The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-22 00:00:00

Durham's assistance, he would now sneak away. If
he cannot give the necessary information on such sub •
jects, why is he paid the public money ? And, hav-
ing gives the information in the first instance, why
does he ask the King's Advocate's opinion afterwards?
Be obtained delay in Parliament by stating that he
only waited for that opinion, which indeed he ought to
have taken before he gave Mr. Bell his answer.—
illorning Herald.
Among the nnmerous reasons which we conceive
every honest man has for desiring the removal of the
present Ministry, those which ought to weigh with the
class called " Moderate Reformers arc certainsly- time
strongest. Whatever there might once have been, there
is now no chance of moderate reforms being accom-
plished under the present Government. The reason is,
that it is impossible for any one to trust them. No
man in his senses, and with ordinary habits of obser-
vation, can fail to perceive that there is the most ex-
treme danger in any concurrence with them, however
plausible the project may seem at the time, and how-
ever vehement may be their protestations that they
mean nothing revolutionary in promoting it. It is the
custom (and a very wholesome custom it is) of men of
good character to refuse all co-operation with charac-
terless schemers, even when they appear to intend
something honest, and conducive to the public good.
The principle upon which this custom is founded
must now apply to time present Ministers. In
their desperation they have exposed themselves,
and they who are desirous of honest improvement
will henceforth be as averse from acting with
them as those who think that no improvement is
required. We refer more particularly to those reforms
in the Church which were so generally considered ex-
pedient, and some of which were, through the co-ope-
ration of Government, embodied in an Act of Partin.-
went last session. Amon,' the many changes which
moderate Reformers insisted upon as expedient none
was insisted upon more frequently, or with more
plausibility, than a better distribution of Church pro-
perty among the Ecclesiastical members of the Church.
To the remedy of that evil the Church Commission se-
riously and sedulously applied its labours, and in the
Report of last year, signeu by five of the present Mi-
nisters, many changes were advised with respect to the
territories and revenues of the various sees. These
changes were all for the purpose of carrying into effect a
better distribution both of the labours and the revenues
of the higher order of the Clergy. Several of the
richer Sees were proposed to be reduced in annual
revenue, and others to be increased, and a variety of
arrangements were to be made, all in the spirit of
improvement, and of accommodation of the means
of the Church to the more fair and equal support of
those who filled its most dignified offices. To all
these things the Ministers consented, and took great
credit with moderate Reformers for their share in
bringing about this Reform. The Church, or the
Church Commission, had not the power to make
these changes without the sanction of the Legislature,
and the Ministers without hesitation brought in Bills
for the purpose. They made no complaint that the
Church had not proposed so much Reform as it ought
to have done ; they said nothing about being made
" utensils" of the Church ; but they brought in the
Bills with oft-repeated eulogies of the improvement
which they were thereby affording to the country.
One of these Bills, relating to the income of the
Bishops and to the creation of the new See of Rip-
pon, was passed, and the others were deferred (ap-
parently with great reluctance), in deference to the
scruples of the Radicals. We appeal to the recol-
lection of the country whether the Ministers did
not, all along, take great credit to themselves with
the moderate party for halting accomplished this
improvement in concurrence with the heads of the
Church, and whether they did itot hold forth the
Church Establishment Bill to the country as a satis-
factory evidence that they and the extreme Radi-
cals were of a very different mind as respected re-
forms ? They led the middle or moderate part of
the country into the belief that, as respected the
Church at all events, they were not revolutionists, but
merely the friends of improvement. They procured a
general impression that the policy to which they con-
sented with respect to Ireland could not be a Church-
destroying policy, for, with regard to the Established
Church in England, they were going hand in hand
with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of
London. And, no doubt, these Prelates, and a very
large body of the Protestants of the country, thought
that the King's Ministers were acting with good faith,
and had brought the Church Bill into Parliament
with good-will towards the Church. They can
think so no longer. As soon as the Government
project, extorted by the clamours and the intrigues
of the Dissenters, was shown to be directly at
variance with the Report upon which lrst year
time Ministers rested their reputation, the truth
was for the first time avowed.. The Minister,
while he acknowledged that in signing the Report
he had acted as an " utensil " of the Church,
boasted that by the Act of Parliament founded
upon that report the ancient tenure of the Church was
destroyed. He gave the House of Commons to un-
derstand that last year, while affecting a friendly co-
operation with the Church, he was aiming a legislative
blow at its independence. The Bishops on the Church
Commission little dreamed that when they entrusted to
the Secre:ary of State for the Flame Department time
task of procuring an Act of Parliament for carrying
into effect the improvements which they had recom-
mended, they were furnishing him with a pretext fur
this year seizing upon their estates. But this they
nOW find to be the case. Until last year Lord John
Russell says he looked upon the estates of the
Bishops as the estates of other landed proprietors,
but by the Act of last year the principle of legislative
interference with these estates was admitted;Parliament
last year made a new division of these estates—this year
it may take them away altogether, providing annuities
in their place. What the thirdsii) would he under the in-
fiuence of such honest Ministers, our readers may easily
imagine. The alterations which were urged upon the
Church by Reformers as highly reasonable—which
were consented to by the Church upon the implied en-
gagement that Reformers would he grateful for a ready
attention to reasonable requests—these very alterations
are now thrown in the teeth of the Church as so many
• concessions, by which the right to demand anything
else is also conceded. "By vonr own reconnaenda-
tion, say time supporters of the Ministry, "we altered
the local appropriation of Church property, and hav-
ing done so, you give us a convenient handle for insist-
ing upon an alteration of its general appropriation."
L is, we think, perfectly evident that the effect of
such conduct as this must be to put an end to all
voluntary Reform in which these Ministers shall
have anything to do. Who will put his tights or his
property into their hands—even for the sake of im-
• prove:nent—when he sees that his concession of
what is reasonable in this year, will he made the
foundation of robbery in the next ? How can any
man, or body of men, fail to be alarmed in deal-
ing with :Ministers who take advantape of their
own duplicity, and twit their victims with having given
them an advantage when they treated them as men of
honour ? Persons who have the interests of esta-
blished institutions to gnat(' must now feel like private
individuals who know they are in the midst of sharpers.
They can yield nothing, lest it should be twisted and
distorted into something else, which was never in-
tended. Thns_an have no confidence even in those
representation,ewhich appear most reasonable. Their
only safety is in holding w here they are, .and preferring
open battle with the plunderer to accommodation with
the swindler. If there were an honest Government the
position of affairs would he very different. Improve-
. ments would go on because they would be suggested in
a friendly spirit, and they would be acted upon in con-
fidence that no injury was intended. Moderate Re-
form would proceed—all parties would be satisfied—
and, whatever the ultimate result might be upon the
fate of time institutions of the country, honesty and
honour among public men would not be violated.—
,
Morning Post.

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As two lads were engaged one night lately in look-
ing out for hares, during the snow storm in Badenoch, one
happened to observe the head of the other suddenly rising
above the dike. Mistaking it for a hare, he fired his gun,
which was loaded with small shot, and the contents lodged in
the face and eyes of the unfortunate youth. The latter has
experienced great suff,ring, but is recovering.—Glasgow
Chronicle.