The Sun.
London, England, 1839-02-11 00:00:00

CHURCH-RATES.

( From the Devonport Independent.)
An important meeting on this subject was helid at the
Town Hall on Thursday evening last, convened by the
Mayor, in pursuance of a requisition addressed. to him,
signed by a large number of the rate-payers. The re-
quisition was got up in consequence of Mr. Lyne, as
Churchwarden, having taken on himself to collect a
Church-rate, notwithstanding the decision of the large
majority of the parish vestry at the meeting in; Septem-
ber last, that such a rate should not be gran tea. The
proceeding having excited great displeasure :prong the
rate-payers, the attendance at the meeting was very
numerous, the Hall being completely hh,ed during
the evening. Soon after half-past six o'oelc, the
Mayor, C. Tripe, Esq., took the chair, and pi a-
cceded to read the requisition, which stated. that the
meeting was called in consequence of the alle gefl illegal
conduct of Mr. Lyne, who had attempted to 'levy a sum
of money under the name of a Church-rate, to ithout the
sanction of a parish vestry as by law requix ed, and to
adopt such measures as might be considered. necessary.
He was now ready to hear any gentleman who wished to
address the meeting on this important questim.
T. WOOLCOMBE, Esq., rose to move th e* first re-
solution, and was very warmly received by the meet-
ing. He said he should rest the observatious :he had to
make entirely on the right and law of the *llse, and if
he did not satisfy the meeting that the attempt now
making in the town was most illegal and unconsti-
tutional, he should retire from the place *extremely
dissatisfied and disappointed with himself. a e should
ha% e to ask the patience of the meeting durioi s the ob-
servations he should make to them, feeling that 1 le should
have to submit the law of the case to their consideration
in a manner perhaps tedious, but at the same tin le lie felt
s itistied that none of them would consider it unattportant.
He ha,l to request that before the meeting pledged itself,
as he hoped it would do, to resist the attempt that was
now so iiiegally made to extract money out. of their
pockets, they would see that it was necessary- to know
that they should be fully justified in so doh lg., and he
would take on himself time responsibility of shoviing that
both law and justice were on their side.—(Her, hear.)
He felt that in coming before his fellow-parishic eters on
the present occasion, he stood in a proud position e for (as
he had been given to understood) he had beeia singled
out as one of those who were to bear the brunt:, of these
roceedings, and he was glad that the party lad taken
ibis course, because he felt that he was beter • mabled to
meet their attacks than many others who might have been
chosen from among them.—(Cheers.) He waled, there-
fore say to this party, that he felt obliged to, them for
putting him in a position that enabled him to ;stand for-
ward and redeem some of his many obligation s to his
fellow-townsmen, by protecting them in their ;rights as
far as in him laid.—(Loud cheers.) He silo old now
proceed to - inquire into the manner which tlio law re-
quired to be pursued in making a Churclerabte. This
had been laid down by one of the highest autoh orities on
the matter—in Burns's Ecclesiastical Law, whfich states,
that " a rate must be made, not by the Chnrc hwarden,
by the Churchwardens and parishioners in restry as-
sembled ;" nay, the very form of the heading is eotpressly
pointed out :—" We, the Churchwardens an-1 other
parishioners of the Parish of , in the County of ,
and Diocese of , whose names are here un to sub-
scribed, do hereby, this day of , in the year of ,
at our Vestry Meeting for that purpose assembleclesrate and
tax all and every the inhabitants and parishiorw.r s afore-
said here undermentioned, for and towards the ;repair,: of
the church of the said parish, for this present year, the
several sums following."—(The sums in svh icli each
parishioner is assessed, and the names of the Church-
wardens must then follow.) Now, a rate I: ad been
brought to him, which he was required to pay ; unfor-
tunately he had omitted to take a copy of it, but as far as
his memory served, it was to the following effe ct :—lt
was prefaced by an estimate, such as had be ell sub-
mitted to the rate-payers in open vestry, and IT the
parishioners in open vestry negatived, and signe 1 by
Edward Lyne, as one of the Churchwardens, who de-
clared that he considered this estimate necessary fosr the
service of the parish ; the rate was also approa en' by
Archdeacon Froude.
