The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-13 00:00:00

known property, the most solid and
,ghts of the Church ? His Majesty's
requently, though, we think, not fairly,
;cussions on the Roman Catholic Re-
ie fruitlessly appealed to now ? The
evening in the House of Commons,
of course, some symptoms of that
1" which has been afforded to the ene-
_ of England by the discharge of their
sacred duty on the part of the Archbishop and his Right
Rev. Brethren. It is morally impossible that such a Bill
should pass. There is not a poor man's child in England
upon whom it would not be an act of " sacrilegious rob-
bery."—Tinies.
We have just now before us the three Bills introduced
the other night by Mr. Labouchere, for consolidating the
multitudinous laws relating to the Post-office, and for re-
pealing -various anomalous enactments connected with the
same establishment, which. inflicted penalties dispropor-
tionate, in many cases, to the offences, and in some in-
stances punished an offence with greater severity when
perpetrated in England than when it happened to be com-
mitted in Ireland. From the hasty glance that we have
been able to give to the Bills, we have observed that they
contain much really valuable matter, although there is a
vast deal omitted that we could have wished to see in-
serted in them, and which we hope will form the substance
of a future measure of legislation. The present Bills are
highly creditable to Mr. Labouchere and those who may
have assisted him in drawing them up, as they arc framed
in a liberal spirit, and while they are sufficiently stringent
to guard against the commission of fraud as relates to the
Post-office, they impose no unnecessary or harsh restric-
tions upon the public. The regulations regarding the
commercial classes are extremely praiseworthy, and there
are a variety of clauses concerning the transmission of
newspapers of a similar description. We must, however,
protest against the fallowing, as it appears to us to be an
ungenerous restriction upon the press
" And be it further enacted, that no words or communica-
tion shall be printed on any such newspaper after the same
shall have been published, nor any writing or marks be put or
placed upon any such newspaper or the 'cover thereof, nor any
printed words or communication be put or placed on the cover
thereof other than the name and address of the person to
whom it is sent, and no letter, paper, or thing shall he en-
closed or concealed in or with such printed newspaper or the
rover thereof."
Now as it often occurs that persons connected with the
newspaper press, in their communications with each other,
require to draw a score over some particular article or pa-
ragraph, in order that it may not escape the attention of
the party to whom it is sent, we think it would be very
haM were this trifling license to be tortured into a fraud
against the Post-office, and thereby subject the individual
to whom the paper was addressed to resign what might
contain valuable information, or else to pay a penalty
in 'the shape of an exorbitant postage. The Press is
now the vehicle for the dissemination of every species
of knowledge, and a Lil:cral Government should not en-
ecurage any enactment having a tendency to shackle it.
While we maintain that the Post-office should afford
every accommodation to the public, and at the cheapest
ratc, we would discountenance every thing like smug-
gime-, by which we think the revenue of this department is
gre.itiv impaired. The best and only means of accomplish-
leg this object is to appoint efficient deputies., at least in all
large commercial and seaport towns. We think that it is
Iles duty of the Postmaster-General not to lose an hour in
recommending the superannuation of females who happen to
be deputies in large seaport to.vns. What use in the world
are laws if inefficient persons are to carry them into effect ?
But tee cannot forbear extracting another clause, which
rill demonstrate the fogy of continuing females :n
sit nations
rt shall I e lawful for the Postmaster-General awl his de-
puty or deputies, servants or agents acting under his authority,
at all times between sunrise and sunset, to enter all houses,
li,itdings, carriages, boats, vessels, and conveyances whatsoever
in Ireland, and to search for all such letters and packets, as
neon information given on catli Mere a Magistrate, he or
they may have reason to suspect shall be illegally carried, con-
veyed, or contained therein ; snd that if any person or per_
sons driving any such carriages and convey anc:s, or na-
vigating any such vessels or boats, or the pr.przeto- s thereof
respectively, or the owners or inhabitants of any such
houses or buildings, shall neglect or refuse to admit
such Postmaster-General, his deputies, servants or agents,
eery such person so neglecting or rc.fitsine• as afore-
said, on being thereof convicted by the oath of credible
witness before any Justice of the Peace, which oath any Jos.
tice is hereby empowered to administer, shall forfeit the sum
of ten pounds; one moiety of each and every which penalties
shall be paid to the informer, and the other moiety to the
Postmaster-General or his deputy or treasurer, in trust for his
Majesty, his heirs and successors ; and if the said fines respec-
tively shall not be forthwith paid on conviction, it shall and
rnay be lawful for such Justice to commit such offender to the
House of Correction, there to remain and be confined to bard
labour for any time not exceeding twenty-one day-2, nor less
titan fourteen days, unless such penalty or forfeiture shall be
sooner paid."
