Ireland. Every
contemptible charge of petty larceny, which ought to
have been brought before the petty sessions, or at all
events the quarter sessions, has been reserred for the
general assizes, for the obvious purpose of affording
the unscrupulous enemies of the Government a handle
for attacking its policy, and a pretext for flagitiodsly
misrepresenting the state of the country.—Morning
Chronicle.

Among the endless topics which engage the labours
of public journalists, there are many so inherently
grave and stubborn, that to treat them with anything
like vivacity were alike impracticable and inappropiate,
just as you sometimes see a visage so incorrigibly sour
and solemn, that any effort to provoke a smile from it
is manifestly profane and fruitless. On the other hand,
as one encounters occasionally an eccentric phiz, pre-
senting in all circumstances an expression of comic or
lugubrious humour, which nothing can divest it of—so,
amidst these wearisome toils of ours, we are now and
then so happy as to stumble upon certain specimens of
the ludicrous, that might almost convulse a Trappist
—instances of such consummate and overpowering
burlesque, that every decent endeavour to look at them
in a serious mood is felt to be hopeless and absurd.
Of this latter description, unquestionably, is the pub-
lished " address," signed and circulated by one
" Henry Waymouth," purporting the emanate from a
United Committee appointed to consider the griev-
ances under which Dissenters now labour, with a view
to their redress." The Dissenters, viewed as a portions
of our fellow-subjects divided into small sections,
such as Arians, Independents, Socinians, General
Baptists, Swedenhorgians, Southcottitcs, Antinomians,
Arminians, Sabellians, Bereans, Ranters, Quakers,
Jews, Freethinkers, Particular Baptists, Muggleto-
nians, Bible Christians, Kilhamites, and Irvingtons—
all strenuously dissenting from each other on points of
faith and discipline—are persons, nevertheless, whose
undoubted right to profess what religion they please
must command universal respect. Such respect we
have always cheerfully awarded them ; and knowing,
as we do, that Mr. Henry Wayrnouth's select cabal,
holding its appointment only from certain Socinian,
Independent and Baptist congregations in the City
and suburbs of London, does neither represent the
opinions nor possess the confidence, nor act on

