The Sun.
London, England, 1837-01-31 00:00:00

LONDON,
TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 31, 1837.

When Sir ROBERT PEEL seized the Government
at the close of 1834, all dispassionate observers were
equally amazed at the rude manner in which the
MELBOURNE Ministry had been ejected, and at the
folly of the Right Hon. Baronet in taking office under
Tory banners, with such a host of Reformers in the
House of Commons. They knew the strong feeling
of the nation in favour of many measures for which
the Reform Bill had only paved the way, and doubted
not that, whatever professions the Tories might make,
they were not the men to carry the principles of that
Bill into effect ; and that in a very few weeks they
would be driven by the voice of the Commons from
the post into which they had intruded themselves
through Court intrigue, subsidies to venal writers,
and promises of places and rewards to those who
deserted the cause of the people. Great doubts pre-
vailed at the time as to the propriety of a dissolution
Sir R. PEEL, trusting to the effects of the Tamworth
Manifesto, was believed to be opposed to it—consider-
ing that it would be time enough to appeal to the
people, when he could tell them, that notwithstanding
his liberal measures, he had been worsted in every
division, and their representatives had refused him a
fair trial. The Ultra party, however, thought other-
wise. They knew the influence the Minister of the
day has at every general election ; they trusted much,
also, to the Tamworth address, and still more to their
old tricks—threats, and promises, and bribes ; and
thereby convinced their leader that the only chance of
bringing over waverers, and ensuring ultimate success,
was to show a strong front at the commencement of
the contest. In this the extreme party were not mis-
taken, for many constituencies returned members pro-
fessing Reform principles, who nevertheless supported
the Minister, though backed by the most rabid of the
Orange party—by those who had been most furious
gainst the Catholic Relief Bill—and by striplings
and lordlings, who had the audacity to tell their con-
stituents that they hated the very name of Reform.
Notwithstanding the support of these deserters, the
mock Reformers, as the friends of the people foresaw,
were soon driven from office, and no one who was not
in the secret could account for a man of-Sir ROBERT'S
prudence and caution rushing into so hopeless a con-
test, till he made his dying speech on the Bth of April
1835, when he candidly declared that he had been
disappointed in his expectations, and that in place of
division in the enemies' camp, he had found a bond of
union, and a resistance so determined and so unflinch-
ing, that he considered it utterly hopeless to continue
the contest. It is singular enough, that after the
lapse of nearly two years, affairs in appearance should
have returned to their former position ; and that
partly owing to the conduct of certain stray members
at the close of last Session, and partly to the denun-
ciation of the Whigs by Sir W. MO LES WO RTII and
some others of the Radical party, the hopes of the
Right Hon. Baronet have been revived, and his more
violent partisans, if not himself, count upon his speedy
return to power. Now, though we have no fear of
any such result, and believe, if by any possibility it
could happen, that the contest in a few months would
end more gloriously in 1837 that even it did in 1835 ;
still it would be well for the Liberal constituents of
those Members, who would thus obstruct the pro-
gress of improvement, to consider what has taken place
since the commencement of 1830, and reflect how
their representatives can possibly benefit their cause,
not only by driving from office those men who had been
partly the means of such vast changes, but by putting
a stop to those other means which the hand of time
and the course of nature have been silently preparing,
for the diminution or destruction of that aristocratic
principle in the State, which has ever stood in the way
the people's rights. Putting out of question the ha-
zard which past improvements would incur by the retuin
of Tories to power, we call on them simply to reflect that
every day the Tories should remain in power, would be
improvingand invigorating that machinery, by which the
aristocratic party have exerted such a baneful influence
iii every county alid every small borough throughout

