The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-17 00:00:00

All had an equal right to lay their opinions before
their Lordships' House, as to the measures which they
thought necessary to be adopted by the Legislature, or which
were under the consideration of the Legislature.—( Hear,
hear.) But he (Lord Melbourne) was still more unwill-
ing to acquiesce in the statement with which the
Right Reverend Prelate concluded his speech. The
Right Rev. Prelate had said that if the prayers of the peti-
tioners were acceded to, Christianity would not be any longer
recognised as the religion of the country. He ( Lord Melbourne)
begged leave to protest against such an imputation being
east upon those who had petitioned their Lordships' House,
and he felt sorry that it had come from a quarter which
he (Lord Melbourne) respected.—( Hear. )
The Bishop of LLANDAFF said that he did not intend
to charge the petitioners with a wish that Christianity should
not prevail, or that it should not be generally received as the
religion of the country ; but he contended, that if the prayers of
the petitioners were acceded to, they would lead to the separation
of Christianity—the petitioners said religion—from the Govern-
ment and the country ; and if these prayers were acceded to,
then it would go forth that the Government regarded re-
ligion with indifference, and as a matter of no concern.
That was the legitimate inference to be drawn from the prayer
of the petition—it was that the petitioners wished to disparage
religion, and it thus involved consequences which be hoped
their Lordships would never consent to.
Lord BROUGHAM said, that in all the petitions he
had presented, the grounds put forward for the abolition
of Church-rates were religious, and not political.—( Hear.)
The Right Rev. Prelate has most justly said in the admis-
sion with which he had closed his speech, that he
did not mean to impute any lukewarmness on the
subject of religion to Dissenters, and certainly if he had done
so, be would have committed a very great error.—( Hear.)
It was on the ground that they considered the rate :njurious
to the interests of religion, as well as oppressing to them
individually, and hard upon them conscientiously, that
the great bulk of the prayers of the petitions were founded.
—(Hear, hear.) He entirely agreed with his Noble Friend,
(Lord Melbourne) that whether they had an interest or not in
the question, they had a right to come to thj House and make
known their sentiments and their wishes. As to persons of a
certain description not paying rates, or not being of that class
which might be supposed to be best capable of enter-
ing into the discussion of high and difficult points of
policy—whether the class of persons who had signed
the petition which the Right Reverend Prelate had pre-
sented were qualified by their habits to discuss questions f a
high and difficult nature—he would really not take
it upon himself to say.—( Hear, hear.) He was not disposed
to pronounce them incapable of discussing those questions.
The Bishop of LLANDAFF never objected to any class of
men stating not only their grievances, but their opinions on every
political question. He only stated that the petitions of those
who had paid no rates came from those who suffered no
grievance, and that therefore they were not entitled to great
consideration.