the authority of those excellent Dissenters through-
out England whose genuine piety is unalloyed
with Sectarian ambition, it will not be supposed
that the innocent raillery we are about to indulge
in is meant to apply, by a single inch, beyond
the parties who immediately invite it. Who are
these parties, the public will be glad to know ?
With the exception of a " Henry Waymouth,"- who,
we understand, is known to our reporting establish-
ment as the spouting associate of Messrs. Savage and
Murphy at the Radical soirees of Mary'bone, there
is no other person, we believe, that can possibly be
identified as the signer of this address. Co-operating
on the " united Committee," of which that same Mr.
Weymouth is the chairman, we have such paragons of
peace as Mr. Yockney, of Covent-garden, Mr.
Thomas Wilson, of Highbury, Mr. John Wilks,
M.P., and a Dr. Baldwin Browne, a Dissenting bar-
rister of distinguised legal leisure. That these quiet
respectable persons are wholly disinterested in what
they are doing for Dissent, is beyond all doubt ; inas-
much as the first of them has a brother, an Independent
preacher at Islington ; the second has, or had, two
sons-in-law, preachers of the same sect ; the third is the
son of one Dissenting minister and cousin to another ;
while the brother-in-law of the fourth is pastor of a
congregational meeting-house in Liverpool. Assuming,
then, that their " united" efforts to bringdown the Esta-
blished Church to a level with voluntary conventicles
are generated by the purest motives, irrespective of any
natural jealousies for the inferior position of their
kinsmen, and intimating our conviction that their
" address" owes its paternity either to the busy and
learned solicitor for Boston (it being a mere antici-
pation of his usual anniversary speech at the Society-
for Promoting Civil and Religious Liberty), or to the
more leisurely and learned Pangloss whose advertised
devotion to Dissenting causes ought certainly to be
recompensed by Dissenting briefs mad fees—we must
now unfold to our readers the rare and racy novelties
which this London junto of united Socinians and
Independents have addressed to their benighted
brethren in the country. The united to the benighted,
greeting : •
PROTESTANT DISSENTERS,—Petitions to Parliament
have been obtained, chiefly from rural parishes, hostile to '
the relief of Dissenters from the payment of Church-rates,
but to these a very disproportionate importance has been
attached. Up to
,the 2d inst. the number of these was
153, with 9,595 signatures ; while those for the extinction
of the impost amounted to 474, bearing the names of
190,981 petitioners. But the former, far from expressing
the spontaneous feelings and well-informed judgments of
the petitioner:, have originated in the preconcerted and
zealous efforts of interested ecclesiastics, operating on the
ignorance and credulity of certain classes of the population."
Here we have an amusing instance of the short-
weight system, although we had always understood
that a " just balance" was regarded among Dissenters
as an important part of practical religion. A true and
honest declaration respecting the comparative number
of petitions for and against Church-rates woulir have
been found very inconvenient for the purpose of the
addressers. Everybody acquainted with Pe.rliamentary
business knows, that it was not till after the 3d of
March, when Mr. Rice introduced his abolition Bill,
that the friends of the Church began seriously to bestir
themselves in her defence. Since that date the Church
petitioners, as compared with those in favour of the
measure have been about 20 to 1. No wonder that
Mr. \Yarmouth and his allies find it expedient not to
extend their calculation beyond the 2d of that month.
But is this honest dealing, To the tender and de-
licate consciences of these men it would appear that
truth and Church-rates are alike insupportable. Equally
characteristic is their charitable and veracious state-
ment that the petitioners against the Ministerial Bill
have been " operated on by the preconcerted and
zealous efforts of interested ecclesiastics." Consider-
ing that this is coolly put forth by the very persons
who are themselves operating on " the spontaneous
feelings and well-informed judgments" of such Dis-
senting clay-labourers, journeymen, dock-people, miners,
carders, spinners, wool-dyers, cloth-workers, pitmen,
• and out-pensioners, as, being duly taught that this ad-
dress of the united Committee is in favour qf the pu-
rity and stability r3f thc Church, may he cajoled
I thereby to put their mark to prceoncerted petitions for
her destruction : considering, moreover, that these