the United Kingdotil:, What lilts cthitributed so much
to the po.'.\-c" bt ToTieS ai elections as their long
ontinutil Occupation of office? By that they had acquir-
ed the means of returning Parliaments favourable to their
:nterests up to the year 1830, and by that they secured
such a large minority in 1835. They had the appoint-
ment of all the Bishops, all the Lords-Lieutenant, all
the Judges, all the Magistrates—in fact, with the ex-
ception of a few livings in the Church, the Tories had
everything to give away. To point out the influence
which Magistrates, and Judges, and Lords-Lieutenant,
and Bishops have at elections, would require more space
than we can afford at present, and we shall therefore
-est satisfied with adverting briefly to the power which
they obtained through the means of the Church. The
Archbishops and Bishops, in England alone, have be-
tween 1,500 and 2,000 livings to give away. The
Archbishop of CANTERBURY has 164 livings ; the
Archbishop of YORK, 64 ; the Bishop of LONDON,
90 ; WINCHESTER, 70 ; and others in proportion ;
independent of prebendary stalls, canonries, preacher-
ships, &c. &c., amounting to patronage nearly as
great as the livings in the Church. Besides they
are visitors of every principal school throughout
the country, and, as a matter of course, have the giving
away of the masterships. Such patronage, under any
Government, must produce an enormous influence ;
and when the Government happens to be Tory (which
some Radical Members seem to long for), that in-
fluence is increased ten-fold. The KING, or the Go-
vernment, has the appointment of all the Bishops, and
nearly all the Deans, besides 123 Church livings. The
Lord Chancellor has 839 livings in his gift, and the
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has 60, amount-
ing altogether to more than 1,000. Is it necessary to
point out the power given to a Government by the
distribution of places in the Church alone to the amount
of between 2,000,0001. and 3,000,0001. a year ; and
will any liberal constituency be mad enough to support
representatives who would restore this power to that
party, who in every one instance have shown themselves
hostile to the interests of the people ? We will only
add that since the accession of Earl GREY, six Eng-
lish Bishops of liberal principles have been created,
making a difference of twelve in every division in the
House of Lords ; there has been a proportionate in-
crease of liberal Lords-Lieutenant, and Judges, and an
enormous increase of liberal magistrates ; and this pro-
gressive and constitutional improvement is to be stopped
short under the vain and deceitful pretext of obtaining
what is impossible—an immediate redress of every
grievance I Let constituents watch the conduct of
their representatives in the ensuing contest—their own
interests depend on it. Whoever would endanger
their interests by insisting on an impracticable scheme
and thereby throwing all power into the hands of
Tories, must be treated as madmen or knaves, and con-
sidered as utterly unfitted to represent them in Parlia-
ment.

A political writer in Fraser's Magazine for Feb-
ruary, undertakes with the aid of a large share of
sophistry, declamation, and impudence to settle for-
ever the question of Church-rates. He commences
with examinations of the plan of Lord ALTHORP and
the Whig Government in 1834—0 f the plan of the
Dissenters and Radicals then and now—of the recently
concocted plan of the Archdeacons—and he winds up
with suggesting a plan of his own, which in substance
amounts to this—that in any change which the Legis-
lature, for peace's sake, may make in the collection of
Church-rates, care shall be taken to compel the Dis
senters to contribute as largely as before to the main-
tenance of the Establishment. The voluntary prin-
ciple is to be opposed at all hazards; for once admitted
the connection bctweenChurch and State virtually ceases.
We need not stop here to observe that by thousands of
persons whose religious zeal is not less pure than that of
the writer in Fraser, such a severance of the ligature
that connects Church and State, would be regarded as
one of the choicest blessings that could happen to this
country. The fact is sufficiently attested by the oppo-
sition now made by Churchmen as well as Dis-
senters, to compulsory assessments for objects which,
in four cases out of five, have nothing whatever to do
with the essentials of religion. We will therefore con•
fine ourselves to the new footing upon which this
writer puts the question of Church-rates, and the novel
arguments by which he defends the levying them upon
every member of Society. Dissenters, he says, are in
the habit of asking, "Why are we to pay for sustain-
ing buildings which we never enter ? We maintain
our own chapels. Are not Churchmen rich enough
to sustain their own places of worship ?" And these
questions he answers thus :—" The rate is required
for a very different purpose—for a purpose to which fte
Dissenters have no parallel—for maintaining a free and
open Church in most cases, without any pew-rents at all,
and in which there is generally large accommodation for
the poor. It is in fact, in theory, and ought to be in prac-
tice, a natio/di/ provision for the use of the whole nation."