.Now any such pretended' :caste
was totally at variance with the form by law prescribed
for that purpose, and utterly and entirely illegal and
inoperative.—(Hear, hear.) It is laid down by all', the
authorities on the subject, that in every case in ss 'hich
a church-rate is made, it must be made on an esti-
mate which has been submitted to the parishioners duly
convened and in vestry assembled, which rate the pa-
rishioners have fi
a right to refuse ; he should state let
they had this right in every case except one, and ;:11.tt
one case proved in the strongest manner possible th e
truth and legality of his position. When a debt La. d
been incurred under the Church-building Acts, th e
Churchwardens might call the parishioners together, au d
if they refused to make a rate to discharge the iieti
rest due on that debt, the Churchwardens were *ern-
powered,—not by the common law of the land, but
by an Act of Parliament specially passed for the our-
pose—to make a rate. It would be apparent that if the
common law of the land, or that the Ecclesiastical
Courts, enabled Churchwardens to make a rate with out
the parishioners, it would have been unnecessary to
give them a spacial power so to do for the purpose: of
' the Church Building Acts. It has been decided fsve r
and over again in the Court of Queen's Bench, that tilers:
is no remedy whatever to which the Churchwarden, can
resort in any other case but time one he had mentoned.
In the case the King v. Wilson and others, deckled in
February, 1825, when Lord Tenterden was Chief Justice
of the King's Bench, a rule was obtained calling oat the
Churchwardens of a parish in the county of Cambridge,
to show cause why a mandamus should not issue to tkiern,
commanding them to make a rate for the repairs of a
donative church in that parish. Sir James Scarlett, now
Lord Abinger, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, sly *wed
cause and objected preliminarily, that a mandamus-would
not lie to the Churchwardens to make a rate. .AJII that
they could he required to do, was to call a m aseting of
the parishioners for the purpose of considering: the pro-
priety of making a rate. The Churchwat dens had
no power to make a rate without the sanction
of the vestry. Mr. Denman, now La ,rd Den-
man, Chief Justice of the Queen's Bends., con-
tra, admitted the force of the objection: By
the Court.—" You cannot call upon the churchly ardens
to make a rate. You can call on them only to hold a
vestry meeting for the purpose." Rule disclwri fed.—
(Hear, hear.) There are several other cases, all going
to the same point, and with which it was un nes iessary
for him to trouble the meeting ; but nothing could be
clearer than this which had been laid dowel by the
highest authorities, that there was no remedy whateverat common law by which Churchwardens col lid obtain
a rate without a vestry. Let us see then whet :her there
was any in a Court of Equity. He would say t :hat there
was none. He had the published authority ot 'hier Ma-
jesty's Attorney-General, that no bill in equity could
possibly be filed for the purpose of making a rate, h ecause
no persons could be found to be proper pe.rties to the
bill ; there was, therefore, no remedy in Prinitr_ Let
US see what are the powers of the Ecclesiiwticat. Court.
" In the case of St. Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey, it
was the opinion of the whole Court (amonf; other
things) that the Bishop or his Chancellor, cannot
set a rate upon a parish, but it must be dime. by
the parishioners themselves : and so lviortli, Chief
Justice, said that it had been lately ► tiled in the
Common Pleas. In Black v. Newcord , it was de-
cided that the Ecclesiastical Court cf gmot make a

rate, or appoint commissioners to do it. So in Rogers
v. Davenant, 26 and 27, Car. 2. In prohibition, the
question was whether, if a Church be out of re-
pair, or so much out of order that it must be re-
edified, the Bishop of the Diocese may direct a commis-
sion to empower commissioners to tax and rate every
parishioner for the re-edifying thereof. The court una-
nimously agreed that such commissions are against law,
and therefore granted a prohibition to the Ecclesiastical
Court to stop a suit there commenced against some of
the parishioners of Whitechapel for not paying the tax
according to their proportions." He trusted he had
shown satisfactorily, that on no pretence whatever could
any Churchwarden make them pay a Church-rate against
their will.—(Hear, hear.) They would now look at
the case in another point of view. It has been asserted
by my Lord Stanley, that if an obstinate vestry refuse to
make a rate, the Churchwardens may do it ; now, he
should here take his stand, and show that there was not
a pretence on which a Churchwarden had the power of
making a rate. If there was one principle of the
English Constitution more thoroughly recognised than
another, it was this,—that the people could only be
taxed by their own consen t,or that of their representa-
tives in Parliament. Now, though with regard to one
species of taxation—that imposed by Parliament—he was
not prepared to say that the principle of representation
was carried out quite so well as he, and perhaps the
meeting, might consider it should be, yet the principle
was in full life ; and if so far as regarded the levying
of taxes by the authority of Parliament, it was imper-
fect, it was not so with regard to those levied by tne
authority of a parish vestry ; for he would say posi-
tively, and without fear of contradiction, that no tax
could be imposed by a parish vestry to which the
smallest rate-payer might not object, and, if a sufficient
number joined him, successfully oppose. It was not a
sufficient answer en a question of this kind to tell him
that the amount sought was a trifling one—that he was
only asked for one shilling or fifteen pence as his
contribution towards the exigencies of the Church.