" milted" addresstriongers have, for the last six months,
been getting up delegate meetings, dispatching horta-
tory circulars, and transmitting printed forms of peti-
tions all over the kingdom : considering. in fine, not
only that Dissenting preachers have, in almost every
instance, worried or implored their followers to give
them a IKt by supporting these petitions, but that
your Rev. Burnats and Bennetts, your Timothy
masts and Adam Thomsons, together with their bro-
ther evangelists, by who it the anti-church agitation
has been publicly and pertinaciously advocated, must
on no account be regarded as parties having any inte-
rest in the matter : considering all this, Ave do say
that the unifeds' taunt about " spontaneous feelings,'
" interested ecclesiastics," and so forth, is, upon the
whole, the most intrepid sally of resolute and ueflinch-
ing generalship we have met with in the course of the
war. As for the railing accusation brought against
the clergy for having deceptively entrapped their pa-
rishioners to sign petitions under false representations,
we have already defied Lord Brougham and a certain
ambushed " Yorkshire Magistrate" to condescend on a
single instance of the kind. We now repeat that de-
fiance. Only name the place and date at which such
knavery is said to have been practised ; and on ascer-
taining the truth of the imputation, we shall expose time
delinquents as boldly as we now challenge their ;ac-
cusers. But, alas ! the information is " private I"
The Government scheme for releasing Dissenters from
their due share of the national obligation to uphold
the national Church, is pleaded for by these united
addressers on the assumption that it is a plan " for
the relief of the conscientious." Now, with a per-
fect recollection that a plea of conscience, when tho-
roughly made out, is as much entitled to respect as
when detected to be a mere pretence it is deserving of
ineffable scorn, we have repeatedly shown, from the
most irrefraaable evidence, not only that conscience has
been made a hypocritical pretext of in this important
question, but that, even on the contrary supposition, no
valid ground is established to warrant the concessions
that are claimed. But, for argument's sake, let us
admit that the consciences of Dissenters are really
' aggrieved by the Church-rate impost. Again and
again they have told us.- that their objections apply,
not to the amount of the exaction, but to the principle
• it involves : and we have been ostentatiously reminded
that the smaller the sum in dispute the more dignified
is their opposition to it. Since we know, then, what
no party has attempted to deny, that Dissenters, in
consideration of being bound to pay Church-rates,
' have acquired their tributable property at a proportional
rent or price beneath its actual value, we are met with
the obvious question—into whose pocket shall the
money pop arising from the remission of these rates ?
To the landlords, whether Dissenters or not, it cannot
possibly belong ; becauseawhcn they bought their lands
or houses, they got them on the expressed condition
that these rates should be paid as part of their purchase-
price. With as little justice can it be appropriated to
tenants or occupants, inasmuch as they hold their tene-
ments on precisely the same condition with regard to
rent. On the charitable assumption, therefore, that no
conscientious Dissenter will be disposed to pocket
money which he has no right to, there can be no doubt
that if Church-rates are really to be abolished eo no-
mine, the amount heretofore raised under that designa-
tion ought still to be exacted for some other public pur-
poses (such as the remission of the duty on soap or
window lights), thereby relieving the consciences and
purses of Dissenters in the way most agreeable to their
honest minds—the former being released from the op-
pression of contributing to the Church, and the latter
exempted from the painful burden of carrying off what
they have not the shadow of a right to. Having thus
shown that a supposed relief to Dissenting consciences
as regards the Church does not necessarily involve an
unjust remission of money belonging to the State, we
may now mention, that though our former reasonings
illustrative of the fact that conscience has nothing what-
ever to do with this controversy have failed to elicit an
honest confession from the convicted parties, who still
cry up their rotten consciences as before, we have had
the satisfaction to see that the effect of these reasonings
of ours on some of the supporters of Dissent has been
nearly all that we could have wished. In reference to
the Regium Donum, which Dissenting consciences

