The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-16 00:00:00

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(4-41

LONDON,
THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 16, 1837.

The Lords did not meet yesterday.
In the House of Commons the London and Birmingham
R Tway Act Amendment Bill was read a first time. There
1r > > some conversation relative to other Railway Bills, in
the course of which the fact of Mr. FRE3IIFIELD, the son
ar KI partner of the Hon. Member for Pcnrhyn, acting as
P Arliamentary agent, was brought under the notice of the
Kouse by Lord LENNOX, in pursuance of the instructions
ht. bad received from the London and Brighton Railway
Committee. Mr. FRESIIFIELD said, that although he was
a ,iartner with his son in general business, he neither was
en gaged in nor participated in the profits of any Parliamen-
ts ry business. A discussion ensued upon the subject, which
w Is ultimately postponed till the 6th of April.
The adjourned debate on the Church-rates Regulation
E ill was then resumed, and, at ten minutes after three
o',,;lo;:k this morning, was brought to a close by a majority
of 23 in favour of the Ministerial proposition, the numbers
bi Eng—

For the Resolutions 273
Against 250
T. he majority would have been greater, but for the defec-
ti. ►n of some Members who generally support the Govern-
or Some of the Liberal Members alluded to, appre-
hurnsive that their own private interests might be damaged
by, the measure, voted against it. We have more fully en-
te tied into a review of the proceedings last night in a sepa-
ri4e article, to which we refer the reader.

The debate on the Church-rates was brought to a close
t night—or rather at an early hour this morning. The
oeakers were numerous, and among the best of them was
A [r. GISBORNE, who commented on Sir ROBERT PEEL'S
la.r.lentations about " posterity" in an admirably sententious
and sarcastic spirit. If a representative of posterity, ob-
serve d the Hon. Member, could come into that House, he
wouhf make a point of expressing his approval of the Mi-
nisterial measure, if only for the reason that it com-
pelled the " greedy, grasping, rapacious Churchmen"
to keep their hands out of the pockets of the Dis-
ssnters. Mr. GISBORNE is right. Posterity will never
be on abettor of unjust taxation, but, on the contrary, will
insist on the " value received" principle, with far more per-
tinacity than the present age seems to entertain any idea
of. Eqvally happy was the Hon. Gentleman, in his allu•
sions to tie notorious Episcopal cabal for the overthrow of
Lord MELE OURNE'S Administration. He did not blame,
lie observed, -" Whig Bishops and Liberal Bishops, for hav-
ing united with Tory Bishops, if they thought the interests
of the Church affes-qed. Far from it. They would have be-
trayed their duty, h they h.s.d not done so. But what he
blamed them for was, entering :nto a conspiracy, contempti-
Jde as it was vile, for the purpose Os upsetting liberal Minis-
try, and a liberal system of Governmeot. It was crot emptible
asit was vile, and would totally fail of its effect." This .is hard
hitting, but not a whit more so than the circumstances .'f
the case call fur. The Bishops, under pretence of advo-
cating the rights of the Church, but in reality their own
selfish interests, are just now playing the same tricky,
luder-liand game that they played during the first division
oil the Reform Bill in the House of Lords. But on the
pre cent occasion, warned by past experience, they are act-
ing- with far more adroit duplicity. They skulk behind " three
millions of poor people" and let fly their poisoned shafts
at the Ministry under shelter of this, as they imagine, im-
penetrable phalanx. 'Tis for the poor people—and for
tire m only—that they are now up in arms. Perish all
se Lis ill considerations ; 'tis for the unpreached-to poor that
the ,Bishops now take the field ! Such hypocrisy cannot
be t lo hardly dealt with, and accordingly Mr. GISBORNE
laid o 3 the lash with a vigour and alacrity that would
brave I, ',come a drummer of the grenadiers. The Hon.
Gs tale, -tan concluded by stating, that, " notwithstanding
the ems, of the Bishops, he would vote for the Resolu-

tion, on the ground that he believed it was the only chance
of appropriating a certain sum of money to the repairs of
the churches of the country." And yet this very reason
which has brought conviction to the mind of one of the
most intelligent and impartial representatives in the House
of Commons, is the very one which the Tories allege in
justification of their opposition to the measure ! We sus-
pect, however, that they have repented of having assigned
this preposterous reason, for we find it very sparingly al-
luded to last night.