He was glad that he was only asked to
contribute so mean a sum, because then they
must be convinced that on no other ground than that of
principle, he took his stand in opposition to the demand.
—(Cheers.) He would call to the recollection of the
meeting, that it was an attempt to levy a very trifling
sum ; and in a cause that, taken by itself, might justly
be considered much more laudable—the defence of
England by the means of her Navy—he would call to
their recollection that it was the attempt to levy Ship
Money which cost a Monarch his head and his crown.—
(Hear, hear.) Hampden successfully made his stand
against the demand, though it was no more than twenty
shillings ; and he would now call on the parishioners of
Stoke Damerel to take their stand against the illegal
demand now made on them, bearing in mind that resist-
ance to such a demand formed the brightest page in
British history, and laid the foundation of that liberty
they now enjoyed.—(Cheers.) He would also call re-
spectfully on all those who termed themselves " Friends
of the Church," to beware how far they attempted to load
with additienal unpopularity a structure which was said
by some to be already tottering and insecure. He would
call on them to consider whether they did not require the
good wishes of the people instead of their animosity ;
whether the cause of religion, virtue, and good order was
best maintained by thrusting on the public an occasion
of strife like the present—he said thrusting, because there
was not a friend to the Established Church, who would
not agree with him in saying, that never could there be
a more injudicious attempt tan the present, to levy a
Church-rate contrary to law and justice in this parish.—
( Hear, hear.) He would now return again to the law
of the case. They were all probably aware that there
was one solitary case that had been selected es the ground
on which Churchwardens claimed a right to tax the
parishioners without the consent of a vestry. This was
the case of Gandern v. Selby, the principle of which bad
been again raised in the Braintree case, and it was the
circumstance of this latter case being now pending which
led him to say that the present attempt was so particu-
larly injudicious. He believed, or at all events he had
been informed that there were those high is the Church,
and whose authority and opinion might be considered of
some value in this matter, who had expressed sentiments
in accordance with his own, as to the extremely injudi-
cious course now pursued by the parties raising this
question—and, moreover, that the Braintree case ems.
not so likely to be decided in favour of the Church-
wardens es they fondly hoped, but directly against them.
—(Hear, bear.) Now, in a case reported in one of the
early reports, Salkeld, ea 163. Pierce v. Prowse, " the
Churchwardens assessed a rate for repairs of the church,
and after libelled against a parishioner for not paying it."
The Court being moved for a prohibition, it was decided
" that the parishioners ought to assess the rate, and not
the Churchwardens." In the time of Lord Raymond,
" Mr. Pratt moved for a prohibition to the Consistory
Court of the Bishop of Exeter—(Hear)—where his client
was libelled against for a rate assessed by the Church-
wardens by custom, for the repair of the church, as well
the chancel as the nave of the church ; and it was re-
solved that the parishioners, and not the Churchwardens
ought to assess the rate. A prohibition was granted."
In Rogers v. Davenant, Modern Reports, 2, p. 194.
" Wyndham, Atkyns, and Ellis, justices, accorded the
Churchwardens cannot, none but a Parliament, can im-
pose a tax, but the greater part of a parish can make a
bye-law, and to this purpose they are a Corporation."
In a case reported, Modern Reports, 1, p. 79, it is
stated to have decided that " the Spiritual Court
cannot impose the payment of a rate made by Church-
wardens only- Moved for a prohibition to the Spiritual
Court. For that they sue a parish for not paying a rate
made by the Churchwardens only, whereas by law
the major part of the parish must join." Twisden, jus-
tice, " perhaps no more of the parish will come together."