make no scruple in receiving out of the pockets of
Church people, a Whig-Radical paper says :
" The whole amount given by the State, and distri-
buted in small sums amongst 1,070 (Dissenting) Minis-
ters, in three years,' does not exceed 1,6951. per year—a
sum—which the opulent Dissenters, now that attention
has been directed to the subject, will, perhaps, feel them-
selves called on to give up, rather than suffer under the
reproach of imitating the conduct they condemn in others.
When we recollect, indeed, the vast sums for building
churches, augmenting stipends, &c., which have been con-
tinually voted by the State to the Establishment, we must
admit that we should be less surprised than grieved should
the Dissenters continue to follow the grab-all example they
arc, in the case of the rates, engaged in resisting. At the
same time we agree with more than one Contemporary,
that the Dissenters would have a better case to bring be-
fore the public if they give up, with much contempt, the
poor pittance of 1,6951., which is no compensation for
Church-rates. As long as the Dissenting Ministers receive
that sum from the National Funds, which their opponents,
perhaps, regard as a bribe for acquiescence, they have so
much less reason to complain of the sums they are called
en to pay for the support of the Church."
The salt is here rubbed into the raw with more fide-
lity than tenderness. A sad wipe this to the bleeding
consciences of the united. We almost begin to sus-
pect that the real orthography of their Chairman s
name is Wry-mouth.-7 intes.

We cannot but congratulate his Majesty's ministers
upon the variety of expedients which they have in
store for solacing themselves in case of defeat.

The time has been, ere whiggery's reign began,
When resignation was the simple plan.
But the progress of philosophy in these days has dis-
closed new lights to placemen. In a moment of acci-
dental obliviscense which befel Lord John Russell on
the 7th of February, he indeed connected failure in
office with flight from office, according to the old rule ;
but since that time he has come to himself, and no
longer entertains any such old-fashioned notions. Lord
Pahnerston and Mr. P. Thompson, we are informed,
were in so horror-stricken a state for two days after the
7th February, that they did not utter a word, and Lord
Glenelg was unable to sleep more than 40 hours in the
48 which immediately succeeded the delivery of Lord
John Russell's rash oration. Sir John Cam Hob-
house was indeed the only man in the ministry who
seemed not a whit the less lively in consequence of the
unlucky allusion to resignation. He snapped his
fingers, took off his glass, and insisted that it was much
less troublesome, and more amusing, to be in opposition
than to endure " a thankless servitude" on the treasury
bench. But his careless mood was of little consequence
when all the rest were steeped in grief, and even Lord J.
himself rather unwell, and very unhappy on account of
what he had said. It vas, therefore, agreed that if
possible the unlucky pledge about resigning should be
allowed to drop into oblivion ; and it was hoped that
it had done so, when, to the consternation of all heads
of departments, the Morning Herald was found, on
the 28th of March, reminding the public that such a
pledge had been given. The wise man of Birmingham
was sent for, while he was yet flushed with the glory
of Warwick oratory, and he ventured to assure his
eracious patrons that he would set all right by a plump
denial. He tried that plan and it failed—it more than
failed, for it brought down fresh exposure. Some-
thing else became necessary, and it was boldly re-
solved to publish a list of expedients which joule de
pis—that is to say, rather than resign, might he re-
sorted to. " Say we may make Peers," said one ;
" Say we may reform the 'House of Lcrds," said ano-
ther; ' Say we may dissolve the House of Commons,
and appeal to the people," said a third. Each of
these recommendations was accompanied by a groan of
despondency, which being perceived, the whole com-
pany burst out in chorus, " Say what you please, but
let it be to the effect that we won't resign." The expe-
dients have been announced, which are doubtless very
good, as far as they go, but there should have hseil
another. The ministerial paper should have stated that
if its patrons were hard pressed, they might have set
the Thames on fire, and carry what they pleased in
the House of Lords, while tbe Conservative majority--
that is, five-sixths of the whole—were out looking at
the strange phenomenon. In our humble opinioh this
=vould be a very practicable expedient, compared with
the others which have been suggested. Mal.:e Peers,
indeed ! Do they think of ennoblinv, by one sweep-
ing, patent, all the Members of Mr. d'Connell's
Assoctation ? Reform the Peers ? Who is to
pass the Reform ? Appeal to the people ! Is it hr
increasing the number of Conservative Members in the
I louse of Commons that they expect to conquer ? No,
no ; all this is very hopeless. To set the Thames on
file would be much easier, and much more "in the
line (to use a business phrase) of the wise person-
ages who condunt the. Whig-RadiCal Government.
But we confess that any expedient is less frightful to
contemplate than that of resignation. To be beaten
session after session, and in question after question,
is indeed unpleasant, but to resign would be vet more
so. There is reason in this, for