Mr. BAINES' observations contained much strong sense,
which was not without its effect on the House. He stated
that the measure in question would give unqualified satis-
faction to the Dissenters, as it was founded on the principle
of doing justice to all parties.
Mr. GLADSTONE made a long rambling speech, smelling
strongly of the lamp, in the course of which he contrived
to affront the whole Dissenting fraternity. "He felt re-
spect," he said, " for religious scruples and even sincere
prejudices ; but in this hostility to Church-rates, he could
not believe the Dissenters were actuated by a con-
scientious scruple. He would not honour their mo-
tive with so sacred a name. Their zeal was too
new—they bad been too long content with this im-
post." What sophistry'is this! With just as much pro-
priety might the Hon. Gentleman accuse the English peo-
ple of having been indifferent to the grievances entailed on
them by a boroughmongering Parliament, because the Re-
form Bill was never vehemently agitated till the year 1830.
But this was not the only absurdity contained in Mr.
GLADSTONE'S speech. His peroration was far richer, for
in it, he grounded his opposition to the Ministerial measure,
on the score that it would be a surrendering up of the " re-
ligious feeling" of the community. Now what on earth
has a matter of mere taxation to do with religion ? Arc
we all to become- Infidels the instant Church-rates are abo-
lished ? Is the pound-shilling-and-pence principle at the
bottom of all our devotion ? It may be so with the high
dignitaries of the Church, but it is assuredly far otherwise
with the community.
Lord STANLEY made a desperate effort to be satirical—
witty—argumentative—profound—in a word, to develope
every species of oratorical excellence in a speech whose
only remarkable feature was, that it was as long and sour
as a vinegar cruet. His Lordship was singularly choleric
and snappish towards the ATTORNEY-GENERAL, and must,
no doubt, have been annoyed to see so much virtuous
wrath thrown away, for his vehemence had no more
effect on the Hon. Member for Edinburgh, than the cannon
of the fleet of Blefusca had upon GULLIVER. Notwith-;
standing his eager desire to shine, not a single new light
did the driver of the Dilly throw upon the question in
debate. His speech was a mere hash—a raking together
of all the Tory arguments that have already been urged,
z:sque ad nauseant, upon the subject. The discussion,
which was rather stormy towards its close, was not con-
cluded till half-past three o'clock this morning.

The House of Commons has now solemnly sanctioned
the great principle, that justice to those who dissent from
the Established Caurch requires the abolition of Church.
rates. This decision is a subject of congratulation to all—
whether within or without the pale of the Establishment—
to the large body of Christians who_belong to the Church,
as well as to that far larger Lady who are not in communion
with her. _The majority by which this question has been
carried may not appear to some enthusiastic spirits so nu-
merous as its importance warranted them in anticipating ;
and by the minions of faction, it may be attempted to be
perverted into a proof of the little interest felt by the coun-
try in the subject, 'as was done by these unscrupulous par-
tizans with regard to the majority of 80 on the Irish Cor-
Bat for ourselves, when we consider

poration question.

he adverse influences against which the Ministerial plan ha,

to contend, the personal interests or many of the Members
being opposed to their public duty, and others of them being
swayed by the outbreak of the Bishops the other night in
the House of Lordc., we can truly say we did not look for a
larger majority. A good beginning has been made. To

use a phrase much in vogue with the Tories, we have got
in the point of the wedge, and, with the blessing of GOD,
we trust we shall, ere long, be enabled to drive it home,
so far, at !cast, until every remnant of intoleram.e—
every fragmQit of sectarian superiority—or, in. other words,
of religious inequality, be removed from our religious institu-
tions ; and the diihonour that is now done to Christianity by
a!lowing the one portion of its votaries to trample on the
consciences of the other, and thus to violate its fundamental
principle, be wiped away as the greatest reproach to our
land.

As to the discussion which has just closed, every one
_who has paid any attention to it must see that the merits
of the plan proposed by the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHE-
QUER on the first night of the debate, have in no respect
been touched by any of the speakers on the other side. Both
the principles and the details ofthe measure remain altogether
unshaken by the assaults of the Opposition, though they
brought their whole skill and all their power to the charge.
Sir ROBERT PEEL attempted to undermine the mea-
sure, by contesting the accuracy of the calculations
on which the financial part of it is founded ; but
did man ever make so miserable a figure of himself ?
The Right Honourable Baronet, who had probably been
crammed by some dabbler in figures with more stuff
than he could digest,went floundering on, out of one blunder
into another, until he became quite lost i❑ the mazes of
his own ingenuity. We assert that nothing has been, and
that nothing can be, brought to invalidate the calculations
of Mr. FINLAISON. So far the practicability of the mea-
sure is beyond a doubt.