Counsel—" If that did appear it might be something."
The whole of these cases tended to the same thing ; in
every case in which the Churchwardens have attempted
of their own authority to make a Church-rate, and have
taken the question into the Ecclesiastical Court, on appli-
cation to the Court of Queen's Bench, a prohibition has
been issued to stop their proceedings. Now, suppos-
ing this rate to be in every other respect a legal one, yet
he would contend that on the very face of it, there was a
fatal objection to be taken to it—it was to all intents and
purposes a retrospective rate. It contained one item of
501. for ten years' making out registers, and another .50/.
for ten years' doing something else. He should show
that any such rate as this must necessarily be declared
in a Court of Law, illegal and void. The pamphlet he
held in his hand, was one published by Her Majesty's
Attorney-General, and he there states among other things
that " it is now considered clear law, that a retrospective
Church-rate is bad ; and this goes to the very foundation
of the supposed power of the Churchwardens to make
a rate against the will of the parish." Sir John Camp.
bell says, that such a rate is bad in law, and he also cites
a case which proves it to be bad in equity. In Lanchester
v. Thompson, an attempt was tried to force the making
of a Church-rate, on the ground that the Vestry had
sanctioned the expense which the Churchwardens had
incurred. But Sir John Leach, Master of the Rolls,
said " in the case before Lord Ellenborough, it
was established, that a Church-rate can be legally
made for the reimbursement of no Churchwarden,
because that would shift the burden off the pa-
rishioners at the time, to future parishioners." Hav-
ing shown them, as he trusted he had done, that this
rate, let theta look at it whichever way they pleased,
was distinctly and positively illegal, he came to the ques-
tion, whether any man in the parish could be compelled
to pay a sixpence towards it. The only remedy which
the law had provided for enforcing the payment of a
Church-rate legally made, was an application to a magis-
trate for a distress warrant, and he had the best reason
for asserting that in any case of a retrospective rate,
or of a rate illegal on the face of it, a magistrate was
' justified in refusing to grant such a warrant of distress.
He stated this position with some little degree of confi-
dence, inasmuch as a near relative of his own had refused
to grant a distress warrant, and being proceeded against
in the Court of Queen's Bench by Mr. Barnes, had
succeeded in gaining a signal triumph over that Learned
Gentleman.—(Hoar, hear.) He alluded to the case
of Rex v. Sillifant. So much for the case of a magis-
trate who does not grant a warrant of distress : now
for the case of one who does grant such a warrant for
levying an illegal rate. It happened most fortunately
for the present discussion, that no longer than last
week three cases had been brought before a Sheriff's
Jury in London against magistrates, for granting an il-
legal warrant of distress, and damages to the amount of
101. each were awarded, full costs following as a matter
of course.—(Hear.) He feared that ho was trespass-
ingo on their time—(No, no)—but he was anxius not
only that they should fully understand the question, but
that it should be laid before the public in such a way
that there should be no pretence for saying that the ques-
tion had not been fully discussed and considered—
(hear, hear)—he held in his hand a report of the pro-
ceedings before the Under-Sheriff in the actions referred
to, and he would show that if two cases could possibly
be alike in all particulars, the cases for which an action
had been brought against the three magistrates would be
what would happen here, if any magistrate on this
bench should think it wise to grant a warrant against any
of them.—, Hear, hear.) The Counsel for the Plaintiff in
this action stated that " in 1837 a Church-rate was made,
but in consequence of some irregularity in the proceed-
ings, a number of the inhabitants of the parish refused
to pay it. Upon this proceedings were taken, but the
Churchwardens made application to some legal gen"-
man, and in consequence of the advice they received,
abstained from proceeding with the collection of this
rate. A new rate was proposed in January last year of
6d. in the pound, and among others his client objected
\
toit. Notwithstanding the objections that were urged , a
rate was declared, and application for its payment was

" The Chamber of Deputies has been dissolved, by a
Cabinet which, eight days before, after a solemn debate,
resigned, from having, by its own confession, not a suffi-
. cient majority. This is the second Chamber which,
within eighteen months, the present Cabinet has been
obliged to dissolve. And why? Is it because the Cham-
ber proceeded in a course of innovations upon the con-,
stitution of the country, or of great concessions, which the
Crown might have resisted, with reason, until their necesr
sity was further shown ? Or had these Chambers impelled
the Government to any doubtful or perilous enterprise,
affecting foreign nations? No such thing. The Cham-
bers never showed a wish or symptom of either one or the.
other. On the contrary, in domestic policy they granted'
to Government almost all it asked; and the only wish
strongly expressed was that of having the interests.'
on the Five per Cents., reduced. :Even in its late
address the Chamber made no new demand. With re-
spect to Belgium, it showed no wish whatever to
ambatra:s the policy of Government, or compromise it with.