" Even though vanquished they may argue still;"
and what is of more importance to themselves, and
not less to the country, they may receive their pay and
ea-mluincnts. Fortunately, there is no condition esta-
blished at the treasury, that a beaten Minister is to
receive no pay. No such rule exists, and we may be
quite sure that no such rule will be suffered to exist,
so long as the present Ministry can prevent it. They
have a great talent for receiving salary. They may
forget pledges but their ►nemory is quick as to quarter-
day. We think it is Lucian who alludes to persons
whose wort it was to " lie and cheat, and count the
obeli." In one of these particulars, at all events, we
would match the present Ministers against any tribe,
ancient or modern, from the Hellespont to Holywell-
street.—Morning Herald.'
We now call on every independent Member of Par-
liament to whom the honour of his country is dear to
take seriously into consideration the state of the civil
war in the North of Spain; and the position that a
certain portion of his fellow-subjects, and the King's
troops, now occupy in that contest. We will place
totally out of consideration the rights of Don Carlos
or Donna Isabel, or the interests of the two parties
of Royalist and Liberal who desolate their native
land ; and we simply call the attention of those who
are willing to listen to reason, and to be led by com-
mon sense, to the awkward situation Great Britain
has been placed in by late events, and to the em-
barrassments that must arise hereafter. Isabel may
or may not be the Queen of Spain, in virtue of
the altered law of 1789—the will of Ferdinand—
or the Jura in 1831 ; Carlos may be heir to the
throne, according to a strict entail, and by the
common right which governs all property, being
born two years before the first alteration of the law
was made. But it is not to the young Queen or to her
uncle that we now direct our attention ; it is to the
unprecedented nature of British intervention, and the
possibility that further disasters may place the honour
of Great Britain in a predicament that nothing less
than a declaration of war can extricate her from. If,
the other day, when 600 British Marines were doing
duty as land soldiers, three miles from the ships to
which they are attached, the Carlist army had fallen on
that body, and annihilated it, as a victorious army
well might, what would have bee❑ the consequences at
home ? Would not every Englishman, no matter
what his political inclinations were, feel that the na-
tional pride was touched ; and that nothing less than
a declaration of war and a determined victory could
wash out the stain ? We are happily relieved from
such a consequence, for the Carlist Generals were so
apprehensive of further compromising their cause by.
direct hostilities with the troops of the King of England,
that they drew off a victorious army, in hot pursuit
of a flying enemy, from that part of the field where
the Marines were in reserve. - Let it not be said that
the Carlists were beaten, or that they turned from the
Marines by cowardice. There is reason in everything,
and however proud we may be of the British Marines,
(perhaps the finest body of men in any service) or sa-
tisfied of their gallantry and discipline, we are not
such idiots as to suppose that 4,000 Carlists, as there
were on that wing, or 15,000, as the Christinos repre-
sent, on the whole field of battle, not half a mile in
breadth, would have fled from a body of 600 men,
were they even Goliahs in stature, and Napoleons in
reputation. No, the fact is that the Carlists avoided
contact with the Marines lest the destruction of them
should further complicate their question ; just as they
allowed the British vessels to remain in the Bilboa river
previously to the seige being raised, though they could