Here then we have it laid down that the main
and indeed the only object of Church-rates is to sus-
tain temples for the service of GOD, in which all,
whether poor or rich, may freely enter and offer up
their d2votions to the Throne of Mercy. Nothing
can be more intelligible or more laudable. Let
Churches be really such as they arc here represented
to be—let them be national instead of being sectarian,
and we will contend for the continuance of a rate to
sustain them as strenuously as any thorough-paced
Tory in the land. What we mean by national, is open
alike to the ministers of all religions communions, as
are the Churches in the smaller cantons of Switzer-
land. In the performance of Divine Worship let the
Presbyterian clergyman, followed by his flock, succeed
the Episcopolian, and let the former in his turn be
succeeded by the Baptist, the Quaker, and the
Catho'ic ; and then we will be ready to join
any party in maintaining inviolate the claims of
the Institution to legislative protection, and even to
further support if found necessary. But we cannot
dignify with the name, or shield with the protection
due to a National Church, places of worship into
which the pious Dissenter and the Roman Catholic
can never enter to celebrate the worship of GOD, in
accordance with the forms prescribed by their respective
religious tenets. The Church of England is sectarian,
not national, and must be put on a footing of equality
with other religious sects. The poor, for the salvation
of whom this writer shows such tenderness, are not
more exclusively Protestant than those immediately
above them in the gradations of social life ; and, there-
fore, if the main object of Church-rates be to provide
them with free accommodation, surely the law ought
not to sanction the exclusion of those whom they may
have chosen as their spiritual guides. A Church Esta-
blishment to be national must admit all to worship as
they may think proper under its roof—priests as well
as people. Now this is a fact that has manifestly
escaped the attention of over-zealous Church-
men. They may tell us that such an idea
of a National Church cannot be entertained by them—
that they would prefer death to witnessing the defile-
ment of their places of worship by Romish ceremo-
nies, and a great deal more to the same purpose. We
seek not to quarrel with them upon this point. A
zeal for martyrdom can be entertained at so cheap and
safe a rate at present, that a person of the weakest
nerves may prefer it to any possible inconvenience,
without incurring the slightest risk. All we ask is,
that Churchmen would show as much abhorrence of
Dissenters' money, as they do of their faith. To sup-
pose that their religious rites would contaminate a
building, to the erection of which they themselves are
compelled to contribute, is equally intolerant and absurd.
The plan proposed by the Archdeacons, is to !eve

Church-rates as they are, but to pass laws for depriv-
ing Dissenters of their right to vote at vestries. Upon
this piece of folly this writer observes :--" It is a most
absurd defect in the law as it now stands, that while the
principle is clearly laid down that every parish is bound to
keep its own Church in repair, still, in practice, a
rabble of Dissenters, or even of opposers of all religion,
can step in, and by their votes in a parish vestry, de-
feat every practicable proposition." Now we see no
absurdity whatever in this law, if, as this miter asserts,
there be not in a population of twenty five millions of
people much more than half a million of Dissenters—
infidels. included. If one twenty-fifth part of the
people of England and Wales are not Dissenters, there
is neither absurdity nor danger to the Church Estab-
lishment in any law which recognizes their right to
vote in any way they may think proper. But, inde-
pendently of this, the Dissenters have a constitutional
right to oppose every kind of tax, to the levying of
• which they have not consented either by themselves or
their representatives in Parliament. The principle of
the law as it now stands is recognized by the House
of Commons, which is virtually bound to vote sup-1.
plies, and yet may oppose every item in the Budget.
Were the law changed so as to deprive Dissenters of
all right to interfere in vestry concerns, the Church
would soon make a pretty business of it. A rate
would be levied to pay a boy for polishing the parson's
boots, as well as to defray the expense of washing his
surplice. The brushing of the beadle's gown would of
course figure also as a very important item in the ne-
cessary costs of the Establishment.
The real fact, however, is, that Church-rates must
be absolutely and unconditionally abolished. A patch,
ing-up of the system, such as Lord AL THORP pro-
posed in 1834, will not do now, though it might have
done, had it been resorted to in 1828. The time when
concessions would have satisfied the Dissenters is for
'ever gone. They will no longer support edifices, with-
out being allowed equal facilities of using them with
every other class of his MAJESTY'S subjects. This
is their determination, and henceforth nothing will
make them depart from it. What side Ministers will
take remains to be seen : if they respect the popular
voice, undoubtedly they will declare for the Dissenters,
who, whatever their real numbers may be, haie now
the majority of the empire in their favour.