Europe. its sentiments with regard to Spain never were
more reserved or more pacific. And yet the Chamber has
been dissolved. What was the cause ? Simply because the
M;nistry were strangers to the Chamber of Deputies, and,
therefore, having no influence over it, or authority in it,
rendered the Government weaker and weaker, and less and
less national. Such is the evil reeognie:ci by the Cabinet
in its own resignation, and in the successive dissolution of
the Chsinbcr. Pet haps, indeed, was there no representative
Government, the present ministry might have cleverness
enough to carry on the Government. But fifty years ago,
our fathers conceived the noble idea of partici/on:Mg in
the government 83 the sole guarantee of liberty. And
they were right. When the country takes part in its
own government, then the latter wants force neither in
its language nor its acts. Is not the contrary the case
at present ? At home do we not see the Crown weak-
ened and attacked in its prerogative, the Chamber
of Deputies weakened, and attacked also in its preroga—
tive ? Do we net see, as in 1830, a struggle engaged.
in between Crown and Chamber? And in the midst- of
this struggle the administration and material interests of
the country are forgotten and thrown aside. And abroad„
has not either the influence of France decreased, as in.
Switzerland and Italy, or the position become worse for
her, as in Belgium and Spain? We are either con_.
promised or isolated. And this decline takes place its the
midst of peace without one obstacle or unfavoureble.cir-
curnstance."

M. Guizot then enters into .his personal position, his:
attachment to the Government of July, his pain at being
lorced to attack it, and the necessity of speaking out, in
ender to save it. "As to the coalition, whose fault can
it be, if three or four parties, without . any of thorn al-
tering their opinions, become at once alive to the same
peril, and cry out simultaneously against it ? If I see
a fire, must I remain silent, lest malevolent people
should at the same time cry out fire with a bad de-
' sign? The clamour raised against the coalitien is
merely that of people who cannot tolerate the pebllcity
and frankness of representative government, bee
brought the sincere and constitutional
it friends of the Leo-
narchy in opposition to its systern,. which they think im's-
takea. This ma) be an evil, but is necessary to combat s
more fatal evil, end it is itself recompensed by having.
brought into the 'Circle of cairn and constitutional aims and.
language a number of able men and parties who heretofore-
were enemies both to dynasty and constitution. Another
result is equally important ; it is that of reconciling and,
bringing into community of feeling those numbers of frp-
tions into which tile political world of France was diviael.
The representative system is a
i system of continual conelli-
ation, and the effect of liberty s first to divide, and thee
to unite." As to personal ambition, M. Guizot declares
he might have taken a much surer and shorter road to
gra-
tify it. But his ambition is of a higher kind than that of
grasping at place. He had been accused of attacking the
Crown ; but sever was more scrupulous care taken to aim
constitutionally at the Cabinet, and leave the Crown sad-
touched. The Minister himself it was who came forward and
placed the Crown before hint as a buckler, instead of acting'
buckler to it. He could conceive nothing at once more mean
and more unconstitutional than the Cabinet in this conduct."
The address of M. Guizot thus termirates—" Against the
Ministry alone has been directed our attack, and it shall
continue so to be directed, as our right allows, and our
duty teaches. To do this is to assure the conquest of Re-
presentative Government, which is our Charter. We can-
not suffer a tittle of it to be lost. Our honour and that of
France are staked therein. Nor is the repose of France
less at stake than its honour. For you may be certain
that as long as the present Government exists, every
question and thing must remain in suspense. The dignity
and' security of the country will both be more and more
shaken. In foreign policy, as in domestic, you will see
the same absence- of foresight, the same
folly, the same
weakness—whilst, as the result of all this incapacity, you
may look to a repetition of such measures as tho present
dissolution. Such is the evil, Gentlemen, and you possess
the remedy."