have planted batteries on the heights to sink them any
hour they pleased. If, however, the same circum-
stances should arise, and the same moderation not
prevail, in the movements which are again said to be
in contemplation, and that the troops of his Majesty
King William the Fourth should have to lay down
their arms to the wild mountaineers of Navarre, con.
gregated for mutual defence, or that they should have
to yield up their lives to the fury of a victorious
crowd of peasants, are the people of England pre-
pared to take all the consequences of making the matter
the ground of a national quarrel, and to say, " De-
clare war, because we have been unjust, and because
we sent our marines to support a band of mercena-
ries ?" If we are not prepared to go that length
we have but one alternative, and that is to with-
draw from a place where they can neither win honour •
to our arms, nor render any service to the State.
We do not approve of the Quadruple Treaty ; we
did think it the greatest piece of diplomatic vanity
that ever was embodied when it was drawn up—and
we think so still ; but we are bound, as British sub-
jects, to receive it as long as it be on the books, and
we say, with the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert
Peel, respect it, because it is the law of the law. But
we say likewise, limit your co-operation to the exact
letter of that treaty—give naval assistance and no
more, according to the legitimate construction of the
phrase; and do not send men with the King's cockade
to act as lacqueys to the refuse of the London kennels.
The other day we read an account of the Phenix
steamer having sunk a Spanish boat, because it be-
lieved the crew were Carlists, and because they did not
answer the signal that was made. But what right had the
officer of the Phoenix to fire on that boat, supposing it
were Carlist, as Great Britain has abandoned the block-
ade of the Cantabrian coast ? Speak of a Durango
decree, indeed Which is the more savage—to shoot
a man who has landed to violate the law of the land,
and murder your father, mother, or son—or set fire to
your cottage—or insult your wife or daughter : or to
fire a broadside into an unarmed boat, in which the
natives of the coast were engaged in their own lawful
affairs—perhaps, by fishing, providing for the wants
of their families? We have not called public attention
to circumstances of this cruel act before, because we
were desirous of ascertaining that it was an English
sailor, and not a Christino adventurer, who is account-
able for it. Of its truth there can be no doubt ; and
we ask the people of England if they will tolerate the
employment of the British flag on a service of such
cold-blooded barbarity ? We also find that Evans
has at length obtained permission to send a bat-
tery of guns to Behobie, to play on Fuentarabia
or Irun, though he is aware that the French
Government will not permit its fire to be returned,
because some of the balls must fall into their
territory. Oh, shame, shame ! Can it be an
Englishman who takes such an unfair advantage ? We
always thought our motto was, " A. clear stage, and
no favour ; and is it now, for the first time, that we
stab a man in the back, or attack him when his hands
are tied up ? It may be said that Evans has all the
disgrace of this unworthy resource, as well as of the
late defeat, a thousand times more bitter from his vain
anticipations of success ; but we tell the British nation
that the dishonour is upon it, and that when the name
of Evans is forgotten history will record our shame.
The House of Commons has again met, and we have
an excellent opportunity of becoming extricated from
a most embarrassing situation. It is impossible to
serve the Queen's cause by our present co-ope-
ration. We only expose ourselves to ridicule in
continuing it. Not ten times the force that we
now supply can exterminate Don Carlos, or the
love of liberty which beats in every Carlist's veins.
Do what we may, the struggle will still be preserved
in the mountains, and the farther we enter into the
country, tempted by occasional success, the more se-
riously shall we be compromised, and the more disho-
nourable must he our retreat.. We, therefore, say, as
the Quadruple Treaty is still on the books, let us have
the honesty to give it a true interpretat:on. With-
draw the Marines to their ships, and execute the ar-
ticles according to their strict letter. We have before
cautioned the Government as to the consequences of
its weakness. We appeal to the course of events for
the proof of our knowledge of the state of Spain ;
and, ju4ified by thc..ir results, we again raise a warn-
ing voice, which, we hope, may find an echo, if not
among those in power or in the House of Commons at
least among the people at large, to whose good sense
the subject may fairly be submitted.—Mornino. Post.

The Committee of the Central Association of Dis-
senters—to whose establishment in London in Octo-
ber, and to whose proceedings since we have taken
several occasions to alvert—have published a circular
address on the subject of Church-rates, calculated to
produce great effect by its brief energy, by its season-
ableness, and by that quiet temperance of tone which
naturally results from the conscious strength of a
good cause. It expresses full concurrence with the
wisdom of the Ministerial measure lately brought
into the House of Commons for the abolition of
Church-rates, on the ground th it it satisfies the
claims of the Dissenters, without making any encroach-
ment on the pockets of the nation—and without taking
one farthing from the established incomes of any of the
functionaries of the Church. It, in fact, creates a-new
fund for the express purpose. The circular may be con-
sidered as the adhesion of the three deOminations of
Dissenters to the Chancellor of the Ex-Chequer's Bill,
and thus proves it to be, in every sense of the word,
a healing measure. There is only one party dissatis-
fied—and that is the Episcopal Bench, and the
army of High Church partizans, which the intem-
perance of its invectives, or the influence of its wealth,
has imbued with a spirit of agitation which, in every
other case of injustice, their spiritual Lordships are
the first to denounce and decry. In lately adverting
to the mode in which the trumpery petitions in favour
of Church-rates have been got up by the holy agitators
of the Church militants, we contributed our mite to
the demolition of the ridiculous argument employed by
some of the Right Reverend Bishops, to show that the
paucity of the petitioners arose from the circumstance
of their petitions amounting to an entreaty to be
taxed in favour of the Church. According to this
episcopal logic, if there had been no petitions at
all, the Right Reverend episcopal pleaders would
have appealed to the circumstance as the silent de-
termination of the country to spend its money in con-
tributing to the surperfiuities of the Church. The cir-
cular of the association of Dissenters analyses the other
arguments of the Right Reverend Bench, and de-
molishes them in an equally effectual manner. The Bi-
shops say that millions of souls are at the present mo-
ment starving for the want of religious instruction.
The circular justly replies, that the Bishops, in making
this allegation, leave entirely out of their consideration
the religious instruction supplied on the voluntary
principle, by the zeal of the Dissenters, in all parts of
the country ; and entirely omit the schools, the.asylums,
and charitable and educational institutions, with which
I Dissenting body have filled up the void occasioned by
Lie 0
the omission or commission of the State Church ? Why
was not this objection thought of before ? is the just ar-
gument of the circular. Why was it not thought of in
the report of the Ecclesiastical Commission—and the
Church Bill founded upon it—which settles enormous
incomes of 10,0001. and 15,000/. a-year upon the mock
descendants of those primitive Bishops or overseers who
boasted of earning their income by -the honest toil
of their hands ? Surely out of the scandalous profusion
of the funds awarded to them by that measure,
something might have been contributed to feed the
myriads who are said to be famishing for the bread of
religious instruction. The Bishops seem to have the
most extraordinary views of the distinctions of meum
team. In order to invest themselves with the above
extravagant incomes they made no scruple to rob the
Church itself with the right hand, rapaciously seizing
the Church property of the Deans and Chapters, and
with the left the Church property of two suppressed
bishoprics in Wales. Are not these things notorious ?
Is not Wales at this moment in a state of fermentation
on account of this episcopal plunder, and is not the
ground of that fermentation distinctly stated in the pe-
tions to be that the episcopal plunder robs the
principality of the religious instruction which the
Church is bound to supply ? The rapacity of
these descendants of the poor and self-denying
fishermen who constituted the• first bishops is be-
coming perfectly outrageous. Where will it
stop ? Quem ad finem sese sfrcenata jactabit auda-

