The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-30 00:00:00

happened only on one day of the year, and on one
hour of the day, on various days of different months.
It is commonly said, and with great truth, we believe,
that the Romish Church tempted Pagans to em-
brace Christianity by adopting their rites, ceremo-
nies, and festivals ; and such a moveable annual
commemoration of a great event looks much more
like a remnant of the dark times of paganism,
when men had no correct calendars, than the
well-known anniversary of an event which hap-
pened after the Julian Calendar. had come into
use. The Bishop of LONDON has taken a pious fit,
like the Post, and interdicted, it is said, wrestling on
Good Friday at Chalk Farm, though for what we
know, that may be a remnant of the original cere-
monies of the day. Journalists and Bishops should
be careful not to invite too strict a scrutiny into such
observances, by making them painful or ridiculous.

The Committee-appointed in the City to consider
the important question of a cheap postage, have,
we are happy to find, determined to call a public
meeting of the Bankers and Merchants of the Capi-
tal early in May, for the purpose of petitioning Par-
liament to adopt, without delay, the plan proposed
by Mr. ROWLAND HlLL—namely a uniform
penny postage. It has also been resolved by the
Committee that, in order to place prominently be-
fore the public, the advantages that would result
from the adoption of this plan, such an analysis of
the evidence taken before the House of Commons
on the subject shall be prepared for publication as
shall exhibit, in a short compass and in a striking
point of view, the result of the late Parliamentary
inquiry.
The course pursued by the Committee is well
calculated to advance the object which they, in
common with all intelligent persons, whether en-
' gaged in commerce or not, have in view. It is, in-
deed, difficult to say what class of the community
is most interested in this question, so intimately is
it mixed up with the interests of all. At first sight
it may appear that the greatest advantages would
result to the trading part of the community, by
reducing the present rate of postage ; which is, in
fact, a tax on communication, free communication
being the very soul of trade. Commercial transac-
tions would be multiplied to an extent of which no
estimate can at present be formed, by the stimulus
which would thus be given to enterprise ; and even if
the direct revenue now derived from the postage of let-
ters should be diminished, a circumstance which, were
there reason to apprehend its occurrence, as there
is not, is totally unworthy of being admitted into
the consideration of the question—that loss would
be amply made up by the increased productiveness
of the other branches of revenue, all of which
would be benefited by the abolition of the letter-
tax. Much valuable information bearing on this
point is to be found in the Parliamentary evidence.
Then, again, the extent to which the revenue is
defrauded, on account of the present exorbitant
rate of postage, is altogether incredible. We
verily believe that not one-half the letters that
ought, according to law, to go by post, are actually
sent that way. In spite of the heaviest penalties,
people of all descriptions are constantly carrying
on a contrabrand trade in letters—a trade which
would immediately flow into the Post-office were the
rate reduced to a penny.
We have been favoured with the perusal of an
excellent letter on this subject, written by Mr.
RICHARD HEATHFIELD to a Member of the
City Committee, of which we subjoin an extract.
Mr. HEATHFIELD is well known as the author of
several valAklOie works on the public debt and re-
venue, and his opinion cannot fail to have due
weight with the public :
" Having had extensive and varied opportunities
of estimating the probable effect of a general re-
duction of postage in this country to one penny
for each letter not exceeding in weight one ounce,
and more especially with reference to Joint-stock
Companies, now so frequent, I should not consider
it honest if I refrained from offering my testimony
to the mass of evidence already collected in
favour of the suggested alteration. My be-
lief then is, that, as respects Railway Companies,
Fire and Life Assurance Companies, Joint-
stock Banks, and other institutions of s
public caste, the increase in the number
of letters paying postage would be many hundred-
' fold. At present communications are made by
such establishments by the hundred and thousand
throughout the United Kingdom, conveyed in par-
cels for distribution to central situations, at the
risk of penal consequences. But this exhibits only
a very partial view of the merits of the case. If
one penny could cover the cost of transmission, no
adequate estimate can be formed of the increase in
the number of printed letters, reports, and other
forms of communication, which would be issued by
institutions more or less public in their constitu-
tion, which are now either suppressed from the
consideration of the expense of conveyance (unless
by the evasion of the law), or are not thought of
under the present discouraging circumstances.
Amongst other classes, the paper manufacturer and
the punter would indeed have cause of rejoicing
were the impediment of heavy postage re-
moved, and an increase might be expected
from those sources to compensate for the deficiency
(if any) in the post-office returns. I cannot, how-
ever, be brought to the opinion that, confining the
question to the Post-office itself, there would be
any deficiency."
It is now clear that this question will not be
allowed to sleep. The subject has been already
much discussed, now -the period_for action has ar-
rived, and it behoves all who are anxious to see
this great benefit conferred on the country to bestir
themselves in the cause. Mr.HILL's admirable plan
has found favour everywhere but at the Exchequer.
It must be the business of the people to force an
entrance there if they are not willingly admitted.
They m
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place.

The Church begins to suffer from its alliance
with the State, and to feel degraded by the alliance.
The admission of Dissenters and Papists into the
Legislature, which has made the State co-
extensive with all classes, has deprived it of the ex-
clusive Church of England character, which made
the Clergy rejoice in the alliance. They begin,
therefore, to cry out against it, and a writer in the
Times of yesterday, renews in substance and ex-
tends the proposition of the Northallerton Clergy
of the year before last, to revive the Convocation,
and restore to the Church her legislative rights in
spiritualibus. That our readers may know what
sort of an imperium in imperio the Clergy now
seek to achieve, since they are no longer allowed to
have exclusive possession of the Legislature, we
shall lay a brief extract before them from the
Times:—
As the Church, when she originally gave up her legisla-
tive authority to Parliament, intrusted that authority ex-
clusively to her own members, so the subsequent repeal of
the statutes which barred the Legislature from the inimical
influence of Papists and Dissenters, ought now to be fol-
lowed up by a protective enactment empowering a defined
body of her members, under certain restrictions, to frame
her own laws and ordinances, with no other State inter-
ference (seeing the State should be laically represented in
that body), than is necessary for the enforcement of its
decisions.
We shall make no objection to the clergy and laity
making laws for the Church, provided the Church
abstain from touching our pockets. Let it give up
Church-rates and forego tithes—let it live on the
voluntary contributions of its flocks, and lay no
taxes on unwilling contributors, and we shall rejoice
to see it making laws for itself, and establishing what
it now much wants, discipline, and order, and mo-
rality amongst its several members. The Church,
if left to itself, would naturally take a republican
form of Government, and make its priesthood set
the example of greatness in poverty which Chris-
tianity teaches.

A letter, inserted elsewhere, from Mr. CHILDS
of Bungay, deserves the serious attention of the
Dissenters, and indeed of all who advocate the reform
of ecclesiastical abuses. The proceedings of our
" spiritual pastors and masters" have of late been
marked by a spirit of bitterness—of savage cruelty—.
without example, even in the annals of the Church.
Men's goods have been seized and sold, and their
persons immured in gaols, on the most frivolous pre-
texts, and under the sanction of Church-made law.
Till now we knew not the extent to which the Pro-
testant priesthood could carry their disregard of
every kindly, charitable, and righteous maxim incul-
cated by the Gospel, which they pretend to take
for the rule of their conduct. They have now
thrown off the veil of hypocrisy, and stand forward
with unblushing front, confessing themselves the most
malignant of persecutors. Can this be denied ? Un-
fortunately for human nature it cannot. The atror