Here it is provided that the deputy of the Postmaster-
General shall search steam-boats and stage-coaches for
smuggled letters, What a pretty duty for Lord Lichfield
to impose upon one of the /air sex! We cannot take cur
leave of this subject without bestowing our owed of praise
upon Col. Maberly, whose easiness of access an d suavity
of manners promise to make the Post-office depar:ecent as
popular as it was formerly the reverse, and which was in a
great degree owing to an opposite conduct on the part of
Isis predecessor. Colonel Maberly's is one among the best
of good appointments.—Morning Adeertiser.
The prohibition to publish the evidence taken before the
Select Committee on the Poor Laws Amendment Act
causes us neither surprise nor disappointment. We attach
no importance to the proceedings of that Committee. We
protested against its appointment from the beginning. We
stated that no Parliamentary inquiry could or ought to be
satisfactory to the public which was not a full and free in-
quiry. It was the Ministerial policy to limit and fetter the
inquiry, so that it might serve to conceal rather than expose
the iniquity of the principle which has obtained for it the
peculiar admiration of Whig economists and Malthusian
philosophers. What matters it that out of the 21 Mem-
bers who compose the Committee, there are but four who
are not avowed supporters of the Act ? Were the Com-
mittee composed of 2 l angels, instead of 21 " honourable
men," what could they do in the way of satisfactory inquiry,
when, by the very terms of their appointment, they must
take the principle of the Act to be unobjectionable, and
only examine in what manner the incontrovertible orders
of the Commissioners have been carried into execu-
tion ? For our part we arc of opinion that the independent
portion of the press has thrown more light upon the ope-
ratism of the Act than will ever be thrown upon it by the
labours of a Government Committee. As to the principle
of the Act, we only require the light of reason and the
feeli ogs of humanity to know that it is vicious, cruel, and
disgraceful to a Christian country. What evidence does it
need to convince all people, but the aforesaid Whig econo-
mists and Malthusians, that to treat poverty as crime, is
an unmoral and detestable principle? What evidence does it
need. to convince all real friends of free government, that
the arbitrary powers vested in the centra triumvirate are
uncceistitutional, and so capable of being employed to
tyrannical purposes, that they ought never to be intrusted
to any man or body of men in a free state ? There were
so abuses under the old Poor-laws, let them be magnified
t( of old, that constituted so great an evil as the giving three
Go‘sernment Commissioners the power of making laws for all
t' e parishes in England. The danger of such a precedent
—a precedent that tends to make tyranny familiar to the
mine Is of the people of a free land—we need not point
out to real friends of Constitutional Government
If are had no other ground of opposition to the Act,
we should think this a sufficient cause for endeavour-
ing to obtain its repeal. We cite not what politi-
cal colours: they wear who support the arbitrary and
odio us imperium in inzperio which this law establishes—
vvheller they call themselves Whigs, Conservatives, or
Rad seals. We can give them no credit for a sincere at-
tach meat to the principles of Constitutional liberty. We
gave, it as our opinion that Mr. Walter had acted weakly
in w ithdrawing- his own motion for a full inquiry, after two
nights' discussion, and adopting that of Ministers, who
wished to render inquiry abortive as to all valuable purposes.
We should think the Hon. Member for Berkshire must by
this time be convinced that h e ought to have pressed his
motion to a division. The courtesy which he showed to
Ministers, and those sycophants of theirs who were in the
greatest trepidation lest they should be driven to a vote
upon the original motion, has been repaid with the grossest
ingratitude. For attempting to add to the Committee
some- independent Members suspected of being friends to
the poor, he received the hootings and the howlings of the
retainees of the Treasury. As to the conduct of the Select
CornmiOee, as modelled by the precautionary wisdom of
the Cabin et, we express no opinion, for, in truth, we care
nothing about it. Let that Committee act ever so fairly, it
cannot, under the limited terms of the inquiry, do any
good ; and, sh.euld it act in an opposite manner, we believe
it wiil not be abl to do any harm, except in delaying that
Parliamentary redress of the legalised enormities of the Act
which the public must have at last.-21Torning Herald.