cia ? The horse-leech which said nothing but " give,
give," is a feeble type of a State-church Bishop. The '
fund by which a national source of unchristian dis-
union, ill blood, persecution, and disturbance will be
dried up in a manner consonant to the " religion of
peace," is (as we have said) a new creation which
deducts from the pecuniary interests of no class what-
ever. Yet this is the gorged and plethoric greediness
of the state Church now clamorously attempts to ap-
propriate—careless of public discord—careless of
Christian peace—careless of anything but wallowing
in the sensual mire of the pomps and vanities of the
kingdom of this world, which it is solemnly sworn
and sacredly pledged to renounce. Their inordinate
profligate greediness reminds us of at was o nce
said of a former Tory Prime Minister—whgive hi m all
England, and he will not be satisfied unless he had
the Isle of Man superadded to the gift as a cabbage
garden. Their gluttonous selfishness would s'tt fire to
London, in order to boil the chocolate for. their break-
.
fast.—Morning Advertiser.

DEATH-BED OF SIR JOHN SINCLAIR.—My
last conversation with him was on the morning of the 21st,
when, after topics of a more serious nature, I accidentally men-
tioned that I was going to attend a meeting on the Religious
Education of the Highlanders. This led him to express his
warm attachment to the people of the highlands, and his
deep regret that their moral and religious welfare had been
hitherto so imperfectly provided for. These were the last
words I heard him utter. In the afternoon of that day, a week
from the commencement of his illness, symptom of immediate
dissolution suddenly alarmed us. Medical aid was resorted
to, but without effect. As he felt his end approaching, he or-
dered every one to withdraw. " All is now over," said he;
"retire, that I may pray." lie closed the curtains, and his
voice was heard in audible supplication to Almighty God. Soon
after he had ceased ; it was ascertained that he had fainted.
From this state he did not recover; and such was the serenity
of his departure, that though several of us were watching
anxiously around him, it was impossible to tell at what mo-
ment he expired.—Memoirs of Sir J. Sinclair.
EDITORS AT FAULT.—The Belfast News Letter
in its comments on the recent rejection by the House of the
Bill for providing a farther supply of water for that town,
charges the Morning Chronicle with ignorance and indiscre-
tion," because that Journal justified the rejection of the Bill,
" on the absurd pretext that it was intended to augment the
local influence of Mr. Emerson Tennent, and thus to turn the
balance in his favour in the event of an electiOn." This, it is
asserted, " is too ridiculous to need confutation, and is in itself
a pregnant proof of the absolute necessity for local information
on the part of those who attempt to write upon local subjects."
The Times has not permitted the Chronicle to " outrun it in
the race of absurdity," and the "ignorance or recklessness" of
the writer in that Journal, according to the News Letter, is
gross and manifest.
A report was current in Hammersmith that a youth
of tender age, residing at an academy for the education of young
gentlemen, committed suicide by strangulation a few days ago,
in consequence of being punished by seven hours' solitary con-
ment in a dark place. It seems that the lad cut a stick out of
the garden hedge, and being informed against by one of his
companions, was sentenced by the master to the above imprison-
ment. On entering his cell, he said to several of his school-
mates that he " could not brook such treatment, and that he
would put an end to his life." This announcement was, how-
ever, treated merely as a bravado; but, on opening the door,
at the expiration of his sentence, the master and his assistants
were horror-struck at finding him lifeless mad cold. It seems
that be had managed to hang himsel by means of a hook in the
ceiling, to which he had fastened his handkerchief and braces.
Attempts were made to hush the matter up, in order to save
the reputation of the school ; but the medical gentleman to
whom the matter was referred, very properly insisted on the
Coroner being informed of the affair. An inquest was held on
Saturday evening, and the Jury returned a verdict of " Tem-
porary mental derangement," expressing their high opinion of
Mr. Cohen's treatment of, and humanity towards his pupils.—
Morning Paper.
A coroner's inquest was taken on Saturday at the
Blockmakers' Arms, Shepherd an& Shepherdess-fields, City .
road, on view of the body of a young gentleman, of the name
of Charles Peake, aged twelve years, one of the scholars of
the Blue Coat School, Newgate-street, who met his death by
drowning, at the Metropolitan Tepid Baths, Shepherd and
Shepherdess-fields. It appeared that the deceased, with some
other boys belonging to the Blue Coat School, about his own
age, went to the baths for the purpose of bathing. The de-
ceased, with his schoolfellows, were in the water when the de-
ceased was observed suddenly to sink. A youth who was near
him remarked that he had gone down to dive; but finding
that he did not rise to the surface, another boy looked at the
bottom (the water being so pellucid that the pavement at the
bottom could be seen), when he was perceived to be motion-
less. He was instantly taken out, carried into a parlour, and
placed in a bl'anket before a fire. Messengers were sent in
different directions for medical attendance, which promptly
arrived Mr. Salisbury, surgeon, in the City-road, first came,
who opened the jugular vein, and the vein in the arm, but no
blood followed. By this time Dr. Kinnear entered the room,
after which for two hours the usual means" in cases of sag-
Fended animation from drowning were resorted to, as friction
by salt and bsandy, &c., but without effect. On being taken
out, one of the arms was contracted, from which circumstance
it was the opinion of the surgeons that he had been seized with
a spasmodic attack. No blame was attributable to the pro-
prietor of the baths by the Jury, as the depth of water in the
baths was described by figures, these being from four to five
feet.—Verdict, Accidental Death.
UNITED STATES.-11C Norfolk Beacon contains
the particulars of the loss of the brig Carroll, Mitchell, of
Bangor, when 14 days out from New Orleans, for Baltimore :
" The brig struck very heavy on the outer shoals off Cape Loo-
kout, at 10 o'clock, P.m., on the 18th ult., carrying away her
rudder, &c., the wind blowing fresh from S.E. and foggy.
About half-past 11 the wind change] suddenly to the N. W.,
blowing a gale. From the perilous situation in which the
brig was, without a rudder, the Captain concluded it would
be better to get the vessel ashore somewhere, if possible, by
which means the lives of those on board might be saved,
and afford a chance to save the cargo. Soon after the vessel
struck, the light of Cape Look-out was seen about one mile
distance. Captain M. endeavoured to gain the light, but
could not succeed, and finally struck the shore, one mile to
the south of the Cape ; remained beating on the beach all
night, with a tremendous sea breaking over every minute,
looking forward for daybreak. The looked for hour arrived ;
orders were given to clear the boat, and all hands to get in.
The boat, however, no sooner touched the water than
it was tilled, capsized, and dashed to pieces in the surf.
It was fortunate for those on board, for it was impossible a
boat of the kind could live in such a sea, much less gain the
shore with the wind ahead and tide making out ; the weather
was extremely cold. Efforts were made for many hours to
get a line ashore, but could not succeed, though only 40 or
50 yards distance, so strong was the uncle' -tow. The crew
had been exposed 14 hours to overwhelming seas, hail, and
snow, and almost chilled to death, when they tossed overboard
their faithful dog Pilow, with a line round its neck, who reached
the shore, but with the greatest difficulty. They were then
able to get a small cable fastened to the shore and vessel, by
which means they all succeeded in gaining the shore with a
part of their baggage. Had they remained on board six or
eight hours longer, it is believed all would have perished with
cold. Friday afternoon, the 10th, part of' her cargo was
taken out by the wreckers, and on the 11th everything was
taken out on the beach, and was to be sold, together with the
vessel, rigging, sails, &c., on the 21st for the benefit of the
underwriter."

DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT THE MECHANICS' IN-
STITUTION, LIVERPOOL. —A destructive fire broke out on
Thursday evening in this splendid building, which was to be
opened on Thursday next, with an address by Thomas Wyse,
Esq., M. P., on the advantages which must result to the town
from the plan of education to be adopted in its schools. The
fire was discovered about half-past twelve, and originated in
the oval-shaped theatre or lecture-room, which occupied the
centre of the building. The space between the theatre and
the external walls is occupied by class-rooms and other apart-
ments, so that the fire was not perceived until it had burst
through the roof. When this took place, the alarm was im-
mediately given, and Mr. Whitty was soon on the spot with
several fire-engines. By half-past two, the fire had consider-
ably subsided, but it was not completely subdued till seven in
the morning. The theatre and the whole of its roof are com-
pletely destroyed. The south entrance is also destroyed, but
the houses of the keepers on each side are preserved uninjured.
Part of the roof on the west of the building is also destroyed ;
but the whole of the exterior of the building, including the
beautiful portico, is quite uninjured, a circumstance which
shows the care with which the operations of the firemen were
directed. In the vestibule of the front were four statues ;
one of these, representing the Goddess of War, is supposed
to be about 2,000 years old, having been founds in the ruins
of Pompeii. It was saved principally by the exertions of in-
spectors Kerr and Cochrane. The statute after the Medicean
Venus and another statue were also saved, and the fourth
escaped with the loss of its nose. The damage is estimated
at 3,0001., and the building is insured in the Liverpool Fire-
office to the amount of 6,0001. The origin of the fire is as
yet unknown.
On Saturday as a notorious person named Walkcr,
was pursuing his unlawful avocation in Badney woods, in com-
pany with a companion, in stooping down to arrange a snare
he discharged the contents of his gun through his head. His
companion left him on the ground, and gave notice of the acci-
dent, but would not tell the precise spot where the man lay.
Search was immediately made, and the sufferer discovered, but
his dog would not let any one approach his master. The ani-
mal was, however, secured, and the man removed, but he died
before they arrived at his cottage. On Monday, at the in-
quest, a verdict of " Accidental Death" was returned..—Lin-
colnshire Chronicle.

On Monday the overseer of Martin Hussington
(Mr. Bedford) brought a man named Brown before the Wor-
cestershire county magistrates, in order to compel him to
support six illeg►timate children of his wife, who had eloped
from him 14 years ago, and had borne these children to a man
with whom she had cohabited. The woman, who had not seen
her husband for the above-named time, was brought forward
and recognized him as her husband, but said that the real
father of the children was well able to support them. The
overseer prayed for a conviction of the husband, for refusing to
support his wife's offspring, but the magistrates refused to do
more than remand the prisoner until the opinion of a Barrister
could be obtained as to the construction of the clause of the
New Poor Law Act,_. Worcester Journal.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.

ENTERED INWARDS AT THE CUSTOM-HOUSE,

APRIL 3.
The Earl of Clancarty, William, from Rotterdam ; Att-
wood, Major, ditto; Neptune, Haacks, Ostend ; Kent. Tune,
Boulogne ; Fancy, Ticker, St. Michael's; Hero, Twikie,
Gibraltar; Industry, Andrews, Guernsey; Tourist, Whit-
comb, Antwerp.
ENTERED OUTWARDS.
The Perseverance, Cordiere,o for Calais; Wellington,
Chadwick, New York ; Columbine. Norwood, Rotterdam;
John Wood, Woodruff, Havre ; Giraffe, Denys, Ostend,
Bruges and Ghent ; Erasmus, Mark, Batavi.A.
CLEARED OUTWARDS WlTti CARGO.
The Isabella, Vollums, for Alexandria; Orlando, Blair'
Montreal; Jeune Annotte, Mable. Nantes.
CLEARED OUTWARDS IN BALLAST.

The Zephyr, Crow, for Memel ; Endymion, Fletcher, Que—
bec ; Victoria, Languehart, Cherbourg ; Suffolk, Foggo,
Riehebucto ; Norden, Salversen, Norway ; Sators, Bain,
Riga; Salid, Jeosen, Norway; Ocean, Terry, Quebec;
Margarite, Bully, Gravelines ; Brailow, Luban, Bremen;
Sultana, Scott, Lisbon ; Dorothea, Osterman, Denmark ; New
Harriett, Urquhart, Riga.

LIVERPOOL, APRIL 2.
Sailed the Don, Vantur, for Gibraltar; Robertson, Neil,
Montreal ; Heroine, Bouch, Rio Janeiro; Glasgow, Burns,
Montreal ; David Cannon, Br,adfoot, New Orleans; Eliza-
beth Bruce, Rogers, Boston; Elizabeth Radcliffe, Blackstone,
Lima; Main, Vanderstein, Ostend; Cordelia, Reid, Trini-
dad ; Hindley, Turner, Vera Cruz ; Warwick, Little, Cey-
lon ; Echo, Mallet, New Orleans ; Rajah, Bliss, New York;
Hibernia, Wilson, ditto; Alex. Grant, Brown, Savannah;
Medora, Gregg, Barbadoes ; Pearl, Christmas, Havre.