The Paris Journals of Sunday have all been received.
They contain no political intelligence of any impor-
tance. The petition presented to the Chamber on
Saturday on behalf of the Polish refugees has been re-
fered to Count MOLE. The Royalist Journals are
delighted with the prospect of a war between England
and Russia. The AUTOCRAT is their great idol.
The latest accounts from Bayonne are to the 26th
inst. The Spanish Government had sent a further
supply of clothing to the army of the north. The state
of the weather continues to prevent all hostile move-
ments on the part of the belligerents.

LLOYD'S SHIPPING.-(THIS DAY.)

DEAL, JAN. 30.—Wind S.E., steady breeze and clear.—
Arrived the Nancy, Way, from Dublin ; Bengali, Wilson,
from Calcutta; and Stonchouse, Odgers, from Plymouth.
PORTSMOUTH, JAN. 30.—Wind S. S.E., fresh breezes and
thick with rain.—Arrived the Salisbury, Davison, from shore-
ham ; Dove, Sheppard, from Bangor ; John, Kidd, from Sun-
derland. Put back the Amiable Victoire, David, for London.
.LIVERPOOL, JAN. 29.—Wind E., light.—Arrived the
Athlone steamer, --, from Belfast ; Leeds, --, from Dub-
lin. Off poi t the Lyng, —, from Lisbon ; and Warrior,
--, from L'abos.
Sorrnwom—Off port the Margaretta, Olfin, from Got-
tenburgh.
HARWICH, JAN. 30.—The Nautilus, of Hartlepool, in leav-
ing the harbour to-day, grounded on the Platters, but got off
off and proceeded.
PLYMOUTH, JAN. 29.—The Leah, from Hamburgh to New-
foundland, has put in here, with bowsprit, spring, loss of bead,
and sails, cutwater injured, and other damage, having been in
contact with a brig last night, off the Lizard.
TEIGNMOUTII, JAN. 29.—The Oporto Packet, from New
castle, ran on shore in entering the Poole this morning, but is
expected to be got off at the Flood without damage.

VESSEL SPOKEN WITH. —The William, of London, bound
to Hobart Town, 27th Nov., lat. 11. long. 33,, by the John,
arrived in the River.

THE FUNDS.-(THIS DAY.)

CITY, TWELVE O'CLOCK.
We have received Madras papers to the 9th Oct. We ex-
tract the following :
" His Excellency the Governor arrived at the Presidency
from the Neligherries on Thursday morning, at 6 o'clock, and
his arrival was announced by the accustomed salute from the
battery of Fort St. George; he appeared to be in good health.
" The Fort William Gazette of the 21st ult. contains several
drafts of Acts proposed to be passed by the Legislative Council
of India; two of which relate exclusively to this Presidency ;
on altering the existing regulations for the examination of
candidates for the situation of Vakeel in the Court of Adawlut ;
and the other subjecting assessments made by the Justices of
Peace for this Presidency, to the approval of the Governor in
in Council.

" Another, and the most important of them all is, that for
the establishment and regulation of bonded warehouses, and
which is to be read a second time on the 6th of this month.

" There appears to exist some difficulty in .procuring ton
nag►e for the transport of troops intended to b,3 sent to Gtim-
soor.

" We are informed that the Thomas Grenville and the
Charles Dumerquc have been taken up by Government for the
conveyance of the 17th Regiment to Monsoors ; and w e also
learn that the llemanshaw has been engaged by Government
to proceed to the same quarter, but whether with troops or
stores, we do not knew.
" The Calcutta Dinner to celebrate the establishment of the
freedom of the Press, took place on the 15th ult., and appears
to have been well attended. There were some excellent
speeches on the occasion.