Then came the two lawyers, Messrs. FOLLETT and
PEMBERTON. The former dwelt much upon the presumed
inconsistency of the Hon. and Learned Member for the
Tower Hamlets, as to his interpretation of the law regard-
ing Church-rates ; but what did his own statement of the
case, granting it to be correct, amount to ? The Learned
Gentleman asserts, that there is a law to compel the pa-
rishioners to make a Church-rate, ; but if this be the case,
may we not ask why it is not enforced ? May we not
suppose that the Church does not find it convenient to en-
force the law, or it would not allow the sacred buildings to
be dilapidated, as they are in some parishes where the rates
have been refused ? All this talk about the point of law
is therefore mere surplusage—an entire waste of time ; for
what is the difference between a non-existing and an im-
practicable law ?

Then we have the interests of the lessees warmly ad-
vocated by Mr. PEMBERTON. They have no legal rights,
says the Learned Gentleman, neither have they any equit-
able rights ; but they have some sort of right which he
cannot define, that is, they have no rights at all, at least
none that are interfered with by this measure. They arc
in the situation of all other tenants, who endeavour to
make the best bargain they can with their landlords, and
it has not been shown that they will be put in a different
or worse situation than others by the plan proposed.
With respect to the mode of appropriation, that has
not been touched by anything;like an argument. The parties
who are for employing the surplus in giving additional Church
accommodation, seem to have forgotten that this argument
cuts the throat of that other one, by which they deny the
right of the State to interfere with the management of the
Bishop's lands. Such, indeed, is the general character of
the debate. The Hon. Gentlemen on the Opposition side
have not only answered one another, but they have gene-
rally answered themselves also.

There is little domestic intelligence of any interest in the
Paris Papers of Monday and Tuesday. The Cabinet is
supposed to be on the eve of a dissolution. In fact, Minis-
ters cannot carry on their system without the Disjunction
and non-Revelation Laws, with which the Deputies re-
fuse to arm them. On Monday the Editor of the
Charivari was tried for publishing a very clever caricature
a:e KING, in the attitude of a pauper before the
Chariber
sof Deputies, with the words, " A million, if you
please," prose. ding out of his mouth—the amount of the
dowry craved by b.:l MAJESTY for the Queen of the BEL-
GIANS ; and underne,:th the sturdy-beggar figure of the
mendicant MONARCH tilt: following apt quotation from the
Penal Code :—" Every person found begging shall be im-
prisoned for two months at thy: least, and sent at the expi-
ration of such imprisonment to the depot of Mendicity."
The Law Officers of the Crown male long harangues about
the enormity of bringing the sacred pe7son of the KING into
contempt by such abominable representations. The Judges
were of opinion that such caricatures could only originate in
the minds of traitors, and tUat such as issued them were ene-
mies of the KING, and, as a consequence, of the sacred
rights of Frenchmen ; but the Jury having .a little more
common sense and common honesty, laughed at the cari-
cature, and acquitted the ,Editor. The Conductor of the j

Journal du Peuple was likewise tried on the same day for
a treasonable libel, and acquitted.
The Pair states that Ministers are about to make an-
other demand on the Chambers for secret service money,
and that, if the grant be refused, they will certainly quit
office. With respect to the possible refusal of the Cham-
ber to make such a grant, the same Ministerial organ ob-
serves—" The refusal of the Chamber could not signify
that it means to abandon the KING without defence to the
weapon of an assassin. li. will signify only that it wants
confidence in the talents of the present Ministers, or that
it has no longer the same sympathy with their doe.
trines, which it has so often manifested. The Royal
wisdom will then have to take such measures, as it
may judge suitable to the state of the country." This
piece of fulsome fudge discloses the rickety position of
Count MOLE and his colleagues. The KING evidently is
in a hurry to get rid of them.

The latest advices from Madrid are of the 6th inst., but
they are of very little importance. The President of the
Council, Senor CALATRAVA, was slowly recovering from
his recent attack of inflammation in the intestines. Various
rumours were afloat of further changes in the Cabinet,
among which was one to the effect that MENDIZABAL was
about to proceed as Ambassador to London. The Carlist
insurgents in Catalonia were committing the most frightful
excesses, robbing and murdering all who fell into their hands.
Some divisions of the QUEEN'S troops were in pursuit of
them.

FRENCH FUNDS.—Psats, Kitten 13
Five per Cents., 107 f. 17f. Inc. sc.
Four per Cents., 981. 50c.
Three per Cents. WE 40c. 35c,
Bank Actions, 2,415 f.
Itente oc Naples, 98f 9cc. 80c.
Roman Five per Cents., 102%.
Spanish Actives, 28 2714 281 A.
Spanish Passives, 7%
Belgian Loan, Five per Cents, 1031 A.
Belgian Society, 1,550 f. •
Portuguese Three per Cents. 321 A 14%. •
Haytian Loan, 360 f.