Several journals assert that at the Council which deter-
mined upon the dismissal of M. Persil, it was seriously
debated whether Count d'Argout, Governor of' the Bank of
France, and M. Dosne, father-in-law to M. niers and
Receiver-General of the department of the Nord, should
not be dismissed from their posts; the immediate execution
of this measure having been warmly supported by the
Ministers of the Interior and Justice.
A letter from the Hague is quoted by the Gazette de
France, stating that the Dutch army has been ordered to
fall back three leagues in the rear of its present positions
on the Belgian frontier, in order to avoid all chance of
needless irritation nod collision between the hostile corps
while war is not actually declared.
" We quote the following from the Ministerial journal,
the Presse :—A letter from the frontiers of Belgium in-
forms us that between Mons and Charleroi, and particularly
at Bindles, a great number of men of suspicious character
or bad reputation arc to be seen, who have been sent to
different points in order to insinuate
..themselves into the
confidence of the non-commissioned ancels of the French
army as soon as it is cantoned on the frontier. We believe
we are justified in adding that there is at tint time prepar-
ing at Paris, and other places, a Buonapartist movement,
which is intended is break out as soon as the elections are
over, if it is not prevented by the Government, to whose
vigilance this warning is addressed."

THE NAVY.—There is scarcely any person
living who has not taken a warm interest in the recent discussions
respecting our " wooden walls," especially as regards the contrast
afforded by their present state; and that which distinguished theta
during the war with France. Of this few' can judge from memory,
and it is therefore the more fortunate that so able
and impartial a
record of our marit!mo deeds, and the former condition of our ships
of war, should exist as is presented by the Naval History of the
late Mr, James, a production which occupied the greater part of the
author's life, and which is constantly appealed to as unquesticuable
authority. A new and cheap edition of this National Work
published
find place in the library oPevery Englishman.
brought down to the battle of Navarino, has lately been
and shoulda
Mrs. Troliope is about to enter the lists with ,s 1302,,
in a monthly illustrated publication, to be called "Michael ~q,
strong, the Factory Bay."—Athertecum. This announcement ITZ
given rise to a good deal of speculation as to hew this --
celebrated
authoress will treat so interesting a subject. We have heard that
it her intention to lend the whole power of her vigorous Pen
the great object of the emancipation of our white negroes, a• toe
lash of her satire has already been felt by the slave owner op
h
other side of the Atlantic, and if her pen be wielded with sin• 111 e --;
ability on the present occasion, her subject is one which will en: ar
to her the most eager attention frorn many thousands of her coup_trez,,
trymen. The cheap form of publication, so much in vogue
present, has bcen, we think, most judiciously chosen for the work,
MR. BREMNER'S EXCURSIONS IN Itus§i.A.
This ample and able work, the production of a man of sense, ana •
an acute and impartial observer, will soon be in the hands 0 f the
majority of readers throughout the empire, and net
inaProbalif
is upon subjects
throughout Europe also. We have undoubtedly setrw, an
ci Y
excellent accounts of Petersburg h already, but the observationsve
Mr. Bremner are in themselves so interesting, and in general ()t.
ianiccpuocattae,,,, rani-rdtiofuntuttLeypocsolittivaeny
of
England
, that tlsio
slightest details of his book will be perused with aridity,
v‘tollitlleteTreesiennfot
porsonal character of the Emperor Nicholas has never before. The
been
so fully laid open to the public, and the elaborate views n. the
Russian army and navy—points of such vivid inquiry at the I
went—are
given with a scrupulous care and fulness of Tno.
which we are surprised to think any stranger,detail, to
however
a
labot ions, could have arrived in so short a time.---Litera cute and
R OBBERY BY A SERVANT.--A )7/ Gazette.
robb
money to a very serious amount, and recently committedery of
against
tradoman in Oldham, by one of his journeymen, has just ''een de_
tested a
teeted in Stockport, under very curious and accidental
stances, since the thief himself appears to have been circuits-
robheo of
of the money by an accessary after the fact. . part
The amount of notes circulated from Sept. 2.9
to Dec. 31 last year was by private banks, 7,599,94,1/
Stock ditto, 4,6'25,5461. Total, 12,29.5,435/. • by Joint