To-night the House of Commons will proceed to the
con tideration of Mr. Spring Rice's scheme for the abolition
of C burgh-rates. To us the plan, from the moment in
which it was suggested, has appeared so iniquitous that we
confess we at first regretted the cautious prudence which
induced , Sir Robert Peel to demand some delay between
the intros luction and the discussion of it. We could not
but think that upon a question on which justice was so
clear, and ri 'ght so plain, . there might be mischief in the
appearance of doubt where we knew well doubt could not
Thr a moment oxist. But we are content with the policy
which has beasix preferred. Undoubtedly the House of
Commons aides, aces to the discharge of its task to-night
with fuller in,smination and riper discretion than it could

have had for its guidance ten days ago. The impracticability
of the plan has been demonstrated by indisputable calcula-
tion, the unpopularity of the plan has been proved by the ra-
pid presentation of petitions against it from all classes of the
community, the dishonesty of the plan has been denounced by
the excellent Primate of that national Church against
whose sacred bulwarks this first open blow is permitted by
Ministers whom education has made her disciples, and
whom duty ought to constitute her defenders. We con-
sider the contest which is to-night to be commenced by far
the most important which, within the memory of living
man, has convulsed political parties in this country ; for we
are not so blind as to imagine that the prize of this contest
is the 250,0001. per annum which Mr. Spring Rice parades
as the "be all and the end all" of his plan. The Dissen-
t ers state the case more fairly. The amount of the Church-
' rate does not impoverish their purse ; but the principle of
the Church-rate vexes their conscience. What then is the
principle of the Church-rate ? That every subject of this
nation, according to his means, should be liable to be
called upon for contributing in support of the National
Church. This is the principle which, for the first time,
is openly impugned by the Ministers of the Crown.
If it is maintained our National Church is preserved ;
if it is abandoned our National Church is subverted.
The reception of this measure will thoroughly try the
House of Commons. The Members of it may have
expressed strong opinions upon the expediency of re-
moving the scruples of Dissenters by an alteration in the
manner of levying the rate ; but they are for the most part
wholly unpledged and unfettered upon a proposition for its
total abolition ; a proposition which indeed no man could
have expressed who had observed the previous conduct and
known the previous opinions of those by whom it is intro-
duced. They, therefore, who are committed beyond hope
of conversion upon Ballot, and Triennial Parliaments, and
Irish Corporations, are still free to say whether they will
keep up or whether they will put down the Established
Church of this realm. They cannot pretend to be in-
fluenced in the work of ruin by the pressure from with-
out ; for, wherever any such pressure is exerted, it is
unquestionably exerted rather to preserve than to de-
stroy. They cannot pretend to be moved by a readi-
ness to sacrifice an immaterial difference for the mainte-
nance of a Liberal Ministry in power ; for, however
lively Lord Glenelg's epistles to Canada, however luminous
Lord Palmerston's despatches to Madrid, a vote that black
is white upon a question on which the existence of the
Established Church depends can surely hardly be justified
even by the recognised necessity for retaining those ex-
emplary --old Tories in Downing-street. The House of
Commons, therefore, on this occasion may be wise if' it will.
But in the majority of the Members of that Assembly we
have observed so little appearance of that which is " the
beginning of wisdom," that the adoption by them of Mr.
Spring Rice's resolution will disgust much more than it
will disappoint us. The reception of /his measure, how-
ever, will not try the House of Commons only. It will
try the people by whom the House of Commons is elected.
We will not speculate at present upon changes in the Ad-
ministration, which our Whig and Redical contemporaries
appear to assume as certain. But without pretension to the
gift of prophecy, we will assert thus much: under one Minister
or under another Minister the appeal will be made to the
nation before the nation's Church is surrendered. The as-
sent of the House of Commons to Mr. S. Rice's scheme
makes a speedy dissolution of the House of Commons, in
our judgment, inevitabh-. We anticipate the result with-
out alarm. Virong.hcaded we think our countrymen have
sometimes been—wrong-hearted, nev,er. They may have
i become capriciously weary of some of those political insti-
.ttitions under wlmse proteetion their el\ il liberties have
pencil ; but they are cot yet ready to resign their religious
privileges; they vtne..-ate still the altars at which their an-
cestors have worshipped ; they value still the Bible in which
their ancestor. have read. The spirit of England is deeply
and firmly religious ; and when the King's Ministers, to
secure the adhesion of the more boisterous and the less ho-
nest of the Dissenters, ventured to awaken the long-shnn-
boring ind.'griation of a peop!e to whom their Established
Church is justly dear, we believe their idly was equal to
their guilt. Before the next general election we would
gladly placard Lord Melbourne's virulent vituperation of
our hierarchy in the house of every freeholder throughout
En3land.—:!lo, P,;st.

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